Prologue: Return

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Near the edge of the Everfree Forest, a breeze slowly started to blow. As it swirled around a small clearing, it began to pick up speed till it was a mighty gale picking up leaves, twigs, and even small branches.

Then all at once the wind blasted outwards as the air in the center of the field tore open, filling the clearing with more light then Celestia’s sun above. From the tear, distorted voices could be heard. “Ok! It’s open! You should move through now. I have no idea how long we can keep it stable!” A male voice said.

“Are you sure you can handle things here without me?” A female voice responded.

“Relax Commander, we can take it from here,” The male voice replied.

“Well, if you are sure...” The female voice sounding uncertain.

“Go, I am not letting you back out now, Commander. We will be fine, I know everyone has been working towards this for so long, don’t let their sacrifices be wasted,” The male replied.

“Yes….Yes you are right, good luck to you all. It has been an honor serving with you all,” The female said.

“Please, the honor’s been ours, but I’ll pass your words on,” The male said. A clattering could be heard through the tear. “Fuck they are getting closer, GO NOW!”

The tear’s light grew brighter for a moment and then a purple unicorn came through and landed hard on her hooves, grunting as her hooves gave out and she went rolling. She slowly got to her hooves and looked back at the tear as the clattering grew louder. “Come on fuckers bring it on!” The male voice was heard yelling as the tear started to distort and warp till it snapped closed before the unicorn.

The unicorn sighed as she looked where the tear had been. “Good luck, Lieutenant,” She said quietly. As she stood staring, her ears swiveled around as she heard a distant roar. She looked in the direction it came from, and the sound of yelling filled the air. “Well, that can’t be good,” She said as she started to trot towards the familiar sound of battle.

<<<O>>>

Applejack drew her breath in sharply through gritted teeth as she crashed through one of the stalls in the market. She got to her hooves and shook herself. All around her, the market was in a panic as ponies ran every which way seeking shelter or just running in random directions.

“You ok, Applejack?” A rainbow maned and cyan Pegasus asked as she landed beside Applejack.

“Yes, ah’m fine,” She said looking up at what had thrown her. The large Bugbear roared at the orange earth pony and Pegasus. “Ah think he’s mad,” She said as the Bugbear flew at them.

A blue magical blast struck its side and it roared in annoyance as it turned towards the white unicorn with the perfectly styled purple mane who took a step back. “Oh…oh dear…” She said as the Bugbear picked up a cart and threw it at the Unicorn.

“MOVE RARITY!” Applejack yelled as Rainbow Dash took off and scooped up Rarity just before the cart landed where she had been. AJ sighed with relief as she saw RD set Rarity down and took to the air. “Tarnation, this ain’t going well.” She said, looking around; the market had mostly emptied out at this point, leaving just the three ponies and the angry Bugbear.

A yelp of pain drew Applejacks attention up just in time to see Dash flying towards her a second before she crashed into the orange pony sending them both tumbling. “Ow…that hurt…” Dash said slowly getting to her hooves, her feathers were a mess on one wing. She helped AJ to her hooves.

“Are you two alright?” Rarity asked as she galloped up to them. They both nodded though it was clear they were hurt. Rarity looked at the Bugbear as it was bearing down on them. “I’m…I’m not sure what to do here darlings.” She said looking towards Applejack for some direction.

Applejack didn’t know what to do and all she could was watch as it flew at them raising its claws.

A cart slammed into it from the side. “Hey asshole why don’t you try taking me on?!” A familiar voice called out taunting the Bugbear who turned to face the pony who’d thrown the cart.

Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash all looked as well and all three of them gasped at the purple unicorn they hadn’t seen since she vanished during a teleportation experiment three months ago. “Twilight?” Rarity said in disbelief that was shared by Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

The mare they were looking at certainly looked like the librarian that was their friend, but… she also didn’t at the same time. Her body was covered in some sort of dark green armor that had a few scorch marks and holes in it, upon her head was a dark green helmet that matched the armor. Her tail and mane were scorched and unkempt as well and her legs looked to be made of metal painted purple. The left side of her face was a mass of scars and her eyes looked strange, not just because she was glaring at the Bugbear coldly, but they looked off, unnatural. To her left, held in her magic, was some sort of metal stick thing that was pointed at the Bugbear as it roared and flew straight at her The armored mare’s eyes changed from their normal purple to red and seemed to glow slightly.

The three ponies jumped as the metal stick started to make a loud clattering sound, the end of it spitting small bouts of flame and the Bugbear roared in pain as it raised its claws to attack, but, before its claws could connect, there was a purple flash and its claws struck empty ground.

There was a corresponding flash above it and Twilight was dropping. A twelve inch blade shot out of Twilight’s left leg and the blade plunged into the Bugbear’s back causing it to roar in pain. The loud metal stick clattered inched from the Bugbear's back as Applejack saw as its back sprayed blood from small holes appearing everywhere the stick pointed, the blade kept her on the Bugbear’s back. The three ponies stared as the Mare they knew smiled while the Bugbear roared and flew straight back towards a building as the metal stick stopped its noise.

Twilight pulled her blade free and teleported off the Bugbear’s back before it slammed into the building and reappeared close to the three ponies. “Oh come on, I’ve fought new recruits that were tougher then you!” She taunted, smirking as a small box on the bottom of the loud stick dropped off it. Another small box quickly appeared in Twilight’s magic and replaced the previous one before a piece on top was pulled back.

The bleeding Bugbear roared in anger at her and threw another cart at Twilight, who easily caught it in her magic and tossed it to the side. “I think it’s time to end this,” She said as more metal sticks appeared around her. All of them different sizes, some long and thin, other short and small.

What caught the three ponies most off guard were the two hovering machines that appeared beside Twilight. They were half the size of Twilight, and under them extended three lengths of metal.

The Bugbear flew straight at her. “Celestia, Luna, light this fucker up!” Twilight barked. There was a beep from both hovering machines as the barrels under them started to rotate before they started to spit fire loudly at the same time the metal sticks held in Twilight’s magic did so, and the three ponies had to cover their ears as the marketplace was filled with deafening clattering. They all watched while blood sprayed from hundreds of holes that appeared all over the Bugbear’s body as it was stopped in its tracks by the force of what was hitting it and slowly pushed back.

A small, round, metal object appeared in front of Twilight and she pulled a pin on it and launched it at the Bugbear, forcing the object into its mouth as it roared in pain and anger. “Cease fire!” Twilight yelled and, all at once, the loud clatter ceased, accompanied by beeps of acknowledgment. “Three….two….one…”Twilight counted down before the three ponies jumped as the Bugbear’s head exploded in a shower of blood and bone. It gave a quiet gurgle before it toppled over and lay still in an expanding pool of crimson.

“And stay down!” Twilight yelled at it with a satisfied smile on her face as her eyes returned to their normal, purple color. “You two did great,” She said, turning towards and patting the hovering devices affectionately, smiling proudly as the two machines beeped several times. “Oh, don’t worry, we will find you more ammo. It shouldn’t be too hard to manufacture some more,” She said, hugging them reassuringly.

Applejack slowly stepped forward. “Uh...Twilight? Is…is that really you?” She asked. The Machines beeped in alarm and moved to block Twilight. “It’s alright you two, they are friends of mine,” She said. The machines fell back to either side of Twilight and hovered there silently as all the metal sticks slowly vanished… well, except for a small, short one that went into a leather strap on Twilight’s left shoulder that seemed to be made for it, and the metal stick she had when she started fighting the Bugbear, which she slung onto her back, an attached strap holding it in place.

Once the sticks were settled, Twilight threw her front hooves around Applejack. “I’ve missed you guys so much!” She said sounding like the old Twilight as she hugged her friend who was struggling to breathe in the crushing hug as the metal legs squeezed tighter and tighter, making Applejack fear her neck was going to break as she tried to breathe. “Oh! I’m sorry!” She said, quickly letting go and stepping back, looking a bit embarrassed. “I kind of forgot to be careful,” She said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly with a metal hoof.

Applejack took several gasps of air before speaking. “T-Twi? What in tarnation happened to ya?” She asked as she stared at her friend in much the same manner as Dash and Rarity.

Twilight shrugged. “Eh…a lot of shit, I’ll tell you later. In the meantime, I think it's lunch time,” She said looking around as Applejack stared at her. How could she be hungry after what she just did? Twilight looked at the three of them and tilted her head. “What is it?” The three just stared in shock, unable to speak, and Twilight just shrugged. “Sugarcube Corner still where it used to be?” Slowly, Applejack nodded, and Twilight smiled wide. “Oh good, I haven’t had a decent meal in…,” She thought, “I’d say…six weeks.” She nodded and started to walk off in the direction of Sugarcube Corner, the machines following close behind her.

Applejack looked at the other two with her before she trotted after Twilight.

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle breathed in the clean air as she walked down the streets of Ponyville, Celestia and Luna flanking her as she hummed to herself a bit. It was nice to breathe air that didn’t smell of sewage and garbage or of blood and gun smoke, though she had to admit, it did smell odd, all that being absent, but she didn’t expect it to be here, and she did still have the smell of the battle with the Bugbear in her nose…so there was that.

She looked around Ponyville, it felt so good to be home. She’d almost forgotten what this place looked like, and it was good to see everybody again, though the town residents were staring at her oddly. Though, that was not surprising, it had been over a year since she’d been here, after all…or it was her combat armor, perhaps.

She looked over at Applejack as she walked up beside her, surprising her. “Yes?” She asked cheerfully. It was so good to see her friends again. She ignored the information about AJ that displayed before her eyes about the mare.

“Uh…Sugarcube…are you ok?” She asked, eyeing Celestia and Luna nervously.

“Never been better, why?” She asked, “And don’t worry about Celestia and Luna, as long as you don’t make yourself a hostile, they won’t have any reason to attack you.” She chuckled, patting Luna, who beeped in response, and reading the translation at the bottom of her vision. “Oh, don’t worry, she is a friend, she isn’t a threat,” She told the sentry.

“Um…Darling…are you…talking to it?” Rarity asked from behind. Twilight looked back at her.

“Yes? Why wouldn’t I? I was just reassuring her that you girls weren’t hostiles. They are having some issues as you don’t have any IFF tags. I may need to make you some so that Celestia and Luna won’t be so uncomfortable,” She said, looking back at the two Sentries, “Will that make you two feel better?” They both beeped affirmatives.

Twilight looked back at Rarity who gapped at her along with Rainbow Dash. “What’s wrong?” she tilted her head.

“They are named after the Princesses?” Dash asked, staring at her in disbelief.

“Yes of course, I thought the names were fitting for my personal sentries, and I wanted to honor the Princesses. What better way than to name two bots designed to protect me?” She asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it was to her. The Princesses will be so honored to know that the Sentries that helped keep her alive were named after them.

Applejack slowly fell back with the other two, eyeing Twilight with worry. Soon Sugarcube Corner came into view and Twilight sighed happily, it looked exactly the same as it did so long ago. “So how has Pinkie been?” She asked, noticing her friends wince a bit. Twilight sighed. “Let me guess, her hair has been straight?” They nodded. “Well…with any luck, me being back will get her back to the old Pinkie.” She said as she pushed the door open, the bell sounding above the door.

Mr. Cake was behind the counter and his eyes widened when she saw Twilight and her two Sentries enter, followed by Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. “Mr. Cake! It’s been far too long,” She said, happily walking up to the counter as Mr. Cake eyed the sentries wearily. “Don’t worry about them, they won’t hurt you unless your dumb enough to do something hostile,” She said, causing his eyes to widen in shock, “Is Pinkie home?” She smiled when he nodded. “Could you let her know I’m home, and could I also have two hay cupcakes? Thanks,” She said as he stared at his motionless form and sighed. “WAKE UP!” She yelled, causing him to jump and start moving rapidly. Soon, she had her food and walked over to a table.

Slowly, the others took seats and stared at her as she started to eat, god she missed a good cupcake. Rarity started to speak first, “so…darling you simply must tell us wh—“

“Later.” Twilight interrupted. “I’m enjoying being home after six months of hell.” She said, noticing her three friends staring at her. “What?”

“Twi you’ve only been gone—“ The sound of hooves galloping down stairs cut off Applejack, and Twilight looked over just in time to see a pink pony burst from the kitchen and sprint at her, wrapping her in a hug before she could think. “TWILIGHT I—“ Pinkie Pie was cut off as Twilight’s right hoof slammed into her stomach causing her to gasp in pain before her left hoof connected with her jaw in an uppercut sending the pink party pony sprawling as Twilight’s magic yanked her side arm from its holster and her blade came out and shot towards Pinkie’s left eye stopping centimeters from it as Twilight stared down at Pinkie with cold eyes that were red and glowing slightly, her side arm aimed right between Pinkie’s eyes, Celestia and Luna flanking her weapons at the ready.

Pinkie’s eyes were wide and she shook as she stared into the eyes of an executioner. “Don’t….do…that….”Twilight said in a low voice before the blade retracted. “Stand down,” She told the two sentries that went back to flank her as she returned her side arm to its holster and took a calming breath, closing her eye. The shop was deathly quiet. “I’m sorry, that was a reflex, but don’t do that again…I might not be able to stop myself from killing you next time,” She said, opening her eyes, the targeting icon disappearing from her sight as she sat and her eyes returned to their normal dark purple color.

Shakenly Pinkie got to her feet, staring at Twilight with a bit of fear. “I’m sorry Twilight, I’ve just been so worried about you…I didn’t think. Please don’t be mad,” She said quietly.

“Its fine, I’m not mad…and…I know. I’m sorry, just….not a good idea to surprise me anymore,” She said taking another deep breath to calm her nerves.

“I know, you’ve been through a lot, I understand Twilight, “Pinkie said reassuringly. “It’s why I’m going to wait a while before throwing your Homecoming party, that way, you’re a bit more settled,” She said, her straight hair poofing up a bit.

Twilight nodded in thanks and calmly went back to eating, her friends staring at her nervously.

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked with Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and her sentry bots through the town. She had enjoyed hear meal at Sugarcube Corner, though was a bit sad her friends were so quiet, and still couldn’t shake all the looks everyone was giving her.

She looked up as she heard the flap of wings, and saw Dash returning with a yellow Pegasus in tow. She smiled wide as they landed. “Fluttershy!” She called out, throwing her hooves around her and hugged tightly. She chuckled when ‘Shy squeaked and slowly returned the hug, albeit a bit nervously.

Twilight broke the hug. “It’s good to see you, it’s been so long.”

“Oh…um…yes it has…it’s good to see you, Twilight…you’re looking…well…”Fluttershy whispered.

“Couldn’t be better! I’ve finally managed to return home!” She said, her smile slipping a bit as she thought about what it cost, “Well…maybe I could be a bit better,” She said quietly as her smile fell.

“Something wrong, darling?” Rarity asked, stepping forward.

“Yeah…just lost a lot of good people getting into the labs is all…”She said with a faraway look.

“Lost?” Fluttershy asked as Twilight shook her head to clear it.

“It’s fine…they knew the risks, and they volunteered. I’d have preferred not taking any of them but…heh….they refused the order to stay behind, said they’d gladly help me get home…” Twilight sighed sadly and looked at her hooves, “Bunch of fucking dumbasses…” She didn’t see the looks her friends all shared.

Fluttershy reached a hoof out to comfort her friend when Twilights head snapped up. “But that’s in the past, no use dwelling on it,” She said with a shrug, and, just like that, her sadness never happened and she started walking again.

Her friends scrambled to catch up. It didn’t take them long to realize where they were going and, sure enough, the large tree that was the Golden Oaks Library came into view with Twilight heading straight towards it.

She stopped outside the door, sighed, and smiled, running her normal hoof over the door. “It’s been a long time…” She said before slowly pushing the door open and walking in, “Spike? Spike are you here?!” She called out, looking around the familiar room of the library.

The sound of small feet running on the upper landing was all she needed to hear to know her number one assistant was still here. “Twilight?” He said as he peered down the stairs, his eyes widening. “TWILIGHT!” He yelled, running to her, jumping up and giving her a tight hug which she returned, being careful not to crush the baby dragon, and nuzzling the top of his head.

“It’s been so long…” She said, holding him close, eyes closed, a few tears in the corner of her eyes, “I almost gave up hope of ever making it back…”

Slowly, Spike released the hug and actually took in the view of his big sister. He blinked as he saw her strange eyes…and her legs…and the scars. “Twilight…what happened…your…your eye…and your legs….”

She looked at her leg. “Oh these? Hey don’t worry, it happened a long time ago, I’ve adjusted. “She said with a shrug.

“But…what happened?”

“Let’s just say a bunch of assholes didn’t like me blowing up their stuff,” She said, chuckling, then blinked when he didn’t join her. Spike was staring at her and at the two hovering sentries. “Oh, Spike, this is Celestia and Luna, they are Mark 3 personal sentries. I rebuilt them myself, and customized them with an upgraded AI, more armor and AP rounds,” She said proudly as she gave each a pat on their ‘head’.

“AP rounds?” Spike asked.

“Armor piercing. These models weren’t designed to face heavily armed soldiers, they were more for the private sector. But they are smaller and more easily maintained then their military counter parts. Plus they have the added bonus of being underestimated by more than a few fuckers dumb enough to try to take them head on,” She said, “Isn’t that right?” She asked, turning to the bots as they beeped in response.

“Anyways, I’m sure you all have questions but I haven’t had a decent shower in months, so if you’ll excuse me…”She said, starting to make her way towards the bathroom, her sentries following closely “You two stay out here,” She told them, and they beeped a few times in response, “Because the room is too small for me and you two to be in there, that’s why,” She said, “So stay,” She ordered, recieving a few beeps.

Twilight nodded, and her friends watched as she unslung the metal stick from her back and set it beside the stairs as she made her way up, undoing her armor and pulling it off. Her friends let out a collective gasp as they saw Twilight’s body. Her body was covered in many scars, some were small and round, others looked like old burns, some were slashes, and others looked surgical. The most shocking was that where her Cutie Mark had been on her right flank was just a square of scar tissue as if it had been removed along with the skin it was on.

Twilights noticed her friends staring and looked at them, her armor held in her magic beside her. “What?” She asked tilting her head.

“Wh-what happened to you?” Fluttershy asked eye wide.

Twilight tilted hear head. Then looked at her scars. “Oh! Those? Just a lot of things happened,” She said, shrugging and making her way up to the bathroom, setting her armor to the side of the door, removing her side arm from its holster and placing it on the counter beside the shower in easy reach before starting the water.

<<<O>>>

Her friends heard the shower start to run and looked at each other. “Th-that was Twilight right?” Fluttershy asked, looking at the door to the bathroom.

“Ah don’t rightly know shy…”Applejack replied, “It certainly looks like her sort of and at times acts like her…but….”

“It’s her.” Pinkie pie said from the back of the group, nodding firmly and looking at her friends who were confused, “She’s been through a lot…more then we could imagine. I’m surprised there is anything left of the old Twilight…”

“Darling how could you possible know that?” Rarity asked, looking at Pinkie. “She doesn’t even talk like Twilight, and what she did to that Bugbear….” Rarity trailed off and shivered, thinking about the mess in the market place. She felt sympathy for the ponies that had to clean that up.

“I just do ok? Just trust me, it’s Twilight, but she’s had to adapt to survive and the things she’s done….I don’t want to meet the pony that could do them and not be affected.” Pinkie Pie said quietly, her mane losing some of its poof. “Just…don’t be too shocked about things she does. She needs us now more than ever as she is going to have a hard time adjusting.” Pinkie looked at her friends pleadingly.

“Of course we will be there for her, she’s our friend,” Applejack said.

“Pinkie Promise.” Pinkie said.

“What darling?” Rarity asked.

“I want you all to Pinkie Promise you will be there for Twilight and not turn on her or treat her like a monster…” Pinkie Pie said very seriously, her hair completely straight as she looked at all of her friends who looked a bit nervous. One by one, they gave a Pinkie Promise. Once they completed it, Pinkie’s hair poofed back up and she smiled wide, back to her old self again as she bounced over to Celestia and Luna that floated off to the side of the room watching the group. The rest all chatted among themselves about what had happened that day, and then comforted Fluttershy when she learned what Twilight had done to the Bugbear.

After an hour had passed, the sound of the shower going off was heard and everyone looked at the top of the stairs at the bathroom door.

<<<O>>>

Twilight hadn’t felt hot running water in a long time. It felt amazing to feel it on her coat again. It hadn’t taken her long to wash, but then she decided to wash her armor as well and, once that was done, she just stood still, letting the water run over her body.

Reluctantly, she shut the water off after an hour and stepped out. She needed to talk to her friends, and there was plenty of time to enjoy another hot shower later. Strapping her armor onto herself once more, she returned her side arm to its holster and opened the door, smiling as she stepped out. “Hey girls!” She said happily as she walked down the stairs. When she reached the bottom she noticed the stares from all her friends except Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, who paled when she saw Twilight, and hid behind her mane, “Is something wrong?” She asked, her smile slipping a bit as Celestia and Luna moved to flank her.

Applejack stepped forward and Pinkie Pie sighed. “Twi…are you ok?” She asked, looking concerned and weary.

“Yes, I’m great why?”

“Because, darling, you blew a Bugbear’s head apart.” Rarity said, stepping forward.

“Well technically the grenade did it, but what’s your point?” Twilight tilted her head to the side.

“Our point is the Twilight that vanished two month ago would have never done that.” Applejack said.

“Two months ago? What do you mean two months ago? I’ve been gone six months…” Twilight said, looking at her friends in confusion.

Applejack and Rarity shared a glance before Rarity stepped forward. “Twilight dear, you’ve only been gone for two months.”

“No….no, I’ve counted…it’s been exactly six months and three days. I’ve been counting!” She yelled at them before she started to pace, “This doesn’t make any sense, I counted…it’s been well over two months…” She mumbled to herself as she paced, glaring at the ground before her head shot up, her eyes wide. “I didn’t account for a possible temporal shift alongside the dimensional shift! That has to be it!” She said.

“Darling…what are you talking about?” Rarity asked with a bit of concern.

“The device that brought me to the place I was, and that we used to send me back…I hadn’t thought of the fact it may cause a warping of time as well as the wall between dimensions,” She said. Her friends jumped back as the metal sticks appeared around her and the one beside the stairs floated over as Twilight went to the table in the room. She sat at it, removed her helmet and set it on the table, and started to take apart the metal stick that had been by the stairs.

“Hey Twi…what are these things anyways?” Rainbow Dash asked from above her.

“They are called guns. They shoot bullets…bits of metal at a high velocity. They are weapons,” She stated simply as she finished disassembling the gun and a bottle of chemicals appeared beside her from her pocket dimension where she kept all her gear.

“And what are you doing?” Applejack asked, looking over her shoulder.

“I’m cleaning them….it helps me relax. Though they are highly effective, if they aren’t cleaned regularly then they run the risk of jamming or, in rare cases, exploding,” She stated as she cleaned, “And before you ask what happed to my legs and eyes, just know I’ll explain as needed later. But just know now that things happened and, rather than be forced to sit around the base while everyone else around me worked their asses off, I had them replaced as needed by cybernetics. It was risky as they weren’t designed for ponies, so they had to be modified…and the fact we didn’t exactly have a sterile room to do the surgeries, but it was my decision to make,” She said firmly, “Personally, I’ve found them quite useful.”

Twilight looked up, seeing her friends staring at her and sighed, "I lost my left leg and eye in an ambush and I ended up losing my right eye during a raid on a Fed compound a few months back, so had it replaced as well. My right leg was blown off by a landmine and my rear legs were crushed when a building collapsed on top of me. There are a few others but those are minor, mostly just the brain implants to help me use my cybernetics and process the information. Over all, they have been very useful,” She said before reassembling the rifle, then grabbing another in her magic and starting to work on it.

She glanced at her friends and saw the looks of confusion, horror and concern on their faces and sighed, “I guess I should start at the beginning” She said, looking back at her work, “And how I found myself in the hell known as Demanil Labs. The playground of one Doctor Adam Frisk...” She said the name and visibly shuttered.

Chapter 1: Living Nightmare

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Doctor Adam Frisk walked down the halls of Demanil Labs towards the test area. He had a slight spring in his step and a smile on his face, today was the day they were going to test his greatest creation, the LX-42B. Not what he’d have chosen as the name but it was still in the experimental stages so it was just a designation so the bureaucrats could keep their records. After today though the device would be renamed to something more appropriate. Dr. Frisk had already decided on calling it the Alternate Energy Collection and Analyzer. The name didn’t sound very good but was accurate and it would revolutionize how science viewed everything.

Dr. Frisk was a slightly below average in height man with short black hair that was just starting to show sign of greying. Anyone who spent time with him knew he was brilliant. He had been recruited by Demanil Labs a few years back after publishing a few theories on alternate sources of energy that would be cheaper than the current sources that proved to have some merit. And now today all his hard work would pay off and he will become a legend. He couldn’t help chuckling to himself as he approached the door to the test area. On either side of the door were two heavily armed and armored men in the blue uniforms of the Demanil Labs security forces.

“Evening gentlemen. “ Dr. Frisk said as he flashed his badge to them and the guard on the right looked it over before taking out a small device. Dr. Frisk pressed his thumb to it and felt the slight prick as it took a DNA sample and scanned his thumb print. The guard watched the small screen and when it turned green he nodded to the other guard and both of them went to the side of the door where they input two different key codes to unlock the door, pressing enter at precisely the same time.

With a soft chime the doors slowly opened and without a word the guards returned to their positions standing as still as statues as Dr. Frisk entered the hall beyond. In the hall of the testing range were more guards. Dr. Frisk remembered his first days at the labs when security wasn’t so tight, but with the rebels having escalated their endeavors to bring down the Federal Government of earth and hitting many of the research facilities similar to Demanil Labs security had been increased everywhere as had the checks on staff, never know when someone had been replaced by a rebel infiltrator.

To get to the test area for LX-42B Dr. Frisk had to pass through two more checkpoints, each one having more security measures then the last but soon he walked into the large room containing his greatest invention.

The device was a circular platform, in the middle was a hollow cylinder that would contain the energy once it was collected. Suspended from the ceiling were two beamed aimed at the center of the cylinder that would focus the energy within the chamber so that it may be analyzed and collected. Currently the cylinder was opened as technicians calibrated the device to the exact specifications Dr. Frisk had given them.
“Good evening doctor.” One of the younger scientists assigned to Dr. Frisk’s team said as he entered, He couldn’t remember his name but it didn’t matter. While the team had provided some minor assistance to Dr. Frisk this was his project, his work and his legacy, not theirs.
“Good evening, are the calibrations almost complete?” Dr. Frisk asked watching the techs work.

“Yes doctor, we should be able to begin the test within the next few minutes.” The other doctor replied and the smile on Dr. Frisk’s face grew wider. Soon he would be a legend.

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle read over her notes, triple checking that she had every calculation perfect. Once she was satisfied she nodded and checked it off. “Triple check notes. Done!” She said happily and set the check list to the side. “Ok ready spike?” She turned to the small purple and green baby dragon that stood beside her.

“You sure about this Twilight?” Spike said a bit worriedly. “This seems more complicated than most of your other experiments.” Twilight and he were standing in the basement of the Golden Oaks Library which had been converted to a lab when Twilight moved in.

“Yes I’m sure, I’ve triple checked all the calculations, everything is set. “She smiled at her number one assistant. “After this test we should have a new teleportation spell that will cost half as much magic as a normal teleport but allow you to go the same distance.” She pushed away from the desk and made her way to a cleared part of the room that had a large X drawn on the floor, there was another X drawn in the middle of the main room of the library.

“Well if you are sure about this.” Spike said as he watched Twilight take her position.

“I’m positive.” Twilight said and then smiled wider. “I can’t wait to tell the Princess of this discovery after this test; it will bring about an all new avenue of research.” She giggled and danced in place a bit on her hooves, unable to contain her excitement at the thought of her mentor’s praise.

“Ok, ok. So then shouldn’t you be doing the test then?” Spike asked, he couldn’t shake the worry that was lurking at the back of his mind. He always worried when his adoptive big sister did experiments like this but for some reason he was more worried than usual.

Twilight stopped her dancing and blushed a bit. “Oh…um…yes you’re right. “She laughed nervously. She stood in the middle of the X. “See you in a moment Spike.” She smiled at him before closing her eyes and her horn began to glow. She went through the spell and was just about to execute it when she felt a pulse ripple through her magic. Before she could think she felt the pulse again, stronger this time. It seemed to be focusing on her magic. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Another pulse hit her and she tried to undo the spell but another pulse stopped her, something seemed to be latching onto her magic. She desperately tried to cut off her magic but the next pulse set off the spell. Her eye’s shot open as she watched the colors of the room invert and she looked into the fearful eyes of Spike. “Twilight, what’s wrong, what’s happening?”

“I…I don’t know, something—“ She was cut off when she started screaming as pain shot from her horn through the rest of her body and she could feeling something pulling her magic and her along with it. She collapsed on the floor, desperately trying to stop her magic but it was no longer in her control.

“Twilight!” Spike jumped off the stood he stood on and ran toward her but was stopped in his try by some sort of bubble that had formed around her. He banged his fists on the bubble as he watched Twilight’s horn glow brighter and brighter. “TWILIGHT!” He slammed his fists into the shield harder as he watched Twilight writhe in pain on the floor.

She opened her eyes and looked at him. “Spike…”She managed to say before another wave of pain hit and all the colors in the room inverted and she screamed as it all vanished and there was only pain and then darkness.

Spike was thrown across the room by a pulse of magical force and cried out in pain as he slammed into the wall. Shaking the dizziness from his head he stood up and looked where Twilight had been. “Twilight?” He said stepping closer. The part of the room that had been cleared for the test was now scorched black by the massive pulse of magic. “Twilight!” Spike said as he ran upstairs to where the other X had been. He stopped as he burst into the empty room.

<<<O>>>

Twilight didn’t know how long she was in the dark; all she knew was pain unlike anything she ever felt before. The pain was everything; it was the only thing that existed. It came in waves faster and faster till she no longer could tell where one wave ended and the next began.
Then all at once it stopped. Slowly one by on her senses returned. The first thing she noticed was a copper taste in her mouth; she had been gritting her teeth so hard her gum had started bleeding. Slowly feeling return and she was laying on a cold hard mettle surface. Then sight return but all she saw was blackness. Then she became aware of muffle voices as her hearing returned. They sounded distant.

Slowly she tried getting to her hooves but her legs gave out under her and she fell back onto the cold floor. Her head felt like a dragon had been using her head as a piñata. She tried again and on her fifth attempt she managed to keep her legs under her if barely.

“H-hello?” She said quietly finding her voice. She could see hear the voices but when she tried to move towards them she found her path blocked by a metal wall. Feeling around she found she was in a very small room barely big enough to hold her. “Hello! Somepony! Anypony! I’m in here!” She called out and started banging on the wall in front of her. She heard the voices stop. “Help me! I’m trapped in here!” She said banging hander. She heard the sound of hissing air and then a mechanical whirring noise and the wall in front of her began to slide out of the way and the small space was bathed in a blinding white light as well as the smell of ozone and something burnt. Twilight had to squeeze her eyes shut tightly against the blinding light. Through her closed eyes she saw the light blocked by something.

“What the hell?” She heard a voice said and the sound of hoofsteps and she slowly started to open her eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the light she saw what it was that blocked the light, it wasn’t a pony. What stood before her was some sort of biped with bare whitish pink skin least the parts she could see did. Most of its body was covered in some type of clothes, its pants being dark brown and its shirt was blue. She recognized the white coat it wore as a lab coat. On top of its head was short black hair that looked to also have a bit of grey in it. Its green eyes held intelligence to them but right now they were wide with shock as they stared down at her.

Do to Twilight only coming up to what she assumed to be its waist and stomach she had to look up at it. Her own eyes were wide with fear as she tried to push herself further into the small mettle room. She tried to reach for her magic but a wave of nausea put a stop to that and her legs went out from under her once more. “ow….”She said weakly and the creature took a step back from her as she saw more creatures move up behind it and peek over its shoulder, they were a bit taller than the one with the salt and pepper hair.

“What is it?” one of them asked.

“I don’t know.” The first one said still staring at her.

“It kind of looks like a horse.” Another said. The creatures were distracted when more entered the room wearing some kind of blue armor.
“What the hell is going on here?” One of new creatures demanded. Whatever the first group said Twilight never heard as darkness claimed her once more.

<<<O>>>

Dr. Frisk looked at the small purple horse laying in the infirmly hooked up to an IV drip. His eyes roamed over the creature. During the test there had been a surge in the equipment and his team had been scrambling to try to shut down the test. Two of his team had been injured; one when his console had exploded and the other when a surge of power caused one of the electrical panels had exploded. The entire time the control room had been filed with warning alarms has the device was getting closer and closer to breaching containment. If not for one of the technicians running into the test chamber and physically severing the main power conduit from the device Dr. Frisk doubted any of them would be standing there. He actually felt somewhat saddened the young man had been killed as the electricity going through the cable passed through his body turning him into just a blackened husk. It was a shame as the young man hadn’t panicked like the rest of his team and had actually come up with a way to shut down the device. Dr. Frisk could have used someone like that but he was dead now so no point in dwelling on what might have been.

The team had been trying to tend to the injured and trying to figure out exactly what had happened when they heard banging and yelling coming from inside the chamber. They had all been hesitant to open the device but Dr. Frisk’s curiosity had gotten the best of him and he ordered it opened. It had been quite a surprise to find the small purple creature standing inside of the chamber shortly before it passed out.
Dr. Frisk was drawn back to the present as the small purple horse creature started to stir. It groaned a bit and slowly opened its eyes and looked around its surroundings. Its eyes widened as they came to rest on Dr. Frisk and it seemed to try to try to sink into the bed. “Wh-who are you?” It asked in a voice that was clearing female. It also confirmed that Dr. Frisk hadn’t been hearing things when it spoke in the chamber.

“My name is Doctor Adam Frisk.” He said calmly, the thing was hardly in any shape to be dangerous and the two guards at the door could easily deal with it if he was wrong. “What…would your name happen to be if you have one.”

“T-Twilight Sparkle.” She said watching him. She seemed to relax a bit. “Where am I?”

“Well, you are currently in the infirmary of Demanil Labs. More than that I can’t tell you for security reasons.” He told her. He actually could have told her more but he didn’t see the point.

She took this information in and nodded and started looking around the room her eyes finding the two guards. “Who are they?”
“Just guards miss Sparkle, they are here for my protection. “He chuckled.

“Protection? From what?” She tilted her head and winced a bit.

“Why you of course. We’ve never seen a creature like you. So the higher ups are not taking any chances.” He told her looking over at the guards who stood perfectly still, their rifles held at rest in their hands.

“Oh I wouldn’t hurt anypony.” Twilight said looking at him. “They aren’t needed.” She said smiled in what Dr. Frisk assumed was an attempt at a friendly smile but it seems it caused a pain in her head as she grabbed her head in her front hooves and groaned in pain. “Sweet Celestia my head hurts...” She muttered.

“Anypony?” Dr. Frist asked, he figured this Celestia was some sort of deity.

“Oh…sorry, guess I should say anybody as I’m the only pony here. “She giggled a bit then grabbed her head again wincing in pain.
“So…you are a pony?” Dr. Frisk asked. And Twilight nodded. “Interesting…” He said as he looked her over.

“What are you?”

“Oh, I’m a human” He told her absently as his mind raced. He still didn’t completely know why the device brought this creature here when it was designed to collect energy, not transport living being. “May I ask what you were doing before you woke up in the test chamber?” He asked and her eyes perked up.

“Oh! I was conducting an experiment with a new teleportation spell and then….”She paused and her face scrunched up for a moment. “Then….I don’t know….last thing I remember is starting the spell and then….I woke up in the dark.” She said looking concerned.
“Spell?” Frisk asked in a bit of confusion.

“Yes, it’s a common spell most unicorns learn, it makes travel much faster for small distances, I came up with a new version that wouldn’t cost as much magic to use.” She said brightly.

“Unicorn? Magic?” Frisk said in confusion. “I thought you said you were a pony.”

“Oh I am a pony, but there are three types of ponies, Unicorns who can use magic, Pegasus who have wings and can fly, manipulate the weather and walk on clouds and then earth ponies who are strong physically and experts at faring and building.” She said. “We all live and work together under the rule of the Princesses.” She said and Frisk felt like he was back in his university days listing to a lecture.

Frisk sat and listened to the pony creature tell him all about where she came from the Princesses who rules over them and controlled the sun and the moon all the way down to her friends. Frisk made a mental note that once she got going she didn’t seem to stop for anything and also that she was very trusting considering she just woke up in a strange place and had no problem telling him practically anything about where she came from. It was hard to get his mind around the concept of ‘Magic’ and the fact it was common in ‘Equestria’ the country she was from in her world. But the fact these Princesses were strong enough to control the very sun and the moon themselves

After a few hours of listing to the purple pony explain everything he suggested that she should rest and politely excused himself from the room. He had many things to think about but first he had a report to write. This information opened up so many new doors if they could just harness this ‘Magic’

<<<O>>>

To: Director Franklin Graceland
From: Dr. Adam Frisk
Subject: Request
Dear Director, as I sure you are aware we had an incident in one of the test labs involving the LX-42B receiving a power surge and nearly breeching containment. I am emailing you to inform you I may have found the cause of the incident.
It seems the device worked exactly as I had planned it to, but what I had no accounted for what exactly what kind energy it would find.
As you know after the incident my team discovered a small creature with in the chamber. After having it transferred to the infirmary I was observing it when I awoke. The creature is intelligent and capable of speech!
I spent two hours talking with it about what it was and where it came from. Its name is “Twilight Sparkle” and is what is called a “Pony” from “Equestria” a place ruled by what she referred to as “Magic.”
It seems her world is full of magic and it was this such magic that the device targeted. This magic is naturally accruing in all ponies as well as other creatures that inhabit her world. From what she has told me some even have enough magic to control the very sun and moon themselves.
I asked a few questions about the level of technology and military. It seems they have steam powered locomotives but nothing much more advanced than that. The only military force they have is what she called the “Royal Guard” which are armed with spears and swords mostly though some are capable of using magic directly.
The most powerful magic users would be the two “Alicorn” Princesses that rule their land and control the sun and the moon.
I am requesting permission to be studying the creature we currently have in order to discover all we can about her species and “magic” so that we may modify the device in order to open a stable “doorway” so that we may secure this limitless power source.
Dr. Adam Frisk, Head of Alterative Energy Research

To: Dr. Adam Frisk
From: Director Franklin Graceland
Subject: Request Response
Dear Doctor, I am writing to inform you that your request has been granted under the stipulation the subject does not die. It is difficult to gather information from a corpse. As long as the subject, hence forth referred to as P438-29T, does not die you are free to conduct whatever tests you wish.
Sincerely Franklin Graceland, Director of Demanil Labs

<<<O>>>

Twilight landed with a pained yelp as she was tossed into the pen that had been her home for the last two week. She curled into a tight ball and began to sob. The latest round of “tests” had been more painful than the last that she had gone through. Her body had sever stitched up wounds along her body from where they had cut her open to see what made her tick. Normally they at least sedated her but this time they wanted to see how she’d react to the pain. They wouldn’t stop till she started to lose consciousness and then they stopped and Twilight thanked Celestia….till they injected her with adrenaline that brought her fully awake and it all began again. All under the watchful eye of the first of these humans she ever saw Dr. Frisk.

She didn’t understand why they were doing his to her. They had helped her at first. While she was in the infirmary. They made sure she was healthy. Frisk came by to talk to her every day and she had enjoyed their talks…had she known what was to come she could have tried to escape as soon as she was able. Once the medical doctor had confirmed she was healthy it was when they had brought her to The Room. She hadn’t under stood why she was brought to a room with just a table and a two chairs and a mirror on one wall. She had learned, by Celestia she had learned.

Every day for the past two week it had been the same, in the more she went to the room and they asked her questions about Equestria, the neighboring countries, the Princesses the Royal Guards, magic, everything. If she tried to hide something or they thought she was when they brought out their tools. After the Room it was to the Lab for testing. Then onto the Infirmary to patch her back up and from there her pen. The same routine every day for two weeks straight, her own little living nightmare. She had been trying to use her magic to teleport away but for some reason she couldn’t focus enough to form a spell. It all just slipped away when she tried.

“Hello 438.” A voice drew her attention from her pain and she saw her handler Marcus. One of the younger medical staff had been assigned to take care of her when she was in the pen. He was what she knew was an average height with tan skin and dark black hair. He wore the blue Medical scrubs all the medical staff wore. “I brought your food.” He said in a gentle voice as he opened the small slot at the bottom of the pen and slid in a bowl of fruits.

Twilight bushed it away and curled into a ball. She heard Marcus sigh. “438 you need to eat.” He told her. “Please?”
“Why should I?” She asked flatly not looking at him.

“Because you need your strength...and…you know what they will do if you don’t eat.” He warned and she shivered. She had tried not eating thinking if she made herself to weak for their tests then they would stop. She made it for two days before instead of Marcus bringing her food it had been two guards. One had held her while the other had forced her mouth open and force the food down her throat. They hadn’t stopped till every last scrap of the food was forced down her throat and while she was being forced to eat she had bitten the guard forcing the food down her throat he had recoiled and she managed to kick the guard that was holding her in a very sensitive place and he had dropped her.

She had been so proud of herself, there was no way out of the pen but she had struck a blow against them…then the batons came out. When she tried to strike out again when she saw an opening one of them had drawn a little yellow gun and shot two small prongs into her. Every time he pulled the trigger electricity shot through her body and she couldn’t move. She still tried to fight back. But with one guard using his baton and the other using what she learned was a Taser over and over again there was nothing she could do.

After that it was another trip to the Infirmary. Slowly she uncurled and pulled the bowl over to herself and began to eat. As she ate she felt Marcus hand stroke her mane. It was something he had started doing a few days ago as the tests got worse. As much as Twilight hated to admit it she enjoyed when he did that…it made her feel a little better. She hated herself for letting her self be comforted by one of these…things…these monsters.

Twilight ate in silence while Marcus stroked her mane and when she was finished he retrieved the bowel and wished her a good night before leaving. Twilight curled up on the small mat that was in the corner of the pen that was her bed and closed her eyes, sleep was the only escape she had from this nightmare.

<<<O>>>

The next morning she was awoken the same as she always was, one of the guard banging on the bars of her pen why yelling at her to wake up. She got to her hooves and stood head down not looking at the guards. She knew what glaring at them would result in The Room being worse so she glared at the floor.

The guard started to walk and she followed as another guard followed behind her. Both of them had their batons out in case she tried to run. She kept her eyes focused on the boots in front of her as he led her to The Room. She knew the path well so when the guard turned down a different hallway she stopped and blinked looking up in confusion. That was a mistake. She felt the baton strike her back as well as heard it. “Move it 438!” The guard behind her barked raising the baton again, Twilight quickly started moving again.

The guard led her to a door marked “Firing Range” He swiped his badge and the door unlocked and he walked in. Inside were Dr. Frisk and his team as well as about a dozen guards and some of the medical staff. She quickly looked out of the corner of her eye as she was lead past them and past the booths till she reached a door and was lead out into an open concrete room. The far wall was full of small holes all along it. On the far side of the floor was an X near the wall with the holes.

Twilight was lead there she found ring had been added to the floor next to the X and there were small cuffs. Once she was placed in the middle of the X the cuffs were put on her hooves so tightly that they hurt. Once all of them were locked she found she couldn’t move from the middle of the X. One of the medical staff started attaching wires to her head and chest and one to her horn before he injected something into her. Her head swam as the two guards and medical staff left and by the time they left the large room she could feel her magic.

There was a loud screech from where the human were behind the stalls on the far wall and she heard the voice of Frisk amplified. “Now then 438 this is going to be a test of your endurance and magical shield you told us about.” Twilight blinked. “Don’t try to teleport; we have guards station everyone you have seen ready to grab you the second you appear.” She cursed under her breaths. She wished she had never told him how the teleportation spell worked. But what was she supposed to use her shield against?

She was answered as she saw the guards step up to the stalls and raise their rifles. She barely got her shield up as the first shots rang out. The sound was deafening, but the shock as the bullets struck her shield drew most of her attention.

At first they fired in bursts but soon they were firing full auto against her shield and Twilight had to grit her teeth against the pain. Sweat matted her fur and mane as the fire continued. Only pausing as the guards reloaded.

Twilight wasn’t sure how long she was able to hold the shield up. She had to focus so much of her mind just to keep it up but soon it shattered and she was collapsed as if a large hammer struck her from again. Her head felt like it was splitting open and her horn was ached and burned. When she reached up and touched it she had to yank her hoof back from how hot it was. She felt nauseous and the room spun. She was vaguely aware of the medical staff entering the large room but she wasn’t sure as the darkness claimed her.

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly came to back in her pen. Her head felt like it was trying to split open and her horn ached like nothing more. Slowly she reached up and felt her horn; it was still warm from her magical burn out. She groaned as her hoof dropped back to the floor. Why were they doing this to her? What had she ever done to them that they would want to torture her like this? What was the point?
“Are you ok 438?” She heard Marcus say behind her. She just groaned and covered her ears. His voice made her headache worse. She heard the jingle of keys and the sound of the pen opening and the next thing she knew Marcus was sitting beside her and her pulled her into his lab and held her stroking her mane.

As much as twilight hated what these things were doing to her that simple act was all it took for the damn to complexly break and she buried her face into Marcus chest and cried harder then she had at any point since this nightmare began. Marcus didn’t say anything; he just held her and stroked her mane.

Twilight wasn’t sure how long she cried for but by the time she was done the front of Marcus shirt was soaked. “I just want to go home…”She whispered.

“I know 43, I know” He said as he stroked her mane. Twilight wasn’t sure when it was she fell asleep but the next thing she knew she was waking up on her mat with the bowl of food beside the mat and Marcus nowhere in sight.

<<<O>>>

The next morning Twilight was woken the same way she always was. Her head still hurt a bit from her burn out but it was much more bearable. The guards lead her to The Room where she was questioned as always and then onto the Lab. As always Dr. Frisk was there with his team but this time there were some of the Medical staff here as well. Twilight didn’t like this, yesterday was still fresh in her mind.
“Ah 438 you’ve arrived, good.” Dr. Frisk smiled at her as if he was seeing an old friend, it was all Twilight could do not to glare at him or say something that would result in a hit from one of the guard’s batons. Dr. Frisk gestured to one of the Medical staff. “This is Dr. Gale, head of surgery here at Demanil Labs.” He said. Twilight had never met the older human before. He was dressed in full surgical scrubs so all she could see was his blue eyes.

Twilight said nothing. She kept her face emotionless as she looked between them. “Now, I believe you told me that mark on your flank, Cutie Mark if I remember correctly, appears whenever you’re kind finds their special talent.” He asked her. Twilight didn’t like where this was going. She said nothing but keeping the emotionless mask was growing harder by the second. HE smiled at her. “Well you don’t need to answer, it’s in my notes.” He turned to the surgeon. “She’s all yours.” With that Twilight’s fears were confirmed and she turned to try and sprint from the room. A swift kick to her ribs from one of the guards put a stop to that.

Gasping for breath the guard hauled her to her hooves by a handful of her mane and shoved her towards the waiting surgeon. Twilight struggled as the nursed grabbed her and lifted her onto the table. She fought as hard as she could but four of them held her down as a mask was placed over her face. She knew what this was and she tried not to breath but it was futile. She couldn’t hold her breath forever and soon the edge of her vision started to darken as the world around her faded.

Twilight slowly came to back in her pen. Her head swam from the after effects of the gas they used to knock her out. She opened her eyes and looked around groggily. Slowly she became aware of some minor pain on her right flank and she froze as the memory of what Dr. Frisk had said resurfaced. Her pupils shrunk down as small as they could she slowly looked back at her flank. What greeted her were bandages where her Cutie Mark was supposed to be, slightly stained with blood. “No…no…nonononononono.” She said as she squeezed her eyes shut and covered them with her hooves and started crying. She tried to force the image from her mind but it stayed firmly at the front of her mind. That image was burned into her memory forever.

She was startled when she heard the sound of a metal bowl landing on concrete and the frantic jingling of keys. “438!” Marcus said as he flung the door open and stepped in. She looked over at him and his eyes were wide with horror as he looked at her flank. “What….what happened?” He asked barely above a whisper.

Twilight’s sadness was quickly replaced by a new emotion. Anger. “What do you think happened!” She yelled and he recoiled. “They took my Cutie Mark!” She yelled glaring at him with all the rage and hatred she felt towards every last one of these monsters. Marcus took another step back. “What have I ever done to any of you? I never even wanted to come here!” She screamed. She jumped at him and started to hit him with her hooves. She couldn’t hit very hard due to the effects of the gas still in her system but she tried her hardest to hurt him like they hurt her.

Marcus didn’t try to stop her, he just stood there and let her hit him over and over again till slowly her rage cooled and the sadness returned and she collapsed onto the floor curling into a ball and crying again. “Why…..why are you doing this to me….I never did anything to you…”She asked him looking up at him. His eyes stared down at her filled with pain as well. He turned and walked to the door and closed it. She heard the keys jingle. “Have a good night Twilight.” He said before leaving.

Twilight cried in her pen for a long while before his words registered complete. He had never called her Twilight before even though she told him that was her name. He always called her by the number they had given her.

She slowly got to her hooves and looked at the door. She stared at it for a long while before she slowly walked over to it. Studying it, it was pushed to but as she looked closer she saw the latch was undone. Slowly she reached out and pushed it and silently it opened.

Cautiously she stepped out into the hall and looked around. There was no one around something caught her eye and she looked. Lying on the floor was a small white rectangle. Walking over to it she looked down at it. “Marcus Santana Level 3 Clearance Medical Staff.” Twilight stared at the security badge she had watched the humans use to unlock the doors. Right next to the words was a picture of Marcus staring back at her.

<<<O>>>

Twilight quietly moved down the halls of Demanil Labs, Marcus security pass held in her mouth. She wasn’t far from where her pen was but that didn’t matter, what matter was that she was on her way to freedom from this nightmare, even if it wasn’t back to Equestria if it was outside of this building it was freedom.

Twilight had to be careful, she had nearly been spotted by two guard patrols already. She wasn’t sure exactly where an exit was but she was sure she’d eventually find one. Her flank burned where her Cutie Mark used to be as she walked but she ignored it, her mind was focused on the task before her and the chance Marcus had given her. She was sure that any door that needed the access card would be guarded but if she was careful she could lure the guards away or knock them out or something! It didn’t matter she’d figure it out when she got to that point.

She rounded a corner and came face to face with a guard. They stare at each other in surprise and then the guard moved to raise his rifle as he opened his mouth. Twilight reacted fast and stuck the one weak point she knew humans had. The guard doubled over clutching the area between his legs and Twilight shot her front hooves forward into his face. The guard went down.

Twilight stood there panting, her heart was racing. She looked down at the guard and checked him, he was still breathing, she sighed in relief and then continued down the hall. She made it two halls over when suddenly an alarm sounded and lights started to flash along the walls. “Attention all security personal, Subject P438-29T has escaped containment. Apprehend subject through non-lethal mean. I repeat…” A voice started to say over the PA system. Twilight started to gallop down the halls, no point in trying to sneak anymore. Soon enough she ran into a squad of guard who raised some new type of rifle. Twilight jumped to the side just as they fired some sort of dart where she had been. She galloped down a side hall for all she was worth dodging guard as she found them having no idea where she was going.

Twilight rounded a corner and came skidding to a halt as she saw a door at the end of the hall with a guard beside it and one of the card readers. The guard shouted at her and raised his rifle. Twilight ran forward ignoring the clatter of the guard rifle as he fired at her. She ran straight at the guard and dropped at the last second, sliding across the floor. She put one of her hooved up as she slit between the guard legs and felt it connect and the guard dropped to the floor. Not looking back Twilight stood on her hind legs using the wall for support and swiped the card. There was a pinged the sound of a lock being undone. When she tried the door in opened with ease, right into a surprised guard. Twilight quickly spun and bucked the partly open door as hard as she could and heard as it stuck the guard and the thud as he dropped.

Jumping over the downed guard she found herself in a somewhat large room with a desk on side and two glass doors across from the desk. Her heart beat faster as she saw the outside world beyond the glass. Galloping over she swiped the card again and then pushed the door open. Cool night air washed over her body and filled her lungs as she sprinted through the door. She was in some sort of walled courtyard with a walkway through the middle and grass on both sides and lining the path were small trees, beyond the wall she could see a thick forest. If she could make it to the trees she could lose the guards.

She ran as hard as she could for the gate, her lungs burned her flank ached and she could feel fresh blood seeping from the bandages but she pushed her body. She was so close, she could make!

A massive pain shot through her shoulder and she dropped to the ground. She tried to scramble to her feet but her leg wouldn’t hold her wait and she fell. She looked at her left shoulder and saw a small bloody hole in it. She heard the sound of booted feet running up behind her as more came from the side. A set appeared in front of her and she looked up into the face plate of one of the guards. She watched as he raised his rifle and brought the butt of it down on her head and then there was only darkness.

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly woke up again back in her pen, her shoulder was bandaged and she felt something cold around her neck. Reaching up she found some sort of collar had been placed around her neck. “I see you’ve finally woken up.” She heard Dr. Frisk say behind her. Slowly she turned around and saw him standing on the other side of the bars, his arms crossed over his chest. “That was quiet a show you put on, really gave the guards quiet the chase. “He smiled at her; it was the smile of someone who found amusement in something a bug was doing. “You’ll find there won’t be a repeat of tonight again, the collar around your neck is fitting with both a tracking device as well as a shock function. If you leave building it will send enough volts through your body to rending you unconscious. Also. “He pulled out a small device with a button and pressed it. Twilight couldn’t help but scream as electricity shot through her body till he released the button and it stopped. She lay there panting on the ground trying to catch her breath. “Every member of my team, the medical staff and the guards have been given one of these with instructions to use it if you step out of line in any way.” He said. “I trust we won’t have a repeat of tonight.” She just laid there on the floor panting, eyes squeezed shut.

“Also a guard will be in here around the clock to keep an eye on you. And a guard will be bringing you your food from now on. Since Mr. Santana failed to properly secure the door and lost his security badge, a mistake that nearly allowed a high values asset to escape.” Twilight said nothing, what could she say? They had won; her only chance at escape was gone forever. She heard Dr. Frisk footsteps as he departed and the sound of the door shutting behind him. She laid there and did the one thing she could do, she cried.

Chapter 2: More Monsters?

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Report #231

Since the introduction of the shock collar to Subject P438-29T two weeks ago has been very docile and cooperative with both my team and security personal. Since its introduction the collar has only been used twice, both times were during questioning. Other than those two incidents the subject has answered all questions asked of her and accepted all tests we have placed on her.
That collar was one of the best ideas we had as it has made research run much smoother.
Enclosed in the following file are our results of our last round of questioning and tests.

Doctor Adam Frisk, Head of Alternative Research.

<<<O>>>

Subject P438-29T stood in her pen staring at the floor. She had woken just a few minutes ago because it was time for her to go to The Room and be questioned. She heard the door open and saw the boots of the two guard step in front of the door and. With a jangle of keys the door opened and they stepped to the side as 438 stepped out.

She followed the lead guard’s boots to The Room and took her place at the table. After a few hours of answering the questions 438 was lead from The Room toward the Lab. The guard in front of her stopped and stepped to the side and she followed suit, pressing to the wall as a squad of other guards ran down the hall towards hall that lead to the lobby she had used to try and escape what felt like an eternity ago.
Once the guards were out of sight the guard started walking down the hall gain with 438 following right behind. In the lab was Dr. Frisk as usual with his team. “Thank you gentlemen.” He said to the two guards who stood beside the door, 438 stood waiting for being told what to do. “Come onto the table 438.” He patted the surgical table and 438 walked over and climbed onto it without a word.

As the doctors put the mask over her face the room suddenly shook and the lights flickered with the sound of a distant explosion. The doctors looked around as there was a second explosion and an alarm sounded as security lights began to flash on the walls. “Attention all security personal report to your designated stations, rebel forces have breached the perimeter.” 438 looked around a bit as she could hear muffled gunfire.

The two guards put their fingers to their ears. “Affirmative.” The lead guard said before looking at the doctors. “Remain here, everything is under control.” With that the two guards left the room. The doctors looked around nervously.

“You heard the man; everything is under control so let’s continues with the test.” Dr. Frisk said and the others nodded and began to strap 438 to the table. The room shook violently as another explosions, far closer than the last two reverberated through the building and a new alarm sounded. Now the sounds of gunfire were much closer and faint screams could be heard.

The doctored looked around more nervous than they were before. “Come now, we don’t have all day, security will deal with them.” Dr. Frisk said and the doctors hesitated before turning the valve to start the flow of gas. Slowly the room began to fade for 438 as the door opened and two guards ran in. “stop the tests, we are under orders to escort you to—“The guard was cut off as the door was blown off its hinges.
438 watched with her fading vision as more human rushed in wearing dark green armor. The first one through the door open fired with his rifle and shot the guard who had been speaking in the chest. The second guard managed to fire his rifle but the shots when high as a second dark green soldier shot him and he fell back.

Half a dozen of the dark green soldier rushed into the room yelling at the doctors with their weapons raised. The doctors scrambled against the wall, all except one who grabbed a scalpel and rushed the green armored soldiers and received a burst from the lead soldier’s rifle. 438 felt something she hadn’t felt since they put the collar on her neck, something she thought she lost but now a small ember of it lite in her. “Please……help me…..” She managed to say. The lead soldier spin around shock plain on his face was the last thing Twilight saw before the gas took her.

<<<O>>>

Marcus ran down the halls of the lab trying to avoid the worst of the fighting. The rebels had come in force and it was all security could do to slow them down as they swarmed through the lab. “Attention all non-combat persona evacuate immediately. This is not a drill.” The PA system announced over and over again. Marcus planned to leave but he had something he needed to do first.

He turned the corner to go down a side hall and skidded to a stop. He barely got back around the corner before a stray bullet ripped through the air where he had been standing. Down the hall a squad of guards had emptied of one the offices and were using the furniture as a makeshift barricade as they fired shots at a group of rebels down the hall. Marcus cursed, he wasn’t going that way. Taking a deep breath he sprinted across the hall and ran down the hall. He heard a whooshing sound behind him and an explosion and the gunfire stopped. The damn rebels had a damn rocket launcher and didn’t seem to weary about using it either.

Thinking this added speed to Marcus, he didn’t have much time before any chance of escape was lost and he didn’t know how the rebels would treat him as an employee of the labs, he’d watched the news, if even half of what it said was true then it wouldn’t be good to get caught.

Running down another side hall he saw the door he was looking for. “Yes!” HE said as he neared, he didn’t notice the fact the door had been blown off its hinged as he ran into the room and skidded to a stop as the dark green wearing rebels raised their rifles at him. Marcus’ hands shot up. “Don’t shoot, I’m unarmed!” He yelled in a near panic. He could see the other doctors against the far wall being watched by two rebels, except one who was lying in a pool of blood on the floor in front of the operating table.

On the table was what he had been coming here for, 438, she looked like hell, worse than when he last saw her. One of the rebels grabbed a handfull of Marcus’ shirt and dragged him over with the others and shoved him towards them. “Stay there, try anything funny and we will kill you. “ The soldier told him before going back to the others. They seemed to be arguing over 438.

Damnit this isn’t good, this was supposed to be a clean getaway. Marcus thought. Ever since he’d seen what they had done to 438 he had decided he was going to get her out of here one way or the other. He just hadn’t been sure how, till the rebels attacked. The chaos was the perfect cover to get her and get the hell out, they’d be presumed dead most likely. Now though the rebels were in control of the lab and any chance at a lean get away was out the window. “Look at it, there’s no way it spoke, you’re hearing things.” One of the soldiers was saying to another gesturing at 438.

“I know what I heard, it might have been quiet but that thing said ‘help me’” The other said.

“It’s some sort of animal and last time I checked animals don’t fucking talk.” The first one said annoyance clearly growing. Marcus looked between them. Maybe this wasn’t ideal but it seemed to be the only chance he had.

He took a small step forward. “Um…excuse me.” He said getting their attention. “Yes, she can talk and she’s not an animal.” He said. The second soldier looked smugly at the first. They hadn’t stopped him yet or shot him so. “They’ve been experimenting on her here, I don’t know where she came from but I’ve seen what they’ve been doing to her and you can see it yourselves.” He said gesturing to the scars that covered 438’s body.

“Marcus what the hell are you doing. “Dr. Frisk asked angrily.

Marcus ignored him. “If she stays here who knows what they will do to her. You have to help her.” He pleaded. The soldiers looked back at the one that seemed to be in charge. “She has a shock collar around her neck that will go off if she leaves the building but I should be able to disable it.”

The rebel looked back at him then back at 438 and sighed. “Damnit I’m going to get hell for this…” He said before looking at two of the other rebels. “Unstrap her and grab the kid, she’s coming with us.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly started to wake up. She blinked away the remnants of the gas from her eyes but her mind was still sluggish. She wasn’t in her pen; instead she was in a bed. Slowly looking around she saw the there were other beds and medical equipment in the room. The walls seemed to be made of uneven stone propped up by wooden beams. The beds were separated by small curtains to give a bit of privacy. What her sluggish brain focused on was the two guards standing at the doorway, instead of blue armor they wore dark green and it looked used. A woman dressed in the same armor just without the helmet stepped around one of the curtain and froze when she saw Twilight was awake. “Doctor, she’s awake.” She said called to the door, when she got no answer she signed and headed through the curtain that acted as a door.

Slowly the fog in Twilight’s mind started to clear and she started to look around franticly. She needed to escape before they started up the experiments as well. “Hey there easy, you’re safe now.” Twilight looked at the women who spoke, she wore an armored vest like the guard but that was the only armor she wore, she had on camo cargo pants and boots over the armor she wore a dirty lab coat. What caught Twilight most off guard was the smile she wore that wasn’t fake like the other doctors she was used to.

“n-not safe….”Twilight said and the doctor sighed.

“I should have expected that, if what we have been told is true it’s no surprise you don’t trust humans, but I can assure you we aren’t like these bastards at that lab. We are the good guys.” She smiled warmly. Twilight didn’t believe her for a second, she knew firsthand what monsters humans are. “Perhaps this will help you feel more comfortable. “ She said and wave at the two guards who nodded and left the room.

Twilight blinked and looked at the Doctor. She had hair the color of Applejack’s mane and soft gentle blue eyes and light pinkish skin like most of the humans Twilight had seen. “You aren’t a prisoner here. You are only here as one of our squads brought you back from the raid along with a prisoner who told us what they did to you, at least what he knew.” She sighed again and shook her head. “Once you have your strength back you are free to go if you wish.” She said as she started check the equipment that was attached to Twilight. “Seems the drugs are getting out of your system, so that’s something.”

“Drugs?” Twilight blinked at her.

“Yes, we ran some blood tests and you had a mild sedative in your system. My theory is they were drugging your food but I have no idea why, the levels we found would only cause just a slight issue focusing and nothing more.” She shrugged. “Also I’m Dr. Grey by the way, and you are?” She smiled at Twilight.

Twilight hesitated a bit but finally spoke up. “T-Twilight Sparkle…”

Dr. Grey nodded.” It’s a pleasure to meet you Twilight Sparkle.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle walked down the halls of the rebel base. Dr. Grey had explained that they were a group of people who opposed the government and saw it as corrupt and needed to be overthrown. The fact they allowed places like Demanil Labs to exist was proof of that. Twilight looked at the wall, the rough cut stone and dirt held up by wooden beams was such a sharp contrast to the sterile white walls of the lab Twilight was used to.

“This used to be an old gold mine but was abandoned when the gold dried up. It’s served us well.” Dr. Grey said as she walked alongside Twilight. “You should have seen it when we moved it, the place hadn’t seen any form of TLC in decades but we fixed it up.” She said looking at the walls.

They had to step to the side as a rebel soldier made this way down the hall they were in. The soldier did a double take when he saw Twilight but looked at Dr. Grey and moved on without a word. Twilight watched him go; it felt so strange to be allowed to walk around without a guard leading her where she was supposed to go. Dr. Grey was with her in a purely medical capacity as Twilight still hadn’t fully recovered from her time at the labs, though she did direct Twilight away from sever areas on the ground of the fact Twilight planned to leave and so didn’t want her seeing sensitive area’s in case she was captured.

“So….what do you call yourselves? Or is ‘rebel’ you actual name?” Twilight asked as she resumed walking.

“The People's Free Democratic Republic or PFDR for short, though the news calls us rebels or terrorist.” She replied with a shrug. “Most people don’t get the name cause the government is already a Democracy but that’s where they are wrong. It’s all a lie and their votes don’t really matter. Regardless of what the people vote for the government has already decided a course of action and will fudge the numbers as much as it has to get what it wants and will lie to the public. What we want is a true Democracy where the people are in control.” Dr. Grey said as they rounded a corner into another hallway.

Twilight nodded as she walked in silence. These humans were so much different than the ones she was used to. She sighed, humans made no sense to her.

Slowly they made their way back to the infirmary as Twilight wanted to rest and think about what she had been told.

<<<O>>>

Twilight sat up in her bed as she heard yells coming from down the hall and the sound of rabidly approaching the infirmary. She saw Dr. Grey stand up from her desk at the far end of the room opposite the door.

Twilight had just gotten to her hooves when she saw what the yelling was about when the first two soldiers’ bushed through the curtain and Twilight froze wide eyed. Only one of the soldiers was actually walking, the other was being held on his feet and being half dragged by the first soldier. The soldier being support was clutching his side, blood seeping between his finger and he looked paler than the humans usually look. “Medic! We need a medic now!” The standing soldier yelled as they entered. He was followed by more soldiers carrying another injured soldier by his arms and legs.

“Get them on the bed now.” Dr. Grey ordered as she came around her desk and the soldiers moved the injured to the beds. “What happened?” She asked pushing past the soldiers once they had the injured on the beds.

“Ran into a Fed patrol in the woods, thought we could take them but there was another patrol right behind them.” The first soldier answered as he removed his helmet. Twilight stared as Dr. Grey start rapidly removing the armor of the soldier that was carried in.
“You go get his armor off and put pressure on his wound. “She ordered one of the soldiers who moved to obey. “Damnit.” Dr. Grey said. “Get my surgical kit from my desk now.” She said to no one in particular as she was focused on the soldier was trying to keep pressure on the wound. One of the soldiers quickly moved, searching her desk till he found it and running it back. “Damnit it where the hell is my staff!” Dr. Grey shouted and one of the soldier sprinted out.

“I need help over here!” The soldier with the other injured called out and the remaining soldier moved to help.

“Twilight I need your help over here.” Dr. Gray called out and Twilight snapped out of her shock and trotted over not sure what she could do to help. “I need you to put your hoof here and put as much pressure as you can on it.” She said grabbing Twilight’s leg and putting her hooves on the wound. Twilight hesitated a moment before leaning her weight onto her hoof as Dr. Grey opened her kit and started setting out its contents.

Twilight looked at the soldier, he was extremely pale and his breathing was very shallow. She wasn’t an expert of humans but from medical books she had read about pony medicine she knew this wasn’t good. “Twilight I hate to ask but he needs surgery and I have no idea where my staff is and he’s going to die if we don’t start now, can you assist?” Dr. Grey asked looking at Twilight very seriously. Twilight swallowed nervously but gave a small nod. “Ok good, I’ll do most of it, I’ll just need you to hand me what I ask to and occasionally hold things.” Twilight nodded again and Dr. Grey pushed her to the side and began to work.

The next half hour was one of the most stressful Twilight had ever known as she assisted Dr. Grey in trying to save the soldier’s life. At some point Dr. Grey’s staff showed up but there was no time for Twilight to switch out so the nurse’s tended to the other soldier.

Even with Twilight assisting it hadn’t matter, the soldier had lost too much blood before he had reached the infirmary. Twilight stared at the body covered in the white sheet. She wasn’t used to death, she knew it existed but this was the first time she had ever been this close to it. The sound of something crashing into the wall snapped Twilight out of her thoughts and when she looked she saw it was a helmet and she saw the squad leader storming out of the infirmary.

Dr. Grey walked back over to Twilight. “You should get cleaned up and rest Twilight. I’ll have the body dealt with.” She told Twilight resting a hand on her shoulder. Twilight nodded in response and pushed away from the bed. After washing up in the sink by the door and made her way to the bed she had been using since waking up with the rebels.

<<<O>>>

Twilight trotted down a darkened tunnel; on her back were a set of saddlebags. After she had woken from her restless sleep after the surgery she had found herself alone with the surviving soldier sleeping in his bed. Having no one to talk too had given her time to think. These humans weren’t like the ones at the lab they were actually…nice, but she wanted to get home and these humans didn’t seem capable of doing that so she had decided to leave.

Even though Dr. Grey had told her she wasn’t a prisoner and could leave anytime Twilight had still been surprised when Dr. Grey had told her she understood why and handed her saddle bags filled some food and water. They weren’t actually saddlebags but modified backs from a set of armor.

Taking it Dr. Grey had told her how to leave the mine and as Twilight trotted for the exit the only thing the guard did was stare at her do to the fact they had never seen her before, but none tried to stop her. Just like Dr. Grey had said.

Twilight rounded a corner and could see daylight at the end of the tunnel marking the exit. She knew there were a few sentries hidden outside to keep watch for whomever the rebels were fighting but Dr. Grey had assured her they had orders not to bother her.
Twilight walked to the edge of the tunnel and stopped. Everything she had been told as true, they were just letting her go. She wasn’t a prisoner; they didn’t want her to experiment on her. They didn’t seem to want anything from her and saw her as someone who had just gotten caught up in fighting. She stared out at the trees a way away from the mine entrance.

These humans defiantly weren’t like the monster’s she thought they all were. None of these humans made sense, how could they all be part of the same species and yet be so drastically different? How could one group embody evil while another was good? The only thing Twilight was sure about was that humans were confusing.

What was her plan anyway? She was on an alien planet she knew nothing about with no clue where to go or what dangers there were besides the fact there was a war on. So…what was she planning on doing out there? Try as she might she couldn’t come up with any answers. With a sigh she turned back from the exit and trotted back into the mine.

<<<O>>>

“Hey Dr. Grey can I ask you something?” Twilight asked as she took inventory of the base’s medical supplies. It had been a couple days since Twilight had decided to stay with the rebels and since the only person she really knew was Dr. Grey she had joined the medical staff as an apprentice of sorts. This was useful since she slept in the infirmary still till they could make room for her, which she had been told would be some time as every safe area of the mine was taken up.

“What is it Twilight?” Dr. Grey asked form behind her desk where she was reading a file on the surviving soldier from a few days ago, the infirmaries other current resident till Dr. Grey discharged him, Twilight had learned his name was Delco and he was currently sat up in bed reading a book.

“You told me when I first woke up that the squad that had rescued me also brought back a prisoner, who was it?” She set the clipboard down as she looked over at Dr. Grey. She had learned a little of how these humans worked and with the lack of room they didn’t take prisoners do to a lack of room for such.

“I don’t know, all I know is he knew a lot about what happened to you at the labs and was the reason the squad brought you back with them, he had been very insistent that if you had stayed they would continue to torture you.” Dr. Grey replied. “Other than that I don’t know anything. “She shrugged.

“Um…where would they be holding him?” Twilight had an idea who it was based on what Dr. Grey just told her.
“He’d most likely be held in one of the old safety rooms.” Twilight looked over at Delco as he spoke up; he had set his book aside.
“Safety room?” Twilight asked tilting her head to the side a bit.

“Yeah, they were room built for the miners to go to in case of a cave-in. they were heavily reinforced, would make an excellent cell temporarily.” He replied. “The only one that is in any safe area I a few levels down, though not sure why you’d want to see someone from that lab.”

“I just want to see who it is.” Twilight told him and after a few minutes he gave her directions to the room, he hadn’t want to as, due to the fact he was in the infirmary, had a general idea of what happened to Twilight in the lab. During one of Twilight’s conversations with the man he had told her he wished they had executed the science team rather than let them go do to the fact he viewed people like that didn’t deserve to live, for some reason that didn’t disturb Twilight as much as it should have and she found herself liking the rebel soldier.

After telling Dr. Grey and Delco that she’d be back later she made her way down to the safety room turned holding cell and was currently peering through the chain-link that covered the only window in the room at the young man in dirty medical scrubs currently sleeping on a cot in the corner of the room.

Her theory was right. “Marcus.” She called into the cell and knocked on the chain-link to wake the young man.
He slowly stirred and opened his eyes, rubbing his face as he sat up on the edge of the cot. He blinked when he saw Twilight. “438, are you ok? They haven’t hurt you have they?” He asked standing up and walking over to the window.

“It’s Twilight Marcus, we aren’t in the lab anymore and…I’d much rather you not call me that.” She said shuttering a bit at the memories it brought up, she quickly pushed them down as she continued on. “And no they have been treating me rather well; I’m actually part of the medical team.” She said smiling at the only other human who had ever been nice to her in the labs and based on what Dr. Grey told her actually could consider a friend from that place.

“Right, sorry, habit Twilight.” He said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “Wait you’ve joined them?” He said staring at her.
Twilight shrugged. “Kinda yeah, I don’t really have anywhere to and know nothing about your planet so it’s safer here rather than out there, and I couldn’t stay unless I pulled my own weight so I joined the medical team.”

Marcus sighed. “I guess that makes sense. I’m just glad you didn’t end up in another situation like at Demanil Labs…”He trailed off, she could tell he was thinking of the fact he was part of the lab so is responsible for what happened even if it is only small.
“I forgive you.” Twilight said, she didn’t want him dwelling on it.

“You…what?” He said looking confused.

“Dr. Grey told me it was because of you that the rebels didn’t leave me there. And because you were the only one to treat me with any decency while there, I forgive you for what happened at the lab.” She told him with a smile.

He stared at her. “Ah...uh...thank you Twilight.” He said and she could see his shoulder visibly relax. Twilight guessed it had all been eating him up from the inside out.

“I’m going to talk to Dr. Grey about getting you out of here and possible coming to work for her.” Twilight told him, it was just the thing she could do to thank him for getting her out of the labs.

“I’m no rebel.” He said firmly.

Twilight sighed. “Marcus, it’s because of you that the rebels got me out of there, I don’t think you can go back to your old life and like me you have nowhere else to go.” She said and saw his shoulder visibly slump. “Don’t worry; I’m sure Dr. Grey will be happy to have you on her staff after I tell her about you.” She said smiling; she didn’t know how to cheer the young man up. She was a stranger to this planet so the choice was easier for her but Marcus had had a life before he made the decision to rescue Twilight, he had thrown his entire life away for someone he only knew from delivering food to in a pen. Twilight couldn’t begin to imagine what he was going through. “Don’t worry, everything will work out, I’m sure of it.” She said and dropped back down to all four hooves and walked back up the tunnel past the four guards assigned to watch Marcus to make sure he didn’t try to escape.

<<<O>>>

Twilight Stood beside Dr. Grey as the guards lead Marcus into the infirmary. “So based on what Twilight has told me I am willing to give you a chance, but I warn you if I think you are endangering the lives of my patients…”Dr. Grey moved the side of her lab coat showing the pistol holster on her hip. Twilight couldn’t help but sigh, it had been hard convincing Dr. Grey to at least try, but she made it very clear she was going to be armed whenever Marcus was on duty.

Twilight had to give Marcus credit as all he did was nod as he glanced at the pistol but he seemed to understand why Dr. Grey was being cold. “Anyways, welcome to the team Marcus.” Twilight said smiling to try and brighten the mood. She couldn’t help but hear Delco snort and could practically hear him roll his eyes, He had been firmly against allowing Marcus anywhere but the cell and said he wouldn’t allow Marcus anywhere near him, though he had used more colorful langue to say it.

“You can help Twilight take inventory, I’ll be watching.” With that Dr. Grey turned and walked to her desk and sat behind it while two guards took up position at the door. Another of the stipulations, Marcus was not allowed to leave the Infirmary.

Sighing once more Twilight went back over to where the medical supplies were stored and Marcus soon joined her. “Sorry about them, they are usually friendlier.” She told him as she took up the clipboard in her magic. She wasn’t able to do much more than that but she figured out the drugs she had been being given in her food was to make her unable to use her magic and that meant she had been taking it for a month so it would be some time before she could fully use her magic again.

“It’s alright Twilight I can understand, I was technically an enemy not long ago so it make’s sense they wouldn’t trust me as they would you.” Marcus said with a shrug.

Twilight nodded. “So I figured you can go through the supplies and I’ll mark them off, sound good?” She asked and Marcus nodded.
The next hour was passed relatively uneventfully, if it wasn’t for the fact Twilight was in an old mine, still healing from what was done to her, Marcus wasn’t Spike and the fact these were medical supplies and not books it almost felt like she was back home in Equestria.
Once they had finished Twilight set the clipboard on Dr. Grey’s desk and she thanked her. After that there wasn’t much to do beside regularly check Delco’s bandages so Twilight and Marcus talked for a while till it was late and they headed off to bed.

<<<O>>>

Twilight wasn’t sure how long she had slept before something woke her up. The first this she noticed was that Dr. Grey wasn’t at her desk so it must have been late; the second and more disturbing thing she noticed was that the two guards by the door were missing.
She looked over and saw Delco and Marcus were still asleep. Twilight got to her hooves and walked over to Marcus and nudged him. “Hey, Marcus wake up, something wrong.” She said nudging him again. He mumbled something but with a few more nudged he woke up.
“Huh…what? Twilight? What’s wrong? “He asked and she gestured to where the guards should be. “Where are the guards?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I woke you up, I think something’s wrong.” Twilight said looking at the vacant space.

“You think we should go and investigate?” Marcus asked looking at her.

“Only if you want to get shot.” Delco said from his bed, apparently their talking had woken him up.” Remember you aren’t allowed to leave the infirmary.”

“Right…good point.” Marcus said and Twilight sighed. She looked around the room trying to figure out what woke her up. As she stood there her ears caught a distant sound echoing down the tunnels, gunshots.

“Oh no…”She said and Delco and Marcus looked at her. “I can hear gunshots.” The two of them stared at her till the gunfire grew loud enough for them to hear.

“Shit.” Delco said as he threw his blankets off of himself and tried to get out of bed but his legs buckled under his weight do to his injury right above his hip and the painkillers in his system. Marcus got out of bed and went to try and help him up but Delco shoved him away. “I don’t need some former fucking Feds help.” He growled as he used the bed to try and stand but his legs wouldn’t hold his weight. Before Marcus could say anything the curtain was pushed to the side and Dr. Grey stumbed in holding her pistol in one hand and her shoulder bleeding. She collapsed on the floor, her pistol sliding a way away from her. “What the hell is going on doc?” Delco asked trying to stand still.
“Feds! They found us, they sent in a strike team.” Twilight grabbed one of the med kits and trotted over to Dr. Grey’s side opening. “There’s no time Twilight, they were right behind me, we have to get out of here.” She said and before anyone could react the curtain was pushed to the side as a soldier in black and white combat gear pushed into the room rifle at the ready. He took aim at Dr. Grey and Twilight’s eyes widened as her horn flared.

Chapter 3: First Time

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Federal Press July 12, 2037
REBELS RAID LAB
By: Mark Erickson
Last night rebel forces launched a daring raid on Deminal Labs killing much of the staff. Survivors who escaped do to the brave efforts of the lab Security Forces giving their lives to protect the research staff. The survivors were eventually able to reach the nearby town of Hudson Cross and report the incident and were later picked up by Federal Army forces.
When Federal Army sent a small force to search for more survivors they found the labs completely destroyed, preliminary findings suggest the rebels planted multiple bombs to bring the building down. The loss of Demanil Labs has set government research into alternative energy sources back by months as all research stored within the building is a total loss.
Research will be restarted at a new undisclosed site as much of the science team involved with the research has survived….

<<<O>>>

Doctor Agatha Grey, former ICU trauma doctor at Our Lady of Hope Hospital, now turned rebel, walked down the tunnels of the rebel base. Past dried pools of blood on the floor and some smeared on the walls left by injured as the fled the advancing Federal Army strike team. Her left arm was in a sling do to having been shot in the shoulder during the attack.

The attack had been swift and brutal, standard Fed movements. They had gotten inside of the tunnels before anyone had actually noticed them do to the units station topside having been found and taken out silently. The rebels had been caught completely off guard and had barely been able to mount a counter attack to repel the Feds. Once they were sure there were no more Feds hiding in the base or nearby they began the process of collecting the dead and injured.

At first they had been sending them to the infirmary but Dr. Grey had directed them to the mess hall stating it was larger and could actually hold the inured. That had only been part of the truth and not even the main reason.

As she entered the infirmary she saw the main reason, Twilight Sparkle sat where Dr. Grey had left her staring at the dried pool of blood a beside the door, empty bullet casing and medical supplies from a dropped medkit scattered around her, Her eyes were shrunk as small as they could be and were unfocused staring at the dried blood.

“Hey….Twilight...” Dr. Grey said gently and like every other time Twilight failed to respond. Dr. Grey sighed and took a seat on the bed closest to Twilight and started at her with sympathy.

When Dr. Grey had stumbled into the infirmary during the attack it had been with the intention of getting Delco, Marcus and Twilight out before the Feds showed up. She had overestimated how close they had been and been caught off guard when a Fed soldier stormed the infirmary rifle at the ready. Dr. Grey had fully expected to die and closed her eyes to wait for the shots.

She had heard them of course but she didn’t feel any pain. After a few seconds she realized she hadn’t been shot, when she opened her eyes she saw the Fed soldier on the floor choking on his own blood from a neck wound and held in Twilight’s magic was Dr. Grey’s dropped pistol. The little unicorn was still squeezing the trigger over and over again even through the gun clicked empty, her eye’s unforced on where the soldier had been and tears streaming down her face. The gun was too weak to actually damage Fed combat armor, especially since it was loaded with hallow points, but a round had struck the soldier in the neck and wrecked his throat and passed through his jugular.
It hadn’t taken long for the soldier to die either from blood loss or choking on his own blood, Dr. Grey didn’t know which. Slowly Dr. Grey had taken the pistol from Twilight and when the soldier expired Twilight had shut down completely. No matter what Dr. Grey had tried the little unicorn hadn’t responded, she just stared at the body.

Even after the body had been removed she continued to stare, Dr. Grey had to check periodically to make sure she was still breathing. Dr. Grey had learned a few things about the mare as she worked in the infirmary, about how she came from a peaceful land where war was a long distant memory that no one understood and people only died from old age or the occasional accident or sickness.

Dr. Grey had seen death before both in her personal life when her parent passed away and in her professional life when she lost patients. And today Twilight had seen a man died in front of her from injuries and a few hours later she took the life of another. Dr. Grey wasn’t surprised she had shut down.

She sat a while With Twilight talking to her about anything that came to mind in the hope of drawing her back out but the mare remained unresponsive. Dr. Grey sighed as she needed to get back to the mess hall to tend to the injured. She stood and told Twilight she would be back on her next break and left her sitting in the infirmary. She hoped the mare would recover before it was time for the rebels to move to their new base since this one was now known.

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle sat staring at dried blood. The event of a few hours ago playing over and over in her head. She hadn’t meant to kill him, she thought he would run or something, but he hadn’t instead she had killed him. The worst part being it hadn’t even been a quick death; no he had suffered because of her.

Twilight was vaguely aware of someone entering the infirmary; it was probably whoever it had been early. A shadow fell over her but she didn’t look away from the blood, even when whoever it was waved their hand in front of her face. She was aware they said something and then suddenly her head was being tilted back as something was poured down her throat. Whatever it was burned as it went down and she coughed and sputtered pushing whatever it was away as the liquid settle in her stomach and seemed to have its own warmth.

“Ah there we are, she does still live.” Someone said with a chuckle and Twilight looked at the speaker. It was an older human; most of his once dark hair was grey and cut very short. Even with his obviously advanced age Twilight could tell he was fit because all her wore was camouflaged jacket and pants and the boots that all the rebels wore. Twilight couldn’t help staring up at him as he took drink of an amber liquid from the bottle he was holding. “So what are you doing here all by yourself staring off into space?” He asked after his drink.

“I….I killed someone…”Twilight replied in a quiet voice and looked down at her hooves.

“So?” The man asked and Twilight looked back up at him, his face was completely emotionless as he looked down at her.
“I…I never ….killed anyone before…I….I didn’t mean to….” She whispered.

The man took another drink from the bottle and sighed as he moved over and sat down on one of the bed and swirled the contents of the bottle. “Way I hear it you saved three people.” The man looked up at her.” He wouldn’t have hesitated to shoot everyone in here and then move on.” He took another drink from the bottle and offered it to Twilight. Tentative she took it in her magic and took a large drink, that had been a mistake as it burned her throat and she coughed hard. “You need to sip it, it’s not like water. “The man laughed and patted Twilight on the back to help her.

“W-what is that stuff, it burns.” Twilight said, she could feel the warmth spreading from her stomach to the rest of her body slowly.
“Whiskey, nectar of the gods.” He replied and took another drink. “I saw how you looked and thought you could use a drink and since you didn’t’ say anything when I asked if you wanted one, I took that as a yes.” He said smiling at her. Despite everything Twilight found herself giggling a bit, she felt a bit light headed. “And it seems I was right. “He smiled wide and took another drink and offered it to her. This time she took a sip.

He patted the bed beside her and Twilight hopped up and sat beside him. “I know how it is, you’re first time is never easy and you never forget it. Ask anyone here and they all have a story and most of them handled it not much better then you did.” He told her taking a drink. “Hell first time I shot someone I pissed myself.” He took a sip and held the bottle out.

Twilight took a sip. “Really?” She looked at him.

“Yes, but if you tell anyone I’ll deny it.” He looked at her very seriously for a moment then his features softened and he took another drink before holding out his hand. “Tomas Clancy.”

Twilight put her hoof in his hand. “Twilight Sparkle.” She said as they shook hand and hoof.

“It’s nice to meet you Ms. Sparkle.” He said as he let her hoof go.

“I prefer Twilight.” She said and he chuckled taking another sip. They talked and drank for a while longer before he finally stood up.” As much as I enjoy having a new drinking buddy I have duties to attend to Twilight.” He patted her head before he turned towards the door and made his way over. He stopped before it and looked over his shoulder at her. “You’re going to be ok Twilight, and if you ever need to talk, just ask anyone where I am and I’ll see what I can do to make time.” And with that he stepped through the door and disappeared into the tunnels of the rebel base.

It wasn’t long after Clancy had left that Dr. Grey retuned and she froze seeing Twilight sitting on one of the beds. Twilight gave a small wave she swayed a bit. Her head was a bit foggy and she had a nice warm feeling all over her body. “You…are you ok?” Dr. Grey asked.
“I think so.” Twilight replied her words a little slurred.

“A-are you drunk?” Dr. Grey asked in shock as she stared at her.

“Drunk? I don’t know, I just drank something call ‘whiskey’ with Clancy.” She said and giggled a bit. “I have to agree with him, it is the nectar of the gods.”

Dr. Grey stared at her. “Clancy, Tomas Clancy?” She asked and Twilight nodded, though she almost fell off the bed when she did. “General Clancy came here…and you drank Whiskey with him?”

“General?” Twilight asked looking at Dr. Grey inquisitively.

“General Tomas Clancy is the leader of the PFDR and the one that started the entire resistance.” Dr. Grey said looking around. “And he was here and you drank whiskey with him?!”

“Yeah, he said we were drinking buddies.” Twilight said, her foggy mind not comprehending what the leader of the entire resistance sharing a drink with her meant. Dr. Grey just stared at her for a while as Twilight’s head got foggier as more of the whiskey reached her brain and the room seemed to spin a bit. “Oh…everything is all spinny.” She said as she swayed more and eventually fell over on the bed passing out.

<<<O>>>

Sometime later Twilight slowly started to wake up. One of the first things she noticed was that she was moving. The next thing she noticed was that she had a splitting headache. With a groan she opened her eyes and found she was on a stretcher being carried by two PFDR soldier through the woods. She wasn’t’ sure what time it was but a quick look at the sky through the trees revealed that it was night.
“So finally decided to rejoin us I see. “Delco said from a stretcher being carried by two other soldiers.

Twilight groaned, his voice hurt her head. “What happened…” She asked covering her ears.

“You are experiencing your first hangover.” Delco said and smirked at her. “When you recover you sure pick an interesting way to do it.”
“I didn’t pick it, it was picked for me…”She said,

“Here, the headache is because you are dehydrated.” Delco said as he held out a canteen of water. Twilight took it and drained half of its contents before she handed it back. Feeling a bit better she looked around, there were ten other rebel soldiers beside the four carrying Delco and Twilight, all armed and watching the woods carefully. Twilight noticed only two of them had the armor she had seen the rebels wear, the rest had mismatched sets but all of them were dark green in color she’d need to ask about that.
“Where are we and why are we here.” Twilight asked looking at Delco.

“We are heading to the new base, but if we all went together by the same route we would be noticed fast. So we are moving in small groups all taking a different way. Dr. Grey wanted to come with our group to keep an eye on you but thought it would be best she stay with that Fed friend of yours to make sure nothing happened to him. She told me to say ‘Hi’ when you woke up.” Delco said looking at the surrounding trees. “In the meantime you are in the care of one of the field medics and me to an extent I’m assuming. Unless there was another reason I was suddenly put in the group.” He looked back at her and shrugged.

“So where is the new base?” She asked lowering her voice.

Delco shrugged again. “Hell if I know; only one member of each group actually knows where we are going. The rest of us are just following.”
“I guess that makes some sense, wouldn’t do much good if one of us were captured and could tell.” Twilight said and got a look from Delco. “What?”

“You just said ‘one of us’ weren’t you just helping out so that you had somewhere to stay?”

Twilight’s ears went back. “I…guess I did.” She sighed. “But that kind of changed….when I killed that soldier…”

“Fed. We call them Feds, it’s short for Federal Army. I owe you one for that by the way seeing as you saved my life and all.”

“Yeah…don’t worry about it, you’re my friend and…I just didn’t want anything to happen to you.” She told him looking at him and he nodded.
“You should try to rest, a lot is going to happen once we reach wherever it is we are going, got a lot to do to set up a new base.” He told her. “I’ll wake you if anything interesting happens.” He told her and patted her head. She nodded and laid her head back down. The headache was already starting to go away and with the stress of what had happened sleep soon took her.

<<<O>>>

The next time Twilight awoke they were walking down a concrete aquafer towards a tunnel at the end of it. “Where are we?” She asked looking over at Delco. She thankfully felt a lot better than she did before though the headache was still there it was bearable.

“Welcome to the city of Calten, or more precisely, welcome to an entrance to the Calten sewers.” Delco said wrinkling his nose. “Seems out next base is under the damn city.”

“In…the sewers?” Twilight asked eyes widening and her nose wrinkled as well.

“Seems to be where we are headed, it’s actually kind of a good idea.”

“How is hiding in a sewer a good idea?”

“Considering the sewer system links to every part of the city and the fact if you take into account all the sewer tunnels, old and new, utility tunnels, and who knows what other tunnels were built since the city was founded and it adds up to being about five times bigger than the city itself. It would be impossible for the Feds to search for us down there.” He said and shrugged. “Still it’s going to stink like hell.”

Twilight had to agree it was a good place to hide based on what Delco told her and she also had to agree with how it will smell, especially to her sensitive nose. She was not looking forward to the new base.

As the group slowly entered the tunnels Twilight became acutely aware of the smell and that it was in fact bad. The worst part was if it smelled this bad so close to fresh air how would it smell further in. She sighed; she was going to find out.

“Not that it isn’t fun carrying you ma’am but if you are able to walk, would you mind doing so?” The front soldier asked turning his head back to face Twilight as he spoke.

“Oh…um…right, sorry. “She said sheepishly and rolled off the stretcher onto her hooves. The lead soldier stopped long enough to break the stretcher down and store it in his pack before moving to catch up with the rest of the group along with Twilight and the soldier carrying Delco.

The tunnel was dark, only being lit by lights set into the wall every twenty meters or so, when they actually weren’t burnt out or broken. The soldiers some of the soldiers activated lights on their helmets to help light the way as they went deeper and deeper under the city.

After a while they were soon in parts of the sewers that seemed older than what they had been going through and the rest of the soldiers turned on their helmet lights or took out lanterns for the ones who didn’t have helmets.

Twilight wasn’t sure how long they walked through the maze of tunnels, it felt like hours to her but when they rounded a corner she saw a light at the end of the tunnel and couldn’t help but smile. The darkness was growing very tiresome.

“Hey want to know the difference between a pessimist, an optimist and a realist?” Delco asked her.

“Uh…sure?” She said glancing at her.

“Well you see a pessimist only sees the dark walls of the cave.” He said and gestured to the darkness around them.” An optimist only sees the light at the end of the tunnel.” He gestured to the light.” And a realist” He paused for dramatic effect.” A realist knows that that light is probably an oncoming train.” He said and Twilights eyes widened as he looked between him and the light in alarm.

Delco’s laugh cut short her growing panic attack. “Oh man you are easy. Does this look like a train tunnel?” He asked her and she had to admit, it didn’t. Her cheeks turning red she stared forward. She couldn’t believe how easily the rebel soldier had gotten her!

Slow the blush faded from her cheeks as they neared the light. Twilight couldn’t help but gasp when they entered a large circular room with high ceilings. Looking up at the large flood lights suspended from the ceiling she estimated the room was about three stories tall and about the widths of a hoofball field.

The room was filled with rebel soldiers carrying equipment every which way, setting up tables, chairs, and going off into side tunnels. She heard Delco whistle next to her. “Wow, I see why they chose this place, it’s huge.” Twilight couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

The group stood where they were till another soldier came over. “Good you finally arrived; we were starting to get worried.” He said and looked at Twilight and the medics carrying Delco.” You follow me, Dr. Grey left orders you two were to be brought to her as soon as you arrived.” The soldier said then looked at the rest of the group. “Go and help unload equipment.” He told them and with that he turned on his heels and headed for a side tunnels with Twilight and the medics following.

Twilight couldn’t help look around at all the activity, the mine hadn’t been this active, though the mine had already been set up when she arrived and this one was being set up so it made sense.

It took them some time to reach the infirmary do to having to wade through soldiers carrying crates of ammo and equipment to other parts of the new rebel base, but they soon arrived in what used to be a maintenance storage area. Whatever had been stored in the room was gone and now the walls were lined with cots. In the corners of the room someone had set up floodlight to make sure the room was brightly lit. On the door had a Red Cross spray painted on the door.

As they entered Twilight saw Dr. Grey moving from one occupied cot to the next along with her staff tending to the wounded who were too injured to have been allowed to leave the infirmary. “Oh good you’ve arrived.” Dr. Grey said noticing the group and she nodded to the soldier that had leaded them to new infirmary. The soldier saluted then departed leaving the three humans and one unicorn. “Put him over there then could you two help me check the others?” She told the medics who nodded and carried Delco to the cot she had indicted and transferred him onto it. They then went to check on the other injured.

Dr. Grey smiled when she looked at Twilight. “It’s good you see your walking around Twilight.”

Twilight nodded.”Yeah, the medics didn’t want to carry me through the tunnels when I woke up so I had to walk.” She said and gave a pout, getting a laugh from Dr. Grey. “But in all seriousness this place looks amazing, though I don’t know if I’ll be able to learn my way around here. It was like a maze just to get down here.”

“Oh you’ll get used to it, will just take a little time and we have maps.” She said and patted Twilight’s head. Slowly her face took on a sympathetic look. “How are you feeling?” She asked hesitantly.

Twilight sighed.” Better than I was, I’m no longer drunk and…I’m a bit better than before but I don’t know if I’ll ever get over what happened.” She said looking down.

“Good.” Dr. Grey said causing Twilight to look up in shock. “We don’t have any room for those who kill because they enjoy it. We kill because we have to; to fight for what’s right, not because we enjoy it.” Dr. Grey said. “We have no room for monsters in our ranks.” She said firmly and Twilight gave a small nod.

“Anyway I can help here?” She asked and Dr. Grey gave a nod.

