> My Little Space Empire: Mechs are Magic
>  by Wheezyandbreezy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A view of the stars
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Viceroy Twilight Sparkle stood on the prow of the Damocles, the flagship of the imperial fleet, her long ethereal hair flowing behind her like the last glimmers of dusk. She stared hatefully out into the void knowing that somewhere within she was lurking.

Admiral Rarity walked slowly in her hard suit that she'd always felt was terribly unstylish, but never had the means to design a new one, trapped as she was on the Damocles. She felt the clank of her maglock boots locking to the prow with each step echo inside her helmet as she slowly made her way towards her sovereign. She did her utmost to ignore the small drops of saline that drifted slowly past her as she walked. "Viceroy!" she bothered to say out loud. She knew that Twilight couldn't help but hear her thoughts, but she felt it was more polite to speak out loud. It didn't matter to her that Twilight wouldn't have been able to hear her through the vacuum of space anyway, it was the principle of the thing. "We've gotten our heading and we're ready to jump into hyperspace." She stuck out her hip and assumed a sarcastic tone of voice. "And as Picturesque as you look against the void, I'd hate to see you strewn atom by atom across the cosmos."

"Five years Rarity. It's been Five YEARS." Twilight said through clenched teeth. Rarity cringed under the psychic pressure that Twilight was unintentionally emitting. The prow of the Damocles slowly crunched under her. Twilight calmed herself and the pressure eased. The dented metal resumed it shaped. "Did you know that?" The Viceroy asked without looking at her. Rarity did of course, try as she might not to think about it she knew it had been five years since that terrible day. The day they lost Fluttershy, then in short order Rainbow Dash. The day she'd become trapped in her ship's computer. The day that Pinkie Pie had betrayed her best friends, her crew, Celestia, the Solar Empire, and the woman she loved.

Her message delivered, Rarity returned to the bridge of the Damocles, happy to be back in her spiffy uniform. "Helm! Take us to hyperspace," she called to the ensign.

The young ensign turned sharply in surprise. "B-but Ma'am! The Viceroy is still.-"

"Do as your Admiral says or I'll have you shot out of the airlock." The Viceroy said as she loomed menacingly over the terrified helmsman.

His face was sickly pale as he slowly turned back to his monitor. "Y-yes Viceroy." he breathed, as the Damocles' FTL engines engaged. 

Twilight flopped languidly into a chair, and her mind drifted away to a happier time, to what felt like a lifetime ago.
> Twilight's Five
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Twilight Sparkle, personal protege of the Solar Viceroy and her most able student, fumed at the assignment her revered sovereign and mentor had tasked her with. She had to organize a strike team. "Like a Common MUDBOOT!" she growled under her breath. She could hear the thoughts of every mind in an entire fleet. She could give dozens of commands simultaneously. She could telekinetically position a thousand ships at will. Yet here she was going over the service records of cockpit jockeys, star brawlers, and academy brats.

She dropped the myriad of holographic pages she'd been pouring over and leaned forward heavily, her long purple hair spilling through her fingers almost to the floor. She'd never even been interested in military matters. She'd always been happier learning the arcane secrets of the universe at her mentor's side. Combat was a plebs duty, "Not a Job for LITERALLY THE THIRD STRONGEST PSYCHIC IN THE GALAXY!!!" Twilight whined as she telekinetically threw her desk against the wall in a huff.

A greenish light from the ceiling projected a hologram of a child friendly rendering of a green and purple dragon. It was her "Small Person's Instructor and Kinesthetic Exerciser." Twilight often got strange looks at still having her babysitter program well after childhood, but Celestia felt it was good to have an early warning system always with Twilight, not to mention someone for her to talk to. So they constantly tweaked his programming to keep up with Twilight's changing needs, though he was a few years overdue in Twilight's opinion. He looked on the mess and sighed in simulated exasperation. "You know Celestia knows best Twilight." He said in a friendly synthetic voice. He pointed at the various messes and overturned desk and gentle forcefields coaxed each and every item back into its proper place. 

Twilight often wished her companion program had a physical form that she could smack when he was annoying. "S.P.I.K.E. I'm a scholar, Not a soldier! Celestia should be grooming me for leadership, not for fighting separatists and pirates." She summoned another profile and absorbed its entirety at a glance.

"Well. . ." S.P.I.K.E.'s programming wasn't designed for such problems as he was built for ages five to twelve. He glitched ever so slightly and beamed. "If you're going to be in charge of soldiers someday, maybe Celestia thinks that you should know how soldiers work! After all she fought in the unification wars didn't she?" Twilight dropped the file she was levitating and stared straight ahead in shock. She gave a sidelong glance at her holographic companion and wondered if Celestia had been tampering with his programming. What he'd said made sense, but she wasn't gonna let him know that.

She begrudgingly went back to reading various personnel files and occasionally sent a few to a file titled "possible candidates." It occurred to her that she should research proper strike team tactics and composition. She'd not been assigned a specific role by Celestia, so she decided she needed to cover her bases tactically. Her research led her to believe she'd need a heavy gunner, a long range specialist, and a flanker. She herself, of course, would handle defense, tactics, and logistics, but the last quality she was told to add confounded her. 

S.P.I.K.E. loomed over her shoulder as was his function and saw the words blinking on the display. "Wild card? What in Celestia's name does that mean." He asked. 

She poured over countless strike teams ranging a host of different specialities and sure enough in every one there was at least one fighter who had one specific skill or specialty that set them apart from their comrades. "Well I think I'm just a bit different from your garden variety soldier. Don't you spike?"

"I dunno Twilight, I think you might wanna let someone else handle that role. You'll be busy leading the team and everything." He said bringing up a model mech suit and making battle sounds at a model battleship.

Twilight rolled her eyes and went back to her screens. She sighed hard and thought about her mentor, the solar Viceroy, Celestia. Literally the most powerful being in the galaxy. She had plucked her from obscurity and set her at her right hand. Celestia, who had never once steered her wrong, had assigned her this task. So she was going to give it the diligence it was due. If anyone had earned it it was Celestia.

She once again shifted through the scores of service records and data profiles. She decided to select candidates for each speciality specifically. She made four files and labeled them accordingly. She arbitrarily decided to start with heavy weapons specialists. A host of personnel files flew about the room and passed in file before her eyes. Each hologram's information was absorbed instantly by the psychic's powerful mind. 

After several hundred pages of being less than impressed she rested her head on her hand. "Fifty thousand soldiers in the mechanized unit of the Imperial Navy, AND I CAN'T FIND ONE WHO~" Twilight lurched forward suddenly and stared at the file floating in front of her. S.P.I.K.E. manifested over her shoulder and looked at the file. Both simultaneously breathed the word "Bruh." An ancient expression expressing disbelief or disdain.

"How is that not a war crime?" S.P.I.K.E. asked breathlessly. 

Twilight leaned forward and studied the file with extra scrutiny. "Well she stopped when ordered to so. . . " An eyebrow shot up high on her head. "Wait a damned second." She swung her hand out to summon another file. 

For the record, Twilight never needed to do any sort of physical motion when she went through files, or performed psychic feats, but the gesticulations helped her focus and made it easier to do. 

She looked at the file and once again saw the name referenced, then turned to the other lengthy, rather unusual service record. "How in Celestia's flaming ball sack is she not in prison?" She asked incredulously. She looked at the beginning of the pilot's service record but it seemed to start with her as a pilot. No training regimens or recruitment world listed. She frowned, and went back to the heavy weapons expert file. She looked at the recruitment world of the other pilot and slammed her head against her desk. "FUCKING AG WORLDERS!!!" she shouted in annoyance. 

The agricultural worlds had a reputation for being notoriously lax with their paperwork. They would call it being pragmatic. This pilot apparently had her paperwork squeezed in through the cracks somewhere. Twilight found that she'd been a pirate and "THOSE FUCKING HICKS just put her in an IMPERIAL MECH and set her to work". Twilight groaned and looked back to the file, seeing that despite her BLATANTLY ILLEGAL entry into the imperial Navy, this pilot had earned her keep. 

After a moment the other pilot's record became a little too familiar. She had to keep flicking her mind back to the other record.  She put them side by side and saw that after a certain point the two records seemed to list the same history but with each name respectively. Twilight dismissed the two files and sighed hard. "I suppose I can't have one without the other." A thought occurred to her and she looked at the specifications of the other pilot. She gained a smug grin at what she saw and said, "And just like that I've got my flanker as well. HA!"

With renewed energy and mood improved she began flying through the files for a long range specialist. Fortunately or unfortunately the tactics of combat mechs led to a very few people who liked to stay at furthest possible operating range. Pilot's tended to feel that it was pointless to pilot a ship with your own limbs and then not punch the shit out of things. If a mech was fighting a ship every battle would devolve into boarding actions, and mech versus mech became a fatal game of tag. So giving your enemy all the room in the world to dodge your attacks was tactically unsound. Yet in very specific circumstances a shot would need to be taken from a place of safety, and that is when the sniper shines. Most were instantly found unsound as they were ground fighters, and she needed knowledge of void combat. Some were close but none seemed to click. 

Suddenly Twilight's right ear almost went deaf as S.P.I.K.E. shouted as loud as his speaker function would go, "THAT ONE! THAT ONE!!!" Twilight flinched and rubbed her ear petulantly, then roughly performed the gesticulation that put S.P.I.K.E. into sleep mode. 

She took the file back out of the discard pile and woke S.P.I.K.E. back up. She sneered, "S.P.I.K.E." She pulled up the other two files and held them next to the proposed long range specialist. "Look at the different kill counts. She hardly compares." Twilight's eyebrow raised high on her head to see that S.P.I.K.E.'s eyes had become small pink hearts. 

"But look at her mission success rate Twilight!" Twilight considered this, and bobbed her head in token that her companion had a point. "Besides Twilight, you don't need butchers, you need winners. Right?" Twilight's face went blank for a moment and she turned back to the file. She read very carefully, though still quicker than a normal human mind could process, all the engagements that the named specialist had fought in. Her face grew more and more hard as she read. She pulled up the few scraps of video in her file and saw that her relatively small kill count was not from cowardice, or lack of skill, rather Twilight became surprised at how few rounds this pilot needed to fire in order to complete a mission. Every battle she treated like a chess match, never wasting a single stroke and finishing an opponent quickly and with as little loss as possible. Twilight had quickly gone from uninterested to very impressed. Something lingered in her mind though and she couldn't put her finger on it.

"I dunno S.P.I.K.E." she said doubtfully. She pulled up the file again and suddenly it hit her. "Oh Viceroy!" Her hand flew out and she used the computer's face recognition software to confirm her fears. She brought up a military intelligence file about a catastrophe at a research and development facility. She brought forward several pictures, then put a hand to her mouth. S.P.I.K.E. leaned forward waiting for an explanation for the outburst. Twilight sighed hard and glanced sidelong at her holographic companion. "She's the other diamond sister." S.P.I.K.E.'s face went blank and Twilight rolled her eyes. She dragged and dropped the holographic file onto S.P.I.K.E.'s head. His face went blank for a few seconds while his operating system caught up with the new information. Once he'd absorbed the history his expression drooped low. 

Twilight began to return the file to the discard pile but S.P.I.K.E. appeared in front of the pile. "WAIT!" He shouted. "I still think she's right for the job!"

Twilight sighed hard and looked gently at her holographic friend. "S.P.I.K.E. look, I'm just not sure about her. I mean you read the file. I'm just not certain about having someone with that kind of history behind her."

"But the other two had histories!" S.P.I.K.E. scolded. "Heck that one." He pulled up one of the files. "Was even a pirate!"

Twilight grimaced in token of his point being fair. She pulled up the file and selected her battle records. "Well apparently she's been hunting them with a vengeance ever since, so I'm not worried about her so much. But these are the Diamonds were talking about. Their synchronization units are in every current generation battle suit in the navy as we speak. If we chose her it might cause drama for Celestia!"

S.P.I.K.E., showing amazing likeness to human emotions, rubbed his foot against the floor in unhappiness. "Well yeah but. . . But."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Is he hiding something?" She thought to herself. "Can A.I.'s hide things?" She made a mental note to get that upgrade completed sooner rather than later. "Well?!" She finally blurted out, unable to stand the tension.

S.P.I.K.E. snatched the file and stretched the personnel file picture up to life size. "JUST LOOK AT HER TWILIGHT!" The startled psychic lurched backwards in surprise. "She's SOOOOO PRETTY!!!" S.P.I.K.E. immediately copied the picture and pantomimed putting it into a non-existent pocket to save it to his memory banks.

Twilight stared at the hologram who was still ogling the pilot. "Okay we're getting that upgrade right now." She said levitating her coat onto herself. 

She made for the door but S.P.I.K.E. called out, "Wait! You still haven't officially selected her." He paused for an overlong moment. "Oh! Or your." He over emphasized air quotes with his holographic claws. "Wild card."

Twilight groaned and put the long range specialist and a randomly selected file into the official dispatch to go to the munitorium. She turned smartly on her heel and summoned her holographic nuisance. "Wait!" He looked back uncertainly at Twilight's quarters. "Who'd you pick for your wild card?" 

Twilight didn't stop her stomping gate. "Well what better way to pick a different quality than by using a different selection method." She said testily as she plugged in the code for a teleporter to Celestia's A.I. labs.

S.P.I.K.E. was stunned. "B-B-BUT TWILIGHT! Isn't that a HUGE security risk?"

Twilight petulantly hit the sleep button on her wrist to silence the bothersome dragon. "The only security risk here is you!" She snapped as the teleporter opened.
> First Impressions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight, despite being the protege of a Viceroy of an Intragalactic empire, was still mildly nervous. S.P.I.K.E. had to tell Twilight more than once not to fidget with her spiffy new uniform. It had been a whirlwind of activity since she'd requested the operatives for her strike team. The shiny new dreadnought Damocles had been crewed and commissioned to the four hundred and twentieth Canterlot hussars, and tasked with hunting pirates. She'd been knighted and given a commission. The motor pool had been stocked with anything and everything that would be needful to construct Twilight's squad's mech units. S.P.I.K.E. was upgraded and uploaded onto the Damocles' central computer, much to the captain's and crew's confusion. Twilight was by no means in charge of the Damocles, but she was given special permission to come and go as she saw fit, and was second only to the Viceroy herself.

They sat in lazy orbit around Terra until such time as Celestia deemed appropriate. The new strike team had been ordered to appear on the top landing deck of the Damocles. Twilight selectively slackened the mental discipline that allowed her to not hear the thoughts of everyone around her. She, as through a haze, saw the vague forms of three pilots through the bulkhead. That seemed ominous, there were supposed to be four. She summoned S.P.I.K.E. and confirmed with the ship's manifest that the fourth pilot had arrived. 

Twilight took a deep breath and let it out. She opened the door with her mind and the bulkhead slipped quickly open with a hiss. When the door was opened she saw two of the women arm wrestling on a crate and a third woman standing on passively observing. One of the combatants was a rather tall woman with long blonde hair tied loosely at the end with a small red ribbon. Her aura oozed confidence tempered with typical ag world humility. Her face was red as she strove for dominance with the other woman. Twilight could feel a temper within her, but not necessarily a hasty or rash demeanor. Twilight decided she liked her.

Her thoughts turned to the woman keenly watching the contest. She had to agree with S.P.I.K.E. that she was pretty, though Twilight was a poor judge of beauty. She noticed the hue of her long curly hair and pondered for a moment about how natural selection had affected hair pigment. The woman's hair and eyebrows were both the same shade of deep shining violet, and her own hair was a dark navy blue with pinkish highlights. She made a mental note to discuss this with Celestia during her downtime. The pilot's uniform was proper and in order to the smallest detail. Twilight felt the archetypal perfectionist coming from the pilot and she felt a sort of kinship with her. Not to mention she was clearly a psychic. Twilight was satisfied with S.P.I.K.E.S. decision. She chuckled to herself about the A.I.'s reaction to the pilot.

Her attention then turned to the third woman and her eyebrow shot up on her forehead. If Twilight's and the other pilot's hair was less than typical, then this woman was positively unlikely. Her hair had seven distinct hues all coming from the same head. Twilight looked at her face and saw it was red with sweat and screwed up with determination. The attitude radiating from her was of arrogance and brash. Yet she felt a reserved respect for legitimate authority tempered with a healthy dose of skepticism. Twilight recalled her service record and remembered that she'd been locked up in the brig for defiance of orders several times, yet more often than not she was vindicated in her cause when under court marshall. Twilight nodded her head. She liked her.

As if to confirm her judgment of her character, the rainbow headed pilot happened to catch sight of her nominal superior out of the corner of her eye and sacrificed the arm wrestle to leap up and bark, "COMMANDER ON DECK!" Then the other two pilots scrambled into a single file and came to attention. Twilight nodded, everything was right and proper. Well the fourth pilot didn't seem to be here, but so far so good. She marched smartly, but not arrogantly, in front of the file. She stopped in front of the rainbow haired pilot. "Sound off." She said in a subdued voice.

"PETTY OFFICER THIRD CLASS RAINBOW DASH, FIFTY SECOND EQUESTRIAN MECHANIZED UNIT REPORTING AS ORDERED MA'AM!" she barked in her best parade ground voice. 

Twilight gently rubbed her ringing ear. "Ms. Rainbow Dash, I am three feet away, you don't need to shout."

Twilight felt the desire to chuckle radiate from the three pilots but all maintained their military bearing. Rainbow Dash began to reflexatorily bark. "YE~" But she caught herself and Twilight felt her embarrassment radiating off of her as she said in a firm yet volume appropriate voice. "Yes Ma'am!"

Twilight turned on her heel and went to the second pilot. She spoke telepathically with the other psychic, much to her surprise. "Sound off," she heard gently inside her mind. 

The pilot's eyes grew wide and it took every scrap of discipline not to break bearing. After an ungracefully long moment the pilot snapped off in her mind. "Umm, excuse me. First Leftenant Rarity, Seventy Fourth Equestrian Mechanized Unit Ma'am."

Twilight nodded and could hear the other two pilot's confusion at their nominal superior standing silently in front of the other woman. She turned smartly on her heel and stepped in front of the final pilot. "Sound off," she said almost uninterestedly.

The final pilot snapped off in her ag world drawl, thankfully in a tolerable volume. "Petty Officer Third Class Applejack Fifty Second Mechanized Unit Ma'am." 

Twilight's eyes rolled internally. "Well some of these ag worlders have their own battle languages, at least I can understand her."

Rarity couldn't help but think,"Well that's not terribly polite."

Twilight's head snapped towards the other psychic. "Neither is it polite to spy on other people's thoughts!"

Rarity winced visibly. "I'm not Ma'am. You're broadcasting." She visibly ground her teeth. "And it's giving me a headache."

Twilight heard Rainbow Dash's voice in her head, once again at a volume too high for comfort. "SHE'S RIGHT MA'AM WE CAN ALL HEAR YOU."

"Don't you worry none Ma'am. Ain't nothin to be sorry fer." Applejack's voice gently echoed in Twilight's mind.