“Yes could you unpack our medical supplies and store them in that locker over there?” She said gesturing to a two creates that were stacked beside some wall mounted storage lockers. “I’ll leave organization to you.” With a nod Twilight made her way to the creates and began her work.

<<<O>>>

After organizing the medical supplies Dr. Grey had suggested Twilight go explore a bit to get a general idea of the layout of the new base and Twilight had thought it was a good idea. And that was how she found herself in the large circular room she had started thinking of as the main room. There was a little less activity but it was still very busy. It reminded Twilight of the market places of Canterlot, with the addition of a few large tents having been set up it just added to the feeling.

slowly made her way through the room having to dodge past soldier who were on their way to other parts of the base. Eventually she managed to reach the other side of room and took another look back at the main room, she had no idea why a sewer would have such a large room but then again she didn’t know much about the city above so the room probably served a purpose.

With that thought she turned and made her way down the tunnel. It wasn’t hard to figure out what wing she had ended up in when she saw the crates of ammo and guns stacked on one side of the hall waiting to be brought to whatever room was acting as an armory.

As she walked past soldier going about her business she caught site of a lone soldier in a side room using a spray can to make a straight line across the room and she could help but stop and stare trying to figure out what he was doing. She saw there were three other lines pained across the room leading to a far wall.

“You going to stand there or are you going to help an old man?” The soldier said in a gruff voice as he shook the can.

“Oh um…I was…”

“Just standing there while an old man did all the hard work.” He interrupted her and looked up at her. “Am I right kid?”

Sighing Twilight walked in and took the can into her magic as the old soldier got to his feet and walked over to a chair in the corner and sat. He pulled a small pack of cigarettes from his front pocket and shook one out as his other hand retrieved a light from a pouch on his hip and lit the cigarette he placed between his lips.

Twilight stared at him. “You know what will kill you right?” She said.

“Yeah? So will a bullet kid.” He said and took a drag before gesturing for her to get to work. Grumbling Twilight started to continue the line. “What is this even for?” She asked.

“Firing lines.” The older soldier replied. “You are standing in our new firing range kid.”

“I’m not a kid, I’m twenty three years old and my name is Twilight.” She said with annoyance.

“Kid you come up to my hip.” The soldier replied simply resulting in a sigh from Twilight. Once she finished the line the soldier told her were to make the next one and she started on it. “If this is so hard for you to do why didn’t you get someone else to do it?” She asked as she worked.

“I did kid.” He said and Twilight stopped and looked at him as he blew smoke from his nose and she realized what he went and she groaned as she went back to work. Once the lines were down the soldier directed her to set up some folding tables against the wall opposite the lines then to go and set up some paper targets on the other wall.

Once everything was finally finished the soldier stood and stretched. “Well glad that’s finally done.” He said and twilight couldn’t stop from glaring at him.

“You didn’t really do anything.” She said annoyance growing.

“I got you to do it kid, you think I wanted to do it?” He asked her as he dropped what was left of his cigarette and ground it under foot. “And besides you’re the new blood so it’s your job.”

“New blood?” She asked annoyance replaced by confusion.

“You are the newest person to join up, which means you get the shit jobs that no one else wants to do.” He said as if explaining to a child. “We all know what happened in the infirmary.” Twilight opened her mouth to argue that it didn’t mean she was a soldier but the old soldier went on not giving her a chance to. “You’re a damn hero.”

This made Twilight’s brain skip for a moment. “Wh-what?”

“You saved the Doc, without her most of us wouldn’t even be here anymore. You literally saved us all by saving her and so you have our respect.” He said nodding to her and she blushed a bit. “But you still get the shit jobs kid.” And the blushed vanished with annoyance.
“I’m not a kid!” She said.

“Whatever kid, I’m Sergeant Malcolm Dupo; I’m in charge of the armory. If you need a gun, ammo or firearms training you come to me kid.” He said tapping his chest. “Anything else and I’d thank you to leave me the hell alone.”

“Uh…I’m Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia and the Element of Magic.” She said surprised at how formal the old sergeant was it had caused her to be just as formal back.

just stared at her for a while and then spoke. “Ok kid that’s nice doesn’t mean a damn thing to me.” He eyed her. “Now unless you want something, I’d thank you to get the hell out of my armory.”

Interlude: Dreams or Nightmares?

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Twilight finished reassembling her side arm and returned it its holster on her chest. As she put the bottles of chemicals back into her pocket dimension she looked over at her friends. Spike stared with wide eyes; Fluttershy was curled into a ball hiding behind her mane whimpering while Rarity was trying to calm her down as best she could while looking like she was trying to not be sick. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were staring at her in a mix of shock and horror and strangely enough Pinkie Pie looked to have handled things the best her mane had only lost a little of its poof and she stared at Twilight intently.

Pinkie stood and walked over to where Twilight sat and put her front hooves around her shoulders pulling her into a tight hug. Slowly Twilight returned the hug noting Pinkie’s shiver as the cold metal wrapped around her. “I’m ok Pinkie, like I said this all happened a long time ago, I’ve gotten over it.”

Pinkie gave a small nod as she released the hug and wiped some tears from her eyes. “I know Twilight, but it’s been so long since you had a proper hug.” She said and smiled at Twilight before looking back at the others. “Right girls?” She said and the others jerked as if they were slapped before trotting over and hugging Twilight in a group hug.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah I guess it has been.” She said and returned the hug as best as she could. “Anyways, I think that’s enough storytelling for the night. You guys are tired.” She said releasing the hug and the other stepped back.

What makes you think that Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I’m not tired at all.”

“Guy’s I know you are all tired, and in two of your cases suffering from severe nausea.” She said and they all stared at her. With a sigh Twilight taped next to her eyes. “Passive Medical scan. It shows me basic medical information of any living being I’m looking at. Normally when not in the field I ignore the information it displays but in this case it was kind of important.” She said looking at their now confused faces. “Remember I was a trained medic, so I thought the upgrade would be useful, which it was.”

They still just stared at her and Twilight sighed. “Look it’s late; I want to have dinner and then go to sleep in a bed I haven’t seen in a long time.” She said and looked at them. “If you don’t mind.” That did it. The bid their farewells, Pinkie giving Twilight another hug and telling her if she’s up for it the party could be tomorrow. Twilight thought that sounded like a good idea and with that everyone but spike left.
With another sigh Twilight closed the door and smiled at spike. “So then how about some dinner?” She said walking towards the kitchen.
“Oh yeah what do you want?” Spike asked following her.

Twilight thought about a bit. “Hmm…I think some daisy sandwiches sound good and…”She trailed off and Spike looked at her. “Do we have any ham or something?”

“What?” Spike asked looking at her in shock.

“Ham, you know pork? Meat?” She tilted her head a bit. Spike just stared at her. “Didn’t I mention I’m an omnivore now?” Spike shook his head. “Huh…thought I mentioned that.” She shrugged. “Oh well. Do we have any?”

“Um…no…n we don’t.” Spike said as he opened the fridge.

“Ah, too bad, we will need to pick some up tomorrow then.” Twilight said as she sat at the table.

Spike looked at her for a long while before he started to make their sandwiches. When he turned back towards the table he saw Twilight had some sort of flat, black device in front of her and judging by the light shining on her face the side facing Twilight was lit up. “Hey Twi what’s that?” He asked as he set her plate before her.

“Hm? Oh this? It’s just my Datapad.” She said not looking up from it. Her magic gripped her sandwich and took a bite as she looked at the screen.

“And…what are you doing with it?” He asked as he took his seat across from her.

“Writing my after-action report on today’s events.” He said taking another bite of food.

“Report? You mean for the Princess?”

“I guess if she wants it though it will be hard to send it to her, unless in the time I’ve been gone Equestria has had a technology boom I’d have to give it to her in person as there is no way I want to see what your dragon fire would do to it.” She looked up. “No offence.” She went back to her work before he could respond.

She finished her report and moved the pad back to the pocket dimension. Now that she wasn’t distracted she quickly finished eating and stood up. “Thank you for making that Spike.” She said before leaving the baby dragon to finish his food.

She made her way up to her room and slowly pushed the door open and turned on the light. She stood in the doorway looking around the room. It was a sight she hadn’t seen in a very long time and she wanted to enjoy the moment.

After a few minutes she slowly walked into the room using her magic to start removing her armor as she teleported her helmet from the table downstairs onto the small table beside her bed. Once the armor was off she held it in her magic eyeing the window for a long while before shaking her head. “There are no snipers here…” She whispers before cautiously stepping in front of the window, her eyes locked on the rooftops of the other building and their windows reading to drop the second she saw a shadow out of place.

She saw nothing and reached her bed. She looked around. She wasn’t sure where to put her armor; she could put it in the closet but what if she needed it in a hurry? She needed a locker or a stand for it. In the end she set it on the floor beside her night stand and removed her side arm and set it on the stand in easy reach. With a satisfied nod she turned to find Spike staring at her. “Something wrong?”

“Twi are you ok? You are acting really weird.” He said as he stepped into the room.

“I’m fine. Nothing to worry about.” She smiled to reassure him. It was true; she knew every escape route from the room and the rest of the library as well as all the possible places someone could attack her from. “Just enjoying being home.” He looked at her for a long while before he made his way to his basket and climbed in. Twilight smiled and gently tucked him in before climbing into her bed. “Good night Spike.” She said and turned off the lights. She closed her eyes with a small sigh and waited for sleep to take her.

After an hour she was still awake. No matter how she laid, no matter how comfortable she got sleep escaped her. She kept finding her thoughts drifting to the window. With an annoyed groan she put the pillow over her head. “There are no Fed strike teams here, no snipers, and no attack helicopters. No Feds of any kind Twilight.” She told herself but her eyes drifted to the window and she imagined a flashbang smashing through the window followed a few second later by a black and white armor wearing humans.

With a sigh she rolled out of bed, grabbed her armor, helmet, side arm blanket and pillow before leaving the room. She made her way to the basement and looked around, only one entrance. She placed her things across from the stairs then looked around. Using her magic she moved some stuff off a table and moved it over to where her stuff was and laid it on her side between her sleeping area and the stairs. With a satisfied nod she slipped under the blankets and sleep claimed her in seconds.

<<<O>>>

Princess Luna, Mistress of the night and dream, moved through the Dreamscape over seeing her subject’s dreams. She kept her eyes open for any of the many star like orbs that floated in the void around her looking for any that flickered to indicate a nightmare.

As she moved she sensed a ripple through the Dreamscape and when she looked around she saw a rapidly flickering orb of light and moved towards it. As she neared it something felt familiar but yet very alien to her about the dream. It was like she knew the pony whose dream it was but yet also didn’t.

Both for her duty and out of curiosity she slowly entered the dream.

The dream scape faded and a dark forest. Looking around she found the dream was set at night. “Man we sure showed the Fed fucks a thing or two huh?” A voice not far from her said. She had no idea what a Fed was but she wondered why a pony would use such language to describe them.

Making her way through the woods her eyes widened when she saw a group of armor wearing bipeds walking through the woods. Though they were dressed as soldiers only a few wore what could be called full sets of the dark green armor and in their hands were strange metal objects she could only assume were weapons.

She followed the group as they continued to talk about some form of “raid” they had just completed against these Fed creatures. She ignored the vulgarities some of them used to describe them. As the group passed a small hill the sound quiet forest was filled with a loud clattering noise and Luna saw flashed from the trees at the top of the hill and members of the group drop to the ground from bleeding wounds. “AMBUSH!” One of the still standing ones yelled as the group scattered for cover raising their strange weapons and filling the forest with more clattering as the weapons spat small gouts of flame.

Luna recoiled as three of the dark green soldiers, who had taken cover together behind a fall log, were suddenly consumed by an explosion. “They have a grenadier!” one of the dark green soldiers yelled as he fired his weapon from behind a large tree. Luna watched as the soldiers fell one by one.

“They are flanking us! Fall back!” A familiar voice yelled and when Luna looked her breath caught as she saw Twilight Sparkle behind a log, wielding one of the strange weapons in her mage and wearing the same dark green armor as the bipeds. She aimed the weapon over the log and fired. “Move damnit!” She yelled her voice full of authority. Luna stared at the young unicorn mare, she looked like a completely different pony then the one Luna knew. Her eyes were filled with defiance and determination and as Luna looked closer she saw one of them didn’t match the other, it was the same color as the other but it didn’t look like a natural eye. The mass of scar tissue around it didn’t help. As Luna looked more she saw that Twilight’s front legs were made of metal.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck come on man stay with me!” Luna heard one of the biped say behind her. When she looked she saw one hunched over another of the soldier, his fingers laced as he kept pushing on the fallen soldier’s chest. Luna saw the side of the fallen soldier’s chest was splattered with blood. “Come on damnit breath!” Suddenly Twilight was beside the biped.

“He’s gone, fucking move!” She yelled at the soldier.

“No! I’m not leaving him!” The soldier yelled back and continued in what Luna could only assume were attempts to revive the fallen soldier.
Twilight ground and hit the soldier in the face with her mettle hoof and he fell back out cold. “You two! Get him out of here!” She yelled at two remain soldiers who nodded and grabbed the unconscious soldiers by the arms and dragged him into the dark forest. Twilight linger long enough to reach around the fallen soldiers neck and yank a metal necklace her wore that had two square bits of metal on it and she slipped it into a pocket on her armor before she followed the soldiers into the trees.

Luna looked around at what was left of the battle, at least two thirds of the dark green soldiers who had been walking lay dead on the forest floor.

Suddenly the dream shifted and Luna was standing in a stone room lit by overhead lights. The room had a few lockers in it and another biped sitting behind a metal desk wearing camouflage. Suddenly the door behind Luna banged open and Twilight stormed in.
“Ah sergeant you have returned.” The biped behind the desk said as Twilight put her right hoof up to the front edge of her helmet in what Luna assumed was some form of salute. “At ease sergeant.” The biped said and Twilight relaxed. “I understand there were some issues with the raid.”

“The raid went off perfectly sir.” Twilight answered stiffy, Luna could see controlled rage behind her eyes. “It was after the raid everything when to fucking hell in a hand basket.” She growled.

“Give me your report.” The biped said.

“We were fucking ambushed! I don’t know how they fucking knew what route we were taking back to base but they were ready for us!” Twilight spat. “They handed us our asses and we barely made it back by the skin of our teeth.” She said and Luna saw her shoulders slump a bit. “Some of us anyways…”She said quietly.

“Yes, I’ve got the preliminary report. I am sorry for your loss Twilight, for a first mission this one was a bit…rough.” The biped said with sympathy.

“Rough? Fucking rough! Most of my men are lying dead in the fucking forest!” Twilight shouted. “My first fucking command and most of my fucking men are dead!” She reared up and slammed her metal hooves down on the desk, denting it. “I got Wilkerson killed! He and McKay have been together since this whole fucking mess started. No matter what happened those two were always together and I got one of them fucking killed!”

“Calm down sergeant.” The biped said calmly. “I know what it’s like to have everything fall apart but this is war, people die, it’s not your fault.” He sighed.” Sergeant, I’m relieving you of duty for now. Please, get some rest. We can talk more after once you’ve calmed down.”
Twilight ground her teeth. “Yes sir.” She said and dropped back off the desk. “Permission to leave and get drunk off my ass sir?” She asked.
“Granted Sergeant.” The Biped said and Twilight saluted before leaving.

The dram suddenly shifted again and Luna found herself in a small, bare concrete room with a single light overhead and a metal hatch on one end. What struck her as odd is nopony was around. She then heard a clicking behind her and something pressed to the back of her neck. “Enjoy the show Princess Luna?” Twilight’s emotionless voice said into her ear. “I don’t appreciate people entering my head without my permission. If not for the fact you are Luna I would have ended you.”

Luna felt whatever was pressed to her neck removed and then Twilight was stepping around in front of her. Luna couldn’t keep a gasp from escaping her mouth as she saw Twilight. She looked far more different than she had in the nightmare. She still wore the same armor she had in the nightmare but now both her eyes now looked to be artificial with the right eye having a single scar going down her face behind her eyes was a cold rage that was well controlled but still there behind the emotionless face. More disturbing was the fact all her legs were made of metal now. But the most disturbing thing was that Twilight was standing on her back legs like a biped in her right hoof, held by fingers that seem to have emerged from the hoof itself was held a smaller version of the strange weapon the bipeds used.

Twilight slipped the small weapon into some form of holster on the left side of her chest. “Who….Who are you?” Luna found herself asking. It looked like Twilight and felt like her to an extent but also felt like a completely different pony as well.

The reaction was almost instant as Twilight’s back stiffened and her right leg snapped to the edge of her helmet in the same salute she had given the biped behind the desk. “Commander Twilight Sparkle of the PFDR, Student of Princess Celestia and the Element of Magic reporting for duty ma’am.” She said looking straight ahead like one of the Royal Guard when being addressed. It was a little comfort to hear she still saw herself as a student to Celestia but what was the PFDR?

“What…What happened?” Luna asked wide eyed. Seeing Twilight act this way was very uncomfortable.

“In the dream? It was my first command ma’am. The raid went off perfectly but we were ambushed on the way back to base and people died. Was the first time I lost anyone and wasn’t the last.” Twilight shrugged and dropped the salute as a table with two chairs appeared in the room behind her. “Whiskey?” She asked as a bottle of amber liquid also appeared on the table along with two glasses as Twilight took a seat.

Luna shook her head and Twilight shrugged. “Suit yourself. “Twilight replied as she poured herself a glass. Luna walked over to the table a sat. It had gone from extremely formal to very informal very fast that Luna was a bit off balance.

“Why are you acting so different now? “ She asked looking at the unicorn as she sipped her drink.

“Well this isn’t exactly a formal setting now is it, unless you count inside my head formal. “Twilight replied flatly. “I’m still annoyed you came here without asking first and I barely recognized you before I attacked.”

“You knew I entered your dream?” Luna asked shocked.

Twilight nodded. “As soon as you started to enter it. You are very noisy Princess, if that makes sense. It’s hard to explain. The short of it is yes I knew the second you made contact with the dream and was using the dream as a distraction while I moved into a better position.” Twilight sipped her drink.

“You mean…you can attack ponies that enter your dream?” Luna asked blinking in shock.

“Yes, it’s my head after all, I make the rules here. “She gestured to the bottle.” Try to remove it.” Luna blinked and looked at the bottle and her horn light up as she removed the bottle, or tried to. The bottle remained where it was. Luna concentrated and her horn flared brighter but the bottle remained right where it was. “Careful Princess, don’t give yourself an aneurysm, I may be a medic but even I’m not skilled enough to heal you through a dream.” Twilight chuckled as she took another sip.

The magic faded from Luna’s horn. “How is this possible? Even with a lucid dream you shouldn’t have this much control.” Luna said looking at Twilight who only shrugged.

“It’s my head why wouldn’t I be able to control everything? “She asked simply as she finished her drink. “As much fun as it is talking to you Princess I do have to ask you to leave.” She set her glass down. “I am still very annoyed you entered my head without asking, I know it’s your job and all but next time I want you to ask me first.” Twilight asked coldly as she glared at Luna.

Luna stared at her for a few second before nodding. “Very well Twilight Sp—“

“Commander Twilight Sparkle, I’d like you to use my rank please.” Twilight interrupted.

Luna recovered quickly. “Yes…Very well Commander Twilight Sparkle, I shall honor your request.”

“Also please keep this meeting from Celestia; I want to speak to her in person so she doesn’t get any Intel out of context. That can lead to a deadly miscommunication and I’d rather not hurt anyone.” Twilight said emotionlessly. What little friendliness had been there during the conversation was gone.

“If that is what you wish Commander.” Luna found herself say and blink as she spoke as if Twilight was a member of the Royal Guard.
“Good, anyways was a pleasure to see you again but now you must be going.” Before Luna could open her mouth to say anything the hatch behind her opened and Luna was yanked back and found herself tumbling through the Dreamscape.

She righted herself and stared at the orb that was Twilight…No Commander Twilight Sparkles dream. Slowly she turned away and made her way through the Dreamscape. She was done patrolling for the night as she had much to think about. The entire conversation had been unnerving what with Luna having no control of the dream and the fact Twilight referred to that nightmare as a dream.

Chapter 4: Decisions

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Federal Press
July 15, 2037
REBEL BASE DESTROYED
By Mark Erickson
Just days ago Federal Forces located the rebel base in an abandoned mine 6 miles outside the city of Calten. Under the cover of darkness Federal Army Forces snuck into the rebel based. Details on what exactly transpired have not been released but a Federal Army spokesman stated during a press conference that most of the rebels were neutralized and the base destroyed with minimal losses for the army. The army is confident that the rebel forces have been dealt a severe blow and that they will not be able to recover from. The citizens are assured that what rebels remain will be hunted down and captured to face trial for their crimes…

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle trotted down the tunnels of the new rebel base. It had been a couple of days since they moved into the sewers and things had calmed down as nearly everything had been stored where it belonged. Twilight had to admit while the smell was taking some getting used to she liked the new base, mostly just cause she got her own room, or quarters as the rebels called them and as a member of the medical team she didn’t have to share a room with someone like the regular soldiers.

The room wasn’t large but it wasn’t small either, from what Twilight could tell it looked like it used to be an old break room of some kind, least that was her best guess since it had a counter along one wall. There wasn’t much in the room other than a cot and a trunk for her to store personal items in, though there wasn’t really anything but a couple changed of her medical scrubs in it as she didn’t really own anything.

She nodded to a couple of soldiers she passed and they returned the nod. It was strange, originally the Soldiers acted indifferent towards her but since what happened in the infirmary they either greeted her with a hello or a nod when they saw her. What Dupo had told her seemed to have been accurate and they did see her as one of them. Much to her annoyance what else he had said turned out to be true and she found herself being asked to do some of the more annoying jobs like run power lines down half flooded tunnels in order to set up lights so the guards could see. She did not enjoy that and her fur still smelled like that tunnel but she tried to think about it as just water and not what was most likely in the water.

Twilight pushed the thought out of her mind as she neared the infirmary, looking forward to starting her shift. “Hello Dr. Grey, hey Marcus.” Twilight said happily as she entered the room and saw her two friends. Marcus looked up from the chart of one of the soldiers injured in the attack on the last base he had been reading. “Hey Twilight, Already time for your shift?” He asked glancing at a clock on the wall, one of the soldiers had brought them a clock so they could all see the time.

She nodded. “Yeah it is.” She said and Glanced over to Dr. Grey who sat in her usual place behind her desk; Twilight swore it was the same desk from the old base. “Been keeping him busy I see.” She giggled.

Dr. Grey looked up from what she was reading. “Of course, he’s very good as an assistant though I guess unlike the rest of my staff that makes sense since he is actually trained.” She said closing the book she was reading. “I suppose since Twilight is here you are free to go Marcus.”

Marcus nodded and placed the chart on the small stand beside the cot. “Alright, suppose I’ll go grab some food then.” He said and patted Twilight head as he walked past her. “Catch you later Twilight.” He said as he left the room, the guard beside the door following him. While the rebels didn’t fully trust the young man yet he was no longer confined to the infirmary and was allowed to roam the base with an escort. Though Twilight knew he only ever went to the mess hall and his own quarters.

“So what you need me to do Dr. Grey?” Twilight asked looking at the Doctor.

“Well you can finish checking the other patients and then I have a few other medical textbooks for you to read if you are done with the others.” Dr. Grey said as she stood and Twilight smiled as she levitated out the two Biology books Dr. Grey had given her after yesterday’s shift. “You’ve read both of them already?” Twilight nodded smiling wide, she had told Dr. Grey she loved books and she had suggested she read up on medicine and human biology so she could be more effective in the Infirmary. “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you read fast.”

“Nope, I usually read about 5 books at once when I’m studying. Two is easy though I did read them over a couple of time to make sure I had everything committed to memory.” Twilight said with pride.

“Well then suppose I should give you more than two.” Dr. Grey smiled as she took the books from Twilight and walked back to her desk as Twilight went to make her rounds.

<<<O>>>

Twilight was sitting in a corner of the infirmary reading one of the medical textbooks Dr. Grey gave her, she had some down time as the patients were just on bed rest so only just needed to be checked every once in awhile unless they say something. The only sounds was the quiet conversations the soldiers were having. “Hey Twilight, I’ve been meaning to ask something.” Twilight looked up from her book at Dr. Grey.

“What is it Doc?” She asked closing her book. She had taken to calling her Doc like all the other rebels did as it seemed to be the right thing to do.

“Well…it’s about those bandages on your…well…I guess I’ll say backside.” She said gesturing to the bandages on Twilights flank. “You’ve had them since you had been brought her and since they hadn’t needed changing I saw no reason to undo them. But I’ve noticed you’ve been keeping them replaced even though any injury under them shouldn’t need them anymore.” She looked at Twilight seriously.” So...why are you keeping them replaced and why don’t you do it in the infirmary?”

Twilight felt her blood run cold as she stared at Dr. Grey.” Ah…um…no…it’s…..” She stuttered. And looking around. She knew someone would ask eventually but she hadn’t expected it so soon. She looked around the room, anywhere but at Dr. Grey. “You see….well….” She didn’t want to face what they had done to her; she didn’t want to see her flank missing its Cutie Mark. She knew it was, they had taken the skin itself and it had been left to heal on its own rather than having a healing spell fix it. There was no way the mark had come back.

“Twilight are you ok?” Dr. Grey asked, her face showing concern as she stood up from her chair and walked over. “You’re shaking.”

“I’m….I’m….” Twilight stuttered. She was saved when the door banged open and one of the medics rushed in carrying a stretcher with the help of another soldier. On the stretcher was another Rebel, his left arm missing from the elbow down. His upper arm was tied in a tourniquet but he was still bleeding from other wounds.

Dr. Grey reacted immediately rushing over to the inured soldier. “Get him on a bed, Twilight get the surgical kit.” She said and Twilight blinked and shook her head before jumping up and running for the storage locker. She then ran towards where the medic had transferred the wounded soldier, surgical kit trailing behind her in her magic.

“Her you are Doctor.” She said handing it over and pulling one of the low tables over with her magic. Dr. Grey set out the surgical supplies. “I’m going to need both of your help.” Dr. Grey said to Twilight and the medic who both nodded. Dr. Grey had the medic as a second pair of hands for the surgery while Twilight was in charge of handing Dr. Grey what she asked for.

The three of them worked frantically to stop the bleeding. Twilight even cast a few small healing spells when asked to but the soldier’s breathing was slowing and in the end it stopped all together. Dr. Grey had tried to revive him but she was forced to stop when it became clear there was nothing that could have been done.

“Time of death... “Dr. Grey looked at her watch. “7:34 PM. Cause of death blood lose and severe trauma.” She said in a detached voice before sighing as she pulled the sheet over the deceased soldier form. Silently the three of them walked over to the sinks that had been set up beside the door and washed up.

Once done Twilight looked back at the sheet covered form. She walked over and sat beside the cot. “Twilight are you ok?” Dr. Grey asked as she stepped up beside Twilight.

“He didn’t have to die….a simple healing spell would have stopped the bleeding and he’d have made it back here in time.” Twilight said quietly.

“Maybe, but there is no way of knowing. You shouldn’t blame yourself.” Dr. Grey said resting a hand on Twilight's shoulder.
“If you say so Doc.” Twilight replied simply.

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked down the tunnel that leads from the infirmary to the mess hall. Her shift had ended not long ago. It had been a quiet shift after the surgery and Twilight had spent it trying to read the medical textbook but her thoughts had kept drifting back to the soldier’s death and how easy it would have been to prevent.

Twilight shook her head to clear it of the thoughts. “This is war, people die.” She whispered to herself as she walked. Even still, there is no reason though that that soldier had to die a voice in the back of her head whispered. She sighed again and was glad when she reached the mess hall.

She looked over the partly filled room with the soldiers that were on duty or had just returned from patrols or other duties. Twilight made her way to the line and looked around. She recognized a few faces but no one she actually knew personally, just soldiers she had seen around. She had hoped to see Marcus or Delco but seems they were either in their quarters or elsewhere in the base.

Twilight slowly made her way to the line and levitated a tray when she reached the serving bar. She wondered where the rebels got all the stuff they set up like the serving bar. “What will you have?” The cook asked once Twilight reached him, he had to look over the bar to see her but all the soldiers were used to her around the base and it wasn’t like she could grow taller or walk on two legs like the rest of them.
“Um…I’ll take a couple of apples.” She said up at the cook.

“Sorry darlin’ don’t got any apples.” He said and she opened her mouth. “We are out of fruits and vegetables.” He said and Twilight stared at him wide eyes.” We got ham or chicken breast so what will you have?”

“Ah…when will you be able to get more fruits or vegetables?” She asked, skipping one meal won’t be that big of a deal.

“At least a week. Feds won’t be sendin’ a supply convoy we can hit till then, so till then we are stuck with meat.” The cook said

Twilights jaw worked, she couldn’t not eat for a week but…it was meat. “You ok darlin’?” The cook asked adjusting the white circular hat he wore. “You look pale”

Twilight looked around; she noticed the three rebels behind her were staring at her, some with annoyance as she was holding up the line. She looked back at the cook who was looking at her with concern. “H-ham…”She said quietly.

“What was that darlin’? Speak up.” The cook said.

Twilight sighed. “I’ll take some ham.” She said a bit louder. The cook nodded and placed a plat of ham on her tray and a glass of water as Twilight didn’t drink anything else. Twilight still wondered how he remembers what everyone preferred when he dealt with so many people. Well Twilight was easy as she was the only pony but he always knew what everyone else wanted unless they were new and even then it didn’t take long for him to know.

Twilight left the line and made her way towards an empty table and sat staring at her ham. “Meat…why did it have to be meat that was left.” She said staring at what she was going to have to eat for a week. She was not looking forward to this.

Slowly she took the meat into her magic and tried to ignore the smell as she brought it to her mouth. She took a very small bite. She squeezed her eye shut as she slowly chewed. Ignoring the taste she forced it down then gasped. “I am not looking forward to this week…”She said before taking another bite.

In the end she only ate half of her food and had to down her entire glass of water just to try and keep it down. She sat there with her eyes squeezed shut as her stomach told her exactly how unhappy it was. With a groan she stood and carried her tray to where the used dishes went and left it there before making her way out of the mess hall.

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked down one of the tunnels of the rebel base. She didn’t want to go back to her quarters and she didn’t want to be in the way at the infirmary so she just wondered the base thinking. Her thoughts kept going back to the soldier that died, while it wasn’t the first failed surgery she saw the first one she hadn’t had her magic so couldn’t do much. But this time she had had her magic and it hadn’t matter as he was too far gone by the time he had gotten to the infirmary.

She didn’t know who the soldier was personally, she didn’t even know his name, but the more time she spent with the rebels the more she felt as if they were her friends of a sort, like all the ponies in Ponyville. She didn’t know everypony in Ponyville personably but she saw them as her friends of a sort. So the soldier dying and her not being able to save him was like letting someone in Ponyville die because she didn’t use her magic to help.

Her thoughts ran around in circles as she walked through the base. Eventually her hooves carried her to a certain door of the base and she stared up at the door. She hadn’t really been paying attention where she had been walking so finding herself outside of this door was a bit of a surprise. What also surprised her was when she raised a hoof and knocked.

“Come.” Came a voice from inside and Twilight used her magic to open the door and walked in. “Ah Twilight good to see you.” Clancy said from behind his desk.” What can I do for you, or did you come by for a drink?” He asked with a smile.

She shook her head. “I want to go into the field as a medic.” She said bluntly. She hadn’t known why she had come here till she actually entered the room but then everything in her head solidified into that one thought.

Clancy blinked at her. “Well, I hadn’t expected you to want to go into the field. May I ask what brought this on?” He asked gesturing to one of the chairs in front of the desk.

Twilight climbed into the chair and got comfortable before she spoke. “I think…no…I know my magic would be more useful in the field as a medic. My healing spells don’t do a lot of good by the time the injured get to the infirmary. But if I can use them when someone gets injured then there is a higher chance of dying.”

“You realize that if you are in the field you will have to fight and kill at some point. There is no room for pacifists in the field.” Clancy said very seriously.

Twilight nodded.” I figured and……” She took a deep breath. “I am prepared for it.” She said and thinking about it she was almost entirely sure she was. The thoughts of the rebels dying because she wasn’t there and seeing Dr. Grey shot back at the old base…and what had happened to her at Deminal Labs. Granted the labs security weren’t the feds but the Feds allowed that…hell to exist.

“Well, you will need to get some armor and basic firearms training, I’m sure you already have enough training in medicine to be a medic. If you are sure you will need to talk to Sergeant Dupo as well as Liston to get some armor. It will need to be customized to fit you so he will need time to prepare it.” Clancy said sitting back in his chair. “Once you get all that you’ll need to go through some training before reporting to Major Briggs for an assignment.”

“Who is Liston and Major Briggs?” Twilight asked.

“Liston is our supply clerk, he keeps track of everything that’s not food or weapons, and Major Briggs is my second in command and handles most of the personnel assignments.” Clancy said. “If you are sure then speak to them to get what you need. If you change your mind let me know but once your armor is done there will be no turning back, you understand?” Clancy asked and Twilight nodded. Clancy sighed. “Alright. Now then how about that drink?” He asked opening a draw in his desk and pulled out the familiar bottle of amber liquid and two glasses.

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked down the tunnels enjoying the warms the whiskey was spreading through her body, she only had a couple of glasses with Clancy as she didn’t want to get drunk since she had so much to do today now. With each step she took she felt more confident about her decision to go into the field.

She reached the supply room and blinked as someone had spray painted the word SHOP on the door. Twilight pushed the door open with her magic and walked into the room. IT was a medium sized room that was clear all the way up to a counter that was set up on the far side with shelves of helmets and other small items and a door behind the counter with the words EMPLOYEES ONLY spray painted on it.
“Well hello there little pony, what brings you to my little shop.” The man behind the counter said cheerfully. Twilight blinked at him as he wasn’t dressed like any of the other rebels neither in armor nor camouflage. Instead he was dressed in some dark slacks a white shirt with a dark suit jacket over it with a name tag. He looked to be in his later 20s to with blond hair.

“Um…I need some armor made for me.” Twilight said as she reached the counter.

“Oh heading out into the field? Ah fun times I hear. Least it keeps me busy having to repair or replace armor and such.” He said with a chuckle. “Please follow me; I’ll need to take some measurements since this is going to take more than just a few tweaks.” He said gesturing for her to follow as he headed for the back door.

Twilight followed and when she went through the door Liston turned on the lights revealing row upon row of everything and anything one could possible want. “Like my collection? I have a little of everything one could want little pony.” He said with pride as he grabbed the same type of measuring tape Twilight was used to Rarity using to make dresses. “Now then please stand over there.” He gestured to a small raised platform that had three mirrors around one side and two small spot lights trained on it. “Also will the bandages on your flank be removed soon?”

Twilight Froze. “What’s wrong with the bandages?” She asked hastily.

“Well the way the armor is going to have to be will cause the bandages to be in the way and it could cause the skin to be rubbed raw, trust me you don’t want that little pony.” Liston said happily.

“Do they have to be removed?” Twilight asked not looking at the man.

“Mmmm yes, yes, they do little pony.” He replied. Twilight sighed and started walking again.

“Where did you get all of this?” Twilight asked looking around as she stepped onto the platform.

“Eh, I know a guy.” Liston waved his hand dismissively. “Now hold still, this is a first time I get to take measurements and make armor for a little purple unicorn.” He said with a chuckle, the smile seemed to be permanently affixed to his face. Humming he started to take Twilights measurements of her body and legs, even her tail and head. “Hmm…oh this is going to be an interesting job; I am so looking forward to making your armor little pony!”

“Uh…thank you?” Twilight said staring at the strange man who reminded her of Pinkie Pie to an extent.

“Oh no thank you little pony! It’s not every day I get a customer as unique as you!” He said chuckling as he wrote the last of Twilights
measurements onto a small note pad. “Now then that will be 20,000 credits for the armor and helmet.”

Twilight sputtered. “20,000!? I have to pay for this!? But I don’t have any credits or bits or anything!” She franticly said. “I didn’t know I had to pay for this.” Her breathing started to quicken.

Listen laughter broke into her building panic. “No, no, it’s free little pony. The soldiers would be going out naked if I charged credits for my wares. I just couldn’t resist the chance to tease my most interesting customer.” He chuckled and patted her head and she scowled up at him. “Aw don’t be like that just a little prank, no harm done.” He chuckled as he headed for the door hanging the tape measuring on a hook by the door. “Anyways the armor should be ready in a week little pony.”

Twilight grumbled under her breath about being tricked again as she followed him out of the door and made her way to the exit of the door to the SHOP. Leaving behind the Pinkie like human who was trying to stifle a laugh at how she was acting.

It didn’t take long for her to get back to her quarters where she now stood in the middle of the floor staring at the bandages on her flank. If she wanted to go into the field she had to remove them, but…she couldn’t stand the thought of what she knew was under them. Whenever she replaced them she used her magic and didn’t look.

Now it was either the bandages stay and she can’t help in the field, or she faces what happened to her and help her friends. She sighed and squeezed her eyes shut as he horn was wrapped in a magical glow. The choice was simple.

When she was done she slowly opened she eyes and started at the square of scar tissue where her Cutie Mark used to be. It was a reminder of where these people….where her friends rescued her from and she would do whatever it takes to help them.

Staring at the mass of scar tissue she felt her stomach lurch and she galloped from her quarters and for the bathrooms that had been set up as her stomach wanted to thank her for putting meat into it.

<<<O>>>

Twilight stepped into the armor and froze wide eyed. Sergeant Dupo was there as she expected but what wasn’t expected was for him to be standing inside a cage where he had had her set up the tables when she was last here. All the tables she had set up were filled with guns and ammo. He even had shelves and lockers as well and a few creates.

“Well, well if it isn’t the new blood; come by to do more work kid?” Dupo asked looking at her from inside his cage.
“Where did you even get this and why did you set it up?” She asked completely dumbfounded.

“It’s set up so the guns can be locked up when not in the field, it’s for safety kid.” Dupo said completely ignoring the first question.
“And where did you even get it and how did you get it set up?” She asked still staring.

“That is none of your business kid. Now what the hell do you want?” Dupo asked leaning on his counter and staring at her with annoyance.
“Um….I’m here for firearms training.” Twilight said.

“Oh heading out into the field are you kid?” Dupo asked and Twilight nodded. “Well then best we get started then.” He said as he turned around and started looking over the tables before plucking a few of the weapons off the table and ammo and then took some keys from his belt and unlocked the door. “Get to the firing line kid. “He said as he locked the door behind him.

Twilight stepped up to the first line she had painted on the floor. “Now then. “Dupo said as he stepped up beside her and held up a pistol. “This is a Grop 45; it’s a standard issue .45 caliber pistol, mag hold 8 shots plus one in the chamber.” He said as he held up a long rectangle and slides it into the receiver at the base of the grip. He then ejected the mag and had her do it a few times before he showed her where the safety was and how to chamber a round.

“Now then kid, aim down the site and try to hit as close to the center of the target as you can. “ He told her and she took the pistol in her magic and he explained how the iron site works before she took aim. She squeezed the trigger and yelped when the pistol kicked out of her magic.

“Well I’ll be kid. “Dupo aid whistling before picking up the pistol and Twilight looked where he was looking, her shot had hit only an inch from the center of the target. “Well looks like you are going to be a marksman kid.”

Chapter 5: Training

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Twilight trotted out of the mess hall beside Delco, they had just finished eating and as much as she hated to admit but over the last three days her stomach has been getting less and less angry with her about putting meat into it. “I’m still surprised you are going out Twi’” Delco was saying, this had been the first chance she had seen him for more than a few moments so she had been able to tell him of her decision. “Though thinking about it actually it makes sense.” He said thoughtfully.

“What do you mean?” She asked looking up at him as they walked.

“Well, with what happened to you it makes sense you want some payback.” He said nodding. “I mean that lab was contracted to the government so what they did was with the government’s approval to an extent.”

Twilight was quiet for a moment as she looked ahead. “I know.” She said. Every day that had passed she became more sure that she wanted to go into the field and the more sure she was of what she could do when out there. She knew that should scare her but for some reason it didn’t in the slightest. “But the main reason I am going out is because my healing spells will be more useful out there than in the infirmary.”
“Yeah I get that. If they work half as well as you told me then they will be.” He said.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a voice from behind her. “Hey there little pony, just the unicorn I was looking for.” Both Twilight and Delco jumped and spun around, Delco hand going for his pistol on his hip.

“Damnit Liston! You need to stop fucking sneaking up on people! You’re going to get yourself fucking shot one of these days!” Delco said angrily glaring at the smiling supply clerk.

Liston waved his hand as if shooing a thought away. “No, No if one of you were going to shoot me you would have done it by now I’m sure.” He chuckled. “Besides it keeps you soldiers’ wits about you so to speak.” He smiles wide. Yes he defiantly reminded Twilight of Pinkie Pie. “Anyways I need to measure your ears little pony.” He said pulling out his measuring tape from his jacket.

Twilight perked up. “What do you need to measure my ears for?” She asked.

“Well you see I need to modify the helmet so your ears aren’t crushed by it and to do that I need to know the exact measurements of your ears. Granted I could take a guess but I run the risk of the holes being too big and then the helmet won’t be as effective. Trust me you want the helmet to be as effective.”

Twilight looked up at Liston for minutes before she nodded. “Alright.” She said and made sure her ears were up fully as the Pinkie like human started measuring her ears from every angle. He also ended up measuring her horn as well before the tape measurer disappeared into his jacket and his notebook came out. “Thank you little unicorn, your armor should be done in the next couple of day, at least enough you can try it on.” He said as he wrote in his note book. “I’ll come find you when I need you.” And with that her turned on his heels and walked off back down the tunnel.

Delco leaned over and whispered to Twilight. “Not going to lie, that guy weirds me out.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked into the Armory and saw Dupo was already out of his cage and ready for her with a new gun for her to train with. “Hey Dupo, reporting for training.” She said happily. She had to admit the sight of a new gun to be trained on made her happy. The last two days he had been training her on the pistol.

She had been afraid of the gun for the first day but after Dupo had taken time to explain how the guns worked and how to properly handle them as well as the rules of gun safety she hadn’t been as scared of them the next day and had actually been looking forward to the training.
“Right on time kid.” Dupo said as he lifted the rifle he had sitting on the table and Twilight smiled. “Now then let’s get right to it. This. “He held out the rifle. “Is an MX3B assault rifle, it has a 32 round magazine of 5.73. It works with all types of ammo. It had two different rates of fire, semi-automatic to fully automatic. It is the standard issue assault rifle of the Federal Army do to the fact it is very durable and works with a wide range of attachments from scopes, grips, tactical lights, laser sights and 30mm grenade launcher to name a few.” Dupo said with a hint of pride in his voice, one thing she had noticed was that Dupo was very enthusiastic about firearms and seemed to know everything about any of them; she figured that was why he was in charge of the Armory.

The next few minutes was spent with Dupo showing her how to eject the mag and reload before having her do it several times. She found how these guns worked very fascinating. Once she had reloading down he showed her several different MX3Bs with various attachments and had her familiarize herself with how they worked, she found the different scopes to be really interesting as there were so many different types. She had been shocked when he showed her the Night Vision and Thermal scope do the fact she had never thought of making devices that would allow you to see in the dark without actual light or see a person based on their body heat.

“Ok I think that is enough familiarizing yourself with it. To the line.” He told her and she moved to the line. “Weapon ready.” She picked up the rifle without any attachments in her magic and rook aim down the sites. “Fire.” She pulled the trigger with it set to semi-auto. The rifle had less of a kick then the pistol had. After firing a few shots, all of which hit almost the exact center of the target. “Cease fire.”

She stopped firing. “Next target, use full auto.” Dupo told her and she clicked it over as she moved to the next target and she pulled the trigger, caught a bit off guard as the rifle climbed up but it didn’t take her long to adjust for it and fire in small bursts only holding the trigger when Dupo told her to so she could learn to fully compensate for the climb. The only time she didn’t have a close grouping was when she had to compensate for the climb but the cluster was only a bit larger than the rest of the shots.

After empting another mag and ejecting it she heard someone clapping slowly from the doorway and when she looked she saw another camo wearing human who was older than most of the soldiers but looked younger than Dupo. Dupo’s reaction was almost instant as he stood straight and his right hand snapped to the edge of his cap. “Sir, I was not expecting you in the armory sir.” He said crisply.

“At ease sergeant.” The man said as he stepped into the armory and Dupos hands went behind his back as he stood legs shoulder width apart. “I was just coming by to see how our newest recruit is doing in her weapons training and I must say I am impressed.” He stopped in front of Twilight. “Hello private, I am Major Briggs.”

Twilight smiled up at him. “Hello Major Briggs, I’m Twilight.” She said in the friendlies way she could then blinked in confusion when Major Briggs frowned down at her.

“I see no one has taught you how to react to a superior officer.” He said down at her and Twilight’s smile fell.
“Um….sorry?” She said uncertainly.

“Don’t worry; we have a very experienced Chief Petty Officer in charge of basic training. I think I’ll be introducing you to him later today. “Major Briggs said as he looked back at Dupo. “Carry on sergeant.” And with that Major Briggs left.

Twilight stood there staring at the door. She had done something wrong and she felt like she had failed her mentor. She didn’t know what the training entailed but if it would teach her what she was supposed to do so she didn’t fail again she’d do her best to complete it.
“Well, the Major is in a bad mood.” Dupo said as he relaxed before turning back to Twilight. “Let’s get back to your training.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked down another tunnel of the base in a section she hadn’t been to yet. While she spent time exploring the base there were still entire sections she hadn’t seen do to the base being spread out so much throughout the sewer. She was being led by a soldier who apparently had been sent to find her.

The soldier had found Twilight in the mess hall seeing how chicken compared to ham in taste. A fact she was not proud of admitting that for one, meat wasn’t bothering her as much and two she actually wanted to compare tastes of meats. When the soldier had found her she had quickly finished her meal and now she found herself here.

They soon reached a door that unlike any of the other doors of the base this one had nothing spray painted on it to indicate what it was. “Well we are here, good luck.” With that the soldier headed back down the hall as rabidly as he could without actually running. Seeing that did not fill Twilight with confidence of what she would find on the other side of the door.

Slowly she pushed the door open and found a large empty room with just a single middle aged human standing in the middle of it. “Um….hello?” She said stepping into the room.

The human looked at her with a blank face. “You’re late.” He said with little emotion.

“I’m sorry I was busy ea—“

“I don’t want your excuses I want you front and center!” The human barked at her and Twilight galloped and stood in front of the human. The human glared down at her. “Why aren’t you saluting?”

“I don’t know how.” She said and the human rolled his eyes in annoyance then looked down at her with disgust.

“Take your right hoof and bring it up beside your freakishly large eyes with the top edge is level with your eyebrow.” He told her and she did as instructed. “Wrong.” He said with more annoyance. All and all it took four wrongs before she got it right. “Now then, I am Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez, and I am going on record in saying you are truly the worst things I’ve ever had the displeasure of having to train and personally I wouldn’t be doing this for some purple horse if not for the fact the General told me I had to.”

Twilight swallowed hard. “So to start this off, I want you to run 50 laps around this room.” Twilight stared at him. “MOVE!” Mendez yelled and with a yelp Twilight started galloping around the edge of the room. About the time she reached lap 20 she was breathing heavy and was slowing.

She yelped when she felt a sting in her flank that made her jump and when she looked she saw a blue something on her flank as she ran and when she looked at Mendez she saw he had some type of strange looking gun she had never seen before. It was silver and thin with a strange bubble on top of it. As she ran anytime she started to slow Mendez would shoot her flank with the weird gun that seemed to shoot balls of paint at stung when they hit and it made her run faster.

When she finally reached 50 she collapsed on the floor panting. She heard Mendez walk over and she slowly looked up at him as he looked down at her in annoyance that seemed to be his normal expression. “Did I say you could rest?” He demanded.

“N-no…”Twilight said trying to catch her breath.

“Then get up and follow me, we are just getting started.” Mendez said and shot her in the flank again with the strange gun causing Twilight t jump to her hooves with a yelp as Mendez turned and headed for the door. With a groan Twilight followed, her legs shaking in protest.

<<<O>>>

With a groan of pain Twilight collapsed into her bed. She had just returned from training with Mendez and her entire body was crying out in pain. “Six….fucking….hours….”She mumbled. After her ‘warm-up run’ Mendez had taken her to an obstacle course and made her run the entire things, a lot of running, climbing and crawling, all with him shooting her randomly with that stupid gun of his! Her flank was completely numb from being hit so many times. After the course he had her do all manner of exercises. Then after that came probably the worst part, hand to hand combat training, she didn’t know how many bruises she had as after Mendez had shown her the basic moves she had to fight him. It did not go well with 10 win from him and 0 losses.

No matter what she did during the fights she couldn’t lay a hoof on the man as he easily dodged her attack and seemed board, telling her after the 10th win that if he had been a Fed she’d have been dead a hundred times over by then.

There was a knock at her door and she groaned as she rolled onto her side and sat up, wincing at her bodies protest. “Come in. “She said slowly sliding out of bed.

The door opened to admit Delco. “Well you look like shit Twilight. “He chucked as he closed the door. “Take it first day with our Chief Petty Officer?” Twilight nodded slowly. “Thought so, the guy’s a real son of a bitch.”

“You are telling me.” She said having to agree with that assessment, curse word and all.

“Yeah lot of us were surprised when he left Camp Graceland to join us. He was one of the instructors there and he was a military man through and through. But when the general made his coup attempt and was beaten back Mendez left and joined us, said something about how ‘if you really wanted to pull it off you’re going to need me’ or something to that extent. He’s been with us ever since.”
“So…he just randomly joined up?” Twilight asked as she sat on her haunches and Delco sat on the edge of the bed.

“Pretty much, it’s helped out a lot with the people that join up who aren’t military.”

“Wait, you mean some of you are Federal Army?” Twilight asked in surprise.

“Former, about a fourth of us here used to serve but we were loyal to the General and believed in what he was doing so followed him. The General was a one star general in the Federal Army and learned how things were actually run and it disgusted him and most of her as well as we were protecting an extremely corrupt government. This all happened about…oh…5 years ago I’d say. Since then civilians have joined up and that’s the bulk of our forces so without Mendez most of our guys would be dead trying to take on actual trained soldiers”

Twilight nodded, it made sense. “But…why is he…such a bastard?” Twilight said, she had tried to think of another more polite word but couldn’t.

“So you don’t die.” Delco said simply and Twilight stared at him. “Look, he might be hard on you but that’s because he wants to make sure you have the best chance of survival, if you can’t handle him what chance will you have against someone actually trying to kill you?”

Twilight sighed, that did make sense she reluctantly admitted to herself. “Anyways I was just dropping by to see how your first day went and to warn you it’s going to get far worse.” Delco said with a chuckle as he stood. “Best get some sleep Twilight; you’re going to need all the sleep you can get to survive Mendez.” And with that Delco left her room.

Twilight climbed back into her bed, her mind racing with what Delco had told her both about the rebels and Chief Petty Officer Mendez. She guessed if he was like that because he cared she could put up with it. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later she was awoke by a bucket of ice cold water being dumped on her and she shot up sputtering to find Mendez standing over her bed holding the bucket. “You’re late for training and when I come looking for you I find you sleeping on the damn job. “Mendez said with annoyed as Twilight stared at him. “Well…what are you waiting for? Move it!” HE yelled and Twilight jumped out of bed and headed for the door, before she reached it she felt the familiar sting of Mendez paint gun thing on her flank. “Double time it.” She started to gallop for the training wing with Mendez right behind her shooting her flank every now and then. Forget what she thought last night, the man was a bastard.

Interlude: Homecoming

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Twilight’s eyes opened and she stretched a bit before rolling to her hooves behind the table, she remained crouched and lifted her side arm and looked over her table and scanned the room. Satisfied the room was still secured she levitated her armor and helmet before slipping her sidearm into its holster and moved the table back where it had been last night. She paused as she saw the corner of room blackened as if it had caught fire. She stared and could imagine the painted X that had once been there. “By Celestia that feels like a lifetime ago.” She said to herself before shaking her head and turning towards the stairs, she had a routine to get to.

She made her way up the stairs and looked around the room; the library's main floor wasn’t big enough for what she needed. “Hmm…The distance between Sweet Apple Acers and Fluttershy’s cottage should work. “She said out loud as she calculated the distance between the two, with a satisfied nod she headed for the door.

“Least I don’t have to worry about Mendez ambushing me with that damn paint gun of his here.” She said with a smile as she remembered how Mendez would randomly ambush her on her morning runs even though she wasn’t some Rook anymore. She stopped before the door and thought. “At least I don’t think I do…”She said a bit uncertain, she wouldn’t put it past the Chief Petty Officer to find a way to shoot her flank across dimensions.

Shaking her head she opened the door and walked out into the dark night, dawn was still some time away and she only had a few hours of sleep but she was fully rested and ready for anything the day would dare throw at her.

It didn’t take her long to run to Sweet Apple Acers and she stopped at the gate, she debated seeing if Applejack was awake but as she thought about it the farm pony probably wasn’t awake at this hour. Though why anyone would be asleep at this hour she couldn’t think of a reason. Turning away from the gate she started to run towards Fluttershy’s cottage cutting through the middle of Ponyville, she had another 30 laps to do before heading home for her work out then breakfast.

<<<O>>>

Rainbow Dash yawned as she hovered over Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and a bouncing Pinkie Pie. “Why did we have to get up this early? It’s my day off from the Weather Team and I was looking forward to sleeping in. “She complained.

“Because Dashie today is the Commander’s Homecoming party.” Pinkie Pie said happily as she bounced around the group a couple of time.

Applejack stared at her. “Commander? Who is that?” She asked.

“Oh, right, I meant Twilight, sorry.” Pinkie Pie said stopping her bounce for a moment.

“Why did you call her commander darling?” Rarity asked as the group stopped to look at Pinkie.

“Because that’s what she is and she prefers her rank being used when in semi-formal, to formal settings... “Pinkie said then rubbed her chin. “Though I guess a Homecoming Party would count as informal, though it may be semi-formal.”

“Uh…Pinkie…what are you talking about?” Dash asked looking down at the pink pony.

“Eh…don’t worry about it she would be better at explaining it then me as she has all the information.” Pinkie said and started to bounce towards Twilight’s home. The rest of the group stared after her before collectively shaking their heads not even trying to understand what Pinkie was talking about.

Soon they reached Twilights home and could hear muffle noise that sounded like music from inside. Dash blinked and looked at the other before Pinkie knocked. They stood there and eventually the door opened and Spike looked at them as the group caught the lyrics of the song.

The sound of the mortars
The music of death
We're playing the devil’s symphony
Our violins are guns
Conducted from hell

The music seemed to be coming from a strange flat device resting on the small table in the middle of the main room where Twilight was sitting hunched over something. The group of friends all stopped stared as the words of the song sunk in. Twilight looked back over her shoulder. “Oh hey guys. “She said and her horn lit up and the music stopped abruptly as the small black object was then wrapped in her magic and moved into her saddle bags. “Just let me finished up real quick and we can head to the party.” She said with a smile before turning back to whatever she was doing, probably reading a book if Dash had to guess.

Annoyed at having to wait while Twilight finished her studying after being woke up so early by Pinkie using a trampoline to bounced into her room she was in no mood to wait. She flew over around in front of Twilight letting her face show her annoyance. “Now looks here egghead I had to get...up…early…”She said as she started down at Twilight and the color drained from her face.

“Um…are …are you ok Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked, her voice filled with concern, she had never seen Rainbow do that before. Rainbow Dash’s mouth worked but no words escaped it as she just stared.

Dash looked up at her other friends then back down at Twilight’s right front leg resting on the table and not attached to her body as she did something to it with very delicate looking tools. Twilight looked up at her. “You ok Dash?” Twilight asked tilting her head to the side. “Why are your vitals so erratic?”

“What the buck happened to your leg?!” Dash shouted recoiling from the sight.

“I told you it was blow off by a land mind.” She said tilting her head the other way. “Did you suffer a head injury last night?”

“It’s not attached to your body!” Dash shouted and with that the other looked at each other and made their way over to Twilight to see what she was talking about and they all froze and the color drained from their faces, Fluttershy hid behind her mane. Pinkie seemed to handle it the best for some reason only making a slightly sick face but she mostly just looked sad.

“Well yeah, it’s not safe to do any form of maintenance on cybernetics if they are still attached to the user.” She said looking at them. “I needed to make sure they didn’t take any damage in yesterday’s battles, I’m almost done. “She said as she went back to her work as her friends just stood there silently watching unable to comprehend what was before them.

After a few minutes Twilight’s tools vanished and the small panels closed and she moved the leg to its socked and it slipped in with a loud clicking sound and Twilight drew in a sharp breath.

“Uh…You ok Twi?” Applejack asked her concern over riding the disturbing image she had burned into her mind.

“Yeah it just really fucking hurts when you reconnect cybernetics. “She said then took a deep breath. She rolled her shoulder and then moved her hoof in a circle. Dash’s brain had recovered once Twilight reattached her leg and she blinked as she saw five small...things extend from the hoof and they each moved then retracted. All 5 mares jumped back when a 12 inch blade shot out of Twilight’s hoof and then retracted just as fast. Twilight gave a satisfied nod. “Alright we can go now. “She said as she stood and started to make her way towards the door.

“You guys coming?” She said over her shoulder as she stood in front of the door. Her friends blinked and quickly moved towards the door and followed Twilight out of the door.

<<<O>>>

Twilight followed Pinkie Pie as she hadn’t thought to ask where the party is. She took note how the streets were empty so it seemed Pinkie had invited everyone to the party. Twilight hoped Pinkie remember she told her not to surprise her, Twilight did not want to fight herself when a group of people suddenly jumped out at her and doubted she could stop her reaction.

Twilight followed Pinkie as she lead the way to the Mayor’s officer in the center of town which made sense as it was the only building large enough to hold the town. As they neared it Pinkie stopped and turned to face Twilight with a wide smile. “Before we go in Twilight I just wanted to tell you how super-duper happy I am that you are back.”

Twilight smiled at her. “It’s good to be back Pinkie, you have no idea how much I missed you all. Hell the thought of you girls and Equestria is what drove me while there.” and with luck they would never learn what it was she had been fighting for and did to ensure their safety for as long as possible. She knew what she was, and hoped beyond hope no one would ever learn it as well.

Pinkie nodded and turned to the door and opened it. “Then welcome home Twilight.”

Chapter 6: One of the Crew

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To: General Tomas Clancy
From: Chief Petty Officer Mendez
Subject: That Unicorn
This is a report on the horse you asked me to train, I still am not happy about that by the way. She has improved quite a bit since the pathetic thing that walked through the door last week. Dupo told me she was a quick study but I didn’t think she’d adapt this fast. I go to her quarters to wake her up the usual way and find her waking up; I still help her wake up though. She is doing well in hand to hand/hoof combat and has come close to striking me a few times and isn’t put down after a couple of hits. Her times for morning runs have improved greatly as has her times through the obstacle course.
Frankly in my opinion she will be a great asset in the field if she keeps up with her training regiment.

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle followed Liston into his SHOP, why he called it that even though he didn’t sell anything she didn’t know but everyone else seemed to call it that so why shouldn’t she? It had been a week since she began training with Mendez and her body already showed effects, the most obvious being leaner then when she had arrived on Earth all those weeks ago. There were other effects but those were more noticeable to her, such as the fact she was starting to sleep less hours but still get the same result as a full night’s sleep and she didn’t get tired as fast.

The training had gotten worse just like Delco had warned her it would with her being expected to beat her time through everything each day or else get more laps to run. She also learned to hate Physical Training, or PT, gear. She had been introduced to that on day three and was still expected to beat her times. Which she did about every other day and she found herself feeling very proud of herself when she beat one of her times.

The one thing she still had trouble with was hand to hand training do to the fact as she got better at it she realized Mendez had been holding back. She had a couple of broken ribs and a broken rear leg and one dislocated foreleg to show for that. Luckily healing spell took care of broken bones though a trip to visit Dr. Grey had been required for the dislocation. That had been a fun time as Dr. Grey didn’t really approve of Twilight going into the field.

“Just follow me to the back little pony and we will get you all set.” Liston said breaking Twilight out of her thoughts.

“Alright, so you made the adjustments you needed?” Twilight asked, the whole reason she was here was Liston had tracked her down to inform her that her armor was ready. It had been a few days since her fitting of it and he had found the areas that were either too tight or too loose.

“Yup it should fit like a glove now.” He said with his permanent smile. Twilight couldn’t help smiling as well, when she had first seen her armor she had been amazed as the man had taken a standard set of armor and helmet and somehow modified it to fit a pony that was much smaller than a human and walked on four legs. How he did that while keeping the same level of protection was beyond her but she had learned that like Pinkie Pie it was best not to question things when it came to the supply clerk.

Twilight followed Liston into the back room and her eye fell on her completed armor and she couldn’t help but smile as she looked it over. It was the standard dark green as all the other Rebel’s armor but was totally remade to fit someone much smaller than the normal armor and it seemed that whatever material he had to remove her used to extend the armor so it wouldn’t just cover her upper body like it did on the humans but would actually cover her chest and flank. It had small pockets on where her right shoulder and the left has some sort of sheath of some sort and on the left side of the chest was a holster for a pistol. “So what do you think little pony?”

“It looks great. “Twilight beamed.

“Well step onto the platform and I’ll show you how to put it on.” Liston said and Twilight stepped onto the platform with the mirrors. Liston then spent the next 15 minutes explain to Twilight how to put on her armor and which of the straps to click together first and how tight they will need to be. Once he was done explaining twilight used her magic to slip on her armor, her legs slipping into the holes for them easily and once she had all the straps clicked into place she released her magic. The first thing she noticed was how much the armor weighed, the PT training now made a lot of sense as the armor weighed a lot more than the clothes she was used to. The second thing she noticed was that it fit perfectly, not to night or too loose and hugged her body with no discomfort.

“Wow, this fits perfectly!” She said as she moved around easily, if not for the weight it was almost like she wasn’t wearing anything at all.

“Well I do pride myself on my ability to modify things as needed.” Liston said with a chuckle. “Walk around a bit, get a feel for it.” He told her and Twilight nodded and walked around the supply room for a few minutes before she made her way back to where Liston stood holding a helmet. “How’s it feel?”

“Great, it fits perfectly.” She said with a smile. Liston nodded and then lifted the helmet up and placed it on her head, Twilight felt her ears and horn slide easily through hold that had been put into the helmet for them and then Liston buckled it tightly onto her head so it wouldn’t slip. He then reached up to an area above her eyes and slide down some type of visor that covered her eyes. Twilight blinked as a compass lite up on the very bottom of where she could see and showed she was facing South East.

“That is your HUD; it mostly just showed you which direction you are facing as we don’t exactly have access to military satellites to use it to send important information like status missions and such. But that’s what we use Datapads for, though we don’t have a lot of those so team leaders tend to be the only ones to get them “He said.

Twilight nodded and looked around watching as the compass turned with her. All the stuff these humans used was amazing and she couldn’t wait to study it all and tell the Princes all about it. She stopped and blinked as she remembered the Princess and she looked down, her ears going back as much as they could in the helmet. “Hey, hey what’s wrong little pony is the helmet uncomfortable?” Liston asked with concern, he was still smiling slightly but it wasn’t the type he usually worn, more like the type you would wear when trying to make someone feel at ease. “If it is I can remake it.”

“No…the helmet fits perfectly…it’s just…I’ve been here almost two months….with everything going on I hadn’t really had the chance to think about it…everyone must be so worried sick about me…” She said as she thought of her friends, family and the Princesses desperately trying to find her, and Spike! He had been in the room when she got dragged her. While a lot of that was blurry she was aware she had been screaming on the floor in pain and the entire time Spike had to sit there and watch that before she just vanished.

Liston sat beside her on the floor. “Well then, the way I see it the only way to get them to stop worrying is to find a way to get you back home.” He said and Twilight looked up at him. “If you got here then logically it’s possible to send you back.”

“Yeah…I guess….but…but I still don’t really know how I got here much less how I could go back.” Twilight said.

“Tell you what little unicorn, I’ll ask around and see what I can dig up about how you got here. And then once we know how we can work towards getting you back.” Liston said then put his hand on her shoulder. “I promise you we’ll find a way to get you back home.”

Twilight lifted the visor and wiped her eyes. “Thank you, really thank you.” She said and hugged him.

She felt him put his arms around her. “Hey, in my shop satisfaction is guaranteed and if you aren’t satisfied with being here then I’ll do what I have to, to ensure my customer is as happy as they can be.” He said cheerily.
She smiled and then let him go. “Thank you again…but…who are you going to ask that could tell you anything about me?”

Liston waved his hand, shooing away the question. “I know some people.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight made her way to the mess hall intending on grabbing a quick meal before going to meet Mendez for training. She still wore her armor and helmet with the visor up as Liston had suggested she wear it for the day to get used to the weight, siting that eventually she won’t even notice the weight being there and the armor will feel just as natural as her own skin.

She entered the mess hall and a couple of the soldiers glanced up, to see her entered before looking back down followed by their heads shooting back up and staring at her. Slowly, like a ripple in a pond all eyes turned towards her and she found herself the center of attention of every single soldier in the room. She shifted a bit uncomfortable before starting to make her way towards the back of the line, the entire time all the soldier tracking her progress. As she neared the line one of the soldiers got up and stepped in her path crossing his arms over his chest. “Well, well look what we have here guys and gals, seems our little unicorn here has graduated from a Recruit to a Rookie.”

Twilight heard some one walk up behind her and she looked and saw one of the female soldiers standing behind her. “Yeah looks that way doesn’t it.” She said. Twilight wasn’t sure what was going on and why she was suddenly being surrounded while everyone looked at her.
“Well then.” The first shoulder looked around at everyone.” We know what to do don’t we boys?” And with that every single soldier stood up from their seats and Twilight found herself surrounded. She looked around at all of them not sure what was going on till one of them stepped forward and punched her hard in the shoulder. She didn’t feel it really through the armor but when that soldier stepped away another took his place. She blinked not sure what was going on as everyone seemed to be doing this.

The soldier in front of her looked down at her, his arms still crossed and saw her confusion. “Helping to pin on your rank private. “He said as another soldier punched her shoulder; even with the armor it was starting to hurt do to it repeating over and over. “You are officially one of us.”

The punched didn’t stop till every single soldier had punched her shoulder in the same spot and by that time her shoulder was numb. Once the last soldier had down it everyone gave a small cheer before returning to their seats and Twilight was allowed to get in line.

She reached the cook, she still questioned how he kept his white apron and hat clean while making food in the sewers but found it best not to question how these humans did somethings. She was happy to learn they had hit a Fed supply convoy and had a lot of food including fruits and vegetables again. Twilight quickly ordered a couple of apples and got them along with water.

As she levitated the tray and was making her way towards an empty table she heard someone call out to her and when she looked she saw one of the soldiers waving her over, as she neared all the soldiers shifted to make room for her and she took a seat. This was the first time she had sat with the soldiers she didn’t know as usually only Marcus and Delco would sit with her, apparently she was one of them and everyone wanted to get to know the “Rook” or rookie.

They talked asked questions, talked to her and each other about random topics that with no clear direction. Some speculated on whose squad she would be put in. Twilight found herself joining in on the conversation a few times when it wasn’t directed at her with her own opinion as she ate her apples.

As she ate she noticed she felt something was missing from her meal but she couldn’t tell what, she had two apples and water, what was missing. As she started at her food it slowly came to her, she missed the taste of meat.

<<<O>>>

The next day Twilight made her way down the tunnels of the base, her hair was still damp from Mendez “Helping” her wake up even though she had already been awake and was just grabbing her armor when he showed up. Yesterday’s impromptu party like meal in the mess hall had made her very late to training and Mendez had not been happy, though he had commented that she at lasted looked like a proper soldier now in her armor, which he made her go through all her training while wearing it.

Before he had left this morning he told her that there was no training today as she had to report to the Major for her assignment and then meet her squad but he did tell her they would be making it up tomorrow, just because she was going to be in a squad did not mean her training was complete, she still had a lot to learn.

She eventually reached the majors office, not far from Clancy’s office, and raised a hoof and knocked twice. “Enter.” She heard the Major say from the other side and she pushed the door open with her magic. Once she reached the middle of the door she snapped into a perfect salute, something Mendez drilled into her by making her salute at random and anytime she got it wrong shooting her with his paint gun thing till it was now ingrained in her how to salute.

“Well I see your time with our Chief Petty Officer has done you some good private.” Major Briggs said.

“Yes sir.” She said not looking straight ahead, it felt odd not looking at the speaker but Mendez had drilled that unless she was told otherwise she was to stand exactly like this. Major Briggs stood from behind his desk and walked around Twilight. “Amazing what a few days with Mendez can do for a recruit, the man is a miracle worker.” Major Briggs said as he returned to his desk. “At ease private.”

Twilight dropped her hoof and stood with all four legs shoulder width apart, she didn’t have to stand with her front legs behind her back as that was physically impossible for her, though she still looked straight ahead. “Now then after looking over reports from Mendez, Dupo and Dr. Grey, as well as checking with squad leaders I decided to assign you to Staff Sergeant Grimm’s squad.” He said as he wrote one piece of paper. “Her are directions to where his squad is, you are to report to him immediately.” He held out the paper and Twilight took it in her magic. “You are dismissed.” And with that twilight saluted again and turned and left the room.

Once she was outside the closed door she relaxed and looked at the paper before nodding, she had an idea where that was and worst case could ask, though she wasn’t looking forward to meeting someone by the name of Grimm.

It didn’t take Twilight long to reach where her squad was in the barracks section of the base. She didn’t knock on the door this time and just walked in and looked over the rows of beds in the room. There were only a few soldiers present right now and she assumed they were her squad.

Looking them over she counted about 5 of them all wearing the rebel’s armor though only two wore the helmets and all of them only had pistols on their hips. She slowly approached them and one of them noticed her and stood up to walk over to her. “I’m Staff Sergeant Grimm and I’m guessing you are our replacement medic.”

Twilight snapped into a salute. “Yes sir, Private Twilight Sparkle Reporting for duty sir.” She said.

“At ease Privet, we are off duty so this is more of an informal meet and greet.” Grimm said as he made his way back to where the other Soldier had been and Twilight noticed they had been around a table, three of them holding cards and the rest seemed to be watching. The sergeant seemed to be the fourth in the card game. Twilight dropped her salute and stood at ease. “Privet relax.” Grimm told her and she relaxed, these soldiers were not like the Major or Mendez, though the Sergeant did say this was informal so maybe you don’t need to follow what Mendez taught her when it was informal.

She relaxed and slowly made her way over to the soldiers and looked what they were playing. She didn’t recognize the game. As she watched she saw that each player had one face down card and one face up card. Every now and then one would ask for a “hit” and would get another card or would “stay” and not get a card, once everyone had stayed they would turn over their face down card and either “bust” or one would win. And then the winner would then take a pile of plastic cards from the middle of the table.to another pile the player had in front of them. As she watched a few hand played she started to notice a pater to the game, the number cards had their values and the cards with the pictures of a humans seemed to have a value as well.

“You wanting to play Sparkle?” One of the soldiers asked as he noticed how intently she was watching.

“Oh…uh…sure I guess.” She said a bit nervously and the soldiers shifted around a bit to make room for her and one of the watchers got her a chair. She climbed into it and rested her front hooves on the table. “So…I got the rules a bit but I still don’t know how to play.”

Grimm nodded.” Don’t worry, Blackjack is really simple.” He told her and then spent the next few minutes explaining the rules to her, most of them she had gotten from watching but knowing the values of the face cards was useful. “Since you don’t have any credit to bet with you don’t need to worry about it till you actually get some.”

Twilight nodded and the soldier who was acting as the house dealt the cards. As they played Twilight started to relax more with the soldiers that made up her squad, she learned were called the Reapers do to their squad leader’s name, and actually managed to win some Credits to make bets with. She did learn that Grimm was called Sarge rather than his rank or full name and she learned that the humans referred to themselves by their last name when in the military.

Which explained why they were calling her Sparkle, though they also called her “Rook” which she asked about and learned it was short for Rookie which she was as she still wasn’t done with training. As they played she learned the names of the players, there was Sergeant Grimm their squad leader to Twilights right. Raymond his second in command to her left and Chekov next to him.

After a couple of hours of playing they decided to head to the mess hall to grab dinner, Twilight was happy to see she had won a decent some of Credits from the game and as the dealer collected the card as Twilight slipped off the chair.

Grimm and Chekov moved the table to the side of the room as Raymond moved the chairs. Once those were moved the squad started to head for the mess hall, the Soldier that had been acting as the house and the one that had been watched fell in beside Twilight. “Hey there Sparkle thought we should let you know out names as well. “The dealer said. “I’m Wilkerson and this here is McKay.” He said as he pointed a thumb at the other soldier who nodded at her.

Twilight smiled at them. “It’s great to meet you all; I’m looking forward to serving with you and you can count on me to keep you all in one piece.”

Chapter 7: The Field

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Personal Log
Staff Sergeant Alex Grimm
Begin Log
This is Grimm, decided I should make another one of these logs as it’s been a few days since my last one but hey I’ve been busy. Got a Rook assigned to the Reapers a couple of days ago to replace Devon as our medic and I kid you not it’s the purple unicorn I’ve seen around the base.
At first I questioned how well she would mesh with us being an alien and all but she seemed to be fitting in well enough, Wilkerson and McKay seem to like her and Chekov is indifferent as usual, me and Raymond are reserving judgment till we see her actually in the field.
So far she has been spending her free time when not in training with us in the barracks mostly playing cards, she is a terrible poker player but she seems to enjoy Blackjack well, the Rook has already won a tidy sum of Credits off the rest of us though unlike us she can’t really spend them so she mostly just uses them for betting.
Anyways think I’ll end this here as word has come down that from on high that we are being sent out on a recon mission in order for our medic to get her feet…um…hooves wet, damn that’s going to take some getting used to. Anyways this is Staff Sergeant Alex Grimm signing off.
End Log

<<<O>>>

Twilight followed her squad through the base as they headed for the staging area. IT had been a couple of days since the meet and greet and after Mendez intensifying her training he finally gave the ok for her to actually enter the field, though he did say she still had a lot to learn but time was short so the rest would either be learned in the field or in the random chances she has to train with Mendez.

Twilight had to admit, she was excited to finally be going into the, it was partly because while she liked being with the rebels she was missing being outside, but it was mostly because she was finally able to do something to help her friends. It wasn’t long before they reached a room near one of the tunnels that lead from the main room and she followed her squad in.

She looked around the room as she had never been in it before as she never really had any reason to go near the entrances to the base. The room was about the size of her quarters and had some table to one side with guns and ammo laid out on it and in the middle of the room were some chairs and on the far wall was a map of the city and surrounding area and standing before it was Major Briggs.

Twilight followed her squad and took a seat in one of the chairs. “Alright now that everyone is here we will start the briefing.” Major Briggs said. “We have heard reports of some increased activity at the Penton Armory near the edge of the city.” He said and gestured to a highlighted area of on the southern edge of the city. “Whatever they are doing there is very interesting to us as preliminary reports stay they have tripped the security for the Armory, I want to know what it is they are doing there.”

“And that’s where you Reapers come in, you Primary Objective is to get as close as you can safely get and observe the Armory for a few hours, learn their patrol routes and what gear they are using so we can hit them later this week. I shouldn’t have to say but avoiding detection is a high priority as we don’t want to tip them off that we have noticed. Am I Understood?” Major Briggs looked at the reapers and they all nodded including Twilight. “Alright, grab your gear and move out when ready, Dismissed.”

With That Major Briggs left the room and the Reapers made their way to the table of guns and started to grab weapons and ammo. Twilight stood looking at the weapon. Till Grimm stepped up beside her. “Something wrong Rook?”

“Um…what do I take? No one told me which gun I’m supposed to us.” She said looking up at him.

“Well we aren’t exactly military so we aren’t issued our weapons; it’s more you grab whatever you want though we do try to coordinate a decent assortment of firepower to make things as balanced as we can but mostly just take whatever you want.” He told her as he grabbed one of the MX3Bs and some of the attachments for it.

Twilight looked over the guns and grabbed a combat one of the Grops and slipped it into the holster on her chest and slung a MX3B onto her back before grabbing some mags for it.

<<<O>>>

Twilight and the rest of the Reapers slowly made their way through the forest south of the Armory they were to recon, all of them were scanning the trees around them for enemy patrols. It has three hour since they had all geared up and made their way from the sewers. So far it had been an uneventful mission and if everything went well it would stay that way.

Like Grimm had told her they had all grabbed an assortment of weapons though mostly MX3B in the case of Twilight, Grimm and McKay, while Wilkerson and Raymond had grabbed SMGs and lastly Chekov had grabbed an LMG. Twilight had also been given a combat knife by Grimm that went into the sheath on her shoulder.

“Hold up.” Grimm said and everyone stopped and took up positions watching the trees as he took out his Datapad and check over the map. “Ok, we are about 10 minutes out; we will need to keep an extra eye out for Feds.” He said as he slipped the Datapad back into his pack. “Let’s move out.”

With that the Reapers start to creep through the forest once more keeping extra care to watch for Feds. After ten minutes the Reapers were laying prone on top of a small hill looking out over an empty lot at the Penton Armor, even Twilight could there were a lot of the black and white armored soldier around it then there needed to be for the small Armory.

The armory itself was a cluster of 5 small buildings around a much larger central building and the entire perimeter was surrounded by a large chain-link fence topped with razor wire. Near the only gate into the area was a small guard house and two tall guard towers. As Twilight watched she saw groups of 6 soldiers walking the inside of the fence as well as every few minutes a black and white armored jeep would drive by.

As they got settled in Raymond took out a small video camera and started to record the armory while Grimm took out binoculars and got a closer look, leaving Twilight, Chekov, Wilkerson and McKay to watch the trees.

As they sat there watching the Armory Twilight’s ears swiveled towards the trees and she looked but didn’t see anything. “Hey…Sarge I think something’s wrong.” She whispered turning to look at the Staff Sergeant.

“What is it Sparkle?” Grimm asked taking his eyes from the binoculars to look at her.

“I’m not sure just…thought I heard something but I haven’t heard it again.” She told him.

“What did it sound like?”

“I’m not sure, it was only for a second but it wasn’t very distinct.” She told him a bit uncertain.

“Probably just nerves.” Grimm told her. “But just to be on the safe side we will only stay her another half hour before leaving.” HE said before going back to watching the Armory.

Twilight nodded and settled back down but after a few minutes her ear swiveled towards a barely heard sound again and when she looked she didn’t see anything. She still couldn’t tell what the sound was but something was there. She looked at Grimm but he was focused on the Armory and she thought it best not to disturb him. She looked back at the forest, something was there and she needed to know what it was.

She slowly started to slip down the hill and was soon in the woods. She made her way through the trees as silently as she could her eyes scanning the trees. As she moved she heard the noise again this time louder, she still wasn’t sure what it was but she had a direction.

She started to make her way through the trees and as she rounded a tree she dropped to the ground and quickly slid back around the tree. Taking a quiet deep breath from the scare she just got she peeked around the tree and saw about 16 black and white armored soldier crawling through the trees towards the hill the Reapers were using to observe the Armory. They were going straight for it like they knew exactly where the Rebel soldiers were.

Slowly Twilight started to back away from the tree; she had to report this to Grimm before the Feds were in position to ambush the Reapers. “There you are Rook.” McKay’s voice said quietly behind her and Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin and barley kept from crying out as she spun around to find McKay and Wilkerson standing behind her. “What the heck are you…” Twilight quickly cut off McKay and putting a hoof to her mouth and shushing him. He looked at her confused and she pointed toward the tree.

McKay and Wilkerson looked at each other and made their way toward the tree and looked around it before yanking their heads back and making their way back as fast as they could while still remaining silent.

“We need to tell the Sarge.” Wilkerson whisper and Twilight nodded till she thought about it.

No…there’s no time to get back and then for us to get clear before those soldier would be on us and that hill doesn’t provide any cover.” She looked at the two humans.” We need to stop them here or at least distracted them enough so Sarge knows somethings wrong.”

The two rebels looked at each other then looked at her. “You got a plan don’t you?” McKay asked.
Twilight nodded. “Yes, we are going to ambush the ambushers.” She said and could see the smile split the two humans face and felt one creep onto her muzzle. It took her less than a minute to explain her plan and the Rebels moved off to get into position.

It was a simple plan, neither of them had brought any explosive and only had their guns but they also had the element of surprise as she doubted the Feds had been expecting some one with Twilight’s level of hearing to be with the Reapers, so they wouldn’t be expecting to come under fire while out of cover.

It was a simple plan, Wilkerson would start things off with his SMG and sidearm then when the Feds moved into cover to from Wilkerson’s gunfire McKay and Twilight would open fire from the sides and catch them in crossfire with the more powerful assault rifles

Shortly after Twilight Got into position she heard Wilkerson open fire with his SMG from behind the Feds managing to take two of them down before they reacted. Once they realized what was happening they scrambled into cover and started to return fire. A few second later the Feds farthest from Twilight started dropping as McKay opened fire on them and Twilight took her assault rifle into her magi and aimed down the sight.

And froze as she took aim at the nearest soldier. They weren’t like shooting paper targets they were actual living people. Yes she had killed one before but that had been an accident, she hadn’t meant to do that, but her gun was loaded with armor piercing ammo so it would rip through the Feds armor.

As she watched the Feds were repositioning into cover from both sides and returning fire and they had the numbers to overrun McKay and Wilkerson on sheer firepower. And the Feds wouldn’t hesitate to kill them and neither would the Rebels. The Feds would either kill her for being a rebel or capture her and put her into another lab to experiment on her, she was not going to be a test subject in a lab, never again!

As she watched the fire fight she remembered what Mendez had told her after he broke her ribs and she laid gasping on the training room floor. “It’s kill or be killed.” She whisper and took aim before her magic squeezes the trigger.

<<<O>>>

Staff Sergeant Grimm cursed under his breath as he, Raymond and Chekov through the woods towards the sound of gun fire, what the hell did Sparkle get into. When he had noticed she was gone he had Sent McKay and Wilkerson to go and find her and not 10 minutes later the woods are filled with gunfire. If she blew this mission he was going to personally beat the shit out of her for endangering the squad.

The fun fire soon stopped as he and the rest of the Reapers pushed onto the scene of carnage and they stopped dead as they stared down at the bodies of the Fed soldiers. “What the fuck is going on here?!” He demanded as he saw Sparkle, McKay and Wilkerson stepping out of the tree from three directions. “Ambushing a Fed ambush sir.” Wilkerson said as he got close.

“Ambush? What the hell are talking about?” He said his anger waning a bit.

“The Rook found these Feds.” McKay said kicking one of the dead soldiers. “Trying to sneak up on us and came up with a plan to take them out before they got close.”

Grimm looked at Sparkle who smiled sheepishly up at him. “Ok, fine the Rooks a fucking hero, good, now let’s get the hell out of her and report back to base as this little fire fight has put the armory on alert and they’ll be all over us in a few minutes.” He said and the three soldiers in front of him nodded as they turned and headed off into the woods rapidly.

Despite the fact Grimm was still pissed off at Sparkle for running off be still had to give her credit for finding the ambush and taking it out, if not for her running off he’d recommend her for a commendation, though taking out the ambush is what kept her from being thrown in the brig when they got back.

Though despite thinking on the issues of Sparkle one thought was at the forefront of Grimm’s mind, how the hell did the Feds know they were there to send out a group to ambush them?

<<<O>>>

Twilight followed the rest of the Reapers into the main room of the base. They had dropped off their gear, though she had been told to keep her side arm. Her ears were back as she had gotten scolded by Grimm do to her running off during the mission and he made it clear the only reason she wasn’t being thrown in the brigs, something the new base did in fact have was that she had saved the squad. He had told her that if she ever hears something again like that and honestly thinks it is an issue to tell him and he will make the call, not her.

She now was with the Reapers as they headed for the mess has all the entire mission had lasted 8 hours with only water and candy bars in the case of those who had them. As they reached the mess hall and got in line Wilkerson stood behind her. “Hey listen Rook, despite what Sarge may say; your plan was brilliant all things considered. we showed the Feds they can’t get the drop on the Reapers.” HE said and Twilight couldn’t help but smile up at the human.

When she finally reached the head of the line the cook leaned over to look down at her. “What you going have darlin’? He asked her

“I’ll take an apple and some carrots please. “She said smiling up at him and then thought, she couldn’t believe she was about to ask this but she had had a lot of time to think on the way back to base. “And...Some chicken if you have any? “She said

The cook blinked down at her. “Aren’t you a vegetarian darlin’?” He asked in a bit of confusion.

Twilight gave him a sheepish smile. “Ehehe….yeah….I’m…kind of wanting some meat.” She said and the Cook blinked again before shrugging and getting her order and placing it on her plate. She thanked the cook as she took the plate in her magic and left the line going over to the table where the rest of the Reapers were sitting.

She took a seat and started to eat her carrots first. “Aren’t you a vegetarian?” Wilkerson asked as he took a seat.

Twilight sighed. “I…don’t think I am anymore….I noticed a few days ago after I stopped eating meat I…kind of missed it…and when we were on the way back I found myself looking forward to fruit and meat. “She said sighing again. “Apparently I’m an omnivore now cause….I… Really like meat.” She said as if confessing her deepest secret.

The reapers stared at her. “Uh…congrats?” Raymond said looking unsure how to react to how she spoke.

She looked up at them and then fachoofed “Right…you aren’t ponies. “She said dryly as she remembered they were omnivores to start with. “This is just kind of big deal as ponies don’t usually eat meat.” She told them.

“Well…congrats on becoming an exception to the rule Rook.” McKay said. “I get it’s a big deal but I’m not going to pretend to understand it as I’m not a pony.”

She nodded to him. “Yeah thanks for your honestly. Just like I said this is kind of a big deal and…well…yeah just going to take some getting used to I guess but at least I won’t have to worry about being hungry here.” She said as she ate another carrot. Now that that was out of the way conversation at the table resumed on the random topics that the humans seemed to flow from despite none of them really being connected in any way shape or form, least none that Twilight could see but she found herself joining in on them more.

<<<O>>>

As Twilight was heading to the Armory for more firearms training she saw an older human in a in a dark brown suit she had never seen in the base before and when he saw her they both stopped in their tracks and stared at each other.

The human’s hair was completely grey and his face wrinkled so she guessed he was older then Clancy and he wore a think brown suit jacket and red bow tie of all ting and behind his glasses she could see his eyes were green.

“What are you?”

“Who are you?”

They both said at the same time. Twilight horn light with her magical aura and her side arm was half way out of its holster when she heard Major Briggs shout from down the tunnel. “Stand down private!” She stopped and quickly spun around as she let her side arm go and snapped into a salute. Major Briggs walked up to her. “Dr. Anderson is an asset that has recently joined us; he is supposed to be here as his skills will be of use to us.” HE told her.

“Yes sir, my apologies.” She said.

Major Briggs waved his hand.” Don’t apologize, your reaction was the right call to encountering an unidentified person in the base, if he had been a spy for the Feds he could have done a lot of damage if he escaped.”

Twilight didn’t say anything but inside she was smiling wide as she had done well.

“My apologize Dr. Anderson.” Major Briggs said before he left

Twilight dropped her salute and turned and looked at Dr. Anderson. “Sorry about that.” She told him a bit sheepishly.

“Um…no it’s fine…but….what are you?” Dr. Anderson asked staying a bit away from her looking at her with curiosity. “I’ve never seen anything like you.”

“Oh, I’m a Unicorn, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” She said.

“Are you some sort of biological experiment?” the Doctor asked.

“No, I’m a pony.” She said. “I’m…not from here.”

“You’re an alien?”

“Well…sort of, yeah you could say that.”

“Fascinating, the things we could learn from each other, I wish I still had access to my lab—“

“Fuck you I’m not going to be some test subject again.” Twilight yelled and the doctor recoiled putting his hands up and Twilight as she was staring down the sites of her pistol aimed right at Dr. Anderson’s chest. She didn’t recall drawing it but that didn’t matter right now.

“Ok…calm down….no lab….I don’t even have access to mine anymore…” Dr. Anderson said calmly but there was a thread of fear in his voice.

Twilight stared down the sight, her whole body shaking. She was not going to be anyone’s test subject again, she would never let anyone do that to her again, she’d kill them all first.

She felt her magic started to tighten on the trigger of her side arm and she blinked. What was she doing? Major Briggs said this Doctor was one of them and she was about to kill him. Slowly her magic relaxed on the trigger and she lowered the pistol. Her breathing was ragged as she stared down at the floor.

Slowly she got her breathing under control and her body stopped shaking.

“I…take it your arrival to our world was….unpleasant?” She head Anderson ask cautiously.

“Yes….I…they tortured me for what I knew…” Twilight whispered.

“I’m sorry that you’re first…encounter with humans was…so….unwelcoming. I can assure you we are not all that way. I only meant my lab so I could take blood samples…with your permission of course…..a real living alien could teach us so much about biology and what we could learn from your culture and what you could learn from us…though….you may not want to if your first meeting I can understand if you wouldn’t want to.” He said calmly.

Twilight closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and returned her sidearm to its holster as she looked up at Dr. Anderson. “No it’s fine, my first month was a nightmare but…my time here. “She gestured with a hoof to the walls around them. “Have been far better and I have made friends and I know not all humans are….like those from that lab.” She said and shuttered.

She heard Dr. Anderson slowly walk over to her and crouch down. “I’m Doctor James Anderson; I’m an expert in cybernetics.” He said as he offered her his hand.

She put her hoof in it. “Twilight Sparkle, personal Student of Princess Celestia and the Element of Magic.
She said as they shook.

“Magic?” He asked.

“Yeah.” She said as he took her hoof back and pointed at her horn. “As a unicorn I can use magic, it’s how I hold things here in this world as they aren’t exactly designed for hooves.” She said and Anderson nodded, seems he was worried about upsetting her as he didn’t press. “What’s Cybernetics?” She asked tilting her head.

“Oh they are artificial robotic limbs used to replace those that someone has lost. They behave a lot like the old limb though they don’t look like they used to.” He informed her.

“That…sounds interesting.” She said blinking as she thought of the thought of replacing limbs that have been lost. That could help a lot of ponies.

“well the soldier that picked me up also stole a truck load of cybernetic limbs so perhaps I could show you them sometime.” He told her as he stood up.

She nodded. “I’d like that but right now I’m late for firearms training so another time.” She said smiling up at him.

“Ah well good luck Twilight.” The older human said and she bid her farewell before trotting for the armory, Dupo was going to be annoyed at her for being late but at least it wasn’t Mendez.

<<<O>>>

Twilight slipped her armor on and hid behind the door to her quarters. She knew Mendez was going to come and ‘help her’ wake up but she was ready this time. she had used some spare clothes and blankets to make it look like she was still in bed.

The door opened silently and she tenses as she heard footsteps. And then a bucket was slung around the door and she got a face full of water causing her to recoil and sputter. When she wiped the water from her eye she saw Mendez standing before her holding the bucket. “Points for trying but the day a purple horse gets the drop on me is the day hell freezes over.” He said as her headed out of the room.

Grumbling Twilight followed him out, she didn’t have training today as the Reapers had a mission today. It had already been two days since they did recon on the Armory and helped take out the Fed ambush. She had killed three people and yet…she wasn’t bothered by it, she knew she should be but when she thought of the Feds she thought what they would do if they caught her and she knew that if she was taken alive then she would end up back in the hands of Dr. Frisk and thinking that made her have no feelings what so ever about the lives she had taken.

She sighed as she walked for the staging area deciding to think of more pleasant things rather than the mission. She had become good friends with Dr. Anderson as she met up with him and learned about cybernetics and he had shown her some. They were amazing to say the least and he had ones for every limb on the human body that wasn’t one that would result in death if lost; he even had replacement eyes and internal organs.

It didn’t take her long to reach the staging area and when she walked in she saw she was the last to arrive and she quickly found herself a seat and once she was settled Major Briggs began the briefing. The Reapers were being sent on another recon mission it seemed. She had suspicion they were getting recon rather than raids because she was in the squad and Major Briggs wanted her to gain some experience before being sent into a heavy combat situation.

The mission was an easy one, just to check on some Fed patrols in the surrounding country side as the Feds change the patrol routes and frequency every few weeks to try and catch the rebels so that meant the Rebels needed to learn the new schedule.

Once the briefing was completed the Reapers geared up, Twilight grabbing another assault rifle, thought she was trained on SMGs now she had more experience with the rifles. This time though the humans each grabbed a grenade incase another incident like that time. Once they had their gear they headed moved out.

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly moved into the woods with the rest of the Reapers, it had been a rather uneventful mission as they observed a cross road to time the Fed Patrols for the last 12 hours. Twilight had spent the time organizing her gear, randomly inspecting her rifle and sidearm and engaging in quiet conversation with the other Reapers when she wasn’t being the one to watch the road and just generally doing thing to keep herself entertained as she couldn’t read on a mission as she needed to be able to keep watch.

“You think we got everything we need?” McKay asked Grimm as he moved up next to him.

“Yeah this should give us an idea of their schedule unless they change it day to day now but that is unlikely as it would cause too many issues with the rest of the military.” Grimm replied.

Twilight decided to speak to Chekov as he was the only reaper she hadn’t really talked to much as he didn’t seem to speak often.

“So…how are you?” She asked.

Chekov looked down at her. “Fine.” He said simply, she still hadn’t been able to place the slight accent he had.

“Yeah…that’s good.” She said. “So do you prefer LMGs?” She asked as the Reaper had taken the large box fed machinegun again like last mission.

“Don’t need to reload very often. And 200 rounds being sent in one direction can make the Feds duck and not want to pop back out for a while.” He replied as he went back to looking away.

“That make’s sense.” She said as she checked the trees around them.” So...been with the rebels long?”

“3 years.” He said scanning the trees as well.

“Oh? “She was surprised as he was the first rebel besides Dr. Grey that wasn’t there from the start she had met. “Why did you join up?”

“My father was an activist against how militaristic the government was.” He said. “He was very vocal about his views.”

“And so you joined up because of his views?” She asked looking up at the rebel soldier.

“No, I joined because the Feds killed my family.” He said darkly. “So I will kill them.”

Twilight stopped in her tracks and had to move to catch up. “How do you know they did?”

“Because I was going to visit my parent and saw smoke rising from their home, I ran inside to get them and found them both dead, shot in the back of the head and the fire had been started. I escaped out the back so no one saw me. The official report was that they died of smoke inhalation and that the fire was electrical. I knew if I said anything I would be killed to so I found another way to get justice.” Chekov said and she saw the grip on his gun tighten till his knuckles were white.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something when she heard a thump from the trees to her left and started to tear to see what it was when the ground next to her exploded and she was sent flying, the air being driven from her lungs when she crashed to the ground.

She gasped for air as she heard gun fire near her as the Reapers engaged the Feds hidden in the trees. She could hear Grimm cursing about how they knew where they were.

Once she got her air into her lungs she opened her eyes and something was wrong, she couldn’t see out of her left eye and her face was wet. She reached up with her hoof to wipe whatever was on her face off so she could see but her leg wouldn’t respond.

She tried to stand so she could air her squad but her left leg wouldn’t hold her up and she looked at her. Her eyes widened as she saw the mangled mess that was her left leg. It was nothing but a bloody mess only being held onto her body by bits of flesh and muscle and then as if her seeing it finally told her brain something was wrong the pain from both her leg and the left side of her face hit and she started screaming as she laid there in the dirt bleeding.

A shadow fell over her and she looked up to see Raymond standing over her as he crouched down and wrapped an arm around her before picking her up. She saw Chekov, his armor scorched from the blast spraying the trees with his LMG as the Reapers fell back into the trees. “Don’t worry Rook, you’ll be fine as soon as we get to the Doc, Reapers don’t leave their own behind.” Raymond told her as dark spots were starting to fill with black spots. She fought to remain conscious but it was a losing battle and it claimed her.

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly started to come to, the left side of her face hurt as did her leg. She was slowly becoming aware of voices nearby and carefully opened her eyes…eye only to be blinded by a bright light and squeezing it shut.

“Doc she’s awake.” She heard a voice next to her and she slowly opened her eye and looked over to see Staff Sergeant Grimm sitting by her. Looking around she saw she was in the infirmary and the rest of the Reapers were standing next to the door looking at her.

“Twilight, do you know where you are?”” She heard another voice and looked to see Dr. Grey standing beside her. As she looked she saw she was lying on a cot.

“Yes…I’m in the base’s infirmary.” She said, her voice sounded horse.

Dr. Grey nodded. “Ok that’s good, do you remember what happened?”

Twilight had to think about that, they were on their way back to base when there was a thump in the trees and then…an explosion. Her eye widened and she pushed the blanket that was covering her off and froze as she looked where her left leg was supposed to be. It was just bandages. “Wh-where is my leg?!” She said.

“We….we had to amputate. It was so badly damaged by the grenade…the only way I could stop the bleeding was to remove the leg. “She said calmly.

“I could have fixed it with a healing spell!” She yelled at Dr. Grey.

“Twilight you were unconscious and bleeding to death, it was the leg or your life. The only reason you didn’t die in the blast was because your armor absorbed most of the blast and protected your internal organs.” Dr. Grey said calmly.

“But…but how can I help without my leg?” She asked.

Dr. Grey sighed.” You can’t least not in the field, I’m sure we can find something for you to do that doesn’t involve walking around or depth perception.” Dr. Grey said.

“Depth perception? What do you mean?” Twilight asked quietly, her iris shrinking a bit.

“Your….your eye was completely destroyed Twilight, there was nothing I could have done to save it.”

Twilight was quiet as she looked at the Reapers, her squad, she couldn’t serve with them anymore. She had only been on two missions with them but...the thought of them being out there without her. There had to be a way. She just needed to think.

“Dr. Anderson.” She whispered.

“What was that Twilight?” Dr. Grey said still beside her cot.

Twilight looked up at her. “I need to talk to Dr. Anderson.” She said.

“Twilight...” Dr. Grey said.

“Doc he can help, all he needs to do is modified some of what he has, from what he’s told me it shouldn’t be too hard and then I can go back out and help rather than just sitting around taking up space.” She said.

“Twilight they aren’t designed for you.” Dr. Gray said.

“It’s my choice doctor.” She said firmly. “Get me Dr. Anderson.”

Dr. Grey sighed and sent a medic to get Dr. Grey from his lab.

After about 30 minutes Dr. Anderson arrived with the medic. “My presence was requested?” Dr. Grey pointed at Twilight.

“I want cybernetics. I need a left leg and eye.” She said firmly. She was not going to be stuck back at base while the Reapers were out there risking their lives while she was safe and sound. Dr. Anderson stared at her and started to open his mouth but Twilight cut off his objection. “I am sure I want this and I don’t care about the risks. I want this.”

Dr. Anderson sighed. “Very well. But it will take a few days to modify some to work for you and I don’t know how the brain implants will affect you if they will even work for you.”

Twilight nodded.” That is a risk I am willing to take but I am not staying back at base while my squad is out there risking their lives.” She said and Saw the Reapers, who had not left since she woke up, look at her, Wilkerson and McKay with smiles on their faces while Raymond and Grimm with new respect, Chekov nodded his head once at her. They were her squad, she wasn’t going to abandon them as long as she was alive she would do what she had to keep them alive as well.

<<<O>>>

It took three days before Dr. Anderson had modified a cybernetic limb for her and a squad had been sent out on a raid to get some supplies so he could make an eye for her as the human one wouldn’t fit her and there was no way to modify one.
But once they were ready Twilight was brought to Dr. Anderson’s lab and placed on the surgical table. The lab wasn’t much but a large room with some stolen equipment so that Dr. Anderson could work with his cybernetics and maintain them as needed.

“Are you sure you want this?” Dr. Anderson asked her, he was dressed in surgical scrubs she was all to familiar with, while it made her uncomfortable she kept it under control by thinking about the Reapers and how this would allow her to go back into the field.

She nodded. “More sure then I was three days ago.” She said looking at him. “Do it.” With that Dr. Anderson pulled up his surgical mask and Dr. Grey who was there to assist slipped the familiar mask over her muzzle.

“Please count backwards from 100 Twilight, out loud.” Dr. Anderson said.

“100…99…98…97…96…..95………94……………….93……”Twilight blinked and she was lying back in the infirmary, her shoulder and side of her face hurt a lot.

“Twilight….how do you feel?”” She looked over at Dr. Grey who was seated beside her cot, she saw Dr. Anderson sitting beside the door. He stood up and made his way over to them.

“Hurts…a lot.” She said, her brain was slow.

“That’s normal after the surgery, it should dull as you get used to things.” Dr. Anderson said.

“Why can’t I see out of my left eye still?” She asked.

“Your cybernetics aren’t online yet, its normal procedure to wait till the patient is awake so we can know if anything is wrong.” Dr. Anderson said. “Are you read?”

Twilight nodded and e reached around behind her neck and pushes moved something and she felt a click. Pain shot through Twilight body coming from her eye and left foreleg and she couldn’t help crying out. “Remain calm, the pain is normal for when they come online, it will pass in a moment. “She heard Dr. Anderson say and after a few moments the pain subsided.

She slowly opened her eyes and blinked as she saw numbers scrolling across half her vision for a moment. She blinked a few times and they ended. Slowly she looked around the room, she could see everything just like with her old eye but yet it felt different at the same time. Slowly she looked down at the blanket covering her again and with her right hoof pushed it off herself to stare down at the metal appendage, it seemed Dr. Anderson had gotten some purple paint as the limb was purple and not grey as the other cybernetics were, it wasn’t an exact match to her coat but was close.

She slowly lifted her legs and moved it around a bit, it moved a bit faster then what she wanted and went further or not far enough but slowly she got the hang of it. She slowly moved her hoof in a circle and could hear the slight shirring of the legs servos work; she’d need to use a spell to make those be quiet. As she moved her new limb around she heard Dr. Anderson telling her that since she was so insistent on going into the field he had had the squad get military cybernetics rather than the civilian models he had in stock. She heard him say how durable they were and that they had increased strength so she could actually lift it as it weighed about 3 times as much as her old leg. As she listened to him explain she felt a smile start to spread across her muzzle, this would work this would work so very well in the field, she could keep the Reapers alive and with what Dr. Anderson as telling her, she wouldn’t have to worry about the Feds ever getting the chance to put her into a lab again. Oh the things she could do if someone even tried with just this one hoof.

Interlude: Parties and Letters

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Twilight stared at the collection of ponies that stared back at her, as she had guessed Pinkie had invited the entire town and now she was in an impromptu staring contest with the civilians of Ponyville. Why they were staring at her wide eyed she had no idea, she had made sure her armor was cleaned and repaired, she had washed up, fixed her mane and tail so she was more presentable, she had even cleaned up Celestia and Luna so they looked good as new beside her.

She leaned over to whisper to Pinkie Pie. “Why are they staring at me? Did I miss something on my armor?”

Pinkie looked at her. “Oh…Um I’m sure it’s just cause they haven’t seen you for so long they aren’t sure what to do.” Pinkie said and laughed a bit nervously before she bounced to the middle of the room. “Come on everypony, it’s a PARTY TIME!” She yelled excitedly as she pulled Vinyl Scratch from…somewhere and bounced over and placed her behind the turn tables.

Once the music started the civilians seemed to relax as Pinkie made her way around the room to everyone talking to them or giving them cupcakes or other party items. Slowly they started to make their way to the dance floor or the food.

Twilight was standing to one side as she watched everyone get into the party mood, shortly after the music started she had tuned it out as the upbeat tune that was playing was defiantly something Pinkie would choose but held no interest for her and she was thinking. She had barely kept her face natural when Pinkie said party time as it had brought up some depressing memoires to her.

To keep from being noticed as she stood there Twilight started to make her way to a secluded corner of the room, the party guests parting before her like water before a ship. Once she arrived at the corner she pulled out one of her heavy pistols from her pocket dimension and looked over the polished nickel plated semi-auto heavy pistol. He eyes went over the dark wooden grip and the two word inscription frowning as she read it.

“Hey Twilight what are you doing over here?” Dash said hovering above her and Twilight looked up at her as she put the gun back where it had been.

“Just thinking about a good friend is all.” She said and smiled slightly.

“Are you ok darling? You looked like you weren’t enjoying yourself.” Rarity said coming over.

“Yes, I’m fine, the party is great over all, and the civilians seem to be enjoying it so I’m going to call it a success.” She said looking around at the ongoing party and came face to face with Pinkie Pie.

“You aren’t having fun Twilight?” She asked her mane deflating a bit. “This is your party not theirs so what is needed for you to enjoy it?”

“Um…” Twilight had to think of an answer, she didn’t want the party pony to be depressed after going to all the effort of setting this all up. “Well…the music really isn’t my thing.” She finally said.

Pinkie’s mane poofed back up. “Well then why don’t you put on some of the music you have on your Datapad then so you can enjoy it, I’m sure we can hook it up to Vinyl’s speakers.”

Twilight blinked. “How do you….never mind, I don’t want to deal with the headache.” She said rubbing her face with her hoof. “Are you sure you want me to?” She asked and Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. “Ok then.”

Twilight made her way over to the speakers and pulled out her Datapad as well as some cords and sure enough they were compatible. Once it was hooked up she opened up her music file and scrolled through the tracks till she settled on one she hadn’t listen to in a few days and selected it.

The room went quiet as the song loaded and everyone was curious to hear what she was doing. The speakers came to life with strange TONES before a beat began in a manner none of them were familiar with, then the lyrics hit and everyone froze as they listened to the somewhat disturbing words to the song.

The words were only disturbing to the peaceful ponies, Twilight on the other hand was bobbing her head to the beat her eyes closed as she let the music wash over her. This was one of her favorite songs from her time with the rebels she used it to help motivate them before missions.

As the song came to an end the Datapad loaded the next track and the speakers set forth a slightly gentle TUNE for a second, causing the ponies to relax till the lyrics of this song started, these were worse than the last one and listing to them and the fact Twilight’s head never stopped bobbing to the beat, a smile on her face caused many of them to back away from her as they listened.

The song soon came to an end and before the Datapad could load another track Twilight felt a hoof on her shoulder and she opened her eye and looked over at Pinkie with a somewhat strained smile on her face. Twilight paused the music before the next song got going. “What is it Pinkie?”

“Nothing…nothing just thought maybe you’d like to have some cake is all.” She said and Twilight noticed how her eyes darted around the room for a moment. Twilight looked and saw the civilians all standing away from her staring at her.

“Something wrong?” She asked causing many of them to flinch, she raised an eye brow opening her mouth to demand an answer when Pinkie grabbed her and dragged her over to the table of food. “Hey what the hell are you doing let me go!” Twilight yelled and shoved Pinkie off of her.

“Sorry, just thought you were hungry is all.” Pinkie said as she started filling a plate with food. Twilight heard the music that had been being played since the start of the party begin to playa and she tuned it out as her eye’s narrowed.

“I could have walked over here just fine by myself thank you very much.” Twilight said, her voice filled with annoyance.

“I know silly but it’s your party so you need to enjoy as much of it as you can.” Pinkie said shoving the plate of food at Twilight as the guest slowly started to go back to enjoying the parting but all of them giving Twilight a very wide berth.

Twilight opened her mouth to give Pinkie an annoyed retort when Spike ran up to her. “Twilight, message from the Princess for you.” He said holding up a scroll.

“Damnit, how did she know I was back already?” Twilight said annoyed that she had to deal with this right now; while she was looking forward to seeing her mentor again she had wanted to enjoy being home for a few days before making contact. Too late for that now, if Luna told her then Twilight was going to have a few words for the Princess of the Night and none of them friendly.

Twilight unrolled the letter and started to read.

To my most faithful student Twilight

I have received word that you have returned home to us safe and sound and while I am happy to hear that I also received word of what you did upon your arrival and it seemed we have much to discuss about your time away.

These matters would be best discussed in person so I am inviting you and your friends to come and visit me in Canterlot, you may come whenever you are able as there is no rush. I look forward to seeing you.

Your teacher Celestia

Twilight finished reading the letter and her horn lit with magic and the paper burst into flames and was quickly turned to ash. When she looked up she saw her friends all staring at her. “What?” She asked, voice still filled with traces of annoyance causing Fluttershy to retreat into her mane.

“Well…we were waiting for you to read the letter.” Rarity said.

“I did.” Twilight deadpanned.

“Oh…um…usually you read them out loud.” Rarity said.

“Which was a ridiculous practice when the letter is for me and no one else.” Twilight said in the same deadpanned manner.

“Yes…I….suppose so….but why did you burn the letter?” Rarity asked.

“So no one else could read it, it’s better to destroy documents that are no longer needed so as not to risk them falling into enemy’s hands” She said simply.

“What enemy?” Dash asked in confusion.

Twilight shrugged. “You never know so better safe than sorry.” She said and turned and started to make her way to the door and she heard her friends moved to catch up.

“Where you going surgarcube?” Applejack asked as she followed her.

“Our presence has been requested in Canterlot, I am going to prepare for the trip as should you.” She said.

“But what about the party?” Pinkie asked.

“A superior has requested my presences, my duty is to report in as soon as possible. “She looked back at her friends. “In short, this party is over.”

Chapter 8: Nightmare Squad

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Personal Log
Doctor James Anderson
Begin Log:
Well Twilight seems to be taking to her new cybernetic leg and eye very well, she adapted very quickly to them and learned to control them in just a couple of day. Her alien biology is amazing I do wish she would let me run some tests but after the incident in the hall when I so much as mentioned my lab I know better than to ask, next time she might not stop.
So far my observation of her haven’t seem to shown any issues with the brain implants that I have noticed, though I haven’t known her long so I don’t really have a profile to work off of her, about the only thing I’ve really noticed is that she seems to swear a bit more than she did in our few conversations though that may be from her near death experience as humans have been known to become less inhibited after such events but honestly I have no idea about her alien psychology.
I’ve spoken with her squad and they have mentioned her swearing more and being more open to talking with them but that could still be from her just getting comfortable with them or the near death experience.
Honestly I have no way to know if the implants are affecting her psychology or not as I have no information on her. All I can do is observe and make sure she doesn’t become a danger to herself or those around her.
End Log

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling and lights running past her. Where were they going? Didn’t they know it was scientifically impossible for them to go anywhere? Someone should tell them it wasn’t scientifically possible.

As she watched she noticed her head felt weird, as she focused on her she realized her helmet was missing, that wasn’t right she should be wearing it, the Reapers were in the field, why was it off?

As she thought about it she remembers Chekov pulled it off her head and then punched her hard in the face. Why would he do that, she was sure she hadn’t angered him and why was he crouching in the memory?

As she thought she tried to remember what the Reapers had been doing. They had been going out to recon some Fed activity again, same as before. It had been early morning, the sun just starting to rise.

As she watched the ceiling and lights run past she remembered that Sarge had stopped them as they made their way through a small clearing, they all had been watching the trees and then Sarge said something was off and that they should…something….he didn’t finished whatever he had been saying as Twilight heard a strange high pitched sound and a small hole appeared in Sarge’s forehead and the back of his head exploded.

Before she could react Raymond had yelled something about a sniper and then his head exploded too. Twilight and the other Reapers ran for the trees. As she neared the trees Twilight had heard a strange click under her right front hoof, a human probably wouldn’t hear it but her hearing was better than a human’s so she heard it clearly. She had just registered the click and then her right hoof lifted off the ground and then she was flying through the air a little ways and then she landed on the ground hard.

Shortly after that was when Chekov pulled her helmet off and punched her in the face because she was screaming for some reason.

She moved her head and looked at her Right front legs and was trying to figure out what was wrong with what she was looking at. After a minute she finally realized it was because the bloody bandaged were wrapped poorly around the stub that was there and the tourniquet was loose. That needed to be tight to stop blood flow. She used her magic to tighten it.

She then looked over and saw McKay was behind her and when she looked to her side she saw Chekov running alongside her, his LMG slung on his back so that meant Wilkson was in front of her. Why were they running? Were they late for a briefing? The Major and Sarge would be annoyed at them so it made sense to run.

They soon turned and passed through a door and Dr. Grey was standing over her saying something but Twilight couldn’t hear her, well she could but it sounded like she was under water and was very indistinct.

Why did Dr. Grey look so worried? Was she late for something too? But she was the lead Doctor, what could she be late for when she was the one in charge. As Twilight was trying to figure out why everyone was looking at her so worriedly her eyes started to get heavy. Dr. Grey seemed to be yelling something at her but Twilight couldn’t hear her, didn’t she know that? Twilight would need to tell her after she woke up but right now she was too tired speak, she needed to rest.

She closed her eyes as she thought she would need to make sure she woke up before Mendez showed up to wake her up as she didn’t want a face full of water today.

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, her head was pounding and she blinked a few times, why could she only see half the room, what was wrong with her left eye? She tried to lift her right hoof to see if something was over her eye but it wouldn’t move. She tried to see what was wrong but her body was stiff and she couldn’t see anything under the blanket. She was in the infirmary it seemed.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked over to see Dr. Grey holding a piece of paper that said EASE NOW. Why was she writing it out? Why didn’t she just say it? Twilight asked her why and blinked, she couldn’t hear her own voice, her pupils contracted as Dr. Grey franticly wrote on the paper before holding it up. REMAIN CALM, EVERYTHING IS OK, AND YOUR HEARING DOESN’T WORK RIGHT NOW. DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?

Twilight slowly shook her head and she saw Dr. Grey sigh before she started writing again. Not being able to hear or move was causing Twilight to have a mini panic attack.

Dr. Grey held up the paper. YOU STEPPED ON A LANDMINE; IT BLEW YOUR LEG OFF AND RUPTURED YOUR EARDRUMS. YOU NEARLY DIED AGAIN. Twilight blinked as she vaguely remembers a clicking sound but that was it. Dr. Grey held up the paper. YOU LOST A LOT OF BLOOD AND I COULDN’T STOP THE BLEEDING. DR. ANDERSON ARRIVED AND WE DECIDED THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE YOU WAS TO REPLACE YOUR LEG, THAT’S WHY YOU CAN’T MOVE, THEY ARE OFFLINE. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

Twilight nodded slowly, she had nearly died? To the pint Dr. Grey couldn’t save her and they had to augment her again? She shivered.

She saw Dr. Grey holding the paper. ARE YOU READY FOR THEM TO BE TURNED ON? With nothing else to do Twilight nodded. She saw Dr. Anderson walk over from where he had been standing where she could see and he reached to the same place at the base of her skull and she felt him do something and then felt the click and the pain washed over her body and she clenched her jaw tightly, she had been ready this time.

After a few moments the pain faded and she opened her eyes, the number danced in her vision again. “There we go that should do it.” She heard Dr. Anderson say and she blinked as she looked at him. “I’m assuming Dr. Grey didn’t tell you that we fixed your hearing while you were out so your hearing is also augmented and you won’t have to worry about being deafened by loud noises anymore.”

She blinked up at him and slowly pushed the blanket off of herself and looked at her metal hooves, she just stared at them. “What about the Reapers?” She said not taking her eyes off her hooves.

There was a long pause and Twilight slowly pushed herself up to sit on her haunches as she looked at the two doctors. “What is it?”

“Staff Sergeant Alex Grimm and Corporal Victor Raymond are KIA.” Dr. Gray said slowly. “The rest of them made it back, you the first one into the minefield so when they saw what happened they were able to avoid them and recover you.”

Twilight looked down at her hooves again. “Twilight, I’m sorry for your lose I know the squads are close. They are currently looking for replacements now though I’m not sure what’s going to happen to the Reapers at this point.” Dr. Gray said gently.” If you need to talk I’m always here.”

Twilight just started at her hooves, her steel hooves. She didn’t need to talk. No what she needed was the crush the Feds beneath her hooves. She understood what Chekov meant about Justice. She will get Justice for Grimm and Raymond and she would crush the Feds beneath her hooves. Dr. Grey and Dr. Anderson couldn’t see the wide smile that spread across her muzzles as she imagined crushing Fed soldier with just her hooves alone. Yes steel hooves where just what she needed.

<<<O>>>

Twilight trotted down the halls of the base, she wasn’t in her armor as Dr. Anderson recommended she get used to her new Cybernetics without. She had already enchanted them with a noise canceling spell that blocked the sound of the servos and made with where she doesn’t make clanging noise when walking across metal as that was fucking annoying.

She was currently making her way to Clancy’s office as he had requested she report there. She didn’t know why but it had been a couple of days since she woke up from her augmentation so it probably had to do with the Reapers. When she reached Clancy’s office and was admitted her theory was confirmed as Chekov, McKay and Wilkerson were there.

She walked up and stood beside her squad and salute alongside them. “At ease.” Clancy said and they all snapped into the same stance or as close as a quadruped could be. “I’m sure you’ve all figured out that you are here to talk about the future of the Reapers as a Squad.” Clancy said, none of the reapers said a word as they didn’t have permission to speak.

“Unfortunately there are no sergeants in need of a squad and all we have are fresh recruits so I have two choices. Either promote one of you or I break up your squad and fill the gaps in other squads.” Clancy said leaning forward, hands resting on his desk. “Frankly that last one is a bad idea as with the exception of Private Sparkle you have all been together for a long time and that sort of cohesion is not something I want to break.”

Clancy then leaned back in his chair. “Now I know McKay and Wilkerson have been together since boot so I’m not going to promote one of the other and Chekov I am very away of your thoughts on being in charge so...” Clancy reached into his desk and pulled out two small pins consisting of three chevrons each. “Congratulations of your promotion Sergeant Sparkle.”

Twilight blinked.” What?!” She couldn’t stop herself from blurting out before quickly recovering her composure.

“I know you don’t have much experience in the field Sergeant but you are the only out of the squad that can be promoted no matter how unorthodox it may be.” Clancy said calmly. “Besides you’ve already showed some skill as a leader on your first mission and I don’t think Chekov will mind being your acting second till you find one yourself.” Clancy said as he looked at Chekov. “Am I right PFC?

“No sir.” Chekov replied crisply.

“Then I think the matter is settled. You are dismissed.” Clancy said. The others started to file out of the room but Twilight remained. “Something on your mind Sergeant?” Clancy asked once the door closed.

“Yes sir, why am I the squad leader? I don’t have any experience leading troops into battle and I’ve only been on four missions and two of them ended with me getting a limb blown off.” She said “What in the name of Luna makes you think I can lead a squad?”

Clancy chuckled. “I must admit your curse are some of the most interesting I’ve ever hear.” He said and Twilight couldn’t help but stare at him flatly. “And what about on your first mission where you McKay and Wilkerson took out a much larger force by yourselves?”

“That was different; we had the element of surprise.” She said.

“True, but why did you choose to attack rather than report back to your squad leader?” Clancy asked.

“There wasn’t time, by the time we got back and explained the Feds would have been in position and attacked as soon as we tried to leave the hill.” She said.

“And that is exactly why I am comfortable letting you lead the squad.” He told her and she stared at him. “You made judgment call, you took command of the situation, calculated how long it would take you to get back vs how fast the Feds were moving, made a call and came up with a plan then executed the plan, all in the course of a few minutes.” He smiled. “You are a leader sergeant even if you don’t know it.”

Twilight sighed. “If you say so sir.” She said and turned to leave.

“Don’t forget these.” She heard Clancy say and when she looked he tapped his finger beside the two pins. Sighing again she picked them up in her magic and carried them out the door with her.

Out sound she found the former Reapers waiting for where, when the door closed they all three promptly pushed her left shoulder rather than her right as it was still sensitive from the surgery. The punched hurt a lot more when not wearing armor. “Congratulations sarge. Looking forward to serving under you. “McKay said then scratched his chin. “Though I guess we need to come up with a new name as we can’t be the reapers as your name is Twilight Sparkle so it doesn’t fit.”

Twilight could only sigh, she didn’t want to be the squad leader, she was just a medic with very little field experience, and how could she be expected to lead?

“Hey don’t be like that Sarge, we got your back.” Wilkerson said and patted her shoulder. That brought a smile to her face and she smiled up at the three humans, she could see in their eyes they were ready to follow her even if she didn’t know why.

“Thank you. “She said as she put the pins in her pocket dimension. She saw the three humans blink. What is it?”

“What did you just do with the pins?” McKay asked.

“I just put them in my pocket dimension till I get back to my room.” She saw them staring blankly at her. “Right no magic here. It’s a spell that unicorns can do that creates a small pocket outside space and time that they can access and story an infinite amount of items in that they can pull out whenever they want, it’s a very useful spell.” She said and the three humans blinked again.

“So….you basically have access to an infinites storage locker and you’ve been carrying around very little gear?” McKay asked looking at her.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something then closed it shortly before she facehoofed. “Yes, yes I have.” She said then ran her hoof down her face, how could she forget about the damn pocket dimension, it would be so useful for carry large amounts of supplies. Come to think of it she had a large array of spells that could be useful in the field if she got clever. As she thought about everything she could do and hadn’t been she sighed. “I’m a total fucking idiot.” She looked up at the three rebels. “Let’s go get some dinner and try to pretend I haven’t been a total fucking idiot the past few weeks.”

“Sounds like a plan Sarge.” Wilkerson said with a laugh and the four rebel soldiers headed down the tunnel together.

<<<O>>>

Twilight and the rest of the former Reaper were in the barracks playing cards like they usually did when Twilight had free time from training, Wilkerson acting as dealer like usual when the door open and the Rebel soldier looked up as two other humans walked in. The two Humans walked up to the four card player and saluted. “Let me guess, you are the rookies assigned to our squad?” Twilight asked.

“Yes ma’am.” Both the rookies said at the same time. Twilight looked over the two new soldiers. One was a male that from what Twilight could tell was average height and build for the rebels while the female solider was at least half a head shorter than the rest the soldiers Twilight had seen. Both soldiers were wearing the standard armor minus the helmets.

Twilight slipped off her chair and walked over to her two Rooks. She had her armor on but her helmet was on the table, pinned to her collar was the sergeant insignia, while she still didn’t think she should be the squad leader, she was so she would act it as best as she could.

She sat on her haunches before her new soldier and looked them over. “At ease.” She said trying her best to sound like Grimm. Both soldier dropped the salute and entered the normal stance everyone took when not saluting. “Well, suppose I should say welcome to the squad, we don’t really have a name as we have had some restructuring recently, as I’m sure you have guessed by the fact you two are here.”

“Yes ma’am.” Both said in unison. .

“Oh come on, relax, this is a meet and greet type of thing loosen up.” She said as she turned back to the table and took her seat as the two soldiers followed her over and took up positions around the table to watch. “So what are your names?” Twilight asked as she tossed some credits into the middle of the table.

“I’m Private Grove.” The male said.

“My names Rain… erm, Private Rain.” The female said sounding nervous.”

Twilight nodded.” Well welcome to the squad Rook 1 and Rook 2.” Twilight said already deciding the male was Rook 1 and the female was Rook 2. Both Soldiers looked at each other.

“Which one of us is Rook 1 and which one of us is Rook 2?” Rook 1 asked.

Twilight looked up from her card at them. “You’ll figure it out if you just pay attention.” She told them before going back to her card to ask for a hit.

<<<O>>>

The 6 rebel soldiers stood in the staging area. It had been about 3 days since Twilight became the squad leader and they met Rook 1 and Rook 2. What was different about this time compared to all the other times Twilight had been in the staging area was that there were two other squads with them.

From what she gathered the other squads were called the Bulldogs and the other was Old Boys. As was normal Major Briggs stood at the head of the room and once everyone was seated he began the briefing. “Alright, now that everyone is here I’ll start the briefing. “He said as he tacked up an image Twilight recognized as the Penton Armory, looked like the image was taking straight from the video Raymond had taken. “This is the Penton Armory. The Feds have increased security here and we want to know why.” He said as he looked at each squad leader.

“That’s where your squads come in. We are going to be launching a night time raid on the Armory to both find out what they are doing there and to cause as much damage as we can.” He said. “What we do know is that there are three times as many Feds on site and every 10 minutes a patrol drives by so expect heavy resistance. We have no real intel on how fast they could get reinforcements or what their strength will be so it’s recommended you conduct this raid has quickly as possible before reinforcements can arrive. IF there are no questions then gear up and move out.”

There were no questions so with a nod Major Briggs left the room and the Bulldogs, Old Boys and the former Reapers went over to the weapons table and started to grab what they wanted, Twilight grabbing extra ammo and storing it in her pocket dimension. She already had extra medical supplies stored in it. Twilight noted that Rook 1 grabbed a sniper rifle while Rook 2 grabbed the standard assault rifle. Once everyone was geared up the three squad headed out the door.

<<<O>>>

Twilight and the rest of her squad we on the same hill that the Reapers had used to observe the Armory before, her squad’s job was creating a distraction to draw the attention of the Armory guards so that the Bulldogs and Old Boys could then hit them and enter the Armory in the confusion.

The only problem was figuring out how to do their part of the plan without them all getting killed. “So any ideas Sarge?” Wilkerson asked lying beside her as they watched the Armory.

“No at this time, we could just start shooting but we would be overrun very quickly.” She said with a sigh, why was she in charge? She wasn’t cut out to lead people into combat. She went back to watching the armory, she knew by now the other squads were in position and most likely getting impatient as they had all been sitting there for over an hour.

Twilight sighed again as her eyes roamed over the Armory, how to do this where they all make it out alive. Her eyes drifted over the fence, the towers, and the buildings. Then her eyes slowly made their way up above it all. “Hey Wilkerson, what’s the weather supposed to be like tonight?”

“Uh….partly cloudy. Why?” HE told her.

A smile slowly crept onto her face. “I have an idea.”

A few minutes later Twilight looked down at the Armory from above, a large smile on her muzzle. All their defenses ready to defend from all directions, except one. She heard uneasy muttering behind her and turned her head to look at her squad shifting uncomfortable as they all stood on a cloud.

“How is this even possible?” Rook 2 asked looking like she was expecting to fall any second.

“I told you, I cast my cloud walking spell on your boots so we can stand up her and get a better look at the Armory.” She turned back to watching the Feds bellow. “And what a view it is.” She watched the soldiers move around on their patrols while the cloud the rebels stood on slowly drifted over the Armory, it had been about 45 minutes since she spotted a cloud that would work, cast the cloud walking spell then teleported them all up onto the cloud and they were almost directly over the Armory now.

“Hey Rook 1, trade me your Sniper Rifle.” She said turning back to look at the man.

“Ma’am?” He said in confusion.

Twilight rolled her eyes and spoke slowly.” Give me your sniper rifle.” Twilight used her magic to hold out her assault rifle and Rook 1 took it and held out his sniper which twilight took. “Now then I recommend you all clustering together.”

“Why ma’am?” Rook 2 asked.

Twilight smiled wide.” Because you lot are going down onto the roof of the Armory while I provide sniper fire from this cloud.” The Squad looked a there, McKay and Wilkerson had wide smiles on their faces, Chekov looked indifferent and the two Rooks looked scared shitless. “So get ready.”

The soldier slowly shuffled together, the two rooks being dragged close by the more experienced soldier and Twilight lit her horn. The 5 soldiers vanished in a flash of light and a moment later there was another flash of light in the middle of the Armory’s roof.

Twilight stood close to the edge of the cloud as she moved the sniper so she could aim straight down into the Armory. “And now the show begins.” She said lining up a shot on an unsuspecting Fed. While she had just started learning how to sue sniper rifles she had the basics down and she from this angle there wasn’t much chance for her to miss.

Once she was sighted and pulled the trigger and the rifle kicked in her magic and the soldier dropped. Twilight couldn’t help but laugh to herself as she watched the Feds start to scramble for cover, too bad they took cover to defend against an attack from outside the fence not above.

Twilight sighted and fired 4 more times by the tie her squad was in in position on the edge of the Armory roof and a moment later they opened fired and more Feds dropped as all their defense were to stop an attack from outside, not from the inside.

Twilight laughed loudly as she watched the Feds panic more and she sited another enemy solder and fired. After a few minutes and about a dozen more kills the Bulldogs and the Old Boys launched their attack catching the already panicked Feds completely by surprise. Twilight watched as the two squads cut their way through the Feds and the feds looked like they had no clue where to go to defend as they were being attacked from both within and without of the armory. “Nowhere to go little bastards.” She said with glee as she fired another shot and another Feds crumpled, a bullet going through the top of his helmet.

A manic grin plastered on her face Twilight fired more and more as the Bulldogs and Old Boys made it to the armory building and entered it while Twilight’s squad continued to cut down every black and white soldier in sight. When one of the armor jeeps arrived Twilight sited the soldiers that jumped out of it to back up their fellow soldier, only to drop as Twilights sniper fire rain down from the heavens.

“Run run run, you can’t escape my sight.~~” Twilight said in a sing song voice as she dropped another two soldiers that tried to run for cover from a sniper they couldn’t figure out where they were. After a few minutes the Bulldogs and Old Boys emerged from the Armory and made their way to the gate and headed for the trees.

Once they were clear Twilights squad retreated from the edge of the roof and clustered together. After empting her rifle again she reloaded and then turned from the edge of the cloud and caste the teleportation spell and her squad appeared before her. “Good work, I don’t think they know what hit them.” She said smiling proudly at them.

“That was fucking awesome Sarge.” Wilkerson said. “They were total caught off guard.”

“Yeah I pet they are going to have nightmares about how we just appeared from nowhere behind them.” McKay said.

“Nightmares…..hey how about that’s our name? “Wilkerson said and everyone looked at him, Twilight cocking an eyebrow at him. “Think about it, we are standing on a fucking cloud and just teleported onto the roof and back. Our sergeant can use fucking magic to do all sorts of things! “He said excitedly. “we are going to be a nightmare for the Feds.”

Twilight thought about it, about the panic her squad had caused to the soldiers in the Armory. Glancing over the edge she saw they were still panicking having no idea where to take cover. She turned back to her squad and smiled. “Sounds like a perfect name for us.”

Wilkerson did a fist pump. “Yeah! We are the Nightmare Squad!” He said triumphantly and Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at the rebel soldier’s enthusiasm about their new name.

“Anyways, group up, we need to go meet up with the Bulldogs and the Old Boys and return to base to report a total success.” She said and the soldiers grouped together and twilight caste the spell and they all vanished in a flash of light to return to base. Twilight looked forward to report they had suffered 0 casualties on her first mission as a squad leader.

Chapter 9: Anger and Hatred

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Excerpt from Federal Army After-Action Report
Strike Team Sierra-Foxtrot-One-Niner-Four successfully Ambushed rebel forces south of Penton Armory. While few of enemy forces managed to escape we have confirmed 14 kills with 0 casualties on our side.
Strike Team Sierra-Foxtrot-One-Niner-Four pursued retreating rebel forces but lost track of them deeper in the forest. After attempting locat enemy forces for 1 hour Lieutenant Helter called off the search and order Strike Team to return to base…

<<<O>>>

The door to Twilight quarters slammed open as she stormed into the room. “FUCKING FED BASTARTS!” She yelled as she used her magic to remove her helmet and hurled it across the room and into the wall with a loud thud. She had just returned from her talk with Clancy after the disaster that was her first mission. Old Boys were completely wiped out, only two survivors in the Bulldogs and the Nightmares had lost Wilkerson and Rook 1.

Growling Twilight hit the wall, her steel hoof allowing her to both cause a crack in the wall and not hurt herself at the same time. “Celestia and Luna damn them all to Tartarus!” She snarled through clenched teeth. While she hadn’t known Rook 1 long he was still a member of her squad and Wilkerson had been a friend of hers and the fact he and McKay had been best friends for who knows how long. And she had gotten them killed. They had been her responsibility and she had failed.

She ground her teeth as she opened her storage locker and pulled out the bottle of Whisky Clancy had given her when she had officially joined the Reapers weeks ago. Undoing the top she took a large drink, not caring that it burned. She needed to calm down before she destroyed her quarters.

Growling she paced the length of her room, the Whiskey floating beside her wrapped in her magic. “Fucking Fed motherfucking Celestia damned bastards.” She took another drink. After a few minutes a fourth of the bottle was gone but Twilight didn’t feel much better. She needed to blow off steam somehow. She stopped her pacing and a smile slowly spreading over her face.” Oh that will do perfectly.” She said as she took another drink from her whisky before returning it to her locker and leaving her quarter, not bothering to grab her helmet from where it lay on the floor.

<<<O>>>

Two Federal Army jeeps made their way down the highway headed towards the city of Calten. Most likely returning from a patrol. It was early morning and the sun was just starting to crest the horizon when the lead jeep slammed on its breaks forcing the rear jeep to cut to the right to avoid rear ending the lead jeep.

When the four in the lead jeep piled out the soldier in the second jeep followed suit not knowing what was going on but knew there had to be a reason. When the second jeep’s occupants reached the first they quickly raised their rifles alongside the first soldiers.

Sitting in the middle of the road with, illuminated by the lead jeeps headlight and with unnerving smile on its face was a strange purple horse thing wearing rebel armor and waving at them why sitting on its haunches.

“Hello Federal Army soldiers!” Twilight said cheerily. “You might not know me but I am Sergeant Twilight Sparkle of the PFDR.” The Feds glanced at each other clearly confused. “You are probably wondering why I’m here, well the answer to that is I was waiting for you because you see a few hours ago my squad was ambushed and I lost a couple of my team, while I know you probably had nothing to do with that the fact is it put me in a really shitty mood. So long story short I thought of a way to blow off steam and unfortunately for you it involves you all dying.” She chuckled.

For their part the Feds reacted like the trained soldiers they were by raising their rifles to open fire but unfortunately nothing in their training could prepare them for a magic talking unicorn in a bad mood. In a flash Twilight teleported behind the soldiers and before any of them could fire. She drew her side arm and point blank into the back of the head of one of them just below where his helmet stopped. While he fell Twilight grabbed his rifle in her magic and emptied the mag into the next two closest soldiers as they turned to try and shoot her, then threw the empty gun as hard as she could into another soldier knocking him to the ground.

When they went down Twilight teleported back in front of the soldiers who were half way through their turns and picked up the two dropped rifles and pulled the triggers as she swept the rifles in opposite directions dropping more of the soldiers. She then launched at the two still standing soldiers drawing her knife, as she plunged the combat knife deep into the throat of the soldier on the left her right front hoof shot out and connected with right soldiers knee cap, shattering it as it bent the join backwards.

The soldiers dropped to the ground screaming in agony till Twilight withdrew her knife from the other soldier’s neck and thrust it into the screaming soldier’s right eye silencing him.

That left just one soldier still alive, the one she had thrown the rifle at who had yet to get to his feet. Humming to herself Twilight withdrew her knife and made her way over to the soldier who sat on the ground frozen in fear at what he had just witnessed. She fully intended to end the soldier when she caught a scent in the air and she looked down between the soldier’s legs. “Did…did you fucking piss yourself?” She asked in disgust.

The soldier only sat there shaking in his armor and Twilight reached out with her magic and removed his helmet, bringing it to rest in her front hooves as she sat on her haunches. The Fed was a kid, most likely no more than 18 by her estimate based on the books on humans she had read. “Let me guess, this is probably your first assignment huh?” She said and slowly the soldier nodded.” Boy sucks for you doesn’t it?” She glanced at the dead soldiers.” Tell you what.” She looked back at the kid. “I think I’ve blown off enough steam that I’m feeling generous.” She said with a smile and the kid looked at her in confusion.

“Wh-what do you mean?” He asked in a shaky voice.

Twilight smiled wide. “Start running.” She said and used all the strength in her cybernetic limbs to crush the kid’s helmet. The kid took one look at her and got to his feet before sprinting back down the road as fast as his fear could carry him.

Humming to herself Twilight went over to one of the dead feds and cleaned her knife off on his pants before returning it to its sheath. She then grabbed the body in her magic and drug it over to another laying more in the middle of the road and laid atop top of it. After that she reloaded her side arm before holstering it before she pulled Rook 1’s sniper rifle from her pocket dimension and laid the rifle on the two piled up Feds. She crouched down and looked down the scope. “Only 125 yards? I’d have thought the fear would have carried him faster than that.” She said before shrugging. "And that makes 8.” The rifle kicked in her magic.

<<<O>>>

Twilight hummed to herself as she made her way back to her quarters. She was in a much better mood after blowing off steam by going for her walk on the surface; teleporting was very useful for sneaking out. She walked into her quarters to find it looked exactly as she left it. She frowned at this; she hadn’t realized how mad she had been till she saw her room trashed, at least by her standards. With a sigh she picked up her helmet from the floor and placed it in her locker before moving the whole locker back to the foot of her bed. There wasn’t much she could do about the damage she did to the wall but the room didn’t take long to organize.

Once her room was completely in order she heard a knock at her door, upon answering it she found a rebel private who saluted. “Ma’am Major Briggs has requested your squad to report to his office immediately.”

“Thank you private, you are dismissed.” She said. She took one last look at her room to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be before she made her way to the Major’s office.

It didn’t take her long get her squad and then make her way to the Major’s office. Upon entering Twilight saw that the surviving Bulldogs were also present. “Reporting as requested.” She said as she saluted alongside the Bulldogs.

“I’m assuming you are all wondering why you are here.” Major Briggs started as he looked over the soldiers before him. “Well the answer is simple; I am here by transferring Corporal Desmond and PFC Hudson into Nightmare and under your command Sergeant Sparkle.”

“Yes sir.” Twilight replied, she wasn’t sure how well the former Bulldogs would work with Nightmare, especially so soon after the ambush but she didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

“You can have the day to get to know your new squad-mates, dismissed.” With that the single squad turned and left the room.

Outside the old Nightmares and the New Nightmares stared at each other. Even Twilight stared at her two new squad members; she had expected more recruits, not members of another squad. After a few minutes of the Nightmares staring at each other Twilight decided to break the silence. “So…breakfast?”

The group nodded and then started to make their way down the hall towards the mess hall.

At the mess hall Twilight took a seat at the table with her squad. The former Bulldogs sat on the other side of the table then the Nightmares. “So….welcome to the Nightmares Corporal, PFC.” Twilight said looking at the two of them.

“Glad to be here.” Desmond said in a manner that made it clear he wasn’t.

“So…” Twilight said having no idea what to say to her second in command.

“Look sergeant, I get what you are trying to do but save it.” Desmond said. “We lost our squad and the Major saw fit to put us with you either cause we had been on the same mission or because there was no other space for anyone of our rank anywhere else. But know this; we are not happy about suddenly finding ourselves in a squad commanded by someone who barely has any field experience.”

The Nightmares stared at him. “What the fuck man? Where do you get off talking to the Sarge like that?” Rook 2 said with anger and twilight had to admit, having the young women come to her defense after only being on one mission did mean a lot to her. “so what if she’s not as experienced as you but she is a damn good leader.” Rook 2 said glaring at the two former Bulldogs.

“Yeah because one fucking mission means she’s fucking fit to command anyone.” Desmond said glaring back.

“Did you even pay attention to what she had us do last mission? Because of her plan the Feds were so fucking confused that you guys steamed rolled them.” Rook 2 shot back.

“One good call doesn’t mean she’s should be fucking leading a squad!” Desmond said slamming his fists on the table.

Rook 2 opened her mouth to say something but twilight cut her off. “Enough both of you!” She said. “Like it or not Corporal I am in charge of this squad whether you like it or not.” She said looking at her second. “I’m not going to lie; I don’t think I should be in charge as well.” She ignored Rook 2 when she tried to protest. “But whether either of it like it or not, I am the one in charge.”

“Yes ma’am.” Desmond said but he was clearly very angry.

Twilight sighed. “Look, I am inexperienced here and I’m probably going to mess up somewhere, hell fighting is very new to me, but we need to rely on each other out there in the field.” She said and looked at him calmly. “So I’m going to rely on you to speak up whenever I make a mistake so that we all can come back in one piece because I think we both can agree that neither of us want anyone here to die out there.”

Desmond stared at her and she could see as her words slowly cooled the rage in his eyes. Finally he sighed. “Fine, but if you do something wrong, commanding officer or not you can bet your ass you are going to hear about it.”

Twilight nodded. “Duly noted and I am counting on it.” She said and smiled. “Now then we came here to eat not argue so...let’s eat.” She said taking her own advice by levitating an apple to her mouth. Around her the rest of the Nightmares began to eat and talk a bit to get to know each other. There was still tension between the squad but with luck that will die out over the next few day because Twilight didn’t want to take a squad out were everyone was at each other’s throats.

<<<O>>>

Twilight and the Nightmares made their way out of a drainage pipe near the edge of the City, it had already been a couple days since the Bulldogs were merged with the Nightmares to fill the space and while the tension had lessened somewhat it was still noticeably there. There wasn’t much Twilight could do about it but with luck this mission would help them work off their anger as they were to ambush a Fed patrol and wipe it out to draw attention out of the city and make it seem like the Rebels were operating in that area as there was a base near the patrol route.

The Nightmare Squad made their way through the trees silently watching the trees carefully, two other squads had been completely wiped out by Fed Ambushes on a third was out of action till its members were released from the infirmary. The frequency of the ambushed had everyone on edge and whispers of a possible spy were beginning to make their way around the base and Twilight did not like the idea of one of their own being a traitor.

There was no talking as they made their way through the woods for their objective. Despite everyone being on edge it was an uneventful trek and an hour later they had reached the road. “Ok Chekov, Desmond and Rook 2 I want you three to set up on the other side of the road and spread out some while me, Hudson and McKay does the same over here.” She said looking at her squad who all nodded. Twilight’s eyes rested on McKay as he gave the barest of nods. As the man moved to get into position Twilight sighed, McKay had barely spoken since Wilkerson was killed, and she knew he was hurting but she didn’t know how to help hi, all she could do was try to make sure she didn’t lose anyone else.

Twilight moved into position and readied her assault rifle. Across the way she saw Desmond hefty the heavy ordinates Nightmare had been given access to for this mission, in this case, it was an Anti-Tank rocket launcher that would tear through the lightly armored jeeps but would defiantly get the Feds attention.

Once everyone as in position and hidden it became a waiting game. They had made sure to arrive 20 minute before the patrol was scheduled to roll through. Twilight found her grip on her rifle tightening. While she was no longer raging like she had a few days ago she still found herself looking forward to the patrols arrival and for the rocket to take out the lead jeep and then after a few minutes it would be open season of Feds, something she was shaking with excitement for.

She saw the first jeep come over the distant hill followed by the second and a small smile spread over her face. “That’s right; drive on without a care in the world right up till we shred you.” She whispered to herself. As the first jeep neared her position she heard the whoosh of the rocket and watched as it connected with the grill of the jeep a moment before it and its occupants were engulfed in a fireball causing it to skid off the road. The second jeep slammed on its breaks and started to revers, Twilight could see the passenger on the jeeps radio calling in what just happened and their current position. After enough time passed for him to do so Nightmare opened up on the jeep, their rifles couldn’t penetrate the jeeps armor or bullet proof windows but they were just a distraction.

A few moments later there was another whoop and a rocker streaked towards the fleeing jeep. At the last second the driver jerked the jeep to the left causing the rocket to detonate next to the jeep. The jeep survived but the fore of the blast caused the jeep to go onto two wheels leaving the driver with no control as it skidded into the ditch. The engine revved as the rear tires spun uselessly in the soft dirt of the ditch.

When the driver realized they were well and truly stuck the doors on the jeep opened and the soldiers poured out and began to spray the trees at random. “Not so fun when it’s you on the receiving end is it?” Twilight said, her voice dripping venom as Nightmare started to suppress the Feds.

Two of the Feds realized what was going on as they tried run away from the jeep a moment before there was the sound of another rocket being fired and the jeep exploded. The two Feds closes would consumed by the blast and pieces of them went flying away from what remained of the jeep while the two that tried to run were sent flying through the air only to crash onto the road hard.

Slowly Twilight moved onto the road waving for the others to stay put while she checked the two Feds. The first one she came to was well and truly dead, his neck at an awkward angle and his eyes staring at nothing. The second on the other hand still clung to life as he coughed up blood. As Twilight stood over him looking down at him he weakly tried to draw the pistol on his hip, his rifle having gone sailing to parts unknown in the blast.

Twilight couldn’t have that as she stomped on his hand hard enough to hear the bones break and the Fed let out a pained groan, causing the blood in her mouth to bubble a bit. Twilight leaned down to the soldier’s ear. “How does it feel you son of a bitch?” She whispered as she pressed her side arm against the man’s temple and fired.

With her work done Twilight returned to the side of the road and got back into position to await whoever came to ‘rescue’ the patrol. “What did you say to him?” Hudson asked a few feet from where she laid.
Twilight looked at him. “I just told him that he most wasn’t going to survive his injuries and I wasn’t going to let him suffer.” She lied.

“Compassion? For a Fed?” Hudson asked.” I’m surprised; most of us would have left him to die. I’m impressed.” Hudson said.

Twilight shrugged. “I’m full of surprises.” She said to which Hudson nodded then went back to watching the road for the Fed reinforcements.

Not long after that Twilight heard something on the wind. “What in Tartarus?” She said, she didn’t recognize the sound but whatever it was it was coming fast.

A minute later everyone could hear it. “GUNSHIP!” Raymond yelled from the other side of the road as the three Rebels over there booked it across the road, reaching the other side a moment before a massive helicopter adorn with missiles along its side and a massive gun on the nose swept over the road. It was large and clearly armored with two glass bubbles in the front for the pilots. It was painted the standard black and white of the Federal Army where most of it was white with a single black strip running along its side, the rack holding the missiles was black as was the single small wing on the tail, the area where the tail met the rest of the helicopter was also painted black.

“What the fuck is that doing here!?” Rook 2 yelled as the nose gun started to spray the road and the trees, everywhere the rounds hit huge fountains over dirt were sent into the hair as the massive rounds chewed up the road, the dirt around it and the trees.

“What the fuck is that?!” Twilight yelled as she followed the Nightmares as they ran into the trees to escape the flying weapon.

“It’s a fucking gunship! If it sees up we are as good as dead either from its missiles or that 30mm cannon it’s going to town with.” Hudson yelled at her as they all ran for their lives. There was a whoosh and explosions behind them and Twilight chances a glance back, her eyes widening at the massive fire ball making its way skyward from where she had been hiding.

This lent more speed to her hooves and she gallop as fast as she could without leaving behind her squad. She head the Gunship start to fly over the treetop searching for the Rebels who stuck to the parts of the forest were the canopy was thickest.

Twilight wasn’t paying attention to how long they ran for, all she knew was she was getting as far away as she could from that flying death machine. Eventually the sound of the gunship fades as it continues its search elsewhere but still Rebels didn’t stop running till they reached the drainage pipe they had exited to sewer from and dove into it.

The all had to stop and catch their breaths from covering such a long distance at a full sprint. “Wh-Why the fuck would they send out a gunship to reinforce a single fucking patrol? It’s not like we attacked a fucking base!” Hudson said between breaths from where he sat against the wall of the sewer.

Twilight was panting as well, though she didn’t gallop at full speed she still did gallop at a decent pace without slowing. “I have no idea; it doesn’t make any sense why they would deploy something with that kind of fire power to back up a simple patrol.” She said as she looked up at her squad. “Regardless the mission was a success and we should report in as such as well report the gunship, Major Briggs and the General will want to know about the Feds deploying units like that.” They all nodded and after a few more minutes made their way back to base. Twilight didn’t think about what she had said to the injured Fed soldier or the fact she had lied to Hudson about it, the entire incident didn’t even cross her mind as they all deserved to face Justice.

Interlude 4: The Princess

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Twilight stared out the window of the train as it neared Canterlot’s train station. It had been the same short trip it always had been and Twilight spent it listening to her music with the ear buds she had as Pinkie suggested she use them so the other civilians on the train could enjoy their own conversations without interruption and Twilight had to agree.

It hadn’t taken long for Twilight to get ready to leave as she didn’t really need much, what took time had been her friends getting ready do to dealing with a depressed Pinkie Pie. After a bit Twilight told them she’d meet them at the train station and made her way over to it. She had to put Celestia and Luna into her pocket dimension as they wouldn’t fit safely on the train. Twilight had already purchased their tickets and was waiting on the platform when her friends finally arrived.

Once on the train the trip to Canterlot was a very uneventful one, at least compared to the last time she had been on a train but then this time she was a passenger that was supposed to be here this time. As the train pulled into the station Twilight stood from her seat and ignored the looks the civilians were giving her, she couldn’t figure out why everyone kept staring at her like that, you’d think they’d never seen a soldier before.

Once she was off the train she pull Celestia and Luna back out and they took up positions on her flanks and the crowd around her jumped back and avoided walking near her. The only civilians that approached her where her friends and even they seemed wary of her. Twilight sighed and started to make her way towards the castle in the distance.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the castle and when the gate guards saw her they moved to block her but she identified herself before they could. After that it wasn’t much issue for them to open the gate but when they saw Celestia and Luna their eyes bugged out for some reason Twilight couldn’t begin to figure out but she ignored it as she had more important things to worry about.

It was near the Throne room when something finally got her to stop.

“Twilly?” A voice said behind the group and twilight stopped and turned to face who it was who had spoken.

It was the only person who called her that. “Hello Captain Armor.” She said to her brother.

Shining Armor tried to hug her but Twilight dodged the hug and he blinked at her. “Are you okay Twilly?” He asked with concern.

“I am fine Captain.” She said simply.

“Why are you calling me Captain?” He asked in confusion.

“Because that is your rank, why wouldn’t I call you by your rank?” She asked blinking at him. Wasn’t he a soldier?

“Well…yes but I’m your brother, you don’t need to call me Captain.” He said looking at her.

“I’m on duty Captain.” She said simply.

“Duty?” He blinked in confusion.

“Yes, the Princess has requested me to report to her so there for I am on duty.” She said looking at the captain.

“But…that doesn’t mean you can’t chat a bit twilly.” He said.

“Commander.”

“What?”

“I am on duty and I’d thank you to use my rank.” She said curtly.

“Rank? But you’re not—“

“I am the second in command of the People Free Democratic Republic and am on duty so I’d like you to use my rank Captain.” She said emphasizing his rank to demonstrate.

The Captain stared at his little sister who was being so cold to him and not making much sense. “Who are the—“

Twilight cut him off again. “As much as I’d like to catch up Captain I am busy, perhaps we can have dinner this evening if there is time but for now I must go.” She said as she started to turn to leave.

“Stop.” The Captain said, if his sister wanted to act like a Royal Guard then he would treat her as such and then she’d stop acting like this once she got a taste of how a Royal Guard is treated.

Twilight stopped and looked back at the Captain and raised her eye brow at him. “Did you just give me an order?”

The Captain looked at her firmly. “Yes I did, if you want to play soldier I’ll treat you like one till you realize it’s not fun.” He said firmly. He didn’t know why she was acting this way but once she got a taste of real military life shed be back to normal he was sure of it.

Twilight stared at the captain for a moment before she burst out laughing. Seeing the confusion that spread over the Captain face only coughed her to laugh harder. Once she got herself under control she stared at the captain with an amused expression on her face. “You can’t order me around, last time I checked there was no Commander rank in the Royal Guard which means I am outside your chain of command, which means the only people above me would be the Princesses themselves and last time I checked Captain you are neither of them. “She chuckled again at the lookin his face then smirked. He deserved it for thinking he had any right to order her around like some Rook fresh out of training “See you this evening Captain.” She said and turned and started to head for the throne room leaving a sunned Captain of the Guard behind her.

<<<O>>>

Princess Celestia, Princess of the Sun and leader of Equestria alongside her sister stared out at the scene before her. The scene before her was 5 mares bowing before her as all of her little ponies did but what was most odd was the 6th mare stood rigid, her right hoof up at the edge of the strange helmet she wore while staring straight ahead with a neutral expression on her face.

Celestia recognized her student when she entered the room but it was mostly due to her face because the mare that was her student carried herself completely differently then what she used to. Her steps were filled with confidence and authority to the point that the Royal guard in the throne room subconsciously stood straighter as if Shining Armor himself had walked into the room.

Celestia looked over her student, there were other changes as well, she was far more fit then she used to be and the fact she could stand as still as a statue which was defiantly new. The most obvious of course being her metal legs and the machines behind her baring her and her sister’s name stenciled on the front of them.

“It is good to see you twilight, it has been so long.” Celestia said gently.

“Yes it has ma’am.” Twilight replied with a neutral tone.

Celestia frowned slightly. “Is everything alright Twilight?”

“Yes ma’am.” Twilight replied in the same voice, not once looking at Celestia.

Celestia looked over her student more. It was defiantly Twilight the magic was the same signature, but…she was far more powerful then when she vanished. If Celestia didn’t know better she’d think Twilight had ascended to Alicornhood while away do to the fact she has the same level of power as a young Alicon. But that’s not what held Celestia’s attention the most. That belonged to the thread of darkness that wove its way through her student’s magic.

Celestia hadn’t seen that sort of darkness in many years; it was the type of darkness that didn’t exist in peacetime. It told her two major things about her student. One being she had faced death before and the second and more disturbing of the facts was that Twilight would not hesitate to kill anypony.

<<<O>>>

Twilight stood at attention in the Princess personal study. They had moved her from the throne room at suggestion from Celestia. Twilight didn’t know why her friends hadn’t been allowed to come as well and the princess had asked that her sentries remain outside.

“Twilight you can relax.” Celestia told her Twilight dropped into rest. Celestia sighed at this. “What happened to you my most faithful student?”

“Many things ma’am.” Twilight replied.

Celestia sighed again from where she sat. “Can you please elaborate; I want to understand what happened a few days ago in Ponyville.”

“Simple ma’am, that Bugbear was a danger to the town so I neutralized the threat.” Twilight replied mater of factly.

Celestia looked at her. “Twilight can you tell me what happened to you while you were away?”

Twilight nodded and began to tell the Princess the same story she told her friends back in Ponyville, at least what she needed to know, Twilight admitted to herself it probably wasn’t good to lie to a superior but there are things best left buried.

Once she finished the edited story Celestia just looked at her for a long while till she finally stood and walked over to Twilight and put a wing over the smaller mare and pulled her into a hug. “I am sorry you had to experience that Twilight but you are home now and away from all of that.”

“Actually ma’am there is one thing I need to report that is of national security.” Twilight said and Celestia looked at her. “We found information that the Federal Army is planning on invading Epuus with the use of The Device and to put it simply we will lose.”

Chapter 10: Heist

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Federal Press
August 24, 2037
Metil Highway Closed For Construction
By Mark Erikson
A section of Metil Highway east of Calten will be closed while some minor road work is done in order to repair a small sink hole that was discovered a few days ago. Officials assure citizens that it shouldn’t be more than a week to repair the damage from the sink hole.
Official also want to dispel supposed reports of a Federal Army helicopter flying over the highway and surrounding forest. The Federal Army has no documents of any helicopters being in the air at any time in the past two weeks.
Official also want to alleviate fears of the supposed explosions and sounds of gunfire near the Metil Highway a few days ago and official documents stay a group of youths were setting off fire words during a party and that local authorities dealt with the noise complaint…

<<<O>>>

Twilight sat in the barracks with the rest of the Nightmares as she had hoped the last mission had helped them all work off their anger and though they might not all have been friends the tension was none existent as they played cards together. Twilight had managed to dig up another deck of cards since their old deck belonged to Wilkerson and he always carried it with him.

“Hit me.” Twilight said and Rook 2, who was acting as dealer, gave her another card and Twilights face met the table as she went bust.

“Well Sarge is out.” Hudson said, despite her best efforts Twilight still couldn’t stop herself from reacting when she went Bust.

“Yeah yeah, just finish up so we can play again. “Twilight said as she sat back up and rubbed her forehead, she had hit the table harder then she meant to and the cold steel felt good. She still wasn’t used to her legs always being cold and hard, hell she still hurt herself sometime when she faced hoofed sometimes.

All of her squad but McKay, Chekov and Desmond laughed at her expense to which Twilight glared at them. “Haha very fucking funny.”

The rest of them took their turns and Chekov ended up winning with a solid 21. "So Sarge any news about the Feds and the fact they sent a gunship after us a couple days ago?” Rook 2 asked as she shuffled the cards.

Twilight looked at her flatly. “What makes you think I’d know anything about it?” She asked.

“Well you tend to have a drink with the General every couple of days.” She said and Twilight saw the others all looking at her.

Twilight sighed. “Just because we have a few drinks in the mess hall and talk doesn’t mean he tells me what’s going on above my pay grade.” She said flatly. “We mostly just talk about random shit”

“Any word on what our next mission is going to be?” Hudson asked and Twilight sighed again.

“Just deal the fucking cards.”

<<<O>>>

Nightmare squad made their way into the staging area and Twilight was surprised to see Delco was there sitting in one of the chairs. Twilight took a seat beside him. “Why the hell are you here?” She asked her friend.

“You got me, Major had be show up today for some reason.” Delco said.

“If you two stop talking and let me begin the briefing you might actually get the answer to that question Sergeant.” Major Briggs said from the front of the room where he normally was and Twilight blushed a bit and smiled sheepishly waving a hoof to indicate the she was done talking.

“Thank you now then.” The Major said as he put up a picture of a large building in the city. “This is the Grenten Corporation, they specialize in computer technology. We have received word that the Feds have contracted them to build some sort of computer system. Obviously we are very interested in learning exactly what this new system is for.” He looked at each of them. “That’s where you come in, you are going to break into the building, gain access to their mainframe and download all the information on the computer system.” Major Briggs said as he put up a picture of an office.

“The mainframe is in the sub-basement and protected by multiple layers of security, but there is a second access point from the CEO’s personal computer. That is where you will gain entry to the mainframe from. “He turned back to the group. “Nightmare’s unique track record is the reason you have been chosen for this mission, and Lieutenant Delco is being temporarily assigned to Nightmare to act as your hacker.”

Twilight raised a hoof. “Major, wouldn’t it be safer to hack the mainframe from another location rather than sending in a squad?”

“Normally you’d be right sergeant but in this case Grenten Corporation’s runs off a closed network so the only way to access it is through a terminal that is on the network.” He said. “I also want to be clear Lieutenant Delco is not in command of this mission, he is purely here to run as support.”

The Nightmares nodded and Major Briggs put up some blue prints as well as other pictures of the street around the building as well as a few others of the interior. “If there are no questions I’ll leave you to plan the mission, I shouldn’t have to tell you this is a stealth op so avoid detection at all costs.” There were no questions so Major Briggs left the Nightmares to plan their break in.

Twilight walked over and looked over the blueprints of the building for a few minutes before turning to face her squad. “So…anyone know how to plan a heist?”

<<<O>>>

On their second day of planning the heist, they had been forced to move to Twilight’s quarters so the staging area could be used by other squads the Nightmares got a visitor announced by a knock on the door. “Keep going with the planning I’ll see who it is.” Twilight told the 6 humans before she pushed away from the counter and made her way to the door.

Upon opening she was greeted by someone she hadn’t seen in a while. “Hey there little pony mind if I come in?” Liston asked with his smile.

“Uh, not really but I can come out.” Twilight said before stepping out and closing the door.

“Oh? Planning a secret mission to break into a building housing a corporation that specializes in computer technology with the intention of stealing some information?” Listen said with a wide smile.

Twilight just stared at him. “How the fuck did you jump to that?”

“Lucky guess.” He said waving away the thought. “Anyways I have something for you.”

Twilight stared at the smiling supply clerk, if not for the fact she had both me the supply clerk and heard stories of him she’d most likely have drawn her side arm and taken him to the brig as a spy. As it was Twilight just treated him as she treated Pinkie Pie and didn’t question it. “So what do you have for me?”

Liston reached into his suit jacket and pull out a Datapad that in no way could have fit with in the jacket without being visible. Twilight sighed, first Pinkie and her mane holding innumerable amount of items and now Liston’s suit jacket. How could there be two being in existence that could defy everything about physics even if this was another world it still made her head hurt.

“I finished modifying a Datapad for you to use.” Liston said holding out the Datapad for her to take.

“Modified? How so?” She asked.

“Well you see we can’t always guarantee a recovery of Datapads in the event a squad gets wiped out. Now clearly we don’t want them falling into the hands of the Federal Army as they could learn everything about it no matter how encrypted it is and I’m sure I don’t need to explain why that would be bad.” Liston said. “So I modify them to link up with the helmet so that in the event of the helmets registering a KIA then the Datapad will fry itself with a small power surge because you can’t recover data from a fried hard drive.”

Twilight nodded, it made sense. “So…this is mine?” She asked looking at the Datapad.

“Yes it is little pony, as a squad leader you get one, I am sorry it took so longer for me to get it to you but with all the issues in the field I’ve been swap with work trying to find out how the Feds keep knowing where we are.”

Twilight blinked up at the Pinkie like human. “Why did you tell me that? Wouldn’t it be safer not to tell me?” She asked as she took the Datapad in her magic.

“Because I know you aren’t a spy little pony.” Liston said with a smile. “You’d never betray your friends like that.” He said with a nod. Twilight blinked up at him again, while it was true she was surprised that Liston had figured that out with just a few meetings with her.

“Anyways I also have some information for you.” He said. “It concerns how you got here.” This caused Twilight’s ears to perk up. “Well if my information is correct, and I have no reason to doubt it seems you aren’t an alien.”

Twilight blinked. “What? How can you not say I’m not an alien when I am clearly not a human?” She deadpanned.

“Well you aren’t and alien in the normal meaning of the word, which means you are from another planet.” He said. “According to my sources the device that brought you here didn’t bring you from another planet, but rather a completely different dimension entirely. At least that is the running theory concerning you and it would explain your magic in a place where what you do is physically impossible.”

Twilight blinked up at the supply clerk. “So you mean I’m not even in the right universe?” She asked and Liston nodded. Twilight looked down at her hooves, if that was the case then getting home would be a lot harder than doing a simple teleport.

“Hey, hey don’t be like that, I told you that I would find a way to get you home and I meant it, even if you are from another dimension, that fact you got her means that you can go back.” He said and smiled. “You will get home Twilight, I promise.”

Twilight looked up at the Pinkie like man and saw him with a serious look on his face, he was still smiling but there was a determination behind it that told her the supply clerk would move mountains if need to get her home. She smiled back at him and nodded. “Thank you Liston, that means a lot to me.” She said and the supply clerk waved his hand like he always did.

“Don’t mention it, I guarantee my customers happiness.” He said his normal wide smile reappearing. “Now then I believe you have a heist to plan and a Datapad to familiarize yourself with. Good luck little pony.” Twilight nodded again and the supply clerked turned to return to his SHOP while Twilight returned to the planning.

<<<O>>>

In the industrial part of the city late at night a manhole cover slowly slide to the side and from the sewers climbed six humans and one pony. The humans were dressed in dark brown utility jumpsuits while the pony wore nothing at all.

“I still don’t get why we can’t wear armor.” Rook 2 asked as the Rebels made their way towards an abandoned warehouse.

“Because we don’t want anyone to know that we were the ones that broke in, let them think it was some criminal group or something.” Twilight said with some annoyance. The ladder out of the manhole was defiantly not designed with ponies in mind and it took her a while to actually climb out. “Anyways let’s just get this mission over with.”

“Yeah, yeah Sarge.” Rook said as they reached the warehouse and unlocked it. Inside was all the equipment they had spent the last week acquiring which consisted of a city workers van, some computer equipment as well as a few cutting tools.

“Ok so let’s run through the plan one last time to make sure we got this, once we start there is no way to turn back.” Twilight said making her way to table set up near the van. She didn’t like not wearing armor, it made her extremely uncomfortable. “So we all leave here in the van and park it half a block away leaving Delco to run the computers while the rest of us make our way to the side entrance on the East side of the building.”

“Once there we radio for Delco to kill the security system.” She said, they had been lucky to find that while the security system was on a closed network like the rest of the building, there was an access point located in the sewers for maintenance; something the Rebels had taken advantage of by splicing in a wireless transmitter that would allow Delco access to the security system. “Before we go in Delco will loop the security camera and disable motion tackers. Then all we will have to worry about are the few guard patrolling the buildings but if we are careful they won’t know we are even there.”

She looked around at the squad. “Once we reached CEO’s office we attach the wireless transmitter and lets Delco work on the computer while we keep watch, once we are in we start to transfer and then then get the hell out once we have the data and get back to the van.”

Twilight looked over the blueprints before her. “If there are no questions grab your gear and get your asses in the van.” She said grabbing her side arm, do to this being a stealth mission they weren’t allowed to bring anything more than their side arms, though Twilight still had Rook 1’s sniper rifle in her pocket dimension as she never turned it in.

She opened the back door and climbed in while the others grabbed the equipment and moved it into the van before they squeezed into the back with Twilight with Chekov got behind the wheel and Hudson got into the passenger seat.

Once they were all settled Chekov started the van and they left the heist staging area, the mission had official started and there was no turning back.

<<<O>>>

The van parked on the side of the road and the Rebel soldier all pulled on ski masks they had picked up though Twilight didn’t see why she needed on due to the fact if she was seen it wouldn’t be hard to recognize a lavender pony on a world of humans but hey if they all were wearing them she would to.

The Nightmares climbed out of the van leaving Delco behind to man the computers. They made their way up the street and before reaching the building Twilight decided to test their radios, it was her first mission that wasn’t radio silence so she wanted to make sure they worked. “Radio Check.” She said into the radio.

“One here.” Desmond said.
Two here.” Rook 2 said.
“Three.” Chekov said
“Four right here.” Hudson said.
“Five here.” McKay said.
“Hacker reading you all loud and clear, good luck Leader” Delco said to Twilight

Leader nodded and they made their way to the door, they had choses to use simple code name just in case their radios were picked up they couldn’t be easily identified. When they reached the door One and Three and Four took up position on the right side of the door while Leader, Two and Five took up on the other side. “In position Hacker.” Leader said over the radio.

“One moment.” Hacker said. After a few minutes. “Ok I’m in, unlocking the door in 5.” A few second later the door clicked. “Ok motion trackers are down and cameras looped good luck in there.”

“Thanks Hacker, will radio when we reach destination.” Leader said and One opened the door and moved in with Leader entering last. The room they entered was small and had a counter along one side and a couple of small tables with chairs around the room; in short it was an employee break room.

“Guess we used the employee entrance” Four said as they moved to the door on the far side of the room. Three slowly opened the door and looked down the hall in both directions.

“It is clear.” He said and the team moved out into the hall way. The group slowly made their way down the hall till it opened up into a sea of cubical.

“Stay low.” Leader said and the other nodded. They made their way across the room towards the stairs making sure to stay below the cubical in case a guard entered the room from the front desk where three guard were posted according to intel they had. It wasn’t long before they reached the stairs and as expected found the door locked.

“Ok four work you magic” One said and Four took out his lock picking tools, Leader had been very surprised and pleased to learn one of her squad knew how to pick locks as it opened up many other possibilities for missions.

After a minute there was a clock and Four opened the door and they moved into the stairwell. Making their way to the top floor Four started to pick the door when there was a clock from the door and it opened.

The Thieves started at the guard who stared back at them. All at once the guard’s hand shot for his radio while he started to take a step back, at the same time Four launched himself at the guard and tackled him to the ground and levering three swift punched to the other man’s face knocking him out.

“Nice work Four. “Leader said as she stepped through the door and picked up the unconscious guard. “now we just need to find some where to stash out friend here.” She said. In the end they tossed the guard into a broom closet they found and then got back on track now with more haste as there was a time limit now. Either from the guard failing to report in or waking up granted the later wasn’t as much of an issue as they took his radio but still he could make a lot of noise locked in the closet.

They ended up having to avoid two more guards, Leader had to admit it was easier avoid these guards then the Feds or the guard back at the lab as there was only one guard on any patrol route and they were no soldiers.

Soon they reached the CEO’s office and Leader was annoyed to see the front door and walls were made of glass, and that there was a guard sitting at the desk outside of it reading a book. Before she could say anything Three calmly walked into the room and up to the desk. The guard looked up and went wide eyed a moment before Three grabbed his head and slammed it hard onto the top of the desk then letting go and the guard slumped below the desk.

“Well that works.” Leader said and the rest nodded before walking past the desk where Three was making sure the guard was stuffed under it. Four picked the lock to the office and they entered. “Ok so let’s get this over with and get back to the van.”

One nodded and pulled out the wireless transmitter and hooked it up to the computer. “Ok Hacker, the transmitter is hooked up and the computer is booting up.”

“Alright give me a few minutes and I should have what we need.” Hacker said back. The rest of the thieves moved around the room and kept an eye out while Leader sat behind the desk and watch as letters and numbers started to dance across the screen as Hacker worked on the computer’s system. “ok, anyone who uses their own name as a password deserves to get hacked, I’m into the computer and am working on gaining entry to the mainframe” Hacker said.

Leader nodded. “Alright, take your time don’t want you to tip them off.” She said over the radio. She watched and after a while a progress bar appeared on the screen.

“Ok I’m in and am transferring the files, shouldn’t be more than ten minutes as I’m grabbing some other sensitive files so that they won’t know exactly what we were after as I’m going to leave a trail with the other files while covering the real one.” Leader nodded again and watched the progress bar.

When it was about half way done the screen started flashing red. “Hacker what’s going on?”

“Shit.” Hacker said. “Someone just triggered the alarm remotely. Fuck security system is coming online, get your asses out of there!” Before Leader could say anything a hovering machine shot around the corner. The machine was half the size of Leader and hovering about four and a half feet off the ground, it was shaped somewhat like a sphere and was painted dark gray. Leader could see cameras and other sensors running along its side. When it saw the thieves it beeped rapidly and the long barreled Gatling gun hanging down below the sphere started to spin up.

“Everyone down!” Leader yelled as she dove bellow the desk a moment before the sentries started to spray the room through the glass walls. After a few second it stopped firing and Leader could hear the sound of side arms returning fire. Leader looked over the desk just in time to see the bot exploded in a shower of sparks and crash to the floor.

Leader checked the computer and ear ears went back as the computer was completely destroyed by the sentry’s gunfire. “Hacker do you have what we came for?” Leader asked over the radio as the rest of the thieves climbed to their feet, pistols in hand.

“Most of it. Just get out of there, go go go!” Hacker said and leader nodded to herself.

“Ok let’s get the hell out of here, move it!” Leader said as she drew Rook 1’s sniper rifle, she figured the power for the sniper would be more useful then the pistol. As she stepped over the broke galls that was once the wall of the office red lights started flashing as an alarm started blaring.

“Damnit, level two security just came online, expect a lot more sentry bots and the human security. You’re going to have to shoot your way out.” Hacker said over the radio.

“Ok you heard hacker, weapons free.” Leader said and they started to run for the stairs. Before they reached it two more sentries came out of a side hall and started firing making the loud beeping noise. The thieves dove for cover where they could find it and started to return fire while Leader put up a shield, she winced as the rounds struck shield but she held it. When the sentries’ paused in their fire she dropped the shield and took aim with the sniper and fired a round through the middle of the sentry on the right and it exploded in a shower of sparks like the first had.

A few moments later the left one exploded as it succumbed to the combined fire of the rest of the thieves. Once they were down they began to make their way to the stairs again, shooting the three guards that came through the door before they started to run down the stairs.

At the ground floor they ran into more sentries and guards and it took most of the ammo the thieves had with them to take down the sentries’ and guards.

“Shit, you need to go, an alert was just sent to the Feds and they are in route, we need to go now!” Hacker said over the radio.

“Feds are on the way, move your fucking asses!” Leader yelled at the others as they jumped over the remains of the security that tried to stop them at the outside of the stairs. Leader could hear beeping of more sentries heading for them and she turned and shot the first two to turn the corn. She paused for a moment looking at them before she moved them into her pocket dimension, she then turned and galloped after her team when were already entering the break room.

They ran out of the side door just as another sentry appeared in the doorway behind Leader and she barely got her shield up as it sprayed her. She winces from the rabid fire as another two joined it firing at her trying to shoot her.

Leader heard gunfire behind her as her team opened fire on them and destroyed them with the last of their ammo just as Leader’s shield shattered and she collapsed, dropping the sniper as her horn shot off a burst of magic then went out leaving just it scorched.

Leader felt an arm around her and looked to see One picking her up before running out side, before her head fell limply; her horn felt like it was ready to explode. She saw that Two was running behind them carrying her sniper.

As they neared the road the van came into view skidding to a halt with Hacker behind the wheel. “Come one get in, move move move!” He yelled at them as they opened the back doors while Two jumped into the passenger seat.

As Three climbed in hacker floored it and the team nearly tumbled out the still open back doors but they managed to stay in till they got their footing and three pulled the doors shut. The van took a sharp right as it turned down a side street to avoid the incoming flashing lights and then took several more sharp turns to make sure no one was following them.

With a groan Twilight sat up. “What’s the status of the files? Did we get them?” She asked

“mostly, but the sudden loss of connection caused them to be corrupted, it’s going to take me a while to be able to get anything out of them.” Delco told her as he slowed the van and the Nightmares removed their ski mask, Desmond helping twilight with her as her magic was burnt out.

“ok, well we all made it out ok and have the files in some form so I think I’ll call that a successful mission though I don’t think the Major will be happy we alerted the security and the Feds.” She said holding her head in her hooves, her head felt like it was being used as a drum.

“Yeah I don’t know what the hell happened, I know it wasn’t me but someone triggered the alarm remotely, I didn’t have time to follow the signal, what I do know is we weren’t the only one in the system and someone tripped the alarm on purpose.” He said looking in the rearview mirror.

Twilight nodded. “So what you are saying is someone didn’t want us to get the files.” She said. “And the only way they knew we were going on a mission now would be if they were in the base, which means someone in the PFDR is working for the enemy as a spy.”

Chapter 11: Train

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Federal Press
August 29th, 2037
BREAK IN AT GRENTEN CORPORATION
By Mark Erikson
Late last night the security at the Grenten Corporation were alerted to a possible break in when a minor alarm was trigger. The security control room then sent a single sentry bot to investigate and when it was destroyed security triggered the onsite alarm and mobilized to contain the intruders.
Details are incomplete on what exactly happened but what is known is that several security staff were injured as well as multiple sentry bots being destroyed. Federal Army forces were alerted of the break-in, no details yet on who sent the alert as none of the security staff has come forward.
Federal Army forces are investigating the crime but have not released any details concerning suspects or what the perpetrators were after…

<<<O>>>

Twilight groaned as she sat at the table with the rest of Nightmare. Her horn was still scorched from her burn out and as such she was forced to carry her tray in her mouth which was annoying to say the least. “Headache still bothering you Sarge?” Hudson asked and Twilight nodded before she started eating. “Didn’t Doc give you something for it?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes she did and it has lessened but either my body is partly immune to human drugs or this headache is just a real bitch because it only lessoned it slightly.” She said around her food. “Though it’s probably do to the fact the headache is from a magical burn out.”

“So you really can’t use your magic right now?” Rook 2 asked.

“Not till I recover and I have no idea when that will be and since I can’t use my guns the Doc has put me on medical leave so we have some time off.” Twilight told her squad.

“Well some time off never hurt though it sucks that it’s cause you are on medical leave Sarge.” Rook 2 said as they ate.

“Yeah, though I’m not looking forward to trying to get around the base when I can’t pick up anything.” Twilight said with annoyance.

“Hey Sarge, didn’t you say that there were two other races where you love that don’t use magic like yours?” Hudson asked and twilight nodded. “Well how do they pick up things, I mean larger things I can see using your mouth but what about things like paper?”

“Oh they just use their hooves.” Twilight said and every just stared at her.

“Um…how can you pick things up with hooves?” Desmond asked.

“Um….you just do, it’s an innate magic all ponies have that they can pick up things with their hooves but it seemed it didn’t carry over to my cybernetics so I’m stuck using my mouth.” The group stared at her again. “What?”

“That just sounded very wrong.” Hudson said.

Twilight stared at them and ran over what she said. A large blushed covered her face as she realized how one could take that. “Oh for fuck sakes you know exactly what I meant!” She said and the Nightmares either laughed or smiled at her reaction.

<<<O>>>

Twilight made her way into the training area and saw Mendez was putting some new recruits through their paces and she sat beside the door to watch. She had come by figuring that she couldn’t pick up things but the training Mendez did was all physical so at least it would give her something to do.

“Move your asses you waste of air!” Mendes was yelling as the recruits ran around the room before she shot them with that dreaded paint gun of his. Twilight couldn’t help smiling at the fact she wasn’t the only one who had to deal with it.

She watched for a while before Mendez noticed her. “Well, well if it isn’t Sergeant Big Eye Horse.” He said and Twilight rolled her eyes, she knew that the Chief Petty Officer would treat her and anyone he had trained like that no matter what rank they were. “Come by to show these sorry excuses for soldiers how even a purple horse is better than them?” He asked loudly so the recruits could hear.

Twilight shrugged ignoring in insult mixed with the compliment.” Sure why not, I came her for some training so might as well join them.” She said and the recruits were staring at her wide eyes, they probably hadn’t seen here around the base yet and that was the standard reaction to her.

She moved over and stood beside them and saluted. “Now then since the good sergeant is here I think we can do another 30 laps.” The recruits groaned. “MOVE IT!” They all started running and Twilight easily outpaced the recruits.

The training went in the order it always did and Twilight actually was able to see how much she had improved as she beat the recruits in lap time, the obstacle course, exercises, and hand to hand training. Though she still lost to Mendez but she managed to avoid any serious injury but it did get her mind off her headache and passed the day away.

Once training was done for the day Twilight made her way to the mess hall to grab some dinner, happy that her head ache was gone though it came back a little when she tried to use her magic.

<<<O>>>

The next few days mostly consisted of training with Mendez and spending time with her squad. She didn’t see Delco around but he was most likely working with the files they had recovered so that was to be expected.

In that time the Rebels had hit another convoy of food and Twilight discovered a type of meet called bacon, something she would need to see if Equestia had, or one of the other counties on Epuus as it was too good to go without.

She was happy to find that her magic was slowly starting to come back and that she didn’t get headaches anymore when she tried to use it. She was still too weak for the field but she could pick up small things so she could join in on the card games with her squad again.

Over all the week she spent recovering wasn’t so bad but she was looking forward to getting back out in the field and doing damage to the Feds. While the week hadn’t been so bad for Twilight the rest of the base couldn’t say the same, they had lost another five squads and three more were out of action till they recovered. Twilight kept a tally of everyone they lost so she could make sure the Feds payed ten times that amount in their own soldiers.

<<<O>>>

The Nightmares filed into the staging area. It had been over a week since the heist and she had fully recovered her magic and was looking forward to reentering the field. One they were seated Major Briggs began the briefing by putting up a picture of a large train. Twilight had to marvel at the train as it defiantly didn’t look anything like the trains back in Equestria.

“We have received intel that the Feds are bringing in a large shipment of weapons and other materials via an armored train from Frankfurt 100 miles west of here. We think this is an excellent opportunity to cause some serious damage to the feds if this train were to have an unfortunate accident.” He said as he turned and looked at Nightmare. “And by that I mean the train going full speed when it reaches the end of the line with no one at the controls.”

Twilight couldn’t stop a small smile from appearing on her face. “We know what track the train is going to be on and at the end of it, is a Fed base.” Major Briggs put up another picture of a rail line ending at a heavily guarded Fed base and the smile on Twilight face grew wider as she could see the speeding train crashing through the gate then flying off the rails and sliding into building shortly before all the ammo on boards exploded and she watched in her mind eye as a huge wave of fire consumed the base and the Feds stationed there, the imagined screams were music to her ears.

“In order for the train to have enough time to reach full speed you will be boarding it well outside of the city, another squad has already secured transport.” He put up a picture of an RV. “You will use it to leave the city and reach a tunnel the train will be passing through about 45 miles outside of the city. You can board the train as it leave the tunnel, I’m sure that won’t be a problem for Nightmare.” Major Briggs said as he turned from putting up a map of the area surrounding the tunnel and a picture of the tunnel itself.

“Expect a small security detail on board the train you will have to neutralize in order for this plan to work, you will need to make sure none of them escape.” He said and Twilight nodded. “If there are no questions I suggest you gear up and move out as you have a train to catch.”

After Major Briggs left Nightmare started grabbing weapons and ammo, the entire time Twilight had a large smile plaster on her face at how this mission will end for the Feds, it was the perfect body count to make up for what the rebels had lost.

<<<O>>>

Nightmare stood above the tunnels exit waiting for the train. It had been a long trip in the RV and all of them were glad to be out of the vehicle and able to stretch. Even with the uncomfortable conditions Twilight had had a large smile on her face the entire trip and when her squad had questioned it she just told them it felt good to be back in the field again which was partly true so not technically a lie.

Twilight stood down beside the tracks looking down the tunnel so she’d know when the train was coming. By her estimate it should have been here by… there it is. Twilight moved out of view of the tunnel and teleported up to her squad. “Ready up, our ride is about to pass by.” She told them.

They all nodded and made sure their guns had rounds in the chambers as did Twilight. Soon the dark grey train sped out of the tunnel under them. Twilight had decided they would start from the rear of the train and made their way through each car in order to make sure they took out all the Feds on board. As the last of the cars passed under them Twilight lit her horned and in a flash Nightmare was sitting on the roof of the rear car. Twilight have read over the Intel on her Datepad and according to it there were three cars that would house the security detail, on near the rear, another in the middle and another right behind the engine plus possibly a few Feds moving through cars themselves on patrol.

She nodded to the read of the car and slowly the Rebels crawled towards it, staying as low as they could so as not to risk being blown off by the wind. Once they reached it the 5 humans swung down onto the platform and entered the car. Once the platform was clear Twilight teleported herself onto it and walked into the door to find a Fed lying on the floor with a broken neck. “Good work.” She said with a nod before stepping over the body. Nightmare had to move in single fire do to the creates stacked up in the car but they met no other guards in the next three cars.

When Twilight opened the door to make her way to the next car she saw the next car wasn’t a cargo container. “Looks like we found the first of the military cars.” She whispered at the other Nightmares.

“Let’s do this.” Hudson said lifting his rifle.

“Hold on I got an idea. “Twilight said lifting her hoof to stop the human who looked down at her. He horn glowed as she cast a spell and for a moment the military car glowed with a purple light.

“What did you just do?” Rook 2 asked.

Twilight smiled. “Just enchanted the car with a silence spell so only our voices will be heard but no other sounds will be heard not even the Feds voices.” She looked back at her squad. “Don’t want them alerting the other military cars now do we?” They all nodded.

“Now we can do this. “She said as she opened the door and sure enough the door made no noise. Inside were about 10 confused looking Feds, some looking like they were yelling at each other to try and be heard. One looked over at the open door and tried to shout an alarm but no sound escaped his lips. The rebels raised their rifles and in seconds they were the only ones living in the car.

“No going to lie, that was a bit unnerving.” Desmond said giving himself a slight shake, the others besides Chekov and Twilight had to agree, Chekov do to his indifference to everything and Twilight had just been trying not to laugh at the confused Feds.

“Hey we are the Nightmare Squad so it stands we should be unnerving right?” She said with a chuckle before she canceled the spell and they could hear the train moving again. “Let’s move on.”

They moved through the cars again eliminating any feds they came across and had done the same thing to the second military car when they found it as they had the first. Twilight was very pleased at how fast they were moving through the train and soon they reached the last Military car.

After enchanting it like the first Twilight opened the door and yelped as a bullet tore through the armor of her chest and she fell back.
Night mare dove to the side with McKay dragging Twilight into cover as bullet silently flew through the open door. Twilight gasped for air as she lite her horn and quickly, and painfully pulled the bullet out, based on the pain it had just missed her heart. A quick healing spell stopped the bleeding and closed the wound for the most part but she didn’t have time for a full heal as she got back to her hooves.

“What the hell happened?” She demanded as she saw Chekov firing his LMG around the doorway without looking.

“They were ready for us, from what I saw they set up cover on the far side of the car and are using hand signal to communicate.” Desmond told her.

Twilight growled. “Should have known this was going to well.”

“Murphy’s Law.” Desmond said and Twilight looked at him. “Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong, will.” He explained and Twilight wanted to buck whoever this Murphy was to the moon.

She readied her rifle. “Well they can’t radio for help so let’s just take them out and with them having to actually look at each other it puts them at a disadvantage.” She said as she moved her Rifle around the door frame and started firing. Much to her annoyance ensuing fire fight lasted for 30 minutes before it was over and more than once Twilight had to extract a bullet and heal a member of Nightmare, including herself when the Feds inside had slowed their firing and stopped, after waiting a few minutes Twilight had stepped around to see if they were head and taken another bullet to the chest and one to the leg, though her legs being steel the round had ricocheted and hit Hudson in the leg so she had to fix both of them.

The Feds had pulled the same tactic a couple more time so when the fire stopped again Nightmare hosed the entire room with a mag each before they rushed it. “Fucking finally!” Twilight explained as she canceled the silence enchantment. The feds were all dead behind their barricade.

Twilight used her magic to move the barricade and blinked, these Feds wore slightly different armor then the standard soldier, for one their helmets completely encased their heads and only had two small slights where the eyes would be, their entire face and head were completely covered and the rest of the armor was sleeker and looked almost like a seamless sui.

“What the hell are Special Forces doing guarding a train?” Desmond said looking over the bodies.

“Special Forces?” Twilight asked looking at him.

“Very skilled and tough soldiers, they are used for dangerous missions, it explained why they weren’t confused like the rest of the Feds when they suddenly couldn’t hear but that doesn’t explain why they are here at all.” Desmond said as he kicked one of the dead soldiers.

“They are guarding something of value on this train.” Twilight said after she thought about it. The others looked at her. “Think about it, if you had something of high value that needed guarding you’d want the best guarding it.” She explained the after a moment the Rebels nodded. “I want to know what’s so important.” Twilight said as she made her way to the computer housed in the car.

“Rook 2 think you can get in here?” She asked tapping the computer.

“I don’t know I can try.” The small women said making her way over to the computer and taking a seat. When Twilight didn’t have her magic she spent her time getting to know her squad better and learned that before she joined up Rook 2 was in college for computer programing so knew her way around a computer somewhat.

After a few minutes Rook let out an exclamation. “Are you in?” Twilight asked stepping up beside the young women.

“Sorta, I was able to bypass some of the security but most of the files are encrypted way above my skill level, all I got is a basic manifest. All it says is that there is a high priority piece of equipment onboard that is in route to someone named Doctor Adam Frisk.” The women said.

The color drained from Twilight face and she could feel her breathing pick up speed as she started to shake. She hadn’t thought about that place in months but hearing his name drug up every single memory Twilight wanted to forget.

“Hey Sarge you ok?” Hudson asked stepping up beside her. Twilight snapped out of her spiral into the dark memories and blinked a few time to find all of Nightmare staring at her.

“Huh? What?” She asked looking around.

“I asked if you were ok Sarge, you were shaking and kept saying ‘no no no no’ under your breath over and over again.” The PFC told her.

“Yeah…just….unpleasant history with Dr. Frisk, no I don’t want to talk about it.” She said and gave herself a shake. "What I do want is that manifest and anything that has his name on it, I don’t care if it’s encrypted. “She said taking out her Datapad. “Transfer it all onto my Datapad and we can turn it over to Delco to work on when we get back.”

“You think he’d do it with how busy he is with the heist files?” Rook 2 asked.

“He wants to kill Dr. Frisk for what he did. “Twilight said very darkly, her eyes shrinking as small as they could as she looked at her squad. Rook 2 didn’t need to hear anymore, none of Nightmare did if it could produce that sort of reaction from their sergeant.

Rook 2 hooked up the Datapad to the computer and transferred the files before handing it back toe twilight. “Thank you Private Rain.” Twilight said in the same dark tone as she mechanically put the Datapad back into her pack then unslung her rifle. “Now I believe we have a mission to complete.” She said and walked to the door the lead to the engine.

Nightmare looked at each other and followed their sergeant arriving in time to see her empty her entire magazine from both her rifle and sidearm into the engineer. “Now then, Corporal Desmond would you please set the train to maximums speed?” She said turning to look at her second. Even though she was looking right at him the corporal had the distinct feeling she didn’t see him.

“Right away ma’am.” He said carefully as he moved to the controls and started to work. While he worked Twilight calmly reloaded her guns and stood completely still not looking at anything. “Ok that should do it ma’am.” Desmond said as he turned back and without warning Twilight horn glowed and they all vanished in a flash of light and reappeared standing beside the tracks as the train sped past.

“Mission accomplished, now we are to report back to base.” She said and started walking back towards the city. Without a word Nightmare followed her, all of them eyeing her with concern. They didn’t know what had happened to her but whatever it was if it caused the normally cheerful pony to become…this, they really didn’t want to know.

<<<O>>>

It had been a long hick back to base as they didn’t have any vehicle back but the squad didn’t mind as none of them wanted to be in a vehicle with the young sergeant while she was like this. They were all relieved about half way through the hick and whatever mood had taken her started to lift and after an hour she was back to normal. She apologized for how she acted and they accepted without question.

After that the hick passed much faster as they talked and joked with each other but still they were all looking forward to getting back to base as this entire mission had last about 14 hours though most of it was sitting in an RV and then waiting for a train.

Soon they reached a sewer access and started to make their way through the maze of tunnels.

As they walked Twilight started looking around, she was behind her squad and had a distinct feeling something was wrong. As she walked it hit her. She hadn’t seen any sign of their patrols. She was about to mention this to her squad when Hudson and Rook, who were leading stopped dead in their tracks. They were at the entrance to the main room standing beside the door to the staging area.

“What is it?” Twilight asked as she walked around the taller humans and froze at what she saw.

Suspended from the entrance to the tunnel arms spread by the ropes was a rebel soldier, his body riddled with bullets as if it had been used as target practice, beyond that the main room was a disaster, the tents that had been set up were knocked over and most rebel soldiers were hung in the other entrances and in the middle of the room lay a dozen bodies in a row with their hands tied behind their backs.

As nightmare looked over the carnage that as their base Hudson summed upped what they were all thinking. “What the fuck…”

Interlude: Royal Guard vs Rebel Soldier

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Twilight Sparkle told her mentor/superior how her and her Squad as well as the rest of the Rebel forces learned the Feds plan to invade Equestria to seek magic as well as the steps the rebels took to either stop them or slow them, and none of what Twilight did to buy time for her return to warn Equestria and hopefully get them ready to face soldier and technology like nothing they had ever seen.

When she was finally done Celestia sat quietly for some time before finally speaking. “It is good you brought this to my attention Twilight. I will need to call my council into meeting to discuss what you have told me, will you remain in Canterlot for the day in case I need to call on you?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes ma’am I was planning on having dinner with Captain Armor and meeting with my parents if I had time.”

Celestia nodded. “Yes that would probably be for the best. If I need you to speak before my council I will send for you. “She said and hugged her student, even if she seemed like a completely different pony Celestia could still see that deep down she was still the same mare that Celestia had partly raised, she showed that by risking her life to warn Equestria of the invasion. “It is good to have you home my most faithful student.”

Twilight carefully returned the hug, letting out a sigh and allowing herself to relax for just a moment before she pulled away. “If there is nothing else ma’am?”

Celestia shook her head. “There isn’t you may go Twilight.

Twilight nodded and turned and left the room after giving another salute.

<<<O>>>

Twilight made her way down the hall she was looking for her brother. While talking to Celestia she had had time to think as delivering a report was second nature to her that she could let her mind wonder and it lead her to her meeting with her brother. She had to admit she could have handled that better. She had treated him like a soldier and not a Royal Guard which was completely different. She shouldn’t have held him to the same standards as those that had been under her.

She needed to apologize, though he was not going to apologize for how she treated him when he tried to give her an order because he had no right to do so.

“You there halt.” A deep voice said behind her and Twilight stopped and turned to see three Royal Guard approaching her, she quickly assessed the situation. There were three of them, an Earth Pony leading them and flanked by a Unicorn on the right and a Pegasus on his left. All three wore the standard Royal Guard gold armor which would provide to protection and while they were clearly angry they did not move in a manner to suggest an attack. Twilight relaxed.

“Can I help you three?” She asked raising an eyebrow behind her visor.

“You had to right to speak to the Captain of the Guard in the manner you did even if you are his sister it does not give you the right.” The Earth Pony said once they stopped in front of Twilight.