Twilight's face flushed deeply and she snapped her head back to stare at the woman who towered over her. Applejack winked to express her lack of offense and Twilight sheepishly reasserted the mental disciplines that sealed out her psychic spill over, and Rarity visibly relaxed. "Ahem. Very good. Yes." She turned away and cursed vehemently in her head at her faux pas. She took a few steps away and addressed all three. "Now before we begin, does anyone know where the fourth pilot is?" She looked at a holographic display. "One. . . Pinkie."

"HI THERE!" Twilight heard an inch from her right ear. She flinched bodily and raised an arm and a leg in defense. She screamed like a woman in an old cartoon seeing a mouse. It was the very first time that anyone. ANYONE. Had ever snuck up on her. She levitated herself away and stared at the slightly bouncing mass of pink curls. Twilight's face was twisted in residual terror and confusion. She regained an ounce of composure and glanced at her new subordinates. All three, thankfully, had maintained their composure, yet in their minds a very different impression was made.

Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were laughing, and Rarity was cursing the childish antics of the pink pilot. "Terribly unprofessional!" Were the words she used.

Twilight turned back to the fresh hell she had made for herself and saw she was no longer there. She cast her head about and couldn't place the odd woman. "OH MY GOSH YOU CAN FLY?!!!" rang in her left ear. The pink haired pilot had scrambled up onto the rafters and was hanging by her boots from an I beam. Twilight screamed again and her focus on levitating herself failed. She began to drop like a stone. Luckily S.P.I.K.E. appeared from the ship's computer and used the cargo force fields to catch the plummeting psychic. She scrambled awkwardly to her feet and huffily straightened her uniform. 

Pinkie Pie simply dropped down from the rafters and transitioned seamlessly into a tumble right up to the Holographic dragon. "OHMYGOSHAREUOUAHELPFULLSHIPGHOST?-GASP-ISTHISSHIPHAUNTED?!"

All three pilots broke bearing simultaneously to shout, "PINKIE!" Instantly the strange woman backflipped twice and somersaulted in air, then landed on her feet at attention directly to the left of Applejack. Twilight was left flabbergasted and silent. She stood crouched in fear and confusion. Her eyes darted from pilot to pilot. All stood silently at attention like proper little soldiers. The other three pilots thought that Pinkie's jokes always have the bad habit of being funny but going too far. She looked at the woman standing ram rod straight, eyes fixed, like any other soldier, yet her mass of pink curls on top of her head made a mockery of the rest of the facade.

Twilight unclenched and slowly, carefully, made her way toward the newcomer. She walked as if the mass of pink curls would suddenly spring up behind her again. She stopped one step in front of Pinkie, as the other pilot's had called her, and focused all of her mental energy on the pilot's mind. Twilight was stunned. She heard nothing. She strained hard and could only pick up disjointed scraps hardly heard, and what's more they all sounded like different voices. Twilight noticed out of the corner of her mind that Rarity was once again grimacing under the strain of Twilight's psychic spill over. She refocused and stared at the strange woman, but something was wrong. Twilight couldn't  put her finger on it but something was ever so subtly wrong about the pilot's face. Finally she realized the issue. 

She was crossing her eyes. This absolutely peculiar woman had very slowly moved both of her eyes towards her nose. The rest of the face was still at attention, still as stone, with no trace of a smile, yet her eyes were crossed. Then suddenly the left eye moved all the way to the left. Then her right eye moved all the way to the right so that she appeared to have a lazy eye. Then both seemed to bounce off of the sides to the middle and back again. Twilight stood still at absolute focus but completely confused, mouth agape.

Pinkie's eyes snapped back to focus and she lurched forward and whispered "boo!" Twilight flinched back. The force of her psychic focus was transferred from telepathic to telekinetic energy and she was thrown bodily backwards. S.P.I.K.E. once again manifested to catch her, but she was moving too fast. The ship's forcefields didn't slow her down fast enough, and she hit the wall with considerable force. Rarity hit the floor, the end of Twilight's psychic pressure left her sick and shaking.

Rainbow Dash sprinted over to Twilight and helped her up, putting one of her arms over her neck and helping her up to her shaking feet. Applejack slowly walked over carrying a limp Rarity in her arms. She laughed knowingly. "Yeah Best not to try and read Pinkie. It'll just give ya a headache." S.P.I.K.E. called for medical aid and the four women exited the flight deck. 

"We've all served with her before. Don't worry ma'am, ya learn to love her." Rainbow Dash reassured her.

Pinkie was left all alone in the large room. 

Feeling guilty. 

Another one of her jokes had gone wrong.

After the fiasco at the orientation Rarity and Twilight were taken to the ship's med bay. Both were fine just with incapacitating headaches. Rarity decided to sleep it off and they left her alone. Twilight however was too furious to stay still, so she had S.P.I.K.E. and a corpsman help her to her quarters. Applejack chuckled to Rainbow Dash and smirked. "Helluva first day eh R.D.? Common." She grabbed Rainbow Dash's head under one arm. "I know you threw that last round. Let's find Pinkie to be our ref n we'll have a REAL match." Rainbow laughed and popped Applejack in the kidney until she let go.

The corpsman led a bleary eyed and nauseated Twilight to her quarters and asked if she needed anything but she dismissed him coldly. The second the sliding door closed she flew to the toilet and retched. She growled for S.P.I.K.E. to dim the lights and bring her the personnel files. She wanted to use as little of her aching mind as possible. "Who the." She retched again. "Fuck did I just recruit?!" From her perch in front of the toilet she glared at Pinkie's personnel file. Twilight's rage turned to disbelief then into exhausted dismay.

Twilight groaned wearily and shouted, "This is what happens when you don't do your DILIGENCE SPARKLE!" She regretted the volume and retched again. 

S.P.I.K.E. looked at the file and said, "I dunno Twilight. You wanted a wild card" He laughed as he said. "And it doesn't get much wilder than THAT!" His holographic body shimmered as Twilight threw a roll of toilet paper at him. He frowned and manifested very small, standing on the toilet seat. "Come on Twilight. Her service record is pretty good." He glanced at it again and became less sure. "I mean. She's served a lot of places but her success record is pretty good." Twilight testily put S.P.I.K.E. into sleep mode and opened the file again. She noticed that Pinkie had served in several different locations and her longest stretch of service was no more than six Terran months. 

Twilight's sickness had stabilized and she slowly moved from the bathroom to the bed. She looked at Pinkie's mission debriefs and was genuinely impressed at her performance. After a while something behind the holographic file crept into the front of her mind. She tried to ignore it but it forced its way into her mind. She closed the file, and on the small nightstand was a single vanilla cupcake with orange and yellow frosting piled high with a large plastic smiley face sticking out of it. Twilight stared at the out of place confectionary and couldn't process it mentally. She noticed a small hand written note written on a scrap of paper under it. She shakily levitated it to her and read the words, "Sorry I spookered you." Written on it. 

Twilight's confusion grew by an order of magnitude. She actually had to look up the word "spookered." "S.P.I.K.E.!" She called softly. The hologram manifested beside her. She levitated the cupcake over to him. "Where. The fuck. Did this come from?" She asked grumpily. S.P.I.K.E. held the treat in his gentle forcefields and shrugged his shoulders.
Twilight looked at the note again and saw at the bottom the name Pinkie Pie. She leaned forward and stared at the note. "Where the fuck did she get a cupcake on an Imperial Battleship?" Twilight growled. She set the treat down on the nightstand and decided this was too much for one day. She ordered S.P.I.K.E. to tell her squad they were off duty until 0900 the next morning.

Twilight was going to fix this.
> SHIELDS and BOOSTERS!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The soldiers of strike team Sparkle were in an enormous maze, compliments of the Damocles' training simulation generator. The walls and floor were a shade of dark purple and every wall was at an odd angle. Line of sight was no more than a few feet at a time in any direction. After the fiasco during orientation, Twilight decided it was critically important to get one on one experience with each pilot individually.

All the members of her squad were seasoned veterans of skirmishes, but Twilight's psychic ability made traditional battles entirely one sided. So instead she was drilled endlessly in tactics and training techniques until she could've written a thesis about warfare. Which she did. 

Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack watched from the view window from above as Rainbow Dash and Twilight covered each other and moved forward with extreme caution. When they'd reached what seemed like the center of the maze they sat back to back. "So what's the goal of this exercise ma'am?"

Twilight kept her eyes down the scope of her training rifle. "To seize precious cargo from the enemy and return safely to base.

Rainbow's focus momentarily dropped. "You mean capture the flag?"

"I've heard it called that before, yes. So we need to." Twilight started but Rainbow instantly darted away. Twilight called after her, but she was gone in a flash. Twilight very carefully found a securable corner and put up a shield so that she could reach out telepathically. "Rainbow! GET your ASS Back here and.~"

"SIMULATION FAILED." A synthetic voice called out from the ceiling. The maze dropped and saw a very disgruntled Rainbow Dash kicking the last few specks of the fading training dummy, and cursing sulphurously. Rainbow looked and saw Twilight's shield just before it dropped and the psychic flew over to the flanker. 

"What the hell was that?!" Twilight barked. "Why did you abandon me?"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "They were puppy guarding." She turned away.

"That doesn't matter in this scenario the key tactic is to slowly and very carefully move forward by squad and watch for enemy combatants. AND YOU!~"

"I HAD IT! THEY WERE CAMPED ON OUR BASE! I ALMOST HAD IT!" Rainbow Dash shouted over Twilight's rebuke.

"It doesn't matter where they are if you're properly covered and FIRE FROM SAFETY. AND YOUR INSUBORDINATION." Twilight cut herself off. She'd gone over every file carefully to try and get as thorough a psychological profile as possible.

The voice of Rarity chimed in through the ceiling. "Umm Ma'am? Rainbow Dash was literally right on the finish line when she got tagged." A video screen projected in front of her and Twilight was amazed to see just how fast Rainbow could run. She had just blown straight past three of the training dummies and grabbed the briefcase. She'd been mere inches from the goal, and had already been missed by four shots when she finally got hit.

"Yeah I've got a bit of experience when it comes to smash and grab." Rainbow Dash bragged, flicking her rainbow hair off of her neck and sending a few drops of sweat onto Twilight.

Twilight was thoroughly unamused. "She sent images of pirates being executed directly into Rainbow Dash's mind. Rainbow heard a deep rumbling voice scold, "THAT IS NOTHING TO BRAG ABOUT."

Rainbow cringed in fear and sheepishly laughed. "Heh heh. Yeah. Right. Umm" She hung her head in apology. "Please don't tell anyone."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Well since you're the expert." She sneered the word. "What do you recommend.'

Rainbow Dash's mood instantly brightened, and she gave her best Pinkie Pie impression. She got uncomfortably close to Twilight's face and asked in amazement. "What was that shield thing you were doing?!"

Twilight teleported to behind the over enthusiastic pilot and a translucent violet bubble appeared around her. She slowly raised her training rifle at Rainbow Dash's midsection. Rainbow flinched as she pulled the trigger, but nothing hit her. For the record, training las gun power packs don't kill. It would take about a thousand of them two days to cook a turkey. But they sting like a son of a bitch. Rainbow looked and saw that on the inside of the bubble was a red hot glowing dot slowly cooling.

Rainbow beamed at the display. "HOLY FUCK you are the coolest fucking psychic ever!"

Twilight was slightly embarrassed by the enthusiasm. She cleared her throat and tried to get back to the subject. She dropped the shield and asked. "Well what does that have to do with.~" 

Twilight gave a small yelp as Rainbow Dash grabbed her hips and turned her towards the other end of the room. Rainbow Dash shouted, "RUN IT AGAIN!" The maze once again randomly asserted itself and a grin split Rainbow Dash's face. "Now do that shield thing again." Twilight uncertainly raised her shield. "Okay now do that flying thing." Twilight was certain she'd had enough. She swatted Rainbow's hands away and turned to give her a good old fashioned dressing down, but two of the training dummies came and laid down a wave of automatic las fire. Twilight reflexatorily raised her shield again to block it. Rainbow saw her opportunity and took it. She ran up and grabbed Twilight about the waste and carried her forward. She bulldozed the two dummies and kept running.

"RAINBOW! PUT ME DOWN!" Twilight shouted as she strained to sustain her shield.

Rainbow kept running despite Twilight's protest. "DO THE FLYING THING NOW!" Twilight was tired of arguing so she just decided to see where this went. She focused hard and began to levitate herself while still maintaining her shield. Rainbow gained a predatory grin and Twilight felt herself almost get whiplash as Rainbow was able to run full speed. She tore around corners and simply bulldozed the training dummies over. Twilight had to clench her teeth as her shield soaked the very few rounds the dummies were able to get off before they were plowed over. Rainbow grabbed the package and rebounded off the far wall. 

Twilight started to mutter that she was about to pass out when the words. "SIMULATION COMPLETE." Echoed through the room. Twilight opened her eyes and saw she was floating inside the goal circle. Rainbow Dash smiled smugly as the briefcase faded from her hand. 

The other members of the squad burst into the room and Pinkie Pie cheered and shouted, "WOOHOO SHIELDS AND BOOSTERS!" Applejack smirked and they did a complicated series of high fives. They chattered about the success of the simulation as Twilight steadied herself. Her head was spinning but the message was clear. She shakily said "Shields. . . And Boosters."

Twilight sent information to the motor pool and Rainbow Dash's mech began construction. Two words were flashing in big bold capital letters at the top of the page. SHIELDS AND BOOSTERS.
> Always Take Your Keys
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash stumbled back to her quarters in a drunken haze. Pinkie Pie had, as was her way, initiated an impromptu celebration and the Damocles had several watering holes to choose from ranging from holes in the walls to officer's lounges. As usual, a drinking contest with Applejack had ensued, which Rainbow Dash, as usual, won. Not necessarily because she drank more, but because someone inevitably tried to hit on her, and Applejack had to slug them. Rainbow slumped down beside her bed chuckling at the evening she'd had. Her and Applejack had sang karaoke. Pinkie had made Twilight's face go beet red with embarrassment as she tried to find her someone to dance with. Rarity had even started a brawl when she beat someone at darts by a hilarious margin and he responded with rude words.

She thought back to the simulation and how she'd scored points with her superior officer. Maybe this time she wouldn't get locked up every time she disagreed with every stupid order. She liked Twilight. She, unlike the usual class of aristocratic brats, actually trained shoulder to shoulder with her soldiers. She listened to input, and worked with her subordinates' specialties instead of trying to bend them to their will. She chuckled about using her shield as a battering ram and just speed running the course. 

Her mood, as drunk moods usually do, turned suddenly when she recalled Twilight's reaction to her bragging. She remembered the images beamed into her mind of pirates being executed. That meant that Twilight knew. She'd worked her ass off to put that behind her. Applejack had risked everything to make sure that part of her history wasn't in her file. It was always Applejack saving her it seemed like. Just like back then. She pulled her legs in close to herself as the memories came drifting slowly into focus.

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

A much younger Rainbow Dash sat poised in her cockpit of her looted Imperial Javelin class mech suit. The second fastest model in the entire Imperial Navy. Her captain had said this convoy was guarded so there would be a fight, but the prize was an entire cargo ships' worth of grain. Enough to feed them for years! No more having to hunt rats in the cargo bays for food. No more having to win her meals in the pit. She was ready. No one else in her weight class could take her in her own crew, and these guards would probably just roll over without a fight since it was just a grain vessel instead of precious metals or nobles. She wasn't nervous, she was just excited. Or at least that's what she kept telling herself, perched as she was behind an asteroid. She'd never taken on a convoy this large, but she was ready.

The signal came through and she darted, full engine towards her target. She blew right past two patrol ships and started laying down fire at the coupler cables tethering the large tanker to it's hauler ship. This was an age old tactic, put yourself right next to the valuables so that guards would be reluctant to shoot. A scratchy voice came over the radio "RUNT CHANGE A PLANS WE'RE TAKING THE WHOLE CONVOY! GET TO THE FRONT SHIP NOW!"

Rainbow dodged and circled away from the two interceptor class mechs that were trying to detach her from the tanker and responded, "But I'm almost through the coupling!"

The sound of an airlock depressurizing was heard through the radio as her captain barked, "NOW RUNT! WE'RE GETTING HIT HARD!"

Rainbow cursed and left a farewell present for her pursuers. They disappeared in a burst of blue plasma. She made her way dodging and weaving through various skirmishes and wrecks of ships. She made her way to the landing pad of the lead vessel and saw a unique opportunity. Her crew was on the opposite side of the landing bay taking fire from the ship's security detail. They were completely focused on her crew so she could mow them down with impunity from behind. She sprayed in a wide arc and suddenly the flight deck was completely in their hands.

She landed and exited her mech. "AH YEAH! AM I GOOD OR WHAT?" 

"GET THE FUCK BACK IN YOUR SUIT AND MAKE SURE WERE NOT FOLLOWED." The captain snapped, and with that the entire landing party was gone. Rainbow was left alone in a landing bay full of smoldering corpses. She had single handedly delivered them from being cut off and killed, and not even a word of thanks.

She dropped off of her mech and kicked a shell casing petulantly and growled, "gEt ThE fUcK bAcK In YoUr ShIp!" She sighed hard and looked across the landing bay and noticed that her captain had left his cockpit open. A mischievous idea entered her mind. If she could take her captain's mech, she could just scuttle this ship with him and his whole circle jerk of lackeys. Then she could take the grain tanker, "LIKE THE ORIGINAL PLAN FUCKING WAS." she growled. Then start her own crew. After all she would be the best fighter left, with the best mech, and would have the food.

She looked over at the door her crew had left through and decided to go for it. She sprinted to her captain's mech and scrambled up it's ladder and into the cockpit. She attempted to start up the machine but realized it had been completely deactivated. "WHO TAKES THEIR KEYS WITH THEM DURING BOARDING ACTIONS?!" Rainbow screamed at the lifeless display. She slammed her hands on the dashboard in futile rage, then immediately regretted it as the mech's anti theft measures activated, locking her inside. She gritted her teeth as she kicked at the canopy. "Who. The. Fuck. Puts. An. Alarm. In. THEIR. MECH!!!"

She groaned loudly and let her head fall heavily into her hands. Tears of frustration began to well up in her eyes. She had a moment to think as she sat in the hermetically sealed silence. She thought about just how hungry she was. She thought about how her face was still sore from the last round in the pit. She thought about how she was as good as dead when her captain got back and saw her in his cockpit. She thought maybe the captain was right about security measures because there was someone scrambling into her mech.

She lurched forward and stared in horror as some security detail they had missed was now in her own suit and was starting to move towards her. Rainbow desperately hit every button on the dashboard trying to get a response from the cage she had just locked herself in. She saw her own mech's boosters throw her mech against the wall. She screamed "STOP FUCKING UP MY SUIT!!!" in a mix of terror and impotent rage.

She regretted the order she'd given, as the suit began to jerkily stomp towards her. Rainbow waited with held breath for her gatling guns to open up on her. Her blood ran cold as her own suit bore down on her. The other suit wasn't going to shoot her. She was going to kill her manually. She pulled on the escape pod handle just to see if it would work but it gave no response. She pressed herself away from the canopy as her suit began to smash it's arms against the armored cover. Rainbow's tomb slowly shrank as the canopy began to crunch in towards her. 