Twilight nodded, ok so they were mad at how she treated their commanding officer, Twilight could respect that, it showed her brother was a good commander if he could inspire this level of loyalty. “And you three want to have a word with me about that?” She asked in controlled tones.

The earth pony shook his head. “No, it’s clear you need to be taught to respect the Royal Guard and since you want to pretend you are a member then we will treat you as such.” The Earth Pony said and smirked. “You and me are going to duel in unarmed combat.” He said and his smirk deepened.

Seems he thinks that means something and that I’ll think he’s hot shit and be cowed down. Twilight thought as a smirk appeared on her face as well. “Alright, I could use a good work out. So just tell me where and when?”

The earth pony blinked. “Now and in the training room.”

Twilight gestured with a hoof. “Lead the way.” The smirk grew into a smile.

<<<O>>>

Shinning Armor was walking down the castle. After his meeting with his sister and how she had treated him he needed time to think. She was his sister, there was no way he could mistake anyone else for little Twilly but…she had been a completely different mare then what he was used to. She was cold when for the most part and yet laughed at him when he tried to order her around and seemed to take enjoyment from his confusion. And the fact he noticed her eyes never stopped scanning her surroundings.

What had happened to his little sister to turn here into that, from his awkward bookworm of a sister to this mare that insisted on being called “Commander” and who were the People’s Free Democratic Republic and had they done to his little sister to make her into this. Whatever it was he wanted to have a word with them.

Shinning was drawn out of his thought by two Royal Guard trotting by clearly in a hurry. “You two what is going on?” He asked and the two Guards stopped and saluted. “Captain, Winter Gale has challenged that mare who insulted you to hoof to hoof combat and she has accepted.” One of them told him.

“What?” Shinning said his eyes widening. Winter Gale was the best hoof to hoof fighter in all of the Canterlot Royal Guard. “Show me.” The two nodded and turned and started trotting again with Shinning right behind them.

They made their way to the Royal Guard training room and when the tree entered Shinning saw a crowd of off duty guards gather around the sparing area and made his way over to it. When the guard saw him they made way for him and he soon found himself at the front of the crowd alongside Twilly’s friends and to his surprise Cadence.

“Cadence what are you doing here?” He asked her and she looked at him and he could tell she was worried.

“I heard Twilight was home and I wanted to see her, when I found her she was following three of the Royal Guard here with a smile on her face and when I asked what was going on she told me Winter Gale had challenged her to a duel.” Cadence told him. “I tried to tell her that was a bad idea as he was the best unarmed fighter in the castle and she just smiled more and said ‘good then this might actually be worth my time. Shinning what is going on with her?”

“I don’t know Cadence.” Shining said as he pulled her close and then looked out at the sparing area, if Cadence couldn’t stop her then what chance would he have as her brother.

Shining looked over at his sister’s friends and from the face they had had as much luck as Cadence had in stopping Twilly. Looking out over the sparing area Shinning spotted his sister standing on one side of the ring by herself and across from her stood Winter Gale with two other guards Shinning knew to be the guard’s close friends.

“So I’m going to do this fight at 10% strength and I won’t use any magic, just my normal body so that this is an even match ok?” Twilly said with a smirk directed at Gale who sneered back.

“Just keep talking; I’ll fix that attitude of yours.” Gale said back and Shining frowned.

Twilly shrugged in her armor. “If you say so.” She said and Shinning saw her magic wrapped around her helmet and pull it off and the crowd who at this point had been somewhat loud as crowds of ponies usually were quieted down some. Shinning heard Cadence gasp beside him as he took in his sisters scared face, he recognized as the wound a bladed weapon left over her one eye but the much smaller ones that covered the side of her face was a mystery to him.

He saw her magic wrapped around her armor and after a few moments she pulled it off and the crowd went deathly quiet. Shinning couldn’t take his eyes off the scars that covered his sister’s body. What had happened to his little sister? She had suffered more injuries then Shinning had ever seen in his life and the fact they were all improperly healed so as to leave a scars…

Shinning was distracted by Winter Gale starting to remove his armor and Twilly speaking up. “I’d recommend you leave that on.” She said as Gale glared. She taped her hooves together making a distinct metallic sound. “Steel hooves, it’s only fair you wear full armor.”

Gale grumbled but left his armor on as he stepped into the ring as did Twilly. Gale’s Pegasus friend moved to the middle of the ring. “Alright, first pony to tap out or be unable to continue will lose. If any of you step out of the ring you will lose. This is a Hoof to Hoof battle so...” Gale’s unicorn friends moved and put an inhibitor ring on Twilly’s horn before he stepped back to Gale’s side.

“Alright, ready?” The Pegasus flew up above the ring. “Begin!”

Gale launched himself at Twilly with impressive speed and Shinning shut his eyes not wanting to see his sister get hit. There was a gasp from the crowd. Then another and Shining slowly opened his eyes to see. Twilly easily dodging Gale’s strikes with ease, if fact, she looked bored. Gale growled in frustration as he threw another punch; Twilly just side stepped with the same bored expression.

“Jeez you’re slow.” Shinning heard her say as Gale threw another punch and Twilly ducked. “Stop trying to hit me and hit me already, I thought you were going to teach me respect?” Shinning blinked as his little sister was taunting Gale while effortlessly dodging his attacks.

“If you wanted to dance you just had to ask, didn’t have to challenge me to a duel.” Shinning could see Gale was getting angry as Twilly needled him. Gale tried to sweep her legs out from under him and she just jumped over his leg and that was when Shinning realize Twilly had only taken a single step to the side since the fight had started.

“I’m growing bored of this dance…” She said and Gale let out a roar as he turned and delivered and a buck aimed for her face…one Twilly lifted her fore hooves and caught with ease before she closed her eyes tilted her head to each side causing a rather loud popping each time before opening her eyes and smiling wide. “My turn.” She said and faster than Shinning thought possible her hooves shot up still holding Gales rear legs and sent him tumbling through the air. He crashed hard to the ring.

He quickly rolled over onto his hooves and froze when he saw Twilly as had the rest of the onlookers. Twilly was standing on her hind legs as if it was the most natural thing in the world and her fore hooves had produced five fingers each. “What? You didn’t think I was just a quadruped did you?” Twilly said then laugh before she launched forward with far more speed then Gale had shown and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. “A proper soldier is ready for anything and does freeze up when the battle suddenly shifts. “Twilight said before delivering a hard hit to Gale’s ribs.

Gale grunted in pain kicked out with his read hooved, catching Twilly in the chest and she dropped him to the ring. “Oh bravo that was a nice move. “She said clapping her hooves together while Gale tried to catch his breath. Suddenly he launched forward and tried to strike her again and Twilly just grabbed his out stretched leg and twisted it. She then jumped away and Gale dropped to the ring his leg hanging uselessly at his side and Shinning could tell it was dislocated.

Before Gale could do anything Twilly was suddenly behind him with a smile on her face and reached down, wrapping her fore legs around his neck she pulled back. Dropping backwards onto her back she pulled Gale on top of her and wrapped her rear legs around his stomach and then she pulled.

Gale gasped for air as his rear legs started to kick the air and if shinning wasn’t mistaken Twilly was calmly humming some tune while smiling. Gale started to hit Twilly in the ribs as hard as he could from the angle with his one good leg but Twilly didn’t stop humming as she just pulled more and tightened her fore hooves.

Slowly Gales rear hooved started to kick less till they stopped moving a tall. Twilly held the stalling for a few more second before she pushed him off of herself and stood back up on her hind legs and brushed herself off. “Well that wasn’t as much of a work out as I had hoped it would be.” She said sounding disappointed.

Blazing flew down and got right in her face. “What in Tartarus!” He yelled. “You are under arrest for murder!” He yelled as Clear Mind ran onto the ring horn glowing.

“What the fuck are you talking about? He’s not dead!” Twilly said angrily waving her hooves in the air. “All I fucking did was break two of his ribs, dislocate an arm and chock him out. If I wanted him dead he’d be well and truly dead but I don’t think the Princesses would like me killing her guards.” Twilight said glaring at the two guards confronting her. “Though believe me, you try to arrest me and I’ll show you what the difference between a non-lethal and a lethal take down is.”

“He’s alive.” Another guard who actually went and checked on Gale said.

“See, I only caused injuries I knew the medics could deal with.” Twilly said dismissively waving her hoof. “Now if you two aren’t going to try and fight me I have more important things to do rather than play games with you lot.” She turned and walked back to where her armor lay and slipped back into it without her magic as she still wore the inhibitor ring. She picked up her helmet and carrying it under one of her fore legs over the Shinning. “Hey shinning, mind removing this for me?” She flicked the inhibitor ring with her metal fingers. “I’d ask those two dumbasses but I don’t think they like me very much for putting their friend in his place.” Twilly said with a chuckle.

Shinning stared at her before. “Uh…yes…Sure Twilly.” He said, what had happened? She wasn’t cold to him now. Re removed the inhibitor ring and Twilly nodded in thanks before putting the helmet on.

“You wouldn’t have actually….killed them would you have darling?” Rarity asked as Twilly’s friends walked up to where they stood and Shinning saw Cadence step up beside him out of the corner of his eye.

“If they came at me? Absolutely.” Twilly replied mater of factly, Shinning was still unnerved by the fact she was still standing on her back legs. She pointed her front hooves to the ceiling. “I’d have used these. “She said and the crowd of guards jumped back as twin 12” blades shot out of her hooves. “Though the floor would have gotten rather messy.”

Chapter 12: Friends Lost, Traitors Found

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Encrypted Transmission
The target is being sent out on a mission that will take some time, now is the best time to move in as she is less likely to get hurt if the those Helios Mercs are in control of the base when she returns as she will just have her Squad with her.
Don’t worry about the patrols spotting the Mercs; I’ll personally take care of them so they can come in from the north tunnel. Just make sure my Credits are in my account, I want to retire to a nice island south of the equator after this is over.
Once you have P438-29T I am out of this damn city….

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly made her way down the halls of the base, she was being careful not to step on any of the bodies of her fellow rebels that lay in their own blood. After getting over the shock of finding their fellow soldiers dead and displayed like some horrible pieces of art Twilight had told them all to be quiet as they didn’t know if whoever did this was could still be on site. Desmond had cursed the Feds but Twilight had been quick to put that out by explaining the simple fact that the feds were a lot of things, but they wouldn’t string up a body and use it for target practice. The Feds were a lot of things, but they weren’t twisted, they’d have executed the Rebels yes but stringing them up is too far.

The first thing Nightmare had down was carefully make their way to the bodies in the middle of the room, Twilight had feared they had lost their entire command structure but the highest ranking soldier was a Lieutenant, the rest were lower rank and two of them were recruits Twilight had trained with when her magic was burned out. There wasn’t any reason to have executed them which lead Twilight to conclude that there was no reason they were executed for the same reason their fellow soldiers were hanging from the ceiling, they could.

After that Twilight had ordered Nightmare to split up, Hudson had tried to protest but Twilight had put a stop to that by explaining there could be survivors and that Nightmare could cover the base faster with less chance of detection in smaller groups. So she sent Desmond and Hudson to check on the Infirmary and Training Area, while Chekov and Rook 2 were sent to the Armory to both check for survivors and collect ammo that Nightmare desperately needed. Which left Twilight to check on the mess hall and the SHOP she had given strict order to maintain radio silence and to hold their fire unless they had absolutely no choice as stealth was key to their survival. After they searched their assigned areas they were going to meet in the command wing and sweep it as that is where either the enemy was or any surviving Rebels not in hiding.

And that was how Twilight found herself silently bushing the door to the mess hall open. She peered around the corner and saw bodies of soldier lying on the floor beside tables or slumped over the tables as they had been caught while eating. In one corner Twilight saw some tables over turned and after scanning for threats made her way to the tables. When she peered around the tables she couldn’t stop herself from sighing as she shook her head. There were about 5 soldiers and one recruit lying in their own blood behind the tables, their side arms lying beside them and dozens of spent brass mixed in with the crimson, a desperate final stand by soldiers caught completely off guard while eating.

Her ear swiveled towards the kitchen as she heard something and she raised her riffle as she left the doomed final stand and slowly made her way around the counter and into the kitchen. She carefully peeked over the counter but didn’t see anything. She started moving down the aisle stepping over knocked over food and cooking utensils. “Where are you…”She whispered as she looked for the source of the noise though being a sewer it could be a rat though the cook was very good about keeping them out of the kitchen.

There was the sound of a slide being drawn back behind her. “There you are, been looking all over for you.” Someone said behind her and Twilight looked over her shoulder to see a…human wearing only an armored vest, black cargos, boots and a black T-shirt under his vest while on top of his head rested a pair of sunglasses. And aimed right at Twilight was a pistol with a flashlight under it and a suppressor. “You’d think it would be easy to find a horse shaped alien but no, after we swept this base we learned that you weren’t even here.”

“Who are you, you’re clearly not Feds.” She asked.

“Well you got that right we aren’t those stuck up assholes.” The humans laughed. “As for who you are, that doesn’t matter, what does matter is our employer is very interested in getting you so if you would kindly drop the rifle and any other weapons you have we can get going.” The human smiled. Based on what he said Twilight’s theory had been correct as this was clearly a mercenary.

Twilight laid her rifle down and dropped her other weapons. “Now then come with me and we will get out of this—“ The mercenary was cut off as the cabinet beside him swing open and there was a flash of steel and the Merc stared wide eye as where his arm had be as everything bello the elbow had been cut cleanly off. Be opened his mouth to scream but was cut off again when a rebel dressed in an apron and with a fry cook hat plunged a butcher knife into his neck and pull it out, nearly decapitating the merc who dropped to the ground bleeding out in seconds.

The cook turned to face Twilight. “Sorry darlin’, kitchen is closed right now. “He kicked the dead Merc. “Got roaches.” He said and Twilight blinked at the man. In his right hand he held a meat clever and his left held the butcher knife. His normally pristine apron was now splattered with blood.

“What? How?” Twilight said in shock. Out of everyone she was surprised to see the cook as he was the only rebel that never wore a gun as he said it got in the way of cooking.

“Darlin’ when the shooting started I was in the kitchen, saw our boys try to fight back but it was for naught so I hid like any sane man would have done.” The cook said. “I’ve been in there for I don’t know how long but every time I thought they had left another one of them would come in to grab some of my food then leave. Then heard you and knew the cavalierly had arrived finally.”

Twilight blinked at the cook. “Well….not really cavalierly, just one squad. What happened here?” She asked.

“Don’t rightly know darlin’, was in the middle of cooking when these all black wearing rats burst in through the doors with their suppressed guns and started shooting everyone in sight. Our boys tried to fight but as I’m sure you saw they didn’t win but I think their shooting alerted the entire base cause shortly after that I heard gunfire echoing from all over the base. “The cook said then looked at her serious. “And before you go thinking I was a coward for not grabbing myself a gun and joining in two of those rats sat in the kitchen while the rest of them left for parts unknown.”

Twilight nodded. “Alright well as far as I can tell the way is clear behind me, the rest of Nightmare is searching other key areas of the base and I still have to search SHOP before meeting up with them at the command wing.”

The cook nodded and then stomped on the merc’s hand a few times till the finger broke and then grabbed the pistol from the mangled hand. “Well then let’s get going.”

Twilight nodded. “Oh yeah, what’s your name by the way?”

“Cook.”

“No your name, what is it?”

The cook looked at her. “My name is Frank Cook.”

Twilight blinked. “Wait, you’re actual name is Cook and you are the cook?” Cook nodded. Twilight sighed. “Of course it would be.” She picked up her weapons.” Ok then Cook, follow me.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight and Cook approached the door to SHOP. So far they hadn’t found any sign of other survivors but having found an unarmed Cook still alive had given Twilight hope that others were alive as well. When they reached the door Cook took one side and raised the suppressed pistol as Twilight took the other side. She nodded her head and wrapped the door in her magic before swinging it open then both her and Cook swept into the room guns at the ready.

Twilight relaxed as she saw the room empty. She scanned the room and paused as she saw there were three pools of blood on the floor by the door under the bodies of three more Mercs that was a good sign she thought as it meant there may be some Rebels hold up in the SHOP. “Cook check the back room, I’ll check for supplies I’ll keep an eye out here, be careful.” Cook nodded and made his way to the back room, disappearing through the EMPLOYEES ONLY door.

Twilight made her way around the counter as it was the only cover in the room and froze. Sitting slumped against the shelves that lined the wall, his formerly white shirt stained red, was Liston. The Pinkie like human sat in a pool of his own blood, from what Twilight could see he had taken over a dozen shots to the chest.

“No….” Twilight whisper as she stepped closer to the supply clerk’s body, a quick check proved her fears correct. Liston had long since died. “No no no…”She said as she looked at his blank face that she had never seen without some form of a smile on it. It was unnatural to not have a smile on it.

As Twilight looked at the body of her friend she noticed that the note pad he always carried and kept his notes in was partly sticking out of his suit jacket. Carefully Twilight took it in her magic and lifted it out and blinked as she read the cover. “FOR THE LITTLE PURPLE UNICORN” was written in a hand that clearly was barely holding the pen. Looking around the floor she saw Liston’s pen lying beside him where he had dropped it. Even after having been shot so many times the supply clerk had still managed to write a message for her. When she opened the notebook she saw it contain information he had managed to dig up on her concerning how she got there and how to get back. “Heh….even in death you kept your promise…” She said and had to wipe some tears from her eyes as she looked at the Pinkie like human who would never smile again.

She slipped the notebook into her saddle bags and as she took a step her hooves hit something and sent them rolling across the floor. When she looked she saw large shell casings littered the floor behind the counter. When she looked she noticed something held in Liston’s right hand she hadn’t noticed before. It was the largest pistol she had ever seen. Its nickel plated outside was polished to a bright shine and the grip was of some of the darkest wood she had ever seen. She carefully picked up the gun and looked it over, noticing an inscription in gold on the grip. PARTY TIME. “Hehe…you would have a gun called that….” She said smiling sadly at Liston before looking over at the bodies by the door. “Seems you took your attackers with you…” She couldn’t help but smile as she saw the Merc’s bursting through the door thinking to take the supply clerk unaware only to be greeted by the gun Party Time.

“You ok darlin’?” Cook said as he came around the corner and stopped when he saw Liston’s body. “Damn….out of everyone I thought that crazy son of a bitch would survive….”Cook said quietly.

Twilight nodded and put Party Time in her pocket dimension and wipe some more tears from her eyes before turning to face Cook, he was dressed in standard issue Rebel armor now and had a pack on his back. “Ready to go?” She asked and Cook nodded. Twilight took one last look at the Pinkie like human’s body before turning and heading for the door. “Then let’s finish our search then hunt these bastards down.” She said darkly. These Merc’s were going to pay, as was whoever hired them.

<<<O>>>

Twilight and Cook arrived at the tunnel that lead to the command wing. Twilight saw Desmond and Hudson were already there as were two medics, a couple armored rebel soldier, and three recruits armed with pistols and Mendez standing silently with his own pistol drawn.

“Somehow I knew you’d be just fine Mendez. “Twilight said smiling despite what she had found in SHOP.

“If you think some mercenary scum could ever hope to take me down then you don’t know me at all you big eyed freak.” Mendez said.

Twilight laughed despite herself and shook her head. “No I guess you are right. Is this everyone you could find?” Twilight asked looking at Desmond.

“Yes ma’am, most of our guys retreated into the tunnels once word came down the base was lost. “Desmond gestured with a thumb at the group of survivors. “They either got cut off or refused to leave.”

“Refused to leave?” Twilight asked in surprised and Mendez coughed. “Right, you wouldn’t leave the base to the Merc.”

“Damn right.” Mendez said.

“You find anything Sarge?” Hudson asked.

“I found Cook.” She gestured to the cook behind her. “And….”She swallowed. “Liston is KIA.”

Twilight saw everyone faces drop at the news. “Damn….that freak was annoying but he didn’t deserve that.” Desmond said.

Twilight nodded. “Anyone heard from Chekov and Rook 2?” She asked and everyone shook their heads. “Damn, we need to go check that wing to make sure that it’s—“

“Don’t need to do that, we are fine Sarge. “Rook 2 said as she joined the group followed by Dupo who was carrying a large duffle bag slung over his back and was armed with a semi-auto shotgun.

“Well that’s good but where’s—“Twilight was cut off as Chekov walked up to the group and dumped the body of a Merc who was bound and gag in the middle of the group. Judging by the Merc’s bruised face some one had beaten him into unconsciousness.

“I thought we may need one alive.” The PFC said simply.

“Yeah we came across that guy near the armory and Chekov just went to town on his face, even gave him a few good kicks to the ribs after he was out cold before dragging him to the armory.” Rook 2 said.

“My armory had mostly been cleaned out by these bastards but they didn’t get it all. “ Dupo said as he unslung the duffle bag and dropped it onto the unconscious Mercs body before opening it to revel full mags for the rifles and two SMGs. Night mare started to grab the ammo and the Medics received the SMGs as well as ammo.

Once everyone was resupplied Twilight lifted her rifle. “Well then, let’s find the rest of the rats and show them no one fucks with the PFDR and gets away with it.” She said and the group lifted then guns in a silent cheer before they moved for the command wing.

As Twilight had though the bulk of the Merc were held up in the command wing of the base. When the survivors came across a group of Mercs the only warning they had the rebels were there was when Twilight yelled weapons free a moment before the Rebels open fired on the invaders.

After that it became a moving fire fight though the command wing with the rebels staying on the move constantly so as not to risk penned in. Chekov lead the way with Desmond, Dupo and one of the other rebel soldiers right behind him. The medics stayed in the middle along with the recruits while Twilight, Hudson, Rook 2, Mendez and the other soldier covered the rear.

The Mercs put up a fierce fight but they didn’t know the tunnels like the rebels did plus the drive they got when they found one of their fellow soldiers dead in the hall and add the Unicorn with healing spells to deal with the injuries they sustained and the Mercs stood no chance.

Even with the advantages the rebels had the fight was hard and draining to Twilight doing so much healing as well as taking out Mercs that tried to flank them from behind. Despite the Twilight best efforts they lost one of the recruits as well as one of the rebel soldiers that had been found, but still after what felt like hours of fighting the last of the Mercs was found and eliminated.

That left just the Merc Chekov had captured and after searching all of the command wing it was learned most of their command was dead but they couldn’t find any sign of the General or Major Brigs. This lead Twilight to believe they had been captured which would make sense; the Feds would pay a lot of Credits for the two leaders of the rebel army.

<<<O>>>

It had been a few hours since the base was retaken, a few of the rebels that had fled into the tunnels had returned but there were still many missing though searching for them would have to take a back seat to re organizing what remained of the Rebels as well as find a new base. The rebels couldn’t risk using the original back up base as most likely its location as known as well. That left what remained of the officers to try and find a new base. This disorganization left Twilight with a golden opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

She made her way to the brig where the Merc prisoner had been tossed till the rebels could think what to do with him. As Twilight approached the private that was guarding the brig snapped to attention. “At ease private, I am here to relieve you.” She said and the private looked at her confused. “We’ve had a rough last few hours and it’s only going to get rougher, go get some rest, I’ll guard the prisoner.” She told him and he saluted and left.

Twilight waited a few minutes to make sure the private was well and truly gone before she unlocked the door to the small room that was the brig and walked in. The merc prisoner looked up from the chair he was tied to and smirked at her. “Oh look they finally decide to pay me a visit and they send the mutant horse, how cute.” The Merc said with a sneer.

Twilight looked at the man. “I am Sergeant Twilight Sparkle and you have some information I need.” She told the man calmly.

“Oh do I?” The merc mocked. “What you going to do? Stare at me till I tell you? Maybe hit me a few time to get me to talk? Bring it on.” The merc laughed. “I know all about you PFDR dipshits and how you feel about torture, hell even the Federal Army frown upon it for the most part.”

Twilight nodded. “That is true we of the PFDR don’t believe in torture but the way I see it, you have three things working against you.” She said

The Merc raised an eye brow at her. “Oh? What is that you little freak?”

“One, your group either killed or capture some good friends of mine. “She said calmly. “Two I am a very well trained medic and know everything about the human body. “Her horn lit up and the walls glowed for a moment. “And three, I just made it so no sound will be heard from inside this room.” She said with the same calm voice and the smirk slowly dropped from the Merc’s face as Twilight drew her knife. “Shall we begin?”

<<<O>>>

Twilight searched through what remained of the armory for any supplies that that may have been missed, I hadn’t been hard to gain entry to the cage as the door had been cut away and tossed to the side. She was on a time table if what the Merc told her was true and she had no reason to think he didn’t tell her everything in the two hours she spent with the man.

She was sure he had told her everything he knew right down to his darkest secrets. Twilight didn’t dwell on the fact that what she did to the man with both blade and magic had basically destroyed the humans mind to the point there was no way to fix it. She had been forced to make it look like he had managed to get free from his binding and hung himself to avoid talking. Twilight was a skilled medic, she had fixed his body exactly as it had been but even she can’t fix some one’s mind once it has been shattered so completely.

The thought that what she had done should be disturbing here never crossed her mind. She was focused on her objective and that was rescuing what remained of the rebel command. Without it they would fall apart and the Feds would just mop up what was left of them with ease.

“Damnit there has to be something here….” She said under her breath.

“Lose something kid?” Twilight froze as Dupo spoke from the door to the cage and she looked at him as if he had caught her as a filly sneaking a cookie from the cookie jar. He just looked at her impassively before walking into the cage and reaching under the counter and opening a draw. “You may need these” He said tossing her a few suppressors for her guns.

She blinked at him. “What?”

“A suppressor for your sidearm, rifle and that sniper you never turned in. If you’re going to sneak into a Fed compound you are going to need them.” Dupo said and Twilight blinked at the armory officer. “What? You thought someone wouldn’t figure out you’d go after the general kid?”

Twilight slowly nodded and Dupo took out a cigarette and smiled at her before lighting it. “Kid anyone who spends enough time with you knows you’d never abandoned your friends and everyone knows you and the General are drinking buddies. Besides you and I both know we need the general if we are going to survive this mess.”

Twilight slowly nodded. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me kid, I’m just doing my job as the armory officer and making sure kids like you have what they need for their missions.” Dupo said and blew smoke at Twilight. “Now if you don’t mind kid, get the hell out of what’s left of my armory.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight sighted down the scope of her rifle. She lined up the shot and squeezed the trigger once…twice…three times and watched the three Feds on the roof of the building dropped silently to the ground. She did a quick sweep to see if any other Feds were in a position to see her and found none.

With a nod she put the sniper back in the pocket dimension and lifted her rifle before teleporting to the roof. “Ok, now how do I…a will do.” Twilight whisper as she spotted a vent cover. Using her magic she undid the screws and pulled it off before she climbed in and replaced it.

Casting a silence spell on her hooves she began to make her way through the vent of the Fed compound that held what remained of rebel command. She was careful when passing other vent covers, making sure no one was looking at the vent before she passed. The vent was clearly not designed for someone to climb through which made sense, luckily Twilight was much smaller than the average human so I she was actually able to fit in the vent.

She had an idea what she was looking for she just needed to find it. She crawled through the vents for a while till she finally found what she was looking for.

She smiled as she peered into the security station. The dark room was dominated by multiple screens surrounding a large central screen. Sitting at two desks with terminals that controlled the systems this station commanded were two Fed technicians and no guards. Perfect~

With her magic she silent unscrewed the vent and lifted it away before she slipped down to the floor. Drawing her surpassed side arm with a smile. Two shots later and she was alone in the room. “Now then where are you?” She said as she started to flip through the security cameras, thankful for the map that was displayed on the computer monitor showing where the cameras were located. “There you are.” She smiled as she found her first target. “Now for the second.” After a few more minutes of flipping through the camera she found her second target and she was in luck according to the map he was near this room. She quickly memorized the map then pushed away from the desk. “Thanks for the help boys.~~~” She said to the two technicians piled in the corner in a drying pool of blood.

She climbed back into the vent and put the vent cover back in place before making her way to the nearest target.

<<<O>>>

Major Briggs dozed on a small cot in a relatively bare room. He was startled awake by the sound of metal crashing into concrete. He quickly rolled to his feet and came up in a fighting stance only to find himself staring down the barrel of an assault rifle wrapped in a purple aura. He looked behind the riffle and saw what he expected. “Ah Sergeant, you’re here good we need—“

“Shut up! I know it was you that let those mercenary fucks into the base.” The Sergeant yelled at him. “And since you are the one that let them in I can assume you are also the one that’s been telling the Feds where our soldiers were.”

Major Briggs blinked at the Sergeant. “What are you talking about, why would I—“

“Don’t bother fucking trying to lie your way out of this. We didn’t kill all the Merc’s and one of them gave it all up, how you personally killed the patrol in the north tunnel and how you fucking handed over the General on a silver fucking plate.” The Sergeant yelled and the rifle started to shake in her magic grip. Looking at her Major Briggs saw her armor had multiple bullet holes in it and her helmet had a few grazes on the side and strangely enough she had tears in her eye. In his professional opinion she looked like hell.

“Don’t bother hoping for Feds to be showing up, no one can hear us outside of this room.” The Sergeant said. “All I want to fucking know is why you fucking turned on us! What was it that made you fucking sell us out and get so many of your own soldiers killed!?” She demanded.

Major Briggs didn’t see any point in keeping up the charade as it was clear the Sergeant wasn’t going to buy it. “Simple, Credits and no jail time.”

The Sergeant blinked at him. “Credits? You threw so many of us to the wolves for fucking money!” She screamed at him.

“Oh come off it Sergeant have you see our base, it’s a sewer. Before that it was a hole in the ground. And no matter what we do, we never make any progress. “Major Briggs said. “unlike the others I saw the writing on the wall, we are either going to be locked in this cat and mouse game till we die of old age or the Feds will wipe us out. Unlike the rest of them I took steps to ensure I had a life boats for when the ship sank.”

The Sergeant just stared at him and Major Briggs could see the rage in her eyes, she wanted his blood. “I surrender.” He said and put his hands up.

“What?” The sergeant said.

“I am surrendering to you. I am a prisoner of the People’s Free Democratic Republic so come on take me back to whatever cell you have planned for me.” Major Briggs said. One thing he had to admit about the PFDR they were easy to manipulate thanks to that rule of not killing those who surrender.

“Ok, so great I can’t kill you as you are a prisoner.” The Sergeant said and Major Briggs couldn’t help smiling as he saw the rage be snuffed out, such useful ideals. Then a large smile spread over her face. “It’s a good thing when I found you, you attacked me then.”

“What do—“Was all Major Briggs was able to say before the Sergeant's knife plunged deep into his throat and she tore it free completely slitting his throat. Major Briggs stumbled back clutching his destroyed neck as she slide down the wall his vision already starting to go black. The last thing Major Briggs saw was the Sergeant climbing back into the vent and replacing the cover.

<<<O>>>

Twilight sparkle crawled through the vents, her first objective accomplished by eliminating the traitor now for her primary objective. It didn’t take her long to reach her last target was and a quick kick had her inside the cell. She dropped down and ran to the older human who was sitting in a chair, his hands handcuffed behind the chair.

“General Sir.” She said as she reached him. He looked up at her and Twilight could tell he had been beat severely either by the Merc’s or the Feds. His face was brushed one of his lips was busted, his left eye was swollen shut and Twilight was sure his nose was broken.

“Sergeant, what are you doing here?” He asked her, blinking at her.

“Getting you out of here sir.” She told him going around behind him, wasn’t time for her to try the lock picking Hudson had taught her so she just used her magic to break the cuffs. “Can you walk Sir?” She asked moving back around in front of him as the General rubbed his wrists and slowly got to his feet.

“Well enough Sergeant.” HE said and blinked when she shoved her side arm into his hands.

“Good. I got point sir, stay behind me.” She said unslinging her rifle and moving to the door.

“How are you going to—“The general was cut off as the cell door was wrapped in her magic and she narrowed her eyes. Then the cell door was torn from its hinges and she set it aside.

“This way sir.” She said and moved into the hall glancing back to make sure the general was behind her. Twilight readied her rifled and ripped the next door off its hinges, catching the Fed manning the desk on the other side by surprise. The soldier tried to stand but Twilight put a stop to that by bringing the security door down on top of him hard.

She made her way down the hall running through the map in her head. It shouldn’t take long to reach an exit if she had read the map right, she just had to worry about the general if they ran into trouble.

As if on que they rounded a corner and were face to face with a Fed who had been walking down the hall, twilighted needed to find Murphy and kill him. The Rebel soldier and the Federal soldier stared at each other. The Fed’s eyes flicked to the alarm button on the wall. “Don’t.” Twilight said he rifle trained on the Fed. The soldier glanced between her and the alarm again. “Don’t.” Twilight said through gritted teeth.

He went for it. Twilight fired and struck the Fed in the side of his chest causing him to turn slightly but he was still moving towards the Alarm. “Shit, it’s about to get loud.” She said a moment before the Fed’s hand smashed into the button.

Red light started to flash in the hall as an alarm blared. “Attention all personal intruder in the holding area, all Federal Army personal mobilize, commence full lock down.” A female voice over a PA system.

“Shit, time to run.” Twilight said before he and the General started to run down the hall as the sound of boots started to echo down the side halls.

They turned a corner and came face to face with three Fed soldier. Twilight raised her rifle and fired, killing two but before she could shoot the last one he lunched forward and wrenched the rifle from her magic.

Twilight launched herself at the Fed before he could raise his own rifle and head butted him in the stomach causing him to stumble losing his grip on his own rifle. Twilight chance a look back at the general to see him firing back around the corner at more Feds.

She looked back just in time to see the Fed she was fighting draw his combat knife and thrust it at her. She managed to side stepped him. She tried to trip the Fed bust he pivoted and dodged slashing with his Knife. Twilight barely ducked in time. She spun around and bucked the soldier in the stomach causing him to stumble backwards.

She drew her own knife and charged him. Before her knife could find its mark the soldier blocked it with his own blade and delivered a quick jab to Twilight face causing her to stumbled and lose her focus dropping her own knife.

She blinked the spots way to see the Feds’ knife coming straight down, she pulled her head back but wasn’t fast enough and the blade bit into the right side of her face and continue on causing her to cry out and stumble back. She knew he had gotten her eye because she couldn’t see out of her right side anymore, hell she couldn’t even feel it anymore.

The soldier move to stab her but his body jerked several time and he fell.

Twilight looked back and saw the general holding her rifle. “Thank you sir. “She said and cast a quick healing spell to stop bleeding and partly close the wound. Her eye was still fucked but there wasn’t time for a full heal as she could hear more Feds coming their way.

She picked up one of the feds rifles letting the general keep hers and together they ran for the exit.

After gunning doe the squad of Feds guarding the door Twilight sent the said door flying with a magic blast and ran out into the night air looking around with the one eye she did have. Damnit this was annoying having only one eye.

“There!” She yelled pointing at a large trucked pared nearby. The two rebels ran for it and Twilight jumped up and looked through the driver side window using her magi to unlock it. She opened the door. “I’m driving” She said as she climbed in and the General moved to the passenger side that she unlocked before dropping to the floor boards and ripping down the panel

After going over what one of the other rebels had told her, said he had been part of something called a “Chop shop” she got the truck running before sitting in the driver seat.

“Do you even know how to drive?” The general asked.

“I read up on it but you’re in no shape to do it. “Twilight said as she closed her door. She couldn’t reach the peddles with her hooves so she would have to use her magic. After a bit of gear grinding she got the truck rolling and floored.

Feds dove out of their way as she turned for the gate glad for the bullet proof windows as several Feds started to open fire on the truck before being stopped by the fellow soldiers.

“Why aren’t they shooting at us?” The general asked as he looked at the Feds heading for their own Jeeps.

Twilight looked out the back window. “Probably because this truck is loaded with explosives.” She said turning back just in time to crash through the gate.

“What?!” The General said looking at her with concern.

“Relax; I’m sure they won’t explode.” She reassured him as she pulled onto the road, the crates in the back shifting causing the truck to lift onto just the left set of wheels for a moment.

“You sure you can do this?” The general asked bucking his seatbelt.

“Relax I got this.” She said a moment before she side swiped a parked car and corrected the drifting truck and chucking nervously.

It wasn’t long before she saw the red and blue flashing lights of the Feds behind their truck as it sped down the street. “We got company.” She told the general who nodded. “Hold on!” She yelled before cutting the wheel sharply to the right to take a side street, the crates shifted again and threatened to drag the truck onto its side before it slammed back down onto all its wheels.

She saw the Fed jeeps took the corner much better than her truck did much to her annoyance and they were right behind them. “Federal Army, stop the truck and surrender!” She heard one of the feds say of their jeeps loud speakers.

“Fuck you. “ Twilight yelled back even though the Feds couldn’t hear her it felt good to respond. Twilight didn’t let up off the gas as the truck sped through the streets. Whenever she came across a civilian that had been out on a late night drive for whatever reason or other she made sure to hit the truck air horn so they would move, though a few didn’t move fast enough and she ended up plowing through them but she did try to miss. It wasn’t her fault she was being chased by a group of people who either wanted her dead or to put her back into a lab again and there was no way either of those were going to happen.

After taking several more sudden turns that nearly rolled the truck Twilight found them driving onto a bridge over a large river. On the far side she saw two Feds jeeps parked across the road and at least a dozen Feds in front of it, she also noticed that unlike the jeeps chasing the truck, these jeeps had turrets on the top, turrets current aimed at the approaching truck. She saw the Fed in the middle of the group wave his hand forwards and could practically hear the order to open fire.

The front of the truck was hit with a wall of bullets and Twilight desperately looked for a way to escape, the truck would be disabled before she reached the roadblock and stopping was not an option.

Suddenly a smile spread on her face. “Holds on!” She shouted at the general who gripped his door as Twilight jerked the wheel sharply to the right and headed straight for the guard rail. The massive truck rammed the railing at nearly full speed and with the sound of screeching metal tore through it.

Time seemed to slow down inside the cab as truck plummeted towards the river below, the only sound being the laughter coming from the mare behind the wheel with a large smile on her face and then the truck splashed down into the raging river below.

Author's Notes:

Wow this was a long chapter, I had planned to make what was in the base and the rescue mission two different chapters but felt they'd work better as one.

so much happened in this chapter, Twilight lost a close friends that reminded her of one of her friends back in Equestria.

we also leaned why when Pinkie said Party time it caused Twilight to become depressed as well as where she got one of her guns.

What Twilight did to that Merc speaks a lot about who she is becoming.

found the traitor and dealt with him, I wonder how many people suspected him.

and we see how Twi lost her other eye.

even got a little humor mixed into what in my opinion is a rather dark chapter.

think I'm going to do an Interlude after this as this is the end of a major arc in the story so that makes two arcs down and I wonder if anyone can guess what the next story arc will be about?

anyways hope you all enjoy reading this.

Interlude: Parents

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Twilight walked beside her brother and his wife Cadence, she was back on all four hooves as Shinning had requested her do so. Twilight didn’t know why he seemed so uncomfortable but she had complied and switched her cybernetics back to quadruped state.

After the fight she had to deal with a lot of Royal Guards who were angry at her from some reason when she showed them her blades, she didn’t see the issue but they kept going on about how she snuck in assassin weapons into the castle. She had pointed out that they let her keep her rifle , sidearm, and had only confiscated her combat knife and not once did they ask if she had any other weapons. That seemed to annoy them more as a few of them accused her of being a smart ass when she just stated the facts.

She just looked at them flatly till they finally shut up. Once they were dealt with she had suggest to Shinning that they go and get the dinner she had promised they’d get and he had agreed. It was shortly after that he had asked her to stop walking around on two legs. She had also told her friends who had followed them out of the training area that she wanted to be alone with her brother and his wife and they had understood thankfully.

Twilight looked at Shinning and sighed, might as well get it out of the way. “Hey Shinning.” She said and he looked at her as they walked down the halls, Twilight was distinctly ignoring the guards that followed them. “I wanted to apologize to you for how I treated you on our first meeting. It was out of line of me.”

He blinked at her. “Where did this come from, you didn’t seem to care at all early.”

“I was on duty with an order to report to the Princess, but I shouldn't have treated you as I would have a subordinate when you are part of a different military force. So I am sorry.” She said. She didn’t like the taste of admitting she was wrong but she was big enough to admit when she was at fault.

Shinning nodded. “Apology accepted Twilly.” He said with a smile.

Twilight could only sigh at the ridiculous nickname but he had called her it for a long time and she doubted she could get him to stop short of beating it out of him and she wouldn’t do that. They walked on in silence and Twilight notice Cadence staring at her. “Something wrong Cadence?”

Cadence looked at her for a few more moment before speaking. “It’s just what you did to Winter Gale…why did you do that to him? It was a simple dual but you seemed to be inflicting pain just for the sake of inflicting it.”

“Because I was.” She said and noticed both Cadence and Shinning had stopped. She stopped as well and looked back at them. “What?”

“You hurt him just for the sake of hurting him?” Cadence asked looking aghast, even her brother looked taken aback.

“Yes, he needed to be shown his place and that he isn’t anything special, that was the most effective method.” Twilight said and they just stared at her and Twilight turned to completely face them. “He thought challenging me to a dual would teach me a lesson so I taught him a lesson I learned a long time ago.”

“What lesson?” Shinning asked a bit hesitantly.

“The Law of the Field is what I call it.” She said and they stared at her clearly not understanding. “When in the field it’s kill or be killed. No matter how good you think you are, how cocky you are there is one simple fact on the field no soldier can escape.” She said. “If I’m faster than you, if I’m stronger then you, if I’m smarter than you. If I'm luckier then you. Then I can kill you.” She said. And the color drained from their faces, which was impressive for Shinning since his fur was already white.

She tilted her head at their reaction. She hadn’t expected that reaction to her explaining such a simple fact. Even she hadn’t been able to escape the law. She left herself become aware of the slight twinge of pain that is always with her thanks to her cybernetics before she pushed the pain from her mind.

“Anyways Sinning I was wondering….are mom and dad in town?” She asked. That seemed to snap them out of whatever thought they had fallen into.

“Huh? Oh yes they are, they haven’t really left the house since you went missing.” Shinning said.

Twilight nodded, she had figured as much. “Do….do you think we can have dinner with them?” She asked. She hated how she sounded like a filly but the simple fact was she had missed her family a lot and she had already spent time with her friends and the Princesses in a way, granted one was in her head while making it clear not to come back and the other had been giving a report but time was time, you take all you get till you run out.

“Yes, they will love to see you. They have been very depressed since you’ve been gone.” Shinning said smiling a bit at the thought of his parent getting back to their old selves again.

Twilight couldn’t help smiling. “Good, then shall we go?” She said, allowing a small bit of excitement to seep into her voice.

<<<O>>>

Twilight stood outside the door of her parent’s house staring at it. Shinning and Cadence stood behind her; Celestia and Luna were sitting safely away in the pocket dimension where they had been since her debriefing with the Princess.

She had been staring at the door for the last ten minutes. What was wrong with her? She had faced entire Fed Strike Teams supported by Assault Teams as well as tanks, gunships and everything else the Feds could throw at her and she had killed or destroyed it all. So why was she terrified of knocking on this damn door!

She stared at the door for a few more minutes before she slowly reached a hoof up and knocked. “Well guess they aren’t home.” She said as soon as she finished knocking. Before she could turn to leave her augmented hearing caught the sound of movement on the other side of the door and in a few moments the door opened slowly revealing a blue stallion with a dark blue mane.

“Yes, can I help you?” He asked and twilight just stared at him. He clearly had tried to make himself presentable but Twilight could see the slight bags under his eyes, the hair was slightly disheveled and he looked more tired than she had ever seen him. “Miss is something wrong?” Her father asked looking at her a bit concerned.

“No…I’m sorry it’s just…..” Twilight stumbled. She had thought about seeing her parents a lot while away when she was alone but never once had she thought about what she would actually say when she did see them again. Slowly she undid the strap on her helmet and removed it. “Hey…Dad…” She said slowly.

Her father stared at her for a few minutes, blinking several time before he sat and rubbed his eyes. “Twilight? Is…Is that really you?” He asked her, disbelief clear in his voice.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah…I’m home.” She said and tensed for a moment when her father threw his hooves around her, hugging her tightly.

He held her for a long while before he finally let go. “Come in, come in.” He said practically dragging his daughter into the house. “Velvet come here! Twilight is home!” He called as Shinning and Cadence followed them in and closed the door.

Twilight heard hooves galloping for the entry hall and in a moment her mother came around the corner and stopped staring wide eyed. She looked far worse than her father had. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had large bags under eyes from lack of sleeping at all and she hadn’t really tried to do anything with her mane at all. She looked like hell Twilight thought.

He mother practically teleported to Twilight and pulled her into a bone crushing hug, Twilight barely stopped from reflexively deploying her blades.

While the hug was bone crushing Twilight didn’t really have any problems as her armor resisted the hug with ease. She let her helmet fall from her magical grasp as she carefully put her own hooves around her mother as she started to cry. “Please if this is a dream, don’t let me wake up…” Her mother whispered.

“It’s not a dream mom…it’s really me.” Twilight told her softly and felt her father also hug her again. They stayed like that for a very long time; Twilight wasn’t really counting the time for once, just allowing herself to enjoy the moment. She was home, finally after going through hell she was finally home and she would do whatever it takes to keep it safe. Nothing would stand in her way of completing that objective. Nothing

Chapter 13: Regroup and Resupply

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Federal Press
September 6, 2037
DISASTER AT FORT VELTIN
By Mark Erikson
Last night at approximately 2:07 AM a train carrying munitions and other supplies bound for Fort Veltin breaks failed causing the train to jump the tracks upon reaching the end of the line. Unfortunately Federal Army forces on board were killed as were over four dozen Federal Army forces when several of the train cars carrying ammo detonated and caused severe damage to Fort Veltin.
Still no word on what caused the break failure but Federal Army spokesmen have assured this reporter they are doing everything to discover the cause and that the Federal Army sends its condolences to the families of the men who lost their lives in this horrible accident…

<<<O>>>

Twilight gasped for air as her broke the surface of the water, her hooves flailing a bit as she gasped for air. This was the third time she had gotten a chance to get air into her starving lungs. The truck had floated for a few seconds so it had been carried down river before it fully sank but the force of the current was still pushing the truck down river.

Her and the General had waited in the cab till there was just a small picket of air then Twilight had smashed out the weakened windshield and they climbed out. That was when Twilight had learned something she hadn’t expected, her cybernetics made her too heavy to swim. She hadn’t planned for that as she was a good swimmer, or had been back in Equestria.

But she just sank to the bottom of the river and was dragged along it by the river with no idea where she was in relation to anything so she couldn’t teleport. She had had started to panic when she felt an arm wrap around her and start to move her. Shortly after that her head broke the surface for the first time and she had been able to take a single breath.

After that she was able to get another breath and now she was on her third and as she moved her hooves trying to stay above the water she felt them land on the bank of the river. After that she was being pulled onto the shore.

She coughed as she gasped for air, greedily taking in lung full of air and she saw the General doing the same beside. “That was the most hair brained plan I had ever seen.” He said between coughs.

“Well…I didn’t know I couldn’t swim anymore, and it got us away from the Feds in any case.” Twilight said as she slowly got to her hooves. She shook off as much water as she could and helped the General to his feet. “Anyways we need to return to base before things get worse.” The general nodded to her and together they made their way into the woods.

<<<O>>>

Twilight and the General made their way down the tunnels heading for the main room of what used to be the rebel base. She hoped the Rebels hadn’t moved on to where every they had chosen as their new base, if they had then the two Rebels were screwed unless they left a trail which would be unlikely.

As they reached the entrance to the base Twilight was relieved to see that the bodies had been cut down so her fellow soldiers were no longer hung up like trophies one in some game. She also didn’t want the general to see what had happened to his men.

They entered the main room and Twilight saw the room was full of activity as soldier came and went from other parts of the base brining supplies and piling them in the main room. It was a sorry sight as most of their supplies had been stolen by the Mercs.

“Officer on deck!” Twilight heard one of the soldiers yell when he saw the General and all at once everyone in the room snapped into a salute as did Twilight out of reflex.

“At ease.” The general said and moved over and sat on some crates. Twilight moved over and sat down besides the crates.

“You ok sir?” She asked him looking at him with concern as the room’s activity resumed.

“Just…” The general sighed. “We lost a lot of people in just few hours.”

Twilight nodded.” It could have been worse sir.” Twilight told him. “We still have soldiers and some gear. This is just a setback is all. We can recover from this.”

“I don’t know, we’ve lost nearly everything, all our progress, our people our supplies. All because my own second in command was a traitor.” Clancy said and rubbed his eyes. HE looked more tired than Twilight had ever seen him in all the time she had known hm. When she had told him that Major Briggs was the spy the General had taken it rather hard as they had been friends and had started the entire rebellion together.

“I know sir but Major Briggs has been dealt with, we have a few supplies, and once we can regroup with our surviving forces and get set up in a new base we can begin the next step sir.” Twilight told him.

“What next step? It’s going to take us a long time to recover from this and without Liston brining in supplies I doubt we will ever get back to the strength we had. So tell me Sergeant what could our next step be?” Clancy asked looking at her.

“Simple sir, we go to war.” She said and he stared at her. “The Feds think we are broken, they think they will just need to mop us up and be done with it. So I suggest we show them we may be down but we are far from out.”

“And how do you suggest we do that Sergeant?” He asked looking at her.

“Well firs thing is we get some more supplies to replace what we lost, I’m sure that base outside of town has more than enough to get us back up to strength. “She said with a smile.” And there is no way in hell they would expect us to attack one of their bases so soon after losing our own but the way I see it this entire situation as a sign it’s time to take this fight to the next level.”

“So you are suggesting and eye for an eye?” Clancy said and Twilight nodded. Clancy sat back on the crates and rubbed his chin in thought. After a few minutes a smile slowly crossed his lips and new life seemed to be breathed into him. “I think you that idea of yours will work Sergeant. They wouldn’t expect us to attack so soon after losing our base. They’d expect us to retreat and lick our wounds. But I think we will do as you suggest sergeant.” He said and smiled at her, Twilight couldn’t help smiling back at him.

“Well then all we need to do is gather what supplies we do have, choose a new base and send our injured there while we send a few squads to get our supplies the Feds are holding for us.” Twilight said with a smirk.

“And I know at least one squad that is going on that mission.” The General said as he stood up. “I’m going to go see which squads are available; I’m thinking 5 squads should do it though they will have to go in with little Equipment as most will need to be used to set up our new base.”

Twilight nodded. “True but once this mission is a success we will have more supplies then we will ever need.” She said with a wide smile, she had no doubt they would succeed in the raid on the base. The Feds thought they were beaten down, they thought they were on the run, But they were going to learn how dangerous an injured animal could be.

<<<O>>>

Corporal Sam Jenkins slowly bade his way from the barracks of Camp Pentcol, the base he was stationed at. His black and white tactical gear was pristine in case of a surprise inspection from the base commander.

He didn’t think he had to worry about an inspection as from what he heard the Rebels had gotten their asses kicked hard and if any of them were left they were too weak to actually do anything. So he was looking forward to a relaxing time in the guard tower.

It didn’t take him long to reach the guard tower he was assigned to man tonight and he slowly climbed the ladder. “Hey Smith, anything interesting this evening?” He asked the man were sat behind the large .50 cal turret that rested on the open wall of the tower facing outwards from the base.

“Naw was a quiet evening.” Smith said as he stood and stretched. “You have no idea how happy I am to be off duty, I’m starving and staring out at nothing all day isn’t exactly the most entertaining thing on the planet.”

“Ha, I hear that, at least you can see more than a few dozen yards out.” Jenkins said as Smith walked past him and started to head down the ladder.

“Hey still boring. Anyways catch you later man.” Smith said before disappearing down the ladder.

Jenkins took up position behind the turret and checked it over to make sure it was in working order even though he knew it was. It was just something to pass the time rather than just staring out at the darkness.

Sighing he started to let his mind wander. He had some leave coming up and he was looking forward to spending time with his girlfriend, come to think of it was almost their one year anniversary, he should pick something up for her.

His eye caught site of a light in the trees and he swiveled the gun to face it. As he looked he thought he saw a faint purplish light deep in the trees but after a bit it seemed to fade. Shrugging he repositioned the turret back to face out of the base and let his mind wonder again.

He was thinking what he should get his girlfriend when the purple light returned. He looked out at it. It wasn’t a flashlight or anything, it was just a faint purple go and as he looked he saw close to the first one there was a much smaller one, almost a dot compared to the other glow.

His girlfriend’s favorite color was purple, maybe he could get her a—

<<<O>>>

Twilight watched the Fed who had been manning the turret drop to the floor of the tower. She had to release her grip on the sniper rifle when the Fed had swiveled the turret to face her position. But he had soon returned it back to facing straight out so she could line up her shot again.

She had been concerned when the Fed looked right at her but he made no move to either take aim with the turret or use his radio and just stared at her possession. He most likely saw the glow of her horn and the aura around the sniper as she lined up the shot. She’d needed to be careful using her magic on stealth missions or at least the parts of the mission that required stealth.

“Ok towers are down, Hell Raisers how are we looking on patrols?” Twilight asked over the radio.

After a few moments the voice of Sergeant Freeman came over the radio. “Patrols have been dealt with ready to proceed with next phase.”

“Confirmed, moving to next phase.” Twilight said over the radio to all squads. Besides Nightmare there was Hell Raisers, Chargers, Deadmen and Silence. They had all been squads that had either been out of the base during the attack or had been able to avoid losing any of their people.

“Silence in positions to provide Overwatch.” Came the voice of Sergeant Berm. Silence was one of the few squads that worked almost exclusively as snipers so they were spread out to provide cover to the squads that were going into the base. The only reason Twilight was the one to take out the guard towers was so Silence could get into position and conserve what little ammo they have.

This mission was going to be very risky as all five squads had very limited ammo so they’d all have to make sure their shots counted. Twilight slowly pushed herself away from the edge of the forest and made her way back to where Nightmare, Charger and Deadmen were waiting. After a few moments Hell Raisers joined them. “Ok weapons check.” Twilight said as she unslung her rifle and checked the mag as did everyone else. “Hell Raisers how are our explosives?” She asked looking at them.

Sergeant Freemen smiled and all of Hell Raiser shifted the packs on their backs. “Ready to go the moment we need them.” Hell Raiser was made up of former demolition workers who all had experience with explosives so were mainly used when the Rebels needed a hole somewhere, which would defiantly be needed on this mission.

A sound of drew Twilight’s attention to Charger under the commander of Sergeant Holmen and she saw they had just finished checking the three shotgun and two SMGs the squad used. They always preferred fighting up close and personal on mission and when inside of buildings would be useful.

That left Deadman, under commander of Sergeant Zander as support as they were using mostly LMGs so they could cover other squads as they worked. Twilight looked at her own squad; they all carried their own weapons and looked ready. Nightmare had been put in charge of this entire mission for some reason. “Ok, everyone ready for teleport?” She asked as she slung her rifle. She either got a nod or a thumbs up from the other squads. “Alright everyone get as close as you can, I’ve never teleported this many people before.” She said and the squads squeezed together as tightly as they could around Twilight and she lite her horn as she went through the spell.

She executed the spell and in a flash of light they went from the small clearing to just inside of the fence of the Fed Base. Twilight swayed a bit on her hooves as the world spun while the Squads moved to cover their surroundings in case a Fed were to walk by at the wrong time. Twilight shook her head to get the world to stop moving and took a deep breath. “Ok, let’s get moving.” She said and the Rebels started to move for their first destination, the Ammo Dump. They didn’t have long before someone noticed the patrols failure to report in and with luck it won’t matter by then.

They had a good idea where they were going but without a map they were guessing for the most part. It was slow going as they were trying to avoid detection for as long as possible and with so many people trying to move it defiantly was a minor miracle they hadn’t been spotted yet.

And Twilight really needed to stop thinking that and really focus on finding Murphy because in the moment as she neared the corner of a building a Fed walked around it. Twilight skidded to a halt and the Fed stopped mid-step for a second before he went for he tried to raise his rile, only to be sent flying back and Twilight’s augmented earing to dampen the boom that happened just above her head. Looking up she saw one of the Charger pump his shotgun. “Thanks.”

“Welcome ma’am, now I think it’s time to run.” The man said and Twilight had to agree as she heard shouts coming from around the base followed by an alarm starting to blare, stealth time over.

“Moving firefight!” She order and the rebel started to sprint for the ammo dump. It didn’t take long for the Feds to notice the group of dark green wearing soldier running through their base shooting anyone they came across like a bunch of lunatics and soon the raiding party was under fire but they didn’t stop moving, only pausing to let Twilight heal one of them when they didn’t take out a Fed in time.

Even despite Twilights best efforts, they were facing an entire base of Feds and before they reached the ammo dump one of the Chargers took a round to the head and was dead before he hit the ground. When they were almost to the ammo dump one of the turret mounted jeeps came skidding around a building and stopped in their bath as the soldier on the turret swung the gun in their direction. Twilight was sure they were all dead when she heard a high pitched whine and the Fed on the direct head snapped back and he collapsed as one of Silence took out the gunner.

The Fed behind the wheel pushed the door open and started to climb out with his rifle when the member of Charger beside Twilight sprinted for and kicked the door shut hard. The soldier was mostly out except for his right arm which was slammed in the door causing the soldier scream in pain as he fell to the ground. A shotgun blast ended the man’s screaming.

After that the rebels reached the ammo dump and while Deadmen covered them Twilight used her magic to tear the door off the first bunker. That had been harder then she thought it would be and it left her with a small head ache afterwards but it was the fasted way they had of getting in.

IT didn’t help it made where her right eye used to be throb. She couldn’t wait till they found Dr. Anderson so she could get it replaced as at this point there was no saving it as she had gone to long without it being dealt with and the river water, being in a sewer and the strain of her magic was doing who know what to what had been left of the eye. Best to just replace it like the other one thought Dr. Anderson had mentioned to her it would require more implants in her brain if she was to end up needing more cybernetics as she only had some basic ones meant to just run her one eye and the one leg. He had managed to jerry rig it to work the second leg as well but no way would it be able to run two eyes and two legs.

As the raiding party moved into ammo dump Charger took down the few Feds inside of it and from there Twilight ripped the steel doors off their hinges of the room and walked into the small rooms filled with ammo. A minute later she walked out of the completely empty room. Word had gotten around the base about her ‘infinite storage locker’ and it was why Nightmare was sent on this mission.

After emptying the rest of other nine rooms the raiding party walked out of the bunker and into a fire fight between Deadman and a large group of Feds. “Can you hold them for a few more minutes?” Twilight asked sergeant Zander.

“We got the ammo and I guarantee none of them will get past us as long as we still draw breath.” Zander replied and Twilight nodded. She had noticed Zander had a very odd way of speaking that she had never really encountered before. He sounded almost like a noblemen in voice but his choice of phasing was odd.

“Ok good, we will empty another two bunker then head for the mess hall.’ She told the Deadman leader who nodded.

Hell Raisers elected to stay with Deadman and provide support to their efforts to hold back the Feds while Charger and Nightmare went to the next bunker and Twilight torn the door off again, causing her head ache to grow worse. There was no time to stop though as they were on a tight schedule in that it was only a matter of time before they were overrun.

Clearing the bunker Twilight did the same thing she had done to the first and moved all the ammo into her storage locker before doing the same to the third. The fourth bunker they gained entry to Twilight had come up with a special idea for and it was when she called Hell Raiser in. After a short time Hell Raisers packs were half filled now as they had set charges throughout the ammo dump set to a remote detonator.

“Ok onto the mess all.” She said over the radio and it was another running fire fight to the large square building near the barracks. Thankfully the building was empty when they arrived so it was easy to put every scrap of food into her storage locker.

After that it was onto the base’s infirmary. That was being defended by a few guards and medics. And with more and more of the base coming down on them they lost two members of Deadmen and Sergeant Freeman in the process of clearing the infirmary but Twilight was able to empty it of all of the medical supplies and had the Hell Raiser plant some more charges in the building.

After that it was the final objective, the bases Armory. Which if it was anything like the Rebel’s armory would be defended and have other security measures in place. A mad dash to the armory confirmed twilight’s theory as it was a fire fight just getting through the building that cost them two more Chargers but after tearing the doors off of the weapons cage twilight moved every sing thing she found into her storage locker.

“Ok we are clear, let’s get the hell out of here!” Twilight yelled feeling woozy.

The raiding party ran outside to find Sergeant Zander the only Deadmen still standing as he held off the Feds. “Zander we are leaving come on.” She said as the rest of the raiding party headed for the fence.

“I do not think I can join you little creature.” Zander said as he fired his LMG at the advancing Feds.

“What?” Twilight said. “I am ordering you to retreat.” She said with some anger.

“I am afraid that is an order I cannot follow small one for if I leave this spot then we shall all perish. I shall remain here and hold back our enemy till I draw my last breath.” Zander said and smiled at her. Twilight couldn’t help blinking. The man just volunteered for a suicide mission with no chance of surviving and he was smiling and actually looked happy.

“What the fuck are you smiling about?”” Twilight asked.

The man just laughed as he continued to fire his gun. “Because small one it is my time and I know I have lived a good life with no regrets so why should I not smile at the end when I know my life is being exchanged so that others may live?” He asked. He looked at her with an amused smile on his face. “We are all dead men walking small one and it is a great honor to give one’s life so that others may live.” He said and ducked as a bullet shot past his head and he returned fire. “You should go now small one, I feel there are great things planned for you in the future and if you were to fall here then you shall not accomplish them.”

Twilight stared at the strange human before she turned and galloped away from the battle. She was going to recommend the sergeant for a commendation because any man who could face down an army so calmly knowing how it would end was some she would make sure would not be forgotten.

As Twilight galloped after the raiding party she heard a very loud rumbling noise and noticed the ground was shaking slightly as she ran. As she ran between two buildings she heard a loud boom and reflexively put her shield up a moment before something exploded against it shattering it and sending her tumbling across the ground.

She slowly got to her hooved and looked back between the buildings to see a massive vehicle rolling between them. The vehicle reminded her of the truck she and the general had used to escape the Fed Compound hours ago only instead of wheels this one had treads. There were no windows anywhere only massive turret sitting onto of the base and on top of the large turret was the same type of turret that was in the base’s guard towers. Though she had never seen one of these massive vehicles of destruction first hand she knew what it was.

“TANK!” She yelled over her radio as she turned and galloped from the armored death machine. None of the raiding party had anything anti-armor and the tank would wipe them out with easy. There was only one course of action, run. As she ran she heard the loud boom again and put her shield up just in time to stop the shell from hitting her. It still shattered her shield and sent her stumbling but she kept on her hooves, adrenalin fueling her mad dash for the rest of the raiding party as the tank followed her.

As she neared the raiding party she saw them start to fire on the tank and could hear the round bouncing harmlessly off the tanks thick armor. “Get together!” She yelled and the rebels grouped together as Twilight dove into the group her horn. She was having trouble getting the spell to work do to a massive headache that was making it hard to focus but she forced the spell to execute. The last thing she saw before the flash was the tank aiming straight at them and fire.

The rebels reappeared back in the small clearing and Twilight doubled over and vomited up what remained of her last meal which wasn’t much. A moment later she fell over and darkness claimed her.

Chapter 14: A New Mare

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Intercepted Radio Transmission from Camp Pentocl
“Yes that’s right, the Rebels attacked us and somehow stole all our medical supplies, our food, weapons and emptied three bunkers in the Ammo Dump. I have sent some personal to check the fourth bunker they entered but so far they have not reported…”
An explosion is heard clearly over the radio
“What the hell. Command the ammo dump has just exploded, I repeat the ammo dump had just exploded. “
More explosions are heard over the radio.
“Jesus, Command, the mess hall, Infirmary and Armory has just exploded; the Rebels must have planted bombs before leaving. Requesting additional forces and emergency medical supplies, we have multiple casualties and injured, I say again we need additional forces and emergency supplies…”

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly started to return to the land of the living. With a groan she opened her eye; the right eye was still wrapped in bandages. She was staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. She gripped the sides of her head with her hooves and groaned at the familiar headache of magical burn out.

“Well I see you have finally woke up Twilight. “Came the voice of Dr. Grey and Twilight looked over to see her standing beside her cot.

“What happened with the mission?” Twilight asked trying to ignore her head ache.

“Well from what I’ve been told it was a success overall though judging by the scorching on your horn we won’t be able to get it till you recover but that’s a minor detail.” Dr. Gray said with a smile.

“How is that just a minor detail if we can’t get the supplies?” Twilight asked.

“Because even if we can’t access for the moment the fact is we still have it and we got it by attacking the Fed base and actually returning.” Dr. Grey said.

“Not all of us.” Twilight said thinking of the fact over half of the soldier sent on the mission didn’t make it.

“Yes but considering the odds were stacked against us and it was basically suicide to attack the base so the fact any of you came back is a minor miracle, and the fact you actually succeeded had actually given everyone some hope that we can do this.” Dr. Grey said with a smile. “And it’s all thanks to you Twilight.”

Twilight just sighed as she thought about how many soldier died in the raid on the base. Most of Charger was dead two members of Hell Raisers and all of Deadmen were gone. As she thought of Deadmen she remembered what Sergeant Zander had told her before she left him to hold back an army of Feds. " We are all dead men walking. " She whispered and for some reason thinking what the strange Sergeant said and how calm he spoke of his own death comforted her.

Sighing again Twilight closed her eyes and laid back down. “I’m going to rest a bit before I go check on the other teams.” She told Dr. Grey before taking a few deep breaths and letting sleep take her.

<<<O>>>

Twilight made her way down the tunnels of the new base, it was mostly a series of tunnels, room and catwalks but it was in an older part of the sewers. One of the young recruits came up with it mentioning him and his “crew” used to come down here all the time. She wasn’t sure what he meant by a crew but judging by the tattoos the young man was covered with she figured they weren’t a friendly group. But either way the Kid’s suggested was an excellent place for a new base as he said no one had ever come down there before.

The new base was much more cramped then the old with the tunnels being much more narrow but Twilight thought that was a good thing, a single squad could hold back an army in tunnels like these and as she walked she had already found places that would make excellent defensive positions in the event the base was attacked again.

Twilight had given her report to the General about the base and he suggested she rest up as her magic was burned out again. Twilight had taken his advance but had soon grown board sitting in the infirmary as she couldn’t read any of the books she had. A lot of squads who went topside to spend Credits they had would pick her up a book or a magazine since she couldn’t go into town for obvious reasons. She always made sure to pay them back with the Credits she won while playing Blackjack. She had acquired a nice collection of reading material from fictional stories to technical manuals on various topics to fashion magazines.

Twilight wondered how the soldiers had Credits to spend in the first place; she would need to find that out at some point. But that would need to wait; right now she needed to get her mind off her headache and her boredom.

As she wondered she eventually found someone she had been looking for. She knocked on the door frame before walking in and the older human stood up from where he had been painting lines on the floor much like when she had first met him. “Hello Kid, come to help an old men out?” Dupo asked looking at her.

Twilight couldn’t help laughing. “Sorry, not falling for that again. Besides as much as fun as it was doing your job I can’t do anything without my magic.” She said with a wry smile.” So I guess you are stuck doing it all yourself Old Man.”

“Doubt it, you are resourceful kid, I’m sure if you put your mind to it you’d figure out a way to do it but frankly I don’t have time to wait so I’ll just get the recruits to do it.” Dupo said taking out a cigarette and placing it between his lips. “So what has caused you to grace my humble armory with your percent’s Kid?”

Twilight shrugged as Dupo lite his cigarette. “Just getting familiar with the new base and checking on the men. We suffered a huge blow and I wanted to make sure moral wasn’t too low.” She said. “And wanted to see who has been recovered so far.”

Dupo nodded and made his way over to the wall and leaned back against it as he smoked. “Yeah, getting more people in every hour once word got out about the raid on the Feds, told our boys that we weren’t dead and were still in the fight. Thought it’s hard to find everyone as we all scattered to the wind but we won’t stop looking.”

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, we didn’t lose as many as I thought we had.” She said, it was true, only half their forces were lost but with the numbers still coming in things weren’t as bad as she had thought when moving through the old base. “Also just letting you know when I get my magic back you are going to need a much bigger cage then your last one as the Feds had a lot of hardware they were generous enough to let us have.” She smirked. The only thing they didn’t really have was Armor but that wouldn’t be nearly as hard to get their hands on as what they got from the base.

Dupo nodded. “Already got it planned Kid, no way you were coming back without weapons. Just need to actually give them to me so I can get them organized.” He said and blew smoke at her.

Twilight looked at him. “When I get my magic back you will get your guns Old Man.”

“Yeah, yeah, till them would you kindly—“

“Get the hell out of your Armory.” She said with an exaggeration sigh. “Fine I’m going I’m going. Good luck tricking a recruit into doing your work for you. “She said as she turned to leave.

“Don’t need luck, just skill.” Dupo said as she left the room.

<<<O>>>

Twilight wandered down the tunnels with no real destination in mind still. As she wandered her mind slowly wandered back over the past few months she has been away from home. She hadn’t really thought about it but a lot had happened since her experiment caused her to end up here on this world caught up in a war that was not her own at the time but had become hers.

Back in Equestria if someone had asked if she would ever kill anything she’d have quickly answered no as that wasn’t how she had been raised. Far from it, she had been brought up with the ideals of love and tolerance and that it was better to talk things out and reason with others. How naïve she had been.

One thing being here had taught her was that sometime violence is the best solution, that some being had forfeit their right to live, Dr. Frisk was an excellent example of such a person. IF she was still the mare she had been back before this entire mess started she’d have either witness him be sent to Tartarus or turned to stone, possibly banished. Hell she might have even tried the Elements of Harmony to purify him. But no, she knew the truth now, some beings could not be reasoned with, some being could not be purified and brought back into harmony. Some beings just needed to be removed from existences all together.

Thinking about this Twilight came to a sudden realization, there mare she used to be was long since dead, and she died in the labs and in the field. In her place was Twilight Sparkle the Soldier. The mare who though held the ideals of Equestria and the Princesses in high regard knew she did not believe in them anymore, far from it in fact. She knew she would do whatever it took to protect those ideals from anyone and everyone who would dare threaten her home by any means necessary.

She looked down at her steel hooves, how many had she killed? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? She had stopped counting after Wilkerson and Rook 1 had been killed as she had been focused more are making the Feds pay. And how many wore would she kill before she returned home? How many enemies would she crush beneath her hooves before she completed her objective?

Her mind wandered to the Fed patrols she had ambushed, both as a mission and to relieve her anger. She knew what if there was anything left of her old self then it should bother her what she had done but the fact they were her enemy made her feel nothing for her actions. And what of the Merc she had tortured with both her blade and magic? Sometime ripping the information she sought straight from his mind with her own magic when he couldn’t tell her fast enough. Only being careful enough so as not to damage the information she sought till she left his mind shattered with no hope of recovery.

She stopped walking and blinked as another thought hit her. What would her friends thing? Her family? The princesses if they ever learned what she had done? They would see her as a monster. A thing that either needed to be thrown into Tartarus or banished to the moon or some other place where she wouldn’t be around anyone ever again. She sat on her haunches as another thought hit her of what would happen if they tried, she would defend herself without hesitation. She would bring everything she knew about fighting, every weapon she had against anyone who attacked her as they would be the enemy. And the thought of killing her friends or the Princesses didn’t bother her in the slightest.

“What the hell am I?” She asked the empty tunnel. She latterly just thought about possibly needing to kill her friends and the fucking Princesses themselves and it didn’t bother her at all because attacking her made them the enemy and she had no issues killing her enemies.

“Maybe them thinking I am a monster wouldn’t be so far off.” She mused out loud. There was only one way to ensure she wouldn’t harm her friends or the Princesses. IT was so simple really and such an easy thing to do that she smiled at the thought. “They just can’t learn the truth.” She said before she got back to her hooves and continued on her way, the smile at the plan she had still on her face. She will need to go over what story she would tell them all when she returned, make sure she didn’t let something slip that could lead them to the truth.

She sighed with relief as she had a plan of action for her return home to ensure safety of everyone involved because she now knew what she was and what they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them.

<<<O>>>

Twilight stepped into General Clancy’s officer and saluted. “Sergeant Twilight Sparkle reporting as requested sir.” She said crisply. She had been in the middle of talking to Dr. Anderson about getting her eye replaced as he had been recovered along with a couple of soldier who had been hold up with him in a warehouse in the eastern part of the city , when a private had told her Clancy wanted to see her.

“At ease Sergeant.” Clancy said and Twilight went into rest. Clancy looked her over from behind his desk; it wasn’t the one from his old officer as the Mercs had used that one for target practice so this one was one that had been found already in this room. “How have you been Twilight?”

“I’ve been alright sir, magic is still burned out but the headache is mostly gone.” She said relaxing a bit more as this clearly wasn’t a formal call since he used her name.

Clancy nodded. “That’s good. I was pleased to hear the attack on Camp Pentcol went so well.” HE said and twilight opened her mouth to speak but Clancy held up a hand to silence her. “I know there were casualties but that was to be expected when attacking an entire base. Frankly I wasn’t sure any of you would make it back much less be able to hit all four objectives.” He said and smiled. “And that little extra flare you added with Hell Raisers was a nice touch I must say Twilight.”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile at that. “Thank you sir.” She had heard that after she passed out the raiding party had retreated. After they got a way away the Hell Raisers had triggered the explosives in the ammo dump, then waited a few seconds and triggered the rest of the explosives to cause more damage and confusion to both hurt the feds and make sure they weren’t perused. It had worked perfectly.

Clancy nodded. “You are probably wondering why I asked you here.”

“To toast a successful mission and acquiring a new base?” Twilight said.

Clancy smiled. “There is that but no it is something far more important I wanted to talk to you about.” Clancy said and his face became very serious. “Major Briggs’ betrayal has dealt a severe blow to our moral and damaged the trust a lot of our people have for the officers. If Major Briggs, my most trusted man, could be a traitor then who’s to say that the Lieutenant giving them Intel isn’t, or the Captain issuing duty rosters? Who’s to say the entire command structure isn’t traitors that will throw them to the wolves?”

Twilight nodded, she had been hearing whispers of such and done her best to alleviate her soldiers’ fears but Major Briggs had been a huge blow to trust for everyone. “What is needed is someone that everyone knows would never work with the Feds because it would be a physical impossibility.” Clancy said as he sat back in his chair. “Someone the men know cares whether they live or die and knows how to lead.”

Twilight nodded again. “And you want me to find someone like that sir?” She asked as it was the only reason she could think of her actually being there.

Clancy shook his head and reached into his desk. “No Twilight, I want you to be that someone.” He said and pushed over two small pins towards her. “I am promoting you to Commander Twilight Sparkle and giving you the position as my second in command.” Clancy said and Twilight just stared at him wide eyed.

“Ah…but….I’m not qualified.” She said.

“Commander you may have only been on a few missions but each of those missions have been complete successes and usually went better than expected. The men trust you Twilight and you actually care what happens to them and do to you history with the Feds I and the rest of the troops know you would rather die than work with them.” Clancy said smiling at her. “You are a superb soldier Twilight, you have surpassed every record in training there is, and you are a quick study and absorb knowledge like a sponge. In just the few weeks you were in training you learned everything Mendez taught you with remarkable speed and easy. I know you can fill this role Twilight or else I wouldn’t have chosen you as my second.”

Twilight stared at him then the commander insignia then back at him. She reached for her magic and pushed through the pain till her horn lit. She removed the sergeant chevrons from her collar and picked up the Commander insignia. Carefully she applied them to her collar right where the chevrons had been.

Clancy smiled at her and reached into his desk and pulled out a bottle of whisky. “Now then we are going to celebrate a successful, our new base, and most importantly of all your promotion Commander Sparkle.”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile and nod. She felt the weight of responsibility settler around her shoulders but she was a soldier and a soldier adapts to a changing field. She would learn her new position and would do everything in her power to lead her men to victory, for they were no longer just her fellow soldiers, now they were all her subordinates and their lives were in her hooves. She would lead them to the best of her abilities and ensure the Feds never claimed a victory like they did when the Rebel’s base fell to the Mercs. She silently swore this to herself as Clancy poured them both a drink.

“To the future commander.” Clancy said raising his glass.

“To the Future.” Twilight said as their glasses clinked together in a small toast. Yes, the future was going to be far more interesting for The Commander.

Author's Notes:

Wow, this chapter was a pain to write, not because of writers block but for some reason I just couldn't get it going, I'd sit down to write it and would take 10 minutes to get a single sentace down. No clue what was up but after putting on a bit of music today and listing while staring at the screen for a while the damn broke and I was able to write once more.

And boy did it produce an interesting chapter. Twilight set up to get a new eye, we learned how the new base is set up to an extend, Twilight had realized what she is and she has embraced it.

and she is now Commander Twilight Sparkle of the PFDR, Student to Celestia and the Element of Magic.

the only major question remaining, how long till she is The Commander that is currently sitting in Canterlot? Only time will tell.

Interlude: Family Dinner and Council Meetings

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Twilight and her parent held each other for a while before they finally let go. Twilight could tell the exact moment they actually noticed her face. It after her mother wiped the tears from her eyes and then they widened in shock as did her fathers. “wh-what happened to you Twilight?” Her mother asked in disbelief.

Twilight sighed at how many times she as having to explain this. At least Shinning hadn’t asked. She pointed to her right eye. “Knife fight.” She then pointed at the mass of scars on her left side. “30mm grenade.” She could tell none of her family knew what 30mm grenade was but that was to be expected in a world where they still used swords and spears.

She watched her parents eyes go down to her legs and saw even Shining and Cadence perk up like as they looked at well. Before any of them could ask she sighed and lifted her left front hoof. “Same as my left eye lost them bot at the same time.” She lifted her right. “Landmine.” Then shifted her back legs. “Building fell on me.”

She watched as all of them winced with each explanation and look at her with sympathy. “I’ve gotten over it and adjusted to my steel hooves.” She said and they looked at her in confusion. “It’s what I call them as they are made out of high grade steel. Makes them very heavy but also makes them nearly indestructible. So it was a good trade off in my opinion.”

He parents; Shinning and Cadence just stared at her. “What?”

<<<O>>>

Twilight sat at her parent dining room table, her helmet sat on the table beside where her plate would go. After a bit of explaining on how she had gained her cybernetics and Twilight going on record that it was a bitch trying to explain what a landmine and 30mm grenade was to people who have no concept of what modern weapons are, she had suggest they have some dinner. Her mother had been more than happy to agree and went to make food. That left Twilight her brother and his wife and her Father sitting at the table.

“So….” Twilight said not really sure what to talk about. She was used to talking to either her squad or other soldiers so wasn’t really sure what to say to civilians anymore.

“How have you been Twilight?” Her father asked.

“I’ve been good all things considered.” She said.

“That’s good. Did you make a lot of friends wherever you were?” her father asked, probably do to the fact he knew friendship meant so much to her.

“Yeah, I made a lot of friends though I mostly spent time with Nightmare.” She said smiling. For some reason this made everyone else’s eyes widen. “What?” She asked tilting her head in confusion.

“Nightmare? You mean like Nightmare moon Nightmare?”” Shinning asked with some concern.

Ah that was it. “No not like that. “She couldn’t help chuckling. “Nightmare was the name of my Squad. Wilkerson came up with it after we raided a Fed Armory by using the Cloud walking spell to drift in over their defenses. Then I teleported them down while I remained on the cloud and provided covering fire. The Fed fucks were in such chaos that when the other two squads attacked they weren’t able to put up a fight at all.” Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at the fond memory.

Unfortunately thinking about that memory brought up what happened after that raid and her smile slipped away into an angry scowl. Her father was quick to notice this and while he had be disturbed by the fact his daughter swore and seemed to remember attacking other as a happy memory she was still his daughter and something was clearly wrong. “Are you ok Twilight?” He asked her.

“Yes…just…shortly after that while we were returning to base we were ambushed and Wilkerson was killed…I was able to recover his Dog tags but had to leave his body behind as we were getting surrounded.” She said and couldn’t stop herself from slamming her hooves on the table and grinding get teeth. While she had made the Feds pay for Wilkerson and Rook 1 it still made her blood boil getting them killed. She noticed the look of concern on her family’s face, even her mother had poked her head in due to the sound of hear hooves hitting the table.

Twilight closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to get herself under control. “Sorry, just…Wilkerson was a good friend and my first command got him killed.” She opened her eyes once her anger was under control once more.

Her father still looked at her with concern, he could tell his daughter was bothered by what had happened but he also knew there wasn’t much he could do to help her besides just be there for her. “So…what about the outfit you are wearing?” He asked changing the subject away from her unpleasant memories.

“Oh, this is standard issue armor for the PFDR, it’s basically recolored Federal Army armor but it’s very effective.” She said. “Another Friend made it for me by modifying a set of armor and helmet.” She said smiling a bit sadly.

“Well he must be a skilled blacksmith if he could modify armor. “Shinning said.

“Yeah….he was really skilled. And he had been our Supply Clerk, not a black smith. He had been in charge of getting us everything we needed and kept track of everything that wasn’t a fire arm.” Twilight said remembering how the Pinkie like human seemed to be able to get anything and everything you could want within a couple of days.

Shinning raised an eyebrow and Cadence moved to stop him but was too late. “Was?” He asked.

“He was killed when our base was attacked by Mercs that a Traitor let it.” She said and sighed looking down. “The crazy son of a bitch took out the three Mercs that stormed SHOP but he was out numbered and though PARTY TIME is a very powerful gun, it is slow.” She sighed. “Even still he helped me after death by leaving me his notebook that had all the information he had gotten about how I had gotten there and how I could get back.”

She chuckled mirthlessly still looking down at the table. “Even while bleeding to death he managed to write me a message on the cover of the notebook so I would take it.” She said and closed her eyes. Taking a few deep breaths she wiped her eyes. Even after all this time his death still hurt.

She looked back up to see the other looking at her sadly. “I’m fine, really, it happened a long time ago.” She smiled at them. “But can we change the subject to something less depressing? I’ll be happy to tell you all later but right now I just want to enjoy being home.”

The others nodded. “Yes of course.” Her father said and shortly after that her mother came in with a serving bowl of vegetable soup. Twilight couldn’t help smiling as the smell hit her and she scooped up a large serving of it, though she did with it had some beef in it but she wasn’t going to impose with that little fact as she hadn’t told anyone but spike about her new eating habits.

Even without the addition of meat the soup was some of the best she had ever eaten. Cook would be jealous of my mother’s cooking. Twilight mused as she ate happily.

<<<O>>>

The next morning Twilight had woken well before dawn as was her habit, she had slept at her parents as her and Shinning had stayed late talking about what all had happened while she was missing and Twilight had told them a little about what she had been up to. Her Parents had been both Prod and horrified by her accomplishments, becoming second in commander of an army in just a few weeks was a big thing. Though they were horrified as she described some of the battle she had been in and she had touched a little on what had happened to her in the Labs.

As they had talked her mother had asked why she was wearing her armor when she was home and Twilight had explained she was more comfortable wearing it. After talking about the fact she was home safe in Equestria Twilight had relented that she would look into getting a uniform to wear rather than her combat armor.

After Twilight had competed her morning run, this one being between the castle gate and the Canterlot train station for a few laps, the Gate Guards gave her odd looks the third time she showed up and turn around but they said nothing as they silently watched her.

After that it had been morning exercise and then she made herself a simple breakfast. She chose to read while alone and waiting for everyone else to wake up.

It was well past dawn when the rest of the house hold finally joined her and she had a small breakfast with them, having to explain why she was already awake. Even Shinning had looked surprised when she told them she usually averaged about four to five hours of sleep a night.

It was late morning when a Royal guard had knocked on the door and told Twilight she was requested in the council chambers. Twilight had retrieved her helmet and bid her parents farewell before heading for the castle.

<<<O>>>

Twilight stood in the center of the council chapters saluting the two Princesses who sat at the center of the held circle raised platform that dominated the Council Chambers. She had ignored the sic other nobles that sat in the room as they were not her superiors; they weren’t really anything to her.

The Council Chamber was a circular white marble room with a raised dais on one side for the Council to sit at, behind them were dark red curtains that hid the far wall. Behind Twilight was a set of duel dark wood doors used for speakers to enter to room and the wall to Twilight’s right was dominated bare large windows to let the daylight filter in. Running along the wall were also ornate candle holders and above her was a large chandler. In short the room was designed to look nice and not for defense Twilight noted.

“You may relax Twilight.” Celestia said and Twilight dropped into rest. “Thank you for coming.” Celestia said giving her a small smile. “I wanted you to explain the threat Equestria is facing as you have experience with this Federal Army.”

Twilight nodded. “The Federal Army or Feds as we of the People’s Free Democratic Republic call them are a well-trained and well-armed military force that acts as both Law Enforcement and regular military force. They are very efficient and depending on which units you are dealing with extremely ruthless.” She told them. “They are not just an infantry based army though that is the bulk of their forces but they also use armored jeeps, APCs, Tanks, and Gunships as well as long rang Artillery when needed.”

“That’s all well and good.” One of the councilponies said looking at Twilight clearly with displeasure at having to be here. “But surely the Royal guard would be more than a match for this so called “Federal Army” just with magic alone.”

“I can assure sir, they aren’t far from it.” Twilight said calmly.

“Bah, of course a single unicorn would have trouble facing an army.” The councilpony said.

“Sir, I was working with an army of people who had been fighting with them for year, I can assure you they are in fact not to be taken lightly.” Twilight said.

“Perhaps we should take her word for it as she has actually dealt with them before. “Another councilpony said this one a mare.

“Just because she had dealt with them does not mean she can properly gauge how much of a threat they are to Equestria.” The first councilpony said.

“I must agree, she is young, she could not have accurately be able to asses this army.” Said a third councilpony.

“She is the Element of Magic, surly she can judge whether something is a threat to Equestria.” The second councilpony said and a fourth agreed with her.

Before the argument could go any further the council room echoed with 6 loud bangs which caused the guards outside the door to run in just in time to see Twilight step to the side as the chandelier crashed to the floor scattering broke crystals everywhere.

Twilight calmly reloaded her sidearm and looked at the stunned faced of the council and the Princesses. “Forgive me but I felt a demonstration was in order.” She held up her side arm. “This is a Grop 45; it is a standard issue sidearm for the Federal Army. A sidearm is your backup weapon, which means it is used when your primary weapon is out of ammo or you don’t have time to reload.” She said. “Currently I have this loaded with standard ammo meaning there is nothing special about it.”

She holstered her sidearm and unslung her rifle, no one had figured out that these were weapons yet. She turned and looked at the Royal guard that had entered the room after her demonstration. “I’m borrowing this.” She said and levitated the helmet from one and moved it against the wall opposite the windows then lifted her rifle.

“This is an MX3B assault rifle, also standard issue to the Federal Army and currently loaded with armor piecing ammo.” She said and before anyone could move to stop her she took and pulled the trigger three times. With a loud ping each round ripped through the Royal Guard helmet. Twilight then clicked the rifle to full auto and pulled the trigger. The resulting stream of AP rounds shredded the guard’s helmet and impacted the wall behind it within seconds.

Twilight gave the guard his destroyed helmet and reloaded her rifle before looking back at the Council who stared wide eyed. “These are just some of the more common weapons the Feds use; they have many different types of these weapons will be in the hands of their soldiers if they invade.” She said staring at them.

“And all the magic won’t help the Royal Guard against a sniper team that can easily kill from half a mile away. Our forces would be dead before they ever heard the shot. And tanks are armored killing machines that used explosive shells to destroy their targets. And Gunships are flying units armed with 30mm cannons that will tear infantry apart and usually come with Anti-tank missiles that are very effective against groups of infantry.”

“As for those of you thinking of the Pegasi the Feds have Anti-Air weapons that will lock on and tack a target in the air if they don’t just shoot them with their guns.” She said as she slung her rifle. “The Royal Guard are not capable of stopping a Fed Strike Team much less if an entire army were to come.”

The council was quiet for a long time just staring at her as if she had grown a second head. It was Celestia that broke the silence. “Would you be willing to train the Royal Guard so that they would be able to face this threat?” She asked calmly.

Twilight immediately shook her head. “No that won’t work, the Royal guard have already been trained so no matter what I tried there would be a chance they would fall back into old habits that could get many ponies killed.” She said simply.

“Then what are you suggesting we do Twilight?” Celestia asked.

“Simple Princess.” Twilight said. “We create a new branch of the Royal Guard, one that will be trained as an actual military force and equipped with weapons based of the ones I brought with me to actually be able to face the Feds with the same force they will bring.”

“You are suggesting replacing the Royal Guard?!” The first councilpony asked angrily.

“Not at all, The Royal Guard will continue to operate as they always have; I have no intention of them being replaces as most things they can handle. What I am suggesting is a branch that will handle situations that the normal Guards are unable to do so.” Twilight explained.

“And you would train this new branch?” The Second Councilpony asked.

“And lead it.” Twilight said, the room exploded much as she thought it would at that. Twilight waited for the shouts from the few Councilponies that didn’t agree to die down before she spoke again. “I have experience leading forces against the Feds; I know how to lead troops into battles where they may never come back. I am the best choice to lead the new branch of the military.” She said.

The room was quiet and Twilight saw Celestia close her eyes as she thought. The minutes stretched on for a very long time before she opened her eyes again and looked at Twilight with the most serious face she had ever worn. “Very well Twilight you shall have this new branch of the Royal Guard and may run it with my full support as you see fit. I trust you with this Commander Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia said, Twilight had told her of her rank but Celestia had never used it before till now to show how serious she was taking this.

Twilight saluted. “You can count of me ma’am. I will not fail to keep Equestria safe from all threats.” She said. Inside she had on a wide smile. She not only had the full support of the Princesses on her side but had her own branch of the military to train, equip and run as she saw fit. The smile nearly broke free from her inner mind. If the Feds ever did invade they would be met by an army ready to cut them down the second they showed their faces on Equestrian soil. Twilight could see the looks on their faces as they stepped through the rifts only to be met by bullets. It was a glorious look and she nearly shook with excitement.

Chapter 15: Officer on Deck

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Message from Federal Army High Command to Unidentified Intelligence Agent
In light of the recent attack on Camp Pentcol it has become clear the Rebels have not been defeated as we were told and in fact are much more bold now thanks to those Mercenaries. As such we have liquidated the Helios Mercenary Company for causing this mess.
It is clear that the city of Calten will need to be reinforced in order to deal with the Rebel threat. Camp Pentocl will have their casualties and equipment replaces and we will increase the number of our soldiers across the city.
We will also need to discover why the Rebels have become far more aggressive since their defeat. They have gone from a minor annoyance to a legitimate threat when they should have gone the other way, I want to know what has changed with the Rebels and I want it removed.
Failure will result in your liquidation as an asset….

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly woke up to total darkness and an absence of sound. That was to be expected when waking up from surgery so her cybernetics were offline. Even still it was a bit disorienting not being able to tell if her eyes were open or closed and whether or not she was alone in the room, though she knew Dr. Grey and Dr. Anderson would be there.

Sure enough she felt a tap on her shoulder and lifted her head to feel the panel at the base of her skull moved then came the click and the wave of pain as everything came online as her vision was flooded with light. She had to squeeze them closed and even still she saw the numbers dancing in her vision.

Once the numbers faded Twilight slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times. “There we are, how do you feel Twilight?” Dr. Anderson asked as he took a step back from the cot.

Twilight rolled her shoulders and slowly rolled onto her hooves. “I feel fine Doctor, happy to be able to see out of both eyes again.” She said looking around a bit. If not for the slight pain she’d almost think they were her old eyes.

Dr. Anderson nodded. “That’s good; I’d suggest taking a few days to get used to them as we had to add more implants so you could use everything safely”

Twilight nodded. “Fair enough, I needed to familiarize myself with the lay out of the base anyways.” She said. “Which reminds me. “Twilight said and her horn flared and she pulled all the medical supplies out of her storage locker and dropped them on the floor against the far wall of the infirmary. “Happy Hearth Warming Eve.” She said with a smile before turning to leave, she had a lot of stops to make today.

<<<O>>>

The walk through the base was defiantly different than it used to be; every soldier she passed stopped and saluted. Seemed word of her promotion had gotten around rather fast though she figured it wasn’t every day the Rebels got a new second in command and it wasn’t exactly hard to mistake her for anyone else.

She had already delivered the guns and ammo to Dupo and had just left the Mess hall where she made Cook’s day with the food. For some reason when she told him to have a Happy Heath’s Warming Even the soldier who overheard gave her odd looks, granted it wasn’t exactly the holiday but she was delivering huge gifts in a sense so the joke seemed appropriate. Anyways she had ignored the looks as she finished dropping off the food and was now heading for her quarters to rest and enjoy having her magic back fully.

She walked into her quarters and removed her helmet before flopping onto her bed. She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling as she let the past couple of day sink in. She suppose she should have seen the promotion coming what with being in charge of the attack on the base and being given her own quarters once more instead of a bunk in the barracks with the others. At the old base she got to keep her old quarters as she was already settled into it before she become a soldier so was no point in changing it. But the new base she had been a soldier so giving her, her own quarters was odd. Though with plans to make her the second highest ranking person in the entire army defiantly made sense she’d get her own room.

She was still a bit in shock and trying to wrap her head around her new rank and position within the army. She had made sure not to show it on her face, no point in making the soldiers, who showed faith in her that she was uncertain, that just wouldn’t do. When she had been a sergeant and just a normal squad leader she could show her emotions on her sleeve, but she was now in charge and knew that an officer showing fear or uncertainty would cause all sorts of issues with the men.

So she steeled her face to be neutral at least when on duty, She felt when she was alone or off-duty it would be fine to show her emotions more openly. Luckily she had seen Celestia do it for years so all she had to do was copy her, granted Twilight couldn’t give of the motherly air, hers was more along the lines of calm and controlled. Which as she thought about it worked better when dealing with soldiers, having a motherly figure in an army would just be weird and most likely make the men uncomfortable.

Twilight sighed and pushed herself up to a sitting position. There was no point in dwelling on her fears now; the time to back out was long since passed. Like it or not she was an officer now and had a responsibility to lead the Rebels against the Feds, even if she felt she wasn’t the right mare for the job.

Sighing again Twilight climbed off her bed, she needed to take her mind off her fears. She reached into her storage locker to retrieve a book when she remembered the two Sentries she had picked up from the heist what felt like forever ago. She pulled the two damaged bots out and set them on the floor. The .308 round had done a lot of damage to the two bots.

Before she could look over the two bots more a knock at the door drew her attention.
“Come”

The door opened to admit Desmond followed by the rest of Nightmare. “Hey Commander. “Hudson said smiling at her. “Been looking all over for you since we heard you woke up.”

“Yeah you think you were avoiding us what with going from the General’s off and straight into surgery and then from there all over the base.” Rook 2 said.

“Sorry, just had a lot to get done is all, what with needing a new eye and to drop off the supplies we got from the base.” Twilight said.

“Right and it has nothing to do with you becoming an officer.” Desmond said as he leaned against the wall beside the door as the rest of the squad spread out to find various places to sit and relax. “You may have most everyone else fooled but frankly it’s clear you are scared shitless.”

Twilight blinked at him and opened her mouth to deny it when she was interrupted by McKay. “Commander, we spend more time with you then anyone, we can see it.” He said calmly and Twilight saw the rest of Nightmare nodding.

She sighed and looked down at her hooves. “Is it really that obvious?”

“As obvious as the words on the pages of those books you are always reading.” Desmond said. “So, talk. What’s got our fearless leader so scared, because it has to be something since you are the one that came up with the idea of taking on an entire Federal Army base.”

Twilight sat on her haunches and looked around at her squad. They all stared back at her with a mix of concern and curiosity. She couldn’t help but sighing again. “I don’t know if I should be in charge like this. I mean it was one thing leading a squad but now everyone is counting on me and if I make a mistake it could cost a lot more than just a single mission.”

Desmond nodded. “Well if you do make a mistake I still have standing orders to speak up about it, and I think that extend to beating your magical unicorn ass till you are a darker shade of purple then you are now.” He said with certainty. Twilight couldn’t help smiling at that. “Look Commander you should know by now that you can count on us to have your back no matter what.”

Twilight looked around at the members of her squad and could see that Desmond spoke for them all, they’d have her back no matter what happened and Twilight could feel some of the fear leave her. Nightmare was with her and she could count on them when she needed it.

She sighed again. “Thank you, all of you.” She smiled at them.

“Hey if you can’t rely on your squad then who can you rely on?” Hudson asked her.

Twilight chuckled at that. “That is true.” She said smiling; her Squad knew her very well it seemed. “So is that all you wanted or was there another reason you tracked me down?”

“Oh yes one more thing.” Hudson said before walking over and punching her shoulder hard. Before Twilight could say anything the other were around her and proceeded to do the same, punching her shoulder as hard as they could. “Had to make sure the rank was pinned on right and since it has been a couple of day since you got them we had to make sure they stayed pinned.” Hudson smirked.

Twilight rubbed her sore shoulder, even with armor that hurt. “Yeah, yeah, sorry about that.” She said.

“Now then you mind telling us what you are doing with those two bots?” Rook 2 asked looking over the two damaged bots lying on the floor.

“Oh I got them from the heist; they gave us a lot of trouble so I thought I’d work on them as they could be of use to us.” Twilight said walking over to where they lay.

“You realize those are civilian models right? Wouldn’t be very useful against the Feds.” Hudson said.

Twilight nodded. “I know, I was going to see if I could fix them and maybe improve on them, sort of like a project to do in my spare time.”

“Don’t you read for that?” Hudson asked her.

“Yes but I don’t always have a book on hand so this could occupy my time for when in that situation.” She said looking at him.

“Do you even know how to work on these things?” Desmond asked walking up beside her and looking down at the bots.

Twilight shook her head. “No but I’m sure I can find some books on the subject.”

Desmond sighed and turned to the rest of the humans. “Well looks like Nightmare had its next mission.” He said and Twilight stared at him as the other all got to their feet.

“What mission? I haven’t heard about any missions right now as we are still getting organized.” She said.

“We need to go top side and track down some book for out fearless leader her so she doesn’t end up electrocuting herself when she inevitably starts poking her muzzle around inside of these bots.” Desmond said not looking at her and the other humans saluted before they grabbed the sentries then making their way towards the door. Desmond turned to face her. “See you after mission completion ma’am.” He said and saluted before following the other out.

Twilight couldn’t help staring at the door after it closed. “The fuck just happened?” She said and her brain could not come up with any answers. With a sigh she slipped out of her armor and climbed onto her bed. Looks like it was going to be reading after all.

<<<O>>>

Twilight sat in the mess hall enjoying her dinner of what Cook called a hamburger when a stack of books was dropped onto the table in front of her. She looked as saw Nightmare standing behind her. “Mission accomplished ma’am.” Desmond said with a smirk. “Every book we could find on robotics and computer programming as well as parts we could scrounge together that we left in your quarters along with the bots.”

Twilight blinked at the human. “Eh?” Was all she said.

Desmond sighed and rolled his eyes. “we couldn’t have you electrocuting yourself messing with those bots while having no clue what you were doing. So...” He gestured to the stack of books. “Here’s everything we could find on the subjects you’d need and as I said we left parts and tools in your room along with the bots. Now you can safely work on them without us having to worry about needing to find a new squad leader.”

“Oh…um thank you. “Twilight said blinking and looking at the stack of books counting them. There were fifteen of them. “How much where they?”

“Don’t even think about it Commander, consider this a congratulations gift for your promotion. So we won’t accept anything to repay us.” Desmond said. “
Now then if you’ll excuse us for a moment we haven’t even all day.” He said and the Nightmares headed for the line.

Twilight looked after them before her eyes returned to the stack of books. She picked one up in her magic and opened it; it seemed to be a book on AI programming. After a few minutes she had four books levitated around her reading them as she ate. She was vaguely aware of the Nightmares taking seats around her but was to absorbed in the books on computer programing to really notice, it was truly fascinating.

Twilight was half way through her books when there was a tap on her shoulder. She tore herself away from the books and looked up to see Cook looking down at her. “Darlin, not that it isn’t fun watching you read so many books, but the fact is the mess hall isn’t a library.”

Twilight blushed lightly. “Right sorry.” She said chuckling nervously as she moved the books into her storage locker and the tray over to be washed. She then stood up and left the mess hall fully intent on reading all of her new books.

<<<O>>>

Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof and glanced at the open book levitating besides her mouthing the words as she read over a paragraph before turning her attention back to the disassembled Sentry bot that lay before her. Twilight had spent the day reading all the books Nightmare had acquired for her and couldn’t wait to start working on them.

She had disassembled both of them to see exactly what was broken. Tanks to the book she knew how to fix them and had an idea how to upgrade them. They had given the Rebels trouble during their heist mission and if she gave them some more armor, better bullets and improved the AI so they didn’t just sit and fire when they spotted a target she knew they would be very deadly to the Feds.

“ok…so then need to replace that…”She said as she looked at the pile of spare parts she also had on hand thanks to Nightmare, where they got it all she had no idea but her squad was resourceful and from what she could tell the parts were in good condition so who was she to complain.

She found the part she was looking for and pulled it from the pile and placed it where the damaged part had been laying. At this rate it shouldn’t take her more than a few hours to have the Sentries in working order, though the AI programing would take longer, she’d need to borrow a computer from the Hacker teams as her Datapad couldn’t handle the project, much to her annoyance.

Even still she was enjoying herself far too much to allow herself to remain annoyed for long. In just a few hours she’d be read to make the AI, and in the next few days the Sentries would be fully operational.

She stopped and looked around her quarters. While working was very fun to her it was too quiet, she was used to spike being beside her either reading his comic or other sounds being in the room. Being in a base surrounded by a large group of other people didn’t help her being used to noise.

She glanced over at wear her Datapad sat. One of the soldiers had offered to give her some music as a sort of “Welcome to Command” gift. She couldn’t exactly ask someone to come stand in her quarters and make random noise so she guessed it would be the best thing.
She levitated over the Datapad and opened the Music folder; she didn’t recognize any of the songs. Shrugging she chose one at random and set the Datapad to the side as the track loaded.

There was SILENCE for a second before the vocalist suddenly yelled out the first lyrics to the song causing Twilight to jump a bit in surprise and look at her Datapad as the song played forth from its speakers.

The song was unlike anything she had ever heard but yet she found herself not minding the loud music, though she supposed some would call it noise. It would do for the silence problem and she went back to work. She didn’t notice when she started to sing along with the song under her breath or that one of her hooves was tapping along to the beat while thinking how she would always remember the fallen.

<<<O>>>

“So why are we here?” Rook 2 asked looking at the rest of Nightmare as they all stood in Twilight quarters. The other just shrugged in response.

Twilight meanwhile had her head poked under a tarp that sat in the middle of the room doing the finishing touched on her project. It had taken three days but they had been worth it.

Twilight slipped out from under the tarp and turned to face her squad with a large grin of pride. “You’re here to see this.” She said and with a magical flare she yanked the tarp off the two repaired and upgraded Sentries. They looked a bit bulkier then they used to do to the extra armor and Twilight had painted them dark green to match the Rebels colors.

Nightmare looked them over. “You already fixed them?” Hudson asked and Twilight nodded enthusiastically.

“And upgraded them. They have thicker armor, better AI and are loaded with AP rounds.” She said excitedly. She had to admit, she felt like a little filly again but she didn’t care, this was the first project she had gotten to work on in months so she could forgive herself for being excited at completing it.

“So, show us already.” Desmond said crossing his arms.

Twilight nodded and picked up her Datapad, closing the music file, she had pretty much been listing to it nonstop since the first song and opened the link she had set up with the bots.

With a few quick button presses there was a low hum from the Sentries. After a minute the central lights came on and the bots lifted off the ground and faced the soldiers in the room who tensed a bit. “Relax; I already programmed their Friend and Foe settings.” She said waving a hoof. “You think I’d turn them on if I hadn’t?” She aid and before they answer she turned to face the bots. “Say hello you two.”

The two sentries beeped. “Wait you can talk to them and they respond?” Rook 2 asked looking between Twilight and the bots.

“Well….yeah kind of.” She said looking at them. “Why wouldn’t I do that? It makes it a lot easier to work with them, though unfortunate I couldn’t give them a way to speak so it’s just beeps and chirps but the message is also relayed to my Datapad.” Twilight said proudly.

“That’s….really impressive.” Desmond said and the others nodded. “So what are they called?”

“Called?” Twilight asked looking at her second.

“Yes, what do we call them? We can’t just call them Sentries as that would cause issues since there are two of them.” Desmond said.

Twilight smile slipped a bit, she hadn’t actually thought of that. She sat on her haunches and the smile slowly slid from her face as she fell deep into thought. What should she call them? She didn’t want to just call them random names and their old designation were out as they that made them seem like nothing special instead of something she had half way built with her own hooves.

After a long while a smile slowly split her muzzle, she had the perfect names. She quickly used the Datapad to add the names as their designation then had them turn away from her squad as she quickly made some stencils out of some paper she used to make notes on then grabbed a can of black spray paint.

After a minutes and some quick painting she step back in front of her squad. “Say hello to….Celestia and Luna.” She said happily as the bots turned around to at being called showing the name CELESTIA stenciled on front of the one on the left and LUNA for the other.

Desmond nodded. “Alright, those names will do.” He said. Twilight couldn’t help but agree. She had been a bit hesitant for a moment about naming them after the Princesses but that was quickly snuffed out by the fact Celestia had practically raised her and Luna was a close friend that Twilight looked up to and both of them protected her and were deceptively strong to fools.

Yes naming the two Bots after the Princesses made perfect sense and the Princesses would be honored to have two machines that would help Twilight destroy the Feds be named after them. It was such an obvious thing how could she have ever thought otherwise?

Chapter 16: White Rabbit

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Personal Log of Commander Twilight Sparkle
BEGIN LOG
This is Commander Twilight Sparkle, personal log, September 15th, 2037
Well it’s been about a week and a half since my promotion to the rank of Commander and I’ve spent most of that time recovering from my surgeries , leaning the layout of the base, and learning all the ins and out of command.
I have to admit taking Dr. Anderson advice was a good idea as for the first few days I had random migraines but that might have been from my magical burn out. Who knows?
The base is much more maze like then the old one but it is in a much older part of the sewers then the last one. As far as I can tell everyone has settled into the new surrounding which is good and moral has been improving by a large margin.
As for command I never realized how extensive out intelligence network was. It’s mostly made up of sympathizers and informants around the city. I have noticed that what intel we do get isn’t as good as what traitorous fucker Briggs seemed to have but I guess a traitor would have better Intel as my theory is the Feds gave him it so we would trust him.
I’m getting off topic. As I was saying our intelligence network is mostly sympathizers and informants with the occasional bribery or blackmail. As the second in command it’s my job to take the reports we get and decide which would be targets of interest and how I think we should handle the mission. Then I send my reports to the General and he chooses what we do.
All in all a good system if I do say so myself, anyways, I have reports to file so I’ll end this here. This is Commander Twilight Sparkle signing off.
END LOG

<<<O>>>

Twilight made her way towards the new staging area, she had officially been cleared by both Dr. Anderson and Dr. Grey had cleared her for active duty which meant she was now in charge of briefings. She looked at her Datapad that floated beside her, more specifically she was looking at the notes she had made on it. Normally shed have notecards but there weren’t any available but she found the Datapad could take notes. It was a lot organized as she didn’t need to worry about them getting mixed up.

She reached the door to the briefing room and took a deep breath before she pushed the door open. Inside sat Silence, Twilight was the last to arrive it seems. The sniper squad all stood and Saluted when they saw her. “At ease.” She said automatically, she hadn’t been an officer for two weeks and she already had a reflex it seems. She made her way to the front of the much smaller room.

She got to the front of the room and turned to face Silence. “Thank you for coming.” She said before levitating out a picture of a group of buildings and tacking it onto the wall. “This is a low security Fed storage facility.” She glanced at her notes. “It doesn’t not store any high value information or equipment; it’s mostly just old files and such. In short this had no tactical value what so ever.”

She looked at the soldier in the room. “And your mission is to get as close as you can to this site and take out every single guard around the perimeter of this building and make sure you leave signs of where you had been set up.” She said and could see the confused looks on the sniper squad and smirked. “And that is the point, we want to show the Fed fucks they can’t predict where we are going to hit so it keeps them trying to focus on everything at once and the reason we want you to leave evidence is so they know just how close we can get to them at any one time.” And the smirk turned into a smile. “We are going to put the fear of God into them.”

Slowly Silence nodded in understanding, they were looking forward to this mission. “If there are no questions, grab your gear and move out.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight was reading over Intelligence report in her office. She had to admit having her own office and desk was going to take some getting used to but it did make working easier and she got to listen to her MUSIC without complaint. She had to admit that at first the music was just for background noise but as she listened to it more she found that she liked it more and more and would need to look into getting more then the few songs she had.

She never realized just how dug in the Feds were in this city and surrounding area when she was just a Sergeant so all this information was well above her pay grade. But as the second in command she now had access to everything the Rebels knew and had and she could literally walk into the armory and take any weapon she wanted and then walk right out of the base without anyone stopping her.

The only person she had to answer to was the General himself and he trusted her not to endanger the base or the soldiers under her command so as long as she gave a report after whatever she did she had more or less complete freedom to do as she pleased. And despite a bit of fear of making a mistake she had to admit she couldn’t help feeling a thrill run down her spine when she thought of the authority she had. She could go out and hurt the Feds whenever she wanted and no one would question it. It was such an amazing feeling~~~~

As the song she was currently listening to slowly wound down a knock came at her door. She shut off the music and sat back in her chair. “Come.”

The door opened to admit the Captain that was the head of the Rebel’s Intelligence Branch. He gave a quick salute before handing her a flash-drive. “Latest intel that just came in ma’am.” He told her and Twilight took the drive in her magic.

“Thank you, you are dismissed.” She told the Captain and with another salute he left. Twilight plugged the flash-drive into her Datapad and loaded the contents. “Interesting…” She read over the information. The Feds has increased their presents in the city and in a few areas had they had set up checkpoints to control the flow of people. Too bad it wouldn’t work to stop the rebels and just gave them more targets to hit.

Twilight couldn’t help smiling at how easy they were making it to hurt them.

As she scrolled through the Intel, mentally making notes on what was of interest and creating partial plans for raids or how she can blow off steam she came across something of extrema interest. There was a convoy coming to the city to drop off something top secret to be housed temporarily at a high security storage site for a couple of days before heading towards parts unknown.

“Well, it seems I found Nightmare’s next mission. “She said with a smile as she marked the Intel as High Value. Anything that the Feds had labeled top secret she wanted. And the Feds wouldn’t keep her from it, though they could try, that just made it more fun~~~~

<<<O>>>

“So this is the Casto High Security storage site.” Twilight said as she put a picture of the facility. It was a ten story, windowless building surrounded by a chain-link fence topped by razor wire. “It is well defended with regular patrol of two turret mounted jeeps.” She said as she turned to face Nightmare Squad.

“Currently housed within this facility is something the Feds probably don’t want us to have but we will be…liberating.” She said. “We don’t know what it is due to being extremely classified our contact wasn’t able to get much more then when and where.”

“Silence will be backing us with over-watch and making sure no one enters the facility behind us while we clear the facility of all resistance.” She told them. “We are the only one going in three other squads will be attacking other less valuable targets in order to make the Feds focus elsewhere when we attack. I have already given the other squads their briefings and they have gone on their missions so by the time we reach the facility their attacks should be well underway.”

She looked at each member of her squad making sure to have an air of confidence even though she was worried as this plan was very complex and she knew the more complex something was, the more likely something would go wrong. “Now then if no one has any questions gear up and let’s go meet up with Silence.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight watched the Casto High Security Storage site through her binoculars. She had picked them up before the mission stared as she thought they would be useful. She had been expecting binoculars like what ponies used back in Equestria, these were not like that. Yes they let you see distances, but Equestrian binoculars didn’t have adjustable zoom, nor night vision and thermal settings. In short these were far more useful then Equestrian binoculars.

Twilight slowly looked over the facility taking note of where every Fed was and their patrol routes. She knew that the other squads were already hitting their targets so once this kicked off they would only have to worry about minimum reinforcements at first as it would take time for the soldiers to get from other parts of the city.

She put a hoof to the side of her helmet. “Status report Silence.”

“In position Commander.” Sergeant Berm replied over the radio.

“Confirmed, Nightmare moving in.” Twilight said as she slipped the binoculars into her pocket dimension before looking back at her squad. “Let’s move.” She said as she unslung her rifle and teleported them right in front of the doors to the building. One of the Feds turned to investigate the flash of light but never got the chance to raise the alarm before the Rebels opened fired mowing down dozen of the soldier before they had a chance to react.

When the black and white armored soldier turned to face the threat that they suddenly found inside their perimeter the sound of five sniper rifles going off at once echoed in the night and five Feds dropped in a spray of blood and grey matter. The Feds moved to try and take cover; some taking cover from the snipers, leaving them exposed to Nightmare, while others took cover from Nightmare and were dropped by Silence.

Nightmare only stayed there firing for a few minutes before Twilight turned and faced the security door. She focused for a moment and door the steel door from its frame and tossed it to side before walking into the hallway beyond. They slowly made their way down the hall; they relied on Silence to make sure no Feds followed them into the building though Rook 2 was keeping an eye behind them on Twilight’s orders. Better safe than sorry.

It didn’t take long for them to encounter the Feds guarding the inside of the building in the form of a security checkpoint. The soldier outside clearly got an alert out as the three soldiers at the checkpoint were in defensive positions and ready for them.

Twilight quickly cast a shield spell around Nightmare and she couldn’t help notice the bullets impacting it didn’t very much compared to what it used to. She filed that away in the back of her mind to look into later. She adjusted the shield so it wasn’t a bubble but just a four foot tall wall between them and the Feds.

Using her shield as cover Nightmare began to return fire; Twilight was in the least amount of danger as she was shorter than the shield and could just lift her rifle above it to fire. With the advantage of numbers and better cover it didn’t take long for Nightmare to dispatch the three Feds.

Before Nightmare moved on Twilight stopped and eyed the computer terminal at the checkpoint. “Rook 2, if I remember right you’ve been taking lessons from the hacker teams right?” She asked eyeing the young women.

“Uh…yeah? Why?” She replied looking at Twilight.

Twilight pointed a hoof at the computer. “Hack it and find out where the hell we are going so we don’t have to search this entire damn place.”

Rook 2 nodded. “Yes ma’am.” She said before she moved behind the desk to take a seat. The rest of Nightmare took up defensive positions while Twilight watched the young women work. She knew a bit about programming from her work on Celestia and Luna who were currently back at base helping to patrol it. She was already a skilled medic and from what Dr. Grey said she was practically a doctor just without a license, maybe she should look into learning hacking as well as it wouldn’t hurt to have two hacker in the squad.

It didn’t take long for Rook 2 to break into the computer and she was soon digging through their files till she found a log that she wasn’t able to break into to see what it was but the location was listed. “Alright, that’s got to be our target, let’s move.” She ordered and with a nod Nightmare started moving again.

As they moved Twilight couldn’t help noticing what little resistance they met as they made their way to the fourth floor of the building. This was a high security storage facility and yet the only guard inside were at the checkpoints and they only numbed three soldiers. Were the Feds really stupid enough to rely solely on the soldiers outside for protection?

When they reached the hall that had the target room it wasn’t hard to figure out which door it was as there were four soldiers stationed outside of it who promptly started shooting when they saw the Rebels.

Twilight had to drag Desmond around the corner and extract a bullet from his arm before healing it while the rest of Nightmare dispatched the four soldiers, much to her annoyance as she didn’t get to participate but she had a duty as the squad’s medic and that came before fun.

“This is Commander Sparkle to Silence; we have reached the target, get ready to cover our escape.” She told Sergeant Berm over the radio.

“Roger ma’am, ready to provide cover, been mostly quiet out here the other squads must be causing havoc at their targets as we’ve only had a handful of jeeps come by.” Sergeant Berm reported. This gave Twilight pause, yes it would slow reinforcements what the other squads were doing, but she had expected more than a couple of jeeps once the distress signal went out.

“Weapons check.” She ordered as she made sure she had a fresh mag in her rifle, something didn’t feel right about this, not one bit. “Flash and clear.” She ordered once Nightmare had finished checking their weapons.

The rebels moved to either side of the door and Hudson ready a flashbang. Twilight nodded to him. “Ok…three…..two…..one….” She used her magic to tear the door from its frame and Hudson tossed the flashbang inside. The second the Rebels heard it detonate they rushed into the room sweeping for enemies, there were none. The only thing in the room was a computer sitting on a desk across from the door with a web cam on it.

“What the hell? Is that the target?” Rook 2 said eyeing the computer.

When she finished speaking the light on the web cam turned on and the computer booted up displaying a line across the screen. “GrE3tiNgS solDi3rs oF th3 PeoPl3s fReE Dem0cRatiC REpuBlic.” A heavily disguised voice said from the computer.

“What the hell?” Hudson said and the Rebels raised their guns aiming in all directions expecting an attack.

“No n3eD foR th4t, I AsSure yoU, You WiLL n0t b3 AttAcKed.” The voice said. “I M3arLy wIsheD to S3e whO woULd taKe th3 baiT.”

“Yeah and who the fuck are you?” Twilight said glaring at the computer.

“YoU maY CaLl m3 White Rabbit. I diD n0t eXpecT a ComMand3r to LeaD th3 AttaCk p3rsonAlly. NoR dID I ExPecT th4t coMManDer t0 be yoU SuBjeCt P438-29T thoUgH thAt dOEs expLaIn thE incREase agGreSSi0n in y0u Reb3ls.” White Rabbit said.

Twilight’s blood turned to ice when she heard those numbers and all emotion left her face. “What do you want?” She asked in an emotionless voice, The members of Nightmare couldn’t help glancing at her they had only seen her like this one other time and still it was unnerving to them.

“Wh4 I wanT is tO coMPlete My miSsion as I’m sURe You wAnt tO as wEll 438.” White Rabbit replied. “UnFORtunaTely thEre is nOthiNg of signIFIcant iMpoRtaNce to The Feder4l ArMy in tHis roOm; it wAs jUst a mEAns to dr4w ouT soMe of yOur s0LdierS. And s33ing yOu hEre I cAn moVe onTo thE neXt st3p of my oRdeRs.”

“And what would those be?” Twilight asked looking at the computer without showing any emotion.

“Go0dBye ComMAndEr.” Was all White Rabbit said.

Twilight blinked as the computer shut off. After a second her eyes widened. “Everyone out now! MOVE IT!” She yelled as she turned and galloped for the door, Nightmare right on her heels. As they headed for the stairs the entire building shook as the sound of a muffled explosion echoed through the halls and the building groaned like an injured animal. “MOVE FASTER!!!” she yelled as the Rebels sprinted down the stairs.

Twilight knew something had been wrong, how could she have been so stupid? Everything about this screamed trap. As the Sprinted from the stare the building groaned again and large cracks spreading rabidly along the walls and floor and the building lurched causing Hudson to lose his footing and fall.

“Keep moving I got him!” Twilight yelled as she skidded to a stop and ran back, she was the squad leader, and he was her responsibility. She used her magic to pull the human to his feet and shoved him down the hall. She galloped right behind him.

Her radio squawked and she could hear gunfire over the radio as they neared the outer wall of the building.

“—der heavy attack. I say again commander, we are under heavy attack.” Came the voice of Sergeant Berm. “They came out of no where, you have no over-watch ma’am. I repeat you have no over-watch as we were forced to abandoned position.”

“Shit.’ Was all Twilight said as she galloped for the door, they had been completely ready for them and she had been too stupid to see it till it was too late! She skidded around the color and saw the door ahead of her. The cracks spread faster and faster.

Just before Nightmare reached the door Twilight heard a loud roar and watched as the walls crumbed around them, without thinking she lite her horn and sent a magic wave out in front of her, propelling her squad through the door just as the ceiling caved in on top of her.

<<<O>>>

Twilight slowly woke in complete darkness. As she took a breath she couldn’t stop herself from coughing, there was so much dust in the air. She lit her horn and cast her light spell, the little orb of light appearing at the tip of her horn and she got her first look at her surroundings.

She was surrounded by crumbled slaps of concrete and twisted rebar that used to be the Casto High Security Storage Site; she had ended up in some sort of pocket free of debris. Coughing again do to the dust Twilight clocked on her radio and winced at the feedback that assaulted her ears before they damped the sound, her radio was fucked it seemed, most likely do to the building falling on top of her. She could tell it was trying to work as it kept flipping between static, feedback and what sounded like voices in quick secession before a voice cut through the static. “Moving in to ensure target was neutralized.”

Twilight blinked, that wasn’t her squad or Silence. Her blood ran cold when she realized it could be only group, the Feds and from the sound of it they were looking for her! Not good she had to get out of here. She looked for her rifle but couldn’t see it anywhere near her which meant it was buried somewhere in the rubble leaving her just her sidearm. She moved to climb to her hooves and cried out as pain shot from her back legs.

Looking back her eyes shrank to pin pricks at what she saw. Her year legs were pinned under a slap of concrete with even more rubble on top of it. There was no way she could unbury them and she didn’t know how much what the area around the building looked like so teleporting was out.

Her ear swiveled back in front of her as she heard the sound of shifting concrete. Someone was moving the debris away. It didn’t take her long to conclude the Feds had heard her cry out which meant she was close to the edge of the rubble or at least didn’t have much between her and freedom but she was a sitting duck with her legs pinned, they would kill her or capture her and put her back in a lab.

Twilight looked between where the sounds of digging was and back at her legs. She kept looking between them, the choice was simple. She drew her knife. “Ok Twilight this is easy, the bone is most likely powder so it’s skin and muscle, easy.” She told herself as she gritted her teeth to lift as much of herself as she could.

She carefully moved the blade under her left leg and took a deep breath before she wrenched the blade up. She couldn’t stop herself from screaming at the pain as the blade easily sliced through the flesh and she collapse looking focused on her spells.

She came abs to her senses face down in something that smelled foul and when he re did the light spell she saw what it was, when had she puked? No matter more important things. She quickly caste a healing spell to stop the bleeding in her leg and close the wound against infection, okay that was taken care of now the other leg.

Taking a deep breath she moved the blade under her last leg, the sound of the digging getting close and close, she was able to hear voices now but couldn’t make them out. “Ok…one….two….THREE!” The blade wrenched up again and she screamed dropping the blade as black spots danced in her vision. She quickly caste a healing spell to close the wound before the darkness filled her vision.

Twilight wasn’t sure how long she was out but when she came to she was slung over some one’s shoulder and could tell they were running by how she bounced. Crap the Feds had her! She started to struggle as she tried to draw her sidearm but stopped when the person carrying her spoke. “Easy Commander, you are safe. “Chekov said in his accented speech and Twilight looked to around to see the humans around her were wearing dark green armor. It was her squad! They came back for her!

“What the fuck are you doing here? You dumbasses should have retreated!” She scolded them, of all the idiot things staying behind to dig her out when most likely she was dead rather than getting to safety had to be the dumbest thing she had ever heard of.

“You don’t honestly think we’d leave you for the Feds to find do you Commander?” Rook 2 asked running alongside Chekov.

“No way are we leaving our Commander for those bastards to find.” Desmond said firmly as he watched their back. “Now with all due respect ma’am, shut the hell up, we got a Strike Team on out ass.” He told her with annoyance.

Twilight clicked her mouth shut but glared back. She was still pissed at them but she couldn’t help feeling a thread of pride that they were loyal enough to risk their lives to rescue her. She was still going to tear them a new one at her earliest convince.

But she had more important things to worry about now, such as the fact they had a Strike Team after them, and the fact she needed to get new legs, again! Bust most of all, she needed to find that bastard White Rabbit and kill him…slowly for dropping a Celestia-damned building on her and nearly killed her squad.

It didn’t take them long to reach a man-hole cover and climb down, Chekov had to be careful climbing down as he was carrying Twilight but soon the Rebel soldiers disappeared into the sewers leaving their pursuers behind in the night.

Twilight had work to do if she was going to find White Rabbit and make him pay for what he did on this night, no one made a fool out of her like that and nearly kills her squad! She was going to enjoy taking him apart~~~

Interlude: Lunch with Friends

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Commander Twilight Sparkle slowly made her way down one of the many corridors of Canterlot Castle deep in thought. It had been a week since Princesses Celestia had given her authorization to create her own branch of the military and it had been a busy week. Twilight knew how to run an army, how to train soldiers, how to lead soldiers. What she didn’t know was how to explain this to people who know nothing of these, at least not know the proper way of doing it.

She knew the Princesses were old and had seen battle in their lives, probably not the same as Twilight but still actual battle, so they at least understood to an extent her plans. It was the nobility and everyone else that was the issue. None of them had even gotten off their pompous asses and done anything useful in their lives, well most of them anyways. Some were willing to help for the good of Equestria but still they knew nothing of a proper military and kept falling back on what they know.

And what they knew was the glorified police force known as the Royal Guard which was like comparing Special Forces to mentally handicapped children. They simply weren’t the same. And so Twilight spent most of this week, it had only taken her a day to draw up plans for her new branch of the military, trying to explain what she needed and why she needed it and what this or that meant. Twilight learned very fast she was not cut out for political bullcrap when she ended up grabbing one of the more annoying nobles and throwing him across the room. The Princess had stepped in before she could do any more to the stunned noblepony and suggested she take a break.

And thus Twilight found herself walking aimlessly through the castle deep in thought about her soon to be army. Even thought she was deep in thought Twilight still easily dodged around servants and Royal Guard patrols without breaking from her thoughts, just allowing her body to move on its own as there was little danger in the castle, though she still idly scanned for it.

“Hey Twilight!” Came the voice of Pinkie Pie behind her. Twilight stopped and looked back at her pink friend.

“Hey Pinkie, how are you?” She asked smiling.

“I’m good, though I can tell you could use a break and it has been a week since we all got to hang out.” Pinkie said smiling wise. “So how about we all get lunch?”

Twilight blinked. “The others are here?”

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. “Yup, yup! I invited them to Canterlot to hang out.”

Twilight blinked again. “You’ve been in Canterlot all this time? I thought you all went back to Ponyville.”

“Well the others did but I stayed in Canterlot in case you needed a friend to talk to and I thought after a week of meetings you’d enjoy a break so I invited the other back.” Pinkie said smiling at her friend. “So how about we go out to lunch?”

Twilight tilted her head as she thought about them smiled at the pink party pony. “Sure, I could use something to eat.” She said with a smile nod resulting in Pinkie excitedly bouncing around the Rebel soldier

<<<O>>>

Twilight and Pinkie met up with the rest of their friend at the castle gate before they could enter the castle proper. Twilight watched as Pinkie wasted no time in jumping over to them. “Hey girls! You are just in time to go out for lunch!” She said excitedly as Twilight stepped up beside her.

Rarity was the first to speak out of the four arrivals. “Oh, yes that sounds lovely, did you have somewhere in mind darling?”

Pinkie shook her head as Twilight stepped up beside her. “Nope, nope! I thought Twilight should choose as it’s her break.” She said and started to bounce around the group of friends who all looked at the armor wearing unicorn.

“Uh….I heard there is a decent dinner over on Celestia Avenue, how about there?” She suggested. She was not used to being asked where to eat and despite living in Canterlot for most of her life she had had her muzzle buried in books for most of it and never really explored the city.

“Perfect!” Pinkie answered for everyone and wrapped her hooves around all of them and somehow began to drag them down the road. Everyone of Twilight friends just ignored it but Twilight was mildly concerned by this do to the fact she weighed several time more than a normal pony and Pinkie didn’t seemed to be straining at all.

She soon pushed the thought to the back of her mind as best as she can but it still bothered her to no end even though she was used to Pinkie defying all logic. When they were about a block from the castle gate the pink pony finally let them all go much to Twilight relief. “So…where exactly are we going?” Pinkie asked as she turned to face the group, her ever present smile on her face.

Twilight’s hoof met her face. “I thought you knew where we are going when you started dragging us down the street.” She said as she lowered hear hoof and looked at the pink mare with some annoyance.

“Haven’t a clue, never really spent a lot of time in Canterlot, I know where Pony Joe’s is but that’s it.” Pinkie said happily.

With a sigh Twilight took the lead. “I think it’s this way.” She said lowering the visor on her helmet so she could use the compass. She had been very glad to learn it still worked even when in a totally different dimension then what it was built for. She remembered the one maid telling the other that the place was east of the castle itself. If not for the fact she had been trying to avoid her meeting with the nobles that day she would have come out of hiding to ask the two where the place was. Granted they may have had heart failure when she dropped from the ceiling but that’s beside the point.

After wondering the streets for a while they eventually found their destination. “Dot’s Diner? That’s an interesting name for a restaurant.” Rarity said as she read the name on the side.

“It’s not a normal restaurant. It’s a diner.” Twilight said as she opened the door with her magic and walked in. The diner was in the middle of its lunch rush so was filled with noise of ponies talking loudly to each other. A noise that promptly died out as all eyes fell on the purple mare dressed in dark green combat armor as she raised the visor on her helmet. Maybe her mother was right and she should find an alternative to wearing her armor everywhere as ponies stopping dead in their tracks to stare at her was making her skin crawl in a bad way.

Twilight walked up to the counter where a unicorn waitress stood staring like a deer caught in headlights at her. “We’d like a table please; there is six of us, preferable away from any windows.” Twilight said and the orange coated mare continued to stare in an annoying way. Twilight lifted her hoof and slammed it on the counter hard enough for the resulting CRACK to echo through the diner.

That snapped the waitress out of her shock as well as the other ponies in the diner. “Oh…um…excuse me what did you say?” She asked blinking several times.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Six of us for a table, away from a window. Thank you please.” Twilight said and smiled at the waitress. It was the smile reserved for a significantly lower ranking soldiers that had annoyed her, it had the effect of telling them ‘I hope you enjoy PT training cause you have at least a week of it.’

Granted Twilight had no idea what effect it had on the mare behind the counter but whatever it was she quickly grabbed six menus and hurriedly lead the group to a booth in the corner. Twilight not able to see the looks her friends gave her as she followed waitress.

Once they were showed them to their booth Twilight eyed it a bit uncertainly, she would be a little restricted in movement but worst case she could just tear the table from the floor. Satisfied with the assessment she took her seat and her friends followed suit with Pinkie Pie sitting right next to Twilight, beside her sat Fluttershy and across the table sat Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

The group opened their menus and began looking over the listed food. Twilight frowned when she saw they only had pony food listed but she guessed this diner didn’t cater to other species often enough to warrant other food, so that meant this meal would be without meat. Twilight had been enjoying her stay in the castle as it was used to having guests from all over Epuus which meant they had a heathy supply of meat products, though after the first time she ordered it she got strange looks from the servant taking the order and ended up sending it back as it was given to her raw. The cook only made that mistake one other time before he had an angry mare kicking down the door to the kitchen and explaining to him that she did not eat meat raw and she will not accept it being served raw again.

Needless to say the meals had been very good after that. As Twilight read over the menu she began to hum one of the songs from her music folder and idly taping her foot to the imagined beat. It didn’t take her long to setter on a basic salad.

After a bit their waitress returned to take their orders, both Twilight and Rarity got a salad while Applejack ordered two apple fritters. Rainbow dash ordered a daisy sandwich as did Fluttershy and Pinkie ordered a hay burger. All of them but twilight ordered drinks.

“Hey Twi not going to drink anything?” Applejack asked once their waiter left eyeing the purple mare.

“Oh I brought my own drink.” Twilight said as she undid her helmet and removed it, setting it aside.

“You did? What the hay did you bring?” Rainbow asked and the other all looked at Twilight with curiosity.

A bottle of amber liquid appeared in front of Twilight on the table. “Whiskey of course. “She said with a wide smile. “I haven’t had a proper drink this entire week and that’s practically a crime!” She said with a chuckle as she undid the stopper.

The mares around the table frowned as the strong scent hit them. Rarity covered her nose with a handkerchief. “Oh my, Darling that smells dreadful, nothing like the whisky some of my clients enjoy.” Rarity said thinking of some of her more high class clients who enjoyed a drink every now and then.

“That’s because that is piss flavored water.” Twilight said producing a round of frowns again from everyone but Pinkie who seem to force a smile and Fluttershy who gasped and hid her mouth behind a hoof. Twilight ignored them and lifted the bottle. “This is the nectar of the gods, real proper 100% whiskey!” She said happily and took a drink, enjoying the burn as it went down.

Rainbow scrunched up her muzzle when Twilight finished her drink. “How much of that do you have?”

“Six full bottles, the General gave them to me before I went on the last mission, as a going away gift. Though I plan to make more.” Twilight said with a smile as she remembered the man.

“You’ve mentioned this General fellow before Twi, who was this pony?” Applejack asked.

“Well first off he’s not a pony, he’s a human.” Twilight said and sighed as she looked down at the bottle before her and swirled its contents. “He was our leader, the man who started the entire Rebellion when he tried to seize control from the corrupt government. He failed, he had a large force backing him but the Feds had more soldiers and equipment and he was forced to abandon the coup, at least partly.” She said and took another sip of her drink.

“He didn’t give up his dream of bringing down the corrupt leaders though and continued to fight from the shadows and slowly more people joined him. The rebellion had been going on for five years when I joined up.” Twilight said and looked at the five mares she sat with. “He had to be one of the most courageous and uncompromising people I ever met. Even facing overwhelming odds and knowing what awaited him if he lost; he never gave up fighting for freedom.” Twilight said and took another drink.

“Well…it sounds like you respect him a lot darling.” Rarity said.

Twilight chuckled. “He was my superior and my friend and he saved my life once.” She said smiling softly. She lifted the bottle a bit. “To you General Tomas Clancy, may your dream be realized and may the Feds burn in the fires of hell.” She took a drink. Her friends glanced at each other, they understood Twilight wanting to toast someone like that but the way she spoke the toast was a bit…different than they were used to.

Shortly after that their own drinks arrived and they gave their own toasts to the General much to Twilights delight.

“Actually Rarity there was something I wanted to ask you.” Twilight said after a long silence and after their food arrived.

“What is it darling?” Rarity asked looking up at the mare across the table from her.

“Well….I need a uniform made. I can’t keep walking around in my armor and I’ll need something for the soldiers to wear when not on duty.” Twilight said and the effect was instant as Rarity’s eyes lit up.

“Oh say no more darling! I’d be honored to design a uniform for you! You’ll look simply divine and will be the best dressed ponies in the military.” She said excitedly, here head already dancing with ideas.

“It will need to be something simple, preferable dark green.” Twilight said and Rarity looked at her a bit confused. “We will be the first and last line of defense in the event of an extreme emergency. I don’t want my soldiers standing out if they are forced into combat while off duty. I want the uniform to mark them so everyone knows they are part of the army but yet not stand out that it makes them unable sneak up on their enemies.” Twilight said and thought about it. “Actually I may need several different versions for them to wear based on where they will be stationed.”

“What do you mean Twilight?” Rarity asked perplexed.

“Well if I’m able I plan to set up bases all over Equestria and some of those areas dark green would stand out a lot, such as the frozen north. So I’ll need different version of the same uniform in different colors so they can’t blend into their surroundings if need be.”

“Oh…yes I suppose I can do that.” Rarity replied some of her enthusiasm as she wasn’t allowed to make them look fabulous.

“Jeez Twilight what do you expect to happen that you’ll need so many places built?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That’s classified.” Twilight said, Princess Celestia had told Twilight she did not plan to tell many ponies of the possible invasion so as to avoid a panic which Twilight agreed with. She didn’t even plan to tell her own soldiers, at least not the rank and file, key officers would be read in of course but all the grunts will know is they are the ones sent in to handle what the Royal Guard cannot. Which based on past experience will still give them plenty to do.

After Twilight’s request the conversation steered more towards normal topics such as what her friends had been doing the past week and so on and so forth.

Once they finished eating their waitress brought their bill and Rarity reached for it but Twilight picked it up in her magic. “I’ll pay for this.” Twilight said with a smile. Finally something she could buy on her own and not have someone else pick up for her. She looked at how much the bill was and pulled the exact amount of Credits she needed out of her Storage Locker and froze staring at the grey piece of plastic with a single black strip down one side. “Celestia-damnit.” She exclaimed before face hoofing.

The group of mares gasped in shock and then frowned and Rarity sniffed in indignation at Twilights choice in curse. Twilight looked at them. “What?”

“You just used the Princess’ name as a curse.” Rarity said giving the other unicorn a disapproving frown.

“Not the first time.” Twilight said producing deeper frowns that she ignored and sighed looking down.

“Um…what is that Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “If you don’t mind my asking that is….”

“This,” Twilight said lifting the card higher. “IS a Credit, it is money, or at least it is where I was, here it is a lump of plastic that I down there is an exchange I can go to trade it for bits.” Twilight sighed again and put the card that only had value to her back with the others.

“How much of those ‘Credits’ do you have?” Rainbow Dash asked out of curiosity.

“CrT10,000” Twilight replied and the group of mares went wide eyed.

“How in tarnation did you get so much money? Did they pay you for your work where ever you were?” Applejack asked eye brows high on her face.

Twilight snorted. “We were Rebels; we didn’t get a pay check for our time served.” Twilight smirked. “I won it all playing Blackjack against the other soldiers.” Twilight said proudly.

The mares didn’t know what Blackjack was but based on how she said she won the currency it didn’t take them long to figure out what type of game it was.

“Let me get this straight egghead, you won money gambling against others?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I was one hell of a Blackjack player, it was about the only card game I was good at actually. “She said scratching her chin with a hoof as she thought about all the games she knew how to play. “Though now I’m sitting on a large cache of Credits that are worthless to me here.” She sighed.

“Oh…don’t worry about it darling, I’m sure if you talk to the Princess she will exchange these ‘Credits’ for Bits for you.” Rarity said reassuringly.

“Yeah I guess you are right.” Twilight sighed again. “In the meantime would you guys mind covering this meal I’ll pay you back when I can.” Twilight said not letting her annoyance into her voice.

“Yes darling, don’t worry about it.” Rarity said taking the bill from Twilight’s magical grasp.

As she counted out bits to pay the bill Twilight got an idea how to pay her back and make her day though Twilight would most likely regret it. “You know….the army will need dress uniforms to where at special ceremonies and such. And since they will be worn rarely….there is no reason they have to be functional like the normal uniforms.

Rarity stopped counting out bits and stared at the purple unicorn a smile slowly creeping onto her face. Yup. Twilight thought. What did it, what have I gotten myself into?

Chapter 17: Psychological Warfare

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After Action Report from Strike Team Bravo-Lima-Seven-Two-Five
Strike team was unable to locate target within the ruble of Casto High Security Storage Site. Rebel forces were spotted fleeing area with what appeared to be target. Strike Team Bravo-Lima-Seven-Two-Five gave pursuit while Stroke Team Echo-Zulu-Zero-Eight-Four secured area around target zone.
Strike team lost the Rebels when they entered the sewers under Calten and do to risk of being ambushed Lieutenant Smithers order gave the order to return to the surface and help secure the Target Zone…

<<<O>>>

Waking up in total darkness was becoming normal to Twilight to an extent, though each time she awoke to the darkness she was unable to move more of her body and this time was no different, though this time she was unable to move anything but her head. She mentally sighed, if she lost anything else she wouldn’t survive as she’s already lost everything non-vital to her survival. While Dr. Anderson had replacement lungs and hearts there was no way to really modify them to work with her biology, the eyes had been a long shot.

Which meant there was no second chance if anything she had left was damaged, lucky she wore armor over the rest of her body and it slowed down the armor piercing bullets enough so they didn’t do any damage she couldn’t heal with a quick spell. As she laid there waiting for Dr. Anderson to bring her limbs online she mentally went over all the injuries she has sustained to her body, when knew that the quick spells she used only closed the wound, but when in combat she didn’t have time for a full spell so they left a scar, Twilight wondered how many scars she will have by the time she returns home?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tap to her shoulder telling her to lift her head. Within a moment she felt the click and the pain washed over her body and she breathed in sharply through gritted teeth. She had to squeeze her eyes shut as they were flooded with the overhead lights of the infirmary, once the numbers stopped dancing in her vision she slowly opened them once again.

Twilight blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted and she was greeted by the expected sight of Dr. Anderson and Dr. Grey but was surprised to see Marcus sitting on one of the cots with his arm in a sling. She smiled at him. “Hey I see Dr. Grey finally let you leave your quarters finally.” She said as she started to run through the same checks she always had to go through when her limbs came back online.

“Yeah, and I see you have rejoined us again.” He said chuckling.

Once her checks were done Twilight rolled onto her hooves and stretched before tilting her head side to side resulting in a pop each time. “Yes I have, death still hasn’t caught up to me yet.” She said with a chuckle. It was good to see Marcus as do to her new responsibilities she now had had a chance to visit it. He had been shot in the arm and shoulder while evacuation the Infirmary when the old base had been attacked by the Mercs.

“Somehow at this point I’m starting to think you are unkillable.” Her friend said as he stood up and made his way over to her. “So I never got to congratulate you on the promotion.” He said. “So…Congratulations.”

Twilight nodded. “Thanks Marcus, congrats on surviving a frantic evacuation.” She said before looking over at Dr. Grey and Dr. Anderson. “So Docs, am I cleared for light duty?”

“I don’t see why not.” Dr. Grey said. “Shouldn’t take more than a few days for your body to recover and adjust.”

Twilight nodded. “Alright, I can catch up on paperwork and reports.” She said and seeing as she couldn’t think of anything else she turned for the door. “See you later Doctors and Marcus.”

“Catch you later Twilight.” Marcus called after her as the door closed behind her.

<<<O>>>

Twilight made her way down the many tunnels that made up the Rebel base, her rear hooves whirring slightly with each step and each time she step on metal they made a noticeable clang. She really needed to set up the silence enchantment, though she was sure only she noticed the sound the servos made it was a very annoying sound. To anyone she passed it looked as if she was wondering aimlessly through the base when in fact she knew exactly where she was going, she was just taking the scenic route to help adjust to her new legs.

Luckily she was used to cybernetics at this point so only had a little trouble keeping her rear hooves in sync with her front hooves, by that she only tripped herself and fell flat on her face three times before she reached her destination.

Walking into the room that served as the logistics side of the Rebel’s war against the government Twilight quickly waved off the salutes she received from the men and women in the room. “I want the report on my last mission.” She told the lieutenant that was in charge of the room. The women gave a quick salute before wading into the sea of desks and filing cabinet. It didn’t take long for her to return with a file that Twilight promptly opened.

Reading over the contents confirmed what she feared, the only two members of Silence made it back alive, the rest of the squad being wiped out by… “Black armored Feds?” Twilight said out loud and looked up at the lieutenant. “IS this a typo?” She asked pointing at the words.

The Rebel officer shook her head. “No ma’am, that’s what Corporal Tampa and Private First Class Vickers described.”

Twilight looked over the report. The rebels had no information on Feds wearing solid black armor; they were always in the black and white armor. Who were these new units and what did they mean? Could they have been more mercenaries? No, no way would the Feds work with Mercs in Special Forces tear armor and if they were able to ambush Silence then they were extremely well trained as Sergeant Berm had been a very careful man and his squad were all well trained snipers who noticed little details.

Twilight would need to get their intelligence branch on this ASAP as unknown units were not a good thing. Twilight read over the rest of the report, the squad she sent to attack a checkpoint had succeeded with ease and the Second squad sent to attack a large patrol had lost a single soldier so that was a success. That just left.

“Do we know what happened to Wolfpack Squad?” Twilight asked looking back up at the lieutenant.

The officer shook her head. “Negative ma’am, last report we got was of them returning from their attack on the guard station and then nothing, we sent a couple squads to look for them but they came up empty. For now we are listing them as MIA”

Twilight nodded and looked back over the report; it wasn’t unheard of for squads to have to go into hiding for a few days to avoid leading the Feds back to base. Twilight handed the report back. “Thank you, if you hear anything about Wolfpack let me know.” The lieutenant saluted once more and Twilight left the room, she had a few things to take care of this day, one of which was getting that Celestia-damned enchantment on her legs before that noise drove her more insane then she already was.

<<<O>>>

Private Wallace slowly woke up to complete darkness, a which check told him he wasn’t tied up and that he wasn’t blind folded, the room was just dark. Blinking several times to try and get his eyes to adjust to the darkness his memories slowly surfaced.

Him and the rest of Wolfpack had just attacked a guard station, why the Feds called their garrisons in the city guard stations he had no idea, and were on their way back to base when they were suddenly surrounded by Fed special forces, well that’s what they looked like, Wallace was sure special forces didn’t wear solid black armor.

Before Wolfpack could do anything to put up a fight the black armored soldiers had disarmed them and had them all on the ground. The last thing Wallace remembers was them injecting something into his neck and the word spinning away.

Shit he had been captured, at least somewhat, he wasn’t restrained as far as he could tell, actually all he could tell was that his armor had been removed, as had his shirt so he was just in his pants and boots. He also was aware of a burning and slight itching sensation on his right shoulder blade. Reaching back he thought he felt a bandage over the area.

Before he could investigate further a bright spot light snapped out aimed right at his face. Wallace flinched and put up a hand to try to block the light.

“aH G0Od, YoU Are Aw4Ke, I WaS BegINniNg t0 w0rRy.” Came a distorted voice as someone stepped up beside spot light. All Wallace could see of the person was that they wore thick rubber boots on their feet and a rubber apron and that Wallace himself was in a small cage.

“Who the hell are you?” Wallace demanded.

“P3aSE, N0 n3eD f0R HOstiLitY, YoU aRe QuIEt SaFE, I HaV3 no InTENtioN of lAYinG a FinGer on yoU.” The voice said.

“Oh yeah? Then why am I here?” Wallace asked trying to glare at the owner of the voice; it was difficult do to the speaking standing right next to the spotlight.

“th4t is sIMpLE PrivAT3, so Th4t y0u c4n deLIVER a m3ssaGe to your ComManDer for Me.” The voice responded.

“Yeah? And what’s the message?” Wallace asked.

In answer the spotlight shut off plunging Wallace into complete darkness once again. He was blinded when another set of lights snapped on over four figures laying naked strapped to medical tables struggling against the bounds and the gags in their mouths.

Wallace instantly recognized the rest of his squad. “It’s a SIMpl3 m3SsaGE.” The figures said, Wallace could now see them clearly, the speaker wore thick rubber boots as he ahd thought and the apron was rubber as well, in addition they also wore thick rubber gloves and some sort of mask over their nose and mouth, most likely what was disguising their voice. Wallace couldn’t tell much else as the rest of the clothes looked like surgical scrubs and he wore a small helmet with a raised clear plastic shield.
“T3lL her, ThIS is JuSt th3 B3gINinG.” The figure said before lowering the face shield and walking over to the struggling Rebel Soldiers as he wheeled over a table topped with surgical equipment’s, power tools and even a car battery with jumper cables.

With horror Wallace realized what was going on as the figure stopped beside Wolfpack’s sergeant and picked up a scalpel. And then the screaming started.

Chapter 18: Vow

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Personal Log of White Rabbit
Begin Log
Decided to take a short break from my work with the so called “Wolfpack” as to much and they will become numb to the pain and I don’t want that rebel private to become catatonic, he still needs to deliver the message to the rebel Commander.
Honestly was a bit surprised at who the rebel commander was though I guess after what that fool Frisk did to her it’s no surprise she’d join them. Honestly what was that so called “Doctor” even thinking? From the physiological evaluation they did on her she’d most likely have handed over all the information we could have ever wanted, hell she might have even helped us rebuild the device, but no that would have taken time and work and that fool is impatient and wants to be in the history books now.
What he did to her makes me sick, it was pointless torture and I cannot stand pointless things. Ah, the commander could have been a useful asset if he hadn’t ever gotten his hands on her. Now she is an enemy that needs to be removed and from the fact she survived a building falling on her that will be a bit difficult. But no matter, according to the psych eval she values friendship very highly and so the best way to get her to make a mistake is to attack her indirectly, and that is when torture is not pointless.
Granted this Wolfpack I’m working with has been telling me all sorts of information that could be useful later but that is just a side effect, I don’t think they realize this is all happening to them to get at their commander. Once the Rebel Commander is sufficiently off balance and blinded by rage it will be a simple matter to lure her into a trap like so many others in the past.
All I need to worry about if High Commander loses patience’s with me and choses to liquidate me, though I have plans in place to ensure I can disappear. As long as they feel what I am doing is working on their time tables then I should be fine.
Anyways I should get back to work as don’t want them relaxing too much.
End Log

<<<O>>>

Twilight stepped out of the Armory, she had just finished a lesson on firearms maintenance with Dupo, Twilight had learned all she could about working with guns and was cleared to use any firearm she may come across and deiced to also learn how to maintain better than the basics training she had. Even with her new responsibilities she made sure to find time to learn new things as she believed any little information could be useful.

She was still debating on what to learn next as it was between explosives or computer hacking, though cybernetics were of interest to her as well. Twilight sighed as she trotted down the tunnels, so many things to learn and so little time to learn them, though she had promised herself that before she returned home she would learn everything on her check list.

Actually thinking of hacking wasn’t there something she had needed to talk with Delco about a while ago? Twilight stopped dead in her tracks and facehoofed. The damn information from the train! She had been distracted by retaking the base and rescuing the General and with everything that happened after that it had complexly slipped her mind the information that was sitting on her Datapad. Mentally kicking herself the mare made her way for the hacking section of the base.

It didn’t take long for her to reach her destination and she walked into the slightly dark room. Honestly why the soldier in this division preferred it so dark she had no idea. Most of the light in the room came from the computer monitors sitting atop the desks and a scattering of lamps.

“Hello?” She called into the seemingly empty room, she knew it wasn’t but preferred not to get surprised by a soldier suddenly appearing beside her from between the computers and servers.

Sure enough from behind one of the server towers a rebel soldier appeared looking to see who had spoken. “Oh commander, it’s you, what brings you to our den?” The soldier asked without a salute. Twilight had learned quickly that trying to get men and women of the hacking division to adhere to basic military doctrine was a losing battle she could not win as the information only lasted till she left the room.

“I’m looking for Delco, where can I find him?”” She asked and the soldier pointed to a back corner of the room. “Thank you.” She said with a nod to the soldier who disappeared back to whence he came. Twilight started to weave her way deeper into the room having to avoid computer equipment, cables, some food, old cans and the occasional sleeping hacker. The soldiers of this division rarely left the room and someone was always working hacking something whether to aid the rebels or just because they could, Twilight saw no reason to stop it as it kept them sharp.

After making it through the maze she arrived at a desk that was a bit more organized then the rest of them with a familiar officer sitting behind it. “Hello Lieutenant.” Twilight said.

Delco looked up from his computer and quickly stood and snapped to a salute. “Ma’am did not expect to see you down here or I’d have met you at the door.” He said crisply.

Twilight waved a hoof. “Relax Delco, this is an informal meeting.” She told him smiling.

Delco relaxed and retook his sit sitting back in it. “Well then what brings you down here then?” He asked.

“I have a small favor to ask.” She said taking out her Datapad. “Back when Nightmare attacked that train we ran into special forces on board.” She said and

Delco nodded. “So I heard.”

“Well it was clear they were guarding something so I had Rook 2 hack the computer in their car, she couldn’t get much but the basic manifest but a name popped up as a destination for the equipment. “She said and held up the Datapad with the file displayed.

She saw Delco’s face change to a glare. “So Doctor Fucker had equipment on the train.” He said with barely contained anger.

Twilight nodded. “Exactly, Rook 2 wasn’t skilled enough to unlock the full encryption but I know a guy who probably could.” She said smiling at him.

Delco nodded and retrieved a cable from his desk. “Consider it done, anything with that sick fucks name on it and I’ll get into it.” He said as he hooked up the Datapad to the computer and started the transfer. “It will give me a good break anyways from rebuilding the files we got from the heist anyways.”

“How is that going by the way?” Twilight asked.

Deco sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Shit, the computer getting destroyed like that caused a lot of corruption in the files, I’ve managed to repair a little bit of it but not a lot, and I’ll send a report when I find something useful.”

Twilight nodded once more. “I know.” There was a beep from the computer. “Seem the transfer is complete.” She said.

“Yeah” Delco said as he unhooked the Datapad and handed it back to Twilight. “So how you been doing since your surgery been about a week right?”

Twilight opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by a squawk from her radio. Putting a hoof to her ear she spoke into the mic. “Go for Commander Sparkle.”

“Ma’am you are needed in the staging area, we have a situation here.” Came the voice of one of the Rebels guarding the entrance.

“What sort of situation?” She asked.

“Private Wallace from Wolfpack has returned ma’am and….ma’am I don’t know what the hell happened to him but he is asking for you ma’am, won’t speak to anyone else and when we try to get close to him he takes a swing.”

Twilight looked at Delco. “I need to go now.” She said and was galloping from the room before the rebel hacker had a chance to respond. Wolfpack had bene missing for a week and now one of them returns wanting to see her, every fiber of the commander being screamed something was wrong.

<<<O>>>

Twilight galloped into the staging area and found a squad of rebels with their rifles aimed at a shirtless private Wallace who was backed into a corner and there was a crowd of other soldiers around most likely drawn by the sound of the commotion just as some had followed the galloping Twilight.

“Stand down!” Twilight shouted at the squad of soldiers. She pointed at the sergeant on duty. “Report what the hell is going on here?”

“He attacked us ma’am. I don’t know why but he just went off on us.” He said and Twilight noticed that he had a large bruise already forming on his face just below his right eye. “He just kept demanding to see you said he had a message for you.”

Twilight nodded and looked at Private Wallace, she could tell the soldier hasn’t slept in a long time by the bags under his eyes and his eyes darted around franticly as if he expected something to attack him any second. Twilight blinked as she actually looked into his eyes.

Carefully she approached him and waved the other back. “Easy private, you’re safe, you made it back to base.” She said calmly.

Wallace focused on her as if just noticing she was there. “n-no…nowhere is safe….he can be anywhere…” He said and licked his lips before his eyes darted around again.

“Who is everywhere?” Twilight asked and Wallace refocused on her.

“The man in the mask…” He said and suddenly jumped away from the wall and grabbed Twilight and dragged her close. Twilight quickly waved off the soldiers as she heard them raise their rifles. “Make the screaming stop!” Wallace screamed in her face before stumbling back against the wall and sliding down it.

“Private…where is your squad?” Twilight asked taking a seat before the clearly traumatized soldier.

Wallace’s eyes glazed over. “I can still him them screaming…..” He whispered before slamming his head back against the wall. “Make it stop!” He yelled as he did it again and again and again. “Make it stop! Make it stop! Oh god make it stop! I don’t want to hear the screaming anymore!” The soldier yelled as he tried to slam his head into the wall once more but failed as Twilight restrained him in her magic.

“It ok Private, no one can get you here.” She told him soothingly once Wallace stopped fighting her magic.

“Nowhere is safe….the black soldier s can be anywhere….they can get any one of us…” Wallace said and Twilight released her magic. As she thought, that was the second report of the black armored soldier now.

“Private…what did the man in the mask want?” She asked carefully.

“Nothing….he never asked any questions…he just made them scream louder and louder. He never said a single word….” Wallace said starting to shake.

“Private Wallace….you…you said you had a massage for me? What is it?” She asked not sure if she wanted to hear it.

Wallace looked at her, his eyes drained of all life. ‘He said….he said to tell you….this is just the beginning….” He whispered so quietly Twilight barely could hear him before he curled into a ball and started to quietly sob and beg for the screaming to stop.

Twilight tried to speak to him but nothing she said got a reaction from the broken soldier and soon after that a couple of Medics arrived as someone had sent word they were needed.

Carefully the medics sedated Wallace so they could load him onto a stretcher to take him to the Infirmary. Twilight was in the middle of question the squad that had found Wallace when one of the medics called out to her. “Ma’am I think you may want to see this.” He said holding Wallace on his side.

Twilight walked around the soldiers and froze as she saw what the medic had found. There on Private Wallace’s right shoulder blade was the image of a serine white rabbit looking back at the viewer. The son of a bitch had signed his work.

“Get him to the infirmary.” She said and looked at the sergeant on duty. “Spread the word, I want this place locked down, I don’t want so much as a single rat getting in and out, inform all squads currently out on mission that unless they need life and death medical aide they are to avoid returning to base till further notice, am I understood?” She said with an edge of steel in her voice and barley concealed anger.

The Sergeant saluted. “Yes ma’am.” He said before he moved to carry out her orders as the medics carried off Wallace. Twilight stayed only a few minutes to make sure her orders were carried out to the letter before she turned and walked into the base, she needed to talk to someone about something she was going to need to make sure that that bustard payed dearly.

<<<O>>>

The door to Dr. Anderson’s office flew open as the very angry mare walked in. “I need better cybernetics!” She demanded rearing up and slamming her hooves down on the doctor’s desk

Dr. Anderson blinked several times. “There are no better, you have military grade cybernetics, there isn’t anything higher than that. “ Dr. Anderson said calmly.

Twilight ground her teeth. “There has to be something better!” She demanded again.

“I’m sorry commander there isn’t, the only way to get any better would be to get custom cybernetics but I don’t have the resources or equipment to make custom ones, it was a long shot I was able to alter ones to fit you as it was.”

Twilight growled and made a decision in that second. “Then teach me about cybernetics so I can work on them myself.” She said. “If I have to I’ll make it an order.”

Dr. Anderson sighed and removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Very well commander I’ll do my best but it is a complicated subject to learn.”

Twilight smiled at him. “Don’t worry doctor I am a quick study.” She said proudly.

Sighing Dr. Anderson replaced his glasses. “Very well when do you want to start?”

“Now would be a good time.” She said and took a seat in front of the desk and got comfortable as a note pad and pen appeared next to her. “So…start.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight stood in the infirmary beside Private Wallace who was heavily sedated and strapped to his cot. From what she had heard when he was taken off the sedation he had attacked Dr. Grey screaming about getting to screaming to stop and it took two soldiers to restrain him so Dr. Grey could sedate him again.

Twilight watched the broken soldier calmly breathe. If not for the fact she had seen it herself she’d think he was just sleeping, only the mild twitches and spasms ruined the peaceful image. “You’re back there aren’t you?” She quietly asked him.

It had been about six hours since the private had returned to base and yet he was still back where ever he had been held, reliving whatever had happened to him behind his eye lids where there was no escape for him.

Twilight sighed and looked around the room, the medic that was on duty sat slumped over in the chair behind the desk, having been hit with a sleeping spell by twilight the second she entered the room, Dr. Grey was most likely in her quarters asleep or else were in the base. No one but Twilight the medic and Private Wallace were in the room.

Her gaze returned to the young soldiers sleeping form and she sighed again. “I’m sorry this happened to you private, I truly am.” She said calmly as she lite her horn. “It will all be over soon and you won’t have to worry about the screams anymore. “She whispered as her magic reached into his chest and wrapped around his heart. Slow, ever so slowly she began to tighten her magical grip, she could feel the heart start to struggling to pump as her magic tighten more and more and Wallace started to struggle slightly in his sleep.

“Shh…it’s ok.” She whispered to the soldier as her magic tightened enough to stop his heart. “I swear, with Celestia and Luna and whatever gods my exist that I will make White Rabbit pay for what he did. “She told him as the heart monitor went from rabid beeps to a single solid beep as all the readings dropped to zero signaling that Private Wallace had escaped his nightmare.

Twilight held her magic for a few more seconds to make sure before she released the spell and stepped away from the cot. She knew it would look like that his body gave out do the sleep deprivation and now that his adrenaline was no longer pumping through his veins.

As she left the room she reversed the spell on the medic behind the desk, he would wake up in a couple of minutes and rush to try and save Wallace, he wouldn’t be able to and it wouldn’t matter, Wallace was already saved now that he had been released from his torment.

Twilight walked down the tunnels towards her quarters, she had things to plan and equipment to locate. By the time she found White Rabbit she would be ready, and she would make him scream like he made Wolfpack scream and it would be music to the Commander’s ears.

Interlude: Recruits

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Twilight sighed and rubbed her temples as she walked down the halls, her cybernetics were set to Bipedal so she should try and work the headache that had formed do to the latest meeting with the nobles of Canterlot, while they were a bit more accommodating after throwing the one against the wall almost a month ago they were still annoying as fuck, most either were against her now thanks to that incident, other were trying to maneuver for a power and only Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis were completely on her side!

It was another to make her want to cut all their heads off and mount them on the castle wall but she knew there was no way she could do that sadly. Sighing once more Twilight was on her way to meet up with Rarity as Celestia had ordered her to take a break once more and she knew Rarity had been wanting her to visit to try on the uniforms designs she had made up. It was just what Twilight needed to get her mind off her desires and she hadn’t had much chance to see any of her friends.

“So Celestia said Rarity was staying in the room at the end of the hall in the guest quarters of the western side of the castle. “Spike said as he walked along side Twilight. Twilight had sent for the little dragon the day after she had had lunch with her friends as she could use someone to help keep track of the meetings she did not want to go to and help her remember the names of the ponies she would rather forget.

Actually as she had thought about it she had to question why she never brought him on any of her old mission, yes they were dangerous but he was a motherfucking fire breathing dragon! His scale, though not as hard as they would be in the future, will still armored better then pony hide and can’t forget the fact Spike was basically a portable radio which would have come in a lot of handy a few times.

She sighed again thinking about how stupid she had been back then. “Thank you Spike.” She said smiling at him, though Spike had gotten used to Twilight’s new colorful vocabulary she still tried to keep up the friendly air with him, he was still a civilian and kid at that, even if he was a very dangerous kid it wouldn’t do her any good if he was reluctant to help her, that and she had raised him since his birth and though she never thought of him anything other than a little brother he was going to be the closest thing she ever had to a foal of her own. No way in hell was she going to risk a smaller version of herself running around with the self-control of a child.

They walked on in silence till they reached their destination and Twilight knocked several times then waited.

“Coooommmmeee iiinnn!” Came the voice of Rarity in a voice that told rebel soldier that rarity was in a particularly good mood today. Twilight braced herself for the coming assault. Stepping into the room she was met with the same face most ponies gave Twilight who was used to seeing her walking around like biped, in that they made the Brain.exe has stopped working face as Twilight liked to call it as it reminded her of when a computer stopped working.

Rarity blinked after second recovering faster than most ponies Twilight had seen. “Ah Twilight darling! So good to see you!” Rarity said smiling as her brain finished rebooting, for some reason watching that never got old to Twilight.

“Yeah I know you’ve been wanting to see me, sorry about you having to wait so long, I’ve been busy trying to get my army up and running.” Twilight said and smiled at her friend. “How have you been?”

“Oh simply marvelous dear! My mind has been filled with inspiration for those uniforms you asked me to make as well as the dress uniform.” Rarity said happily as she made her way over to a trunk to the side of the room.

Twilight nodded and stepped into the room more, having to flick one of Spike’s spines to get him to snap out of staring at Rarity as was customary. “Yeah thanks for that, you are the only person skilled enough to make something that would work.” Twilight said as Spike closed the door.

“Oh it was a pleasure to help you Twilight and a big honor as well, having the backing of the Princess you could have gotten anyone in all of Equestria to do this and you asked me!” Rarity said as she rummaged through the trunk. “I was happy to do to do the work.”

“Yeah plus this will defiantly help your business as the soldier will basically be walking billboards. “Twilight said with a chuckle and Rarity looked up from the trunk.

“You know, I hadn’t actually thought about that.” She said rubbing her chin with a hoof. “I suppose this will spread my name across Equestria if you go through with your plan to build bases all over the place.”

“And factories, and supply Depos and a few other things.” Twilight said and Rarity stared at her. “What?”

“You are going to have all that built? What in all of Equestria do you think is going to happen that you will need all that?” Rarity asked.

“You never know, we could have another incident like the changeling invasion or a monster attack that the Royal Guard can’t handle.” Twilight said, it wasn’t exactly a lie as they would handle those as well.

Rarity shivered. “Yes I suppose it would be good to have a force to deal with the changelings if they ever come back.” Rarity said, she still hadn’t gotten over what had happened at the Royal Wedding with how easily they had been played by the Queen.

Twilight smiled. “You don’t need to worry about the Changelings; I already have a plan for them so they won’t be an issue.”

Rarity looked at her. “And what is the plan?”

“Classified.” Twilight said immediately.

Rarity sighed and went back to digging through the trunk. “I’m really starting to dislike that word; you say it anytime one of us asked you a question about your new work.”

“Well that’s just how it is in the military, the fewer people who know something the easier it is to keep it from being heard by ears you don’t want it to reach.” Twilight said as she walked over to the fashionista.

“I suppose so; it is still frustrating how much you keep from us these days.” Rarity said.

More than you will ever know. Twilight thought as the white mare pulled out a dark green dress. “I well her is the first design. “She said holding it up.

Twilight looked it over. “Pass.”

Rarity blinked. “Aren’t you going to try it on first?”

“Don’t have to, it’s a dress, it already does work as a uniform for an army.” Twilight replied simply.

Rarity sighed. “Very well, no dresses.” She said and set it to the side; she ended up pulling out several others of different cuts and setting them to the side. Over the next hour Rarity and Twilight went through almost three dozen different designs most of them getting a “Pass” From twilight but a few she did try on before discarding for not being right.

“Well…” Rarity bit her bottom lip a bit uncertainly as she looked at the almost empty trunk. “I have two more left.” She said and pulled out a dark green jacket with matching cap and the other looked slimmer to a dress uniform the Royal Guard wore, Twilight quickly disregarded the second but eyed the first.

Taking it in her magic she looked it over eye a bit wide, it looked almost exactly like the jackets and cap the PFDR wore only it wasn’t camouflaged. Quickly Twilight slipped it on and buttoned it up, it fit perfectly and defiantly looked like a modified version of the uniform the Rebels wore when not in armor with two large pockets on the chest area as well as a slightly smaller pare on the side where saddle bags would go, the biggest difference beside the color was three small pockets that ran down both shoulders.

Twilight smiled as she looked it over before slipping the cap onto her head, her ears pocking through two holes cut in the top for it. After making sure the cap was secured Twilight walked over to the full length mirror and looked at how it looked from every angle before turning a large smile towards the hopeful white mare. “I think we found the army uniform.” She said and Rarity let out a large sigh.

“Well I’m glad you were able to find something to your liking Twilight.” She said as she looked over the purple mare. “It looks very good on you, very presentable.” She said before she started to collect the discarded uniform ideas from the floor. When her magic reached out to retrieve the uniform Twilight wore the purple mare used her magic to block her.

“I think I’d like to keep this one, if you don’t mind that is.” Twilight said with a smile.

“Well, I don’t see why it would be a problem darling.” Rarity said with a smile as she finished packing the other clothes away.

Twilight nodded. “Thank you.” She said before looking at the clock. “IT’s late, I think I’m going to hit the mess hall and then go over some plans for tomorrow.”

“Oh? What’s going on tomorrow? Some special event?” Rarity asked eyeing her curiously.

Twilight nodded. “Tomorrow I get my first shipment of recruits and training begins.” Twilight said happily, while there were still some details that needed worked out enough of the army was set up for Celestia to have put the word out and start recruitment. And best of all, Twilight would be busy with the recruits all day tomorrow so that meant no meetings! Twilight nearly jumped around while saying “YES!” over and over again but her discipline stopped her.

“Oh, that is a big event.” Rarity said as she closed the trunk and she thought for a moment. “Perhaps I shall join you in the “Mess Hall” for some dinner as well as I a famished.” Rarity said with a smile.

Twilight froze slightly. “Well if you want.” She said.

Rarity nodded. “I do darling.”

“Alright, I’m sure it will be an interesting meal. “Twilight said knowing that her friends were unaware to the eating habits she had acquired, this was going to be a very entertaining meal for Twilight as she hadn’t gotten to watch a new pony to react to her eating in a while o she would get dinner and a show. Before they left Twilight moved her armor and helmet into her storage locker for safe keeping.

<<<O>>>

Twilight stood in a hall way that lead to one of the court yards of the castle the day after the very entertaining dinner with Rarity, outside in random groups were about fifty ponies talking among themselves or some standing off by themselves. Twilight observed them unseen from the hall from behind a pair of dark aviator sunglasses she managed to track down to complete her uniform.

“So those are all the recruits I have to work with for now. “She muttered to herself watching the ponies. She had to admit it was more then she had expected as right now she didn’t even have a name for the army much less bases or proper training facilities, right now she was going to borrow the Royal Guards training grounds till the training facility was finished being built outside of Canterlot.

Luckily it shouldn’t be long before construction can begin as the nobles were starting to give into to her demands thanks to Fancy Pants and Celestia. Twilight was happy that research into making fire armors, armor and other equipment Twilight would need to defend Equestria was already underway, granted she had to deal with the scientists whining she won’t leave any of her guns or equipment with them but she was not going to risk untrained people breaking her gear. She did leave some of the manuals with them after making it clear what would happen if they came back damaged.

One of them had actually had asked if they could take her cybernetics apart, something Twilight answered with a flat stare. They actually thought she would let them possible break part of her body? Luckily before she had to beat some sense into that particular scientist the others realized exactly what he had asked and changed the subject.

“Well I think that’s enough time for them to stew. “Twilight said as she switched to bipedal and check to make sure the holster she had made for her sidearm on her flank, over where her Cutie Mark used to be was still easily accessible to her and that her uniform was strain and pressed. Once she was sure she was completely presentable she put her hands behind her backs with a neutral expression walked out into the courtyard.

She smiled inwardly as she watched every one of her recruits brained stopped working as they noticed her walking towards them. This would serve as a test for who would be skilled soldier and who would be just cannon fodder based on who recovered faster.

As she neared the group she was surprised to see Shinning Armor and Princess Cadence off to the side watching the group with interest. Curiosity getting the better of her Twilight made her way over to the. “Captain Armor, Princess Cadence, what brings you here?”

Shinning looked at her. “Ah, right on duty.” He said, he had gotten used to speaking to her both on duty and off, while she wasn’t as cold to him while on duty she still adhered to military doctrine. “We came to watch how you plan to train the recruits since you refused to have a Royal Guard drill instructor transferred to your command.”

Twilight nodded. “Well they wouldn’t be able to effectively train my soldiers how I need.” Twilight said. “As for how I train them, you may observe as long as you do not interfere as I will be training them the same way I was trained.” She told them and then noticed Cadence was staring wide eyed at her. Following her gaze Twilight saw she was looking at her scared flank. “Everything alright?” She asked looking back at the princess.

“What….what happened to your Cutie Mark?” She asked, her voice clearly filled with barely held emotion.

“It was stolen from me.” She said simply and shrugged. “Happened early on, I’ve gotten used to it.” She said. She could see tears starting to form in the corners of Cadence’s eyes. “Anyways I need to get back to the recruits.” She said turning away not wanting to deal with a sobbing pony, besides some of her recruits had recovered from their shutdown.

Walking to the front of the group she took note of which ponies had recovered and which still hadn’t. Silently waiting for the rest to recover over the next ten minutes before speaking. “You are all the sorriest looking sons of bitches I have ever laid eyes on and I dread the day I’ll be calling you worthless pieces of shits soldiers as it will be an insult to proper soldiers.” She said loudly so all of them could hear, out of the corner of her eye she saw Shinning look up from comforting Cadence and frown in her direction.

Several of the ponies before her also frowned or glared at her. “Where the hey do you get off talking to us like that?” A voice called from the back of the group.

Twilight looked towards the voice. “You got a problem with the way I talk to you worthless pieces of flesh?” She called back and watched as an earth pony started to push his way to the front of the crowd towards her. After a few moments the older green earth pony with a yellow mane pushed out of the crowd and glared at her.

“Yes I do, we signed up to this so called “army” to help defend Equestria and the first day you start off disrespecting us.” He said angrily.

“Well that’s because I have no respect for any of you pieces of shit, respect is earned not a Celestia-damned right.” She said and saw several ponies eyes go wide as she used the Princesses name as a curse, why does everyone find that so odd?

The older stallion glared harder. “Oh I see, you just have no respect of anyone do you no matter what they have done huh?” The stallion said as he started to stalk towards her, Twilight glanced at his Cutie Mark and saw it was a map with a dotted line and an X on it, so he was an adventure that explains the attitude. “Did you ever think that some of us left very good lives to join up with this army? Did you?” He demanded.

“No actually I thought I was staring at a Daring Do wannabe.” Twilight replied calmly.

Twilight never saw someone’s face turn that particular shade of red, he looked like two different ponies now as his face was dark red with rage. “You think just because you can walk on two legs that you are better than us? Well let me tell you I’ve seen things and been places that would make a little filly like you run home with your tail between your legs and hide under your bed from all the scary things.” He yelled as he stormed over to her and got in her face. “You’re just a filly who’s probably is fresh out of school and think your education makes you something, and don’t think that just cause you may have been through something major I can guarantee there are worst things out there then whatever gave you your scars. And come on, you are nothing but scares so clearly you don’t know what you are doing cause anyone with half a brain can avoid getting hurt and a unicorn can easily heal themselves. Clearly you are no better than us, heck you are probably less than some of us based on how poorly you can keep from getting injured. “The stallion said in a tirade, the entire time Twilight just watched him with a neutral expression. “Awe did the little filly get so scared she can’t speak?” The stallion said in mock sympathy.

Twilight just stared at him as a smug smile slowly spread over the stallions face, she watched out of the corner of her eye as Shinning and Cadence stared in stunned silence looking between Twilight and the Stallion.

Twilight calmly removed her sunglasses and with a small cloth that she pulled from her storage locker whites some of the spit that had gotten on them from the enraged stallion. Once they were back in place she spoke in a calm voice that carried across the silent court yard. “Actually I was wondering how you’d enjoy the view of Canterlot from twenty thousand feet above it.” She said and the stallion looked at her in confusion a moment before he vanished in a purple flash of light.

“Now then.” Twilight said turning back to the other recruits. “While he enjoys his trip does anyone else want to express their feelings about how I run my army?” She asked calmly putting her hands behind her back once more.

“Uh…Twilly…”Shinning said as he and Cadence walked up to her and she looked at them. “Did...did you actually teleport that stallion above the city?”

“I said I was didn’t eye? Why wouldn’t I follow through with what I said?” She asked calmly every pony in the court yard eyes widened. “He annoyed me so I thought since he was so high and mighty, I’d just put him at the same elevation as his ego.”

“But….you can’t kill ponies that annoy you.” Cadence whispered.

Oh how I wish I could. Twilight thought. “I didn’t say I killed him. “She said as a distance scream started to quickly approach them from the sky. She looked up and saw the stallion plummeting to the ground screaming like a filly the whole way down. When he was about a hundred and fifty feet above the ground Twilight wrapped him in her magic and rabidly slowed him till he was just a few feet above the ground and then dropped him with a thud.

Calmly walking over to the trembling stallion she crouched down beside him. “And you called me a filly. “She said calmly shaking her head before she stood back up. “Back on the line Filly before I send you to thirty thousand feet.” She said, she didn’t care what his name was, from now on her was Filly for everything but official reports.

Slowly the Stallion got to his feet and galloped back to the line, Twilight had to smile at that, least he wouldn’t be an issue anymore.

“Now then if there are no more distraction, let’s do some laps, I think fifty would be a good start.” She said and around her appeared twenty items she was familiar with but none one else in the court yard was. To them they were long silver tubes with a bubble on top, but to Twilight they were motivation and something she had made sure to have made before anything else. “Well what are you waiting for? Start running.” She said with a smile as the group started to run, the stragglers getting some motivation to run faster as did anyone who slowed down.

<<<O>>>

Twilight sat in the Mess Hall surrounded by fifty very tired and sore recruits. The entire day had been spent running laps or running an obstacle course then more laps, all the while being shot by the paint guns Twilight possessed. She hadn’t stopped the training till it was dinner time. Which was why they all sat in the mess hall alongside other castle staff and Royal Guard, Twilight couldn’t wait till her training ground was built so they didn’t need to share everything with the guard.

While everyone else was eating Twilight was having to wait for her food to cook, she was looking forward to the reactions of the recruits to her meal, while she did not plan on converting them to her way of eating as there was plenty of food in Equestria even if they were in a major wore food wouldn’t be an issue unless something happened to turn all of Equestria into an inhospitable wasteland filled with deadly monster and roving bands of ponies that preyed on the weak. Though the chances of that happening were slim.

As she sat there she smelled the air as a scent entered the room. “Crap. “She said as she got to her hooves and started to move towards the kitchen.

She was half way there when she heard a pony in the kitchen shout. “FIRE!” a moment before the cooking staff piled out of the kitchen and into the Mess Hall. The mess hall reacted with the staff panic, the recruits looking around confused as to what to do and the Royal Guard moving to evacuate the two groups. While they handled the other Twilight walked into the kitchen to see several cooks trying to put out a roaring fire in one of the ovens with bowls of water.

Sighing at how ineffective they were being Twilight wrapped the oven in a shield and waited as the fire consumed the oxygen within the shield till it went out. Releasing the shield in a puff of smoke her nose was filled with the scent of burnt meat, seemed they ruined her meal. With a little annoyance she walked over to see how bad the damage was so she’d know if she’d need to wait longer to eat.

She sighed. “Great, just fucking great.” She said as the cooks started to make sure nothing had been damaged in the fire. She looked at the piece of charcoal that used to be her meal and a small idea sprouted in her mind and slowly started to grow. As it grew a smile slowly split her face, a smile she was glad she was facing away from everyone in the room as it would cause problems if they saw it but there was no way she could contain it as the idea for a new unit and weapon took form. And that idea could be summed up in a single sentence she couldn’t help whispering. “Every living thing's flammable.~~~~”

Chapter 19: Intelligence

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Commander Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log
Begin Log
This is Commander Twilight Sparkle, Personal log number one-seven-eight.
It has been a week since I had the base put into lockdown to be read for the coming Fed attack and nothing has happened, that has been no sign of Federal Army soldier anywhere near us and from scattered reports we are getting from squads stranded outside the base the Feds are going about their normal routines with no sign of any build up for an attack.
What the hell is going on? Private Wallace came straight here after he got away from White rabbit, it doesn’t make any sense why he didn’t have him followed to learn the location of our base, I mean he is a fucking Fed for crying out loud and learning the location of our base would aid the Federal Army as they could attack us and disrupt our operations. So why haven’t they attack or done any sort of preparations?
If I didn’t know any better I’d think White Rabbit didn’t care where our base was, but….if that was the case then what was the point of letting Wallace go? Surely it wasn’t just to deliver that message to me…..it doesn’t make any sense. What the hell is White Rabbits goal in this?
Gah, White Rabbit is too much of an unknown and I hate fucking unknowns. I have already put a kill order out on White rabbit with a High Priority Target for any PFDR forces to gather anything on him and if given the chance, no matter what their mission am at the time, if they get the chance to put him down like the animal he is.
*sound of sighing is heard* Anyways I should go, I need to have the lockdown lifted as we can’t leave our people out there forever, that’s just asking for trouble.
This is Commander Twilight Sparkle signing off.
End Log

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked down the tunnels of the sewers, she was outside of the base as she needed to clear her head and try to figure out what White Rabbit was playing with Wallace, nothing about the action of the human made sense to her, it was like he was a Fed but yet wasn’t at the same time. He blew up their own buildings, killing any soldiers still inside, had a perfect opportunities to get intelligence from Wolfpack, but if Wallace was to be believe in his madness then he never once asked a single question.

And then there was letting Wallace go, it was obviously so the rebel soldier could be followed back to their base, in the state Wallace as in he’d have gone straight there, and yet no one had followed or done anything to see where the young soldier went. It was like White rabbit did care about the rebel’s location and had a different objective in mind then the rest of the Feds.

Twilight sighed as she walked, White Rabbit made no sense what so ever, he wasn’t like the soldiers she faced in the field, and he was completely different from them in how he operated. Twilight thought back to her first meeting with the human what had he said? “He was tasked with learning why the Rebels had become more aggressive and seeing me who could move onto the next set of orders.” She said as she walked. “After that he brought the building down.” She stopped dead. “After he told me goodbye.” That was it, it had to be! It was the only thing that made any sense; White Rabbit was targeting her specifically.

That meant she had no real way to predict what he would do as he wasn’t acting like a normal soldier. “Who the hell are you…” She said as she began to trot down the tunnel once more, she had an objective and needed to focus on the mission at hand, she could deal with White Rabbit later.

<<<O>>>

It was a relatively slow night in Our Angle of Hope hospitals ER, only a few injury’s to deal with and one child running a high fever but nothing to major. All and all for an Emergency Room it was a quiet night and Nurse Yeltiz couldn’t be enjoying it more. While she did enjoy her work as a nurse it could be very stressful when the ER was flooded with injured and sick.
She was in the middle of talking to the other nurse behind the admittance counter with her when the door to the ER opened and she looked over to help whoever it was. What she saw confused her as it was a small four legged animal wearing dark green armor.

“What is that? Some kind of dog? Or maybe a horse?” The other nurse asked as she looked at the strange animal as it glanced around the room. The doctors and patience’s attention being drawn to the animal as well by what the nurse said.

“I don’t know but call security so they can shoo it away.” Yeltiz said and the other nurse lifted the phone and paged security. The animal looked over at the two nurses and started to make its way towards them. It didn’t seem to be dangerous as it was calmly walking toward them.

Still Yeltiz kept her eyes on it just in case. She was surprised when the animal reared up and placed it….metal hooves on the counter and stared at her from behind a visor on the helmet. Yeltiz was able to get a good look at the animal and saw that its four legs were cybernetic replacements and from what she could see of its fur under the armor it was purple, which had to be dye as purple was not a natural color for an animal.

But what caught Nurse Yeltiz’s eye the most was the pistol holster on the things chest, why would an animal have a gun? She was caught off guard when the thing smiled at her in a somewhat friendly manner. “Am I to assume you are the nurse in charge here?” It spoke in a friendly and clearly feminine voice. The fact an anima just spoke in perfectly clear English to her caused Yeltiz to real back and she saw the other in the room all staring with wide eyed confusion or surprise. The animal tapped the counter to get her attention. “Well?” She asked still with the friendly smile.

Slowly Yeltiz nodded and the animal smiled wider. “Oh good!” She said happily. “I need a couple of your medical scanners; can you point them out to me? It would save me so much time.” The purple animal said looking around the room.

“Ah….we…what do you need them for? Are you injured?” Nurse Yeltiz asked as she tried to figure out what a talking horse would need with medical scanners as she looked fine.

“Oh you don’t need to worry about that I just need to take a couple off your hands is all as I need them for a personal project of mine.” The horse said with a chuckle as it reached out and gently patted Yeltiz’s head. Its attention was drawn to a side door as a member of security walked in and eyed the situation.

“Everything okay Yeltiz?” The guar asked as he approached the counter.

“Ah…um…yes.” Yeltiz said taking her eyes off the horse and looking at the guard. “This…animal just wants a couple of our medical scanners.” She told him and the guard looked between her and the horse in confusion.

“Um...ok Yeltiz I think you need a vacation if you think animals can talk. “The guard said as he moved to shoo the animal away. “Ok, come on time for yo—“The relative silence of the room was shattered by three loud bangs and the guard stumbled back as three bloody holes appeared over his heart.

Yeltiz looked at the horse that was still partly on the counter and still had the same friendly smile trained on the nurse, to her side and wrapped in a purple glow was the pistol that had been holster on its chest aimed toward where the guard had been. “Now that the interruption is dealt with. “The pistol moved over and was pressed to Yeltiz forehead. “Where can I find those medical scanners?” the animal said without having lost its friendly demeanor at all.

With a shaking hand Yeltiz pointed to one of the carts beside the counter not trusting her voice. “Oh thank you so very much.” The horse said happily as she pulled the gun away from the nurse face and started to hum while the pistol floated beside her the horse made her way to the cart. Opening it with the same purple glow as what was wrapped around the gun she looked through the cart before she pulled out two of the medical scanner and looked at the nurse with the friendlies smile yet. “Thank you for the help, have a nice night.” She said before she walked to the door and disappeared into the night leaving behind the stunned medical staff of Our Angle of Hope Hospital Emergency Room.

<<<O>>>

Twilight sat in her quarter carefully taking apart the two medical scanners she had retrieved from the hospital across town beside her sat her Datapad playing MUSIC at full volume as she had started doing recently; if she could do what she was planning it would make her much more effective as a medic. Sitting scattered around the area were various pieces of cybernetic limbs, all of which were taken apart, the last week on lockdown had been useful as it gave her a lot of time to learn from Dr. Anderson as with only having to take occasional reports from the stranded squads there wasn’t much she really needed to do beside take a few reports and check the soldier posted at the entrances.

In short this week had given her the time to learn what took humans years of schooling to learn and Dr. Anderson had mentioned he was impressed by how well she understood what he taught her as well as the fact she ended up deducing a lot of what he had been going to teach. She had reminded him that she was used to doing a lot of research and working with science and learning cybernetics was no different.

And so after the lockdown was lifted she had a checklist of items she planned to retrieve from the surface in order to build her cybernetics, it would take some time to locate what she needed but actually acquiring them wouldn’t be such an issue as she had already acquired most of what she needed in the last few hours. And now that she had retrieved the first of the items she needed part of her quarters had been converted to a workshop.

“Ah there we are. “She said as she got the final medical scanner taken apart, she separated the pieces she needed from what she wouldn’t and then moved them all to the side till she would need them later. She sat back as she closed her eyes and moved her head side to side, producing a loud pop each time. She wasn’t exactly sure when she had started doing that but for the most part she didn’t pay any attention to minor details like that as there were more important things.

She grabbed up the Datapad and read over where she needed to go to next. “Ok, so next on the list in retrieving the servos I’ll need and that’s not very far from here. “ She said with a smile as she killed the music and got up from the workstation and headed for the door, she had left orders behind so that things could run just fine while she gathered what she needed so she didn’t need to worry about the day to day operations of the base, and if something happened they could reach her by radio. They all knew she was working on a personal project so wouldn’t disturb her unless there was an emergency. And since all that was happening till further notice was getting the stranded squads back in and intelligence work it meant she was the only one going out.

All in all she had the time she needed to gather what she needed for her upgrades and just had a few more items to acquire before she began building them.

<<<O>>>

Twilight laid prone on a rooftop half a block down from the factory she needed to get into to retrieve her servo, while this had been going to be a simple mission it had quickly become more difficult by the fact it looked like there had been a car accident near the gate to the factory which meant Feds were crawling all over the area as were fire crews and medical personal. While sneaking past the plant workers and security wouldn’t have been a big deal as even if they spotted her it would have taken time for the Feds to arrive if they called for help, with Feds right outside they’d be on her in moment if she was detected. And she had to curse the fact she didn’t retrieve a suppressor from the Armory before leaving.

She lowered the binoculars she was using to observer both the Feds and plant security’s movement for any gaps she could exploit, unfortunately the wreck had disrupted all normal movements and had the plant security doubled up. She needed a way to move through the plant without anyone seeing her but the place would be full of the night shift workers and guards.

She could teleport but that had the risk of the flash being noticed which would alert people to her presents and location so that was out and without really have much more than a floor plan of the factory to work with she couldn’t guarantee where works and guards would be. She thought about invisibility but she didn’t have the time to try and come up with a spell to do that and even then without proper testing it would be a huge risk it failing at an inopportune time. What she needed was to adapt a spell she knew but what?

She mentally ran through all the spells she knew for one that could be used but came up with nothing. “Ok…I need to think like an infiltrator...” she mumbled as she thought, there was only one time she had met skilled infiltrators and they were the Changelings when they invaded during the Royal Wedding.

She couldn’t use the shapeshifting magic but she remembered something else they had also done to avoid detection. Could she maybe do it? It wouldn’t be too hard to adapt that spell for what she needed.

She looked at the wall that held the rooftop access door on it. “Shouldn’t be too hard.” She thought as she she mentally began to run the calculation to modify the spell she would need. It took her about an hour but by then she had worked out how to modify the telekinesis spell to suit her needs.

She took a deep breath and cast the spell on her hooves as she approached the wall. “Here goes nothing. “She said as she placed a hoof against the wall, then a second, and then a third, taking another deep breath while balanced on a single rear hoof she carefully lifted it off the ground and placed it on the wall. Ignoring the bit of vertigo she very carefully took a step, then another and soon she was walking straight up the wall like the Changelings could do.

She smiled as she reached the top of the wall and looked back at the “ground” this would work. “No one ever looks up.” She said with a broad smile. She walked back down the wall to the normal ground. She would need to take some time later to improve this spell as it was still a bit crude but it would serve her purpose for now.

She used a series of teleports to reach the roof of the plants main building and she used her magic to silent break a window just below the roof. “Ok, time to really test the spell.” She whispered as she recast the spell and walked down to the window and stepped through, she had to fight the vertigo as she made her way to the ceiling and sighed with relief as the spell holds, thought she didn’t like the fact her tail was hanging down but she had to focus on the spell in case it start to fail so there was nothing to do about the embarrassing position shew as in, though she was glad there were no ponies around.

Looking up se saw the floor below was filled with plant workers going alone the automated assembly line to make sure everything ran smoothly and mixed in were patrolling guards though only a handful compared to the hundred or so workers scattered about the main floor and catwalks.

Carefully walked along the ceiling and making a mental note to work on this spell so as she doesn’t have to keep fighting the vertigo of being upside down she made her way through the building, happy to see her theory proved correct about no one ever looking up, though she still made sure to move slowly so the movement didn’t catch some ones attention.

Eventually she reached the part of the plant where her objectives lay, shipping. She looked up at the freshly manufactured top of the line servos being loaded into boxed to be shipped off to be installed in various types of heavy lifting equipment.

She just needed the quality control officers to not be looking so she could levitate up a few. Looking around she saw a forklift lifting a filled box to load, perfect. Once the create was lifted she used her magic to compress the peddle to the floor so the forklift launched back rabidly causing it to drop the box with a loud crash. This got everyone nearby attention s the quality control officers started to beret the driver for being so careless as they moved to make sure nothing was damaged. Without anyone noticing a large number of servos lifted from one of the boxes wrapped in a purple glow and sailed up to the ceiling.

Twilight smiled as she quickly tossed the servos into her storage locker and made her way back to the roof through the same window she had entered, not a single person have once noticed the mare walking along the ceiling.

With these servos Twilight just needed to track down the implants to allow her to control everything and she will be all set to build her cybernetics.

Though she did concede that she had done enough late night missions now as the sun was starting to rise and she needed to check on base operation as well as how intelligence work was going. But all and all this night had gone very well and she couldn’t help smiling.

<<<O>>>

“What do you mean there isn’t any information on those black armored fuckers?!” Twilight yelled slamming her hooved on the desk of the Lieutenant who was in charge of the rebel intelligence network.

“I mean what I said ma’am, we couldn’t find any Intel on them, it’s like they simply don’t exist.” The women replied.

Twilight ground her teeth. “That doesn’t make any sense, we have confirmed siting of them, we know they exist, there had to be information on them somewhere.” Twilight said glaring at the officer.

The women just shrugged. “We will keep looking ma’am but I don’t know why we can’t find anything.”

Twilight sighed. “Very well, continue your search.” Twilight said and she turned to leave ignore the salute the lieutenant as she left.

She needed to relax, all these unknowns were getting her over stressed and her mane was going to start turning grey or her fur was going to fall out and she was way too young for either of those.

She knew just what she needed and headed for the one person who could help. Knocking on the door of the General’s office she waited for him to clear her for entrance which came promptly and she pushed the door open and gave a crisp salute.

“Ah Twilight what brings you here, got an intelligence report of interest?” Clancy asked.

Twilight snorted as she relaxed. “I wish, I’ve been having our people try to dig up anything on those back armored soldier but so far they can’t find anything and told me it’s like they don’t exist which is ridiculous.” She said with a laugh. She stopped when she noticed the General wasn’t laughing. “Sir?” She asked tilting her head to the side.

Clancy sighed as he sat back. “So I guess it was true.” HE said calmly running his hand down his face.

“What was true Sir?” She asked confused.