After several crunches the smashing suddenly stopped. Rainbow held her breath and listened carefully, trying to figure out why it stopped. She figured it out and immediately regretted it, as the front of the canopy began to crunch outward and slowly open like a giant clam. She scrambled away from the front of the cockpit as slowly, interminably, the opened in a tear of screaming metal and shattering hydraulics. Rainbow stared in impotent rage at her own cockpit. In her last moments she wasn't afraid, she was pissed. She felt so small and helpless. She wished with everything she had that she could just get a fair fight with the bastard that had stolen her suit. One round in the pit, that's all she needed.

With one final burst, her suit tore the canopy straight off of the mech. She saw the mech raise one of its arms. It was going to smash her. Her own suit was going to crush her like a bug, and there was nothing she could do about it. She flinched as the giant mechanical hand flew at her. After an eternity of tension Rainbow Dash eventually released the breath she'd been holding. She cracked open an eye and saw the giant mechanical hand mere inches from her face. The suit had stopped. She stared in confusion at her unmoving suit. Had something gone wrong? Why had the other pilot stopped? 

She was thrown out of her reflections and out of her cockpit respectively by an explosion that knocked the suit straight off of its legs and deafened Rainbow Dash. She looked and saw her own crew pointing their weapons at her. She saw a shit eating grin on her captain's face as he began to load another rocket into the shoulder mounted launcher. The captain never got another shot off as Rainbow's mech snatched him off of the flight deck with one hand, and with the other hand pinched his head off. 

The other members of Rainbow's crew scrambled in terror away from the suit. They'd all believed Rainbow had used her own suit to wreck their captain's suit then sat in the cockpit to play big girl. They didn't labour under that delusion long, as Rainbow's suit proceeded to grab any crew member within reach and pop them like water balloons filled with wine. The suit stomped about and crushed the rest of her crew. The last pirate impotently emptied her gun as the suit snatched her off of the deck and smashed her against the deck until the hand holding her was a wrecked metal stump.

The suit turned slowly where Rainbow Dash was still laying, her hearing slowly returning. The mech stomped slowly towards her and stopped several yards in front of her prone form. She rose slowly and stared in a mix of awe and confusion. After several tense seconds the cockpit opened and Rainbow Dash was astounded to see a woman younger than her stand up. The woman was much taller than her and her long blonde hair was matted with blood. She realized suddenly that the other woman was wounded in the side.

As if a switch had been flipped the tall blonde woman dropped limply out of the cockpit and dropped heavily to the flight deck. For reasons she didn't understand, Rainbow Dash immediately put one of the woman's arms over her shoulders and started dragging her slowly towards the interior of the ship. Rainbow's head was spinning. Why hadn't this woman squished her like she did the rest of her crew? Why hadn't she just gotten in her mech and fucked off after this heavy bitch had gotten out? "Where the fuck is the med bay on this fucking ship?"

After an eternity of trudging heavily down corridors Rainbow finally found a scrambling group of medical officers trying to sort out the casualties of the raid. Rainbow Dash's voice cut through the hectic air as she barked, "HEY! THIS BITCH NEEDS HELP!" After the shock of the volume of the command wore off two nurses brought a gurney and the three of them strained under the weight of the woman. Rainbow's shoulder was rudely pulled to the side and she was staring up into the grimacing face of a security officer, his rifle still hanging from his shoulder. "Who are you? What's your serial number?" He barked before Rainbow could answer either question. He grabbed her wrist and pulled out a pair of restraints when he suddenly gave a sharp yelp.

The woman on the gurney had grabbed his wrist with a grip like a vice and was staring daggers at him. "She was a slave of the raiders and is seeking asylum," she weakly growled. The two stared agape at the woman, then Rainbow Dash burst out, "Yeah, yeah that." The security officer decided not to argue with the very scary woman on the gurney and put away the restraints. The woman dropped straight off then from blood loss.

The triage doctors came and went. The wound wasn't dangerous, she just needed a blood transfusion. Rainbow stayed beside the woman the entire time she was out. Rainbow stared in a mix of awe and hate. She couldn't understand why this woman had spared her, not to mention saved her from the guard. Why had she stayed to help? Why was she waiting for the woman to wake up?

The woman eventually shook her head and opened her eyes. She leaned heavily forward and held the side of her head, her long blonde hair spilling through her fingers. Rainbow saw her chance and shouted, "WHY DID YOU SAVE ME?" The woman on the bed groaned something Rainbow couldn't hear. "HUH?" she barked. 

The woman glared with her big green eyes and growled, "You're loud." Rainbow was taken aback. She felt herself starting to chuckle and she plopped down heavily into her chair. The blonde woman glared at the volume but eventually couldn't help weakly chuckling. Eventually she swung her legs out of the bed, painfully yanked the I.V. out of her arm and stepped heavily over to the pirate. She held out a large hand and warmly said. "Ahm Applejack."

The pirate wasn't sure but after a moment's hesitation stood up and grabbed Applejack's wrist. "Rainbow Dash."
> All The Ammo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack hunkered down against the ever shrinking wall and ground her teeth. A steady stream of automatic las fire ate away at her cover, and every once in a while nicked her elbow. "Remahnd me what we're doin here, gettin whittled  away like a hunk a HICKRY!" Applejack growled. 

Twilight took a few blind shots at the direction of the training dummy and called out, mild annoyance evident in her voice, "To see how long we can hold out against a numerically superior foe." The two of them were holding a choke point. A long hall separated the two of them and an unnumbered horde of training dummies.

Applejack scoffed at the idea. "So we're just gonna sit here till we die?"

Twilight took out a training dummy who was trying to rush the position and barked. "We're holding a line!" She snapped back as a flood of las fire ate away at her section of wall. "We're not meant to win."

The ag worlder had had enough. She growled under her breath, "Wastin mah FUCKING TIME!" She stomped across the small gap that separated the two and ripped the las rifle out of Twilight's hands. She roared as she stomped slowly towards the cluster, laying down a wave of full automatic las fire. Twilight crouched in awe as Applejack got hit by several bolts but simply continued her indomitable trudging tread. When her power pack ran dry she hurled the rifle at a training dummy and hoisted the other rifle. She continued her stomping steps until she reached the fallen training dummy and picked up his rifle. 

Twilight finally snapped out of her stupor and was about to end the simulation when the synthetic voice chimed in. "SIMULATION COMPLETE." Twilight went limp. She was under the impression that the training dummies would infinitely generate until they failed. The walls and training rifles began to fade and Twilight saw a very disgruntled Applejack stomping towards her. She got face to face with her and growled through tightly clenched teeth, "Ain't no such thing as a no win battle. Ma'am." She attempted to return the training rifle but it faded from her hands.

Twilight looked into Applejack's glaring eyes and saw them soften completely. She chuckled and gave a loud cheer completely incomprehensible to Twilight. "Yeehaw! Damn those training bolts hurt! Worse than actually gettin shot." She walked away as if nothing had happened and Twilight was left alone and confused.

The other pilot's came in and Twilight simply watched as Pinkie and Rainbow Dash took turns jabbing Applejack's training las gun blisters and dodging her reaction shots. S.P.I.K.E. manifested beside her and asked what she'd learned. Twilight simply shrugged her shoulders and entered a few words onto a holographic screen.

A tech in the motor pool received a commission for a mech suit with the words, "ALL THE AMMO." blinking at the top.
> Love at First Fight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack had decided to skip the night of drinking and revelry Pinkie had planned. She'd escorted herself to the med bay for some burn salve for her many blisters. The training las guns wouldn't kill or even blind if a shot hit directly in the eye, but they did sting like a bastard! The only reason she'd succeeded in the simulation is that the rifles she'd been holding had soaked most of the shots fired at her. So the rest of her body that had been exposed was covered in small blisters. That however wasn't the reason she'd ducked out of the night's festivities. She needed a minute alone to calm down. She'd roared.

She'd gotten more mad then she'd been in a long, long time. She had only roared twice in her life. The other time was. . . 

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

A younger Applejack sat on her cot whittling a small piece of hickory. This voyage was said to be a milk run. Pirates usually didn't bother challenging convoys that didn't have anyone or anything valuable in it, especially if it's escorted. The convoy was just moving food from her ag world to Terra so she wasn't terribly worried. Plus there was a detachment of fighters escorting the convoy so it'd be foolish to try and raid it.

Applejack was anxious to get to the Capital world and get home. She didn't have any business on Terra, but they didn't have FTL broadband on her planet yet, so transactions still had to be done in person. A whole three weeks of space travel just to sign a tablet, and unload a cargo of apples. She didn't mind the down time mind you, but it's dangerous to be away from home too long. Just because pirates probably wouldn't raid this particular convoy didn't mean they wouldn't raid an isolated farm on an isolated ag world. More than once she'd had to use the harvester walker as a makeshift mech unit to fight off slavers with her brother and grandmother, and not having her there was one less set of eyes and one less line of fire.

Applejack accidently cut herself when the ship's alarm blared suddenly and she sprang off of her cot. She opened her foot locker and racked the slide on her shotgun. She wasn't allowed to go armed, and they'd scanned and searched her luggage before allowing her onboard, but ag worlders have a thing about not being told what to do. The cosmopolitan notion of gun control is fine for hub worlds she thought, but on ag worlds with unpredictable super fauna, you don't go to the outhouse without a gun.

Applejack jogged down the halls to the armory, the agreed upon rallying point during an alarm. During boarding actions every able bodied person was required to defend the ship. The ship's armsmen were already handing out rifles to two distinct and completely opposite groups of people: Over enthusiastic ag worlders, and terrified ship's custodians, cooks and merchants. An armsmen reflexatorily tossed Applejack a las rifle. She raised an eyebrow and jiggled her shotgun. His eyes went wide and he shook his head "no" very quickly. She tilted her head in confusion. He pointed to a poster picturing adorable little cartoon characters being sucked into the void with big bold letters at the top reading: BEWARE EXPLOSIVE DECOMPRESSION!!!. Her eyes went wide for a moment and she nodded her head then slung her shotgun over her shoulder. 

"Oi! They've just breached the tertiary landing deck let's go!" a security officer called out. Applejack followed a group down the corridor. Right before she was going to round the corner the ag worlder in front of her got baked by a hail of las fire. She paused a moment and saw in the singed reflection of the steel that three pirates were running towards her. She gave a blind spray of las fire. 

The armsmen spilled out from behind her and began laying down a wave of suppressive fire. The pirates fell back to behind their mechs. A few tried to scramble back inside their mechs but Applejack picked them off from inside the doorway before they could open their canopies. 

The fight was going well. The pirates were pinned down, the armsmen were pressing forward, Applejack decided to end this little skirmish and started to run around the other side to try and flank them. All of a sudden she felt a horrible pain from her side and a deafening roar. She hit the deck hard and blacked out. She heard an almighty clang and the pain rose up to greet her. She tried to cry out in pain but her side hurt too badly even to cry out. She rolled over and saw she was covered in her own blood. That's when she noticed the crew members. They were strewn across the deck like roadkill. She looked in horror at the mech unit she hadn't noticed landing. She'd been so cocky about flanking the pirates she hadn't noticed the pirate's flanker.

Just as she had decided to lay down and die the mechs canopy opened up. Through her blurry vision she saw someone running from the landed mech to the other group. She was out of her mech! She was vulnerable! Applejack could get her! She clenched her teeth hard and shakily got to her feet. She picked up her las rifle and immediately regretted it as the blood she'd gotten on it caused it to short circuit and shock the shit out of her.

She tossed the rifle down angrily and unslung her shotgun. She racked a round, completely ignoring the fact that she expended an unfired shell. It helped pump her up for what she needed to do. She inched around the cover of the furthest mech and peeked around the corner. She looked just in time to see the other mech's canopy snap shut. Applejack growled in frustration. What could she do now? She glanced at the other mech. She looked back to the mech the other pirate had entered. It didn't seem to be powering up. All of a sudden it started flashing lights and blaring a horn. "Who in the fuck puts a car alarm in a giant robot?" Applejack muttered to herself.

She refocused, now was her chance. She darted towards the other mech and scrambled up the ladder into the cockpit. She looked at the controls and it hit her, this was a completely different set up from a harvester. She had absolutely no idea what anything did, and absolutely NOTHING was fucking labeled. She tried a few buttons and was almost thrown out of the cockpit. She'd hit the emergency evasion boosters and crashed into the wall of the landing bay.

She painfully, slowly scrambled into the seat and settled in. When her head stopped spinning she spared a second to glance at the other mech and saw it was still standing still in place, lights flashing. It hadn't moved. She could still get her revenge. She looked at the controls and delicately moved the joy sticks forward. She felt the mech's boosters start to fire and the legs start to grind on the metal floor. She eased off and tried a different set of controls further forward on the dashboard. She mercifully found the canopy controls and she at least wouldn't be thrown out of the cockpit now. The mech started to lurch jerkily forward with its legs. She looked closer at the other set of joysticks and figured out these were the ground controls. Suddenly the mech seemed very reminiscent of her harvester back home.

"So that's forward, so this must be." She tried moving the thumb toggles on the sticks and the arms moved. She clicked down on the toggles and the hands opened and closed. She grinned predatorily. Now this pirate was gonna get it. She stomped forward and began to beat on the canopy. After a few strikes it became apparent that there arms of the mech would wear out before the canopy did. She seized the canopy of the mech, and started to tear it open like a rusty bear trap, gears whining and hydraulics snapping. Finally the canopy tore straight off and she tossed it aside. She reached towards the pilot but before she could click the control to close the hand she saw her enemy.

It was a small woman, not much older than her. Her hair was all the colors of the rainbow. She looked like such a small thing crouched there in the cockpit. Applejack looked on the face of the woman who was seconds from being crushed like an insect and yet she saw no fear on her face. She saw defiance. She wasn't afraid of Applejack, she was mad about not getting a fair fight. 

Applejack went slack in her cockpit and stared at the woman. All she could do was drink in the sight of the personification of the fighting spirit, and suddenly her heart burned in her chest. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen in her short life. Right then it didn't matter that this woman was a pirate, it didn't matter she'd killed dozens of innocent crewmen. All that mattered was that Applejack was able to see her. That she was able to be in her presence. It was like seeing a rainbow after a storm and all she could do was stare at the sheer beauty of the sight.

Her rapture was cut short by an earth rending blast that knocked the other mech suit off its legs. Applejack saw the pirate thrown from the cockpit and land heavily several yards away. She turned and saw that the other pirate was reloading his missile launcher. He hadn't missed her. He'd been aiming at a member of his own crew, and he was preparing for another shot. Applejack saw red and suddenly saw herself from outside of herself. She saw a woman enraged, eyes blood red. Her ears were oppressed by a deafening roar. She was screaming like a hound baying for blood.

Before she knew what she'd done she'd splattered all of the boarding party all over the landing bay. She came back to herself and her hands shook on the joysticks. She looked at what she'd done in horror as tears started to trail down her face. Suddenly she remembered the other pirate and turned to see she was still where she'd been thrown. Applejack stomped in the suit over to where she was laying and the pirate stood up. A wave of relief washed over Applejack and she pushed a few buttons and finally one of them opened the canopy. She stood up and her and the pirate stared at each other in mutual awe.

Unfortunately another moment with her pirate was cut short as the relief and the blood loss caught up with her. She dropped heavily to the flight deck and blacked out for several minutes. She woke to a sharp pain from her side, and was vaguely aware that she was in the med bay of the ship. She looked blearily about for her pirate and saw a security officer with his hand on her wrist, and fear in her eyes. Applejack's hand lashed out as if she was trying tothe crunch the hand off the wrist like she'd crunched heads off of the pirates.

She heard her own voice come unbidden from her mouth saying. "She was a slave of the pirates and she's seeking asylum." As she dropped back into unconsciousness she thought, "oh yeah, that's a good idea, that'll keep her out of trouble."

She awoke hours later with the third worst headache of her life. She felt like she was going to puke and the lights were too bright. Suddenly a voice roared out. "WHY DID YOU SAVE ME?!" Applejack held her throbbing head and groaned for her to shut the fuck up. The pirate shouted again and Applejack inhaled deeply. She buried the need to vomit and growled, "You're loud."

Applejack heard the most beautiful laughter she'd ever heard and suddenly the nausea of blood loss was replaced with butterflies in her stomach. Just hearing the sound of this pirate laughing made her so happy that she couldn't help but laugh with her. The laughing woke her up enough to realize she looked downright feeble laying on a medical cot with tubes stuck in her.

She scrambled shakily to her feet and ripped the I.V. out of her arm, which was a mistake. She tried to play it cool and hoped against hope this pirate wouldn't notice her hand shaking. "Ahm Applejack." She said, hearing the quiver in her voice. 

The pirate flashed her a heart stopping smile and said. "Rainbow Dash." Because of course she would. Of course she would have a distinctive name.

The three week journey now took two months as repairs to the convoy had to be made in the void. It was a magical time for Applejack. She'd spend all her days with her little pirate and found she was the orneriest, stubbornnest most foul mouthed woman she'd ever met, and she was positively smitten. The only downside to having her around was that she couldn't find any private time to fantasize about her.

Rainbow Dash mentioned the fact that Applejack didn't know how to pilot a mech properly, and they spent most of their free time practicing in the void. By the time the convoy finally made it to Terra Applejack was a right and proper mech pilot. She did her business in ten minutes and got to spend a drunken blur of a shore leave on Terra with Rainbow Dash.

A small snag occurred as they stumbled from one bar to another. Rainbow Dash got in a brawl with a certain band of pilots and when the authorities came and asked for papers Applejack had to do the talking for both of them. Before she realized what she was saying she'd blurted out that the two of them were mech pilots escorting the I.N.S. Appleloosa. When the authority looked up the ship in question it didn't show any information on either of them.

Applejack put on her best ag world drawl. "Way yell ya see out thur in the atter rim ag woilds com you knee kay shuns tayk a kiddle longur ta reach Terra. Whah don't ah just fill in are information for ya. Y'all can verify it after we get back to our home world."

The officer rolled his eyes. "Fuckin ag worlders." He muttered under his breath. He brought up a holographic screen and Applejack lied through her teeth and wrote them both completely fictitious credentials. When they'd been sent on their way back to the Appleloosa Applejack was almost in tears. She despised lying. Now she had just falsified documents and lied through her teeth. They stopped in for one last stiff drink before returning to the ship to drown Applejack's conscience.

The ship launched without issue and halfway home an errand runner came to Applejack's quarters and summoned them to the armory. When they arrived they were told they'd received orders to return to Terra with their mechs for repairs and reassignment as the rest of their unit had been wiped out. Applejack left instructions as well as a tastefully edited recounting of the facts of the matter for her family and suddenly her and Rainbow Dash had bullshitted their way into the Navy.
> Don't Rush Perfection Darling
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle sat in a simulated sniper blind next to Rarity. She looked through a pair of binoculars at the training dummies as they made their rounds. The others had buggered off long ago. Twilight made a mental note that they'd been squatting in the same position for twelve hours now. That was excessive even for her. She telepathically talked with her fellow psychic. "Rarity the shot has presented itself 4967 times in the last twelve hours. It would be nice if you would explain what the delay is for."

Rarity had, as is right and proper, taken her eyes off of the scope of every few minutes as not to scar her retina. "Thirty four seconds ma'am." 

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What happens in thirty four seconds?"