“Back when I was a sergeant we had been going to raid a group of gun runners, we were all geared up and ready to launch when the order came down to stand down and return to base.” Clancy said looking at her. “You can imagine how confused we all were but orders were order so we returned to base.”

Clancy paused as he retrieved the bottle of whisky from his desk and two glasses pouring one for them both. Twilight took it happily as she took as eat to listen.
“I asked my superiors why were called off and they just told me that they had realized the situation and needed an officer for the job.” The General said looking at his drink. “I wasn’t satisfied so a couple weeks later I looked into where the gun runners had been and learned the entire place had been wiped out an hour after we had been recalled but yet I could find no record of who did it. Which was odd.” Clancy took a drink.

“As I dug I started hearing old rumor of units that were well trained and well equipped and only deployed for special mission, but whenever anyone looked into them there was no record of such a unit.” HE looked at Twilight. “As I rose through the ranks I heard the same rumors again this time from an officer so they had more information. IT seems these units that don’t exist were called “Black Operations” or Black Ops for short and they were sent in to do jobs the government wanted no record of.”

Twilight nodded, it sounded exactly like what they were dealing with. “And who did these ‘Black Ops’ answer to? Surely they had someone to command them.”

Clancy nodded. “When I was a fresh lieutenant I met another lieutenant when he came to our base. He just arrived one day in a well pressed officer’s uniform. I still don’t know what he was there for but I ended up bumping into him in the mess hall and we got to talking. “Clancy said as he poured himself another drink. “The man loved to talk but anytime I asked what he did in the army he deflected the topic. I eventually got the distinct feeling I was being toyed with, like a cat lays with a mouse before it goes in for the kill.”

Clancy sighed. “The topic ended up on the non-existent soldiers and the man laughed as I mention I was trying to figure out if the rumors were true or not.” Clancy looked at Twilight. “He told me that I should be sure I am ready to open certain doors that cannot be closed once they are open. I didn’t understand what he meant but he would not elaborate but he did start talking more about himself.” Clancy sighed and looked at his drink once more. “He was a scrawny man, shorter then me with a hand shake like a wet noodle and after he finished talking about himself he was the most terrifying man I had ever met.”

Twilight blinked. “Why? If he was so weak why would you be scared of him?”

“Because he said he studied medical books and biology books.” Clancy said and Twilight blinked again as Clancy looked at her. “And he had no intention of becoming a doctor or saving lives through medicine.”

That actually made Twilight shiver slightly as it brought up the memory of the Merc back in the old base. “He told me if I really wanted to know about the Black Operation soldiers as he called them, then I should come find him.” Clancy said sitting back. “I told him that I can’t very well find him if I don’t know who he is as he never told me.”

“And he laughed against and then introduced himself as Lieutenant Lynch of Federal Army Intelligence and all I need to do is ask the base commander to be put in contact with him and he’d be more than happy to meet with me. “Clancy looked at Twilight once more. “The look in his eyes when he said that made me fear for my life and I wanted to get away from him as fast as I could.” Clancy sighed. “He laughed once more and said he had business to attend to and bid me to have a good day.”

Twilight looked at the General; she had never seen him afraid before, it was very odd to see such an emotion on the man. “What does this have to do with everything?” She asked carefully.

“Everything Commander, absolutely everything. “He said looking at her “Because if Black ops have been deployed and are taking orders from White rabbit which it looks like they are it means but one thing.”

Twilight thought for a moment and then the realization hit her and the general nodded as he saw her reach the conclusion and then downed his drink in one go. “White Rabbit is a Federal Army Intelligence Officer.”

Chapter 20: Escalation

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White Rabbit Personal Log
Begin Log
You know some of the other operatives have asked why I keep personal logs when it can be dangerous in our line of work and I always answer them the same way, it’s only dangerous if you leave dangerous information on them. Personally I find it very relaxing to take time out of my work to just voice my thoughts. It’s far better than dealing with the morons I am usually surrounded with at my posting, but I digress.
It’s been some time since I had my men release the little massager at the edge of the city, I wonder how the commander reacted to the message, though based on the information I have on her I can imagine.
Had to deal with another request from the moron Frisk again a couple days ago asking for any information on his preciouses Subject P438-29T, honestly it disgusts me how obsessed he is with her. It seems every week he puts in a request for information on her or for us to look for her claiming it is the utmost important to science that she be found.
Personally I wish they’d let me feed him to a pack of rabid dogs for what he did to her and how he acts like she is an object to be owned, makes me sick. I know it sounds hypocritical since I employ torture in my line of work but the difference there is a goal to what I do, and I don’t act like the subject is my property. He does that to a living creature for his own selfish gain and it sickens me to no end.
Anyways I should go, my lunch break is nearly over and I need to be back in my post so as to avoid drawing attention to myself.
End Log

<<<O>>>

Twilight sat hunched over a cybernetic leg carefully applying the armor to the limb, she had already built the legs and was just needing to put the finishing touched on them as right now they were skeletal in natures and would do no good in that state in the field. It had been a simple matter shaping the high grade steel to what she needed with her magic, when she had easily melted the metal down and then cooled it into the shape she wanted she had paused as that should have been more difficult than it was.

It had caused her to actually think about her magic and she realized that her head no longer hurt when she stopped bullets with her shields, no matter how many she was stopping. And that had led her to remember her encounter with the Fed Tank during the raid on the base outside of town, while it did hurt and her shield had shattered each time she still did stop a tank shell with only a stumble and was able to stop three shells total then perform a teleport before her burn out.

As she thought about it had led her to only one conclusion, her magic power had increased, weather do to how often she burned it out or how much she was getting field training with it she didn’t know but one way or the other her magical ability had improved drastically since she had first arrived here. She idly wondered how powerful she would get before she returned home.

After her musings on the subject she had returned to the matter at hand and now was just putting the last set of armor on her upgrades. The legs had been the easiest part of her work, though she did have some issues with one addition in the forelegs making it where she couldn’t bend them but she had managed to think around that by having the blade be in her storage locker and enchanting the deployment mechanism to be able to draw them out. She had made sure to test each one a hundred times to make sure they worked every time and worked out any bugs she found before she ran more tests as bugs in her upgrades would not be good.

She had to admit she was feeling excited about the idea of upgrading herself, She paused for a moment and blinked at what she thought before she shrugged and got back to work only to be interrupted by a knock at her door. Sighing at the interruption she pushed herself away from the workbench. “Come.” She called as she got to her hooves. She was surprised at who walked in. “Oh, Dr. Anderson, what can I help you with?” She asked, she had been expecting a messenger or something.

“Nothing commander, I was just stopping by to see how your work was progressing.” He said as he eyed her work station and all the items scattered around it. “What is all this?” He asked as he picked one of the industrial grade servos.

Twilight quickly pulled it out of his hand with her magic and placed it on the table before covering it all in a tarp. “Just things I am experimenting concerning cybernetics.” She said. “But it’s not finished so I’d like it if no one saw them till they are complete.” She aid smiling at him.

Dr. Anderson looked at her. “Ah pardon me.”

“It’s fine.” Twilight said waving a hoof. “I just want them to be completed before anyone sees them is all.”

Dr. Anderson nodded. “Yes, I’ve met many scientists like that before.” He looked around the room. “Though I suppose you don’t want any assistance then.”

Twilight shook her head. “No sorry, but thanks for the offer.” She said with a smile. “I appreciate it.”

Before Dr. Anderson could reply there was another knock on the door. “Come.” Twilight called once more and Privet stepped in and saluted. “Ma’am intelligence reports a squad has received a lead on White Rabbits location.” He said and Twilight eyes widened.

“I need to go now Dr. Anderson was nice talking with you.” She said before pushing pas the private and heading to the intelligence section. She nearly galloped down the tunnels till she burst into the intelligence section.

“Ah ma’am I thought you’d want to join us for this.” The Lieutenant said before gesturing to one of the solder who typed on his computer and the large screen on the far wall light up with camera feed from what looked like a store’s camera across the street from some houses. “One of our squads who were meeting with one of our informants received intel on a house on the west side of the city that White Rabbit uses. They reported it and then made their way there per kill orders.” The officer said. “We were just waiting for you as I thought you’d want to oversee the operation.”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you, proceed. “ She said as she watched the screen.

“Vector Squad, mission is a go, I say again mission is a go.” The lieutenant said into her radio.

“Roger command, proceeding.” Came the reply from Vector’s Sergeant over the screens speaks. Twilight watched as Vector came into view of the camera moving silently. Two breaking off and heading for the backyard while three other’s formed up on the front door. The only sound in the room was from the squads radios as the camera feed was silent. “In position, making entry in three….two…one!” She watched as one of Vectors soldier kicked in the front door and they swarmed inside.

Twilight held her breath waiting for the sound of gun fire or something, not silence, she didn’t like silence on missions like this.

“Kitchen Clear!”
“Entry Clear!”
“Hallway Clear!”
“Dining Room Clear!”
“Bedroom Clear!”
“Bathroom Clear!”
“Livingroom Clear!”

Came the voices of the members of Vector as they swept the house. “All rooms are clear of target, command.”

“Confirm Vector, sweep again.” The lieutenant said.

“Roger command, moving…hold up.” The sergeant said.

“What is it Vector?”

“The TV just turned on Command.” The Sergeant replied and then every fiber of her being tenses as a new voice was picked up by Vectors radios.

“HeLlo C0mM3ndeR, WHilE y0u m4Y noT b3 h3r3 perSOnaLlY I Kn0w you aRe lisTENinG.” White Rabbit’s distorted voice said over the radio.

“Oh shit! Everyone out now!” Vectors Sergeant yelled a few moments before the security cameras feed was filled with the image of a house being engulfed in a massive fireball and everyone in the room save Twilight had to cover their ears as the speaks spat out feedback as Vector’s radios were violently destroyed while still broadcasting.

Twilight stared at the screen as the fireball slowly receded to show a raging inferno where a house had once stood. Twilight grit her teeth so hard they threated to break as the others slowly recovered from the feedback. “Cut the feed.” The lieutenant said and a moment later the screen and went dead. “Damnit, find me that informant, I want to know where they got their information from.” She said.

“Don’t bother, they are probably dead already, White Rabbit wouldn’t leave a loose end.” Twilight said as she turned for the door. “I’ll be in my quarters.” She said not bothering to wait for a response, her drive to finish armoring her upgrades had just been doubled.

<<<O>>>

Commander Twilight Sparkle walked into the surgical bay, it was one of the rare operations she walked around without armor but the armor would just get in the way so she left it in her quarters. Beside the surgical table was another tables with her upgraded cybernetics laid out, it had taken her almost a week to make them but they were finally complete and ready to be installed.

Standing beside the tables and already in surgical scrubs stood Dr. Anderson and Dr. Grey. “Are you sure you want to do this Twilight? I mean, the implants you designed are far more intricate then any I’ve seen me or Dr. Anderson have seen. “Dr. Grey said looking at Twilight over her mask. “Your motor cortex will be more implant then grey matter as will you frontal lobe and I can’t even begin to know what most of these will do.”

Twilight nodded to her. “I know, I have made my decision Doctor and I know the risks.” She said calmly. She knew very well the risks of installing that many implants but every one of them was needed to run her cybernetics. “And I know unlike normal ones there won’t be any way to safely remove them after a few months due to their positions, I’ve already gone over all of it but that was an unavoidable side effect.”

Dr. Grey looked at Twilight still clearly concerned. Twilight smiled at her. “Relax Doctor, remember? I’m unkillable, I mean if dropping a ten story building on me didn’t do the job then there’s no way I’ll die from this.” She said with confidence, she knew those two things were complete different and the surgery was far more dangerous than anything she had faced in the field but she needed Dr. Grey to be forced and not worrying about things.

Dr. Grey sighed. “If you say so Twilight. “The doctor said, though she didn’t sound like she believed it her shoulders did relax somewhat.

Twilight nodded and climbed onto the table. “Hey when I wake up drinks are on me ok? I hear there is a good bar on the corner of 8th street and Henson Avenue.” Twilight said. “I’m sure they won’t mind serving a magical talking unicorn.” Twilight joked, managing to get a small laugh from both the doctors; good they loosened up a bit.

Dr. Anderson placed the mask over her muzzle, Twilight was happy that this was the first time she’d ever have to wear this mask or be in the room as despite everything it still made her skin crawl and fill her with a desire to run as fast as she could away, truth be told it took every ounce of her self-control not to lash out at the two doctors that stood over her. “Ok now count backwards from one-hundred” Dr. Anderson said.

“One-hundred….ninety-nine…..ninety-eight…..ninety-seven……..ninety-six…………ninety-five…………………ninety-fourrrr…………”

Twilight blinked and woke up in total darkness unable to move. It took a moment for the disorientation and mild panic to of waking from the gas to wear so Twilight’s internal panic ceased. She would not miss any part of these surgeries that was for sure.

She laid in total darkness for a couple of minutes before the fact she was awake was finally noticed and a tap on the shoulder signaled her to lift her head. She felt the new implant at the base of her skull was moved and after a few moments there was the click and more pain then Twilight ever thought she’d feel coursed through her body and she couldn’t help crying out as her custom cybernetics came online. She couldn’t even tell where the pain was coming from, it was just everywhere and she couldn’t even begin to describe it.

Then ever so slowly the pain began to fade slowly and she became aware of more than just pain, like the face she had managed to dump her cot over to send to spilling on to the floor and the two squads of soldiers in the room, several of them picking themselves up off the floor across the room.

She blinked away the spots in her vision and took several deep breaths as the worst of the pain faded, there was still twinges and a constant burning sensation were her cybernetics met living tissue but nothing like the pain from before.

“wha……..what happened?” She croaked out, her throat hurt a lot.

The soldier stood a little ways back eyeing her carefully; some of them had their hands resting on their sidearms. “Simple. “Dr. Anderson said from across the room where he held and ice back to his cheek. “We turned on your cybernetics and you started screaming and thrashing around as if you were having a small seizer, well I think you were at one point but I don’t really know, all the monitors started going crazy as your vitals were all over the place.”

Twilight nodded and looked at the soldiers. “They heard the screaming and rushed in. they tried to restrain you so you didn’t hurt yourself and you….”Dr. Anderson trailed off.

“And I what?” Twilight said as she looked at him from the floor.

“You threw them across the room like they were sacks of flour in your thrashing. If not for their armor I think you’d have accidently killed them, as is I think several of them probably suffered broken ribs or other bones. “He said as she eyes the soldier her either had arms hanging loosely at their sides or were clearing in pain as they breathed.

Twilight blinked several time, well it seems she had a good idea of her knew strength if she threw fully armored soldiers across the room. Slowly she rolled over onto her stomach and got her hooves under her. Breathing through the pain she slowly rose to standing as the soldier back peddled to a safe distance.

Twilight rolled her shoulder and cracked her neck before she took a careful step forward, then another. She could feel all eyes in the room on her as the soldiers back away and closed in behind her like water, ready to spring into action to restrain her if need be. Twilight ad to give them credit as most of them had broken bone if her scan was working correction and yet they were still ready to fight her if need be.

She walked around the room ignoring the pain she was in and after she circled the room several times she stopped and took a deep breath, time to test one of the other systems she now had. She yeah through the mental commands through the interface on and in her frontal lobe and switched her cybernetics to their secondary mode.

Carefully she pushed off with her forelegs and stood on her hind legs, swaying a bit till she found her balance and once she had it her fingers extended from her front hooves. She looked around the room and saw both Dr. Grey and Dr. Anderson were staring in shock and surprise while the soldier only looked more weary of her new stature as she had effectively doubled her height.

With a lot more care then before she took a small step forward and then another, the entire time the soldier followed her movements like hawks. Slowly she took more normal sized steps, which caused her to stumble. She waved off Dr. Grey as she moved to help Twilight back up and stood up on her own. Walking around the room once more she stumbled a couple more times till she adjusted to being bipedal.

Still she made sure she did thirty loops of the room before she was satisfied she had walking down, she’d try running later.

She looked at the group of humans in the room and saw the soldiers tense as blue icons appeared over their heads and yellow ones appeared above Dr. Grey and Dr. Anderson as she switched into combat mode. She’d need to test to see if the IFF tags her squad had registered properly but so far it labeled friendly forces with the blue icons and civilians with yellow as it was supposed to. Later she’d test the hostile indicator when she got the chance.

She looked around the room to make sure it wasn’t indication anything else as something it was not but only the humans were labeled. She didn’t worry about the soldier tensing as when combat mode activated her eyes turned yet and did glow slightly, at least the eyes had during her tests so she assumed they were doing so now.

She switched back to normal mode and the soldier relaxed. She then lifted her hooved and aimed them towards the ceiling. Time to test the enchantment she had to create. With a thought her two titanium blades shot out almost instantly to their full twelve inch length.

Her ears swiveled as she heard the sound of several guns cocking and when she looked half the soldiers had drawn their sidearms and they were all aimed at Twilight. She blinked then looked between the soldier and her blades and back. “Um…suppose I should have warned you before doing that huh?” She said a tiny bit sheepishly, the now armed soldiers all nodded slowly and she smiled much more sheepishly as she retracted her blades, there was a few other features she needed to test but they would take somethings before she could do so.

“You can relax, I’m fine now.” She said. The soldier did the absolutely no such relaxing and Twilight sighed. “I am ok, I’m not going to flip out and attack anyone, and I’m just testing my new cybernetics so go on, shoo.” She said waving them away. Slowly they lowered their guns and holstered them. They stood for a few moments before making their way over to Dr. Grey to get much needed medical attention.

“Seeing as you two are going to be busy I’m going to head out and walk around the base a bit. “Twilight told the doctors.

“Be careful Twilight, if you feel anything odd come right back here let us know. “Dr. Anderson said and Twilight had to suppress a laugh. Weird, right, I’m just a quadruped that can now walk like a biped and my brain is full of computer chips and she was now strong enough to throw soldier across room with just her barehooves and am in constant pain, nothing feels odd at all. She thought as she walked out the door.

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked into the bases armor and saw the familiar sight of Dupo standing inside his cage. “Well, well, look who took a growth spurt. “He said as he saw her and she frowned, she had hoped to catch him off guard like the other soldier she had past who all had taken double takes or outright stared at her as she walked on two legs down the tunnels.

Guess that was too much to hope for from the armory officer. “Yeah, yeah Old Man. I’m no here to chit-chat I’m here to test my firearms control.”

“I seem to recall you are already certified as a marksmen Kid.” Dupo said.

“Yes with my magic, no these. “She said as she lifted her forehooves and wiggled her fingers.

Dupo looked at them and shrugged. “Very well. “He said as he started to grab various gun from the shelves before walking out with them. He laid them out on the tables as Twilight walked over.

She picked up the assault rifle and tried to hold it correctly but it was awkward and she wasn’t able to hold it properly. “Damnit.” She hissed in annoyance after a few minutes of trying to position the rifle so she could use it and failing.

“I think you need something smaller kid. “Dupo said as he picked up a SMG and handed it to her. With a sigh Twilight took it after setting the rifle down. She placed the stock against her shoulder and couldn’t help noticing the SMG looked like a rifle in her grip do to her size. “There you go, try firing it. “Dupo said handing her a full mag.

She easily loaded it as even with finger it was still the same motion as her magic if felt different and approached the firing line. Taking aim at the target she pulled the trigger, the recoil was harder to control while actually holding the gun but after a bit she was able to compensate enough to get almost the same accuracy as her magic.

Once she was satisfied she turned around to find Dupo smoking as usual. “So looks like I’ll need an SMG that I can use when bipedal.” She told him as she walked over to him.

He gestured to the gun in her grasp. “That one should do.” He told her and she looked at him before she moved it into her storage locker. She looked over the table for other guns she could use but everything but the pistols were to big much to her annoyance. “I think I have something you can use.” Dupo said reading her expression before going back into his cage and pulling something out from under the counter. He brought it out and Twilight blinked.

It was a style of shotgun hadn’t seen before, it had a shorter barrel then the ones on the table and was missing its stock. “It’s called a Mossberg 500, it’s an old pump-action riot-gun, hasn’t been manufactured for years now but I managed to get my hands on one before the rebellion.” Dupo told her as he handed it to her. It doesn’t hold much ammo, only five shells plus one chambered but it gets the job done.”

Twilight blinked at the antique and looked at the armory officer. “And you are letting me use this? This thing has to be a collector’s item and it looks brand new.” She said in disbelieve he was handing her something like this.

He merely shrugged. “Not like I’m going to use it Kid, it just sits around collecting dust. You’ll put it to much better use then I will.”

Carefully Twilight took the riot-gun and pumped it; it made a very audible click and sounded like it had just come off the assembly line. Dupo must have taken extremely good care of it the entire time he had it. She looked up as he held out a box of shells. With care she started to load the shotgun before pumping a shell into the chamber and approaching the firing line. She took aim and squeezed the trigger, the gun kicked hard but she was read for it and kept it under control as she pumped another shell. She quickly emptied all the shells and looked at the gun. It worked like a dream.

She walked back to Dupo who watched her. “Thank you, this means a lot.” She told him still in shock he’d give her something like this.

He looked at her. “Kid, this is an armory, my job as armory officer is to make sure everyone gets the guns they need and you needed a shotgun you can actually use while playing human.” Dupo said.

Twilight rolled her eyes as he blew smoke at her like he usual did. “Yeah you’re right Old Man, whatever was I thinking you gave me this out of the kindness of your heart?” She said flatly.

“Damn right.” He said and looked at her. “Now that you have what you need, kindly—“

“Get the hell out of your armory.” She said. “I’m going I’m going. “She said as she headed for the door, putting the riot-gun in her storage locker as she walked through the door. She had somewhere else she needed to go anyways.

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked into the Training area of the rebel base and just as she thought Mendez was putting recruits through hell, she smiled as she saw his back was to the door. Without a sound she slowly approached him. “You know the day a big eyed freak like you sneaks up on me is the day the sky falls, you know that right?” He said suddenly when Twilight was just a few feet away from him causing her to jump.

“How the fuck? I didn’t make any sound!” She said.

Mendez just looked at her flatly. “And as is aid, the day you sneak up on me is the day the fucking sky falls.”

She huffed. “Whatever. I’m here for so help adjusting to my new bipedal stature, and I figured you’d be the one person who could help.” She told him crossing her forelegs.

He stared at her and shrugged. “Suppose I can help out the girly horse play human.” He turned back and yelled at the recruits. “That enough running, on the line now you sons of bitches!” he yell and the recruits ran over as best they could clearly winded and Twilight joined them on the line smirking as their eye’s bugged out at seeing an honest to Celestia alien.

“Now see here, out good Commander has saw fit to join you pukes and show you a thing or two about what a soldier actually is” Mendez said as he eyed all of them. “So breaks over, start running!” He barked and Twilight immediately turned and started running, reacting faster than the human recruits who were not used to Mendez’s brand of training yet. Twilight had a couple of issues with running but with “motivation” from Mendez she quickly overcame the issues.

The obstacle course really helped her learn to control her new limbs and she was happy to move onto hand to hand training. After getting a quick explanation of how to fight as a biped she was paired with a recruit that she easily took down, and then she did the next. It seems Mendez was using her as a training dummy for the recruits as he watched and graded.

Then he decided to show them how to fight properly as he stepped into the ring with Twilight who couldn’t help smiling, she was faster and stronger then she used to be with her new cybernetics, their spar would go a lot more different then in the past.

She was right of course, she lasted twice as long before Mendez floored her. She quickly healed and they went at it again. In the end it was twenty wins and zero losses Mendez, how the fuck couldn’t she beat an unaugmented human when she could throw fully armed soldier around like toys!

When Mendez called an end to the training for the day six hours after Twilight had joined them she left grumbling about how it was scientifically impossible for him to beat her and she told him such.

“Commander, the day I lose to you is the day I become a pretty princess in that magical land you come from.” Was all he said in response.

<<<O>>>

Sergeant Dupo sat in his weapons cage reading the latest issue of Future Weapons when he heard the door to the armory open, looking up from his reading material he saw one of the squads walking in carrying creates. “Hey there Sergeant, just got in after hitting a Fed convoy and picked you up something nice while we were out. “The sergeant said as the rest of her squad started to place the crates against the wall next to the Cage.

Dupo marked his page and unlocked the door before stepping out and relocking it. “And what sort of present did you get an old man?” He asked as he walked over.

The sergeant rolled her eyes. “You and I both know you ain’t old.”

Dupo meanly shrugged before taking out a cigarette. “Says you.” He said around it before lighting it.

“Says the fact you can build an entire weapons cage by yourself in under an hour.” The sergeant replied.

“Yeah yeah.” Dupo said as the last of the crates were brought in and he took the squads rifles and extra ammo, setting the said for inspection. “If there is nothing, kindly get the hell out of my armory.” He told them and the Sergeant just rolled her eye and shook her head before following her men out.

Once they were gone Dupo made his way to the first crate and undid the latched keeping the lid closed. Lifting it he looked over the brand new assault rifled that laid in neat rows with in. He was looking forward to cataloging each and every one of them and testing them for flaws.

Closing the crate he moved it to the front of the cage before opening the next one. “heh, too bad the Kid isn’t here, she’d make that strange Squee noise she does when she laid her eyes on this. “He said as he looked down at the brand new LMGs that would force him to rearrange his cage to make space for them and it was the one gun he didn’t have. He closed the crate and moved it over by the other one before going to the next. Maybe he could get the Kid to help him sort the new invato---

Interlude: Breakfast with the Princess

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Twilight laid prone on one of the castle rooftops under a sheet she had liberated from a guest room in the castle. Across from her was the throne room, and inside sat the Princess of the Sun upon her throne. Twilight could easily see her through her sniper scope.

The sniper paned the throne room. “Well they certain look ready.” She mumbled to herself as she swept over the soldiers that patrolled the Throne Room for threats while the Royal Guard stood at attention along the wall. They were all waiting for Twilight to make her move. To bad they were expecting an assault, not an assignation from range.

Twilight returned her aim back to the princess and placed the crosshairs on the Princess’ temple and she smiled wide. “You’re in the sniper’s sight, the first kill tonight, say goodbye.” She sang under her breath before humming the tune of the song that just seemed appropriate. “You’re in the bullets way.” She said and squeezed the trigger.

The rifle kicked and Twilight watched the spray of read as the bullet exited out the other side of the Princess’ head and she toppled to the ground dead. Twilight had to chuckle as her head popped off and rolled across the floor before the stunned guards and soldiers.

Twilight shook her head as she teleported from the roof to stand just before the thrown and stood at her full height, sniper gripped in her hands. “Congratulations, you did much better this time. “She said as she looked over Princess Melon of the Sun and her melon head that had rolled a surprising distance across the floor.

“But…we failed to stop her from being killed; we haven’t stopped you from killing her once.” Said one of the squad leaders as he looked at the makeshift princess sand in.

“Well yeah you are verse me and the day I lose to you lot is the day I become a Fed.” Twilight said.

The soldiers blinked. “Become a what?” One of them asked.

“Nothing, just a saying I picked up. “She waved her hand dismissively. “Anyways clean thing mess up then I think we will head for the mess hall to grab some breakfast.” She told them.

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked down the hall well ahead of her recruits as she left them to clean up the mess, she mentally kicked herself several time for letting slip info about the Feds, it may have just been a name but it was still classified to the highest level of the Equestria Government.

She sighed, while she knew the need for secrecy it was hard not to mention the Feds as she was used to talking about them without secrecy. She couldn’t wait till she managed to get her command staff built so she had someone to talk to without secrecy, well less secrecy.

She sighed and grasped her hands behind her back as she walked turning her thoughts to the most recent mock security breech she had just run with the recruits. They had been improving over the last month since the first day they started, their times for laps and the obstacle course Twilight had set up.

She was also pleased with the fact the rest of the recruits had taken to calling Filly by the name Twilight gave him on the first day as it kept him in line. That and anytime one of them screwed up they all were punished so they all made sure they all stayed in line, a perfect system.

Twilight was almost to the point of getting squad leaders and then moving onto the next phase of training by lading them into Everfree Forest to face down monsters as she had already seen the prototypes for the guns and saddles that will allow non-unicorns to use the guns as well as they were making excellent progress with armored units. By the time Twilight moved onto the next phase of training her recruits would be equipped as soldiers.

Twilight was dragged out of her thoughts as she walked into the mess hall and finding Princess Celestia, Luna, and her friends all around a table chatting. Blinking in confusion she made her way over and Saluted the Princess of the Sun and Night. “Ma’am I did not expect to see you here.” She said crisply.

Celestia smiled warmly at her. “At ease Twilight this is not a formal meeting. I just noticed you haven’t taken a break since your recruits arrived and thought you could use one so I invited your friends to share a meal with you and decided I would join you as well.”

Twilight nodded. “Very well ma’am.” She said before taking a seat on the bench across from the Solar Princess. When the waitress that always worked in the morning made her way over to take their orders Twilight was the first to speak. “Just my usual Dawn.” She said and the waitress nodded before turning to the rest of the group to take their orders as well.

Once the orders were all taken the waitress left in a hurry to deliver them to the kitchen and Celestia smiled at Twilight. “So you took the time to remember the name of the castle staff but no of the nobles I see Commander.” She said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Twilight shrugged. “I make a point to remember the names of those who don’t annoy the fuck out of me.” She said simply and ignored the collect gasp that came from everyone but the two princesses of the sky and Cadence who covered her mouth in shock.

“Twilight, you can’t speak like that around the Princess!” Rarity whispered harshly from Twilights right side.

“Like what?” Twilight asked looking at the fashionista.

The mare just facehoofed and sighed. “Never mind, it’s too early to try and teach you proper edict.” She said.

“It is alright my little pony, I am well aware of my student’s colorful vocabulary and know she only speaks like that when in normal settings unless angered, it has actually been a good way to judge when she needs to take a break as the more creative her swearing the closes she is to needing a break.” The Sun Princess said with a small chuckle while the rest of the table, save Luna just stared at her.

“So Twi how has it been training ponies in…whatever it is you are training them in.” Applejack asked once she recovered.

“How to be proper soldiers.” Twilight said to fill in what Applejack was missing. “And it goes well, they are taking to training very well and I’m almost ready to move them onto Phase Two.”

“Phase Two?” Rainbow Dash asked from further down the table.

“Taking them into the Everfree for survival training and to get them used to staying calm in stressful situations.”

“The Everfree? You are taking ponies into that death trap? Darling are you feeling alright?” Rarity asked.

“Quite fine, thank you and yes I am. It’s one of the most dangerous places in Equestria; if they can make it there then they will be able to handle most situations they will face.” Twilight explained.

“But what if some of them get hurt…or…worse…” Came Fluttershy’s soft voice from her place across from Dash.

“Then they go down alone and not in the field where they can drag their squad or who knows how many others with them.” Twilight said somewhat coldly, civilians just didn’t understand how military life was, especially in Equestria. It’s better to weed out the weak in training then in the field where the pony next to them life depends on them. If something happens during training I can step in as needed.”

The table was quiet for a bit till Luna spoke up. “Twilight Sparkle, there is merit to what you say but do you truly believe fifty soldiers will be enough to have your army ready to deploy?”

“Not at all, most of this lot will become instructors for future recruits.” Twilight said. “I’ll maybe have a couple of squads be put on active duty, made up of the highest graded squads just in case they are needed but for the most part I want a much larger force to ensure Equestria’s safety.”

Before anyone could respond the conversation was interrupted by the doors to the kitchen opened at the same time as the doors to the hall opened to admit the recruits.

The servants brought the groups meal over on carts and began to distribute the food to each pony who ordered it with the last plate being set before Twilight who looked at it happily as the waiters moved to take the recruits orders.

Before Twilight could enjoy her breakfast she was interrupted by Rainbow Dash speaking up suddenly. “Uh…Twilight…what the hey did you order?”

Twilight looked up at her then back at her plate before her eyes fell on the cyan mare again. “Bacon, eggs and toast with grape jam, why?”

“Bacon? Isn’t that….isn’t that…”Applejack said trying to voice what she was thinking.

“Pork, yes it is, why do you ask?” Twilight asked innocently while inside she was grinning like the mad mare she was, the show begins~~~

The ponies around the table’s faces all paled and turned green, except for the two Rulers who managed to keep their composure. “Is something wrong?” Twilight asked as she picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite, enjoying the taste and the darkening shade of green everyone was turning, out of her friends Rarity handled it the best having witnessed this already but even still she was registered sever nausea like everyone but the two Princesses who registered very mild nausea.

“You eat meat? Since when?” Applejack blurted out.

“Um…”Twilight made a show of thinking as she swallowed and took another bite. “I’d say little over a year now, yeah that’s about right.” She said.

“Why the buck do you eat meat?!’ Rainbow practically demanded.

“Because we ran out of everything but ham and chicken breast and wouldn’t be able to get more for over a week, so it was either eat meat or go hungry.” Twilight said swallowing loudly, she was enjoying watching them all squirm while she read the medical information her eyes told her.

“Couldn’t you have eaten grass or something?” Rainbow asked again.

“What grass? We were in a sewer under a massive city, and if you think it’s a good idea to walk into a public park as the only pony on the entire planet then just think about the sort of reaction people would have upon seeing something they had never seen before. Not to mention I was an enemy of the government who would either shoot me on sight or try to capture me and neither of those are desirable outcomes.” Twilight said pushing the last of the strip of bacon she had been eating into her mouth, she barely kept a large smile from splitting her muzzle as Fluttershy retreated behind her mane and Pinkie looked like she was about to introduce everyone to her dinner from last night.

“That may be…but why are you still eating it now that you don’t have to?” Applejack asked.

Twilight shrugged and swallowed once more. “Because it’s good?” She said with the most innocent look she could give from behind her sunglasses.

That did it, all the non-Alicorn mares pushed their plates away from then not having touched anything on them while Celestia calmly sipped her tea and Luna enjoyed her toast. “Well, I had heard about your…peculiar eating habits and I must say it is very interesting to actually bear witness to it.” The Princess of the Sun said. “I do hope you have not had any issues with the cooking staff as they are more used to preparing for Griffins and not ponies.”

Twilight shrugged. “I did at first but I had a word with the head cook and it was resolved.” Twilight said.

“Well that is good, also Commander, when you have time I believe there is a project that just needs your approval before it will be released to the….” The Princess stumbled slightly as Twilight hadn’t officially turned in the forms with the name of her new branch.

“Equestrian Defense Force, though you can just call it the EDF.” Twilight said. “And I’ll be putting in the forms first thing tomorrow.”

Celestia nodded. “Very well, once you approve of the projects they can move into production for the EDF to use and I believe the training facility should be completed within the next few days.” Celestia said. “I believe you mentioned you had a name for all the facilities you plan to have built, what will this one officially be called?”

“Yes, Prey tell us Twilight Sparkle, I am most curious as to what this new place shall be called as well.” Luna said slipping into a bit of olden speak as she sometimes did when not paying attention.

“Oh that’s easy, I have the perfect name for it. “Twilight said with a smile, she would be the only one to ever find this humorous but still she couldn’t resist. “It’s called Camp Mendez”

Chapter 21: iNSaNiTY

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Commander Twilight Sparkle Personal Log
Begin Log
Commander Twilight Sparkle Personal Log number one-eight-one October 6th, 2037.
Well I’ve finished some training with Mendez and it worked just as planned in that it taught me to control my body faster than anything, though I still failed to beat the bastard in hand to hand combat. It doesn’t make any sense, I am faster and stronger than I’ve ever been and yet the only time I landed a hoof on him was when he was blocking my strikes, and then I told him how impossible that was and he made a crack about being a pretty princess in Equestria.
Honestly what would be a Princess of anyways? Fear? Training? Being a bastard?
Princess Franklin Mendez, Princesses of Being a Bastard!
….Yeah that fits….I’m off topic, where was I?
Oh right, so I think I have adjusted to my new body thanks to Mendez and it was fun tossing the recruits around, defiantly helped me test my speed as they tried to strike me and taught me I need to be very careful when I nearly tore Recruit Chesterton’s arm off, luckily I just severely dislocated it…and tore the ligaments….well the point is his arm will heal after a couple of surgeries and I got to test my passive medical scan in my eyes so that’s a good thing.
*a muffled explosion is heard*
What the fuck was that? Shit that can’t be good.
End Log

<<<O>>>

Twilight galloped onto a scene of total chaos with a squad of soldiers right behind her, in order to move faster and without fear of falling she switched back to being a quadruped. The scene she saw before her was one of utter confusion as smoke filled the hall accompanied by screams of pain and a medic calling for a backup.

“You lot secure the area, now!” Twilight ordered the soldiers behind her who raised their rifles and moved forward to sweep the area and Twilight spotted one of the recruits she had met during training less than twenty minutes ago. “You go to the infirmary, tell her there is a medical emergency at the armory and to send everyone she can, we got an unknown number of wounded.” She barked at the stunned recruit who failed to move. “MOVE IT!” She yelled at him and he took to his heels as fast as he could.

Twilight turned back to the scene in the hall and waded into the mass of confusion quickly finding an injured soldier under the armory’s steel door, the thing had been blown completely off its hinges from where it was, had ricocheted off the wall and into the solder. Twilight quickly used her magic to lifted the door off the soldier and toss it to the side.

The soldier looked up at her. Dull eyes, still has life in them, shell shocked.” Twilights mind told her as she looked over the soldier’s body, her eyes started to list of injuries as it found them. Six broken ribs severe fracture to the femur, three broke fingers, and possible concussion. Twilight added the information as she saw it to her mental list as she double checked for injuries at the same time she pulled a med-kit from her storage locker and began to administer first aid starting with a mild painkiller to somewhat dull the soldiers agony.
“Relax.” She told them soothingly. “I’m here to help. Can you tell me your name?”

“C-Corporal Hart ma’am.” Twilight nodded. “Alright corporal can you tell me what the day is?”

“It’s…um….I think it’s Tuesday…..no no it’s Saturday….maybe Monday...” The soldier stammered out. “What was the question again?”
Definitely a concussion. “Relax you are going to be ok.” Twilight said and heard boots running up behind her and looked back to see two squads of medics descending on the scene. She waved one over and told them what was wrong with the soldier before she stood and made her way deeper into the confusion, thankfully the smoke had cleared significantly now.

She over saw the medics moving to help the injured before she reached where the black had entered the hallway, the armory doorway.
She took a deep breath before stepping around the corner to the smell of smoke with an underlying smell she had been hoping wouldn’t be there, burnt flesh. The room was a total disaster with the walls, floor and ceiling scorched black leading back to one side of the room where the remains of an armored crate sat warped and dented from the blast that had took place on top of it.

There were two other weapons crates that had fared better with only a few severe dents from being thrown across the room, most likely they had been further from the blast. The Cage was a mess, the bars closes to the blast completely missing and the rest of them warped and bent but it seemed it held enough to absorb the worst of the blast, protecting the guns locked inside.Even still Twilight could tell from the door the guns on the weapons rack closest to the blast were total losses as was the weapons rack they were trapped it as it had cocooned around them as it was torn from the wall, if they were lucky they could salvage some parts from them.

As her eyes swept the destroyed tables of the room, the blacked walls they fell on what she had hoped wouldn’t be there. Across the room from the Cage and besides the training targets stood two soldiers, rifles lowered at their feet was a charged and blacked body in a severely burned uniform that was fused to the flesh

Moving silently as if sound was not welcomed in the room Twilight made her way over to the two soldiers not looking at the body. “Report.”
“We swept the room ma’am, couldn’t find any sign of secondary devices though we are waiting for Hell Raisers to arrive to investigate the surviving crate.”

Twilight nodded, “Thank you, go and help out in the hallway, they need all the able bodies they can get.”

“Ma’am I think we should stay here in case something—“

“It's fine, I’ll secure the room, you two go.” She said adding a bit of steel to her voice as she stared at them flatly for not obeying the order. They nodded and moved for the door as Twilight watched them go.

Once the soldiers disappeared through the door Twilight turned her attention to the body on the floor, her eyes telling her they were in fact deceased as if it was obvious. She started at the body for a few minutes before she knelt beside it and carefully began to pull what remained of the uniform from around the next, blocking out the sound of the skin crunching like charcoal and ignored the smell of burnt meat as best as she could while keeping her stomach contents where they should be.

After a while and a final tug she exposed what little skin remained under the fabric, a quick look over she spotted the two bits of steel embedded in the skin, with a small tug of magic the dog tags came free and she lifted them up to eye level brushing away the burnt flesh enough to read it.

Sergeant Malcolm Dupo

She dropped the tags and looked at the body of the rebel armory officer and back at the crates, he mind already forming a mental image of what happened as Dupo began to check the crates. Moving to the third one and unlocking it only for it to explode the second he lifted the lid with enough force to propel him across the room and tear the steel door off its hinged and send it ricocheting down the tunnel. She theorized the crate had probably been packed with plastic explosives on a trip wire attached to the lid.

She looked back to what remain of sergeant Dupo and sat beside the body, the other two soldiers had swept the room so there wasn’t much she really needed to do to secure the room besides just remain there till Hell Raiser arrived to do an in depth sweep, and so she sat beside the body of her friend in silence.

She wasn’t aware of how long she sat till Hell Raisers arrived but when they did she stood up and slipped Dupo’s dog tags into a pocket on her armor and made her way over to the. “The room had a general sweep that found nothing, but I want you to check the other crates for secondary devices.” She told them and they nodded and moved to the crates that had been flung against the wall while one moved to where the bomb had detonated.

Twilight watched them work and only have the medic that entered a wave towards Dupo’s body. She didn’t pay any attention as the body was removed as her mind was focused on figuring what happened. She watched the demolitions squad clear each crate of other explosives and move onto the rest of the room just in case, once they were sure there were no other hidden bombs they moved to piece together what happened.

Twilight sat the entire time in the middle of the room as they worked out of the way and not saying a word so they could do their job without interruption. She saw out of the corner of her eye a squad of soldier post up outside the door and assumed the injured had been moved to the infirmary to be dealt with.

One of Hell Raiser was piece the weapons crate back together as best as he could, a large number of parts were either missing or twisted in such a way they barely looked like they came from a crate. He had managed to get the bottom of the crate assembled when something caught his eye. “Ma’am, I think this is something you will want to see.”

Twilight made her way over and looked at what the soldier pointed at on the bottom of the crate. There, stamped into the metal, small enough so one would miss it unless actually looking at the crate was the image of a rabbit staring back at the view and even though it was on a blacked metal Twilight know it was meant to have white fur. White Rabbit had signed his work once more.

“Carry on here, if you need something ask one of the soldiers outside.” She told the demolitions soldier who nodded. Twilight turned and headed for the door, they had squads still on mission so she was going to go and check on them, at least that was what she was going to tell the commander staff, in actuality she was going hunting for the only group of soldiers that would know anything she needed and they would tell her what she wanted to know.

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle teleported from rooftop to rooftop, she had thought about where her prey would most likely be and while it didn’t work for White Rabbit, his men were still soldiers, which meant they did have somewhat predictable pattern. As such she was able to narrow it down to the most likely of places they may be. The fact they didn’t exist helped as it meant they wouldn’t be with regular soldiers.

The first four places Twilight had checked had proved to be wrong which is why she now found herself in an older part of the city searching for the type of building that she would use and she soon found it in an old condemned hotel, from the looks of it the neighborhood was in the middle of being torn down so there were only a few builds left standing with the hotel being the tallest at five stories.

Twilight teleported to the fire escape that ran up the side of the build and carefully made her way into the dark interior. As quietly as she could on the refuse strewn floor Twilight made her way deeper into the building, her ears constantly swiveling for the smallest of sounds to indicate occupation, there was none, which told her she was in the right place as the last two abandoned buildings she had checked had had homeless humans living in the. The fact an easily accessible hotel had signs of habitation but no actual inhabitants despite the late hour told her something kept them away.

Silently she searched the building till she eventually saw a small crack of light in one of the halls and when she approached she saw it was a small bit of light coming from under a door to a room. Carefully she approached and she could hear the faint hum of equipment and boot steps on the other side.

She wasn’t entirely sure how many were on the other side but this was most likely a staging area of sorts so there wouldn’t be many of them but that didn’t matter to the mare. She couldn’t help smiling as she readied her SMG, she didn’t have any other guns besides her sidearm, Mossberg and the SMG as the armory was on lockdown since the blast, as such she also had very limited ammo she shed need to make her shots count.

She position herself in front of the door and took a deep breath a moment before she used a magical blast to send the door flying inward as she rushed in behind it. Almost imminently her SMG was ripped from her magical grasp and a larger, slightly curved blade collided with it and they both sailed across the room.

Twilight barely had time to register the black armored soldier to her left as they drew another one of the knife from behind their back before she had to duck as a baton was swiping for her head. Instinctively twilight rolled and came to her hooves long enough to see the two Black Op soldiers, one armed with two of the curved blades while another wielded a baton that had a small bit of electricity dancing across it, Twilight was very familiar with stun batons though she did not dwell on where she had come in repeated contact with them.

Twilight barely registered the two soldier before the one with the blades lunged forward with such speed the unicorn only dodged the slash by a hairs breath before having to dodge a second, then a third as she was slowly pushed back, damn this guy was fast.

Twilight didn’t have any time to think as the soldier slashed at her trying to sink his blades into her armor or take her head off, she just had to let her body react which was all fine and good till her flank me the wall of the room and the black on went in for the kill.

Twilight barley switched to being bipedal and stood up causing the blade meant for her neck to sink into the floor, the soldier looked up in time for Twilight to kick him square in the face and send him stumbling back, leaving behind his blade.

Twilight pushed herself off the wall but had only taken a single step before she had to raise forelegs to blocked the stun baton, she yelled as her metal legs carried the electricity to where they connected causing them to burn like fire but it didn’t cause the stun effect as it would have had the baton struck flesh.

Twilight grab the soldiers wrist and twisted to try and break it but the black armored soldier moved with the action preventing serious injury even if it did put him out of range to attack with his baton.

Twilight used the opportunity to draw her sidearm and aim at the off balance soldier but before she could pull the trigger the blade wielding soldier was there delivering a swift kick to the barrel of the gun causing Twilight’s shot to go into the ceiling. Before she could recover she had to drop to the floor to avoid another slash aimed at her neck. From her position on her back she delivered a buck to the blade soldier’s stomach driving the air from his lung and sending him stumbling back once more.

She then had to roll to avoid the baton soldier from stomping her face in. She rolled to her hooves and yanked her head back to avoid getting the side of her head bashed from the baton. She quickly lit her horn and aimed a magical blast at the baton soldier but before she executed the spell the soldier dropped to the ground and swept her legs out from under her, causing the spell to strike the all.

Twilight put her hooves up and heard the clang of steel on steel as the blade soldier’s knife struck her legs. She quickly teleported across the room and got to her hooves to see the blade soldier draw another blade from the sheaths on his lower back and the baton soldier drew a second baton as well.

This wasn’t good, Twilight was just barely staying ahead of these soldiers strikes and they didn’t even seem winded. The two soldiers advanced on the unicorn mare intent on ending her life and she moved to meet them, choosing to go on the offensive rather than stay defensive where she was losing as her blades extended.

They met in the middle of the room as Twilight blocked the blade soldier’s slash while aiming her second blade at the baton wielding soldier’s heart. The baton soldier turning his body just in time to cause Twilight blade to glance of his armor and he used the opportunity to stroke her outstretched limb with the baton deliver a shock once more and Twilight grit her teeth through before parrying the blade soldiers knife away from her, with the soldier slightly off balance Twilight did the one thing she could, she head butted the soldier as hard as she could in the chest staggering him a bit while she slashed at the baton soldier who jumped back.

It got them away from her but created a problem of Twilight now being in-between the two Black Op soldiers which was far from an idle place to be when fighting two soldiers bent on ending your life. Before Twilight could move to correct this though the two soldiered launched for the attack and Twilight was desperately trying to fend off while not sure which soldier to look at and just reacting without thinking.

As she blocked the coming attacks she came up with a desperate plan to give her some breathing room and blocked the next attacks from the soldiers and with her magic undid her helmet, and with a s much force as her telekinesis spell could muster sent it smashing into the baton soldier face causing him to stumble back across the floor and crashing into the wall.

Now with some breathing room she turned to face the blade soldier and blocked one of his blades while sending her another for his heart which he blocked with his second blade as well. They stood there locked in a struggle to get their blades to reach their target before both of them jumped back half a step with the same idea as both of them lunged forward to stab the other, at the last second Twilight twisted her body to the side, this had the effect of causing her attack to miss while allowing the blades soldier knife to bury itself into the chest of the baton wielding soldier that had moved to attack Twilight from behind.

The blade soldier quickly withdrew his knife and the baton soldier dropped to the floor bleeding out as both his heart and lung had been pierced. The blade soldier didn’t dwell on it as he launched into another attack on mare but now that Twilight wasn’t fighting two soldiers she was able to think more and while she was still even with this soldier in blade combat she also had her magic still and now able to focus more than half a second she used it.

As the soldiers lunged to slash at her Twilight horn flared and she suddenly had the blade soldiers discarded knives beside her. The soldier recognized his disadvantage and broke of his attack and jumped back. He didn’t try to flee and Twilight would just cut him down behind, instead he raised his curved blade and got into a defensive stance, Twilight had to admit, his resolve to end her was impressive.

Twilight along with the two extra blade launched forward and as she stabbed with her hoof blades she slashed with the other two knives, much to her surprise the Black Op soldier either dodged or blocked her attacks and the room echoed with the ring of blade on blade as Twilight fought the lone soldier and he blocked or parried her attacks.

Still despite his skill he was slowly being pushed back into a corner and when the unicorn mare saw her opportunity she took it, sending one of his blade done and stabbing through his booted foot and into the floor be nether it, effectively nailing him to the floor.
The soldier only gave a small grunt of pain and even with his movement now sorely limited he still managed to block sever attack before twilight sent the other blade through his other foot pinning him completely in place.

Twilight pressed the small distraction the pain caused to withdraw her blade back into her hooves as she brought them down onto the soldier’s wrist, hearing the sickening pop as they broke causing the soldier to drop his blade. Twilight quickly kicked the blade away before stepping back to catch her breath.

“Holy fuck you two nearly had me there.” She said between pants, the soldier did not respond, he merely stood there arms at his side. “Oh don’t be like that, you two did very well, I honestly surprised I won that. “She said and the soldier just grunted behind his helmet’s face shield.

Once Twilight had caught her breath she looked at the soldier. “Anyways down the business, you have some information I need.” She said as she cast a spell wrapping the room in a silence enchantment. “And I know, I know you won’t just tell me so we will skip all of that and just move on to the part where I make you tell me.” Twilight said as she drew her combat knife and readied some other spell, for his part the Black Op soldier just stood there and waited for what was to come.

<<<O>>>

Twilight galloped into the intelligence section of the rebel base, a team of hacker behind her, it had taken almost four hours to get the Black op to divulge anything as he spent most of his time either not saying anything or trying to kill himself, though Twilight had managed to keep him alive till she got what she wanted then she ended the soldier herself.

While the soldier didn’t know where or who White Rabbit was as he just knew his master by his codename he did tell Twilight of a common practice of Intelligence Officers, and that was why Twilight galloped back to base and grabbed up some hackers before going to the intelligence section of the base.

“Ma’am what’s going on?” The Lieutenant asked rising from her desk to salute.

“Our systems have been compromised!” She said and pointed at the computers as she looked at the hackers. “Find it.” She told them and the hackers nodded and started hooking up their portable computers to the intelligence sections computer before plunging deep into the sea of ones and zeros while the rest of the soldier sin the room looked on in confusion.

“Compromised? What do you mean?” The officer in charge asked.

Twilight took a moment to catch her breath before speaking. “IT’s how White Rabbit has been able to ambush us, he’s hacked out systems and planted program that will let him see everything on our computers, allowing him to manipulate our Intel and be one step ahead of us all the time.” She told the officer who blinked as she absorbed the information before cursing and turning to watch the hackers.

The intelligence room was quiet as everyone quietly stood off to the side to allow the hackers to search for what did not belong. It felt like an eternity before one of the hacker did a fist pump. “HA! Found it!” He proclaimed.

Twilight was at his side in an instant. “What’s it doing?”

“Nothing, it’s only active when the computer it’s connected to is actively using it.” The hacker replied looking over the random code.
“You mean this program only responds to a single computer? That seems rather stupid.” Twilight said worrying this was another trap.
The hacker shook his head. “Not really, it's hidden very well, if not for the fact we knew it was there we never would have found it and being connected to a single computer means less chance of it being accidentally activated by someone else.”

“Can you trace it back to the computer?” Twilight asked hopefully.

The hacker nodded, “Yeah shouldn’t be too hard as it has a direct link to it.” The hacker said and began to type while Twilight hovered over his shoulder watching the humans finger dance across the keyboard. After about forty minutes the hacker spoke again. “Look like the computer is inside the Federal Press building.” He said as he typed. “And it looks like the computer is being used.” He typed some more. “And it has a webcam.”

“Activate it; I want to see this son of a bitch.” Twilight ordered and a few key stroke and the rooms main screen came to life and showed the image of a human in his mid-thirties with short brown hair, wearing business jacket and button up shirt with no tie and the top button undone.

“Holy shit.” One of the intelligence soldiers said and twilight looked at him. “That Mark Erikson the reporter that writes the big articles about the Federal Army and us.” The soldier said and Twilight looked back at Mark Erikson, the White Rabbit.

The human on the screen paused in his typing and tilted his head to the side slight before his demeanor changed from one of typing while board to stoic professionalism she fixed the button on his shirt and typed something on his computer. “Well well, if it seems you finally found my little program Commander, I am impressed.” He said without the distorted voice. Twilight glared at the screen, that was White Rabbit alright, no question about it. “I must admit, you found me faster then I had planned but it is no matter, it was going to happen sooner or later and frankly I’m glad you did so I can get out of this god awful post. I hate posing as a reporter.”

White Rabbit sighed. “Anyways I’m going to assure you I am not going to try to run, I have a job to do after all so I shall wait here while you come up with whatever plan you are going to use. But I will warn you I will be getting ready as well so don’t expect this to be simple Commander.” White Rabbit smirked. “It has been an interesting game we have played, and I am looking forward to meeting face to face Commander. See you very soon.” With that White Rabbit typed on his computer and the screen went black.

“He shut off his computer and from the looks of it unplugged it; there is no way to get the picture back.” The hacker said.
“That’s fine, we have everything we need.” She turned towards the door as she switched to bipedal so she could use her radio. “This is Commander Twilight Sparkle to all PFDR forces, gear up, we have confirmation on the identity and location White Rabbit and we are taking that bastard down once and for all.”

Chapter 22: Psychopathy

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White Rabbit Personal Log
Begin Log
Well it seems the Commander found the computer bug I placed in their systems, I can think of only one way it was found and frankly it concerns me as the information I have on her she wouldn’t do something like that. My entire plan was based off of that information, I did account for some deviation caused by Frisk’s screw up but could it be possible that the deviation for the psych evil was greater than I anticipated?
If so then I am not sure what will happen once she gets here. All I can do is move forward with the plan in place though I have altered it slightly it’s the best I have so I will follow through with my End Game.
I am not sure which one of us will walk away from this but she will be coming for me with everything she has so the least I can do is return the favor, she has been a most interesting opponent and I am looking forward to meeting her in person.
Anyways I need to finish my preparation as she will be here soon, if I don’t make it out of this then I am going on record in blaming High Command for sending me after a target without giving me remotely correct information.
End Log

<<<O>>>

The lobby of the Federal Press building was relatively peaceful this early evening, a handful of employees were chatting in the lobby about how the day had gone or about their prediction for the next day or chatting about the various article they are working on. All in all a typical end to a work day.

Till the group of people in dark green armor walked through the door. At first no one noticed the rebel soldier as they calmly walked across the lobby, guns held calmly aimed at the floor, if not for the armor it looked as if they were supposed to be there.

At the head of the group was a soldier shorter than the rest and could only be described as a purple horse carrying a SMG as she approached the counter with a completely friendly smile as she calmly rang the bell to get the secretary behind the counters attention.

When the secretary looked up from her computer her eyes threatened to bulge from her head as she recoiled. “Excuse me Mrs., where can we find Mark Erikson’s office?” The horse asked politely. “No we don’t have an appointment.”

“Ah….uh…n-ninth floor….southwest corner of the building…..t-take the….take the elevator.” The women managed to stammer out.

The Rebel soldier horse nodded politely. “Thank you, have a wonderful evening.” She said and the group turned towards the elevator as part of the group moved around the lobby. The horse reached out and pushed the elevator button. “Weapons check.” She called and the loud clicking of magazines being detached then reattached was like a trigger as the lobby exploded into screams of terror and the sound of running feet. By the time the elevator reached the ground floor the only thing left in the lobby were a few scatter papers, spilled coffee, the occasional jacket and the rebel soldiers.

The group of rebels stepped onto the elevator and the mare in the lead pushed the button for the ninth floor causing the doors to close as the two squads of rebels left in the lobby prepared to repel any assault.

It was a simple plan the rebels had, the commander had authorized the use of heavy weapons for the squads to use so they had a large amount of explosives and anti-armor rockets. The plan called for four squads to remain outside the front of the building to deal with Federal Army soldier that were sure to arrive, each squad had two anti-armor rocket launcher, anti-personal landmine and a few anti-tank landmines, plus some plastic explosive sprinkled around the street for good measure. Two squads would lock down the lobby with a mix of assault rifles, LMG and laser trip-mines.

The back entrance to the building was covered by three squads equipped like the ones from the front and two squads inside the building ready to hold incase the first line failed.

Two more squads would hold the elevators and stairways as a third line of defense while Nightmare would move on White Rabbit personally. As the elevator rose past floor after floor the Commander pulled a dark green case out of her storage locker and opened it setting it aside as she began to assemble the item housed within the hard plastic case.

On the ninth floor of the federal press building, outside the elevator slowly making its way up to the floor about eight men and women dressed in grey uniforms and armred with machine pistols took up positions in the hallway, weapons trained on the elevator, they weren’t part of the Federal Army but it was their job as security for the building to stop all intruders and that was their plan.

However when the elevator doors opened there wasn’t a single human inside of it, what was inside of it was a small automated turret that immediately started firing as it registered heat signatures in front of it and within seconds it ceased firing as all targets were eliminated. It was then that the emergency panel in the roof of the elevator opened and a unicorn mare dropped down to deactivate the turret while the rest of the rebels dropped down as well.

Once the turret was safely offline Twilight picked it up in her magic and walked out into the hallway and turned the turret to face the elevators before reloading it, once her squad was behind her she reactivated it, anyone coming up the elevators would get a nasty surprise, she was to worried about other rebels coming up as they had strict orders not to come to the floor that White Rabbit was on and if they did fall back to use any of the other floors.

Once the turret was silently sweeping from side to side Twilight turned towards the bodies of the Federal Press Security Team members, from the looks of it none of them had even gotten a shot off before being taken down by Twilight’s little surprise. “Think there will be more of them?” She asked Desmond

“Probably, I wouldn’t put it past White Rabbit to use them as well as who knows what else.” Replied her second in command.

Twilight nodded. “Well if they try to fight we eliminate them same as the Feds, if they surrender then we disarm them, knock them out, tie them up and stuff them in a closet to something, same for any civvies we find.”

Her squad nodded in acknowledgement of the order and they raised their weapons before moving down the hallway being careful of all the doorways that could hide any number of enemy forces. It didn’t take them long to run into more resistance when they rounded a corner what stood at the end of the hallway made Twilight stop dead. It was a Fed soldier that was for sure and had six other soldiers with him. But unlike any other soldier Twilight had ever seen this one was wrapped in extremely bulky that look like it made movement very difficult and in his hands was a very large gun that he held from the top and had aimed right at her. Twilight stared at the site. “The fuck is with this guy?” She asked a moment before Desmond yanked her back around the corner as the large gun spun up and sent a hail of bullets down the hall.

“The fuck is that!?” Twilight had to yell to be heard over the whine of the large fun.

“Heavy Trooper! They are deployed to defend high value area, they are a real bitch to take down due to their armor and the fact they use a minigun to spray anything that gets in their way!” Desmond yelled back.

“How do we take that guy down?!” She shouted back.

“Usually need to flank them as they can’t move very fast, that’s why they usually work in pairs or have a squad of soldiers with them to watch their backs, however in this situation I have no idea.” Her second yelled back before the gunfire ceased.

Twilight chance a peek around the corner and saw the six soldiers still advancing up the hallway while the Heavy Trooper remained at the far end of the hall minigun still aimed towards the rebels position. She quickly ducked back around the corner as one of the normal soldiers took a shot at her. “Well we are about to have some company but that heavy fuck is staying away.” Twilight told the rest of them and they all moved further down the hall a bit opening door and ignoring the terrified officer workers hiding inside as they took cover.

The Feds rounded the corner and opened fired as they took cover in other rooms as well as the hall. Twilight took aim at the nearest soldier and when he popped around the corner she squeezed off some round that caught him in the chest and staggered him back, it wasn’t a fatal shot as even with armor piercing ammo the SMG didn’t have the same stopping power as an assault rifle but Twilight wanted to save her magic for an emergency.

The injured Fed retreated around the corner while two of his fellows covered him. Twilight growled in annoyance as she ducked back around the doorway she was using as cover to avoid the oncoming gunfire. She could hear the rest of Nightmare returning fire and once the gun fire leased she stepped back out and opened fire with several bursts from her gun managing to down one of the Feds while two more went down from the rest of her squad.

She retreated back around the doorway to reload and tuned out the terrified whimpers of the two office workings pressed to the far corner of the copy room Twilight was using as cover. Once she had a fresh mag in she stepped back around the door in time to see the Fed she had injured had returned and she took the opportunity to finish him off as the other Feds were taken down shortly after that.

That left just one left and Twilight moved back to the corner and a quick peek proved the Heavy trooper was still at the far end of the hall and had moved at all. In fact his gun was spinning up, the unicorn barely jerked her head back in time to avoid having her face meet the same fate as the wall that the barrage of bullets were chewing up. “Any ideas?” Twilight asked her squad who looked back at her and shrugged.

“If we had an anti-tank rocket that could do some damage.” Rook 2 offered nursing a bleeding hole in her arm. Twilight sighed and grabbed the young women’s arm and used her magic to extract the bullet before healing the bullet wound.

“Well we might not have any rocket launcher but we have something just as good. “Twilight said tapping her horn as she charged up a spell. She quickly ran through a spell and let her horn charge. She waited till the soldier paused in his gun fire, most likely to avoid having to reload, Twilight was sure a gun like that took a long time to reload, before she jumped around the corner and let loose a magical blast. The spell struck the Heavy trooper square in the chest and exploded with the force of a rocker and sent him flying down the hall dropping his gun as the blast filled the end of the hall with smoke.

Twilight smiled. “There we go, that shoul—“Twilight was cut off as she was struck in the shoulder with enough force to send her spinning as the hall was filled with some of the loudest gunfire she had ever heard as the Heavy Trooper, the front of his armor shredded and smoldering, with a few places that had blood seeping out, stepped out of the smoke firing a semi-auto heavy pistol towards the rebels. He stopped when he reached his dropped minigun and holstered his sidearm before picking it back up. Before he had a chance to aim the rest of Nightmare came around the corner and unloaded their magazine into his chest. His damaged armor didn’t take long to fail and the bullets found their mark, burying themselves deep in the chest of the soldier inside to armor and he went down.

Twilight lay on the ground clutching her bleeding shoulder. “Ok…that fucking hurt…”She said before using her magic to extract the bullet and head the wound. She got back to her feet and glared at her second. “You did fucking tell me he had a fucking Desert Eagle as a backup!” She said waving her hooves above her head in annoyance.

“Sorry ma’am slipped my mind on account of being shot at.” Desmond replied and twilight rolled her eyes before picking up her dropped SMG.

“Whatever, let’s get moving before more of those assholes show up.” She said and the squad started to move down the hallway.
They made their way down the halls till they started to pass by a door, the word of the door caused Twilight to pause. “Hold up. “She said and pointed at the door. “We are taking a pit stop here.” She said and the other rebel soldiers read the single word on the door SECURITY. “We can get a look at what’s between us and White Rabbit.” She said.

The rest of the soldier nodded and Hudson took position to the side of the door, hand on the doorknob. Twilight counted down on her finger as the other got read to rush the room. As soon as her last finger dropped Hudson opened door and pun through it, only to come sailing back out and crashing into the door across from it with a grunt of pain before crumpling to the floor.

Twilight looked from the downed PFC back to the door just in time to see the largest human she had ever seen step out of the door, the man wore the grey uniform of the Federal Press Security Team and from Twilight best guess was almost sever feet tall and looked like fucking vending machine with a head!

McKay was too close to ruse his rifle so instead he drove the butt of his rifle into the titanic humans back, it did about as much as one would expect. The giant turned to face McKay and before the soldier could do anything her was picked up and thrown like a rag doll into the rest Nightmare, twilight only avoided it do to her shorter stature and by ducking.

She raised her SMG but the security guard backhanded her and sent her spinning, her gun going flying from her grasp. She shook her head to stop the world from spinning and barley rolling out of the way as the guard delivered a devastating punch to the space on the floor he had been occupying, his hand actually going into the floor slight and Twilight got a look at his hand. They were they gray color of steel which meant they were high grade cybernetic, just great.

She rolled to her feet and took a fighting stance as the guard stood back up to his full height and smirked at her. “Hehe, tiny horse wants to play eh? Okay let’s play” He said and charged her. Twilight side stepped him and deliver a hard strike to his kidneys causing him to grunt in pain before he whorled around to face her, only to receive a swift kick to a place no male want to be kicked, causing him to double over in pain. Twilight used the opportunity to deliver an upper cut that sent the giant sprawling.

Before Twilight had much of a chance to really celebrate anything the colossal human climbed to his feet and stared at her with pure rage. “I’m going to break you bitch!” He roared with a slightly higher voice and before Twilight could do much he grabbed her by the horn and hauled her into the air, she gritted her teeth at the massive amount of pain her horn was sending to her brain as the human grab her tail and lifted his knee intent to keep his promise and break her over it.

Before he got the chance all of Nightmare tackled him and caused him to drop Twilight as he stumbled back. “AH fucking pests!” The giant roared as he put his hands together and swept them across them to the side kicking the smaller humans to the side as if brushing leafs off of his uniform. The soldiers sailed through the air and crashed down hard. “Ahh…the fuck they feed this guy? Steroids?” Rook 2 managed to say from the heap as the giant turned to face Twilight once again who had gotten to her hooves and deployed her blades.

The vending machine charged her with a roar arms raised and Twilight barley jumped to the side in time to avoid the bone shattering blow as he brought his arms down and crushed the floor where she had been. The mare took this chance and slashed, her blades slicing through the cybernetic joint at the humans right shoulder causing him to cry out in pain and stumbled back.

“You fucking bitch! I’ll kill you!” The human roared at her before looking at the glass case to his left and smashed his remaining hand through it and pulled out the fire axe housed inside. Twilight readied herself as the now armed human charged her swinging the axe at her, she jumped back and the axe buried into the wall. With a heave the giant pulled it free and swung the spike on the other side at the mare’s head, Twilight brought up a fore leg and blocked it with a load grunt, even with her upgrades the blow nearly drover her to the ground and it hurt like hell. Before the giant could recover Twilight slashed out and separated him from his remaining arm which fell to the ground still holding the axe.

The giant looked at his now armless side and turned back to face the mare only to be staring down the barley of her sawed off. The giant rolled at her a moment before she pulled the trigger and his head vanished in a spray of red mist and his body crumpled to the ground.

Twilight rolled her shoulder of the limp she used to block the giant humans attack, it hurt like hell but was slowly going numb, and that was both good and bad. After that she walked over towards her squad that was untangling themselves from each other. “Is it over?” Rook 2 asked as she got to her feet and Twilight pointed at the headless body. “Ok good, let’s not face someone like that again.”

“Agreed.” Everyone said at the same time before moving to pick up the guns, Chekov helping Hudson to his feet as he was still stunned from being thrown against the door before they entered the security office. As they approached the main computer words appeared on the screen.

AH I SEE YOU BEAT THE SECURITY CHIEF, BRAVO, HE WAS NOT A MAN TO EASILY GO DOWN. THOUGH SADLY I CAN’T LET YOU USE THIS EQUPIMENT TO SPOIL ANYTHING I HAVE SET UP.

And with that all the equipment in the room made electronic pops and went out while Twilight felt a tingle around her cybernetics. “Son of a bitch just EMPed everything.” Desmond said with annoyance. Well that explained the odd feeling, Twilight now knew her the EMP shielding was working in her cybernetics.

“Let’s move on.” She said raising her SMG and heading back to the hallway. They ended up running into more security guard that, though brave in their efforts, failed miserable to stop the rebels or give them much pause, they weren’t exactly trained to fight well-armed and well trained soldiers after all.

“You know I almost feel bad for these guys.” Hudson said as they finished doff the last of the guards in the hall.

“Don’t.” Twilight said flatly.

“Hey I said almost. “Hudson said as they reached their destination, the officer of Mark Erikson.

The rebels checked their weapons before Hudson pulled out the one breech charge they brought and placed it on the door, Nightmare formed up beside the door and Hudson counted down before he hit the detonator and the charge went off. The door was blown clean off its hinges and Nightmare swarmed into the room reading for whatever defenses White Rabbit had for them.

Twilight blinked as all that was in the room was a desk, a computer and White Rabbit himself. “Ah, I see you made it Commander, can I get you anything? Tea perhaps?” The human asked politely.

Twilight glared at him and raised her SMG. “How about a bullet through your head.” Twilight replied but before she could pull the trigger White Rabbit moved faster then she thought possible and she saw a glint of something fly through the air and strike Chekov in the head. Time seemed to slow down for Twilight as the LMG wielding human fell back, the hilt of a throwing knife sticking out form his fore head. Twilight watched with wide eyed horror as his body hit the ground. She screamed as she turned to face White rabbit and squeezed the trigger, but all her bullets were blocked by the large desk sailing through the air at the group. The only thing that save Twilight was Desmond tackling her to the ground as the rest of Night mare dove out of the way, all except McKay who had been in the middle of the group watching the door, He turned just in for the full weight of the desk to crash into him before both he and the desk smashed into the wall.

Twilight shoved Desmond off of her in time to see White Rabbit leap over the desk faster than any human she had ever seen and disappear down the hall. She quickly got to her hooves and with her magic yanked the desk from onto of McKay and tore her Med-kit from her storage locker. But before she could do anything her vision went from listing off everything wrong with the soldier to registering DECEASED.

“No…..No no no no nono” She said over and over as she rolled the PFC onto his back and started CPR. He couldn’t be dead; she couldn’t have gotten him killed as well, no not again. She continued chest compression. She ignored the sickening sound his chest made as she tried to revive him, she ignored that her medical scan had said his ribs had been shattered. She wasn’t going to lose him, no another one, they weren’t dying under her command.

Before she could continue arms were pulling her off of McKay and restraining her.
She struggled, she wasn’t going to lose him, and she wasn’t losing another soldier under her direct command.

A hand slapped her cleanly across the face and she blinked stunned. She slowly turned back to see Desmond standing over her while Rook 2 and Hudson held her arms to keep her from McKay.
“He’s gone commander, there is nothing you can do.” Desmond said. He was right, his injuries were too extensive, she knew that, how could she not know that? She was a doctor, she knew there was no way to revive him from the injuries he had. She looked over at Chekov’s body, nor him. They were dead. He original squad was dead. The Reapers were dead.

No….no they weren’t…..not all of them….she was still alive….and she was a Reaper, the last Reaper. White Rabbit had tried to hurt her by attacking her old squad and there by oldest comrades, he tried to eliminate the Reapers once and for all but she was still there.

Yes….she was still there….the Reaper lived…..and the Reaper was going to make White rabbit suffer for what he had done.

She pulled herself from the two Nightmares holding her as she pulled her helmed off and dropped it on the floor; it was in the way and needed to me removed. She looked back at the three Nightmares and spoke in a voice cold and empty of all life. “No matter what happens…you are not to leave this room.” She told them as purple flames slowly ignited in the corners of her eyes.

The Nightmares backed up a few steps having never seen this before. “Um…Yes ma’am….what….what are you going to do?” The corporal asked.

“I’m going after White Rabbit; do not leave this room under any circumstances.” She reiterated before walking out the door.

<<<O>>>

The halls of the Federal Press building echoed with the sound of gunfire as Federal Army soldiers and Federal Press Security back peddled and fired franticly at the thing walking down the hall towards them, behind it lay body after body of soldier and security team alike all torn to pieces. The soldiers and Security were fighting a desperate battle to stay alive, one they were losing as evidence as one of the soldier was wrapped in a dark purple glow and summarily torn in half as the creature they were shooting stepped out from around the corner.

Reaper surveyed the hall before her; she barley registered the bullets striking her shield as the creatures in her way tried to stop her from finding that which she sought. One tripled as it ran and before it could get to its feet black crystals shot from the floor and impaled it and Reaper continued to walk casually past it, she could hear it gurgling as it struggled to breath and gripped the crystals impaling its body.

Once it was out of ear shot reaper forgot all about its existence as she turned her gaze to the next creature in her way, she was vaguely aware this one wasn’t dressed like the others and didn’t seem to be armed but none the less it was in her way so she liquefied its heart as she walked.

As she passed by a window a flash of light caught her eye and she looked out to see a fire ball rising into the air from was used to be a tank sitting in the street below. The street was full of burning vehicles and more of the black and white creatures fighting with dark green soldiers. She tilted her head to the side finding it slightly odd that the creatures were fighting each other and was tempted to flood the street with fire and kill them all just in case they tried to stop her but ended up deciding against it as they were too far away to be any issue right now.

A small metal object bounced off her shield before it exploded and it drew her attention to the group of armored creatures at the end of the hall behind some sort of barricade. Reaper frowned and a moment later that end of the all exploded into fire that consumed them all and she watched them flail in a vain attempt to put themselves out as she walked forward. By the time she reached that end of the hall they had all stopped moving and she stepped over the bodies.

On and on she walked as more of the creatures got in her way, the black and white ones, the grey one and the unarmed ones wearing suits and she killed all of them but not instantly, no she made sure they would be alive for a few moments as punishment for getting between her and her prey.

She turned a corner and saw a large armored creature wielding a large weapon that began to spin as soon as it saw her. The force striking her shield actually managed to give her pause as it held her in place. This creature dared to stop Reaper? It needed to be punished severely for causing her to pause.

Dark crystals shot from the walls around it and impaled it in place, though not enough to get through its armor but enough that it could move, a small magical blast destroyed its weapons and it tried to draw something from its hip. Reaper took its arm in her magic and twisted it completely around, shattering the bones in its arm resulting in a muffled scream from the armored creature.

That would serve as a punishment. Slowly Reaper began to break the creature’s bones one by one, each bone shattered produced a scream from the armored creature but she did not stop till she reached its head. She raped its helmed head in her magi and squeezes. The helmeted collapsed into a small ball and Reaper walked past the hanging creature.

It was not long till she reached a set of stairs that lead to the roof; the tracking spell Reaper had been following told her that her prey was on the roof. Between her and the stairs stood six grey creatures, seven black and white creatures and two new black creatures. They all started firing as soon as she rounded the corner.

Reaper set two on fire, tore the skin from a grey creature, cooked one of the black and white creatures in its armor, and caused dark crystals to form around the hearts of half of what remained and the last ones she speared with magical blasts.

She stepped over the bodies and paused. She looked back down the hall; her bray was just up these stairs but what if more of the creatures arrived to interfere? She couldn’t have that, but how to keep from being interrupted?

Reaper glanced over the bodies of the creatures and slowly she began to cast a spell she knew. She had a vague memory of a large White creature telling a small purple Student of this magic and that small student researching it out of curiosity before being found by the white creature who had been upset, causing the student to swear to never use the spells.

But Reaper made no such promise. As she finished the spell small black tendrils left her horn and extended to the bodies before her, as each tendril touched the corpses they began to twist and spasm by the time the last one was touched the first of the bodies sat up and opened their eyes filled with a sickly yellow light.

Slowly they got to their feet one by one and made their way to stand before their master. “If anything enters this hall it is not to get past you.” She told her small undead army who growled in acknowledgement before either retrieving their weapons from the ground or drawing the ones on their hips and turning to face the hallways.

Reaper saw no point in giving them knowledge of basic tactics, none of the creatures she had fought would be able to bring down the undead soldiers unless they were extremely lucky and even then they would be completely overrun by the others.

Once she they were all armed Reaper turned and walked up the stairs knowing nothing would interrupt her. She got to the top of the stairs and tore the door from its hinges before walking out onto the flat roof topped with an array of antennas and a Heli-pad.

In the middle of the Heli-pad stood her prey. She could see now that both his legs and arms were cybernetic like her own which explained the speed and strength. She walked up the small stairs that lead up to the large raised platform.

“Well I see you made it Commander, I must admit, the purple flames are new and unexpected.” Her prey said. A moment later the platform was bathed in light from search lights mounted on the underside of four flying machines that were the same color as the black and white creatures.

The machines send trails of smoke towards Reaper that exploded against her shield. More and more where sent towards her till the area she had been standing was nothing but smoke.

When it cleared Reaper stood unharmed inside a dome of dark crystal reinforcing her shield. She collapsed the crystals and looked up at the offending machines that dared to try to interfere! With a simple thought she tore the tails from the machines and watched them spin out of control disappearing beneath the roof shortly before there were four loud explosions.

Her prey stared her in bewilderment and took a step back; Reaper could practically taste the fear emanating from him. She took a step forward and then he spoke and everything stopped for Reaper.

“The Federal Army is going to invade Equestria.”

<<<O>>>

That did it, the commander stopped in her tracks and the purple flames disappeared from her eyes. If High Command ever learned he used classified information as a fall back plan he would be liquidated on the spot, as is he wasn’t supposed to know about that information anyways but labeling something top secret is just asking for an intelligence officer to dig for it.

“No….no….they can’t…..Equestria doesn’t have any defenses for them….they can’t invade….they wouldn’t stand a chance….” The Commander mumbled as her eyes were clearing seeing into a world only she saw. White Rabbit used the distraction to slowly make his way around the Heli-pad so he wasn’t in front of his target in case she snapped out of it.

HE hadn’t expected her to destroy the gunships so easily but then he didn’t expect her to make it through the Federal Army forces down below so fast or to show up with purple flames in her eyes, he had no information on that so didn’t know what to expect and he hated unknowns. Whoever compiled the dossier on the Commander was going to be getting a visit from White Rabbit as they really screwed up and put him in a very dangerous situation he had little control over, if any.

Once he was behind the mare he drew one of his throwing knives, she was still mumbling about her home land being invaded and this would be his only chance to bring her down. With speed attributed to his cybernetic limbs he threw the knife for the back of her neck, it flew true but inched from hitting its mark it stopped in mid-air wrapped in a purple glow. Damnit.

The mare lifted her head and tilted it back slightly to look over her shoulder at him and White Rabbit froze as he saw the smile on her face. “Oh…don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about you~~~~~” She said in the most innocent and childlike voice White Rabbit had ever heard and it chilled him to the bone. The flames reappeared in her eyes and he took a step back, or tried to, he couldn’t lift his feet. Looking down he saw they were encased in some sort of dark crystal and try as he might he couldn’t pull them free.

He looked back up to find the Commander mere inches from his face with the same disturbing smile on her face causing him to try and jump back, which just resulted in him falling on his ass do to his feet being stuck to the ground.

“Awe, you fell down, I hope you aren’t hurt.” The commander said in mock concern. “You have extensive cybernetic augmentation I see.” She said as she looked him over. “There is just one small thing I see that is normal. “ She said and White Rabbit got to his feet and drew another knife, unable to move or not he still could fight.

The was a pain in his chest and the sound of breaking bone sand suddenly his heart ripped through the skin wrapped in a purple glow and stopped, hovering in front of the Commander as she inspected it.

White Rabbit gasped and fell to his knees as the crystals around his feet dissolved. “Wow this heart is very healthy.” She said and looked at him. "You must take very good care of yourself.” She said and White Rabbit watched as the magical field crushed the organ into paste. “Oopsie, I don’t think it’s healthy anymore. My bad~~~” She said as she left the paste drop.

White Rabbit was trying to draw another knife having dropped the other when she tore out his heart but he was having trouble gripping the blade as his vision was filling with black. Then all at once his vision began to clear and he could feel his blood moving again. He gasped as feeling returned to his body and looked at the mare before him to see her horn lite in a magical glow as she stared at him. “Don’t worry, I’m a medic, I can make sure you stay alive!” She said cheerily as she took a step towards him with the same smile that had yet to falter.

“You’re insane!” He told her and she paused.

“Now, now that’s not nice to say to the mare that just saved your life.” She pouted, actually fucking pouted at him. “Sadly we don’t have much time to play so we will have to make this quick which is a shame as I had so many fun ideas~~~~” She said the smile returning as she stepped toward White Rabbit once more.

The last coherent thought the intelligence officer had was to curse High Command to hell for sending him after this monster completely ill prepared to face her.

<<<O>>>

Commander Twilight Sparkle walked down from the rooftop of the Federal Press building, she had just finished white her twenty minutes of play time with White Rabbit, shed have liked more but she had to get back to her squad before they came looking for here and that would be awkward on many levels.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs she saw the undead soldiers she had left behind, one of them was dead again while most of them were filled with bullet holes and they were scattered all over the hall ways, scattered around the hall were fresh bodies that either had been shot with way more ammo then needed or had simple been torn apart by the undead soldier she left behind, most of the new bodies were Feds while a few were Security and the one nearest the single dead undead soldier was a Black Ops, leave it to one of them to actually manage to take down a walking corpse.

As she stood there the undead soldier walked over her and stood before her awaiting more orders. “You did very well.” She told them. “I am very proud of you.” They just stood there, their simple minds not understanding praise. “Now you may rest once more. “She told them as she ran through the counter spell, when she was finished the light in their eyes faded and they crumpled to the ground dead once more.

Twilight looked over their handy work, she only vaguely remember having created the undead soldiers, the time between the officer and the roof was just random images with no context but that didn’t matter, she had reached her destination without much issue.

As she walked past her former undead army she couldn’t help knowing Celestia would be very disappointed in her for breaking her promise, but the thing about that promise was that it was made by Twilight Sparkle the Student, not Commander Twilight Sparkle the Soldier and besides, what Celestia didn’t know, won’t hurt her.

As Twilight retraced her steps back to the officer she had to admire her work, it was nothing but a trail of destruction, blood and bodies. She did pause when she came across the first civilian body, she had nailed them to the wall with dark crystals and she paused to look at it, the officer worker had a look of supreme fear and pain frozen on his face and while Twilight knew she wasn’t supposed to harm civilians she had to admit….seeing them like this brought her joy and…pleasure. Yes that as what that feeling was. She found what she had done to the civilian very enjoyable. What that said about her mental stay she didn’t really care, she was too busy enjoying the art she had made.

After admiring it for a few moments more she turned and made her way down the hall, she had places to be and things to do so she couldn’t only enjoy her art in passing.

It didn’t take her long to reach the office that the Rest of Nightmare was holed up in and when she walked in she found Chekov and McKay’s bodies had be moved to the side of the room and they had been stripped of ammo and weapons. Twilight paused as she looked over them, while she was sure she could bring them back they wouldn’t be the same and the rest of Nightmare wouldn’t understand.

“Commander, what the hell happened out there?” Hudson asked as he got to his feet when she walked in. “We could hear a lot of gunfire and what sounded like screams.”

Twilight looked at him. “Just a few Feds and Security people that White Rabbit had in place to try and stop me. It failed.”

“And White Rabbit?” Desmond asked.

“Dead. Mission is complete.” She said. “He also gave me some useful information that I want to look into. “She said as she lifted the desk back onto its legs and moved the computer back onto it, luckily it still worked as she turned it on. “Once I confirm something we need to fall back as our forces outside are in danger of being overrun.”

She began to type on the computer once it was on opening up the files and using the passwords she gained from White Rabbit to get into the hidden files.

Once she her desire file open she read it over, and there exactly as he had said were plans for an invasion of Equestria to gain control of magic, it listed threat levels with the Princesses being the highest threat, key locations to gain control of, what sort of resistance was expected, how to counter that resistance, everything. It was the entire playbook for a swift takeover of Equestria and her neighboring nations. This could not be allowed to happen.

“How did you get into the files?” Rook 2 asked from her side.

“White Rabbit told me how to access the files as a distraction, it nearly worked.” She said, not a completely lie, but not the complete truth either. She looked over all the files on the computer, all the dirty secrets of the Federal Army right there in front of her. She began to type.

“What are you doing?” Desmond asked watching her. “This is a large amount of the Federal Army’s dirty laundry, and we are inside the biggest news agencies office right now, so I am going to broadcast all of this across the country to every citizen.” She said as she typed, it didn’t take long for a progress bar to appear and quickly fill to confirm the information had just been sent out over every Federal Press line of communication and to every single person in the country. It would be up to them to decide whether to believe it or not.

Once it was done twilight pushed away from the desk and grabbed her SMG from the floor and looked as Chekov’s LMG before she moved it into her storage locker alongside Rook 1’s sniper rifle and it was followed by McKay’s assault rifle. “Let’s move out.” She said heading for the door.

Interlude: The Hive

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Commander Twilight Sparkle laid prone on a hilltop about five hundred yards away from a small cave slightly hidden by some rocks that lead down under the ground. Celestia’s sun was high above and scorching the Badlands where the mare currently was. She had her human binoculars out as Equestria had yet to make a pare that worked as well but the Equestrian Military Science Division was working on it, along with other fun things that either Twilight came up with or they had.

The EMSD was relatively new, it was only about three months old, formed shortly after Twilight had breakfast with her friends and they learned of her eating habits, sadly in that time they had more or less gotten used to it, or at least able to ignore it, much to the disappointment of Twilight as now she didn’t get to enjoy them squirming.

The EMSD was formed do to a rift that was forming within the research facility as some ponies wanted to dedicate all their time to this new avenue of research while others thought scientists should experiments in more than just one area. As such there was a fight over resources that was getting out of hand so Celestia had decided to create a sub-division of the EDF that would do research only for the EDF and Luna had come up with the name.

Thus the EMSD was created and currently based 28 miles north of Dodge Junction inside of a plateau that was slowly being dug out to form the research facility, even though it wasn’t complete minor research was being conducted in the facility but Twilight wouldn’t allow any major experiments till she could get a proper garrison of soldiers in place, though she was having to divide which forces wen to the facility and which went to the EDF’s new base Fort Zandar. Camp Mendez was fully staffed and had a relatively steady stream of new recruits who had given the Camp the unofficial name of Tartarus.

The issue was the EMSD facility as top secret so clearing soldier to guard it was hard to do as they needed to be able to keep their mouths shut about what went on there. Which was why Fort Zandar was rabidly getting staffed and, much to the unicorns surprise, civilians had begun to build homes and shops around the place rabidly forming a town with the name of Zandar after the base there. Canterlot now had a new small town to the north of it by a few miles.

Of course Canterlot wasn’t without its own troops with an old warehouse being seized and converted to a garrison while Twilight made a point of planting bunkers where the city connected to the mountain. In her younger days she used to marvel at the structural engineer and magic that had gone into creating the city suspended from the side of a mountain. Now Twilight looked at it and cringed at the glaring weak point, it wouldn’t take much to send the entire city plummeting to its doom at the base of the mountain with all lives lost. Which was why Twilight made it a priority to set up the defense bunkers all along the mountain to keep any attacks away from the weak point.

Twilight was drawn back to the present as she hear the crack of DMRs and saw two Pegasi Sharpshooters take to the air, one of them carrying a terrified earth pony while the second fired behind them at the perusing swarm of black chitin. Seems the Changelings attacked the ambassador and his two escorts.

The crack of the Pegasi Sharpshooters DMRs faded as they retreated to their fall back point. The EMSD had managed to create working semi-auto rifles and saddles that can be worn by both earth bound ponies and pegasi and have all the guns being mass produced mounted on for anyone to use.

Twilight watched as most of the Swarm broke off their pursuit and returned to the hive while a handful still went after the delegate and his guards. Twilight would have to leave it up to the two soldiers to get to safety as Celestia had refused to let her send a large escort as she did not want them to appear hostile to the Changelings.

IT had been a couple of weeks since the scouts Twilight had sent out came back with a confirmed location of the Changeling Hive and once that was done things had moved quickly resulting in an envoy being sent for a chance for peace while Twilight hat gotten her army ready in case things went bad which Celestia had agreed would be prudent but did ask for her to stay a good distance from the actual negotiations which she had agreed to, which was why she was five hundred yards out hiding behind a hill with her forces, close enough to keep an eye on things, but far enough to avoid easy detection, which was a good thing.

Twilight lowered the binoculars and turned to the stallion stood a little ways down the hill from her. “Negotiations have broken down, now we do it our way.” She said tossing her binoculars into her Storage locker and unslinging her SMG as she stood up. She turned fully to face the stallion in the gas mask. “Burn them.”

“Heh….yes Commander.” Came the muffled reply as the stallion turned and made his way down the hill. He was an earth pony wrapped head to hoof in a slightly bulky black suit with a gas mask and helmet that had a head lamp mounted on the forehead, the entire suit was sealed tight against the air for safety reason.

On the Stallion’s back was a tank who’s contents sloshed with each step he took, the tank was attached by hoses to nozzles mounted on either side of his saddle. Twilight watched as he approached 4 dozen other ponies dressed exactly the same as him. “Alright stallions and mares, we just got the order to burn them! Let’s show these bugs what we Flame Troopers can do!” Came the muffled voice of the stallion as he addressed the soldiers under his command.

Twilight had to admit, the Lieutenant really seemed to enjoy his work, sometime a little too much but who was Twilight to judge taking pride in ones work? She loved every action she took that inflicted pain on another so she had no right to say a word.

She watched as the column of Flame Troopers began to march around the hill and towards the Hive leaving just Twilight and a Rifle Team behind. Twilight looked from the column of black armor to the eight ponies that made up the Rifle Team they wore dark green armor similar to Twilight though in much better shape and clearly of a design actually meant to be on ponies rather than human armor modified for a pony. While Twilight had been offered her own set of armor and helmet she had refused, she didn’t want to give up the armor Liston had made for her as it was one of only two items she had to remember the Pinkie like man with and it was the only one she could have out in the open without issue.

She watched as the Rifle Team stood straighter as she scrutinized them, they were very disciplined and from what she could tell eager to prove themselves as they were all relatively fresh soldier only having graduated from Camp Mendez a week ago, and that was why Twilight chose them to come with her, so they’d get some field experience. All across Equestria the EDF was proving its worth as they repelled monster attack that over whelmed the Royal Guard.

As such a rivalry had formed between the EDF and the Royal Guard, one Twilight had no intention of stamping out as it drive both groups to improve to try and one up and rarely did she step in on it, as long as it remained just mixed words and the occasional bar fight she had no issues, how could she, her own brother was the Captain of the Royal guard, if she joined in she’d never hear the end of it and would be far to tempted to remove his tongue, something she’d rather not be tempted to do.

Twilight returned to the matter at hand and looked towards the column of Flame troopers as they neared the entrance to the Hive. She watched as some Changeling came out to stop them and she saw as the wall of blue flames erupted from the ponies leading the column and consumed the Changelings. The flames from the nozzles was blue do to the magical fuel that powered them though the flames would turn to normal orange when something was set ablaze by it.

Once the guards around the entrance were thoroughly cooked the Flame Troopers advanced into the Hive and once the last one entered Twilight couldn’t help pulling out her Datapad and accessing the music file, she had a song that just seemed appropriate to the situation.

From her Datapad came start of the SONG she had chosen and she set it on a loop while she sat on the hill watching the entrance to the Hive, even with the loud music she would still be able to hear the Radio in her helmet if the Flame Troopers contacted her, the EMSD had been very fascinated by her radio and it didn’t take much to convince them to make a version for their own forces, the main issue had been getting it to work with Twilight’s radio as it wasn’t magical base, thought that did mean that humans wouldn’t be able to easily tap into EDF communications. She just hoped they figured out how to boost their range as right now they only worked a few miles before the signal broke up and that worked fine for troops in the field, it did nothing for soldiers in the field to communicate with their home bases.

The song looped about a dozen time till her radio squawked and she shut off the music. “Go for Commander Sparkle.” She said into the mic.

“Ma’am we have secured the throne room and while our forces are still meeting resistance in the hive the Queen wishes to speak to you. Over” Came the voice of the Lieutenant’s voice.

“Roger, I’m on my way. Over. ” Twilight replied before turning to the Rifle Team. “Let’s move out.” She said before starting to make her way towards the hive entrance. The trip to the hive was uneventful, it wasn’t till they reached the entrance that things got interesting as the air was filled with the scent of burnt Changeling and she heard several of the Rifle ponies, Twilight took advantage of the fact they were behind her to let a smile grace her muzzle at the scent as she walked into the hive, hands clasped behind her back.

Inside was much cooler then the surface and it was a nice respite from the heat though it was much darker inside but Twilight did not remove her sunglasses, she didn’t want it to be easy to tell where she was looking both in meeting the Queen or while walking through the tunnels. Inside of the tunnel the smell of burnt Changeling was much stronger and only grew as they went deeper and deeper do to the number of bodies on the ground do to the fact the unicorn had never given any order to spare workers so the troopers burned any Changeling they came across. There was a reason Flame Troopers were issued gas masks.

It wasn’t hard to find the throne room as it was the tunnels with the most dead in them as they tried to keep the advancing EDF away from the Queen. Soon enough twilight and the Rifle Team entered the throne room. In the middle of the room atop her throne sat Queen Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings and around her stood four Flame Troopers, their flamethrowers trained on her while she glared at them.

As the Rifle Team spread out around the room to cover the entrance and the queen Twilight approached the throne. “Long time no see Chrysalis, how you been?” She asked as if greeting and old friend once she stood before the throne.

The Queens glare shifted from the Troopers to their Commander. “YOU! You are the one leading this slaughter?” She demanded.

Twilight nodded. “Yup, Commander Twilight Sparkle of the Equestrian Defense Force at your service.” She said with a smile.

The Queen’s eyes narrowed. “Do you mock me while your forces burn my hive alive?” She asked anger clear in her voice.

Twilight shrugged. “You started this, we tried peaceful negotiations and you answered with violence, so I responded in kind. This is on your head not mine.” Twilight said calmly, she could see the sweat on the Queen’s brown, no doubt through the Hivemind she could feel ever single death caused by the Flame Troopers and that included the pain.

The Queen growled at her baring her teeth but the sweat on her brow only grew and the EDF spread through the hive, destroying all in their path. The entire time Twilight just stood there calmly facing her. Finally after ten minutes of the impromptu staring contest the queen blinked and let out her breath as she looked down and mumbled. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” Twilight said. “Speak up.”

The Queen looked back up at her and glared. “I said I surrender, call off your forces!” She said.

Twilight nodded and stood there watching the Queen. After a few minutes the Queen Spoke again. “What are you doing? I gave up! Call off your forces!” She yelled. Twilight remained silent. A few more minutes passed and the sweat on the Queen brow only grew more and more. “What are you doing?! I gave up! There is no reason to continue to advance!” She screamed at the Commander. “Stop this!” She said and her shoulders slumped. “Please….stop this….” She whispered looking at the ground as she felt her Changelings burning alive through the link

Twilight waited for a single minute fore activating her radio. “This is Commander Sparkle, cease firing. Round up any Changelings you find and bring them to the surface. Over. “She ordered.

“Roger Commander, stopping the barbeque.” Came the voice of the Lieutenant, while he had been one of the first to find the Throne room he hadn’t stuck around to guard the Queen, not when there were things to burn. “Restrain her.” Twilight said gesturing with her hand before clasping them behind her back again.

The Rifle team moved in and shortly all four of her legs where shackled and she had a chain around her body to keep her wings pressed to her body while three inhibitor rings were placed on her horn. Once she was secure Twilight turned and headed for the surface while the Rifle Team formed up around the Queen and lead her to the surface behind their commanding officer.

Once they reached the surface Twilight signaled for the transports to pick them up. As they waited Twilight looked at the Queen who had yet to raise her head from where it hung facing the ground. “Why….”the Queen asked quietly.

“What?” Twilight asked raising an eyebrow.

“Why did you call them off….half my Hive is now dead because you didn’t call them off when I surrender, even though the Swarm wasn’t fighting anymore….” The Queen said raising her head enough to look at Twilight.

Twilight nodded. “I had to be sure you were actually surrendering and not just lying so you could ambush my forces. Once I was sure I called them off. “Twilight told a half truth, the other half was she had been enjoying watching the Queen.

The queen merely nodded and looked back at the ground. “Yes….I….can see your point…..”She whispered just barely loud enough for Twilight to hear.

Shortly after that the sky chariots arrived and landed as the last of the Hive was lead to the surface by the flame Troopers and the Queen was loaded into one as Twilight turned to the lieutenant. “IF they try anything burn them.” She said loud enough for the Queen to hear.

The Lieutenant nodded. “With pleasure ma’am.” And with that Twilight turned to the sky chariot behind the Queens, sparing a glance at the transport with the defeated queen within. This would never be a day the Queen of the Changelings would ever forget, the day her arrogance got half her hive burned alive.

Just as Twilight had planned it. She boarded her transport and they lifted off heading for Canterlot.

<<<O>>>

“What do you mean you want us to let her go?!” Demanded one of the nobles in the Throne Room. It had been about an hour since Twilight had returned from the badlands with her prisoner, she personally over saw the Queens transfer to the Canterlot dungeons before making her way to the throne room to inform the Princess.

And that was how Twilight found herself the center of attention for some very angry nobles. “

“You can’t seriously to expect us to let the Queen of the Changelings go after capturing her!” the same noble continued.

“I am not asking her to be let go, I am asking she be transferred to my custody.” Twilight said facing the Princess as if she were addressing her superior officer, which she was, Celestia was far more superior to most of the nobles of Canterlot with a few exceptions, those exceptions were the only ones she would actually look at when being spoken to. It infuriated the others to no end though Twilight did not care, she was not here to make friends, and she was here to run the EDF.

“No, no absolutely not.” The noblepony said looking at Celestia. “Princess you can’t be listening to this mare. What she asks is simply impossible!” He turned back to twilight. “The Changeling Queen is an enemy of Equestria and as such she will be dealt with as such, you have done your duty in bringing her here to face trial which is all your Equestrian Defense Force is supposed to do.” She said, practically spitting the name of Twilight army with disgust.

“Commander, my I ask why you think she should be transferred to your custody as well as have the Hive itself in the custardy of the EDF?” Princess Celestia asked calmly.

The Noblepony’s head whipped around to face her. “Your majesty you can’t honestly be considering her request!” He said.

Celestia raised a hoof to silence the gathered Nobles. “I want to hear her reason before I decide anything.” Celestia said calmly.

“Ma’am with all due respect I am fully aware of what the Changelings did to the capital. But I have also understood her reasoning’s. Her people needed food badly and she saw our nation’s bounty. Could she have tried another approach, yes, but desperation does not make one have good judgment.” The Commander said calmly and clearly for all to hear. “And I can a sure the safety of Equestria now, the Queen is defeated by her own arrogance twice, she will never forget that lesson anytime soon if ever.” Twilight said. “In short, it is my opinion the Queen is no longer a threat to Equestria.”

The room exploded at that as the nobles voiced their opinions on Twilight’s opinion while others tried to call for her to be removed as commander of the EDF for incompetence. The entire time Princess Celestia remained calmed as she stared at the Commander of the army.

After a long while a small smile appeared on her muzzle for a moment for just a moment that only Twilight saw before she raised her hoof to silence the room. “After careful consideration Commander I have decided to grant your request.” Princess Celestia said loudly for the room to hear. “I order the prisoner Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings as well as the other Changelings currently being held to be transferred into the care of the EDF, specifically Commander Twilight Sparkles, to do with as she sees fit.”

Some Nobles tried to voice their objection but Twilight ignored them as she saluted her commanding officer. “Thank you ma’am, I shall see to the transfer immediately.” With that she turned on her heel and left the throne room. She practically skipped down the hallway leading to the dungeons; she had just the place for the Changeling Queen.

<<<O>>>

Queen Chrysalis sat staring at the floor of her cell in the Canterlot dungeons, she was still in chains with the inhibitor rings though it was all unnecessary, and she had no intention of trying to escape. She was a failure as a Queen. Not only had she failed the invasion of Equestria but her actions their lead to half her hive’s death by fire. She deserved whatever punishment Equestria had planned for her.

She was drawn from her thoughts by something metal tapping the bars of her cell and when she looked up she saw the commander of the attack on her hive Twilight Sparkle smiling at her through the bars, having used one of her strange metal hooves to knock on the bars before she put them behind her back as she had done in the Hive’s thrown room. “What do you want…come to gloat?” The Queen asked.

The mare shook her head. “No, I came here to give you the chance to leverage your assets against your lives” the Commander said.

“What do you mean?” Chrysalis asked a bit confused.

“Well currently every noble in Canterlot want your head on a plate but I am here to offer you a way that won’t happen.” The Commander said.

“Oh? Really now? So what is this offer?” Chrysalis asked.

“Simple, you and the Hive join the EDF.” The military commander said with a smile.

Chrysalis blinked at her. “What?”

“You and your Hive join the army, under my command of course.” The purple mare said.

The Queen blinked again. “Are you insane? You want an enemy in your army?”

“Eh…” The unicorn titled her arms like scales. “And I don’t think you are an enemy, least not an active one. More of a threat. But that threat is due to an issue that can be solved.”

“Oh? And how can it be solved?” Chrysalis asked.

“Simple, by the Changelings joining the army and helping defend Equestria from threats both foreign and domestic.” The Commander said. “there will be some issues at first, you did make a right mess of things with the whole Royal Wedding incident, but over time, as people see you are committed to helping protect the nation the hate will slowly recede and be replaced by respect and the whole love and tolerance shit.”

Chrysalis blinked and tilted her head, the mare was not acting how the Queen remembered from the wedding, and she was like a completely different pony. “And what position would we fill in this army of yours?”

“Well the soldiers would be soldiers of course, your diggers would, well did….long story short you’d basically be doing the same thing you normally do only with ponies and in a military setting.” The commander said. “And if you think I would allow discrimination within the ranks you’d be dead wrong, the changelings will be treated the same as the ponies and I will personally deal with anyone that causes problems.”

The Queen nodded. “And where do I fit into this little plan of yours?”

At the Commander smiled wide. “Oh that’s easy, you’d be my second in command.”

To say Chrysalis’ jaw hit the floor would be an understatement. “You are insane! Why would you want me to be your second? I’m a terrible leader; I failed in my invasion of the Wedding.”

“Oh come off it Queeny you and I both know you only lost due to a total fluke.” The commander said. “I didn’t realize your plan before but I knew nothing of commanding battle before. Now I do and your plan is very clear to someone with my experience in hind sight.”

The Queen arched an eye brow. She couldn’t seriously think she knew the plan. “Oh really? So what was my plan then because the unanimous conscience of Equestria is that I was a fool.”

The Commander shrugged. “Only to one that does not understand war. Many think you screwed up by not acting like Cadence while around me there by tipping me off to you not being her. But that was all part of the plan, you had done your homework and knew the greatest weapon we had would be the Elements and we would use them on you.” The mare said as she started to pace in front of the cell. “So you needed to remove the threat and what better way than to remove the one who aims them, me. But if I disappeared people would ask questions.”

“So you needed to act just out of character enough for me to know something was up do to knowing the real Cadence for so many years but not enough that anyone else wouldn’t just chalk up to pre-wedding jitters. “The commander paused and looked at the Queen. “Which they did by the way.” She began pacing again. “Then it was a matter of getting me to confront you and fail to convince everyone. Once that happened everyone was against me so me disappearing would go unquestioned.”

“Which lead to the Crystal Caverns where you taunted me while still disguised as Cadence till I was so mad that I attacked the real Cadence when you lead me to her.” The commander paused again and looked at the Changeling Monarch. “You were going to use me as the weapon to remove her from the equation which would have devastated me and I’d be easy clean up and it almost worked too but she convinced me it was the real her.” She started pacing again.

“But just in case that plan failed you had your brainwashed bride’s maids as guards knowing we would hesitate to attack innocent ponies while they would have no hesitation.” The commander said and scratched her chin. “While I know Cadence pulled the bouquet from her pocket dimension I am still surprised it actually worked to distracted them, the fact they chanced it makes no real sense.”

The commander shrugged and continued her pacing. “Once we exposed you needed to buy time for your army to finish breaking through the shield.” The mare stopped and smirked at the Queen. “That’s where your monologue came into play. It was just enough to distract us from taking action.”

The mare started pacing. “Once they were through the shield your army descended upon the city creating panic and chaos. Me and my friends made a break for the Elements where you had a small force meet us in the street, just a large enough force to slow us down while a much large force secured the building the Elements were housed in.”

The mare faced the Queen and smirked. “After that you had us beat, Celestia was down, the only one who could make a shield to keep you out was under your control and you had the Bearers captured. A very tidy victory if I do say so myself, one I must admire.” The mare said with a nod of respect to the Queen. “You only lost by the extreme long shot of a love powered shield and over confidence.”

The mare stopped in front of the cell once more and smirked at the Queen. “How close am I?”

The Queen’s jaw worked but no words came out. It made no sense! None at all. “H-how?” She crocked out.

The Commander smiled wider and leaned closer to the bars. “Because I am used to leading troops into battle and fighting for my life.” She said simply.

Chrysalis just stared at the unicorn. This pony had figured out every single step of her master plan, right down to the finer points of it. Every single detail had been an open book to this mare.

“But…why do you want me leading by your side? I did all that to you, you should hate me.” The queen said.

The Mare shrugged. “Eh I was angry at you but I got over it and I need someone in place that in the event I am killed can take over and know what the fuck you are doing so as not to screw up royally.” The commander said then smiled at the Queen. “So what do you said? Will you join up?”

Chrysalis just stared at her for a long while, the whole time the mare just smiled back from behind her sunglasses. Chrysalis sighed and got to her hooves. “I suppose I will as I have little choice and I need to do what’s best for my hive.”

“Oh good.” The Mare said and clapped her hooves together, making a very loud clanging noise. After her clapping she reached into the pocket of her uniform and pulled out a key which she used to unlock the cell door. Pulling the door open the Commander stepped to the side. “Welcome to the EDF Major Chrysalis.”

Chapter 23: Civil War

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Distress Call from Fort Helstien, 250 miles east of city of Calten:
Mayday, Mayday, This is Major Thompson acting commander of Fort Helstien requesting immediate reinforcements. I say again we are desperately in need of reinforcements. Our soldiers have gone rouge, I say again our soldiers have gone rouge and are rounding up all of the command staff and executing them on the parade grounds.
We need help here! Surviving command staff and troops still loyal are holdup in the admiration building but we are outnumbered and running low on ammunition. I don’t know how long we can hold out; send help as soon as possible.
*A loud explosion is heard followed by the sound of gunfire and yells*
Oh god they’ve breeched the building, I say again our defenses have been breached Send help now!
*The sound of a door being kicked in is heard followed by an unidentified voice*
DEATH TO TYRANTS!
*Gunfire is heard and the radio goes dead in a blast of feedback*

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle stood in an abandoned apartment overlooking one of the main streets of Calten. Down below a Fed convoy was just moving onto the street. It had been a month since White Rabbit had been eliminated and the government’s dirty secrets were brought to light and since then much has happened. The biggest being the entire country was now at war with itself between the Federal Army still loyal to the governments, and the various Rebel groups that have formed all vying to take control. While there were many Factions now the People’s Free Democratic Republic was the most well organized and equipped do to being around far longer than the others.

As such many people from Calten joined up with them as did some soldier from the base outside of the city though the base still was under Federal Army command. There were of course those who did not believe the evidence before them and thought it was just Rebel lies so they either joined the Feds or stayed out of the fighting just trying to stay alive. Regardless of the peoples choices though the City of Calten was for all intent and purpose a war zone now.

Entire neighbored hoods had been burned to the ground, the unfortunate collateral damage cause by being caught in the crossfire between the PFDR and the Federal Army as both sides were about even in strength now as the Feds that defected to the Rebels brought with them a lot of equipment from Guns and ammo to Tanks and Gunships. The PFDR had gone from Rebel’s scrounging for supplies to fully equipped Rebel Army as such they had managed to secure areas on the surface as outposts of a type for their soldier to use to resupply and rest while the Command Structure remained down in the sewers for safety purposes.

“They are moving into the kill zone.” Desmond said as he watched the Fed convoy move into the middle of the street between interactions, drawing Twilight back to the present.

The purple mare smiled. “Well then let’s greet them shall we?” She said as she hefted the Anti-armor rocket launcher onto her shoulder and took aim at the lead vehicle. She waited for a few moments before she depressed the trigger and let the rocket fly. The rocket propelled destruction flew through the air till it struck the hood of the armored jeep and detonated, causing the jeep to exploded along with it and bringing the convoy to a screeching stop moment before another smoke trail launched from a different building and took out the vehicle in the back, partly blocking all routes of escape for the soldiers bellows.

The turrets on the surviving jeeps swung around and began to fire on the windows where the rockets had come from at the same time soldier began to pour out of the two transport trucks that were in the part of the convoy and move to cover as Rebels began firing on them from the windows and alleyways of the buildings on both sides of them catching them in a cross fire from which there was no escape and soon the street went from normal road to a killing field as Federal Army soldier fell one by one.

One of the jeeps had the bright idea to get around the flaming wreckage before it by driving onto the sidewalk. Do to the Rebels Objective they were able to plant mines in the street so the Jeep was speedily making its way clear. “We got a runner.” Twilight said watching the jeep speed off. “I’ll take care of it. “She said hoofing the rocket launcher over to Desmond before disappearing in a flash of purple light and reappearing above the street in the direct path of the speeding jeep.

As she started to fall she ignited her horn and cast the smell she had developed to help her walk on walls and ceilings without her mane and tail hanging down for all to see. It had bene a simple idea but actually making the spell had been a real pain but when she got it right it had far more applications then allowing her to walk on walls.

Such as now as she increased gravities pull on herself causing her to plummet much faster then she normally would while she wrapper her rear hooves in magic that would absorb the coming impact. She laughed as she saw she was right on target and the Jeep was just passing under her a moment before she landed on the hood of the speeding vehicle.

Her natural heavy frame coupled with the increased speed of gravity pulling on her much stronger then normal, effetely doubling her weight from around five hundred pounds to half a ton and dropping with the speed of a rocket propelled grenade turned the small unicorn mare into tool of destruction as when her hooves hit the hood of the fleeing jeep it was instantly crushed and the axle snapped like a twig causing the front of the jeep to dig into the road with the rest of the jeep tried to continue forward resulting in the back wheels leaving the ground and dragging the rest of the jeep through the air.

As the jeep sailed through the air Twilight canceled her spell and drop from the hood of the jeep, turning in the air her rear hooves dug into the asphalt and he slide left two large groves in the road as the jeep rolled end of end behind her, throwing the gunner clear and letting him slide across the road for about a hundred feet till he was stopped by a parked car, snapping his neck.

The jeep finally stopped rolled, coming to rest on the roof, the turret having been torn clear three rolls back. Twilight looked back at the totally jeep and could see the soldier inside were still very much alive thanks to their restraints holding them in place and the roll cage built into the frame of the jeep.

After the soldier recovered enough of their senses from being tossed around in their seats they looked over at the short rebel solder who pointed at a dark stain on the road that lead to the jeeps ruptured gas tank. The mare lite her horn and with a smirk the gas trail ignited and rabidly raced along the trail of gas straight for the fuel still in the tank.

As the Soldier began to struggler to free themselves from the soon to be bomb the unicorn calmly turned around and started to walk back up the street towards the firefight that was rabidly dyeing down. The resulting explosion behind her cause a pressure wave that ruffled her mane and tail but didn’t do much else from the distance she was from the now burning jeep.

By the time Twilight reached the convoy the Feds were dead and the rebels were drilling the lock off of one of the armored transport trucks that had been in the middle of the convoy. It didn’t take long for the drill to completely pierce the lock and the soldier pulled the drill back before opening the door to revel the people locked inside. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to your parole day.” He said as the Rebels began to unload the prisoner from the transport. Most were civilians but a fee were rebel soldier that the people had been either aiding or hiding as they had been injured in a previous mission, when the Feds found them they had arrested the whole lot, an entire apartment building regardless of whether or not they had had any direct contact with the rebels or not, just being in the same building was enough to charge them.

Once the prisoners were all freed and their cuffs cut the rebels and their new charges began to quickly move for the alleyways between buildings so as to make their escape before back up arrived. By the time the other Fed jeeps arrived the only thing left in the street were burning vehicles and the bodies of the dead Feds, the rebels long gone.

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked into PFDR HQ hew Squad right behind her. A lot had changed since White Rabbit had been eliminated. Twilight had promoted Desmond to Staff Sergeant and Hudson was now a Corporal while Rook 2 was now PFC Rain do to having a new Rook 1 and Rook 2, normal names Private Edison and Private Fillmore. Both the new Rooks had joined up with the rebels after the broadcast of secrets and it did help Nightmare a lot as Rook 1 used to be a cab driver so knew every street around the city as well as where just about everything was while Rook 2 had worked in the zoning officer so knew a lot about the buildings around the city, at least to what they should and shouldn’t have based on the type of building they are.

The civilians that had been rescued had been taken to one of the PFDR outposts so as not to revel the location of the HQ just in case one of them was a plant, it was better to lose the outpost then the entire Rebel Command. It didn’t help that they didn’t have just the Feds to worry about now as there were two other Faction fighting in the city by the names of the Communists Coalition and the One Free People. While both groups were small they both had former Feds in their ranks and the Coalition liked fighting the PFDR as much as they fought the Feds while the OFP was more or less neutral towards the PFDR as they were more focused on protecting the civilians and providing aid to the sick and injured as long as they weren’t Federal Army and were mainly made up of hospital workers and EMTs. Both the PFDR and Coalition agreed in an unspoken truce not to attack them as both group needed their help more than once since everything started a month ago.

“Well I’d say that mission was a total success.” Rook 2 said as the squad walked down the tunnel towards the Mess Hall, Twilight in the lead, hands clasped behind her back. Since gaining the ability to go bipedal she had been spending time on mission and a little after in that mode do to the fact it allowed her to manipulate things without her magic. She had never realized how the innate magic in hooves was so important till she no longer had it and since gaining her fingers she wasn’t wasting any chance to use them. Plus it gave the added help of not having a light on her head that could draw the attention of an enemy sniper, and she did not was to become well acquainted with a .308 round and what it would do to her head.

“Yes it was a very successful mission. “Twilight said to the dark skinned human without turning to face him. “We got out people back and got innocent people clear.” Twilight wondered whether the civvies would stay or take the PFDR offer to get them out of the city. When everything got bad a lot of people start to flee the city as it was being torn apart by rioting. While it would have been a good opportunity for the rebels to attack the Feds as they were trying to restore order the Rebels had decided that to many innocent people would have been caught in the cross fire so choose to allow the Feds to restore order as best as they could.

It had been bad that first week with so many angry civilians rioting through the city. It had reached a point near the middle that the Rebels had to actually aide the Feds in order to keep the city from being burned to ash, it was the only time Twilight had ever used non-lethal take downs as most of the people the rebels dealt with were just scared and trying to stay alive in the chaos. The Rebels didn’t deal with the more violent sections of the city as the Feds had cordoned off those sections and based on reports they had intercepted a few times had to resort to sending in assault teams and stroke teams to regain control. The Number of dead was still unknown but based on how some of the rioters were acting the mare could understand the Feds having to resort to live fire.
The Federal Army was trying to keep control of their crumbling county that they themselves had caused with all their secrets and lies, granted Twilight wasn’t naive enough to think Governments shouldn’t keep secrets, but what the Feds hid was beyond was needed for national safety; it was just so they could stay in power.

Even still Twilight had to admit she was glad they had restored law and order, even if the city was still under Martial Law but it was nice the rebels could now go top side without being attack by random civilians, only needing to watch out for the Feds and the Coalition for the most part.

Though even with the Feds Having restored order they only controlled part of the city fully, which was how the PFDR was able to set up outposts top side which made strikes at the army much easier as they didn’t need to walk through miles of sewers. The city was more or less divided up between the Feds, the PFDR, the Coalition and the OFP with everything not under their control a sort of no man’s land control by the criminal element of the city. While all the factions had the equipment to take those sections they did not have the man power to do so and trying to control them would put them in easy strike distance of the other group. In short, no man’s land acted as a buffer between the groups as it was dangerous for squads to go in alone as it was impossible to tell who was a displaced civvies and who was one of the criminal elements that would not hesitate to attack anyone given the chance.

The city was a mess in Twilights opinion and she part of the blame was on her for releasing the files but the people had a right to know what their government was up to and it did give the PFDR an advantage as the Feds were much weaker while the Rebels were stronger then they had been and the Feds weren’t just focused on dealing with them anymore do to everything all over the country happening.

Twilight had even heard of some bases back east going completely rouge and killing the high ranking officers and then killing the Feds that showed up to try and stop them as they were housed within bases designed to repel attacks.

As far as Twilight could tell the only place that was still fully under Federal Army control and had only experienced short lived rioting was the capital city as that was where Feral Army High Command was located and that place was a fortress that anyone would be very hard pressed to take. It was why the PFDR weren’t fighting in the capital, they needed to take the rest of the country first so they could take the capital from all sides or force surrender by cutting the city off from everything.

Yes the entire country was a mess where violence was the rule of law in many places and Twilight couldn’t help admit she was having an absolute blast!~~~~

<<<O>>>

“So how goes sifting through the files we got from White Rabbit’s computer?” Twilight asked the team of Rebel intelligence officers and hacker that had been tasked with going through all of the files found on White Rabbit’s computer to see what was there.

“Well, same as before, slow but worth it. This guy seemed to take time to break into their files just to find what was there and kept it for himself. “Said one of the hackers not looking up from his computer as he typed. “You should see some of the shit they have had their hands in.”

Twilight nodded. “What about what I asked you to look into?” She asked eyeing the human.

“Nothing more besides what we already knew of their plans for the invasion of Equestria but we are still looking.” The hacker said looking at her. “His computer had a file that linked it to an offsite storage area that contained more then what he had on his computer but we are still looking ma’am, don’t worry.” The hacker gave her a reassuring smile. “Can’t let the Fed Fucks invade out commander’s homeland and fuck it up as bad as they have ours.”

Twilight couldn’t help smiling at the Hackers words of reassurance. These people trusted her and cared about her as if she wasn’t an alien on their planet and because of that she knew that come hell or high water they wouldn’t let the Feds set a single foot into Equestria as long as they still stood.

“What about Frisk?” She asked.

“All we have found so far is that he was transferred to some sort of hidden lab, no real word about it but that he was listed as high value to the Federal Army.” The hacker said going back to his computer. “And going by the fact he built the machine that brought you here, it’s safe to say he has a hand in their plans for Equestria.”
Twilight nodded and sighed, it was the only logical conclusion concerning Frisk as he would be needed to rebuild the device to get to her homeland, which meant Twilight would need to eliminate him, not that she needed much excuse to do horrible things to the man, she had many fantasies about hurting him.

She looked back at the team. “Carry on and report any major finds to me as soon as you find them.”

“Will do.” The hacker said as Twilight turned and headed out the door. She had reports to go over from their topside outposts and squads to debrief and it would all just pile up unless she got to it sooner rather than later. She needed an assistant or a soldier that worked directly under her that she could delegate some of the paper work to but unfortunately there wasn’t anyone really available that she would trust with the work so it was just her.

She sighed as she walked into her officer and saw the piles of paper work, what she wouldn’t give to be able to go have some fun on a solo mission, she hadn’t been able to play since her time with White Rabbit and that was a depressing fact. Now that’s not to say going on missions wasn’t fun and all, it was a lot of fun, but she wasn’t able to cut loose and get creative with witnesses around.

Maybe after she did half the paper work she could go for a walk and clear here…..yes….that would work…..that would work perfectly~~~~~

Chapter 24: A Simple Walk

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FE-@#L Pr$%S
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&&(*%*^ Safety &*%##(@&!)*+&%%$(^ indoors **^(^@(#*&^$%^#@ PFDR ^^(^^*#(*&*$+N((&(^(*(*^#&Confident&()*( #*(&(* @#*#(*&(*& Rioting *#*(&(*&$)(@(&&@(&(*$@(*&$%

<<<O>>>

Twilight hummed to herself as she walked down an alleyway in No-Man’s land, hands clasped behind her back as was her habit. She had no real destination in mind and was more just wondering around the city to see what all there was to see.

It was about what she expected, trash scattered everywhere, a few burned out vehicles left over from the riots graffiti all over the walls with slogans such as “DEATH TO TYRANTS” and “FUCK THE FEDS!” as well as the graffiti artist proclaiming which side they supported between the factions.

If the city’s infrastructure ever gets back in operation they will have a lot of work to do to clean up. Though with the way the fighting was going that would be a long time coming.

Twilight rounded a corner at the end of the alleyway and spotted a women lying slumped against the wall. She was dirty and looked like she had been through the ringer. The women lifted her head weakly and held a hand out to Twilight. “P-please….help me….” She asked in a weak voice.

Twilight walked over to her. “What’s wrong ma’am?” She asked and a moment later raised her hoof and caught the baseball bat swing aimed for her head. “I’m assuming it has something to do with them.” She said before kicking one of her legs back, striking the assailant in the knee and shattering it.

Now armed with a bat the mare turned around and delivered the same swing that had been meant for her to the side of the injured humans head, enjoying the crunch his skull made from the impact. She then took a moment to assess the situation. There were five of them, only one had a gun the rest had melee weapons, from the looks of it a simple street gang. Shouldn’t be too difficult.

Twilight slung the bat at the gang member to her left causing him to go down stunned while the unicorn drew her side arm and deployed one of her blades before launching herself forward with a magically assisted jump. She sunk the blade into the chest of the gang member in front of her and used him as a counter weight to turn mid-air. As she spun with her wait she raised the pistol and fired a single shot, removing the biggest threat out of the gang with a head shot.

When she reached the apex of the spin the G-forces pulled her place free and sent her flying into another one of the gang, she was not too happy about where the humans head ended up when she crashed into him and quickly ended him with several shots to the head before untangling herself from him and rabidly fixing her tail. She would never speak of this moment to a soul and would be forgetting it as soon as possible.

She turned back to the last one standing with a slight blush on her cheek. “You saw nothing!” She said before unloading the reminder of the pistol’s mag into the human. Once that was down she cursed herself for allowing her embarrassment to cause her to waste ammo as she reloaded.

She walked over to the women and delivered a single shot to the human she had thrown the bat at just as he started to recover from the blow and sat up. “So, how about them ambush tactics eh?” She said to the woman who was now cowering against the wall, Twilight made sure to put on her friendliest smile she had.

“Th-they made me do it!” The women cried out and the mare nodded.

“Maybe so maybe no, point is you fucked with the wrong mare.” Twilight said still smiling. “And you gave me something to do so I’m going to ask you a single question, get it wrong and you die, get it wrong and you may live” Twilight leaned down so the human’s vision as filled with only the unicorn’s face. “Where is your boss?”

<<<O>>>

Twilight surveyed the group of humans that called themselves the Eastside Gunz, from a root top across the street from their little camp/base thing they had set up in the rubble of what used to be a restaurant, now it was missing its roof and half of one wall had collapsed and from what she could tell there wasn’t a single pane of glass left in the place.

The women had told her everything and Twilight had let her go of course, least hat what she told her, she just wanted to fuck with the women who would have just alerted the Gunz Twilight was coming. Now Twilight surveyed her options, she couldn’t risk being recognized if she missed someone and she didn’t want to make the PFDR look back so the mare stashed her armor and fashioned a sort of cloak from a blanket she found in an alley, making it a point to ignore the smell, while she used a rag to hide her lower face and some goggles to hide her eyes, a perfect disguises, well as perfect as a magical unicorn can get on short notice with things she found lying next to a dumpster. If she was fast enough she’d look like a short human as long as no one noticed the tail.

As the disguised mare looked over the gang she had to admit that they were organized to a decent degree for being a street gang. Most of them had a gun of some sort but, mostly pistols and shotguns but a few had assault rifles. Based on her observations there was about twenty of them. Twilight checked her pistol ammo, she had more than enough shots but she was hoping for something more entertaining, and then she noticed it in the far corner of the gang hide out, two barrels under a tarp, correction, two fuel barrels under a tarp. A smile split her muzzle, that would do just fine.~~~~

Now having a plan the mare moved back to the fire escape she had used to get to the roof and climbed down and quickly crossed the street to the back of the camp. She mentally condemned them for not having people on lookout but they probably thought no one would fuck with them in their own hide out.

Once at the back door she carefully opened the door and peeked in, seeing the kitchen as empty she slipped into the building and made her way to the small window that looked from the kitchen to the rest of the restaurant. No one seemed to have noticed her. Now how to get out of the kitchen without being turned into Swiss cheese.

The problem solved itself when two a couple of the gang members who had been playing cards started to argue about one of them cheating or something, Twilight didn’t really pay attention as the point was the argument quickly escalated into a fist fight that draw the rest of them to watch and cheer on the combatants.

Well if they were so easily distracted it just demanded Twilight do something and she wasn’t about to ignore that voice in her head as it chanted “Playtime” over and over again and made a Squee sound as the mare left the kitchen walking over to the barrels. Uncovering them she gave them a shake and was rewarded with the slosh of gas inside. From what she could tell they were full.

She froze as a gun was placed to the back of her head. “Well well, looks like we got a rat who thinks they can steal from the Eastside Gunz eh?” An accented voice said. Twilight raised her hands, happy the sleeves didn’t slide down to show her cybernetics. “Hey dumbasses knock it off we got a rat!” The voice yelled and twilight could hear the fight slowly wind down before the sound of a lot of footsteps walking over.

Twilight put a little quiver in her voice as she spoke. “Please…I just wanted some food…”She said trying to sound as scared as she could while her mind raced to find a way out.

“Hey, hey, it’s a chick, nice.” Someone else said from behind her.

“Shut up Michal.” The voice holding the gun said with annoyance.

“Hey hey, I’m just saying we haven’t gotten any new cunts in a while.” The second voice said again.

“Just shut up.” The first voice said. “You, bitch turn around.” The gun was pulled away from Twilight head and she slowly turned to face the group, all eyes were on her but only one had a gun on her. She looked at the one who had ambushed her. He had dark skin and from what she could tell most of it was covered in tattoos, leas his arms and chest were as well as his neck, from the way he spoke to the other Twilight assumed he was the leader.

She then took a look at the gun that was trained on her, it was a large silver revolver and from what she saw of the grip it was ivory. Oh she so wanted that gun. Then as if it was her birthday the gang leader pulled out a second identically gun and aimed it at her. She was so taking those; they were just too good looking for her not to take them! All she needed was a way out of this mess.

“Bitch drop the hood.” The leader said.

“Please…I’m sorry….I’ll just go and you never have to see me again.” Twilight said in her scared voice.

One of the group in the back laughed. “No way we are letting you go cunt.” Well that told her who the second voice was, it was a light skinned human who only had a few tattoos on, his constant referring to her as cunt was getting on her nerves and she was definitely going to make him suffer.

“Drop the hood, now bitch!” The leader demanded cocking his revolvers.

Well how could Twilight refuse such a nicely asked request? She reached up and dropped her hood and nearly laughed at the wide eye expression all but the leader gave. “The fuck, she had a horn and….the fuck is she?” The Michael voice said.

Well this worked she supposed. She quickly lite her horn and teleported behind the group. “The fuck?” One of them yelled before Twilight charged to group and crashed into them, putting every bit of her weight behind it. She knocked multiple over who in turn knocked more over who tried to stop from falling by grabbing the man next to them and dragging them down. Twilight couldn’t help laughing at the domino effect that ended with most of the gang in a table heap on the ground leaving just the leader and a couple who had jumped clear still standing.

Twilight wasted no time charging the nearest of the standing gang members and tackled him to the ground, they rolled on the ground till they came to a stop with Twilight on top pinning him. She smiled before using all her strength to punch the man’s face repeatedly turning it into a bloody paste.

She quickly rolled away a moment before she heard the very loud bang of the leaders heavy revolvers. The mare teleported to the other side of the room where two other gang members were, they raised the weapons but twilight delivered twin strikes to their major weak point and they went down clutching their manhood’s.
Twilight teleported to in front of the leader and delivered rabid strike to his gut causing him to stumble back and drop his guns, which Twilight caught in her magic, couldn’t have the two beauties getting scratched.

The leader quickly recovered and leapt at her to try and tackle her, to which the unicorn responded by side stepping and letting him crash into the pile of tabled gang members. Twilight used her magic to shove the two gang members that were still clutching themselves, not having recovered yet. She then used her magic to tear the wiring from the wall and used it to tie the group together.

“There we go, nice and secure.” She told them dusting her hooves together.

The leader glared at her. “The fuck you want you freak?!” He yelled at her.

“mmm…well I was planning on taking these.” She shook the twin revolvers in her magic. “And doing this. “She said and teleported the offensive human from the group and tightened the group back together as she held the human in her magic. The guy looked at her with obvious fear.

“What the fuck do you waarrg” Whatever he was going to say was lost as the mare tore his tongue out. “I don’t like the way you talk.” She told him simply before tossing him back onto the pile of humans.

“Now for the piece dare resistance “The unicorn said as she lifted the barrels of gas up over the humans and opened them, pouring the contents out onto all over them, soaking them in the fuel. Once they were thoroughly soaked she used the las of the barrels to make a trail to her.

“The fuck do you want? Who the fuck are you working for?” The leader demanded as the other started to panic as it was clear what was about to happen.

Twilight merely shrugged. “I don’t work for anyone, I’m just out for a walk to clear my head. “And with that she lite the train of gas and watched it race along toward the now screaming humans who tried to scoot away. A smile split her muzzle as the flames raced over their gas soaked bodies and she stood watching till the last of them stopped moving and it looked like a funeral pyre.

Twilight sighed with satisfaction. “Well that was entertaining and I got some new guns out of it to boot. “:She said admiring her new toys as she turned from the fire she walked back off into the night taking a deep breath of the smoke filled air. “This was a very relaxing walk.” She said to the night air as she began to walk back to PFDR HQ and the remainder of her paperwork.

Interlude: Consequences

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Twilight sparkle had a problem and it as no understatement to say it was a colossal problem. And that problem was sitting across from her in the basement of the Golden Oaks Library, Which had been converted into a sort of officer for her to run the EDF out of and let her be close to home while having peace and quiet when she wanted it.

The trouble shifted a bit uncomfortable in her custom made EDF officer’s uniform as she warily eyed the purple mare who sat across the desk from her. “So tell me.” Twilight put on her friendliest smile as she leaned forward, resting her chin on a hoof in a relaxed manner. “How long have you known exactly?”

“About…two weeks I’d say. “Major Chrysalis replied not daring to take her eyes of the unicorn before her.

Twilight nodded. “I see.” Twilight said drawing out the last word slightly.

“Did you really think you could hide something…..like that from an empath as powerful as me?” The major said nervously.

Twilight rocked her head side to side a few times as she thought about that. “I suppose I should have thought of that yes.” She said and her chin came to rest on her hoof once more. “So do tell me, why did you come to me and not the Princess?” Twilight smiled.

“Because I fear what you would do to me and the hive if I tried that and I thought it would be….safer to tell you rather then you find out and take…..action.” The Changeling Queen answered knowing it was best to be totally honest if she wanted to survive this meeting.

Twilight nodded. “You are correct in that.” Twilight chuckled. “So then what exactly gave it away that I was….”Twilight searched for a word.

“Insane? A mad mare, a crazed lunatic?” The Major offered.

“Eh, I was going to say taking pleasure in both life and death but what you said is shorter.” Twilight smiled again.

“IT was when you were demonstrating hoof to hoof fighting and broke the instructor’s left so severely. You did it on purpose and while you didn’t show it on your face I could sense the joy and….pleasure you felt as you looked at him writhing on the ground as the medics tended to him. You kept it under enough control that a drone wouldn’t notice it but I’m much stronger than the drones are in sensing emotions.” The Queen said. “After that I started to pay attention and I noticed small things that would look normal and innocent unless you can sense the emotions behind them.”

Twilight nodded. “Hmm…Supposed I did over look that it seems.” She sat back in her chair and her fingers drummed on the desk. “So it seems we have a bit of a problem on our hands as I want to keep this secret do to how others would react and then how I would react to their reaction and frankly it would just get rather……messy.” Twilight said smiling and watched as the Major shuttered, no doubt from the emotions Twilight was keeping buried deep.

“I did come to you and tell you I knew and not the Princess.” The queen said. “You have kept your word concerning my Hive and we have actually started to get food from the other soldiers who have actually started to form friendships with them.”

“Friendship formed while under fire is very strong. “Twilight said “It’s why I sent your soldier through Camp Mendez so they would go through the same things as the rest of the shoulders and the recruits would either come to rely and trust them or wash out.”

The Major nodded. “Yes that seems to be what happened, though there are still issues with the rest of Equestria the EDF seems to have adjusted.”

Twilight nodded once more. “Told you I’d take care of them, they are under my command after all Queeny.” Twilight said with a grin. “Though now we need to deal with the issue at hoof as Equestria will come around in due time.”

“I swear to you I won’t tell a single living being what I know.” Chrysalis said, meaning every word.

Twilight nodded again and smiled. “Good.” Before the Major could reach Twilight came over the desk and drug the larger being from her chair and slammed her against the wall of the office, holding her in place with her fingers around the Changeling Queen’s throat, one of her hoof blade four centimeter from her eye. “Because if I so much as suspect you are going to tell anyone.” Twilight moved the blade closer. “Let’s just say you’d beg for death to take you, am I clear?”

“C-Crystal.” The Major replied.

Twilight withdrew her blade and let the officer go. “Good good, well I suppose I should let you get back to your duties Major.” She said fixing her uniform as it had becomes rumpled in the brief altercation.

A knock at the door drew the attention of the EDF leaders. “Twilight? Is everything alright? I thought I heard a crash.” Came Spike’s voice from the other side of the door, Twilight had imposed a rule of not entering her officer unless asked to or given permission after knocking.

“Everything is alright Spike; I just knocked a book off the shelf is all.”

“Alright, I should have lunch ready in a bit if you are hungry.”

“Thanks that would be nice.” Twilight waited till she head the little dragon’s footsteps fade from here before looking back down at the other officer who had yet to get up off the floor. “Would you like to stay for lunch? I know changelings can eat normal food even if it doesn’t give them nearly as much nutrition as emotions do.” Twilight smiled offering a hand to help the Queen up.

The Queen hesitantly took it and Twilight hauled her to her hooves. “No, thank you Commander but as you said I have Duties to attend to.” The Major said brushing herself off.

Twilight nodded. “Alright the, have a good day and I’ll see you this evening for your report on the day’s events.” With a nod the Queen left the office happy to have made it out with her life as all things considered that had gone better then she thought it would have. Though she was concerned what the future held now that the Commander knew that she knew she was a psychopath. She would just have to prepare for whatever the future may hold as it was for the good of her Hive and she would make up for her mistakes.

<<<O>>>

Twilight was walking along one of the paths of Camp Mendez when her attention as draw by two medics racing past heading for the main gate. Curious Twilight galloped after them. When she reached the gate she saw the Medics pushing their way through a crowds of recruits and base staff, the recruits were on lunch break so had a small amount of free time while the base staff were either the perimeter guards or some drawn like Twilight, curiosity.

“Medical emergency, make way, move it!” One of the medics shouted as they pushed through the mix of ponies and changelings.

“Make way!” Twilight shouted as she got close causing everybody to clear a path for her and the Medics. The medics rushed forward and Twilight got a look at what had drawn the crowd and medics, three changelings were at the gate, one lying on the ground the other slung over the back of the third that looked to be barely standing. All of them looked in bad shape, their chitin cracked and bleeding and one of them looked to have his wings torn off. The one who was still standing only had one eye open as the other looked to be severely damaged.

The medics wasted no time moving to the two unconscious Changelings, one of the medics lifting the injured one off the back of the one still standing while Twilight made her way over to them, she immediately recognized them as Workers. “What happened?” She asked, keeping her anger under control, it was clear someone had attacked the three and worked them over good.

“We had gone into Canterlot to pick up some supplies that were ordered for the mountain defense bunkers last night. We didn’t request an escort as it would only take a few minutes to get them and be back.” Twilight nodded and motioned for him to continue. “On our way there some ponies saw us and started to yell at us and tell us we weren’t welcomed, we did as you told us to and ignored them and continued on but the….”The changeling looked at his two brothers as the medics prepped them for transport to the infirmary. “I tried to take them to a hospital but they wouldn’t let us in and threw stings at us till I was forced to flee, the bunkers don’t have the facilities to deal with this so…so I brought them here….I’ve been walking all night as my wings were injured.”

Twilight nodded. “You did well, do you know about where you were when….this happened?” Twilight asked.

“Yes we were…”The Changelings worker was cut off as Twilight held up a hoof. “Later, right now you need to focus on getting to the infirmary and getting looked at; I’ll be by later to ask you about this till then get better.” Twilight said and smiled at the drone. “You did very well and you should be proud at what you did, not many could walk here all the way from Canterlot with your injuries much less carrying two others with him.”

The changeling nodded and smiled weakly at the praise. “I…I couldn’t leave them.”

Twilight nodded. “I know, now go get looked at, I’ll be by later.” She order and the Changeling worker followed after the medics as they ferried the injured away.

Twilight turned back towards the base with two things on her mind, one was getting the Worker a commendation, and two, getting a team together to go after these sons of bitches and from the look of anger on the faces of the gather changeling’s and ponies, finding volunteers for that team would not be hard. No one fucks with the EDF without expecting them to come down on you hard.

<<<O>>>

In one of the few bars in Canterlot called the Ivory Wheel a mare walked in from the sleepy street, she wore a cloak against the cool night air. She approached the bar and sat on one of the stools. The owner of the bar made her way down to the new arrival. “Welcome to the Ivory Wheel, what can I get you?” The yellow Pegasus mare asked.

“Shot of whiskey please.” The mare said from within her hood. The Bartender nodded and retrieved a bottle from behind the bar and poured the cloaked mare a drink. “Leave the bottle.” The bartender nodded and left the bottle as she went to other end of the as she was waved over.

The cloaked mare turned and faced the rest of the bar as she sipped her whiskey, grimacing at the taste as her eyes roamed over the bar patrons, her eyes coming to rest on a group sitting around a large table drinking and chatting. Downing a couple more shoots of the whiskey the mare picked up the bottle and glass and made her way over to the group. “Mind if I join you?” She asked with slightly slurred speech.

A large red earth pony stallion looked at her for a moment. “Sure pull up a chair.” He said and the mare nodded as she did just that and sat with the group.

“So what you all talking about?” The mare asked as she tried to pour herself another glass but half of it went on the table so she took a sip straight form the bottle.

“Just the bugs that are being allowed to walk around like they own the bucking place.’ The stallion said with a sneer.

“Bugs? You mean the changelings?” The mare asked taking another drink.

The group nodded. “Yeah, I can’t believe they are allowed to walk our streets and what’s worse they have been put into the military.” A dark blue unicorn mare said. “Can you believe that? We are supposed to trust our safety to those disgusting creatures?”

The cloaked mare took another drink. “I don’t know have they done anything?”

“They invaded Canterlot, that’s more than enough but instead the Princesses personal student convinces the Princess to put them in the army. It’s only a matter of time till they turn on us, we need to be ready.” The red stallion said.

The Cloaked mare nodded as the rest of the group did to. “You speak as if you have already started.” The mare slurred.

The stallion nodded as he took a drink of his beer and leaned close. “We saw a couple of them walking down the street up to no good no doubt and confronted them, they tried to run off cause they were caught but we showed them what Equestria thinks of their kind.”

The mare nodded and smiled. “That’s all I needed to hear.” She said, the Stallion had enough time to look confused before both the front and back door was bucked open and a mix of ponies and changelings in full EDF combat gear rushed in and trained their rifled on the group while a couple covered the other patrons and barkeep.

“Hoofs up now! You are under arrest for assaulting Equestrian Defense Force personnel.

The Stallion looked on in shock before he was pulled around to face the cloaked mare who delivered a steel hoof right to his face and he went down clutching his nose as the mare drew a pistol and aimed it at his as she stood on her hind legs over him. “You know there are few things I can’t stand in the world and one of them is a racist so just give me a reason, please.” She said as the stallion lookup up at her glowing red eyes and froze as the EDF rounded up his compatriots with hoof cuffs and inhibitor rings before the cloaked mare stepped back and pulled her hood back reveling the leader of the EDF smiling at him as he was hauled to his hooves and cuffed.

“You made a huge mistake attacking members of the EDF; no one fucks with the EDF and gets away with it.” She said to the group but loud enough so the entire bar heard and would spread the word that attacking EDF personnel would be met with swift force. “I do hope you enjoyed your beer as they don’t serve it in the dungeons and I don’t think you’ll be getting anything good to eat for a long time.” She said as the group was led away to the waiting sky chariots that landed outside.

The Purple mare turned to the barkeep who looked ready to relive herself on the floor. “Sorry for the disturbance, the EDF will be happy to pay for any and all damages caused in the apprehension of suspects.” She took out a piece of paper and placed it on the bar. “Once you know how much the damages are just fill out this form and turn it into the nearby Garrison and you will be compensated.”

With that the mare turned and followed the soldiers out the door pausing a moment to look back at the barkeep. “Also I like the atmosphere here, do you mind if I recommend this place to the soldiers? It would boost your business quiet a lot.” The mare said with a smile to which the Barkeep just shook her head. “Ok, then have a please evening and once more sorry for the disturbance.” With that the mare disappeared into the night.

Chapter 25: Two Fronts

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Poster found within City of Calten, Author Unknown
War has come to our great city my fellow citizens, and while for years our city has been a battle ground between the Federal Army and the rebels known as the Peoples Free Democratic Republic it had rarely ever spilled into the daily lives of the people of this great city.
That has changed my fellow citizens, one month ago we learned of the lies our own government had been telling us for years, of the despicable acts they have taken against the people of this nation. I know some of you don’t believe it and see it as rebel propaganda and that is your right to do so while it is others right to choose to believe and take up arms or flee.
And that is what has happened in our city, we have taken up arms to fight weather for or against the government and it has turned this once peaceful city into a battle field for which none are spared as it is no longer just a war between the government and the rebels, there is no longer just one group of rebels, there are many now, all across this land fighting bother each other and the government they oppose in a cycle of bloodshed and violence that will not cease till one side either surrenders or is obliterated.
We fight for everything from ideals, to religious beliefs, to just the sake of fighting while other choose to avoid the fighting by fleeing the areas that are most dangerous if they can, risking their lives in the hope of escaping the violence that consumes all before it.
I am not one of the latter; I choose to fight for what I believe is right. I do not know what I can do but I know that I will do whatever I can because every fiber of my being tells me it is the right thing to do and it drives me to take up arms while those around me flee because I want to look at this country’s flag and be proud once more instead of be sickened.
And so I ask you my fellow Citizen, what drives you?

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle lay prone on the roof of a small café looking down the scope of her sniper rifle as she watched as two squads of PFDR as they carefully approached a group at the end of the street with a large truck. Both groups were lightly armed with the rebels only having their sidearm and two SMGs between them while the other group wore no armor and each had an SMG or machine pistol.

It was one of the requirements the other group had made when dealing with the varicose factions in the city and the PFDR agreed as they needed the other group to keep up their fight. “Were you followed?” Came the voice of the leader of the second group.
Who was in charge of the meeting on the ground, he had his radio open so Twilight could listen in
“No, it’s just us here as we agreed.” Came the voice of Staff Sargent Gretel who was leading the rebel squads.

“Good, good, you bring the credits?” The second group leader said and Sergeant Gretel gestured to his second who lifted a brief case, the Rebels found it easier to get Credits these days as entire banks had been abandoned with the vaults still full as well as security not being what is used to be else were.

“Show us what we asked for and we will complete this and be on our way.” Sergeant Gretel said and the second group’s leader nodded to one of his men who opened the back of the small truck reveling the boxes of ammo the PFDR needed.

“Armor Piercing, just like you requested.” The leader said then held out his hand. “Hand over the credits and it’s all yours.”

“Let one of my people make sure there isn’t just one layer of ammo boxes.” Gretel said and the leader looked annoyed before nodding. Gretel gestured for his fellow sergeant to make the inspection. After a few minutes he came out and gave the thumbs up. “Alright looks like we are good.’ Gretel said and his second handed over the case of Credits.

The leader nodded. “Pleasure doing business with you.” He said and all at once things went to shit as Feds burst out of the surrounding building as the second group raised their weapons.

“Fed Ambush!” One of the Rebel soldier yelled as they scrambled for cover. Twilight wasted no time putting a round through the heart of the fake arms dealer leader before looking for a new target. From the looks of it the Feds wanted the rebels alive as they were avoiding kill shots as best as they could.

Twilight took down her second Fed solder when things got far worse in the form of two armored jeeps painted a deep red rolled up and soldier wearing Fed armor splattered with red manned the turrets as more of the red armored soldier climbed out of the jeeps. The Coalition had decided to stage their own surprise attack on the meeting to take out both Feds and PFDR.

The Coalition swung their turrets around prioritizing the more heavily armed Feds to fire on as the foot soldiers attacked both parties, quickly plunging the street into a three-way fire fight as both groups wanted each other dead or captured.

Twilight quickly took aim at one of the gunners and sent a .308 round through his forehead before doing the same to the second gunner. With the heavy fire lessened and the Feds having to focus on the red armored soldiers who got the drop on them the PFDR grabbed their wounded and began to rabidly retreat to the truck as it was their only shot as there was no cover in either direction of the street.

As the truck started to roll down the street Twilight made sure to drop any soldiers that began to fire on the fleeing truck till it was out of range. The mare stayed to take down a few more enemy soldiers before she stood up and retreated from the roof to meet up with the truck as they would need to empty it quickly incase the truck or the ammo had a tracking device and so they would need her storage locker.

Twilight was just glad they had gotten away with the truck even if they did have to check each bullet for a tracking device as with so much fighting in the city ammo was hard to come by as simply raiding Fed compounds was harder do to them either being on high alert, or having been taken over by other groups who either sat there or emptied them out.

Life for the Rebels had gotten very complicated with them.

<<<O>>>

Twilight entered the Armor and stopped for a moment as she saw the dark skinned human who stood inside of the Cage before her brain reminded her that Dupo was gone, eve after all this time she still expected to see the Armory Officer inside the cage he had built himself as it was like nothing would ever harm the old man.

Shaking her head she cleared it of the memories and ignored the fact her mind told her she smelled cigarette smoke despite the fact the new Armory Officer wasn’t a smoker. She approached the Cage not letting her eyes linger on the damage and scorching on the wall beside it or the fact that the cage wall on that side did not match the rest of the design.

Once she was in front of the Cage she lifted a hoof and knocked on the metal bars to get the humans attention. “Staff Sergeant Duncan you awake in there?” She asked before switching to being bipedal so she could see over the counter.

The Staff Sergeant was hastily stuffing a rather inappropriate magazine under the counter in the hopes she wouldn’t see. Duncan was ok at his job but he was far from Dupo’s level as the man was always ready before someone entered the room while Duncan had to have his attention drawn to you.

“Got an ammo delivery for you and we need to go through it to check the boxes for trackers.” She said and the man looked around as if expecting there to be boxes of ammo. Twilight rolled her eyes and looked at him flatly, no matter how many times she explained it to him the Armory Officer just didn’t get the concept of her pocket dimension. “Get your ass out here and help me check for bugs.” She said moving to a table at the side of the room as she listed for the Cage door to open and close before Duncan was beside her. “Lock the damn Cage up.” She said with annoyance and the man quickly went and did so. If not for the fact the man used to work in an in a gun shop so knew his way around guns Twilight would have thrown him out on his ass and gotten a recruit to take his place.

Once he returned she pulled out two ammo boxes and set one in front of him as she began to inspect hers from every angle before moving on to opening it and dumping the ammo out, once she was sure the inside was empty she moved on to checking the bullet while Duncan did the same. She had gotten about eight hundred and fifty boxes of ammo and with her having to make sure Duncan actually checked every inch of the ammo it was going to be a long time before they were done.

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked into her quarters and tossed her armor into her footlocker before scrubbing her fingers through her mane and flopping onto her bed. It had taken her and Duncan about eight hours to go through all the ammo and it was tedious to say the least and she was happy to have escaped with what remained of her sanity.

She rolled onto her back and rested her head on her hooves as she stared at the ceiling, what had happened at the ammo buy ran through her head, the Feds were stepping up their game to try and get information on the rebels and it also concerned her that the Coalition had shown up at the same time ad it meant either the Feds had a spy or the PFDR did and she did not like the possibility of another spy in their midst.

Sighing she rolled up to sitting on the bed and looked around. She didn’t really have much she needed to do right this moment and had no real motivation to do so if she did. There was only one thing to do. She got to her hooves and walked over to her work bench and climbed onto the stool. Once she was seated comfortable she pulled out her rifle and began to take it apart.

She idly began to clean the individual parts and smiled as she heard Dupo walking her through the process. “Don’t use to much or it could damage the parts.” He always told her. She nodded her head. “I know I know Old Man, I know how to clean my damn guns.” She said as if he was actually there to hear her. She knew he wasn’t but it helped her relax to pretend he was there over her shoulder to make sure she did it right even though she had been cleaning her own guns for weeks before….

She shook her head to clear it of the thoughts, thinking of that was counterproductive to relaxing. She pulled out her Datapad and opened the music file, reading over the tracks she settled one she didn’t normally listen to but it matched her mood as she sat with her lost friend.

She set the Datapad to the side and listened as the soft PIANO started to play and she smiled as she worked. Even though the song had a few parts that were normal for the band she still found it to be very gentle and appropriate to her mood. Once the rife was clean she put it back in her storage locker and pulled out the two revolvers she got a couple days ago. “You didn’t get a chance to see these did you Old Man? You’d have loved them.” She said as she began to unload the large .357 bullets before taking them apart to be cleaned. “You’d have loved them probably as much as I do, they’re real beauties huh?” She smiled at the empty space beside her before wiping her eyes and going back to cleaning the duel Pythons as the music played on a loop.

“Bet you didn’t have any trouble finding your way to the other side did you?” She chuckled sadly. “knowing you, you probably built a Cage as soon as you arrived after getting anyone you met to do your work eh Old Man?” She said.

She smiled at the thought of the Armory Officer getting other souls to do his work while he sat to the side smoking one of his trademarked cigarettes watching them do the work he was fully capable of doing. She had to wipe her eyes as it was getting hard to see what she was doing and she didn’t want to make a mistake, she was taught better than that.

“We got a new shipment of ammo today, the arms dealers turned out to be Feds and it was an ambush, ironically our soldiers made it out as the Coalition showed up with armored jeeps and so the Feds had to deal with them and it took enough fore off of our soldier for them to escape with the ammo.” She shook her head at how absurd it all was that because of the Coalition they got ammo. “I had to help your replacement check the ammo for tracking bugs and believe me keeping him from zoning out on the task was a chore, he defiantly isn’t you.” She laughed as she reassembled the Pythons.

She brought out her Mossberg to clean next. “I get why we put him in the position of Armory Officer but frankly he barely passes in my opinion what with how he doesn’t notice when people enter the room and can zone out when I try to talk to him about gear, he knows guns but has no interest in them.” She chuckled. “So I have no one to really talk guns with anymore. “ She said and rubbed her eyes to clear them. It wasn’t working, everything was still blurry. She sat staring at the work bench as the music continued to play from her Datapad.

The unicorn mare didn’t move from that spot, just staring at the shotgun the Armory Officer had given her hours before his death do to a hidden bomb. “You weren’t supposed to die….you were never in the field so out of all my friends I thought you’d be the safest.” She looked to the empty space beside her. “And yet you were the first one White Rabbit attacked just to hurt me.” She said. The mare had dealt with the loss of the Reapers; it had always been a possibility as they were in the field so she had been as prepared as she could be.

But Dupo rarely was seen outside of his Armory; she actually suspected he slept there as no matter the time she went she always found the man standing in his Cage. She looked back at the shotgun before her. “Why do I have to keep losing friends? IS it some sort of punishment for what I am? The universe punishing me for being a monster?” She asked the empty room. “I can’t help what I am, I….just am.” She said. “I still value my Friends above all else, it’s why I’m fighting in the first place.” She said as she wiped her eyes. “So why does the universe see fit to take my friends from me?”

The empty room gave no answers. After a long while of staring at the gun on the work bench Twilight pushed away from it and walked over to her bed. It was late and if she was going to be able to function she needed sleep. Using her magic to shut off her Datapad the mare climbed into bed and closed her eyes, burying her face into the pillow to drown out the silence of the ghosts.

Chapter 26: Ponies Can Fly

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Federal Army Dispatch Order
The situation in the city of Calten is dire. Federal Army High Command will be dispatching the 105th Artillery Regiment to provide support to Federal Army soldier’s at Camp Pentcol and throughout the city.
The 105th Artillery Regiment will be on alert to provide support fire upon request from soldiers in the field.
Soldiers calling for artillery support are advised to confirm target coordinates and to ensure they are a minimum of 200 meats from target coordinates to avoid being caught in artillery bombardment.
The 105th is under strict order to only provide artillery support for no more than ten(10) minutes before they cease firing….

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked through the PFDR HQ. She was making her standard round of the base to ensure everything was working as it should and to make sure everyone had what they needed to do their jobs. She had already discreetly checked for a spy in their midst and found nothing to suggest they had one so she believed the spy was in with the Feds which only would help the PFDR as the Coalition would focus more on them and less on her forces.

As she walked her mind drifted once more to where it usually did when she made her round, home. More specifically what has happened between being forcible dragged from her home, what has happened since then and what she was going to do when she made it back. She did not have a single doubt in her mind that she would make it back, one way or the other she was going to get back to Equestria and would see her homeland safe.

She knew that one of the biggest threats to it was the Federal Army invasion do to the fact Equestria simply didn’t have the ability to fight them do to the Feds technology being so far above Equestria’s it might as well be magic. Hel she’d consider it magic if not for the fact she knew better.

She could image Royal Guard’s trying to fight Federal Army troops and tank with the tactics used to stop magic such as counter spells and such, and of course it failing miserably as counter spells only work against magic, not a solid object moving so fast you can’t see it. She had run countless simulations in her off hours and each time Equestria was over ran within a month on average with the longest being three months if it was just Fed infantry units with no special units like strike teams or Special Forces, or the dreaded Black ops.

She shuttered. Every sim she had placed even one Black ops soldier in resulted in the Processes being dead within the week and in a few cases her friends as well with ruthless efficiency. Had she not fought them personally she would have thought the sim was broken but all she had to do was think of the one soldier armed with his large curved knives and being attacked from three different side at once and still taking Twilight nearly fifteen minutes to pin him to the floor, then another five minutes to pine his other leg as she fought off the constant attacks.

Twilight was drawn back to reality as she neared the radio room and could hear frantic talking within. Pushing the door open and could clearly hear the radio chatter.

“Mayday, mayday, this is Gunship-Four-Two-Niner, we are taking enemy fire and have suffered engine failure. We are going down. I say again we are going down. “Twilight stood in the doorway as she listened. Four-Two-Niner was one of the gunships that had joined the PFDR and was running support for three squads raiding a fed compound. Though by Twilight’s calculations it should have been on its way back as it was a couple hours ago they were dispatched. “We are under fire from Coalition forces, attempting to get clear...Shit hold on!”

Twilight saw the radio operators wince as they heard an explosion over the radio. “Shit tail rotors gone, we are going down, brace for impact!” the spat forth the sound of screeching metal and shattering glass. The room was silent for a few minutes and Twilight was about to leave when a caught sounded from the radio. “Ah….shit….McAlister, you ok? Hey McAlister you still with me?” There was a pause. “Shit….” There was a sigh from the pilot. “Command do you read?”

The Radio operator leaned towards there mic. “This is command we still read you Four-Seven-Niner, what is your status?”

“Not good command, my gunner is dead, I’m in a small officer building, my bird went right through the damn roof.” The pilot said.

“Are you able to get out of there?” The radio operator asked.

There was a pause from the pilot. “Negative, enemy forces closing in to fast, I got a few seconds. “There was another pause. “Damnit, my gun is pinned, I am unarmed.”

“Stay calm Four-Seven-Niner, friendlies are in route, ETA ten minutes.” The operator said.

“I don’t think I got ten minutes Command.” The pilot said.

“Four-Seven-Niner, what is status of enemy forces?” The operator asked.

In answer the radio let forth the sound of metal being forced to move and glass breaking. “We got a live one!” Another voice said. “Hands up now! Don’t make any sudden movement or I’ll blow your goddamn head off.” The other voice barked and there was a sound of a struggle before the sound of a riffle but cracking against a skull. “Get him out of there and take him back to base.” The said voice said and there was a muffle acknowledgment before the sound of something being dragged away from the radio and then silence.

This was not good. Twilight turned on her hooves and left the room, they now had a man out there as a prisoner of the Coalition and there was no way in hell Twilight was going to leave him in that situation.

<<<O>>>

On her way to the Generals officer Twilight stopped off to check their records to get the name of the pilot in need of rescuing, One Captain Donner. Once she had his name she headed for the General’s office where she knocked.

Upon getting permission to enter she saluted before the general. “At ease Commander.” Clancy said as she laid down some paper work he had been looking over and Twilight went to rest like the humans with her arms behind her back a she was currently bipedal. “What do I owe this visit to Commander?”

“Sir, request permission to mount a rescue for gunship Four-Seven-Niner’s pilot Captain Donner, He was captured by Coalition forces about ten minutes ago.” Twilight replied and the general sat back in his chair.

“Do you know where they were taking him?” He asked.

Twilight nodded. “Based on what we heard over the radio they are taking him to their base.” Twilight said. “So we’d be raiding there.”

The general nodded.” The only issue is that their base is very well defended and so far we have only had a few skirmishes with them here and there. I’m not sure what attacking them directly will do.” He said and sighed. “As much as I don’t want to I’m going to have to deny your request.”

Twilight blinked. “But we have a man out there sir! We can’t leave him.” She said.

“I know Commander and I’d rather not but we can’t risk sending soldier into their base.” HE told her.

Twilight thought for a moment. “What if we sent in just one, they could move in quick and quiet, get out pilot and disappear.” She suggested.

The General rubbed his chin. “That could work; do you have someone in mind?”

Twilight smiled. “Me, with my magic I can get into their base and get Donner out without raising to much notice.” She said.

The General looked at her thinking for a few minutes before nodding. “Very well, request granted, try to avoid detection Commander, I don’t want to escalate things with the Coalition.”

Twilight nodded. “You can count on me General.” She said smiling before saluting and leaving the room.

<<<O>>>

Two red armored soldiers walked along a set path scanning the street outside of the factory that served as the Communist Coalitions base of operation in Calten. Neither of them noticed when a figured drop down behind them till the tip of a blade bloomed from their chests. Both soldier had a few moment to register the blade before the life left their eyes and the blade were withdrawn allowing them to fall to the ground.

A purple glow wrapped around their bodies and lifted them into the air and they were moved away from the street to an area off the patrol path where trash was piled on top of them to hide them from view.

Twilight looked over where the bodies were hidden to ensure they were well hidden before she moved towards the fence. The patrol not reporting in would cause issues later but not till after either the bodies were found or enough time of searching turned up nothing.

With luck Twilight would have Captain Donner and be long gone. Using a quick teleportation spell to get over the fence the mare sprinted silently to a small out building, her hooves wrapped in a silence spell so she made not a sound.

Once she reached the outbuilding the unicorn mare pressed her bodies to it and peeked around to make sure no one saw her, the area was clear around the building and while she could see people moving along the catwalks of the factory in the distance they were far enough away that it was unlikely they would notice her. And even if they did she was wearing the same outfit she wore when she took care of the Eastside Gunz so no one should recognize her as PFDR if they did see her, at least they’d see her as one of the civilians, at most a hired merc. Though the plan was to avoid being seen and get in and out without taking out to many guards if she could help it. Too many guards not checking in would raise the alarm.

After waiting for a few minutes to ensure no one was coming Twilight moved to a stacked crates left outside since the factory was shut down and used them to make her way closer to one of the smaller buildings of the factory complex, it would be her first target to search for the pilot or information on where he was being held.

She pressed back against the wall beside the door before trying it, both happy and mildly concerned it was unlocked while seeming to be unguarded, at least outside to door. She put a silence enchantment on the handle and carefully opened the door just a crack. Just as she thought, there was a guard on the other side of the door, though he seemed to be guarding the door from people trying to leave rather than trying to get in.

Sucks for him. She thought before she wrapped the door in a silence enchantment and bashed it open without a sound. The guard was struck in the back and sent stumbling forwards onto the floor. Before he could recover Twilight deliver two quick jabs to the back of the man’s head, knocking him out cold. While Twilight would have preferred a more permeant solution the general had asked she minimize casualties which meant she could only kill when there was no other option.

She used her magic to move the soldier’s body and stashed him in a trashcan beside the door, replacing the lid so he was more or less hidden, the lid was crooked do to the man’s head but unless someone opened it they wouldn’t find him.

Once that was taken care of Twilight dropped to all four hooves and cast her gravity spell so she could walk on the celling with gravity around her telling her body that it was the ground, she was so glad she figured this spell out as it got rid of her vertigo while also keeping her tail down as it should be.

She pressed her belly to the ground and started to crawl, making herself as small as she physically could so as to avoid detection. She explored the building and had a few close calls with some soldiers walking around, mostly due to the facts this building seemed to be acting as their barracks which meant Donner wasn’t here and that there were a lot of soldiers around both on and on duty.

Once she confirmed the buildings purpose Twilight slipped out and made her way to the next building which turned out to be their Mess Hall so she moved onto the next building and one of the larger ones in the complex.

This one she needed to slip in through a window as the doors were guarded by two soldiers on either side and she didn’t want to risk one of them radioing an alert or firing his gun before she could deal with both of them.

Once inside of the hallway she did the same as she had in the barracks and made her way onto the ceiling and began to walk around the building looking for her target or something that would tell her where he was. As she walked past an open door she saw a few soldier playing cards and they had a small stereo playing some MUSIC that seemed to echo across this entire floor do to the vents so everywhere she went she heard the music.

As she silently cracked open a door she saw it was some sort of security room with two Coalition soldiers manning the computer sitting side by side. Well this was just too easy. She dropped down behind them and went bipedal before grabbing their heads and cracking them together and letting the now unconscious soldiers to drop from their chairs.

Now that that was taken care of the mare began to search through the computers till she found where their holding area was, in the basement of this building.

Armed with a destination and the location of all the cameras so she could avoid them or use a basic illusion spell in front of them so they don’t see a thing she began to make her way for the stairs with the music from before following her.

The basement was…well…a basement. IT didn’t really have anything a normal basement of a factory wouldn’t have and Twilight made her way through the basement looking for anywhere that said holding cell, and a door with a guard in front of it certainly screamed that.

The guard was easily dealt with as Twilight just walked above him and swiped her hoof, connecting with the side of his head and he was out like a light, having metal legs was very useful.

Twilight dropped from the ceiling and used her magic to gently remove the door from its hinges and set it to the side. What she found inside as surprisingly nice for a holding cell, there was an actual mattress with blanket and pillow, a small screen for privacy for what she figured was the bathroom, a small table and chair, bolted to the floor and sitting at it with a deck of cards for entertainment was Captain donner with a bandage around his head and one on his left hand, he looked pretty bad but nothing that couldn’t be contributed to the crash.

“What the fuck?” Twilight blurted at Donner who was looking at her do to the door being torn off its hinges. “I come here to rescue your sorry ass and you are sitting here calmly playing cards in the nicest holding cell I’ve ever seen.” She said as she stormed into the room. “What the fuck gives!?”

Donner shrugged. “I woke up in here with my wounds tended too and a deck of cards on the table. After a while I was informed I was going to be ransomed back.” He said simply.

To say Twilight jaw was on the floor was an understatement, she had been expecting a situation similar to when she rescued the General from the Feds but this was far from that, the Coalition actually kept him relatively comfortable even though the two sides fought like cats and dogs.

She looked back at the unconscious guard kind of glad she hadn’t killed a bunch of them a tiny bit though she was still disappointed she didn’t have the option. “Anyways.’ She said turning back to Donner. “Get up and follow me we have to move before someone notices us.”

Donner nodded and got to his feet and followed the mare out, unfortunate Twilight never was able to get her gravity spell to work on anything besides her so the two soldiers were stuck walking along the normal floor where they could be more easily spotted.

Twilight and Donner moved as carefully and quietly as they along the halls, the unicorn trying to think of a way that would get them out without being spotted.

“Attention, Attention, we have intruders on site, Security Station twelve had been attacked, all forces mobilize, find the intruders!” And with that announcement over the PA system all thoughts of stealth went out the window.

“Running now.” She told Donner before taking off down the hall, switching to biped as she unslung her SMG and headed for the doors. If they could get outside they could teleport away. A she rounded the corner she saw the double doors open to allow in a squad of red armored soldier who raised their rifles.

“Halt or we will—“ Twilight cut them off as she opened fired on the soldiers causing them to scatter as her and Donner didn’t break stride, running pas the soldiers and out the door. Where she learned Teleporting was not an option as the area both in and outside the fence swarmed with soldiers looking for them who promptly spotted the unicorn and pilot.

Firing wilding at the soldier to make them duck into cover her and Donner ran back inside the building and past the first squad of soldier who seemed confused to see them again as Twilight reloaded her SMG and fired on them again.

The two of them ran through the building looking for another exit, Twilight dealing with any soldier they came across either by killing them or suppressing them and soon enough they found another door that lead to the outside. Though still had the issue with the entire base looking for the two of them.

“There!” Donner said pointing in the distance. Twilight looked and sat a Coalition Gunship sitting on a Heli-pad.

“Go!” She yelled as they ran for it. Luckily it was unguarded. Well the pilot and gunner were in the middle of climbing in but Twilight yanked them out and the two PFDR Soldier climbed in, Twilight taking the helicopter crew’s helmets before using a sleep spell to know them out.

Twilight was in the front bubble which was the gunner’s seat while Donner was in the pilot seat quickly going though starting the rotors. Twilight looked out the window as she put on the helmet that defiantly wasn’t designed for Unicorns and barley got a shield around them as the Coalition opened fire on the.

“Get us in the air now!” She yelled at the pilot.

“Working on it Commander, these things take a bit to get going.” He said as the top rotors started to slowly spin.

After about a minute the blades were spinning and Twilight dropped the shield as they begin to rise off the ground. “Hold on!” Donner said as he pushed the stick forward and the Gunship rushed forward over the heads of the Coalition forces, Twilight could hear their bullets bouncing off the Gunships armor as they flew away.

“Ah shit.” Donner said and Twilight looked back at him over her seat.

“What is it?” She asked.

“We got company, three gunships right behind us.” As if on que a slow beeping sounded from the console in front of the pilot that quickly turned into a solid beep followed by a very rabid beeping. “Shit miss lock, popping flares!” Donner said as he hit a button, Twilight could hear a very light thudding noise come from the bottom of their gunship and when she looked out she saw many flare dropping from the bottom of the helicopter. A moment later she saw a missile strike one of them and explode.

She was jerked away from the window as the gunship cut sharply to the left. “What are you doing?” She asked the pilot.

“Heading into the city, the building will make it hard for them to get another lock on us. You better man the cannon though as I don’t think these guys are going to let us go if we ask nicely.’ She aid and she nodded. And stared at him. “Drop the visor on your helmet and click the yellow button top left on your console, that will bring the cannon online and link it to the helmet so you can see through its camera and aim, the stick in front of you control the gun and I don’t think I need to explain how to shoot.”

Twilight nodded and did as she was told, while in the Gunship she was going to let Donner call the shots as he knew what he was doing far better than she did. After a few second of waiting her vison was filled with the underside of 30mm cannon on the nose of the gunship. He moved the stick a few times to get a feel for how the gun moved and then sat back as she started to sweep for targets.

It didn’t take long for her to spot a Coalition gunship flying alongside them a ways off and she opened fire, but the enemy helicopter dropped back before she could do any real damage. This was going to be more difficult than she was used to.

As donner weaved their gunship between the buildings Twilight would take shots at the other gunships as she saw them but the other pilots knew what they were doing just like Donner did and were for the most part matching him move for move or even getting ahead of them.

Watching Donner pilot the flying death machine between building barely wide enough for it and passing over rooftop just a few feet from touching the mare couldn’t help thinking of a dance almost as the other Gunships followed suit, except one that misjudged a building water tower and its rotors clipped it sending the Gunship spring off till it collided tail first into another building and exploded into a fire ball.

A few minutes later Twilight succeeded in shooting down another one which left just one more that they hadn’t seen for a while now. Donner continues to bob and weave between buildings till he felt they were no longer being pursued and brought the gunship to hover while he got his bearings of exactly where they were due to not really paying attention to exactly where they were going in relation to their destination.

It was then the last Gunship chose to strike, coming from below then it was just a hundred feet way when it started firing with its own cannon and a few missions that didn’t have a lock so just flew straight at them. If not for the shield Twilight was able to put up at the last second they would both be dead, evens till the impact of two air-to-air missiles mixed with the large 30mm rounds shattered the magical shield and caused her head to jerk back as if she was hit in the face.

“Hold on!” Donner yelled as they dropped like a rock, the nose of their gunship aimed nearly straight down. Twilight could only watch thought the cannon camera as the ground rushed towards them holding her breath. At the last possible second Donner pulled up and they missed the ground my a hairs breath. Flying only a few inches above the ground before they started to gain altitude as the other gunship pursued, but it had pulled up before them so now Donner and Twilight were under it and flying straight up at it. Twilight wasted no time pulling the trigger and sending 30mm death into the underside of the other gunship and was rewarded with it turning into a fireball that they had to dodge out of the way as it rained down towards the ground bellow.

With their pursuers dealt with Donner level out above the city before heading off to the PFDR helipads once he had his bearings. While Twilight deactivated the cannon and raised her helmets visor, looking forward to getting out of this helmet after they land as it was very uncomfortable. She looked back at the pilot. “That was fucking awesome! I never knew these things could move like that!” She said excitedly.

The pilot just chuckled. “Well you’ve never seen them in heavy combat commander with a good pilot behind the stick.” He said with a smirk.

“Well then I am glad you are on our side. “The mare said as she sat back in her seat looking out the widow as they flew through the air. She was going to have to build these in Equestria as they would be useful for both civilians and defense. Come to think of that she would also have tanks built as well as can’t have infantry without armor to back them up.

That meant just one thing and it brought a smile to her face. She needed to get some new books to read!

Interlude: Chaos and Cults

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Commander Twilight Sparkle crumbled as she stepped off the train and into Ponyville Train Station Spike walking besides her as she made her way down the platform. “Come on Twilight cheer up, I’m sure it’s something important if the Princess asked you to meet her outside of Ponyville.” He said as he walked beside her.

Twilight sighed as she trotted in quadruped mode do to not being on duty, the Princess had been very clear that this was not part of her duty as commander of the EDF so Twilight had gone with walking like a pony. “I know Spike, it’s just….I was enjoying watching the prototypes be put through their paces.” She said. Twilight had been watching the EMSD put the prototype tanks through an obstacle course of sorts to see which version would be worked on and which abandoned.

This time only one of them caught fire which was a huge improvement over last time where all but two caught fire, and in one case the shell exploded in the barrel when it tried to fire, luckily it was a training round so only resulted in the barrel exploding and some minor burns to the crew inside. Needless to say Twilight had that version scrapped immediately as she wasn’t even going to have anything that risked the tank crew. She had just finished telling the researchers such when the thing decided to burst into flames while no one was near it and it was turned off….then it fell apart. She seriously question who came up with such a poor design for a tank.

She did have to admit she was annoyed at the research team as while they were coming up with semi workable tanks they were having trouble getting helicopters down, they couldn’t wrap their heads around the concept of something being able to lift off the ground without magic, that and the fuel for the tanks didn’t work for helicopters so they needed to design a new fuel as well.

Over all that was a real mess and she hoped they’d figure it out eventually, she had left the major in charge of overseeing the test runs and to report back to her what happens and her own thoughts on the models.

Twilight found her thoughts shifting to the major. Since Chrysalis had come to Twilight about knowing what she was two months ago, things had been different between the two of them, for one the Changeling Queen was terrified of the unicorn mare, for good reason. But also Twilight had someone she could relax around the Queen and not have to keep up the façade and it felt so good to be able to voice her thoughts to someone rather than just burying it all, she knew that wasn’t healthy, and Twilight had to admit, she had less violent thoughts towards people she met, though when she did she just voiced them to Chrysalis. At first the Changeling had reacted in horror and fear at Twilight shifting voice, and yes Twilight was fully away she shifted between three different voices when fully relaxed but the Queen had gotten used to it when she realized Twilight wasn’t going to attack her unless she did something stupid, which she had been keeping her word so no reason yet.

Twilight had to admit, she was glad the Queen had found out as it gave her someone she could be herself around and slowly she was feeling she didn’t need to keep a close eye on the officer. That was a weird feeling for Twilight, actually trusting someone with the truth, it was a huge risk but…Twilight trusted the Major to an extent over the past two month she had proven to be worthy of that trust so far.

Twilight was drawn from her own head when she saw her friends were gathered outside of town as well and waving to her. Twilight blinked in surprise behind her sunglasses at this. “Hey girls, what are you doing here?” She asked when she joined them.

“Don’t rightly know sugarcube, ah got a letter from the Princess asking me to meet her outside of Ponyville.” Applejack said.

“Yeah so did I.” Rainbow Dash said as she hovered around the group.

“Yeah I was in the middle of baking some super-duper cupcakes when I got my letter.’ Pinkie said as she bounced around and was about to go off rambling when Twilight primitively put her hoof in the pink mare’s mouth.

“I got one as well, I hope nothing is wrong….”Fluttershy said as Twilight wiped her hoof on grass.

“I believe we were all invited by the Princess though she didn’t give any reason for it in her letter.’ Rarity said.

Twilight nodded. “Same, all mine said was that this had nothing to do with the EDF and now my curiosity is peeked if she called you all as well.” She said trying to think of what was going on. She didn’t have long to think before she saw the Royal Sky Carriage in the distant and approaching them with another sky chariot following behind.

Twilight stood with her friends as they watched the Royal Carriage land and Princess Celestia stepped out prompting her friends to bow while she saluted. Celestia smiled. “Rise my little ponies, and at ease Twilight.” She said as she approached the group. “I am glad you were all able to make it as I have a task for you six.” She said and the group looked on expectantly. “I would like you six to reform Discord.”

“What!?”
“Oh my.”
“Eep.”
“Really?”
“Tarnation.”
“The fuck?”

The five mares all looked at Twilight. “What?” She said and they just shrugged it off and looked back at the Princess.

“Now, now my little ponies, I know this is a big task I ask of you but I know you can do it.” She said with a reassuring smile. “And don’t worry you will have the Elements of Harmony as a backup just in case he starts to get out of hand.” The Princess said as she levitated over a case and opened it reveling the five necklaces and one tiara lying within. The Sun Princess lifted each artifact out and levitated them over to their respective owners, Twilight having to remove her cap to place the tiara on her head noting it contrasted very sharply with the dark green military uniform and pistol on her flank.

Once each Bearer had their Element the statue of Discord was removed from second sky chariot and placed before them. “I have created a spell to release him when you are ready.” The Princess said as she levitated over piece of parchment to Twilight. “Good luck my little ponies, I know you can do it. “She said with a smile before turning to the Royal Carriage and climb inside.

Before anyone could question her leaving Twilight spoke up. “You can count on us ma’am.” She said with a salute. With a smile and a nod the Princess’s carriage lifted off and flew back towards Canterlot. Twilight turned her attention to reading the spell and committing it to memory, it wasn’t too complicated she noted.

“Twilight you can’t possibly be ok with this?” Rainbow Dash asked flying up beside the mare.

“I am, it’s not like we don’t have the Elements as a fall back plan if things go wrong and she did cast a spell on them so he can’t take them from us again.” Twilight said reading. “Least we can do is try to complete this mission before we start complaining.” Twilight said and not waiting for a reply started to cast the spell. Within seconds she executed the spell and the stone prison around Discord shattered and the Spirit of Chaos gave an exaggeration stretch and yawn.

“Ah, you have no idea how good it feels to be able to move again. “He said and snapped his fingers, producing a glass of milk that he began to drink.

“Discord we have been tasked with--“Twilight began before being interrupted.

“I know I know, I heard what sunnybuns said, you are to reform me.” He said quoting the air, his glass floating beside him and appeared to still being drank.

“Wait you were awake in there?” Twilight asked in surprise, she never thought he was actually awake in there and unable to move, that seemed like something she would do not Celestia.

“Just for the past day, In order for that counter spell to work Sunnybuns had to weaken my prison a bit.” He said with another stretch this time his arms popping off to do it as he walked away well that made more sense for Celestia said with a bit of disappointment, though she did file away the idea of turning someone to stone while they are fully awake in the back of her head for a raining day.

Discords arms reappeared on his body as she walked around the group looking at each of them. “Now then shall we get this whole reformation thing started? I want to see how you all plan to…..” Discord trained off as his eyes fell on Twilight and his face took on a serious look as he started to walk around her before getting right in her face stroking his beard.

“Can I help you?” Twilight asked with a slight glare as her personal space was invaded.

Discord looked at the other in the group his face still serious. “Excuse us, me and Sparkle need to have a private chat.” He said before snapping his fingers and Twilight found herself standing on cloud in some distance from Ponyville by her estimate of the terrain.

“What the hell?” Twilight asked glaring at the God of Chaos as he sat back on the cloud as if it were a throne.

“It seems a lot has happened while I was imprisoned if you are anything to go by.” He said as he eyed her.

“What are you talking about?” She demanded.

“Well for one you have the same power as an Alicorn, your limbs are Cybernetic and you carry a weapons that certainly doesn’t belong to Equestria or any of the other races on this planet.” He said. “Oh and there is that whole other thing concerning your mind.” HE said waving a hand as if brushing it away.

Twilight blinked at him. “What…do you mean?” She asked carefully.

He leaned forward and placed his fingers together. “You know exactly what I mean “Commander Sparkle.” He said very seriously with a slight hint of a warning in it. “You are probably one of the most dangerous things on this planet next to me, the difference is I want to have fun and you want to watch the whole world burn.” He said as he was suddenly in a purple suit with white makeup on that made it look like he was smiling when he wasn’t.

Twilight stared at him before she slowly switched to bipedal and removed her sunglasses, reveling her eyes were red and glowing as she placed them in her storage locker. “So what are you going to do about it? Hmm?”

“Nothing.” He said as the suit vanished. “I said you could and want to, not that you will and are. And that is the only reason I am not going to toss you into another dimension or a black hole.” He leaned forward and was suddenly wearing an EDF uniform. “You may be that way but your drive is to protect Equestria from an invasion that may or may not happen with no way to predict where it could come from so you are doing everything you can to prepare for it and that is the only reason I won’t take action, but don’t get me wrong, if you do slip further I will stop you.”

Twilight had to blink at this. “Wait….you are telling me you’d do everything in your power to protect Equestria…from me if need be? That does seem like you.” She said staring at him, still in combat mode.

“I am the God of Chaos not death. I want to have fun and I can’t do that with a corpse of a planet.” He said. “I am thousands of years old Sparkle and have seen catastrophes you cannot begin to imagine befall this plant and have stepped in only when absolutely necessary.” He said and suddenly was in a Federal Army uniform. “And if no for you I’d most likely step in to deal with the invaders to send them back home before they could do any permeant damage.”

Twilight stared at the God; this was not going how she had thought it would in any sense of sense of it. “What you ponies don’t seem to understand is yes, I am the God of Chaos and Disharmony but I don’t want everyone dead, I just want to be entertained, cause some chaos, make it rain chocolate milk and such. Yes everyone else complains, but they survive it even if they are miserable with my fun.”

Twilight watched the God of Chaos for a while before switching out of combat mode. “Ok, since you no so much about what is going on oh God of Chaos I have one question for you.”

“Oh? And what is that? “Discord asked going back to how he was before they started talking; in this case hi cloud throne was now a Twilight desk from her office under Golden Oaks library.

Twilight ignored it and smirked. “Want a job?”

Discord blinked several time before walking over and lifting one of her ears and blowing in it, some dust coming out of Twilight other ear. She was going to pretend that didn’t happen. “Come again?” he said.

“How would you like a job with the EDF where you get to cause chaos.” She smirked.

He walked back in front of her and looked down at her. “You would want me to join you highly disciplined military group and cause chaos? Somehow those two don’t fit together.” He said as he suddenly had two words in his hands on large puzzle pieces and was trying to put them together even though they did not fit.

“Well you’d be more of a guest instructor but basically you get to create your own obstacle courses of sorts for my Recruits to run through, you be free to do whatever you wanted as long as it doesn’t harm them to much or mess with their equipment. You’d get the chaos and fun you want and I get soldiers more prepared to hand the unpredictability of battle. Its win/win for us both.” She said with a smile.

Discord considered her for a while scratching his chin. “You really are crazy you know that?”

“So I’ve been told.” Twilight said waving a hand like a certain human she used to know. “Point is do we have a deal?”

He looked at her for a few minutes then smirked. “Sure why not. “ He said as he was suddenly dressed like Mendez and Twilight had to blink at that. “So I guess that means I am reformed?”

“Oh hell no, that mission is still in progress and will be for some time I’d imagined, we just have taken steps towards completion.” Twilight laughed.

He smirked at her. “Also I do want to tell you two things Partner.” He said. “First there is a town north west of Ponyville, deep in the desert and miles away from any other town you might be interested in checking out.”

Twilight nodded. “Noted, and the second?”

His smirked faded and he looked at her. “Nightmare Squad and the rest of them made it out of the labs with minimum casualties.”

<<<O>>>

Twilight lay prone on the edge of a steep hill looking through her binoculars at the small cluster of buildings a few hundred yards away. After Discord returned them to her friends Twilight informed them of her deal with the God of Chaos much to their disbelief, and they began to try and reform him. Despite their best efforts only Fluttershy seemed to make a connection with the God and managed to actually get him under control. For the most part Twilight had just introduced her friends to her large collection of colorful vocabulary and the many ways one could combined them as she tried to deal with Discord antics, if not for their deal and the fact Twilight doubted she could actually harm him she would have several blasts from her shotgun into him.

After all of that Twilight reported mission complete to Celestia though personally she still had it listed as In Progress as she wasn’t sure Discord was fully reformed yet but for the most part he was. After Discord accompanied Celestia back to Canterlot Twilight had enjoyed a nice dinner with her friends and then met up with Chrysalis in her officer where she took the report about the trial runs and then vented about discords antics throughout the day. The Queen had actually seemed to feel sympathy for the mare having to deal with the God of Chaos.

After her rant about what she’d like to do to Discord if she could she had bid the Queen good night before retiring to bed. The next morning she dispatched some scouts to the area Discord told her about and sure enough after half a day they found a small settlement that didn’t appear on any map and after Twilight did some digging had no record of existing.

After brining this to Celestia she had granted Twilight clearance to investigate as she found it odd anypony would hide a village of that size.

And thus Twilight was prone in a desert overlooking a village she had no idea what to call with a Rife Team and two Pegasi Sharpshooters. She was close enough she could actually see the ponies in the town clearly. They looked like normal everyday ponies going about their day like in any town and Twilight was going to fall back and turn this over to the Royal Guard, till she took a second look and saw they all had the same Cutie Mark and one of the creepiest smiles the mare had ever seen and she had seen her own smile when having fun a few times.

She slipped back away from the hill. “You” She pointed at one of the sharpshooters. “Fly back to Manehatten and alert the garrison, I want three more Rifle teams out here, six wings of sharpshooters and four Flame Troopers mobilized, you can guide them here.” She said and the Pegasus saluted before taking to the air and flying back to the city leaving the rest of his wing, two other pegasi, behind with Twilight.

“Set up a perimeter and stay out of sight of that town, I don’t want them being alerted that we are here.” She told the remaining soldier who saluted and spread out to watch every direction while they waited for reinforcements.

She really needed to find an alternative to boosting their radios since Celestia wouldn’t allow her to put satellites in orbit as the presents of the EDF was already straining some of their relationships with the other nations, especially the Griffins as they were quickly being past as the dominate military force on Epuus.

It would give her something to think on while they waited.

<<<O>>>

Starlight Glimmer was sitting in her house at the head of the town relaxing on her couch. IT was just a bit after lunch and she was thinking about how to expand her town of the Markless when there was a knock on the door and she trotted over and opened it to see who was at the door.

Upon opening it she saw Sugar Belle at the door, the happy smile of her town on her face though she looked a bit concerned. “What is it Sugar Belle?” Starlight asked.

“There are new ponies in town.” The pink earth pony said.

Starlight smiled at the new. “Well then let’s meet these new comers.’ She said as she walked passed Belle before she could continue to speak. The unicorn mare was looking forward to expanding her village.

What she saw when she was outside her home made her freeze and he smile fall from her face. The town was filled with new ponies and some sort of pony-like creatures all wearing dark green armor and half the ponies of her town were standing in the middle of the street with a group of the dark green armored ponies and bugs watching them while more went from house to our and knocked loudly. Looking towards the sky Starlight saw groups of Pegasi flying in circles around the edge of town and she could tell they were watching to town.

“Wha-what’s going on?” She asked looking at Sugar Belle beside her who still wore her smile though looked nervous.

“I don’t know Starlight, they just showed up and started knocking on doors and asking everypony to gather in the middle of the street. They said they were the “Equestrian Defense Force” and that they were doing a safety inspection.” The Earth pony replied.

Starlight’s mind went into overdrive as she tried to figure out who these ponies and bugs things were as she had never heard of this “Equestrian Defense Force” as last time she checked Equestria only had the Royal Guard so this group must be new and do to the isolation of her town, word had not reached them yet of this group. She was trying to think what could have happened to Equestria for this new group to appear when her thoughts were interrupted by a voice above her.

“Hello down there!” A mare said from behind and above Starlight and when she looked towards the voice she saw a purple unicorn wearing a dark green uniform and dark sunglasses standing on to roof of her house and waving down at her with a smile that could only be described as friendly.

Starlight’s jaw hung open and not getting a response the mare jumped off the roof and landed with a loud thud, her hooves making small craters in the soft ground and she didn’t seem to be bothered by impact in the slightest as the smile never faulted.
The uniformed mare faced her fellow unicorn. “Hello, I am Commander Twilight Sparkle of the EDF and judging by the placement of your home I’m going to assume you are the leader of this village?”

Slowly Starlight nodded as she regained her composure as four other ponies, all wearing some sort of black suits with gas masks and helmets, as well as tanks of some kind on their backs came around the corner of her house and stood behind the Commander. “Yes I’m Starlight Glimmer and allow me to welcome you to—“Starlight was cut off as a piece of parchment was shoved in her face.

“This is an order from Princess Celestia authorizing the EDF to inspect this village and the surrounding area to make sure it is up to code as she is concerned for the wellbeing of her ponies do to the fact this village appears on no maps and there is no record anywhere of this village.” The parchment was pulled away from Starlight’s face before she could see anything but the royal seal to reveling the face of the Commander mere inches from her own so all Starlight could see was the other mare’s sunglasses covered eyes. “That won’t be a problem now will it?” She asked in the nicest friendliest way possible.

<<O>>>

After Action Report of “Our Town Incident”
Upon arrival in Unidentified Villages EDF Forces began question the town’s residences, subsequence question reveled that something was indeed wrong as every sing residents believed Cutie Marks to be evil and had all given up their own Cutie Marks in favor of “True Harmony.”
Search teams discover a cave within a mile of the village, name was never able to be confirmed as all residents simply referred to the group of buildings as “Our Town”, and inside EDF forces found a type of vault holding dozens upon dozens of Cutie Marks, exact number still unconfirmed as the investigation is ongoing.
A staff of sorts was found within the cave and town residents said it was the “Staff of Sameness” and was a magical artifact, initial investigations determined it to be just a stick but it was taken for further study to confirm.
After the disconcerting of the Cutie Mark Vault the leader of the town, one Starlight Glimmer, attacked her guards and somehow managed to remove their Cutie Marks resulting in the soldiers being reduced to a weakened state before she was subsequently shot by a Pegasi Sharpshooter.
Suspect lived and was given first aid by a medic before being taken into custody as a threat to Equestria its citizens. During her arrest it was Suspect still had her Cutie Mark and had used make-up to cover it up to look like the rest of the town.
Residents of the town responded with shock and anger and had to be quelled do to risk of a riot.
EDF forces were left in the town to processes the remaining residents while Suspect was transported to garrison in Manehattan to be prepared for trial. While in transit suspect attempted an escape and ended up falling down a very steep and rocky hill resulting in all four of her legs being broke, he face suffering sever bruising and lacerations as well as a few broke ribs. Do to the fact the medics were left behind in the town suspect was not able to receive medical attention till reaching Manehatten and had to be carried as gently as possible by magic.
Suspect is awaiting trial while residents of town are being prepared to be reintroduced to society and will be provided with psychological aide to deprogram them of “Markless” Conditioning

Chapter 27: Orders are Orders

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Commander Twilight Sparkle Personal Log
Begin Log
This is Commander Twilight Sparkle personal Log two-three-nine December 29th 2037
Well Hearths Warming Eve, known as Christmas here, has come and went a few days ago and I was surprised to see the PFDR took the time out of the war effort to semi celebrate it, it was mostly spent just singing together, a few drinks a HUGE dinner in the Mess Hall and the exchanging gifts when someone was able to get them. I didn’t know we were going to celebrate so I didn’t get anyone anything but a lot of the soldiers got me gifts.
I’ll give you a chance to guess the two different items they got me……ok times up. Guns and books!
You have no idea how excited I was seeing the gifts, especially that Anti-Tank Rifle! That was such a fucking beauty I was practically cuddling it. But I was order by the general not to turn in the guns and to keep them in my storage locker along with the ammo as its all mine, and there is a shit ton of ammo to. Seems the men had been planning this for some time and secretly gathering the items without my notice for some time.
After the guns I also got a crap ton of books covering just about everything from firearms history, to a history of warfare and a copy of something called “The Art of War” by a guy who lived a really long time to books on computer programming and AI Programming to basic mechanics to a lot more it would take too long to read, when I get home I need to expand the library for all of this.
I’ll admit I may have been locked in my room the past few days enjoying my gifts, don’t judge me I have a lot to read now. I may have also ended up passing out while snuggling the Anti-Tank rifle, yes it was unloaded.
Anyways I just wanted to give an update as it’s been awhile since I made one of these.
I’m going to go now; this is Commander Twilight Sparkle signing off.
End Log

<<<O>>>

A knock came to from the door of Twilight’s quarters drawing her from her reading as she looked over the battlements. “Come.” She called and the door opened to admit Nightmare squad who all paused as they entered and stared at the sight before them.

What lay before them was a miniature castle made of books set up beside Twilight’s bed with their squad leader’s head peeking out over one of the walls and staring at them. “Uh….need something?” asked the mare.

Desmond was the first to recover. “We were just wanting to check on you as no one has seen you in days.” He said as the others started to recover.

“How long has it been?” Twilight asked glancing at the clock in her room.

“Four days Commander since the party.” Hudson said.

Twilight nodded. “Riiiiight, I seem to have lost track of time a bit.” She said rubbing the back of her head smiling sheepishly.

“More like a lot. “Rain said while trying to cover her laugh with a hand.

“Hey it’s not my fault! I have so many new books to read what was I supposed to do!?” The unicorn half whined.

“Hey we get it, you are a bookworm, everyone knows it, it’s why you got books as well as guns, and it’s the two biggest things you like.” Hudson said not even hiding his laugh. The two rooks looked at each other, even after a month they still weren’t used to how Nightmare squad spoke to their squad leader and second in command of the army.