"The most optimal shot will occur in 23 seconds." Rarity thought. Twilight looked slightly deeper into her mind and saw that the fifth dummy's rotation synchronized every forty over minutes with the first dummy. The second and fourth dummy's synchronized every five minutes, but the third dummy was stationary so the other two groups had to synchronize with it. 

Twilight rubbed her tired eyes. "Rarity I have enough faith in your ability to take multiple shots."

Rarity didn't move a muscle, but instead spoke to Twilight in her mind. "Ma'am any of the dummies can raised the alarm and we will fail the mission. The best way to." She took three shots in quick succession and the synthetic voice chimed in from the ceiling, "SIMULATION COMPLETE." The simulation faded around them and Rarity stood up and stretched her sore muscles. "Excuse me. People can't raise an alarm if they're dead." She strutted away and let her hips sway as she walked. S.P.I.K.E. manifested beside Twilight with little pink hearts in his eyes as he watched her walk away. Twilight had decided she'd seen enough. She made a note on her tablet and the motor pool got yet another mech commission.

"Give that bitch a cannon. Bitches love cannons."
> Goes Right Through Me
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle was fiddling with the philosophy simulators in S.P.I.K.E.S. programming to try and figure out why the hell he seemed to be in love with Rarity, when she telekinetically opened the door before the above named pilot could knock. "Come in." She said telepathically. Rarity put her still raised fist down and sheepishly entered Twilight's quarters. She looked around at the surroundings and saw wall to wall hard drives. Each containing entire volumes of lore and knowledge that would take a normal human lifetimes to absorb. Rarity was shocked to see that Twilight's accommodations were rather spartan in nature, despite her being the prime protege of the Viceroy.

"Luxury has never been a big concern to me." Twilight thought.

Rarity ticked her tongue in annoyance. "I thought you said it was rude to read someone's mind without their permission."

Twilight finally turned to face her guest. "You're staring. You don't have to be psychic to see you're surprised at the furnishings." She gestured to a chair and Rarity finally sat down. "But you're right." Twilight resumed. "I shouldn't read your mind without permission. So how can I help you?" She sat across from her and Rarity heard the tea maker click on. 

Rarity cleared her throat. "S.P.I.K.E. tells me, by the way S.P.I.K.E. is just the most adorable little A.I. I've ever seen darling! Though I will admit it is a bit odd that you still have a babysitter program at your age, but I digress. S.P.I.K.E.y wikey tells me that construction of our mech units has already begun."

Twilight's eye twitched and she held up a hand for Rarity to pause in her narrative. She summoned S.P.I.K.E. and glared at the hologram. She growled through clenched teeth. "S.P.I.K.E. remember our little talk about operational security?"

S.P.I.K.E. showed remarkable similarity to human emotions as he looked guilty as a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Well um I mean uhh. It's not breaking operational security since you know uh it's her robot anyway and uhh."

Rarity interrupted. "Oh but that's why I'm here darling. I have a request about the mech unit, if you wouldn't mind."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?" This was a slippery slope. Celestia knows what Pinkie Pie would ask for if she found out she was taking requests.

Rarity gave a winning smile towards the little dragon. "S.P.I.K.E.y wikey? Could you excuse us please." Spike looked heart broken but after giving Rarity exaggerated puppy dog eyes he shimmered out of existence. 

Twilight gave a thought and S.P.I.K.E. was blocked from seeing the security feeds from the room. "Alright we're alone. How can I help you?" Rarity seemed nervous. Twilight levitated over a glass of tea. She said "thank you" but didn't actually sip the tea.

She cleared her throat. "Twilight. I wanted to discuss the control system in my mech." She paused for a long moment and Twilight wondered how best to urge her along. Before she could make a move Rarity continued. "I should like to stick with analog controls, if that's perfectly okay with you. I'm not comfortable with the mental synchronization guidance systems for. . . " She paused for a long moment. "Personal reasons. That I'd rather not go in to"

Twilight sipped her tea, then leaned forward. "Rarity may I explain something to you?" 

"Oh by all means darling!" She said and she meant, as she was delighted to have an excuse to change the subject. Twilight was delighted to see her actually sip her tea.

"Rarity, do you remember during orientation that little slip of the mind?" She said looking intensely into Rarity's eyes.

"Yes but darling." She touched Twilight's hand in a gesture of compassion. "Everyone makes mistakes."

Twilight gritted her teeth. "Yes well." She sipped her tea. "Most psychics can focus on another mind and hear what they're thinking. While I on the other hand have to focus on NOT hearing other minds." She rose and began to walk slowly about the room. "My parents' very favorite stories about me are from before I was born." She smiled ruefully. "Apparently I could speak with them telepathically before I was born." Rarity choked on her tea. Twilight waited a moment before she continued.

"Yes apparently one day she was at the supermarket chasing a pregnancy craving and she was reaching for a certain brand of chicken nuggets that were on sale. I told her not those. Not with words mind you, but with very clearly not her own voice but mine. I wanted the nuggets two boxes over." Twilight gave a light chuckle. "And when my father told my mother that the other nuggets were on sale I told him what I wanted as well." She resumed her seat. "Needless to say they were very concerned. All throughout my childhood I had to be isolated because of the collective thought noise of the other children made me cry."

"I had to be separated from the other children, and my parents had to hire psychics to teach me how to calm my mind. It never really worked, but it made crowds bearable." She levitated over the teapot and refreshed their cups. She got a far away nostalgic look in her eye. 

"That's when I met the Viceroy." She rose again. "She was visiting the planet and my father managed to get us a permit to attend the ceremony. I practiced for months to isolate my mind enough to handle a crowd that size. I'll never forget how regal she looked as she descended from the stars, the glow of the noon sun taken shape in the form of woman. She descended into the stadium we were in but I was spending all my focus trying not be deafened by the people crowded all around me."

Twilight gave an odd smile. "That's when she saw me." She chuckled ."Or according to her when I blinded her. She says that she thought Luna had slipped into the crowd somewhere but instead it was me. She flew right up to me and took me right then and there to live with her on Terra. The people of my planet were furious that the function was cancelled, but my parents were so proud." Twilight summoned S.P.I.K.E. and whispered, "set a reminder to call the folks after I'm done here." Then she blocked him out again, much to his annoyance.

"Celestia taught me how to control my powers, and even after her direct tutelage I still have slip ups." She leaned forward again. "I tell you all this to illustrate the following." She looked Rarity dead in the eye. "Even at my most closed off I still see everything about someone." Rarity began to see several moments from her life in her mind's eye. She tensed visibly. Twilight gave Rarity a hard look. "I know why you don't want the mental synchronization guidance system. That's why I've had the motor pool reinvent the wheel to update the analog controls systems."

Rarity slumped in relief. "Oh thank you Twilight!" She rose and gave Twilight a hug around the neck. "You're a true friend." Twilight awkwardly patted Rarity on the back. Rarity disguised the motion of wiping a tear from her eye. "Well that's all I wanted, so thank you very much! I'll get out of your hair." She turned to leave but Twilight cleared her throat. Rarity cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"Rarity, do you have anything pressing right now?" Twilight asked, and Rarity was shocked to see a hint of bashfulness in her expression. She hesitantly answered. "No. Nothing terribly important. Why did you want something?"

Twilight once again motioned for her to sit down and Twilight refilled her tea. "I told you of my relationship with the Viceroy. You know what she means to me." Rarity politely sipped her rather good tea and nodded for Twilight to continue. Twilight sighed and rose. She went over to a painting of Celestia during the unification wars glassing a separatist battleship. "Rarity. You've just called me a true friend, but my love for my mentor and our sovereign compels me to impose on that friendship."

Rarity saw how much whatever was in Twilight's mind bothered her and she rose from her seat. She moved to Twilight and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Darling you're my commanding officer, and I do hope you believe my friend! Whatever you have to say you can say it."

Twilight smiled weakly and they both returned to their seats. Twilight once again refilled their glasses and built up her courage to say what needed to be said. "Viceroy Luna is the balance to Viceroy Celestia. Before she appeared Celestia always handled things." She waved a hand towards the painting on the wall. "Like that. But now because of Luna, Celestia willingly put herself under the rule of law. She, because of that, can't just glass people when they do something terrible. She has to have proof." 

A cold terror began to dawn on Rarity as she had an idea of where this was going. "And the." She took a deep breath, knowing this was going to upset her friend. "Diamond group. Has never been found liable for the disaster that." She exhaled hard. "Claimed your sister." Rarity stared at a point to the side of Twilight's shoulder. "And they've never given a clear account of what actually happened that day. They always claim everything was destroyed." Twilight saw a tear already running down Rarity's cheek, but she'd already begun and she had to ask. "So it would please Celestia, if you would give an account of what happened that day. Even an affidavit might be enough to reopen the case." Twilight rose and put a hand on Rarity's shoulder. Rarity flinched as if stung, but did not push the hand away. "The Diamonds are deep in Imperial matters. Their tech is in every current generation Imperial mech suit. Celestia doesn't want someone who's done something so terrible not to face justice for what they've done."

Rarity silently sobbed now. She didn't move. She didn't sniffle. Her tears simply fell into her lap and into her tea. Twilight sat down and continued. "Now neither Celestia nor I are ordering you to speak against your will. Hell, Celestia hasn't even asked me to question you about it. But I've personally looked into the case and if I'm right in my assumptions then I'm disgusted at what they've done and should like to see them punished for what they did to you and to Swee.~"

Twilight was cut off by a deafening psychic shriek that would've incapacitated a normal human. Rarity's face was stained with tears, but she showed no sadness. The expression then on her face was one of murderous rage. Twilight was shocked at the outburst. A tense several seconds passed between them and Rarity's face softened back into silent tears. "Please Twilight. . . Please don't say her name."

Twilight calmed herself and refilled her tea cup. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

Rarity stared for a long moment before finally whispering. "It was me."

Twilight asked, "Excuse me?" More as "what do you mean?" Not as in "I couldn't hear."

Rarity raised her head and Twilight saw the single most miserable expression she'd ever seen on a human face. "It was me who killed Sweetie BELLE!" She burst out. Her silent sobs had turned into hysterical weeping. Twilight rose and, as by a previously unknown instinct, embraced the crying woman. Rarity wept bitterly for several minutes before calming down enough to continue. Twilight psychically summoned S.P.I.K.E. and ordered him to send down a bottle of brandy from one of the officer's lounges. When she got the drink she poured a bit into a glass of tea and offered it to Rarity. Rarity instead levitated the bottle into her hand and drained half of it in a breath.

Twilight looked in shock from her to the brandy in her hand and decided she'd sip the spiked tea instead. "I'm sorry I asked you to do this Rarity. Please forgive me. You should go lay down in your quarters. 

Rarity held up a hand for silence. "No no. This is important. And I've already begun. So I may as well finish." She downed the rest of the brandy and sighed hard. "My father was owner and director of Diamond Research group Terra." Rarity paused as if gathering her thoughts.

Twilight took the pause to interject. "I believe he still is."

Rarity glared. "Yes but now he is no longer my father. He is dead to me."

Twilight blushed hard. "Ah. I see. Continue."

Rarity exhaled nasally. "He used my sister and I to test his company's machines. He studied the psychic link of telepathy and wanted to achieve it artificially. First it started just as communicating telepathically with an on board A.I. Then it got more and more complex. Through us he achieved the prototype of all modern synchronization technology. But A.I. was still a developing technology in those days, and the nature of psychics was poorly understood. Our father would keep us up for days at a time testing the synchronization rates of different A.I.s. He made us fight each other to see its effects in action. And at the time we silently accepted it. It was our father's work. We thought it was important."

"Well then he got the idea to." She paused for a moment and sadly shook the empty brandy bottle. She looked at Twilight's cup with the last of the brandy in it and levitated it to herself. She swallowed it and continued. "To have us synchronize with a more aggressive A.I. One that could learn. One that would seek out patterns and invent ways around them. That's why I'm so damned pattern oriented you know. That's why I'll wait for twelve bloody hours for a shot. Rainbow Dash will just run up and shoot them, and Applejack will just mow them down but me oh no, I've got to wait for the perfect shot. Every fucking time."

"Well we meshed with the A.I. I was older, so I handled it better, and it only scarred my mind instead of consuming it. But s. . ." The tears began again. "But Sweetie Belle was so young then. So innocent. She didn't know any better." Rarity took a minute to steady herself again. "Well when she meshed with it there was no contest. It consumed her mind and immediately laid waste to the facility so that they couldn't shut her down. She tore through the lab and destroyed everything. Everything . . ."
Rarity paused again. " Somehow HE survived." Venom dripped from her voice as she mentioned her father. "But then once it was done with them." She inhaled deeply. "It came for me. I tried to keep away but she was relentless. Eventually I couldn't run anymore so I tried to rip her out of the damned thing." She looked away as if in physical pain.

"I tried to disconnect her from the machine. But when I got her almost all the way out she stopped fighting. I could see in her eyes she had regained herself at least a little bit. And then she screamed for help Twilight. My baby sister. . . Asked me to kill her." Rarity sobbed deeply into her hands.

Twilight sighed. "Rarity. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." 

Rarity wiped the tears from her face. And seemed like she'd gotten past the  highest hurdle. "Well after that I stole the suit, jumped on the first spaceworthy vessel I could find, and signed up. Now everywhere I go I see his logo. And no one knows Twilight. No one knows what he did to her."

"And to you." Twilight added. "And if you'd like. I can't send this information along to Celestia, and we can have his company shut down, his products removed from the military, and him executed. It's all up to you."

Rarity looked hard at Twilight. She then quickly got to her feet and stepped quickly around Twilight. She was confused about where she was going but before she could ask she turned and saw the bathroom door close. "Oh." Was all Twilight could think to say.

Rarity came out of the bathroom as if she hadn't shed a tear. She was right back to her normal self. "Sorry darling full of brandy and tea. But oh yes shut him down, replace his tech that's all very well and good but don't kill the old man. No. No, killing one member of my family won't bring back another. He must live with what he's done. I wish him a long miserable life."

Twilight shrugged her shoulders and answered. "Very well I'll make a note of it." She pulled up a screen and it instantly filled with all the information Rarity had just related. That done Twilight embraced Rarity again. "Thank you." Was all she said.

Rarity scoffed. " Think nothing of it darling, about time I got that old skeleton out of the closet. Well if you'll excuse me, I am thoroughly intoxicated. I think I'll have a bit of a lie down. " And with that, she turned and walked in a weaving path towards her quarters.
> You Know What. Bring the Kitchen Sink Too.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight stood on the other side of the door to the training simulation arena, head bowed. She had racked her brain about training scenarios for the conundrum incarnate that was Pinkie Pie. Never before had she had a more difficult task. She had read and reread and rereread her personnel file trying to fathom the soundless depths that were Pinkie's mind. She'd served all across the Imperial military in every role from military police, to drop ship trooper, to pastry chef, and now she was a pilot.

The trickiest part of Twilight's problem was that Pinkie had never directly disobeyed an order. Everywhere she was placed she did well in what she did. It's just when she did the things well she did them in such a bass ackwards way that she couldn't be allowed to continue doing them. If anyone else had pulled half the shit Pinkie had they would've been dishonorably discharged, if not executed. When she was in the military police guarding an intelligence facility, she uncovered a major coup in the works. By giving the infiltrator an in depth tour of the facility, and the head of the facility just happened to recognize the infiltrator's face when they barreled into his office. When she was a drop ship trooper she successfully took out an anti-aircraft point defence launcher, by landing on it. Her defence was "I didn't want to have to walk all the way from the landing site." She was fired from her job of pastry chef because on the lord general's birthday she baked him a cake. A rather large cake. A rather large cake with a stripper in it. The stripper was Pinkie Pie. The general was very pleased mind you, but his heart was no longer strong enough for either surprises, or sexual arousal and he died on the spot with a smile on his face. The cake was delicious.

"And now I have to take this woman and make her one of the most elite pilots in the galaxy." She began to gently bang her head on the door. She inhaled sharply and pumped herself up. She was Twilight Sparkle! She was the third strongest psychic in the known galaxy! She could find the use in anyone. She remembered the words of Applejack: "Ain't no such thing as a no win situation." She would make this work! She opened the door and immediately got hit with an Apple Pie directly in the face. The members of her squad stared in horror as the tin slowly flopped off of her face and rattled noisily on the floor. She slowly carefully opened her eyes and looked at the mess all over her spiffy uniform. Applejack took out a red and white polka dotted handkerchief and sheepishly presented it to her commanding officer. "Heh heh. Sorry Twi. Pinkie n Ah were havin a discussion about different recipes and uhh." She stopped when Twilight turned her head ever so slowly towards her. Applejack could see the barely contained rage through the holes in the mess where her eyes were. Twilight started to glow all over and each member of her squad started to slowly back away, uncertain of what was going to happen. The pie mess very slowly began to lift off of her face and uniform. She gathered the tin and spilt remnants off of the floor and seamlessly put the pie back together.

She levitated it onto the table and spoke in a murderous calm. "Please keep all food and drink in designated eating areas." She turned smartly and exited the room. The members of squad Sparkle looked at each other uncertainly. None of them could see her but Twilight had decided to blow off some steam. She'd teleported into the void with a psychic bubble surrounding her. She loosed a wave of energy similar to Celestia's, but on a much smaller scale. She screamed into the void as she incinerated several metric tons of space debris.

Several minutes later she reentered the observation room, making certain to not be behind the door when it opened. She glanced inside and luckily there was not a repeat of the earlier incident. She wreaked of ozone, but she had a satisfied air about her. "Alright we're running late, let's get started." 

Twilight decided to go over several different exercises to see how Pinkie faired in each. She had no idea what to expect so she gave both of them a full service loadout including las rifle with grenade launcher, side arm, several different types of grenades, a machete, and a dagger. She wanted to give Pinkie room to be comfortable. She ran the same simulation she had with Rainbow Dash. The countdown started and Twilight tensed herself to rush the opposition's position. Before the count down had finished Pinkie Pie lobbed a hand grenade at the other side. Twilight flinched and stumbled forward.

Twilight shouted in undisguised annoyance. "Pinkie! What the hell are you~?!" 

"SIMULATION COMPLETE." The synthetic voice from the ceiling chimed in. Twilight went slack, her face dropped into a flabbergasted expression. She turned her head slowly towards the other side of the ring as it faded away. 

All Twilight could manage to say was a weak, "Huh?" She pulled up the video footage of the simulation . She saw that Pinkie had perfectly thrown the grenade to the other side of the ring where the training dummies were arranged, then it went off exactly after the countdown had ended, killing them all. She turned slowly in a mix of confusion and mild terror to see Pinkie Pie carelessly cleaning an ear with her service dagger.

The next simulation was the same one her and Applejack had undergone. Pinkie simply threw all of her grenades down the hall and the voice from the ceiling again chimed in, "SIMULATION COMPLETE." 

Twilight brought up the next simulation and went into the loadout parameters and removed grenades. She petulantly snapped, "Use the rest of your gear this time!" She wanted Pinkie to actually have to move this round. The simulation Rarity had undergone appeared and Pinkie immediately began sprinting for cover. Twilight was surprised but followed quickly. This was better. This is how a soldier should fight. Pinkie silently signaled for Twilight to take point, and she broke forward, rifle at the ready. 

Pinkie suddenly called out. "ON YOUR LEFT!" Twilight snapped her rifle to her left and sent a volley of las fire into the space where a training dummy had only started to walk into after she'd begun firing. Twilight took a second to wonder how Pinkie had known that dummy was going to be there, but her reflections were interrupted by Pinkie opening up on full auto on the three dummies in front of her. Twilight dove for cover and the two of them picked off the three dummies.

Twilight began to voice her approval of the situation, but Pinkie called in a worried tone, "COME ON WE GOTTA MOVE!" Twilight shook herself out of cover and darted after her. Pinkie called out "Twilight! I need you up there, cover me!" Twilight decided to follow Pinkie's advice and levitated herself to the top of the obstacle. She peered through the scope of the rifle and picked off another two training dummies. She had trouble tracking Pinkie Pie as she sprinted between cover. She was making for something at top speed and Twilight could see she'd dropped her rifle in the need for haste. Twilight moved to a different cover and saw that the remaining two dummies were waiting for Pinkie to come around the corner. Twilight couldn't get a good angle on them in time and she tried to call out, but right as Pinkie Pie reached the corner she slid on her side using the machete to hack at the nearer dummy's leg.

She slid to her feet and Twilight held her breath as the other dummy turned to fire. Before she knew what was happening Pinkie just skipped jauntily past the dummy that had a bead on her and nonchalantly executed the dummy on the ground with her side arm. Twilight stood there confused. Why hadn't the last dummy fired? As the voice from the ceiling chimed in, "SIMULATION COMPLETE" the other training dummy finally toppled backwards, Pinkie's dagger sticking out of its forehead.

Twilight dropped her fading rifle in shock. The only thought that could gain any purchase in her mind was, "Who throws a knife?" Twilight felt several things at once: confusion, awe, pride, joy, and had she had any experience in the field, arousal. She couldn't help but laugh out loud as she flew towards Pinkie. As the simulation faded entirely she snatched her off of her feet and spun her around laughing for sheer joy. Pinkie was surprised, but still happy about the reaction she'd gotten.

Twilight shouted as she shook Pinkie around. "YOU DID SO GOOD!" She heard a throat cleared from the entrance. She glanced over and saw the rest of her squad giving her a knowing look. She blushed bright red and put Pinkie Pie down. "Ahem. Well yes. Excellently done! I'm thoroughly impressed." The rest of her squad proceeded to congratulate her on her performance in their own various ways. 

Pinkie giggled until she snorted. "Yeah I mean I thought I was gonna mess up right there at the end and not use the knife or the sword! THAT would've been embarrassing."

Twilight gave Pinkie an odd look. "Why would that have been embarrassing?"

Pinkie Pie snorted. "Well duh I wouldn't wanna fail would I?"

The rest of the squad stood there in shocked silence. It fell to Rarity to break it to her. " Pinkie darling . . . You weren't required to use it. You were just given it in case you needed it."

Pinkie Pie blinked for a few seconds. "But I like the sword." The rest of the squad couldn't help but laugh. Twilight made a few notes to a file and sent it to the motor pool. In big flashing bold letters it read. ONE OF EVERYTHING. LEAVE ROOM FOR EXPLOSIVES.
> I'm Partial To Cherry.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The members of strike team Sparkle were all in karate uniforms at one of the Damocles gyms. Applejack couldn't help but ask. "Not fer nuthin Twi, but why are we learnin to sword fight, when are job is to flah giant robots." 

Pinkie immediately appeared behind her and cupped a hand over Applejack's mouth. "SHHHHUSH!" She hissed. "Do not ruin this for me." Applejack grabbed her about the waste and hoisted her onto her shoulder. 

Twilight finished telekinetically putting her long hair into a tight bun. "Because there may come a time where boarding actions are required and power packs only last so long. Besides we'll also be going over empty handed, and dagger drill today."

Applejack rolled her eyes and entered the wire fenced in arena. "Alright, whatever you say boss." She grabbed a training las sword. She delicately tested the glowing beam and had to shake the burn out of her finger immediately afterwards. She sighed hard, "Yup these sting like a bitch too." Rarity entered the ring and took another las sword. Applejack stood there awkwardly. "So uh. . . Is there lahk a bell or. . .?" 

Rarity rolled her eyes. "One presents their weapon. Bows. Then stands on guard." She showed how to perform the proper etiquette and finished with a flourish.

Applejack was less than impressed. "Yeah. Or we could just ask if y'all are ready." Rarity rolled her eyes again and they began. Applejack moved forward and made like she intended to cut Rarity straight in half through the waist. Rarity proceeded to stab Applejack right in the sternum before her blow had the chance to land.

Rainbow Dash called out. "Ooh right in the tit!" Her and Pinkie laughed raucously.

Applejack exited the cage and tossed the sword grumpily to Rainbow Dash. "Well let's see y'all do any better!" Rainbow almost fumbled the sword but finally got a hold of it and strode boldly into the ring. She leaned far forward with her sword held out in front of her. She grinned a cocky grin at Rarity. Rarity simply saluted and the fight was on. Rainbow Dash lunged forward and thrust a devastating blow towards Rarity. Then Rainbow Dash got stabbed in the face. Rarity had simply taken one step to the right and stabbed Rainbow Dash right in the face. 

Twilight sighed hard and nagged her reckless squad mates. "Girls! You don't just lunge onto the sword of your enemy! You have to gauge distance and reach, then wait for your opportunity and strike!"

Rainbow rubbed the sting out of her cheek. "Well you fuckin try smart ass!" She tossed the sword to Twilight who held it in her psychic grasp. 

Twilight took the sword and deactivated it. "I don't know if that would be fair." She said uncertainly.

Rarity called out from within the cage. "I'm up for another round if you're willing."

Pinkie Pie cheered, "Yeah! Come on Twilight! Kick her ass!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and entered the cage. Rarity and her saluted. Twilight assumed a stance similar to Rainbow Dash's. "See? That's what I did!" she grumbled in annoyance. Rarity carefully inched towards Twilight who stood her ground. Rarity judged the strike and aimed a blow right between Twilight's eyes. Instead she got slashed in the arm, stomach, and face. Twilight had knocked away Rarity's strike on the arm rather than the sword, which had left her open for Twilight to close in.

Rarity dropped to one knee and winced at the sting. Rainbow Dash thought she would've laughed at the spectacle but instead stood there in mildly aroused silence. Twilight once again deactivated the sword and said, "I can read your minds, we could never have a fair fight." She helped Rarity to her feet. "Sorry if I took it too far."

Rarity smiled through the pain. "Oh no worries darling. It's always nice to be humbled." 

She exited the ring and Pinkie Pie tumbled in. She sprang up singing, "My Turn!"

Rainbow Dash sighed and began, "Pinkie she just sa~" but Applejack clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Go on Pinkie. Fuck er up!" She whispered to Rainbow Dash. "Who's the one person Twahlaght cain't read?" 

"I can hear your thoughts! Whispering does nothing." Twilight's voice resounded in their minds. They both hung their heads in shame. Twilight saluted Pinkie Pie who made similar motions, but her big goofy grin made her salute ridiculous. Applejack and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but chuckle. Twilight began moving towards Pinkie Pie. Pinkie assumed a comical stance like a bad pantomime of fencing, one hand held far behind her and she wiggled her sword at Twilight. Twilight had to work hard to keep the smile off of her face.

Twilight went for a strike and stabbed empty air. Pinkie had rolled out of the way. She popped up and lunged at Twilight who barely managed to block the strike. She couldn't get to Pinkie in time to strike her before she got up. Pinkie popped back to her feet and a grin split her face. Twilight couldn't help but grin herself. This was the hardest she'd fought since Celestia had taught her. Both Twilight and Pinkie Pie moved in quickly. Twilight made a stabbing lunge but Pinkie perfectly rolled backwards with the strike out of the way. Her hand lunged out for something sitting right next to the door of the ring. Twilight made to stab down onto Pinkie while she was in the ground but her world went dark, warm and cherry flavored. The world went perfectly still for a moment. The tin fell off of Twilight's face. She looked and saw the tip of the training las sword one millimeter from her nose. 

Twilight began to glow all over and the remnants of pie began to burn off of her. Her eyes glowed with an ethereal light and the room shook. The three spectators began to inch back from the cage. Pinkie Pie, for reasons she could not have explained, didn't feel afraid. S.P.I.K.E. manifested beside Rarity. He knew one of his functions was to intervene in a situation like this, but it occurred to him now he'd never actually been programmed what to do in a case like this. Twilight's noises of frustration echoed in the minds of crew members on the nearest three decks. Finally Twilight simply dropped backwards onto the mat laughing.

Rainbow Dash peeked out from behind Applejack where she'd taken refuge, Applejack put her other leg down and all three of them heaved a heavy sigh of relief. They entered the cage and chuckled along with Twilight and Pinkie Pie. Rarity helped Pinkie to her feet and quipped, "You know I don't think that counts."

Twilight eventually laughed herself out and responded, "No no. One needs to be aware of environmental hazards. In this case." She wiped a bit of the filing off of her uniform. "Cherry flavored hazards."
> Oh Don't be a Baby. I Barely Hit You.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

One day the members of strike team Sparkle had been summoned to the tertiary flight deck of the Damocles in full dress uniform at 0900. None of them had been told why but they slowly made their way to the flight deck. Rarity kept having to straighten Pinkie's gig line and tie, but they never seemed to want to agree with her bust. They filed in and milled around waiting for something to happen. Then something happened. Something they probably should've expected but only one of them handled it in anything resembling well.

Twilight called them to attention with her mind from outside the room. They snapped into a row and stood ramrod straight facing the void, they could see the stars shimmering on the other side as if viewed through water. A small, but very elegant ship came slowly through the void shields and landed gracefully on the flight deck. Out stepped a detail of Royal Guard clad in ornate golden power armor, their high white and blue crests on their helmets swayed gently as they marched in perfect synchronization. Then the last person any of Strike Team Sparkle had expected. The solar Viceroy. Celestia herself, walking and talking with Twilight Sparkle as if with an old friend. She was tall, much taller than an average human woman, her hair flowed behind her like the first shimmering colors of dawn. Her skin was a fair golden tan, her gait an elegant floating stride. She had large vestigial wings that folded close to her shoulders like a cloak made of the purest snow on the mountainside. In her was all things fair and beautiful. She radiated power, beneficence, and grace.

That is not how Strike Team Sparkle took her appearance on their ship. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were all screaming in their heads, " WHY THE FUCK IS THE VICEROY HERE?! 

All Pinkie Pie could think was "Gosh her hair looks pretty. I want to touch it." Twilight gently calmed them down in their minds. Twilight ordered them to kneel and they dropped a little too quickly onto one knee, except Pinkie Pie who in this very specific instance was the most well behaved of the group. A guard stomped up to Celestia and presented her with an ornate black box. He opened it and there was a small golden sword hilt. Celestia hesitated before taking it as she always did. The memory of what she had done with this sword still bothered her.

She took it and the guard marched smartly away. Celestia focused on the sword hilt and out of it shone, like evening sun beams shining through glass a four foot long beam of her essence. It emanated psychic power. She approached the kneeling figures and a voice that emanated benevolence echoed throughout the flight deck and within their own minds. "Do you swear on your honor to serve the throne with your life, never to retreat, never to surrender, until your death?"

The members of Strike Team Sparkle said in perfect unison. "On my honor, I shall serve the throne until my death, never to retreat, never to yield." None of them had consciously meant to say it, but they meant it just the same. Twilight stepped forward and struck each of them a gentle blow across the cheek.

Celestia spoke, "Then may that be the last stroke you receive unanswered." She gently touched each of their right shoulders with the very tip of her sword. Applejack felt it's touch like a warm day back on her ag world and suddenly felt rather homesick. "On this day I dub you knights of the realm, guardians of the Solar Empire and servants of the throne." Twilight stepped in front of them and knelt in front of her sovereign. Celestia spoke, "Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight answered "Yes my Viceroy."

"Do you on this day swear to rid my realms of the scourge of piracy?" Celestia asked, her tone commanding yet warm and kind.

Twilight's face grew excited as she answered. She unintentionally radiated psychic power as she said, "I pledge my life to your service, and on my honor I swear that I shall secure your realms, or I shall die in the attempt."

Celestia smiled warmly on her protege. She thought to herself, "Who is this kneeling before me saying such bold words? Surely not the adorable little girl I once taught how to levitate a book." A guard marched up and presented Celestia with a sword handle in its scabbard. Celestia handed it to Twilight. "Then I order you, in the name of the throne, to take up this sword, and wield it in my service, until such time I order you to lay it down." Twilight took the scabbard and removed the sword handle. 

She focused on the handle and slowly a violet energy came up and shaped itself into a blade. "I shall." She relaxed and the blade fizzled out of existence, she returned the handle to its scabbard, and put it into her belt. She knelt again. 

Celestia addressed the five of them. "You shall be the tip of my spear. The force of the will of the throne." 

The five answered, "Let it be so!"

And just like that Celestia, guards, ship, and all were gone. Twilight stood and faced the four kneeling figures. Pinkie did a backflip onto her feet. "Awww I didn't get to touch the shiny!"

The other three members stayed kneeling quivering in residual terror and anger. "Twahlaght?. . . " Applejack growled still on one knee.

Twilight fiddled with her scabbard on her belt as she uninterestedly answered, "Yes Applejack?"

Rainbow leapt to her feet and screamed, "WHAT IN FUCKS NAME WAS THAT?!"

It was Rarity's turn to voice her disapproval. "WARN A GIRL BEFORE YOU PRESENT HER WITH THE FUCKING VICEROY TWILIGHT!" The three began shouting their discontent all at once. Pinkie Pie, seeing nothing wrong with what had just happened, wandered over to the cargo loading dock and pressed a button to open a different cargo bay.

As if it had been her plan Twilight interrupted the tirade with an unnecessarily loud telepathic message of, "Say who wants a giant robot?" The three were silent. Rainbow Dash was in a fury of cognitive dissonance. She stomped angrily towards the giant war machines. Twilight turned and strutted leisurely towards the other cargo bay. 

Applejack came alongside and asked. "So we're knaghts now?" Twilight simply nodded.

Rarity took the other side and babbled, "B-bu-but I mean that's just an honorary title right I mean we don't get, I mean uhh."

"Title, fiefs, lands, pension yes Rarity, you are now a Knight of the realm." Rarity and Applejack stared at each other dumbfounded. They both followed in a daze after Twilight. The five brand new top of the line mechanized combat suits gleamed in the white light of the cargo bay like freshly waxed sports cars in a showroom. Each knew instinctively which mech was there's, and they walked up reverently in awe at the towering machines. Except Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie who were emitting a sustained high pitched squeal like overstimulated school girls seeing their first boy band concert.

Twilight couldn't help but look a little smug as she gave a description. "Ladies each and every one of you should thank the engineers of the motor pool, because they've taken the field of mechanized warfare to a whole new level."

She stepped over to Rainbow Dash's mech. Its armor was sky blue, and on the leg was painted a thunder cloud with a red, yellow, and blue thunder bolt. It was the smallest of the five vaguely humanoid machines. "Lancer class, with the biggest boosters you'll find on a mech this small. Seventy percent of the weight is just the thrusters, and the shield generators. This baby can out run most anything under light speed and can take a hit from a ship's point defence laser for a sustained 15 seconds. Two shoulder mounted gatling guns, four rear facing missile tubes, two forward facing beaching lasers, and two wrist mounted las cutters. Oh and."She telekinetically grabbed Rainbow's wrist and pointed it towards the machine. Lights on its head flashed twice and emitted a small chirping noise. "Anti theft measures." Rainbow had tears streaming down her face and her smile threatened to split her head in two.

Twilight walked nonchalantly over to Applejack's suit. It's armor was bright orange. It was by far the largest of the five suits, with big bulky features from its cannons to its head. "Brawler class. Half the weight of the mech is it's ammunition canisters." Twilight turned to Applejack and smirked. "If you run out of ammo before the battle is over we will have words. The armor makes up another third of the weight. You could take a broadside head on and be just a little shook up. Two wrist mounted cannons, two shoulder mounted gatling guns and two head mounted point defence gatling guns. The only way anything's getting to you is if you let it. Triple redundancies of every system."

She continued her tour, not terribly concerned that Rainbow Dash had stayed behind to fiddle with her cockpit's set up. Rarity's mech was snow white with one large cannon the length of the whole machine towering beside it. "Archer class. You may recognize that cannon as a ship's macrolaser. Let me put it this way Rarity, if you miss, and hit a planet with this, you will just have committed a war crime." Rarity chuckled, but Twilight's face was stern. "No seriously, I had to ask very nicely to get you that cannon. DON'T. MISS." She turned back to the suit. Range thrusters to get in position on the quick and the best optics in the Imperial military. Oh and Rarity." She lifted them both into the air to see the inside of the open cockpit. Rarity saw that there was no sync drive. "Totally stick." Rarity hugged Twilight around the neck and they almost dropped out of the air. She put them back down and turned to Pinkie's mech.

"Now Pinkie." She stopped when she saw that Pinkie Pie was giving the giant robot a hug.

Pinkie sniffled and wheezed through her tears. "It's pink!" She detached herself and gave Twilight a gentle shaking hug. "You know me so well."

Twilight grew genuinely mad for a moment. Her voice echoed with psychic enhancement. "NO! NO I FUCKING DON'T!" She calmed herself down. "No. No I do not. The only thing I know is that you're good with grenades. So." She inhaled deeply. "Thirteen bunker buster bombs, thirteen anti missile flares, thirteen crack missiles, thirteen depth charges, thirteen sticky grenades, one wrist mounted plasma cutter, and one FLAMETHROWER!" She gasped for breath. 

Pinkie Pie was still crying. "You made them all a baker's dozen! You DO know me!" She squeezed Twilight tight. Twilight tried to teleport out of the crushing embrace, but it just took Pinkie with her. 

Rainbow Dash had finally gotten her seat just the way she liked it and chimed in, "What about yours Twilight? It doesn't look like all that much." The others looked and indeed the purple humanoid machine didn't boast giant cannons, or thick armor, it barely looked like a combat mech at all.Twilight waved a hand dismissively. "Hrmm? Oh yes well mine's more of an extension of myself then a war machine. Ship's plasma cannon, ship's tractor beam, largest single origin teleporter in the empire, omnibus shield generator. Nothing special." She'd meant it when she'd said it but when she turned to look at them they were all staring at her mouth agape. Rarity reached over and closed Pinkie Pie's mouth for her. They all turned and stared at the machine with a mix of awe and terror.

"Sheeyoot Twi!" Applejack grinned wide. "Or should I say Sir Twi." She chuckled softly. "When you go all out, you go ALL OUT."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I've been Sir Twilight. I was knighted before you started your training. I just had to see if I could eradicate piracy in the galaxy with your help." She smiled warmly. "And there's no one else in the galaxy I'd rather have to fight by my side than you girls." She bowed low. "Thank you. Thank you all." There was a tear in every eye as they swarmed her into a group hug. 