“Anyways I’m sure you didn’t all have to come here to check on me so what’s the second reason?” Twilight asked once her squad got themselves under control.

“One of our squads just brought in a shipment of Mark 3 sentries so now we have more to take the load off of Celestia and Luna.” Desmond said and Twilight nodded.

“Does the team working on upgrading them have the book I wrote on the subject?” She asked.

“Of course, they wouldn’t touch them without reading it first as they know you’d come down on them.” Desmond chuckled.

Twilight nodded as she walked out of the gate built into the castle. “Damn right I would, I’m not having people breaking equipment.” She said as she slipped on her armor. “Anyways let’s go see this new shipment.” She said one her armor and helmet was on and she moved the book castle into her storage locker for safe keeping before heading for the door.

<<<O>>>

Twilight stood in one of the rooms of the hotel that served as a PFDR Outpost within Calten as she looked over the dozen of sentry bots stacked in the rooms waiting to be upgraded and reprogrammed. “Now you are sure you checked them all for trackers right?” Twilight asked the squad leader who was in the room with her.

“Yes of course, we were very thorough; there isn’t anything that shouldn’t be there.” He said.

Twilight nodded. “Very well, tell the techs they can proceed.” She said and turned from the room and left, hands behind her back as was her habit. She made her way through the outpost with no destination or goal besides just seeing how the outpost was holding up with food, ammo and moral. She could hear laughing and talk of soldiers in some of the room as soldiers chatted with each other about one topic or another.

Everything was right with the Outpost and that brought a smile to the mare’s muzzle as she finished her stroll through the building. The PFDR now had more sentries to help defend the outposts and main base taking some of the weight off of Celestia and Luna, though the manual the techs were using would make the other as advanced as Celestia and Luna in terms of their AIs but they would be effective none the less.

As Twilight stepped onto the roof of the hotel and spotted Luna patrolling the edge of the roof. “Hello.” Twilight said walking up to the hovering machine.

Luna turned to face her and beeped.

GREETINGS COMMANDER

The message appeared in the bottom of Twilights vision as the bot sent its greeting directly to one of Twilight’s implants, she had made that implant so she could better work with the two sentry bots by allowing them to actually communicate with her rather than just beeps that everyone else heard, something only Celestia and Luna would be able to do as the mare didn’t want to be bombarded with messages from every sentry she walked past.

“How goes the patrol?” The unicorn asked walking up to the bot.

NOTHING TO REPORT. NO ENEMY SIGHTED

Twilight nodded. “That’s good to hear. You hear we got more sentries?”

AFFIRMATIVE.

Twilight nodded and patted the bot. “Means you won’t have such a large area to have to cover.”

THAT IS GOOD. TACTICLY IT WAS NOT SOUND HAVING A SINGLE SENTRY PATROL A LARGE AREA

Twilight chuckled. “Agreed but with just two of you we didn’t have much choice.” Twilight said as she looked out over the city from the rooftop. “So how’s your sister?”

CELESTIA REPORTS SHE IS LOW ON AMMO DO TO REPELING SCAVENGERS WHO ATTEPMTED TO TAKE HER OFFLINE.

“Status of the scavengers?” Twilight looked at Luna

NEUTRALIZED

Twilight nodded and went back to looking over the city. “Good.” She said and stood beside the bot as they looked over the city.

COMMANDER WHAT IS YOUR STATUS?

“Oh I am good over all. Got a shit ton of books and a lot of guns and more ammo then I know what to do with. “Twilight said with a chuckle as Luna bobbed in the air, the bots form of a nod.

WELL THOSE ARE YOU TWO FAVORITE THINGS SO YOU MUST BE HAPPY.

“Oh I am believe me.” Twilight said and sighed.

BUT SOMETHING IS WRONG.

“Just the same as usual, missing home and my friends there.” Twilight said as she watched the city. “Don’t get me wrong I have great friends here as well and they mean a lot to me but it’s been months since I’ve seen my home or the friends there much less talked to them. They are probably worried sick about me if they haven’t already assumed I’m dead and grieved.”

The mare sighed as she watched the city in silence for a few minutes. “It makes me wonder how they will react when I am able to make it home….if I’m ever able to make it home.” She said. “I mean we have a vague idea how I got here but it’s not a simple thing tearing a hole between realities.” She sighed. “It would have been a lot easier if I was just from another planet as it would be simpler to find a way to another planet then to another dimension. “

YOU WILL GET HOME AND YOUR FRIENDS WILL BE HAPPY TO SEE YOU.

Twilight looked at the bot. “How do you know?”

BECAUSE NOTHING HAS STOPPED YOU FROM ACHIEVING YOUR OBJECTIVE YET AND THEY ARE YOUR FRIENDS, WHY WOULDN’T THEY BE HAPPY TO SEE YOU ALIVE AND WELL?

Twilight chuckled and waved a cybernetic limb. “Right alive and well.”

I SAID WELL NOT IN ONE PIECE, THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. YOU ARE MSSING PARTS YES BUT YOU ARE STILL COMMANDER TWILIGHT SPARKLE AND THAT HAS NOT CHANGED

Twilight stared at the bot. “Sometimes I question how I got your AI to be this way you know that?”

YOU ARE A SKILLED PROGRAMMER AND ABLE TO LEARN WAHTEVER YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO?

Twilight chuckled at that and patted the bot. “That is true.” She said and looked out over the city for a few more minutes. Before turning back for the door. “Well I suppose I should let you get back to your patrol, see you later Luna.

AFFIRMATIVE COMMANDER, HAVE A GOOD DAY

With that the Commander walked back into the outpost as the sentry bot went back on patrol.

<<<O>>>

Twilight was walking through the PFDR HQ when her radio squawked at her, demanding she answer it. Twilight placed her hoof to the side of her helmet. “Go for Commander Sparkle.”

“Commander you may want to come down here.” Came the voice of one of the hackers assigned to help sift through White Rabbit’s data.

“On my way.” She replied and turned around to head back towards the room set aside for their work. It didn’t take long to reach the room and when she walked in she saw the team all staring at her. “Um….is something wrong?” She asked as she looked back at them, this wasn’t what she had expected to find when she arrived.

The lead hacker smirked. “I don’t know, depends what you mean by wrong. “ He said as he typed on his computer. “Seems we weren’t the only ones White Rabbit had slipped a spy program into the systems.” He said.

“He had been spying on a hidden lab, where the head researcher is one Doctor Adam Frisk. “The hacker turned the screen around and showed the profile picture of the one human Twilight wanted to see dead more than even White Rabbit staring back at her; there was no mistaking the face of that monster. The hacker turned the screen back towards himself. “It seems he has been doing the same research he was doing when you arrived only more focused on creating a stable opening rather than just dragging something at random.” The hacker said as he typed and then looked up at the mare. “And he has a prototype ready to be tested once he finds a way to target it for Equestria.”

Twilight stared back at them as they looked back at her. Frisk had continued his research to reach her home even as the country was plunged into civil war, the Feds probably were still finding him with the intents to use the portal once things stabilized but knowing Frisk he wouldn’t wait, the man was obsessed with going down in history and what better way than to be the first human to gain control of magic?

He had to be stopped. He would be stopped. But this raised other issues, she had a way home, she knew she could aim the device, being from Equestria it wouldn’t be too hard to use her own magic to lock onto Equestria but the issue was….she’d be abandoning the PFDR with little to no chance of ever being able to return to help. Twilight was torn. She had a chance to go home but didn’t want to abandon her command in the middle of a civil war. All she was sure of was the device needed to be destroyed and Frisk killed and that would happen whether she got home or not.

“Where is the lab?” She asked.

“About fifty miles outside of the city, it’s hidden within a military hospital that from what we can tell is still operating as a hospital.” The hacker said and Twilight nodded.

“Good work. Continue your search for anything of use in the files.” She told them before leaving, she didn’t continue her walk around the base as was usual for her, and instead she went straight for her quarters as she needed to think.

<<<O>>>

A knock came to Twilight’s Quarters. “Come.” Came the slightly slurred response. She was surprised to see the General walk in and she quickly got to her hooves, swaying slight as she saluted. “General Sir, I didn’t expect to see you.”

Clancy looked at her. “At ease Commander.” He said and the mare flopped back onto her bed and took another drink of her whiskey. “I’d have thought you’d be celebrating finding a way home in the Mess hall, not hold up in your room with half a bottle of whiskey in you.” HE said as he took a seat on the stool beside her work bench.

“I don’t know if I should celebrate or not.” She slurred as she swirled the bottle. “Yes I’ve been working towards getting home but I didn’t think I’d find it so soon and not in the middle of a civil war.” She said looking at the general.

He nodded. “And you aren’t sure you should go.” He stated and Twilight nodded before taking another drink. The general sighed as he sat back against the work bench. “I have to admire your dedication to helping us Twilight and out cause, I really do.” HE said.

“You are my friends and the Feds need to be stopped.” She said with conviction.

“That we are and that they do but not at the cost of something as important as you returning home Twilight.” He said.

“But—“

“No buts Commander, this is our home so there isn’t much we have to sacrifice to fight, but you have far more to lose then us, You have a home full of people who care about you and I am not going to let you sacrifice that for a war wasn’t yours to fight to begin with.” He said and looked at her as she looked back. “I am ordering you to return home Commander.”

Author's Notes:

Well here it is, the begging of the end, there are just two more chapters after this and the Interlude then the epilogue and we see the end result of Commander Twilight Sparkle's adventure. who knows what the future may hold for the Commander as we see what happened on the other side of the portal.

I know a the war is still going on but I never planned for Twilight to see the end of the war as it will probably take YEARS to end and Twilight was never going to stay that long. She did play a key role in getting the PFDR to where they are now where they actually have a chance of taking down the Feds

We also got to see a little interaction between Twilight and Luna-bot as see just what sort of AI is housed with in them, yes they are very advanced AIs and that could be a side effect of Twilight using magic to help her create the program or it might not be who knows?

We also see Twilight struggle with the choice of going home or not till that choice is made for her by one of her closest friends.

Chapter 28: Preparations

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Doctor Adam Frisk Personal Log
Begin log
Well the device has been ready for use for the past month but I have not been able to find a way to actually aim it at the target location, without a proper way to aim it we run the risk of the device opening up to a completely different location. I need Subject P438-29T if I want any hope of opening the rift to the right place.
But whoever I had been talking to in Intelligence has not responded to me in over two months and no one will tell me what is going on. I know that the war with those thieving rebels has escalated but I haven’t paid much attention to it.
I was sure those Mercenaries I hired months ago would have been able to recover subject 438 as they came highly recommended but as far as I can tell they failed or the Federal Army intercepted them and are holding 438 elsewhere. All I know is shortly after I Federal Army Colonel came to the lab with some soldier and told me I was not to do that again in no uncertain terms or I would be taken off the project permanently.
I don’t know what happened to cause the army to become so hostile but since then my work has been under close scrutiny.
If they would just grant my request to recover 438 then all of this will be dealt with. Fools don’t they know what I am so close to doing? All I need is 438 and I’ll have the biggest scientific breakthrough in history, but my requests fall on deaf ears.
End Log

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle walked down the tunnels of PFDR HQ, the entire base filled with activity like a kicked hornets’ nest as soldiers prepared for what was coming. Twilight had planned to go alone to the lab so as she didn’t want to drag the PFDR into what could easily be considered a personal mission when she found everyone going about collecting weapons, ammo and checking their gear as if preparing for a huge mission.

When Twilight had asked what was going on she learned they were, they were preparing to assault the labs. She told them to stop even threaten to have them thrown in the brig for insubordination, but everyone pretended they didn’t hear her, even when she tried to have some of them arrest no one seemed to hear as they were “too busy” to chat and went on their way.

As infuriating as it was it did warm Twilight’s heart that it seemed the entirety of the PFDR’s might was mobilizing just to get her home. They were her friends and they would see her home come hell or high water.

Twilight wondering hooves eventually lead her to the Infirmary and when she walked in she found Dr. Grey franticly going over her medical supplies with Marcus providing aide by double checking Med Kits to ensure they were fully packed. Twilight stood to the side of the door so as not to block the steady stream of medics coming in and out gathering supplies for their packs.

Twilight wasn’t sure how long she stood there with her hands behind her back till the stream of medics slowed enough for Dr. Grey to notice her. “Oh twilight I’m glad you are here.” She said and picked up a stack of Med Kits and shoved them towards Twilight. “Here take these you may need them. “Twilight took the six Med Kits in her magic and stared at the Doctor.

“Uh….what for doc?” She asked blinking several times.

“You are going to be assaulting a highly secure lab that has unknown defenses, they are for when you can’t use your magic.” She said as she shoved another stack at the mare. “And who knows where you will end up when you get home, you could end up deep in that dangerous forest you told me about.”

“Doc I think I can handle anything the Everfree Forest has in it with ease I don’t need all of this.” Twilight said taking the next stack of Med Kits as Dr. Grey insistently pushed them into her face.

“It’s still better safe than sorry Twilight.” The doctor said as Marcus chuckled and shook his head as he continued to pack Med Kits.

Twilight sighed. “Fine.” She put the Med Kits into her storage locker. “Anything else?”

“No I think that’s it.” Dr. Grey said before going back to her duties.

Twilight made her way to a cot and took a seat. “You know I’m going to miss you two guys, you both were the first friends I made here.” Twilight said as the two humans paused and looked at her.

“Yeah it’s been interesting have you as a friend Twilight. “Marcus said. “I mean you are the first alien I’ve had as a friend, I just wish we could have met under better circumstances….”He said.

Twilight waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it, without you I don’t think I would have survived those labs” She said and smiled at him. “So thank you Marcus for being my friend in that hellhole.”

He smiled and nodded back. “Still glad you aren’t there anymore, and heck you are going home. This place won’t really be the same without you.”

“Yeah there won’t be an alien stalking the tunnels. “Twilight said and the three humans shared a laugh.

“That will defiantly take some getting used to.” Dr. Grey said before sighing. “I’m going to miss you Twilight.”

Twilight nodded. “Same doc, I’m going to miss everyone all my friends and the soldiers as well, you all have been practically family to me.”

The two humans nodded before Twilight got to her hooves again. “Anyways I suppose I should let you get back to work, there is a line forming.” She said and when the two medical human looked they saw seven medics waiting patiently for their turn.

Twilight couldn’t help chuckling as they scrambled to get back to work as she left the room.

<<<O>>>

Twilight found herself wondering down the busy tunnels once more with no destination in mind as no one would listen to her as they were still “Too busy” to chat. And so the mare wandered till she found herself entering the mess hall and realized she was hungry. She approached the counter and before she said a word a plate was placed on a tray with an apple, some carrots and what appeared to be bacon wrapped chicken with a glass of water. She looked up to see Cook looking over the counter at her. “How did you—“

“It’s my job to know what people want to eat and I pay attention darlin’, I know what everyone favorite foods are, granted normally I don’t combined them but I was short on time.” He said as twilight took the tray.

“Uh…thanks.” She said.

“Don’t mention it Darlin’” He said waving a hand. “Going to be strange not seeing you in line anymore.” Cook said.

Twilight paused. “You seem confident I’ll make it home.”

“One thing I’ve noticed is you get what you want Commander.” He said. “I have every bit of confidence you will make it back home and you have everyone backing you up so not even a slight chance you won’t make it.”

Twilight blinked. “Yeah I suppose you are right.” She said with a smile as she made her way to a seat and began to eat her meal, she made a note to try wrapping bacon around more foods to see how it tasted.

<<<O>>>

Twilight once again found herself wondering down the tunnels after eating her meal in the Mess Hall and she found herself outside of the training room door. Carefully she opened the door and her hand shot out and caught a tennis ball thrown at her face by the man in the man standing in the middle of the room as a group of recruits ran around the perimeter of the room. “I see your reflexes are still good.” Mendez said as he caught the ball Twilight threw back at him.

“The hell was that for?” She demanded walking into the room.

“Making sure you are ready and not slacking off just cause you are going home.” HE said as he tossed the ball in the air several time before hurling it at a recruit who did not have Twilight’s reflexes, a yelp of pain echoing in the room as the ball found its mark in the side of the man’s head.

Twilight nodded and walked over to stand by the man. “You are a bastard you know that right?”

“So I’ve been told.” Mendez said as they watched the recruits. “So I guess I won’t have you around to show the recruits what a real soldier is anymore eh you big eyed freak?”

“Nope though I don’t know why you use me as the comparison when I have yet to beat you in hand to hand combat.” She said.

“Because I’m not a soldier, I’m an Instructor, big difference.” Mendez said then calmly redirected the stroke Twilight through at his stomach, then blocked the next one. And like that the battle was on.

Twilight threw punch after punch and Mendez blocked, redirected or dodged every single one of them and used his legs to block her kicks. The two of them moved across the floor as Twilight was determined to beat the Chief Petty Officer before she left. The two were so wrapped up in their fight that neither noticed the recruits stopped running to watch the spectacle and trying and failing to keep up with the strikes as Twilight dodged or blocked or redirected every strike Mendez sent her way.

Despite with how fierce their movements seemed both of them looked as if they were just having a pleasant conversation based on the expressions on their faces. The recruits were dumb struck as they watched the two go at each other as if they intended to kill each other, their movements getting faster and stronger, several of them wincing as the some of the unicorn mare’s strikes were redirected into the wall and the impacts cracked the cement

They were watching two masters of hand to hand combat fighting with every ounce of their skill and it was clear both of them were on a whole nothing level than anyone they had ever seen. Then it ended as abruptly as it started when the mare threw a punch that the human grabbed and used her momentum to swing her around and slam her hard into the wall driving the air from her lungs and would have shatter bones if not for her armor, then before the mare could recover the human threw a sing punch to her throat and stopped half an inch from it. “You’re dead Commander.” He said before standing back up and straightened his uniform.

Twilight laid there catching her breath. “Celestia-damnit!” She said before climbing to her hooves.” How the hell do you do that when you don’t have cybernetics?”

“Because I am an Instructor not a soldier and the day you can defeat me when I’m the one that trained you is the day retire to that magical land you call home.” Mendez said.

Twilight only grumbled as she started to make her way to the door, before she could walk through it she yelped as something struck her flank and when she looked she saw blue paint and a quick investigations aw Mendez holding his damn paint gun!

Cursing she left the training room as the Petty Officer turned the weapon on the recruits who had stopped running without permission.

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkled found herself outside of General Clancy’s door where she knocked and once getting permission she entered and saluted. “At ease commander.” Clancy said as he retrieved two glasses and a bottle of their preferred drink. “So what do I owe this visit too?” He poured them a drink as Twilight took a seat.

“Just….why does it seem like everyone is mobilizing to attack the lab?” Twilight asked taking her drink.

“Because they are.” Clancy said and a look from the unicorn he explained. “I asked for volunteers to attack the lab with the objective of returning you home and destroying the device and research so the Feds could never follow you and every single soldier volunteered, even non-combat personnel who have no place in the field.” He took a drink as did Twilight.

“All that….just for me?” She asked in disbelief.

Clancy nodded. “Yes, you don’t seem to have noticed it but everyone likes you Twilight, you are a good leader, an excellent soldier and an all-around good person that people naturally like. I don’t know what it is about you but it’s like an aura that just makes people see you as someone who has their back no matter what and the fact you actually do has cemented everyone to commit everything they have to seeing you make it home.”

Twilight sipped her drink; she hadn’t noticed any of this from the soldiers though she had always usually been busy with her various duties and the like so it’s possible she missed it, as for the aura the General mentioned Twilight had no clue what that was about as that was news to her.

The two officers sat in silence just enjoying each other’s company for what they knew was the last time as they drank. After some time the General spoke up again. “Commander there are two things I’d like to speak with you on.” He said and when Twilight looked at him he continued. “One, I think you should take Celestia and Luna with you as they are more yours then they are ours, I know you made them to help protect us but you built them yourself pretty much from scratch and I’ve seen how you are around them and how they act around you, I’m not sure how to explain it but it’s almost like they prefer to be around you as opposed to anyone else and we have more than enough to pick up the slack.”

Twilight sipped her drink as the General continued. “And so I think they should go with you, who know you may find a use for them in the coming assault.” He shrugged.

“And the second?” The mare asked.

Clancy reached into his desk and started pulling out bottle after bottle of Whiskey. “Consider these a going away gift, I don’t think your home would have anything quite like it so these should help get your through the dry spell.” He said with a chuckle. “And knowing you, you’ll find a way to make more.” They both shared a laugh as they knew it was true. After the laugh they lapsed back into the silence of friends just enjoying each other being there as they drank.

After a few glasses the general spoke up once more. “I think you should head back to your quarters and rest up, tomorrow is going to be a big day and you’ll want to be fully rested for your return home.” He said as he placed his bottle of whiskey back in his desk and they finished there glasses.

Twilight stood and moved her bottle into her storage locker before she saluted. “Good bye general, it has been an honor to serve under you.”

The General returned her salute. “The honor has been mine Commander. “ He said and with that the mare left the room knowing it would probably be the last time she ever saw the General.

Interlude: To the Last

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Queen Chrysalis, more commonly referred to as Major Chrysalis or simply Major by all but her Hive, they were physically unable to call her anything but Queen so they were allowed to do so, stood in a small room in Canterlot Castle. The room had been an unused store room was now filled with hastily set up radio Equipment. “Ok! Transports loaded, GO GO GO!” Came the voice of a stallion over the radio. Canterlot was in the middle of a mass evacuation being over saw by the EDF and Royal Guard in a joint effort to evacuate as many civilian as they could.

Chrysalis stood and listened as reports of transports were filled with the terrified ponies of Canterlot and they launched getting clear of the city as fast as they could. The EDF had commandeered anything that could be hooked up to a Pegasus and flown and were packing as many ponies into them as they could while the Royal Guard swept the city for stragglers.

Everything was a mess all she had to do was look out the window at the rising smoke columns from Camp Mendez to know how bad it was. Canterlot was the only place the EDF still operated in with any form of strength and that strength was being put towards saving as many as they could.

The Major was drawn back to the present by a frantic alert from the radio. “CONTACT! CONTACT SOUTH SIDE!” Chrysalis got to the window as fast as she could as she got her first look at what had single hoofedly crippled the EDF and Royal Guard as it crested over the edge of the city, the Anti-Tank round and Anti-Air missile and guns detonating against the shield it had around itself.

It was massive, as large as a fully grown dragon with huge muscular arms attached to a broad chest, its upper body sat atop lower half that was much like a pony with four hooves and atop its bearded head sat two massive horns, it was Tirek filled with the power of all of Equestria, save Canterlot and the Alicorn Princesses who resided with in.

Tirek looked down at the Defense bunkers firing everything they had at him and smirked as a ball of energy formed between his horns and then fired out, and like that the entire firing stop, the bunkers gone along with all one hundred and fifty EDF soldier within.

Chrysalis went back to the radio and grabbed a head set form one of the operators and put it on. “This is Major Chrysalis to all EDF forces currently not at the evac point, fall back to castle, I repeat fall back to castle.” She removed the head set and tossed it onto the table as she went back to the window to watch as Tirek made his way towards the city.

The EDF had only been aware of Tirek for about four days at this point even though he had been free from Tartarus for month, and he had been very aware of the EDF and had been very careful with his movements till he had enough strength to steal magic once more. The running theory was that he had been attacking isolated homesteads before moving onto isolated villages that didn’t have any EDF or Royal guard stationed nearby.

What finally alerted anypony something was wrong was a single Pegasus that had managed to escape his village without being drained of his magic and reach a Royal Guard garrison.

The issue was he had described Tirek as a monster, which, though accurate, did not express the danger. The Royal guard had sent some of their own to deal with it, there by feeding Tirek’s power as he drained the Guards of their magic.

By the time the EDF became aware of Tirek was when he attacked a small town that had an EDF recruiter in it. The recruiter had managed to get off a distress call before his power was drained and he was too weak to fight back as the town was drained.

The nearby EDF garrison had mobilized but by then Tirek had enough power to fight the infantry sent against him and drain them. It just got worse from there as he began to attack larger settlements. The EDF began to throw everything they could against him while still leaving the areas with garrisons still protected.

That had been their mistake as he drained more of their soldiers. And then Fort Zandar happened. Tirek had already taken an EDF supply base known as Camp Liston and from what the EDF could tell he didn’t seem to think Fort Zandar would be any different. It had been. It was one of the more heavily fortified bases of the EDF as it was a fallback point for EDF Command in the case Canterlot Fell or some other disaster happened.

But that wasn’t the only difference between Fort Zandar and every other EDF base. Fort Zandar had an entire town built around it, full of civilians that were friends and family of the base personal. When Tirek had been sited on the horizon the Fort had sounded an alarm and rabidly moved all the civilians into the bunker under the base meant for EDF personal only, and then the soldier fought, they fought hard throwing everything they had against Tirek to keep him from the civilians hiding bellow.

The battle had been fierce if the radio chatter was anything to go on with most of the town being level as well as half the Fort, then against all odd, through blind luck or force of will Fort Zandar hurt Tirek. And that was when things changed. Tirek was no longer focused on stealing the magic from EDF soldiers. Instead he was destroying them when he found groups of them with and stealing the magic of the survivors.

The EDF had issues an evacuation order to all settlements after Camp McKay was wiped out with no survivors. Unfortunately the only settlements left were large cities filled with millions of ponies. It would take hours to get everyone out, but the EDF was committed to their duty to protect Equestria and did their best to get everypony out. It wasn’t enough. There were too many ponies needing to be moved and not enough transports.

The only settlement that was confirmed evacuated was Ponyville, and that was just because it was so small and near the Everfree. The two Rifle Teams and one wing of Sharpshooters had decided to evacuate the town to the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Unfortunately Tirek learned that the tall metal towers were how the EDF was coordinating their forces. They didn’t have many of the radio tower set up yet but it was enough to cover a third of Equestria with clear signals. And that was why Tirek had been destroying them, cutting off the EDF forces still operating across the county. The last report Chrysalis had heard from the Ponyville evacuation teams was that they had cut the bridge to hopefully slow Tirek and were moving the civilians to the lower level while they took up defensive positions, and then the signal had cut off as Camp Mendez came under attack.

Chrysalis visibly shutter as she remembered the feelings of the Changelings at the camp. The Camp had been in the middle of evacuation the recruit when Tirek attacked, shooting the transports loaded with raw recruits out of the sky as they tried to get clear.

It was there that Discord had joined the battle bringing everything he had against the near godlike being. Tirek had already drained Equestria of its magic all that was left was the Ponyville civilians Camp Mendez and Canterlot.

Discord had done his best and his efforts had allowed a dozen transports to escape before he too was drained of his magic. After that Camp Mendez had shoved rifles into the hooves of recruits who had been there less than a week and told them to fight for their lives.

They never stood a chance. Camp Mendez was a raging inferno with a hoofull of survivors scattered throughout it. And then Tirek turned his sight towards Canterlot and the Princesses.

Chrysalis was drawn back to reality as five armored and treaded vehicles entered the castle court yard, the insignia of Equestria emblazed on the sides of their turrets. The EDF’s latest piece of equipment, Main Battle Tanks. Only a few of them had made it off the assembly line from the Liston Complex before production was interrupted by the attacks across Equestria resulting in the complex being evacuated as it only had a small military presence.

The only six that were operational were moved to Canterlot to defend it. What had drawn Chrysalis’ attention was only five showed up at the castle. She picked up the binoculars from the window sill and began to scan the city for the missing tank. She eventually spotted it taking up a defensive position outside the Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. The Major read the small numbers printed on the side of the tank and identified it as Hammer Two.

The Major grabbed another headset and got on the radio. “Hammer Two this is Major Chrysalis, what in Tartarus are you doing? The school is not a defense target. Get to the castle!” She said letting her anger enter her voice, she could sense two changelings were part of the three person tank crew.

The response was almost immediate. “No can do ma’am, we have civilians within the school and we are not leaving them defenseless.” A pony said.

“What are you talking about? The school was cleared; there is no one in it.” She said as she swept the binoculars over the school to see if she could fine what the tank crew was talking about. She saw nothing.

“Tell that to the civilians ma’am. You can court martial us but we aren’t leaving them.” The voice said with conviction.

Chrysalis growled and nearly threw the head set at the radio operators. She didn’t have time to deal with this she had to lead the entire army in Twilight’s absence against a monster with god like power. For the hundredth time in the last four days Chrysalis cursed the limited radio range they had as Twilight was with two Instructors from Camp Mendez over seeing a group of recruits survival test deep in the Everfree and she most likely had no idea any of this was going on as there was no way to get a radio signal into that place do to range.

Chrysalis returned to reality as Tirek sent another magic blast as a wing of Sharpshooters that were harassing him to try and keep him away from the castle. The Major looked back at the radio operators and saw the two ponies were shaking in their seat as they listed to the battle rage outside through their headsets and Chrysalis could sense the fear from her own Changeling through the link as well as the fear of the other EDF soldiers as they prepared to face a god that had leveled base after base.

Chrysalis thought about what would Twilight do if she was here, the first thing that popped into the Major’s mind was curse and then laugh with glee as she fantasied about taking Tirek apart. That wouldn’t help but it did comfort the Changeling Queen for some odd reason, she had been spending a lot of time with the psychotic mare and she was getting used to her and honestly she found herself actually looking forward to their chats as they discussed many things besides the mare’s psychological state and what she’d like to do to the nobles. Twilight was a very intelligent mare and skilled soldier and she actually did ask Chrysalis for advice when she didn’t know what to do, though that was only recent.

Chrysalis had been suspecting the unicorn was starting to see Chrysalis as a friend and not a possible problem and the Major had to admit she was starting to think of her as more than somepony who was her superior officer and captor. The mare had actually discussed what went with the Royal Wedding Incident and what the Queen could have done to ensure victory, those discussions were the strangest as they actually stayed up many hours basically plotting taking over Equestria or even the world and critiquing each other’s plans. The Major knew the mare had no thoughts of actually using the plans, the major was pretty sure of that, but still it was one of the many things they talked about and the Queen found herself enjoying the conversation, even when the unicorn slipped from voice to voice.

It hit the Major like a ton of bricks and she went over to the radio and grabbed a head set and started to broadcast on all frequencies. She took a deep breath and then spoke. “This is Major Chrysalis to all EDF forces, I know things look bleak, I know you are scared, believe me I am to.” She said, though she as more scared of what Twilight would do to her if she didn’t do her best then she was of Tirek. “But we are the Equestrian Defense Force. We are the last line of defense against all threats both foreign and domestic. When all other fall we stand ready, when our backs are against the wall we fight harder, when faced with impossible odds we fight on and never surrender. Our Duty is to Equestria and her people, we are not fighting for ourselves, we are fighting for every singer person in this county so that they can wake up tomorrow to a peaceful country and know that they are safe. That is our Duty, to bring them that peace, and we will stand against all those that oppose it and show them that we will not allow them to take it from us. Equestria needs you now more than ever, this is why the EDF exists, this is our purpose in life and we shall meet this threat with force and show it that we will not let it break us. For Equestria! For the Princess!”

Chrysalis yelled the last two lines and she could hear it echoed over the radio from every EDF soldier still alive and felt the fear be replaced by a new emotion, determination. They weren’t going to back down; they were going to fight on. The major removed her head set, it was the best she could do. She knew it wouldn’t be enough bet it was the best she could do.

The castle shook as a massive fireball went skyward from the courtyard and when Chrysalis look she saw the burning husks of the tanks and Tirek approaching the main gate. Chrysalis cursed as she left the radio room. She had one objective now and Twilight would have her head if she didn’t do it.

The changeling Queen entered the throne room and saw the three Princesses gathered at the far end by the throne, the room was lined by Royal Guard and there was two Rifle teams, two Flame Troopers and a wing of Sharpshooter in the room behind sandbag barricades and furniture they had taken from other parts of the castle to use as cover.

The major approached the three rulers with a feeling of surrealism, the last time she had seen them she had been invading the city with the intention of taking it over, now she was doing everything she could to protect it and these three. “Princesses, I think it’d be best if you evacuated now, the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sister’s is safe, there are a few EDF soldier already onside.” The major told them.

Celestia looked at the Changeling Queen who once upon a time had been her enemy. “And why did you send soldier to the ruins?” She asked calmly.

The Queen paused. “IT was where the Ponyville civilians were evacuated to.” She told them honestly.

Celestia nodded. “So if we were to go there we would most likely lead Tirek to them as he would chase us.” She said. “I couldn’t do that to my little ponies.”

Before the Major Could respond her ear was filled with a stallion yelling over the radio. “Contact! Open fire!” The sound of assault rifles being fired on full auto filled the radio. “Keep firing! Keep Fi—“a massive explosion shook the castle as the radio cut out. Chrysalis used one of the curses she had heard Twilight use often and drew the pistol the mare insisted she wear on her flank and checked the mag. She doubted the .45 caliber bullet would do anything when a tanks high explosive shell did nothing but Twilight would mount her head on the wall of her officer if Chrysalis didn’t at least try.

“Princesses’ the situation here is critical, Canterlot is lost, you need to get to safety.” She insisted looking back at the ruler.

“And where would we go Chrysalis that would not endanger other ponies?” Celestia asked calmly as the sound of gunfire drew closer and closer, Chrysalis was even able to make out the sound of the flamethrowers as Flame Troopers joined the battle.

The major searched her mind for anywhere still secure that didn’t have ponies already evacuated to and she couldn’t think of one. Celestia smiled at her. “You see, if we. “She indicated her and the other princesses. “We to leave then Tirek would follow us straight to those who have already been saved. So for the good of my little ponies I shall remain here and face Tirek so he does not search for anypony else.”

The Queen ground her teeth; Twilight was going to kill her, literally. With a growl she turned to look at the defenders of the room and spotted one of her changelings in the rifle team, through the link she could practically taste his fear as he watched the door. They all were scared but this one’s fear was strongest. She strengthen the link slight and saw why, the changeling had only been hatched a few months ago and just graduated from Camp Mendez five days ago and his first assignment was to defend the castle against a being that could only be described as a god.

She looked between the changeling and the door before walking over to it. “You. “She pointed a hoof causing him to jump and spin around to face her.

“Yes my Queen?” He said saluting.

“I need you to go to the Everfree and find Commander Sparkle, tell her of the situation and that we need her.” The Queen said, she could at least spare this young one from what was to come. The soldier saluted and was about to take flight when the Queen spoke again. “DO not tell her of the casualties we have suffered.”

“My Queen? Shouldn’t she be aware of everything that’s happened?” The soldier asked confused.

Only if we want her to be enraged and more psychotic, we need her thinking clearly. Chrysalis thought, she had spent enough time around the mare to know how she would react to knowing so many soldiers had died rather than just have their magic stole, magic could be returned, life could not.

“By Royal Decree you are not to tell Commander Twilight Sparkle that soldiers have been killed, only that Equestria is under attack and has fallen with her citizens captured.” The Queen watched the Changeling shutter as the Royal Decree took effect, it would be physically impossible for the soldier to disobey unless the Queen lifted the Decree. Twilight would be angry this information was kept from her but it was for the best. “Now go!” She order and the soldier took flight and flew out the window towards the Everfree.

The Major stood before the throne watching as the young soldier flew to safety. Least one of her Changelings would survive this. The door to the throne room was blow off its hinges by a magic blast and the Major faced it, raised her side arm and pulled the trigger.

<<<O>>>

Twilight Sparkle calmly walked through the Everfree forest, was aware of the eyes that watched her from the many creatures that called the Everfree home but payed them no mind, if they chose to attack her then it would just give her a bit of fun as she moved from group to group of recruits.

The recruits had been dropped into the forest individually with a basic kit, a combat knife, a pistol with a single magazine, and a single ration pouch and a crudely drawn map of the area. They had to survive a week out here as best as they could, if they met up with other they could join with them if they choose to go it alone, it did not matter.

Needless to say if they got eaten by a monster they failed the test. There were about two dozen recruits scattered across a one hundred square mile area with Twilight and two of the most skilled instructors from Camp Mendez moving about to keep an eye on them all, and occasionally make things more difficult if things were going to well for them.

Twilight had just left checking on a group of three recruits, two ponies and a changeling who had managed to get a decent shelter set up as well as clean water and a few days’ worth of food. Over all they were quiet comfortable, Till Twilight drove a pack of Timber Wolves into their camp. It was a small pack and they had someone on watch at all times so the unicorn was sure they would be fine.

The buzz of wings above her head drew Twilight attention up and she saw a changeling in full combat armor flying overhead looking at the ground. This was odd as the two instructors with her were ponies; there was no reason for a combat read soldier to be out here.

“Hey!” She called up to the changeling who jumped in mid-air and looked at her, Twilight could see the relief on his face as he flew down to her. Landing Twilight could tell the ling was exhausted and she could only assume he had been flying for hours and combat armor and rifle were not exactly light weight either. “What are you doing out here?” She demanded.

The ling took a few moments to catch his breath before saluting. “Looking for you ma’am.” He said.

Twilight cocked an eye brow at this. “And why are you looking for me?” She knew it had to be a something serious for Chrysalis to send a soldier to find her.

“Canterlot has fallen ma’am as had the rest of Equestria.” He said.

“WHAT?!” Twilight shouted making the ling flinch back.

“A monster from Tartarus known as Tirek attacked, he has the ability to steal magic from ponies and changelings and grows stronger from doing so. We weren’t aware of him till he was already very powerful.” The ling said hastily. “The Queen sent me to find you while she led the defense of the castle. She told me to tell you we need you Commander as Tirek has capture out forces and civilians alike.”

Twilight ground her teeth, if what the ling said was true then the situation was dire, she’d need to be careful fighting something like that. “Why wasn’t he able to be stopped?”

“He put a shield around himself and with the amount of magic he had it was too strong for us to penetrate.” The ling said.

Twilight nodded, defiantly something she couldn’t face. Though if he had defeated the EDF and take Canterlot then. “What of the Princesses?”

“They refused to leave the castle ma’am, the EDF was able to evacuate some ponies and they did not want to lead Tirek to them, so they refused to leave.” The ling said.

Twilight nodded, that meant there was a chance the princesses had fallen, which also meant that Tirek would think he had one with the EDF defeated and the Princesses, and if so….that meant he’d probably drop his shield. Twilight smiled, she had the perfect plan.

“You’ll need to stay here private, you should be fine as you’ve already survived in here and you are better equipped now, don’t interfere with the other recruits or we will have to restart the test.” Twilight said and the changeling saluted.

“What are you going to do ma’am?” he asked.

“First I’m going to tell the other Instructors of the situation, and then I’m going to deal with Tirek.” The mare said as she pulled a very long rifle from her storage locker that had powerful scope on it, she stroked the rifle with a large smile on her face.

<<<O>>>

Twilight lay prone on a small hill, only her head and Anti-Tank rifle could be seen over the hill and only if you were close enough to see it, the behemoth half a mile away certainly wasn’t as he fired magical blasted at a forest, clearing it for some reason with a smug smirk on his face. “That’s right enjoy yourself while you can you big son of a bitch. “Twilight sad as she loaded explosive rounds into the AT rifle, they were special rounds designed to punch through armor and then explode a split second later sending shrapnel in all directions, they were meant to killed the entire tank crew after going through the armor. Twilight wondered what it would do to a behemoth’s brain.

She loaded the magazine in and pulled the bolt back, chambering a round. She could tell that Tirek didn’t have his shield up anymore, why should he? He had defeated everyone, except for a single mare who was out for his blood. The only reason Twilight wasn’t going to take him apart piece by piece was the simple fact he was to dangerous to not be killed quickly.

Twilight took a deep breath to get her breathing under control and then looked down the scope; sighting on the behemoth’s head and smiled. “You’re in the sniper’s sight.”

<<<O>>>

Tirek smirked as he cleared away the forest for him to be able to build his throne for which he will rule all of Equestria from. HE had all the power of Equestria at his disposal and nothing could stand against him. The fight with the three Princesses and the Changeling queen had been first, the soldiers that kept showing up didn’t help any but he had defeated them, killed the soldiers and drained the Princesses and the Queen of their magic and now they sat in Tartarus where he had been held for so long.

He had gotten his revenge and now ruled the land, it would be only a matter of time before he ruled the planet as well. As he swept another magical beam before him he saw a glint of light out of the corner of his eye. He turned to face it curious what it was. He could see nothing but he could sense powerful magic similar to an Alicorn in that direction. Could he have missed a princess somehow? Was there a forth? No matter they would fall like the others.

Before Tirek could put up his shield something struck him through the eye and exploded, sending pain throughout his body as bits of metal destroyed his eye and lodged in his brain. Before he could react another struck, then another, and another. Each one driving further into his brain and exploding, sending the small bits of metal to shred the grey mater.

The seventh round punched all the way through his head and the resulting detonation blew part of his skull away leaving a hole all the way through his massive head. The injuries were small compared to his size but numerous and the damage to his brain was extensive.

The god like being swayed on his hooves as the first of the distant echoes rolled over him. Like massive building being demolished the behemoth toppled over and crashed to the ground, his weight causing a large plume of dirt to fly towards the sky as the last of the seven echoes rolled across the land as life left the god like creatures eyes and a few seconds later his body began to shrink as light shot skyward and began to spread in all direction, the magic he had stolen released to return to its proper owners.

<<<O>>>

Twilight hummed to herself as she walked away from the hill, she was bipedal with the large AT rifle slung over her shoulder, her arms resting on it to keep it steady. She had completed her mission, the stolen magic returning to its owners and she got to use her AT rifle. She was in a good mood as she walked.

She was already running through plans to help restore whatever damage had been done to Equestria by Tirek capturing everyone but once the EDF was organized it wouldn’t be too difficult to get the civilians back home with whatever they needed to rebuild.

Yes the Commander was in a good mood and she couldn’t wait to get back to Canterlot to begin the rebuilding process.

<<<O>>>

Twilight stood before black obsidian wall that had been polished to a perfect sheen. The mare wore the EDF dress uniform which thankfully wasn’t too much flare. It looked much like the standard uniform but had braded cord coming off the shoulder and ending it a tassel. There was gold colored thread running along the seams of the dark green fabric. Upon her head sat a dark green beret with a single fluffy gold ball in the middle of it.

Around the mare stood other similarly dressed members of the EDF as they looked upon the wall, upon it were thousands upon thousands of names both Pony and Changeling alike. Each one having given their life to try to stop Tirek.

The sky above was perfectly overcast and gloomy for the affair. It had been over a moth since Tirek’s defeat and the EDF had just finished collecting the dead and identifying them, turning the bodies over to the families for burial after they had been identified while their name added to the record of the lost.

It had been Princess Luna’s idea to create a memorial for the fallen and Celestia had been quick to agree with her and made the needed preparations after informing Twilight of the plan. Twilight had thanked her for doing so and gathered the names up. The princes had over saw the construction herself and all three of the Princesses had put a powerful preservation spell upon the stone once the last name was carved into it so that it would not erode away.

And then the service had been planned. The memorial itself was built close to the castle gate on the side of were a mansion had once stood, the building having been heavily damaged in the battle for Canterlot and the Noble that owned it had actually been generous enough to donate the site to the EDF for the memorial rather than just rebuild his home.

The memorial itself was simple, just a wall of obsidian adorn with the names of the fallen with a path that ran its length and then back to the street after passing the single other part of the memorial.

Right in the middle of the clearing, the path going around it on both sides and raised on a platform sat the twisted and scorched remains of an Equestrian main battle tank, designated Hammer Two, the twisted barrel of the cannon facing the street as if it stood watch over the memorial, ready to defend it from all aggressors. On the front of it was carved three names, those of the Tank crew who had died within when Tirek destroyed the tank. The tank like the wall had been enchanted with powerful a powerful preservation spell just like the wall.

The crew had disobeyed orders to fall back to the castle, instead setting up to defend Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns siting there were civilians inside despite the fact the building had been confirmed cleared.

And in doing so had saved over a dozen foals that had been separated from their evacuation group and in their fear had gone to the one place they knew in the city, the school where they found a teacher locking the building up. Before they could leave to rejoin the evacuation Tirek had entered the city and the foals were too scared to leave, hiding with in one of the classrooms.

Hammer Two’s crew had spotted the teacher flagging them down to try and get help. There wasn’t much the crew could do as the tank only had enough room for the crew to move around barely so they had told the teacher that they would distract Tirek while the teacher took the foals out the back of the school.

Seeing the tank setting up to defend the school had calmed the foals enough for the teacher to convince them to go while the soldiers defended them. Hammer two had wasted no time in engaging Tirek when he neared the school and once the shooting started the foal and teacher ran for it. The crew had managed to dodge several attacks from Tirek while delivering shot after shot of high explosive round into his shield buying enough time for the group to escape.

According the Teacher who had looked back at the last moments of Hammer Two’s existence Tirek had lifted the tank up in a magical grip only for the tank to swing its turret around and deliver a high explosive shell from point blank range. Enraged Tirek turned the tank into a fireball and tossed it to the side as he continued to advance on the castle.

The foal and one teacher were at the head of the gather crowd, the foals looking at the remains of the tank in awe and Twilight heard a few of them say they wanted to be like the tank crew when they grew up. Twilight had to surprise a smile at the fact ponies wanted to be like changelings when they grew up, she could imagine how their parents felt about that.

Twilight looked out over the crowd, it was mostly EDF and a Royal Guard as both groups had name son the wall, Twilight had insisted that there be a single memorial as both groups gave their lives in the same battle though the Royal Guard suffered fewer casualties as they hadn’t pissed off Tirek like the EDF had.

Throughout the crowd was a mix of Noble sand civilians and twilight could see a lot of them standing near EDF changelings and much to the Commander’s happiness only a few showed any signs of disgust, most either ignored them or looked at them with respect. The feelings of Equestria towards the changelings was changing so some good did come from Tirek’s attack.

Twilight moved and took a seat behind a podium that had been set up alongside Chrysalis who still had some of the changeling healing salves on her as she had been injured fighting Tirek in the throne room. “How you feeling Queeny?” Twilight asked quietly so only the Queen heard. She had been pissed at the Queen for basically lying to her about the casualties but her rational mind was quick to reassert itself before the mare harmed the Changeling Queen sighing that if she had reacted with rage she’d have lost to Tirek.

“Better than I was when you found me ma’am.” Chrysalis whispered back.

Twilight nodded. “That’s good to hear; running this army without you has been a real pain in the ass.” Twilight said, do to Chrysalis’ injuries Twilight had ordered her onto leave till she recovered, they still met every couple of days to chat about topics that had nothing to do with the EDF as both of them seemed to enjoy it and it kept the Queen from being to bored in the hospital. Though the Queen was still aware of what was happening through the Hivemind and even directed some of the changelings in minor tasks.

“Well at least you don’t have a selfish reason for checking on my health ma’am.” The Queen replied and though both shared a quiet chuckle at the small joke. Neither of them were quiet sure when they became relaxed around each other enough to speak this way to each other but it had happened at some point, and twilight had to admit she trusted the Queen and it was nice having someone around she could be herself around.

Before Twilight could respond Celestia took the stage and walked up to the podium and the crowd quieted down. “Welcome my little ponies, I wish that this was for a happier reason but it is for an important reason. We are here to honor those who gave their lives to protect Equestria from the monster known as Tirek and through their bravery and courage saved many ponies from having their magic stolen by him.” Celestia said into the mic, her voice echoing across the huge crowd. Those not busy rebuilding the city or cleaning were gathered for the occasion and Twilight could see her friends at the front of the crowd, they had been kept safe by the EDF that had evacuated Ponyville to the ruins of the Castle of the Royal Sister, actually having helped the soldiers evacuate the town by directing ponies where to go and suggesting the Ruins.

“Commander Twilight Sparkle, leader of the Equestrian Defense Force is here today and I’d like to offer her the chance to say a few words on behalf of the EDF.” Celestia said and looked back at Twilight who nodded and stood before making her way to the podium as the Princess steeped aside and took a seat beside her sister.

Twilight cleared her throat before speaking. “As the Princess said, we are gathered here today to pay tribute and honor the Fallen who over a month ago payed the ultimate sacrifice in defense of this nation.” She began. “Despite facing impossible odds they did not back down and they refused to give up and continued to fight right up to the end.” Twilight took a breath and pointed to the wall behind her. “Let this memorial stand as a testament to the sacrifice the Ponies and Changelings payed and let history shine upon them and let none ever forget them.” She finished, it was simple, but she chose to let their actions speak louder than her words.

Twilight turned to face the wall and the officer on the stage with her stood as well much to the surprise of the Princesses as they hadn’t been told this part.

Twilight switched to bipedal and once she was standing she snapped into a salute as did the other officer who faced the wall. “Rest now soldiers, your fight is over and you have earned your rest, we shall carry on in your place.” She said loud enough for the crowd to hear.

With that two rifle teams made their way from the wings of the memorial service as Celestia watched the proceeding with interest. The teams stopped between the stage and the wall and Twilight spoke again. “Ready!’ The said and the teams turned and faced the wall. “Aim!” They aimed their rifles over the wall. Twilight took a breath. “Fire!” the teams fired a single shot, they were blanks so it was just the bang but Twilight head read that this was an old tradition from earth done when a soldier falls it was based on an even older tradition meant to protect the spirit from being stole by demon and Twilight thought it was appropriate. “Fire!” The teams fired another shot. “Fire!” They fired the third and final time and the officers dropped the salutes and stood at ease as the teams made their way back to the wings of the service. Once they were out of sight the officers took their seat again.

Twilight sat beside Chrysalis once more as Celestia took the podium once more. “Thank you Commander, I think everyone here agrees with your word and we shall ensure that the Fallen are not forgotten.” She said as she faced the crowd and saw them all looking to her and the commander with rapt attention. “I do not believe anything else need be said about those who gave their lives for Equestria.” And with that the service was over and MUSIC Twilight had set up began to play as the crowd began to either disperse or walk up to the wall to pay their respects or to speak to the soldiers who were there.

Twilight looked out on the crowd and watched as they mixed with the EDF soldiers, both Pony and Changeling without fear or disgust, they no longer saw hostile creatures or parasites, they saw a soldier ready to give up their life to protect them. The climate of Equestria was Changeling. “Well it seems Love and tolerance is taking effect faster than I thought it would.” Twilight said and turned to the Changeling Queen who nodded.

“Yes it does seem that way ma’am.” Chrysalis said.

“Hey Queeny?” She said and the Queen looked at her. “You can call me Twilight when we aren’t on duty.”

Unnoticed by both of them Princess Celestia was watching the mare out of the corner of her eye as she spoke to her ponies as they would pay their respects to her. Twilight was a very different mare then she was all those months ago but she was still the same where it counted and that brought a small smile to the Sun Princess’ face.

Chapter 29: Homeward

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“Soldier’s today we set forth on a mission that is unlike any we have ever undertaken in the history of the People’s Free Democratic Republic’s history.
Today on the eve of the New Year we set forwarth to help our Commander return to her home. She came to our planet not by choice, but she joined our fight by her own decision and aided us in our fight against the Federal Army and its corruption.
She had our back through some of the toughest times the PFDR has ever faced and with her help we have moved towards the completion of our goal in liberating this country from a corrupt regime.
But it is time for her to return to her home to where she belongs and we shall do everything within our power to see her home. The might of the PFDR is moving towards a single goal and come hell or high water we shall see Commander Twilight Sparkle home.”
Speech delivered before Commander Sparkle’s final mission.
Speaker General Tomas Clancy

<<<O>>>

Twilight sat in the back of a PFDR jeep as it droved behind a dark green tank, designated Tombstone One. Behind her jeep drove an APC and two transport trucks loaded with soldiers and behind them were three more jeeps. The convoy was rolling down a road outside the city heading for their target location of the hidden lab outside the city. It had snowed somewhat heavily last night and Twilight was glad they had the tank ahead of them to clear a path for the convoy. Twilight had honestly been surprised the General had sent one of their tanks with them though with how well hidden this lab was who know how well defended it was.

The jeep was filled with a SONG that the mare found somewhat ironic do to what they were going to do and who she was. Maybe that was why she liked it so much? Behind the wheel was Rook 2 while in the passenger seat was Hudson. In the back seat sat Twilight by the door on the driver side, Desmond, Rain and on the gun was Rook 1

“You know, for a pastel pony that looks like something a kid would play with you have the strangest taste in music.” Hudson said looking back at Twilight.

“What’s that mean?”” She asked.

“Well…as I said you look like something a seven year old girl would dream up and yet you listen to pretty heavy music.” Hudson said and Twilight looked at the rest of Nightmare who all nodded in agreement.

“Well excuse me for my taste in music not meeting your expectations.” Twilight said with a roll of her eyes then turned up the music up. This resulted in a laugh from everyone but the two Rooks. After a minute she turned it down her point made. “Besides it seemed appropriate as it’s exactly what we are going to do to the lab.” She said with a smirk.

The other’s had to agree. “Yeah I think I’m going to miss your weird taste in music.” Rain said.

“You know this is music I got while here right? You can just get it yourself.” Twilight said.

“Yeah but it won’t have the same meaning when not coming from a kid friendly alien, well I guess kid friendly looking alien.” The women said.

“Hey I’m kid friendly.” Twilight said with a glare. “I’m fucking great with kids!”

“Yes I can tell Mrs. Swears-A-Lot.” Rain said with a laugh.

“Hey I put up with you don’t I? I think that proves I’m more then qualified to handle kids.” Twilight said.

“She has you there Rain.” Hudson aid and was rewarded with the back of his seat being kicked by the small women.

The group shared a laugh. “You know I’m going to miss you guys.” Twilight said as the music played.

“Yeah we are going to miss you too commander, don’t think Desmond will be any good at replacing you. “Hudson said and got a glare form the Staff Sergeant.

“Thank you for the vote of confidence.” He said.

“You’re welcome” Hudson said with a smile.

Twilight shook her head at the antics of the humans. “You are all crazy you know that?”

“No, we are just friends with an alien.” Rain said as the tank turned off the highway and onto a side road that looked like it was rarely used. Twilight shut off the music and put the Datapad in her storage locker.

“Ok, weapons check, we are almost there.” Twilight said as she pulled out her SMG and checked its mag as the other soldiers did as well. “This is it, our final mission together.” She said once everyone was dead.

“Hey, don’t get all depressed on us now. “Desmond said. “We need your head in the game if we are going to pull this off.”

Twilight nodded. “I know don’t worry, just going to miss you all.”

“Same.” Rain said as they drove along the road.

By Twilight estimate they were near the lab when she heard something. Before she had a chance to voice what she was hearing an explosion erupted from the ground beside their jeep flipping it onto its side.

Twilight head impacted the roll cage causing the world to spine a bit but her helmet protected her from any serious injury. “What the fuck is going on!” She yelled as she heard more explosions outside of the overturned jeep.

“Artillery! We need to move!” Desmond yelled as Rain pushed the door open and pulled herself out of the jeep followed by Desmond as Hudson and Rook 2 did the same out of the passenger side door.

Once they were out of the jeep Twilight tossed her SMG up and out before she climbed out as well and dropped to the ground, picking up her SMG as Hudson and Rain pulled a dazed Rook 1 off the turret shaking him a bit to get him focused.

All around them it was chaos, one of the transport trucks had taken a direct hit to the engine and was on fire, luckily it looked like the driver made it out but it blocked the road for the other transports leaving them with just the APC and the tank on this side of the blockade.

Twilight got on her radio and had to yell over the sound of the artillery raining down. “Alright everyone, transports are down, make a run for the labs, we need to get out of the kill zone!” She said and got acknowledgment from the squad leader and watched as they started to run past the burning transport as Tombstone One and the APC raced forward as the soldier started to sprint up the road. Twilight focused on running, ignoring the soldiers that were thrown into the air by the artillery as there was nothing she could do for them if they did survive with death still raining from the sky.

After running for a short time the artillery stopped, either they were out of the kill zone or they had stopped the bombardment. Either way Twilight looked back and saw they had lost about a fourth of their force. “Ok listen up, we need to move quickly, they wouldn’t have just done that for no reason, they know we are coming so get your asses in gear and get to the lab!” Twilight yelled over the radio and the soldier started to move up the road and between the tree as the Tank and APC pushed up.

The soldiers ran through the snow as the tanks and APC rolled along the road. Within minutes the forest ended and in the middle of it was a cluster of buildings with a single tall on in the middle surrounded by a fence.

For all intent and purpose the place looked like an abandoned medical facility, if not for the squad of soldiers at the gate who had to jump to the side as they found a sixty-two ton tank charging them as it crashed through the gate with the APC right behind it.

The squad scrambled to their feet just in time to be gunned down by the charging infantry. Once the soldier made it through the gate more evidence the hospital wasn’t abandoned came in the form of more Federal Army soldiers pouring out of the surrounding buildings and taking up defensive positions.

Twilight took cover behind the tank as it began to fire shell at the Federal Soldiers as the rest of the rebel soldier spread out for their own cover. The Feds had better cover and had more soldiers; while the rebels had a tank they were still at a disadvantage. Till the APC’s back ramp dropped and the four thick armored rebels stepped out and raised their mini-guns. The rebel Heavy Troopers began to hose the Feds forcing them into cover as the normal soldier moved up to better cover

Twilight smirked as she pulled a grenade from her storage locker and with her magic curled it to the nearest group of Feds, pulling the pin in mid-air so it would have time to get there. It landed, bounced once and detonated before the Feds had any chance to react.

“Move up! Keep the pressure on!” She yelled into her radio as the tank started to roll forward, her and Nightmare keeping pace with it. That pace was halted by an AT rocket striking Tombstone one’s left tread and the tank stopped move.

“Shit, treads down, we can’t move!” the crew radio. “We are sitting ducks.”

Twilight swore as she pulled out her sniper and dropped the AT soldier before he could finish off the tank then clicked her radio. “Don’t worry Tombstone, we got your back, we won’t leave you unprotect.” She said. “Any other damage?”

“Negative commander, weapons still online and we have turret control, just can’t move.” Came the reply.

“Alright Tombstone we’ll leave a couple of squads to cover you, can you make sure the Feds don’t come in behind us?” She asked.

In answer the turret swiveled around and faced the direction of the gate. “Can do Commander, good luck.”

With that Twilight abandoned the cover of the tank after order two nearby squads to stay with it and keep it covered The fighting in the area had moved on closer to the main building and that was were Twilight and Nightmare were headed.

As the squad reached where the rest of the soldier were she saw why their advance had stalled when a Fed tank rolled into view from behind one of the smaller buildings, a soldier manning the turret on the top and keeping any rebels with anti-tank rockets pinned down as the main cannon went to work on the rebels cover.

Twilight took cover beside a medic bandaging a wounded soldier’s arm before the tank could see them. “Where’s Tombstone?” The medic yelled. “We need them.”

“Disabled, they are covering our backs.” Twilight told him and the medic swore. “What’s the situation?”

“Bad ma’am, that tank is keeping everyone away and our Heavy Troopers can’t move as that tank would take out their armor.” The medic told her.

Twilight nodded and she looked over the wall they were behind, her mind racing to analyze the battlefield and she quickly formed a plan of attack. She got on her radio. “To any squads south of the tank I need you to draw its fire.” Twilight waited and got three squads acknowledgements. Few second later the tanks armor was covered in sparks as rifle fire ineffectively struck it and the turret operator dropped down into the tank for a moment as the main turret swung around and fired a shot and the tank began to make its way towards the soldiers.

“Stay here.” Twilight order her squad before teleporting near it, she couldn’t teleport to close as she didn’t know if the tank would suddenly change direction and she could either end up right in front of the treads or inside of it, neither option were very appealing.

Twilight sprinted for the tank and gritted her teeth as the main turret swung around to check behind it, which meant a 125mm cannon was now facing the mare. She put up a shield a second before the tank fired and she stumbled as her shield shatter but she quickly recovered, she had only a few seconds before the crew reloaded and fired another shot and the tan was moving away from her.

Twilight pushed her cybernetics to their limits to close the distance and jumped up, grabbed the cannon and swung up onto it. The mare ran along it, letting her cybernetics auto-balance as the crew fired a shot to try and nock her off, as the gunner came out and started to swing the 50. Cal around to gun down the mare.

Before he could she was on the turret and kicked the machinegun back around, tearing it from the gunner’s hands. The gunner wasted no time trying to strike the mare who caught his fist in her hand and gripped it had so he couldn’t escape. With a smirk she held out her free hand and grenade dropped into it from her storage locker. With her thumb she pulled the pin and then shoved the grenade into the gunner’s mouth, shattering his teeth in the process before she shoved him back down into the tan and slammed the hatch closed.

She jumped off and ran from the tan moments before the hatch was blow open by the grenade’s detonation and the tank came to a stop with the death of the crew inside. Twilight got on her radio as she looked back at her handy work. “Alright tanks down, move up, breech the door.”

Twilight watched as the soldier of the PFDR moved to the main doors of the lab and began placing breeching charges as everyone got into position. Nightmare rejoining the mare. “That was awesome!” Rains aid as she got near. “I never heard of anyone taking down a tank like that.”

Twilight smiled at the young women and shrugged before she unslung her SMG and pressed herself against the wall. “Ok, once we are in our objective is to find a security station and see what we are dealing with in terms of defenses. Nearest one is one hundred meters from the entrance, get there and clear it.” The unicorn ordered. They had gotten the blue prints from the lab from White Rabbit’s files but nothing on their defenses. “Where’s Delco?” She asked looking along the line of soldiers.

“Here ma’am.” The rebel hacker said from near the back of the group, the man had an entire squad dedicated to keeping him safe as he was needed to gain access to the security system and then run the device as he was the only computer expert they had that was also a soldier besides Twilight, but she couldn’t run the computers and target the device or keep it running while she went through.

The mare nodded. “Ok good, stay behind the group.” She told him and he nodded back. A few moments later the charges were set, do to how secure the doors were the breech charges were modified to be stronger than normal so took longer to set. “Ok, on my mark.” Twilight said. “Three….two….one…MARK!” The resulting blast tore the doors from their hinges and sent them flying, followed by four flash bangs. When the flash bangs detonated the first squads rushed in and after the brief sound of gunfire they gave the all clear and the rest of the rebels ran in.

The lobby had two squads worth of Feds lying dead on the floor that were quickly pulled to the side. “Ok, Graphite and Deminos squads stay here and hold this position; I don’t want anything coming in behind us.” The two squads acknowledged and took up defensive positions in the lobby as the rest of the soldiers moved for the security station.

The security station was only manned by a single squad that was easily dealt with and the Delco was at the control going through their files as the rebels kept watch outside the door. Twilight was in the room with the hacker looking at the security monitors. She could see Feds setting up to defend the lab from the rebels and then she saw movement in one of the monitors and when she looked again her eyes narrowed.

She gripped her SMG and made her way for the door. “Where you going Commander?” Delco asked looking up from the computer as he heard her steps.

“I’m going to go make sure your guy’s exit is clear, keep moving on the lab and I’ll catch up.” She said over her shoulder and walked out of the room giving the same orders to the other soldiers including her squad, telling them she’d be fine on her own as their exit wouldn’t be heavily defend but she wanted to be sure and could move faster on her own. They didn’t look happy but she was squad leader so there wasn’t much they could do.

With that the mare made her way deeper into the facility with an objective all her own.

<<<O>>>

Doctor Adam Frisk walked down the hall of the labs, he was never told the name of this place and to him it didn’t matter as long as he could work. Around the scientist walked four Federal Army soldiers, from what he had gathered the lab was under attack and so they were to escort him to safety as a high priority asset. At least some one saw his work as important as most everyone he talked with in the government didn’t see it.

As he and his escorts moved down the hall a single shot rang out and one of the soldiers in the lead dropped a hole in her forehead.

One of his escorts grabbed him and shoved the Doctor down a side hall as one of them fired down the hall before joining them. The group ran down the hall to get away from their’ attacker when another shot was fired from in front of them and another guard dropped.

The two remaining shoved the Doctor into a side door way and shut the door behind them. Frisk looked around and saw they were in one of the medical labs and were crossing to the door on the far side. When the lead soldier tried the door it wouldn’t budge. “The hell?” The soldier said and looked at the door. “Who the hell welded it shut?”

Before they could make a move to try another door another shot rang out from the doorway behind them and the guard in back dropped. The last guar spun around and raised his rifle and three more shoots struck his chest and he went down.

Dr. Frisk turned and saw standing in the door way stood a short rebel soldier aiming a pistol at the man.

“Hello doctor.” The soldier spat the last word with a mix of rage and disgust.

Frisk instantly recognized the voice. “Ah, hello 438. It has been a long time.” He said calmly as the mare removed her helmet with a cybernetic hand and it disappeared from site as she walked into the room using her magic to shut the door behind her.

“I shouldn’t be surprised a monster like you isn’t afraid of having a gun aimed at your head. “She said as she lowered the pistol and holstered it as she stopped a few feet from the man.

“That is a bit ironic coming from you 438.” He said. “I’ve seen the report of what happened at the Federal Press building, there is only one thing I know of that could have done that.” Frisk said calmly.

The unicorn spread her arms to the side. “I’m just what you made me Doctor.” She spat the last word again and looked at him. “But I’m nowhere near as big a monster as you.” She said.

Frisked arched an eye brow at that. “Oh? And what makes you think that?” He asked.

The mare’s hand shot out and grabbed a hand full of his shirt and pulled him down so their faces were inched from each other. “Because I’m going to allow you to die.” She said and shoved him back onto one of the surgical tables as he magic manipulated the controls of one of the labs machines, in this case it was one decided for automated autopsies for handling bodies that have a contagion.

The mare set it for full autopsy and stood back as the machine restrained the “body” as it lowered from the ceiling. She watched as her tormenter struggled in a vain attempt to get free. “Don’t worry doctor, this is all for science! I’m sure you can appreciate that better than anyone. “She said with a smile as the medical device made the first incision and the screaming started.

<<<O>>>

Twilight walked down the hall of the lab, her SMG was slung on her back and her helmet was firmly planted on her head, in the ten minutes it took for Frisk to be dissected the rebels had made a lot of progress, from the looks of it Delco had turned the labs security systems against the Feds by changing the automated defenses Friend and Foe settings.

It wasn’t hard to find the path her forces took as she just needed to follow the bodies. The mare felt good, better then she had in a very long time. Her tormentor was dead, killed in the most ironic way possible, being subjected to what he did to her till he died from it. Twilight couldn’t help smiling at the irony as she replayed the last ten minutes of the scientist’s life in her head over and over, out of everyone she had killed his death felt the greatest and his screamed sounded the best, she would never forget his death as it was special.

The mare dropped the smile as she came around a corner and found a squad of her soldiers outside a large door that was in the hall. Switching back to a more appropriate mood so as to avoid any unnecessary questions she walked up to the group.

“Status report.” She demanded of the group.

The squad leader was the one answer. “Ma’am they sealed the blast doors and cut us off from the rest of the group, we were trying to find a way around but all routes to the lab seem sealed. “

Twilight nodded and stepped forward. “Alright.” She said as her horn lite and the thick door was wrapped in the same aura. The mare focused and with a quiet grunt and the scream of metal the thick door was torn from its frame and dropped to the ground with a loud thud. “Fuck their blast doors.” She said as she stepped onto the six inch thick steel door and walked down the hall, she was too close to her objective to let anything stop her now.

The soldiers looked after her a bit dumbfounded as she effetely destroyed a door designed to contain a large explosion. She looked back at them. “You coming or are you going to stand there and collect dust?” She said to them and they scrambled to catch up.

There ended up being three more blast doors between Twilight and her goal and they all suffered the same fate as the first. By the time she caught up with the main force she had collected four squads of soldiers and she found the rest of them outside a much larger sealed door.

“What’s going on here?” Twilight asked as she rejoined her squads, she could see Delco had his Datapad hooked up to a panel beside the large door.

“They sealed the lab from the inside and some one inside is fighting me for control of the door.” Delco said not looking up from his Datapad.

Twilight nodded and stood before the door. “Form up!” She barked and everyone looked at each other but obeyed, Delco taking his place behind the group.

Twilight lite her horn and wrapped the door in her magic, she could tell this one was thicker than the last and she was tired from the others but nothing was getting in her way at this point. She clench her teeth and began press on the door harder and harder till with a cry of tearing steel the door warped and tore from its frame and dropped.

Twilight dropped to sitting on the floor panting. “Luna fuck me with the mood that was hard.” She said as the entire rebel soldier rushed the room but Nightmare and the squad protecting Delco. Twilight panted as she heard gunfire from inside of the lab.

“You ok ma’am?” Desmond asked.

Twilight waved a hoof. “Just need to catch my breath is all.” She said and after a few minutes she got to her feet and walked into the lab after getting an all clear from the squads inside and got her first look at the device that both brought her here and would send her home.

This one looked vastly different than the one that brought her here.

The back wall was dominated by two large pillars with cables attacked to them with a ramp leading up to the platform they rested on and hanging from the ceiling were two large devices with that where triangular, with the pointed aimed at the area between the pillars. The rest of the lab was dominated by computer equipment and cables all running to the device that sat beneath the two objects hanging from the ceiling and was attach to the pillars and triangle by cables. The primary device looked almost simple for what it was meant to do, just a sphere with cables attached to it about three feet wide.

Twilight slowly approached the device and placed a hand on it, running it along the marvel of technology that would revolutionize the understanding of science. “Plant the charges.” She said coldly as she dropped her hand, she wanted this thing sent to oblivion where it belonged.

She turned back to the room. “Set up defenses. Delco get to work.” She order and looked at Nightmare and sighed. “I guess this is goodbye. “She told them and her squad nodded before making their way out of the room to help defend it from the Feds that would surely show up to try and stop them as the demolition teams planted their charges so they could take the entire room out in one go.

Delco took a position at a console and started to work as Twilight came and sat beside him taking out her Datapad to help her fellow computer expert. “Well guess this is the last time I’ll be doing a mission like this eh?” Delco said.

“I don’t know maybe.” The mare said as she typed neither looking up from their screens.

“You deal with that bastard?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

With that the two hackers fell into a silence as they focused on their work do to the limited time they had. After about fifteen minutes of breaking through layer after layer of encryption the two hackers were in and had control of the room.

“Ok now all we need is a way to target.” Delco said and Twilight nodded as she unhooked her Datapad from the computers and made her way to the device as she put the Datapad in her Storage locker just as the first sounds of gun fire echoed down the hall.

Twilight hurried her steps and reached the device as Delco brought it online. The room was filled with the hum of computer and complex machinery coming to life as lights danced across the device.

The mare looked at it and placed switched back to being a pony as she placed her hooves against the surface, she wasn’t sure what to do but decided just to channel a bit of magic into the sphere as it came to life.

Slowly electricity began to climb between the two distance pillars and a few moments later the two triangles shot beams of pure energy towards the center of the pillars as Twilight channeled more and more magic into the device hoping it would give it a target destination, for good measure she thought of Ponyville on the off chance that would help even though it was unlikely.

The sound of electricity cracking and the hum of machines grew louder and louder till all at once a tear appeared between the pillars.

“Ok, it’s open, you should move through now! I have no idea how long we can keep it stable!” Delco called rom where he was typing franticly on the computer as it flashed messages.

Twilight dropped from the device and made her way up the ramp pausing before the rift and looking back at the hacker. Are you sure you can handle things here without me?” She asked a bit unsure.

“Relax Commander, we can take it from here. “Delco said with a reassuring smile for the mare.

“Well if you are sure…”She said still uncertain.

“Go, I’m not letting you back out now Commander. We will be fine, I know everyone has been working towards this for so long, don’t let their sacrifices be wasted.” He told her looking at her seriously.

Twilight thought of the soldiers they had lost getting to the labs. “Yes…..yes you are right, good luck to you all. It has been an honor serving with you all.” She said with a smile.

“Please, the honor’s been ours, but I’ll pass your words on. “The sound of the gunfire grew louder as a few squads retreated into the labs as the Feds pushed them back. “Fuck, they are getting closer. GO NOW!” Delco shouted as he grabbed his SMG and took cover.

With one last look Twilight gallop and leapt through the tear just as the first of the Feds reached the door. Delco raised his SMG as the rest of the rebels did the same. “Come of fuckers, bring it on!” he yelled at them and pulled the trigger as the rift collapsed behind the rebels.

Epilogue: Memoirs

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Well, that’s the truth in its entirety, every single action I took to get home. I know you are probably disappointed in me or upset that I lied to you all those years ago about what happened while I was away, but I think you can see why I did it.
Can you honestly say you wouldn’t have banished me to the moon or Tartarus itself had you known from the start? I think not. The fact of the matter is I am a monster and nothing on this planet can change that.
You may be asking, why come clean now? Was it out of some form of guilt for lying to you? Far from it, I do not regret any action I have taken in my life. The reason I am telling you exactly what has been in command of the Equestrian Defense Force for the last fifty years is because you deserve to know. Consider it me honoring you for all the years you have ruled this great nation of ours.
Equestria has prospered under your rule both before my time and after and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. The difference now if our nation has a proper army to help keep it safe. I know the chances of the Feds actually showing up are slim and I know that back when I convinced you to let me build an army.
The fact is we destroyed the device and I personally saw to the death of the scientist responsible for building it so it was unlikely they would ever build another, plus with what whole civil war that they had no real way of winning the chance of them ever showing up in any shape to fight a foal much less an army are practically non-existent.
No the main reason I wanted an army was for protection of this county, from me.
I don’t remember where I read it or if it was my own theory but when the mind begins to deteriorate it can try to latch onto something to keep itself stable. In my case that was the training I was in the middle of at the time. The only thing holding me together is the fact I am a soldier. And you read what I did as one. Now imagine if all that without the military keeping me in check?
I knew what would happen and I could not risk it. I know what would happen if I lost the last shred of myself, you read what that was like and I have no regrets or feelings on what happened in the Federal Press building but I could not allow THAT to be let loose in Equestria because I don’t think there would be much anyone could do to stop it.
And yes, the Major was fully aware of what I was; she figured it out early on in her career as I underestimated her empathic abilities. The only reason she didn’t bring it to your attention was she was smart enough to know what I would do to her and the rest of her race to keep it from you.
Was that wrong? ~~I don’t know~~. ~~Probably.~~ ~~Maybe.~~ No not really, she made the right call coming to me with it cause it allowed her to live and her goal is what’s best for her hive and me being forced to kill her and her hive is the opposite of that.
Also I know you probably don’t approve of the relationship I have with the Major but factor in she was the only person I could relax around and be my true self and not the mask I wore to keep you all safe. I know I am a hypocrite for having a rule against fraternization between soldiers but a mare has needs and with her shape shifting ability she was more than qualified to fill those needs. I can a sure you it was purely platonic and more of a friends with benefits sort of thing.
Beside without her around and knowing what I was I don’t know what would have happened when my parents died, then Shinning and my friends. Heh, guess even in this universe I am punished for being a monster by outliving everyone I care about except you and the Major.
You should really give her some sort of award by the way for having to deal with my grief stricken ass, she was fully aware she was risking her life in doing so but without her I don’t know what would have happened. Also she did help me deal with some of my issues, hell I don’t swap voiced nearly as often as I used to and my desire to skin the Noble’s alive and put then head son pikes along the castle wall only pops up when they are being particular annoying. Other than that most of my murderous intentions are dealt with by talking to the Major or a short trip into the ever free to find something to play with.
Anyways the point is I know death is coming for me, he’s been trying to get me for years now but I’ve out witted him and beaten him at every turn but there is no out running time. It is the only thing we all must face both soldier and civilian alike. Time does not care about us; it continues to march well after we are gone and will claim all in its path, the one enemy I cannot defeat.
Anyways in preparation for when death chooses to claim me I wrote this book for you, upon my death the Major will deliver to you personally and then assume her role as Commander of the EDF as she is the best person for the job do to having been with me through everything so knows how to run the thing properly.
Whether you choose to publish this book in its entirety and let history know exactly what’s been running the EDF, or publish a censored version or hell even toss it in the deepest and darkest hole you can find so it never sees the light of day and no one learns the truth is purely your choice as I am giving my story to you, to do with as you see fit and I know whatever you decide will be the right choice regardless of your reasons.
And don’t worry about upsetting me, I’ll be dead so what the fuck do I care?
Anyways the Major is here, seems it’s time to go to Rainbow’s funeral. Suppose I’ll see you there, I’ll be sure to say “Hi” and I promise to try not to kill anyone there, suppose you’ll know if I succeeded in keeping that promise better than I do now.
So….this is goodbye and I do hope you understand my reasoning Princess Celestia.

Author's Notes:

and here it is, the epilogue, the end of the story. the final words of this story.

I'm not sure why I decided to have the epilogue be from the Commander's POV of her writing the last page of a book but it felt appropriate to me and so here it is. Plus it let me cover a bit of what happens to the Commander.

hmm...suppose I should give the hint now, I should point out the sequel will be happening before the Epilogue as a lot can happen in 50 years.

also I am opening of the Equestria of the Commander's making to be used in other stories as I want to see what people do with it, if any one actually shows interest i'll post a blog that explains the changes to the world ad about the units so people know what to work with.

oh yeah I was supposed to do a hint wasn't I?

Hint: How would the Commander react to seeing what he life was supposed to be? and how would that life react to her?

odd, the story still says it's incomplete? you'd think after the Epilogue it would be over but I guess there is one more thing....

Ascension

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A knock came to the door of Commander Twilight Sparkle’s office in the basement of the Golden Oaks Library where it had been since she first built it when the EDF was first formed. “Come.” The grey haired unicorn called as she wrote.

The door opened to admit a three foot tall purple dragon. “Twilight, Chrysalis is here.” Spike told her from the door.

The mare looked up at her assistant. “Thank you spike, tell her I’ll be up shortly.” She said before she went back to writing. A few minutes later she finished and closed the book before placing it on a shelf behind her desk. She got to her feet and rolled her shoulder, the cybernetics looked in good condition, if worn do to the fact the unicorn had been keeping them running by herself as Equestria still wasn’t up to them in technology yet. The mare popped her neck before she grabbed her cap and placed it on her head and withdrew her sunglasses from her storage locker, they were the only think stored in there these days as she had turned over all her guns and ammo to be placed in an armory she had built into the basement of the library so that when she was gone they could still be used or analyzed or placed in a museum or whatever it was people did with them after she was gone.

Placing the sunglasses over her eye the mare made her way to the door and made her way to the main room of the building. There she found the Changeling Queen calmly looking over the shelves of books as she waited. The queen looked exactly as she had years ago when she joined the army.

Twilight could not help walking quietly up behind her and out of the blue throwing her arm around the officer’s neck. “Queeny! So good to see you!” the unicorn said with glee, startling the poor Changeling nearly out of her chitin.

“Gah! Twilight must you do that?” The Queen scolded.

Twilight smiled wide. “Absolutely.”

The Major sighed. “Why do I ask such questions when I know the answer.” She said rubbing her head with a hoof.

“Because you like hearing your own voice?” The aged mare offered, even in her age she still couldn’t slow down and act her age, she simply couldn’t allow it.

The Major looked at the Commander wearing her dress uniform. “Are you ready Twilight? If you want to wait a bit we can.” She offered.

The mare shrugged. “I’m as ready as I can ever been Queeny, this is the ninth one I’ve been to, I don’t think I can be any more prepared then I already am.” She said and laughed, though there was no humor or happiness in it, it was a laugh of a mare trying to keep herself together as best as she could.

The major didn’t need to feel the mares feeling to tell what she was feeling and she placed a holed hoof on her shoulder. “You can do this Twilight.” She reassured and the mare nodded before turning and heading for the door, griping her hands behind her back as she always did when walking as a biped. The Changeling followed behind and when they stepped outside there was a black painted EDF gunship waiting in the space between the library and Ponyville Market place, a group of ponies had gather to see the flying death machine.

The Equestrian Gunship was very different then the Federal Army gunships in that rather than a single rotor on top and one on the tail the EDF Gunship had two wings that extended out the sides that had a rotor on each and the tail was just two small fin like wings. On the wings rested racks for varicose types of missiles to be placed from air to air or air to ground, though the Commander’s did not have any on it. Bellow the nose sat a standard 30mm cannon.

The pilots sat in two bubble cockpits like the Feds but behind them was a large door that opened into a space big enough to carry two wings of Sharpshooters and on the doors rested the insignia of Equestria though this one was without that as it was the Commander’s personal gunship, which was why it was black and not dark green and only had the 30mm cannon.

The Mare and the Changeling boarded the gunship and as soon as the door was closed the pilots, an earth pony and a unicorn started to engines and the blades slowly began to spin as the crowd moved back do to the dust. After a short wait the aircraft lifted off and began to fly towards the distance city of Canterlot. Another feature of an EDF Gunship that set it apart from a Fed Gunship was and EDF gunship could carry an EDF MBT and fly at almost normal speed, though its maneuverability would be sorely diminished.

As they flew nether of the passengers said a word and the Major knew in these times it was best to only speak when spoken to unless the Commander was on the brink of losing it so the changeling queen busied herself with the Hivemind. Her have was far larger then she could have ever imagined it would ever have been years ago.

After the battle with Tirek and ponies witnessing changeling giving their lives to save them public opinion had shifted drastically about the pony like creatures. There were still those who despised and mistrusted them but they were soon the silent minority as more and more ponies rose to the Changeling defense, especially with foal who hadn’t been alive during the changeling invasion, they only ever saw changeling saving ponies so many of them only saw the chitin creatures as heroes and would back talk anyone who said otherwise, even their own parents at times.

Because of that it had allowed the hive to grow as food became more plentiful, most ponies now freely gave them the food they needed to the point the hive had more food to feed a hive three times its current size. The Commander’s prediction about love and tolerance had proven correct as most of her prediction were.

While the Queen was busy managing her hive the Commander thoughts were far different. Namely they were on the past and the people she cared about. Her parents had passed away peacefully in their sleep in their home in Canterlot, that had been hard on the mare but the Queen had helped her through it.

What had bene harder was her Brother who had died far less peacefully in a terrorist attack on the Crystal Empire meant to killed Cadence by throwing himself in the line of fire, the plan had been executed by a group of Griffin separatists who did not like the fact the Griffin Empire was no longer the dominant military super power on the planet. The King was reasonable and did not see an issue because even if they were not the top military he still knew his nation was mighty for its size and could go toe to toe with Equestria for some time if they so choose. But there was no reason as relations between the two countries were good.

Not everyone had seen it that way and many called for the Griffin’s to retake their title by force and when the King refused they took matters into their own hands and attacked with under handed tactics.

Twilight had personally hunted that group down and made them scream till their throats were bloody. The official report listed them killed when the EDF tried to take them into custody but there were rumors among the soldiers of what happened, though none blamed the mare for taking action.

Fluttershy had had passed away peacefully in her cottage outside of Ponyville while Rarity had passed on in the hospital, even while there she never stopped designing fashion that was still worn to this day. Pinkie Pie had passed on while baking; people had bene alerted when the cake in the oven had caught fire. The fire did little damage to the little bakery but Twilight had paid for everything to be replaced that was damaged.

Applejack had been next; she passed in her bed out in Sweet Apple Acers surrounded by her family, exactly as she had wanted to go. That left Twilight and Rainbow Dash, both of them being the fittest out of their friends. Twilight could still remember the last time she saw the cyan Pegasus.

Rainbow had been called to be special guest at a Wonderbolt event as a special flyer she had been retired for years but still kept up with her stunt practice as best as she could, she wasn’t very fast these days and couldn’t do complicated stunts but she could still fly so she was happy.

Twilight had managed to catch part of the event as she was in Canterlot on business but she had only been able to stay for an hour and they had agreed to meet up for dinner that night.

Two hours later Twilight got the call that Rainbow had been found in her hotel room, she had laid down to take one of her famous naps and never woke up. That was three days ago and now the unicorn mare was on her way to the funeral with her only living friend left. Idly she mused to herself she still had any sanity left, though she did have the friend beside her to thank for that.

After about an hour the Gunship began to make it’s decent to land in the Canterlot Garrison, what had once been a single warehouse converted to a base was now a collection for ten buildings, all of which had been built after Tireks attack as the old building had been leveled and do to the fact after the attack the EDF was flooded with ponies wanting to join up the army had grow to three times its original size, they now had bases everywhere Twilight had wanted to place them and a couple smaller ones she let Chrysalis name as Twilight was out of names.

Once the gunship touched down and the engines shut off the two passengers disembarked. The sky was an appropriate overcast as it had always been for these events.

The two made their way down the street, past ponies and changelings going about their days till they reached the cathedral that was hosting the funeral. Walking in Twilight saw the crowd was mostly made up of fans of the rainbow maned Pegasus from her Wonderbolt years, some of them were even EDF so that made Twilight and Chrysalis not the only ones in dress uniform. At the front of the crowd sat the current Wonderbolts, a; of them wearing proper funeral attire for one of their own, though retire, had fallen. Once you were a Wonderbolt you were always a Wonderbolt, something that had come about after Rainbow had replaced Spitfire as captain.

The Commander and the Major Made their way to the front of the crowd and took the seats reserved for them, Twilight had one as the Element of Magic and a close friend of Rainbow and Chrysalis on request from Twilight.

After a few minutes the doors tot eh cathedral were closed and the crowd quieted down as they found their seats.

Once they were seated Celestia took the small stage, Luna following close behind. The Sun Princess approached the podium and cleared her throat. “Welcome my little ponies to this unfortunate event.” She began. “Today is a sad day for we lost someone who was an inspiration to many of us. Rainbow Dash had always worked hard to achieve her goals but was the first to drop everything to aide a friend in need, even at the coast of something important to her because nothing was more important to her then her friends….”

Twilight tuned the Princess out as she just stared at the coffin adorn with the cloud and lighting bolt. She knew she wouldn’t be called onto speak as she had asked the princess not to as she wanted to grieve in peace, that was only part of the truth and a small part. The real reason was Twilight did not want to end up switching voices in the middle of her talking as she did when she grieved do to her mental state being very unstable. IT was one of the reason she had Chrysalis with her, the Changeling Queen could deal with those that came near to try and talk to the mare and to also help Twilight stay in control with a jab to the ribs if she started to lose it.

Twilight sat in silence just staring at the coffin of her last friend from before her time away. And now there was nothing left of what she had before. There was just what came after.

The serviced lasted for a couple of hours, both Celestia and Luna gave a speech as did the current captain of the Wonderbolts and then it was the after event.

This was Twilight and Chrysalis’ que to leave as they had a job to do.

Outside the service stood a combat ready Rifle Team and two Sharpshooter wings, at the base of the steps sat a small cart with a steel box strapped to the middle of it. Twilight stood beside the cart and pulled her SMG from her storage locker and held it close. The gun showed it age but was still fully functional as were all of Twilight’s guns.

After a short wait in which Twilight gave Chrysalis her preferred weapon, an LMG of all things, Celestia exited the service with Luna carrying in her magic a small gold necklace with a lightning bolt shape jewel. The EDF escort team saluted as Celestia placed the Element of Loyalty into the armored case and sealed it. This had become a sort of tradition at Twilight’s insistent.

The EDF would escort each Element to their final resting place in the Canterlot Castle vault. There were along the route the Royal Guard lined the street keeping the path clear in a joint effort to keep the artifacts safe, it was mostly for show as no one would really be dumb enough to attack an item both Princesses were with. But it let Twilight feel better knowing something that had been a part of her friends was safe.

One the box was sealed the Rifle Team split and four stood on each side of the cart as the two Wings took flight and flew close escort. The two Princesses lead the way as a Royal guard pulled the cart with Twilight and Chrysalis brought up the rear.

A crowd formed behind the Royal Guard and watched the procession as it’s made its way towards the castle. “You ok Twilight?” Chrysalis asked quietly so only the mare could hear.

Twilight nodded as she looked ahead. “As I can be, I may need to take a walk in the Everfree later and we will talk after that but I’m ok, still in one peace.” The mare said.

The Changeling Queen nodded. “Ok, if you need something just tell me ok?”

“I will.” Twilight replied.

After a while the escort passed the Memorial of the Fallen and soon was walking through the castle gate. The cart pulled up to the doors and Celestia lifted the armored case as the escort team formed up around her and they began to walk into the castle.

It did not take long for them to reach the Elements Vault and the Princess used her horn to unlock it as she set the case aside. Once the vault was open she opened the case. “Twilight, would you like to be the one to place the Element of Loyalty with the others?” She asked looking at the aged mare.

Twilight blinked as she hadn’t been asked to do the others. “Uh…yes sure.” She said and slung her SMG before walking forward. The Princess held out the artifact and Twilight took it into her hands. She approached the vault and saw the other Elements resting within including the Element of Magic.

The mare Place the final artifact with the rest and looked them over as they sparkled in the light, her mind drifting back to the past bother before her trip and after. She thought of the friends she made in Ponyville and the friends she made on earth. She thought of how she meat them and how they became friends from her pony friends helping her stop Nightmare Moon to how Listen helped her get armor while Dupo gave her love of firearms, the General had saved her through Whiskey and they spent hours drinking and chatting after that. To Marcus who was the only person who treated her with any kindness while she was in hell. To Dr. Grey who gave her something to do and taught her how to be a doctor. To Delco had her back when it came to hunting and killing Frisk to Cook who always had the perfect meal ready for her. And Mendez who always pushed her to better herself no matter what. And Nightmare Squad who had her back in the field. She thought of the soldiers who were there to fight to get her home, ready to give up their lives to get her home.

All this passed through her head as she stared at the glittering Elements of Harmony. All of them had been there for her when she needed them; all of them had been true friends. Twilight didn’t know why but her eyes fell upon the Tiara that was her Element.

Slowly she reached out and picked it up as she removed her Beret. She knew it was silly but she wanted to wear it one more time and pretend for a moment all her friends were there with her.

The Mare placed the Element upon her head and there was spark. She blinked and suddenly the other Elements came to life. Twilight took a step back and put up an arm to block the light. “What the hell is going on?” She shouted a moment before a beam of light shot out from each Element and struck her chest. The last thing she heard was yells of surprise from the escort team and the sound of hooves rushing towards her before everything went white.

<<<O>>>

The room before the Element Vault was a buzz with activity as the EDF went into full red alert and Chrysalis gave order to alert he Garrison and get them reinforcements as the escort team began to lock the room down do tot eh fact their Commander just got vaporized right in front of them by the Elements of Harmony. The Soldier were prepared to go to war with the ancient super weapon over this, which would be rather amusing to watch for Princess Celestia though she would need to step in after a certain point, she had seen the EDF pull of the impossible before and she wouldn’t put it past them to find a way to actually go to war with the artifacts.

None of the soldiers noticed that the Sun Princess was completely calm and she had a small smile on her muzzle. She had just about given up hope at Twilight succeeding after all these years but somehow the military mare had surprised her and now it was just a matter of waiting. She had planned to guide her student though this but the suddenness of this had been unexpected. She had asked the mare to place the last element out of courtesy and hadn’t expected the elements to react.

The Sun Princess had been unprepared so now her student was on her own though she had complete faith in her to make it through this, the mare had come through many close calls over the years as the leader of the EDF and Celestia was sure she could handle this.

It took only a few minutes for the door and the far end of room to burst open and squads of EDF troops of all types swarmed the room and began taking up defensive positions facing both the Elements and the door in case either the Elements attacked or an outside force did.

Celestia had to suppress a laugh at how absurd they all looked ready to defend against the artifacts that had protected them for so long, she knew it was just them following their training and doing their duty so she did not want to hurt their pride and she also couldn’t blame their reaction. Their leader did just vanish into thin air after being hit by a beam of light from the Elements.

After a while of nothing happening, the soldier not moving an inch as they waited to what they thought was an impending attack, a ball of light descended from the ceiling and stopped above where Twilight had vanished and it took all of Celestia self-control not to clap her hooves and smile as she saw it.

The soldier reacted by aiming their weapons at the light which was to be expected. There was a flash of light that blinded all present and when they blinked the spots away they saw Twilight Sparkle standing where she had been before eyes closed and the Tiara had changed from a tiara to be shaped like the military cap the mare always wore when not in armor.

That wasn’t all that had changed, her uniform looked brand new and freshly ironed and her cybernetic legs now matched her color correctly instead of being slight off in color and they looked more natural, though still robotic. Her body looked like it had years ago and the color was back in her mane and tail as it used to be.

But the biggest change and the one that caused all the soldiers in the room to stare jaws on the floor was the pair of wings the once unicorn mare now sported on her back.

The light faded and the mare opened her eyes, they were still clearly cybernetic but looked are more advanced and natural then they had to and the scars around them were less defined but still there as were the rest of her scars.

The mare blinked and looked around the room before looking down at her legs. She lifted a hoof and taped her legs making a slight clanking sound. “I…I can feel them.” The mare said in disbelief. She ran her hoof along her leg. “I can feel.” She said again and her wings shifted with her growing emotions and she froze.

The mare looked back and blinked as she saw the wings. Slowly the wings extended to their full width and they gave a couple of flaps as the mare looked to the other side. Then she froze as her eyes fell upon her right flank under the pistol holstered there where it once had been nothing but scar tissue was now fur and something she had not seen in a very long time, the purple six pointed star of her Cutie Mark.

Carefully as if she was afraid it would vanish the young Alicorn reached out and ran a hoof along the star. The mare stood up on her hind legs and Celestia smiled as she smiled like a child on Hearths Warming Eve who had just gotten what she always wanted. The purple Alicorn extended her fingers and Celestia noted that the ends of them were points like claws instead of blunt like they used to be and the mare smiled wider.

Then her blades shot out they had gained three inches and looked far sharper and were covered in some sort of design that glowed and pulsed with magic.

Celestia frowned as her Student’s smile only grew wider till her face was nearly split by it. “Oh, this will do nicely~~~” She said sounding a bit like a foal. “Yes this will do perfectly~~~~” She said and started to laugh as the blades retracted. She continued to laugh more and more it going from a normal laugh to one that was unnerving as she faced the ceiling. “So much power!~~~ I can feel it~~~~” She said and Celestia checked and found her student was only slightly less powerful then Luna was and there was still that thread of darkness with in it.

Celestia frowned in concern as her student laugh continued to degrade as she laughed hysterically at the ceiling. The Sun princess was about to say something when she saw Chrysalis sigh and roll her eyes before she walked up to the laughing mare and before anyone could think slapped her across the face hard enough for the stroke to echo.

The room was dead silent as the new Alicorn faced the wall, the slap having turned her head. She worked her jaw and then griped it and moved it back and forth before facing the Changeling Queen eyes wide. “Uh…thanks Major….I needed that….sort of lost my head there…..”She laughed sheepishly.

The EDF Officer just sighed. “Anytime ma’am.” She said and smiled at the Commander.

The Alicorn took several deep breaths and then looked at the crowd of on lookers. “Hehehe…sorry about that folks.” She said. “You can relax now, everything is fine.” She said and the soldiers all looked at each other before saluting while the Royal Guard in the room bowed to the new Alicorn. “Uh…” She looked at the Royal Guard nervously before looking back at her wings. “Riiiiight….Alicorn equals Princess which mean Royalty.” The mare said looking back at the crowd.

The Sun Princess blinked several times as her student was now acting like herself though she wondered about that laughing it wasn’t to out of the ordinary for the mare. She took a few Steps forward and smiles at the new Alicorn. “Yes, you are now an Alicorn, I must admit I almost given up hope of you reaching this point.” She said and smiled. “But you were able to achieve what I thought you could and I am proud of you my most faithful student.”

The mare blinked and then snapped into a salute. “Ma’am thank you ma’am I am glad I did not disappoint.” She said falling back into her military persona.

“At Ease Twilight. “The older Alicorn said with a soft chuckle. “You can consider yourself off duty for the time being.”

Twilight nodded and dropped the salute. She then blinked and unslung her SMG and Celestia looked as well. The gun looked brand new and was covered in small glowing runes that spiraled along every part of the barrel but the magazine. Blinking again the mare drew her side arm and found the same had been down to it as well. “Well….that’s a thing.” She said looking between the guns then blinked.

“Where the hell are my sunglasses?” She said retuning her guns to where they had been and checking her pockets. She found the sunglasses in the left breast pocket and she looked them over as they were pristine and she smirked before putting them on and looking at the gathering of ponies and changeling. “Well then, things just got a whole lot more fucking interesting, now didn’t it?”