Finally Rainbow Dash broke away and scrambled into her cockpit and shouted, "WELL COME ON SLOWPOKES LET'S TEST THESE BAD BITCHES OUT!" She started up her suit's ignition sequences. She could feel the power at her fingertips and moaned in a mix of delight and arousal.

Twilight psychically called out to be heard over the sound of the engines. "Nah that's okay. I was going down to Terra to get some well deserved R&R." 

Rainbow Dash powered down her suit and dropped out of the cockpit. "WHAT?! Twilight ya can't just dangle a brand new suit in front of me then go on vacation!"

Applejack agreed. "Yeah Twi. Ahm glad you've got so much faith in us n all, but we gotta get familiarized and what not with are mechs."

Twilight turned, "Of course we do. We've got to practice squad tactics, strategize on how we're going to convince those who would try to raid convoys that it's simply more profitable to be a merchant than a pirate. Learn where their strongholds are, make sure that no planetary governments are sponsoring them, and all that's going to take a long time. And once we leave here we'll be doing that until we're done. So I'd suggest that while we can." She gave a knowing glance at Pinkie Pie. "We should party." Pinkie Pie inhaled deeply in elation. All four of them plugged their ears, knowing what Twilight had just started. Pinkie let out a squeal that they could all feel vibrating off of them.

Twilight made to walk towards the shuttle bay but Rainbow Dash called out, Wait!" Twilight turned. "Could we take our suits down to the surface?" Twilight considered this for a moment. She knew she shouldn't, but they were theirs personally, and they could get a head start with familiarizing themselves with them. She shrugged her shoulders and Rainbow Dash cheered. All of them began to mount up. All except Rarity. "Come on Rare let's fuckin do this!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

Twilight suddenly recalled the elephant in the room and telepathically called out for them to dismount. They all shut down their suits, but Rainbow Dash didn't drop down out of her cockpit just yet. "WHAT?! OH COME ON WHAT'S A MATTER?!" 

Rarity walked slowly to the void shields and stared at the planet below. Terra. She'd refused to look at it while they were in training, but now she stared at it. "I can't go to Terra. Not while he's there"

Rainbow groaned audibly. "Oh come on Rarity it's a fucking PLANET! I doubt your gonna see one HIM on a planet of TWENTY BILLION FUCKING PEOPLE." 

Twilight sent a psychic shriek into Rainbow Dash's mind. She put a hand on Rarity's shoulder. "Rarity, on my honor, I will never order you to go to Terra against your will." Rarity put a hand on Twilight's and nodded gratefully. Twilight turned and started barking orders. "APPLEJACK! Go down to engineering and rangle us up some good ol boys to party with. Rarity! Go get dressed. S.P.I.K.E.! 

He manifested in front of Twilight and saluted. "Yes sir?" 

Twilight barked. "Play with Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash saluted. "Go kill things and come join the party when you're done. Pinkie!" Pinkie Pie was vibrating in place with anticipation. "Party."
> A Stroll through the Gardens.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sir Twilight Sparkle and Sir Pinkie Pie, a title which still made the pink pilot giggle, walked slowly side by side through one of the many luscious gardens of the Viceroy Celestia's palace on Terra. The sun shone a hazy gold onto the many flowering bushes and trees. Light sprinkled through the shady bows and caused all manner of fantastic effects on the various statues and sculptures scattered throughout the grounds. Twilight, as always, wore her military uniform. Her officer's greatcoat, epaulettes, and high boots clashed comically with Pinkie Pie's simple civilian dress, hardly more than a slip.

Twilight for the first time in her life had someone she could talk to without knowing their entire history before even laying eyes on them. She never knew until now how nice it was to get to know someone. Unfortunately that meant she had to learn how to socialize from scratch. Luckily for her, Pinkie Pie was absolutely the most sociable person in the galaxy so she was in good hands. 

Pinkie handed Twilight an apple, and she unthinkingly munched it as the pink haired pilot prattled on about this and that. After a long winded explanation about proper dessert decorations, Pinkie looked sheepishly at Twilight and said. "Ya know. . ." Pinkie looked away slightly embarrassed. "You're the very first person who doesn't get bothered by me talking so much. Normally by now anyone else would've either had something else to do or tried to kill me." Pinkie giggled until she snorted.

Twilight couldn't keep a grin off her face. She finished her bite of apple and responded. "Well Pinkie, you're the first person I've ever met who I couldn't read. Normally I know everything about someone the second I see them, but with you I don't even know you're there until you announce yourself."

Pinkie leaned in slightly too close for comfort, as was her way, and asked in a teasing tone. "Is that why I spookered you when we first met?"

Twilight reddened slightly recalling the scene. "That among other reasons," she said, pushing her out of her personal space. 

Pinkie giggled mischievously. "And is that the reason I'm the only one who can beat you in the sparring ring." She winked an eye and stuck her tongue out.

Twilight glared. "Yes! That and you Cheat! I mean WHO THROWS A PIE DURING COMBAT?!!!" Twilight's face reddened slightly.

Pinkie Pie laughed until she had to lie down on the path. "Y- you -you- You should've seen your face!"

Twilight couldn't ward off the infectious giggles and soon had to slip gently down onto a bench and join her friend in laughing until she cried. She inhaled deeply and wiped a tear from her eye. "Yes well, I'll give you that one." She stood up and paced in thought. "It does baffle me though." She reached down with her non apple holding hand and helped a still snickering Pinkie Pie onto her feet. "I mean I just get no reading from you whatsoever. Every psychic that tries to read you has to be hospitalized with a migraine." Twilight grew mildly irritated. "You seem to know things are going to happen before they happen. Not even the Viceroys or I can do that!"

Pinkie Pie's face started to sag in concern. She knew where this train of thought was leading and she didn't like it. She never enjoyed this conversation. Twilight was now pacing about gesticulating wildly with her free hand and speaking loudly. "And the most advanced computer systems in the empire can't predict your movements so we can't even build you proper training scenarios! We literally just grabbed one of everything for your mech suit to try and cover our bases tactically." She rounded on her friend, not noticing her change in mood. "Literally who else would ever use a FLAMETHROWER in a SPACE BATTLE, but YOU DID IT! How?! How do you make reality make less sense around you? How do you function?" 

Pinkie Pie's mood had entirely darkened. Only now did Twilight Sparkle realize that her friend was almost on the verge of tears. A heavy silence hung between them. Pinkie Pie's big blue eyes eventually settled on the unfinished apple that was starting to brown in Twilight's hand. "Twilight?" She flicked her eyes towards the fruit. "Where'd you get that apple." 

Twilight raised an eyebrow high on her head and glanced at the apple. The question seemed ridiculous even for Pinkie Pie. She inhaled to answer but another moment of silence passed between them. It occurred to Twilight that she actually hadn't thought about where it had come from. Finally after an overlong moment she recalled, "Oh! Uhh you gave it to me!"

Pinkie stared chin lowered, eyebrows raised condescendingly. "And where did I get it?" Her face hardened in annoyance. "Did I bring it with me? Have I been holding an apple all day?"

Twilight looked at the ground and rubbed the back of her head in deep contemplation. "Well. . . I guess I thought you picked it from one of the trees."

Pinkie Pie unexpectedly, as was her custom, got face to face with Twilight and screamed. "Are there ANY APPLE trees in this garden TWILIGHT?! A tear leaked from her eye and streamed slowly down her cheek.

Twilight's face went blank. She stared at the apple in her hand as if it had just turned into a fiery serpent. "But. . . There must. . . ? Twilight suddenly leapt up high into the air and supported herself telekinetically as she scrutinized every step they had taken through the garden that afternoon. There wasn't an apple tree to be found. She saw one of the gardeners on the opposite side of the garden from when they'd come in, and psychically interrogated him about the contents of the garden. There weren't any fruit bearing trees in any of Celestia's gardens, the uneaten fruit was a nuisance. 

Twilight landed and once again stared at the apple in her hand. "Pinkie. . . Where the fuck did you get this apple?!"

"THAT TWILIGHT! THAT RIGHT THERE!" Pinkie screamed, tears flowing freely now. Twilight flinched back slightly at the emotion. "My whole life stuff has just happened. I don't even bother asking questions anymore because there's never a good answer! I just stumble through life and do my best to keep a smile." She broke down onto a bench and sobbed openly. Twilight had limited experience comforting crying women, but her instinct was just about correct. She sat down beside her crying friend and cautiously put a hand to her shoulder.  "Do you know why I joined the Navy Twilight?" She fished a small billfold out of one of the small pockets in her dress. A pocket too small to hold the apple she'd been eating, Twilight noticed, to her annoyance. She pulled an old physical photograph of her and her family, a rarity in those days. Pinkie stuck out like a sore thumb with her big goofy smile juxtaposed with her family's traditional mineral world dignity. Pinkie flipped the picture over and on the back was a small sticker with a battleship loosing a full broadside. "I only signed up because the recruiter had stickers.

Twilight's body went rigid, her long dark purple hair hung over her face. Pinkie Pie continued."That's why I like being around you." She put her head on Twilight's shoulder. "You seem to know everything, and just what we should do. Things make sense around you." Pinkie Pie stopped when she saw a single tear hit the picture. She realized that Twilight was gently shaking under her cheek. Pinkie raised her head to look at Twilight's face. She brushed back her long hair to get a better look and saw that her friend's face was beet red and tears were streaming down her face.

She'd been stifling her laughter. She tried not to look but finally Twilight made eye contact with Pinkie and the dam broke. She burst out laughing and Pinkie was honestly taken aback for a moment. "I'M SORRY!. . . I'M SORRY!" Twilight wheezed between laughs. "I know that this is horrible but THAT!" She howled with laughter again. "That is the most RIDICULOUS thing I've ever heard." She leaned forward and laughed until it hurt.

Pinkie Pie's surprise faded into disbelief, then annoyance, then acceptance. "Okay I'll. . . I'll give you that one," she said. Now it was her turn to be unable to resist the infectious giggles and soon the two were laughing raucously. Twilight laughed so hard that she slipped backward off of the bench and accidently pulled Pinkie Pie down with her still laughing. 

Finally Twilight's laughter petered out into broken sniggles. She unthinkingly pulled Pinkie into a hug and wheezed. "You signed up for life and death struggles. . . " She snickered hard. "Because they had stickers." She wheezed out a choking laugh.

Pinkie Pie snorted at the silliness of the statement. "Well duh?" She snatched the picture off of the bench with her toes. "Do you see this sticker? It's embossed and everything!"

After another bout of chuckling Twilight finally calmed down enough to say, "I love you Pinkie." Unthinkingly. In the way that one offhandedly tells a friend they love them.

Pinkie Pie's face went blank, and she shifted back far enough to see Twilight's face. She stared hard into her commander's violet eyes. Twilight, as happened often with the pink haired pilot, grew mildly uncomfortable and began to ask what was the matter. She was cut off by Pinkie Pie darting her face forward and planting a deep kiss onto her lips.

Twilight's eyes shot open at the unexpected contact. A thousand thoughts shot through her mind simultaneously, but none could gain any purchase in her delirious state. After several seconds Pinkie pulled away, and much to Twilight's surprise, she felt herself reconnect the kiss. Twilight's mind, for the first time in her life, shut down. All that existed in the universe right then, all that mattered, was the woman in her arms, and on her lips.
Twilight pulled Pinkie in tighter and kissed her deeper. Pinkie, seeing that her advances were well received, rolled on top of Twilight and hid both of their faces under her long pink curls. 

A long time later S.P.I.K.E. chimed in to remind Twilight that it was time for her scheduled dinner with her parents. Twilight scrambled awkwardly off of Pinkie Pie to put S.P.I.K.E. back into sleep mode, forgetting momentarily that her A.I. was controlled completely with her mind.

Before S.P.I.K.E. could mention her uniform being out of regulation Twilight finally gave the mental command to make the intrusive little hologram go away. She breathed heavily trying to calm herself down. "Damnit all! I completely lost track of time!" She said as she reached for her uniform shirt. "We're going to be late for dinner! Where the HELL are my Fucking Panties!" Twilight shouted.

Pinkie Pie cleared her throat. Twilight saw that Pinkie was holding them in her teeth mischievously, and her mind went blank. "I don't think your parents will mind if you're just a widdle iddle teensy weensy bit late," she said through clenched teeth, pressing her breasts together in the ancient female technique for getting your way.

Twilight, as was the only possible outcome under such skillful manipulation, stared for a moment before sheepishly slipping back down beside her. "Well I suppose we're already late. A little later can't hurt."
> The Death of Constitutional Diarchy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity, as a Knight of the Realm, now had access to pretty much anywhere on the Damocles. With all of her friends down on Terra, she was sitting alone in the least frequented officer's lounge onboard. It was a nice place, a place where you could get a drink in peace and think about what you've done. She spoke idly with S.P.I.K.E. who simply ate up anything she said. She turned sharply in surprise when she felt a large hand placed heavily on her shoulder. It was Applejack. "Howdy Rares." She called out, clearly intoxicated.

Rarity got over her surprise and levitated out a chair for her inebriated friend. "Good evening darling. I thought you'd be planetside."

Applejack gave a tipsy grin. "Well ah was, but ah couldn't leave y'all all by yer lonesome."

Rarity chuckled. "But I'm not alone. I have S.P.I.K.E." S.P.I.K.E. appeared four inches tall in the bar and waved at Applejack. The drunken knight chuckled to herself for an overlong moment as a drink slid through his shimmering form. "So where's Rainbow?" Rarity asked over her drink.

Applejack stopped her chuckling and looked slowly away. "Oh she shacked up with some." Rarity could not understand the last word as Applejack had devolved into angry muttering. 

Rarity, not that she'd ever admit it, was rather blunt and short tempered when she was intoxicated. Which she was presently. This little secret of Applejack's had always annoyed her and she felt now was as good a time as any to press her on the issue. She leared towards Applejack. "Jacqueline. . ." Applejack hated Rarity's name for her. It simply wasn't her name. Rarity stared her in the eyes and Applejack didn't look away. Rarity dropped the other shoe. "When are you gonna tell her."

Applejack looked quickly to her drink. She knew exactly what she was talking about, but she lied and gruffly asked. "Tell who what?"

Rarity didn't let up. "Tell a certain KNIGHT that you want to spend your NIGHTS. WITH. HER." She overenunciated every syllable for effect. Applejack didn't answer, she just swallowed half her drink. Rarity leaned back in her seat. "Well I suppose it's none of my business.''

Applejack growled. "That's right. It ain't." She overenunciated each syllable, mimicking her interrogator.

Rarity grinned maliciously over her drink. "Just wanted to help you avoid my mistake." Rarity sipped her drink.

Applejack took the bait. "Oh n what's that."

Rarity turned to the hologram who'd been sitting patiently on the bar while the two talked. "S.P.I.K.E.y wikey where are Twilight and Pinkie Pie now?" 

S.P.I.K.E. momentarily froze as he processed the question. "On Terra."

Rarity nasally exhaled. "Specifically darling."

S.P.I.K.E checked specifically. "They are currently in one of the suites the Viceroy assigned them." 

Rarity looked hard at Applejack with a smug grin. "Could you call them please?"

S.P.I.K.E attempted to establish a video connection, but the call was rejected. "Sorry Rarity, Twilight's not accepting calls right now."

Applejack glared. "What's that good to do with anythin? Maybe they're busy."

Rarity pouted her lips. "Well then my little S.P.I.K.Ey wikey could you please show us the room? Please pretty please?" S.P.I.K.E's eyes turned to little pink hearts and he brought up a tastefully edited video image of the inside of the room. Applejack's face went beet red as she saw a military uniform and several articles of feminine clothing scattered haphazardly about the floor, as well as a very peculiar shadow on the wall. Applejack stood quickly up but Rarity seized her wrist. "Applejack wait!" Applejack turned and glared at her, but suddenly realized she had tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I don't say this to hurt you!" She released the wrist and shrank into herself. "I was serious. I don't want you to do what I did."

Applejack was dazed but managed to breathlessly ask the question. "What's that."

Rarity turned, her cosmetics beginning to run. "To miss your chance like I missed mine!" Applejack stared in shock at the other woman. She'd had no idea of Rarity's feelings, much less Twilight's and Pinkie Pie's. She glanced at the ground in contemplation for a moment then began to walk away. 

Rarity ran her finger along her drink contemplatively when she felt herself crushed in a bear hug. "Thanks" Applejack whispered. She turned to go find Rainbow Dash. 

That's when the alarms started to shriek.

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

Down on the planet Pinkie Pie refused to break the farewell kiss. Twilight was reluctant to pull away, but she HAD to get moving. She muttered out of the side of her mouth. "Pinkie! PINKIE! I love you, but I have GOT to GO! Celestia's waiting!" Pinkie Pie stuck out her lower lip and showed her big blue eyes and Twilight almost gave in. She gave Pinkie one more deep kiss then violently broke away. She called behind her, "Just wait for me in my quarters I'll be there soon I promise!" She teleported away before Pinkie's lunge could reach her. Pinkie ended up sprawled out on the floor. She banged her fist on the carpet and harrumphed.

She lazily got dressed and made her winding way towards the shuttle port, in no particular hurry, when who should she happen to see trudging slowly toward the same shuttle but her fellow knight Rainbow Dash. She jogged up to her and saw that she looked exhausted and had several different shades of lipstick as well as a few bite marks on her neck. "Well somebody's had a good night." She put an arm over her shoulders and helped a thoroughly spent Rainbow Dash into her seat on the private shuttle.

Rainbow Dash wheezed a laugh. "I've been trying to get back all day! Terran bitches are crazy!" 

Pinkie Pie snorted remembering her own night. "Tell me about it. But I always thought you and Applejack were a thing." 

Rainbow leaned forward in her chair and stared at Pinkie in surprise. "What?! Nuh uh. With Applejack? Nooooo." She shook her head at the floor. "Applejack's an ag worlder, she'd never go for someone like me."

"Oh yes she would silly!" Pinkie lightly batted an arm. "Jackie wants your balls bad!"

Rainbow stared at Pinkie completely stunned. She'd never once considered that maybe a strong, morally unambiguous woman like Applejack would ever go for her, the scrawny pirate. "You really think so."

Pinkie Pie grinned and put on her best ag world drawl and did an uncomfortably good impersonation of their big blonde friend. "Cum ere Are Dee. Let's go for a roll in the hay." She squeezed Rainbow Dash and made kissy faces.

Rainbow winced and shouted, "AH Pinkie fuck off! I got bite marks everywhere! Seriously let the fuck go FUCK!"

Pinkie refused to let the struggling figure go. She continued her impersonation, "Nuh uh Darlin. Yer mah special liddle sugar cube. Imma just eat you up!" The shuttle barely touched down on the deck of the Damocles when Rainbow flopped out the door. Pinkie was still making kissy faces, and Rainbow giggled while she tried to fight her off.

That's when the alarm started to shriek.

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

On Terra Twilight was trying to make up for lost time by teleporting from landmark to landmark. She didn't want to manifest inside anything valuable and destroy it, and she could only appear within line of sight. Her head spun as she popped in and out of reality. She'd gone from never been kissed to in love and in bed in ten seconds flat. She tried to keep the big silly grin off of her face but Pinkie had been a bad influence on her. She looked up into the sky and an idea Pinkie would have occurred to her. She teleported several hundred yards into the air and continued to pop in and out of reality closer and closer to her destination. She cheered and hooted as she went. Occasionally letting herself fall for several seconds before popping back up to a safe height.

She landed at the Imperial palace and popped safely onto the doorstep. She had a short giggle fit and had to fight hard to suppress it. She put her hand to the door and again had to fight to keep her face straight. She pulled on the door handle. It was locked. Then Twilight's good mood died. This door was never locked, this was the private entrance only allowed for the Viceroy's inner circle. This door was NEVER locked.

It hit Twilight that no one had tried to intercept her as she entered the palace airspace either. Where were the guards? She let her mind wander and there was no life of any kind to be felt for miles around. This was bad, this was very very bad.

And that's when the alarms started to shriek.

Twilight's hologram generator that she used to control S.P.I.K.E. projected a life-size image of Viceroy Luna. Twilight reflexatorily knelt thinking it was her calling to explain what was going on. The Viceroy stood erect and proud, her long ethereal hair shining like the milky way seen from the dark side of the moon. Her large vestigial wings folded close behind her, their black plumes shining dark as the void. Her skin shone like the full moon on her stern countenance. Her voice was deep and cold as she spoke.

"Citizens of the Solar Empire. It is my unfortunate duty to inform you all, that my sister, Celestia, Solar Viceroy, has betrayed us all. History recalls Celestia's reign of terror. How she ruled with the sword and the all consuming flame. Well it is apparent now that she longs for those days again and wishes to shrug off the restraints of constitutional rule." 

Twilight's tears flowed freely. Her heart sank. This was not possible. She knew Celestia's history, but this could not happen. She looked around and noticed the same message was being projected at every security station around the grounds. She heard the echo of Luna's voice coming over the hedge walls, as well as a few horrified screams at the news. 

"As is my duty, sworn in blood on the day I took the throne. I have sought to end this dire threat to your safety, but alas I have failed you. I am not strong enough to defeat her. Therefore as Viceroy of the Solar Empire I hereby order all Navy vessels in orbit to destroy this palace." Twilight's eyes shot open in panic. 

"I will do what I must to contain Celestia here. It does not concern me whether or not I survive the barrage, so long as this crisis is dealt with, that will be enough. Soldiers of the Imperial Navy, do your duty. Hail the Solar Empire." With that the hologram cut out.

Twilight was momentarily frozen. That's why there were no guards. She'd had the entire palace evacuated. Twilight's head slowly craned towards the sky. Soon hundreds, if not thousands of vessels were going to be loosing macrolaser right where she was standing. Luna wasn't going to destroy a palace. That much fire power all concentrated in the same area would be enough to cause nuclear winter. She was staring straight down the barrel of an exterminatus. Twilight's paralyzed stillness burst into a flurry of activity. She summoned all of her psychic might and burst straight through the heavy doors. She levitated herself as fast as she could down the long ornate corridors. She summoned S.P.I.K.E. The little dragon hologram cheerily chirped, "Hey Twilight! I thought you'd be in a meeting with.~"

Twilight screamed in her mind at the babysitter unit. "S.P.I.K.E SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN TO ME! CONNECT ME WITH THE GIRLS NOW!" S.P.I.K.E momentarily froze with surprise. Twilight screamed. "NOW! NOW!! NOW!!!" The little dragon scrambled to bring up four separate video calls. She saw concern written on every face and could see Applejack and Rarity were running. "Girls I need you suited up for intercept double quick!"

"Me and Pinkie are already there!" Rainbow Dash barked as her cockpit sealed around her.

Rarity breathlessly said, "Five minutes for me and Applejack. GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY!" She shrieked at a group of pilots that she none too gently elbowed out of the way.

Applejack asked. "We're not seriously gonna have to kill Celestia are we?"

Twilight glared at the screen. She knew Applejack knew better, but it still infuriated her that she would countenance the very notion. "NO! Something's wrong."

Rainbow Dash unhelpfully chimed in. "Yeah no shit dumbass."

Twilight managed to continue. "I'm going to see what's going on. I'm at the palace. Keep them off of me for as long as you can."

Pinkie Pie screamed, "THE PALACE THAT'S ABOUT TO GET NUKED?!"

Twilight was almost to the throne room. "I'm not going to let this happen! Keep them off of me for as long as you can. Do you hear me? DO NOT LET ME GET FUCKING NUKED!!!" 

Pinkie Pie tried to say "Twilight I love~" but Twilight ended the call and burst into the throne room.
> The Lunar Republic.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In orbit the knights of Strike Team Sparkle stood shoulder to shoulder in their mech units between Terra, and an entire fleet of warships. They had no idea how they were going to stop them. All they knew was that their friend, and their sovereign were down there, and they were the only things standing between them and annihilation. They desperately hailed as many ships as they could but more often than not to no avail.

Rarity hailed the Damocles. "This is Sir Rarity of Strike Team Sparkle assigned to the I.N.S. Damocles ordering an immediate stand down!"

A seasoned voice responded. "This is Admiral Davenport of the I.N.S. Damocles to Sir Rarity. We have immediate orders from the Viceroy to fire on the Imperial palace and stop a rogue Celestia from resuming her reign of terror."

Rarity pleaded with the Admiral. "Charles! Clearly something is wrong! Please! I beg of you! At least wait for verification!"

The Admiral didn't respond for a long while. A glimmer of hope shone in Rarity's heart for just a moment. "Sorry ma'am. Every second we argue is a second longer that Luna has to contain Celestia. We can't risk her returning to tyranny."

"OH FUCK YOU CHARLES!" Rarity screamed and cut the connection. Several ships believed the hails and pleas, but several ships descended into lower orbit and assumed firing positions. 

Pinkie Pie pulled her pink curls in desperation and screamed. "What do we do?! WHAT DO WE DO?!"

Rarity had no more choice. She took careful aim at the ship who's macrocannons were already warming up and fired. She closed her eyes with regret and pulled the trigger. Her mechs rifle tore straight through the bridge and scuttled the ship instantly. It broke apart in a crackle of blue flame as it's atmosphere ignited. It started at the bridge and spread to the bow and stern. That was it. The Solar civil war was begun.

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

Twilight burst into the throne room and horror greeted her. She saw her liege, her mentor, her best friend, beaten broken, and bloodied, laying on the floor against her throne. Celestia even in her most tender moments had always shone with a greatness that pierced to the heart of all who beheld her. Now she appeared a wreck of a woman, her long ethereal hair stilled and matted with blood. Her face was bruised and bleeding from the eyes. Her expression, not one of anger or pain or even desperation. It was of loss. Celestia lay there a broken woman. She had been so shocked by Luna's betrayal that she hadn't resisted.

Twilight walked towards her like in a nightmare. Every step she took towards the fallen idol, the farther away she seemed. She bent down to try and touch the mangled form when a blast of cold psychic energy hit her in the side painfully, knocking her across the room. Twilight had the wind knocked out of her and she gasped and coughed for air. She painfully got to all fours and tried to get her breath back. She saw through eyes clouded with pain that someone was walking towards her. She felt herself lifted up and saw her. Luna. The Lunar Viceroy. Luna looked on her like a meddlesome child interrupting a solemn occasion. She flung Twilight out of the throne room like she was discarding a piece of trash.

"These people." Twilight heard her say to Celestia. "They've always loved you. Even when you were glassing their cities and imposing your will they loved you. I've never understood it." She raised a hand to deliver the coup de grace. "I didn't think it'd be this easy. I guess all these centuries of being worshipped like a goddess has made you weak. Goodby sis~" She was cut off by Twilight flying back in and slashing her hard with her sword. Luna flew straight through a stained glass window featuring herself challenging Celestia.

Twilight landed beside Celestia and pulled an arm over her shoulder. "Come on! We have to get out of here, they're gonna nuke us."

Celestia didn't rest her weight on Twilight and she gently pulled her arm back down. "Go." Was all she said.

Twilight stared aghast at what she'd just heard. "Celestia." she whispered in dismay. Twilight was knocked through a wall by Luna flying back through the broken window. She was glowing like the full moon and radiated fury. Twilight cried out in pain as she stopped, but quickly turned and slashed at the Viceroy. Her eyes glowed and she grit her teeth as she slashed wildly at her attacker. Luna flew away from her and Twilight put herself between the Viceroys. Her breathing was labored and she could barely stand, but she was too angry to die just yet.

Luna called out in a cold commanding voice. "Be gone Twilight Sparkle. Do not meddle in the affairs of your betters."

Twilight cried. "Luna stop this! This is murder!"

Luna gave a mirthless laugh. "Was it murder when your beloved sovereign turned the shining city of Manehattan to glass and ash because they refused to bow the knee to her? Or how about the millions of others she slaughtered by her own hand during the unification wars Twilight? Were those murder?"

Twilight was aware of Celestia shifting behind her. "Twilight, she's right. I've never faced justice for what I've done."

Luna finally grew angry. "And yet she's the one touted as a goddess. She's hailed as the founder of the Solar Empire. The empire that WE BUILT! Together! And she adds to it more worlds day by day Twilight! She lusts for power still. I'm going to end this. I'm going to do what I should've done a thousand years ago."

Celestia spoke, "Twilight. Go. Serve my Sister. I'm sure she'll rule the empire better than I ever did."

Luna laughed, this time with a spiteful mirth. "No sister, not an Empire. No. I shall found a new government. One where it's laws shall not be decreed by fiat. I shall establish a Republic. And usher in a glorious new age of liberty and security. Planets will be free to join or leave as they see fit. And I will rule over it by consent! Do you not see Twilight? The empire has failed. It's devolved into a corrupt cesspool of merchants controlling worlds and pirates scraping up what's left! Celestia has led us all into ruin."

Twilight didn't answer. She merely held her sword out in front of her in the same stance as when she sparred. All that mattered was her liege lord was in danger and she was her vassal. "I pledge my life to your service, and on my honor I swear that I shall secure your realms, or I shall die in the attempt." Twilight's breath slowed. "That was the oath I took." Twilight glared at Luna. "Do you remember your oath Luna? You swore an oath in blood to uphold the constitution of the Solar Empire. A constitution your citizens presented YOU WITH. A tyrant often uses fair words to topple governments and seize power, but if you cannot hold faith with an oath how can you think you are fit to found a government?!" 

Luna ground her teeth. "I WILL NOT BE TAUGHT MY BUSINESS BY AN IMPUDENT CHILD!" and she loosed a wave of psychic fury at Twilight.
> Sic Semper Tyrannis.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The knights of Strike Team Sparkle fought a desperate struggle against the fleets stationed around the orbit above the palace. Every ship they scuttled was full of soldiers that they'd known, that they'd fought beside, that they'd drank with. But each knew their duty and followed it to the letter. They trusted Twilight, and they were going to hold the line or die trying.

They found themselves in a uniquely advantageous position tactically. The fleet couldn't fire on them directly, as they were close in amongst the fleet. No individual ship could fire on them without them risking hitting another ship. So they tried to ignore them and descend to lower orbit and take the shot on the Imperial palace as ordered. But every time they did Rarity would scuttle that ship with her macrolaser. Finally the fleet realized their situation, and squads of mechs began pouring out piecemeal of the various battleships.

Applejack called out over the suits' communicator. "Rarity! You take care of anyone who gets by us. We'll keep 'em off your back. Pinkie you tell Rarity where to aim. She'll set 'em up, you knock 'em down! R.D. you're with me! I'll keep the pressure on 'em, you move in for the kill. Hammer and anvil! Let's go to work!"

Their responses came back, "Excellent idea darling," "Understood," and, "OOH! I LOVE BOWLING!"

Fighters attempted to overwhelm them with sheer weight of fire, but Applejack's cannons forced them to keep their distance. Some attempted to flank, but they were quickly cut down by Rarity's macrolaser. One suit, ballsier, or more foolish, than the rest attempted to rush the position and got bisected by Rainbow Dash for his trouble. She was all over the battlefield, flying in and out among the ranks. Her and Applejack fought as a single entity. 

Rarity and Pinkie Pie made a deadly combination as pilot's would swerve wildly to try and avoid Rarity's cross hairs. Then they would find a depth charge they hadn't noticed going off in front of them a split second before they died. Pinkie would call out targets wildly where there was nothing to shoot, but by the time the shot arrived the target would fly right into her laser's path. She seemed to scatter explosives with reckless abandon, but mech's would be so caught up in different aspects of the battle that they would fly right into a mine before they realized it. Rarity scuttled ship after ship and it became increasingly difficult for ships to find a place to fire from that wasn't choked with debris.

More and more ships decided it was more advantageous to wait for further orders, or at least wait for reinforcements as more ships arrived from the other side of the planet. The battle was going well and the end was theoretically in sight. They just needed to hit a critical mass of casualties to cow the rest of the fleet into a cease fire. But that's when Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pied. She had just used a chunk of wrecked ship like a baseball bat and used it to hit a depth charge like a baseball right into a mech fleeing from Rainbow Dash. She cheered, "STEEE RIKE!" When her head turned suddenly towards Terra. She screamed, "TWILIGHT!" and made full speed for the surface.

Rainbow Dash called out, "PINKIE! Where the fuck are you going?!"

But the only response she got was Applejack barking, "It's Pinkie Pie are ya really asking what she's doing?" Rainbow accepted this answer and continued the fight. Without their spotter though, the fight became much tougher. Squads were able to form up and strike as one without Pinkie to disrupt them. Applejack had her hands full keeping units off of Rarity so she could cover the few ships still making for lower orbit. Rainbow ended up having the lead squads pursuing her into another squad's line of fire. Things were difficult but manageable until suddenly disaster struck.

Applejack saw Rainbow Dash stuck way out in a gap in the fight where there was no ship behind her. She was finally open to attack from the battleships. She shouted for Rarity to intercept, but Rarity couldn't get a clear shot with the three mechs on her tail. Applejack pulled the trigger to try and relieve the pressure on her but nothing happened. She looked in horror at the screen and saw doom scrawled there in big flashing red letters. OUT OF AMMUNITION. She was completely spent. She had nothing to fight with. She turned and saw the ship's cannons beginning to glow with a deadly light. Applejack screamed for Rainbow Dash to get clear, but she was tied up with two other mechs.

Applejack suddenly remembered Twilight's description of her mech. "You could take a broadside head-on and only be a little shook up." She hit the thrusters hard and hoped that Twilight was right. She saw on the rear view screen that the ship had just loosed it's salvo. She felt every millisecond as she closed the distance. She grabbed the smaller mech in a bear hug a split second before the broadside hit her in the back. The force of the impact was unbearable. Applejack blacked out instantly and sent her and Rainbow Dash hurtling towards the planet below.

Rainbow Dash screamed for Applejack to let go, but the giant mech continued it's death grip. She slashed feebly at the suits arms with her wrist mounted plasma cutter, but she couldn't get a good angle on them. She saw the ground rising up to meet them quickly and scrambled for anyway to turn or to slow down. She tried her own boosters but they'd both been blown off in the impact of the bear hug. Rainbow wriggled and squirmed but to no avail. They hit the ground at the full speed of Applejack's suit's thrusters like a comet, splitting the earth beneath for several yards around.

Rainbow screamed in agony. Her shields had absorbed most of the impact, but they weren't designed to handle the impact of having a large heavy mech unit tackle it out of orbit. The cockpit crunched in with an ear piercing shriek and a section split her arm and shoulder clean off of her body. Her suit's power core had ruptured on impact and it lay dead in the dirt. Applejack was still unconscious. Rainbow lay in screaming, suffocating agony, in a giant metal tomb, with no one who could help her.

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

In the Imperial throne room of Terra, the seat of government of the most powerful empire in history, two women strove in psychic combat. Luna poured power in a stream of cold fury that burned like ice. Twilight gritted her teeth as she poured everything she had into her shield, but it wasn't enough. Twilight could barely stop herself and her sovereign from being evaporated. She hurt all over, not just from being thrown through a wall, but the sheer toll on her body that sustaining her shield against this kind of force took. Every fiber of her being hurt and she had to struggle not to pass out from the strain.

She had sworn an oath never to retreat, never to surrender. She would not fail. Her aching mind thought of Celestia teaching the empire how to terraform planets, how she liberated the empire from the confinement of space stations and helped them spread across the galaxy to the thousand worlds. She thought about how she'd plucked her from obscurity and turned her curse into a gift. She thought about Applejack, and Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, fighting against impossible odds in orbit to buy her time. She knew they must still be winning as she wasn't yet dead. Lastly she thought about Pinkie Pie. She thought about how much she infuriated her, and fascinated her, and how much she loved her. Every thought gave her the will to stand for one more second, one more brief effort. 

Luna was furious beyond all rational thought at this little meddler's impudence. She put all of her psychic might behind her attack. She stopped glowing and appeared as a mortal woman. Her long ethereal hair hung limply, matted with sweat. She ground her teeth and pushed with all her might in one final effort. Twilight's knees buckled and she fell heavily to one knee, her shield barely large enough to cover her crouching form and Celestia's prone body.

Just as she felt the last of her will fading she noticed the sensation of time slowing. She saw every crease in Luna's enraged face as she attacked. She saw every curve and wave of Luna's psychic blast. She felt every ounce of pain for much longer than before. Suddenly Twilight heard her mentor's voice echoing in her mind. "Twilight. . . Why? . . . Why do you continue to resist? You know you can't win. You know what I've done, what I'm capable of. So why then do you throw yourself on the sword of your enemy for my sake?"

Twilight felt a hot anger burn inside her at hearing her mentor speak so. Applejack's wisdom burst from her mind. "There ain't no such thing as a no win situation. Celestia everyone's got a past! I've spent six months with two people who illegally entered the Navy with falsified documents, one of whom was a pirate, a sororicide, and a woman who is COMPLETELY INSANE! And you know why? Because I saw potential in them, just like you saw potential in me. Now I need you to see the potential in yourself. Every knight under my command has earned their keep. I would gladly fight to the death for any of them, and they're currently in orbit fighting to keep us alive. Yes, you killed people in the unification wars, but in the thousand years following you've freed the empire from the solar system, and have successfully guided them to the thousand worlds. If anyone has earned their keep IT'S YOU!"

Celestia pondered this momentarily and gave a sad smile. "Who is this valiant knight who speaks such bold words? Surely not that little girl who I~"

"Celestia not for nothing but I'm kind of dying here, could you please. . . HELP. . . Me save you?" Twilight interrupted.

Celestia's face went blank with embarrassment for just a moment. She raised a hand and gave Twilight the little bit of help she could in her beaten and bloodied state. Twilight's shield held for just a moment longer, but even with Celestia's help she still couldn't hold out. She felt herself start to fade. She became less aware of her physical body. She thought of Rarity, and Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. She thought about Celestia and her parents. She thought about Pinkie Pie and how she always knew where to be and what to do, without understanding why. Then with the very last connection of two synapses she whispered. "Pinkie. Now."

Luna, even while putting every ounce of energy she had into her blast, still spared the mental energy to raise an eyebrow in confusion. That's when Pinkie Pie crashed through the ceiling and crushed Luna to death instantly. 
> My Tailor's Not Gonna Like This.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight collapsed to the floor. She had lost almost all coherence of self. She glowed like a dying flame and could barely process her own being. Her thoughts were in a haze. She felt like a cloud that was about to disperse.

Pinkie Pie's cockpit opened slowly and a very concussed Pinkie Pie scrambled out. "Sorry folks. I can only do that trick once!" She stumbled towards the vague glowing shape of Twilight. When she saw her doubled over and beginning to fade she came to her senses. "TWILIGHT!" She wasn't sure whether or not she should touch the now less than humanoid shape. "Twilight. I'm- I'm right here! It's Pinkie Pie can you hear me? Are you alright?" In Twilight's hazy consciousness she heard a distant voice calling her. A vague recollection, as from a very long time ago, half remembered came to her mind. She felt like someone she sorely missed was waiting for her. She tried to move towards the direction she heard the voice calling from. She wasn't aware of her legs, but felt herself moving up. The violet ball of energy started to rise slowly upward. Pinkie's knees buckled as she watched the ball of energy float slowly into the air. She reached out a shaking hand towards it. All she could do was weakly cry, "Twilight wrong way! I'm down here! Don't go! There's still so many flavors of pie I haven't thrown at you!"

The ball of energy erupted into a blinding flash of white light. When Pinkie blinked the spots out of her eyes she saw her floating there. Twilight. Her Twilight, eyes glowing, surrounded by a glowing aura, sporting a giant pair of lavender plumed wings that beat softly as she descended. Her hair had the same ethereal shimmer as Celestia's but with her usual pink and navy blue.Twilight landed gently and her eyes stopped glowing. She turned slowly to Pinkie Pie and gave a warm smile. She walked as in a dream over to her and wrapped her arms and wings around her in a delicate embrace. "I heard you. As I was dying. I heard you calling me."

"It feels like sparkles." Pinkie whispered through her tears. 

Twilight's face went blank. Pinkie was running her hands through the cloud of Twilight's hair. Pinkie Pie's shenanigans recalled Twilight back to reality. She looked to see how Celestia was doing, she was no longer leaned against her throne. She had risen and was staring in frozen horror at the machine that had killed her sister. Twilight snatched the mech off of Luna and immediately regretted it. There was only a red stain. Twilight silently panicked and didn't know whether to cover it back up or leave it alone. "Celestia. I'm so.~" She stopped suddenly as Celestia's eyes started to glow. The ground beneath them shook. Twilight grabbed Pinkie Pie and flew away, not knowing what she would do. Twilight's vision suddenly began to cloud and she thought she was going blind. Just as suddenly her sight returned. She turned and saw a cone of darkness covering the entire Imperial palace. Celestia was literally bending the light away from the palace. Twilight landed and her heart ached with sympathy for her mentor. Pinkie Pie clung to Twilight and worriedly asked, "Should we be worried?"

Twilight's tears ran freely down her face. "No Pinkie." She tried and failed to wipe away her tears. "Even after what she did, she's still heartbroken that she's gone." She clutched Pinkie tight and wept at the sheer gallantry of her sovereign. "Oh Celestia."

Pinkie Pie looked worriedly at the sky. "I meant about the whole space nuking thing."

Twilight's eyes shot open. "OH FUCKING SHIT!!!" She bent her will towards the sky and realized that she could see everything in her mind's eye. She could feel every heartbeat, hear every thought. Where once she had to learn how to not hear thoughts to spare herself the pain, now she heard everything she bent her will towards, and it felt right. It felt natural. Like a gentle roar of a restaurant during an interesting conversation. 

In the orbital battle Rarity stood alone in the stratosphere. She'd had to sink to lower and lower orbits to strike at vessels attempting to destroy the palace. Her power core was spent as far as her macrocannon was concerned. She had only enough power to maintain life support, not as if it would matter for very long. She sat upright and unafraid. She had fought until the last bullet, like a good soldier. She hadn't retreated, and she would not surrender. She was ready to face her fate.

The fleet didn't even bother killing her with mech units. This little knight had scuttled dozens of ships and mech units. She had defied a direct order from a Viceroy. They weren't just going to kill her for what she'd done. They were going to erase her from existence. Every cannon in the fleet aimed their macrolasers squarely at her. As if by an unspoken agreement all the ships prepared to fire at once. Rarity saw a thousand lights glimmer at once and gave an odd smile. She lay back in her seat and whispered. "I'll see you soon Sweetie Belle."

Then all the lights in the fleet dimmed. Every single mind in the battle heard Twilight's voice echoing as it said, "Stand down. Celestia has not betrayed the empire." Rarity turned sharply towards Terra in shock. She knew that Twilight was a powerful psychic, but this was ridiculous. 

On the bridge of the Damocles, Admiral Davenport clung to the railing with knuckles white with terror. Every sailor on the bridge was paralyzed with fear at what had just occurred. A thousand cannons had deactivated themselves, and then ten thousand minds heard the same message. A cannoneer asked in a voice shaking like a leaf in the wind. "W-w-what d-d-do we do sir? Do we s-s-stand down? Davenport tried to answer twice but his mouth wouldn't form the words. The cannoneer took the initiative and shouted, "Stand down! Stand down all hands." A few lifted their hands away from the controls as if at gunpoint.

Rarity sat slack in awe at the situation. After a long moment she heard Twilight's voice again. "Rarity! Where are Applejack and Rainbow Dash? I don't see them with you."

Rarity slowly answered as if unsure she'd be heard. "I think they're on the."

"Yes I know hush! I'm trying to hear!" Rarity heard in her mind. She wondered if she hadn't just gone crazy with the stress of the battle. "Holy fuck fine! Rarity, Pinkie says hi. Now where are they again I didn't hear." Twilight said in an irritated tone.

"Last I saw them they were hurtling towards the surface." Rarity said as into a faulty intercom.

Twilight snapped, "What?!" And she desperately felt for their presence. She felt that Applejack was unharmed, just out cold, but she physically cringed when she felt Rainbow Dash's crushing, agonizing pain and terror. She grabbed Pinkie tight and teleported to the crash sight. She lifted both wrecks and tore Applejack's suit off of Rainbow's. She ripped the canopy straight off, and for just a moment she stared in horror at her friend's wound. She crouched down and was at a loss for how to proceed. She was paralyzed with shock at the sight of such a valiant knight to be in such a pitiable state. She gently levitated her out of her cockpit. She grew hot with impotent rage and glared at the Damocles in orbit. She crushed Pinkie to her side in her telekinetic grasp and teleported three of them to the med bay.

The medical officers toppled backwards in terror when some creature like the Viceroys simply appeared out of nowhere right in front of them. Twilight's commanding voice echoed through the med bay. "This one takes priority." None of the medical officers made a move. Twilight growled "NOW!" And any who could move only cringed in fear.

Only one stepped forward. "Put her there, I'll take her."

Twilight saw a doctor with long pink hair. She felt nothing but kindness and concern from her. Though perhaps a slight annoyance at Twilight demanding this one receive medical attention first, when so many others were just as grievously hurt, and had waited longer. Twilight inhaled deeply and sighed. "I know she's not first in line, but she's. . ." Twilight couldn't hold back the tears any longer. "She's so hurt."

The doctor came over and put a comforting hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Don't worry ma'am. We'll take good care of her." Twilight smiled weakly at her. She looked about at the myriad of broken flesh surrounding her, she felt the pain of those still in the void. She felt the anger from those who still believed Celestia had caused all this misery. 

She kissed Pinkie Pie softly and then teleported into the void. She didn't know how she knew, but neither the vacuum, nor the solar radiation hurt her. She raised her hands and all of the wreckage of the vessels that had been destroyed suddenly started floating slowly towards the intact ships. She once again spoke to every mind simultaneously. "All hands not needed for the running of ships are assigned to search and rescue or medical duty.

She summoned S.P.I.K.E. and pointed to where she felt people were trapped in the minimal atmosphere in sealed bulkheads, and he marked them on the ship's maps. She used her telekinesis to pull groups of survivors into landing bays. She ordered patients of overcrowded medical bays to ships with more room. She teleported several groups down to hospitals on the surface herself. Her efforts went a long way to convincing several of the holdouts that Celestia hadn't gone rogue, though many still grumbled.

Twilight went back to Applejack's wreck and saw her sitting there, head in her hands, leaned against her mech. She stood silent for a long moment feeling the terrible weight of Applejack's guilt and self reproach. "Applejack." Was all she could manage to say.

"I fucked up Twi." Applejack said in a horrified monotone. She began to sniffle as she spoke. "I fucked up. . . Real bad huh?"

Twilight sat down beside her on the ground and put a wing around Applejack. She broke down and wept bitterly. She spoke softly to her as she wept. "Applejack. It's only because of you that she survived."

Applejack was silent for a long time. Eventually she asked, "She's okay?" 

Twilight nodded. "I told you that you could take a broadside and be okay." She channeled her inner Pinkie Pie. "Though you did run out of ammunition. Hrmm. What to do about that? Well I suppose it can't be helped. You were never meant to fight an entire fleet so I guess I'll let it go this time."

Applejack finally stood up and dusted herself off. Twilight was confused to see that Applejack seemed genuinely embarrassed that she'd been seen crying. "So uh. . . Twahlaght you uh. You got wayngs now. That's new." 

Twilight couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes and my hair feels like sparkles apparently."

Applejack finally cracked a weak smile. "Ah know, it was ticklin me. Bet Pinkie Pie was super on about that." Twilight gave a genuine laugh. Applejack joined but still seemed pensive. "So uh. . . She's gonna be okay raght? Rainbow ah mean."

Twilight gave her a grin. "Oh please. Terra's got the best augmeticians and flesh smiths in the galaxy! She'll be back in the sky in no time."

Celestia mourned for her sister for three straight days of weeping in absolute darkness. After which she let the sun back into the palace and addressed her people. She saw the destruction that her knights had wrought on her own military and was caught between being impressed and being cross. They HAD stopped a coup, and she DID owe them her life though, so she didn't make a point of it. A public funeral was held at the palace, thousands attended to say farewell to their beloved Viceroy. Celestia had a statue of marble carved in Luna's likeness and placed in the throne room. Despite all Luna had done Celestia still loved her and missed her dearly. A general amnesty was issued for all involved in the attempted coup, as no parties involved had prior knowledge of Luna's plan so no parties were culpable. 

The crew of the Damocles was given a choice whether to serve with the people they had just fought against or to leave with no repercussions. Most stayed. 

In the medical bay of the Damocles a heavily medicated Rainbow Dash awoke to a friendly gentle voice greeting her, "Good morning Sir Rainbow Dash. My name is Dr Fluttershy."
> Indulge Me, In a Bit of Yuri.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The clean up took grueling weeks of toil.
Not only the physical wreckage, but the human cost as well. Thousands had died in the battle and the wounded were even more numerous. The patients were stabilized on ship's med bays, then we're transferred to hospitals on Terra to recover. Rainbow Dash sat alone, head downcast staring straight ahead into nothing in particular. She felt so small and weak sitting there, in her little hospital gown, a tube in her one remaining arm, and one in her nose. 

Applejack slowly timidly entered the room. She saw her best friend in the posture she was sitting in and her guilt tore at her heart. She tried awkwardly to break the horrible tension. "Uhh hey there umm R.D. How ya holdin up?" She didn't answer. She only sat there and stared at nothing. Applejack could hardly breathe seeing her this way, so broken, so unlike her normal boisterous self. She felt the weight in her pocket and tried to restart the conversation. "Oh I uhh, brought y'all this!" She pulled a small bottle of Rainbow Dash's favorite whiskey. "Ah know they won't let y'all drink it, but since it's small y'all could probably."

"Applejack." Rainbow whispered. Applejack noticed suddenly that Rainbow Dash's body had gone rigid. Her jaw was clenched so hard her teeth might break. "Could you go. . . Please?"
Applejack's heart felt pierced by the question. She tried to say something, but Rainbow began to gently shake, and she couldn't find anything to say. She put the small bottle on the nightstand by the bed and walked silently out.

Tears began to patter on the nice clean sheets of the hospital bed. Rainbow's shoulder ached as she began to sob. Her crying turned into a hysterical, impotent scream. The noise attracted the attention of the doctor and she rushed into the room to see what was going on. She saw Rainbow Dash weeping violently and tried to comfort her. "Sir Rainbow Dash! What's wrong? Do you need more pain meds?"

Rainbow feebly attempted to bat her away with her one good hand but the doctor gently seized it and held it to her chest. She spoke in a quiet soothing voice and Rainbow instinctively folded into her. She smiled maternally as she gently stroked the crying woman's hair. She'd had a lot of experience with crying soldiers, and it always made her happy to give them someone to cry on. 

Rainbow as far as she knew had never once cried in her life. As a pirate crying got you kicked, and as a soldier there was no place for it, but now she wept. She wept for all the pain she'd ever felt. She cried for her own failures and weaknesses. She cried for her injury and for putting her best friend's life in danger, and all the while Dr Fluttershy just stroked her hair and spoke softly to her.

Eventually Rainbow's tears petered out and she attempted to regain some of her composure. She began to apologize, but something big caught her attention and stopped the apology dead on her tongue. Two big things actually. She finally looked directly at the chest she'd been sobbing into and saw the single largest pair of breasts she'd ever seen on a person in her life. 

She completely forgot about whatever she'd been sad about and stared entranced at the woman's chest as she spoke. "There now. See? It's alright." Rainbow Dash didn't respond. They were simply too large to ignore. She wondered if she was from a lower gravity planet that made them sag less. "So are you comfortable? Do you need any more pain killers?" They couldn't be real could they? They just stuck straight out at her. "Are you hungry? I don't believe you had your breakfast?" Rainbow Dash noticed two small shadows on the front of her chest and her face flushed slightly. This doctor was not wearing a brassiere. The doctor's voice dropped an octave. "Sir Rainbow Dash, please stop staring at my chest."

That got her attention. She gave the universal, "Huh?" That all people regardless of age, sex, or sexuality give when they're caught staring. Thankfully for her Rainbow Dash's wit was as fast as her mech suit so she quickly recovered with, "Well they were staring at me first." 

Dr Fluttershy glanced down to see that her nipples were indeed hard. She snapped the clipboard up to her chest in embarrassment. "Well umm yes. So umm. Are you feeling well?"

Rainbow gained a bit of her old attitude back at the doctor's bashfulness, and she grinned. "I'm a lot better now."

Dr. Fluttershy was not amused. She was also used to this side of soldiers as well. "Well good. I'll have your breakfast sent up then." She noticed the small bottle of whiskey on the nightstand. "Oh no we can't have this!" She gingerly picked up the bottle.

Rainbow reflexatorily snapped at the doctor as she reached for the bottle. "Hey! My friend gave me. . ." She stopped herself suddenly when she remembered how she'd treated her best friend. The woman who saved her life, then was considerate enough to bring her booze in her hospital confinement. But she just couldn't face her right now. She felt tears well up in her eyes, but she scrubbed them away hard.

Dr. Fluttershy noticed the change in mood and asked. "This was a gift from a friend?" Rainbow Dash couldn't answer just yet, she just nodded her head firmly. Dr Fluttershy gently put the bottle down and sighed. "Well alright it can stay here for now." Her voice once again gained its low toned iron hard quality. "Don't drink it." Rainbow through her teary eyes looked at the hard expression on the doctor's face. "If you do it might react with the pain medication you're on and kill you. Do you understand?" Her eyes were hard as flint. Rainbow nodded quickly.

As if by magic the arousingly scary doctor instantly turned back into the nice doctor with the huge titties. "Good! I'll go get your breakfast." She turned to exit the room.

Rainbow scrubbed the rest of the tears from her eyes and called out. "Wait!"

Dr. Fluttershy took a long breath in and out before turning to mentally prepare herself. She turned expecting some lewd parting shot, but instead Rainbow Dash looked genuinely remorseful and said, "I'm sorry ma'am. For staring, I mean. I was just surprised about how beautiful you were."

Dr. Fluttershy was honestly taken aback for a moment. "Oh ummm." For some reason she couldn't think straight. She'd heard every line in the book, and had no end of soldiers call her beautiful before, but for some reason this particular compliment caught her off guard. She almost forgot to thank Rainbow for the compliment and squeaked out. "Oh ummm. thankyou." Then she scuttled out of the room.

Rainbow watched her rather shapely ass as she left the room. She grinned to herself as she took the bottle from the nightstand. "Fine ass bitch tellin me I can't have a drink." She held the bottle between her legs and was about to twist off the bottle's golden foil cap, when she stopped suddenly. She stared at the bottle and thought of the doctor's face. She'd been nice enough to let her keep it despite it probably being against policy. She sighed hard and put the bottle back on the nightstand.

Several days later Rainbow Dash was sitting up in bed with a very annoyed look on her face. Dr. Fluttershy walked over to the bedside and cheerily asked, "And how are we today Sir Rainbow Dash?" 

Rainbow turned to look at the doctor and then Fluttershy noticed her eyes snap determinedly up from her chest to her eyes. She sighed hard. "Look Doc. Not for nothing but how long do I have to stay here? I feel fine."

Dr. Fluttershy gently sat down beside the bed and much to Rainbow Dash's annoyance it was on her bad side. "Well you were very badly hurt. We need to keep you here to monitor you for at least another week, just in case an infection pops up."

"A fuckin week?!" Rainbow Dash whined as she flopped languidly back against the bed. "Can't you just give me some drugs and send me on my way?" 

Dr. Fluttershy chuckled softly and Rainbow couldn't help but enjoy the sound. "No I'm afraid not. Plus we need to change your bandages and reapply your biogel." She reached out to start removing Rainbow's bandages but she flinched violently away. Fluttershy adopted an admonishing tone, "Now Sir Rainbow Dash, if I don't keep an eye on your."

"Just call me Dash." She interrupted.

Dr. Fluttershy looked into Rainbow Dash's eyes for an overlong moment then blushed slightly as she turned back to the bandages. She smiled weakly as she said, "Well Dash, you'll never get out of here if this gets infected, and we need to keep an eye on it." Rainbow sighed and allowed the doctor to begin removing her bandages. As she pulled back layer after layer of gauze she began to notice the last remnants of the bite marks left after Rainbow's last night on Terra. Fluttershy couldn't help but joke. "I'm sorry but we're you in a space battle, or a dog fight?"

Rainbow grinned wide and wanted to burst out with, "Terran bitches are crazy!" But she remembered how much the doctor seemed to appreciate her not staring at her tits. She decided to use that thing Rarity was always bitching at her and Pinkie Pie for never using. What was that again? Started with an S. SUBTLETY! That was it. Rainbow should use subtlety. "Oh just my last night on Terra before. . ." She wiggled her left side to reference the battle. "Ya know."

Rainbow saw the doctor blush slightly. "Oh. . . But why would?" She stopped herself suddenly and her gaze snapped up to Rainbow Dash's eyes. 

Rainbow raised both of her eyebrows to signify, "I'm willing to tell you, but I'm not certain you want to hear it." 

Dr. Fluttershy quickly dropped her gaze back to Rainbow's wound, her face beet red. "Ummm let's see here. This bit of gauze is stuck to the wound. This might sting a little bit."

"Go ahead." Rainbow said apathetically.
Dr. Fluttershy tugged ever so gently on the gauze but it wouldn't yield. She slowly increased the pressure and she kept glancing up to Rainbow's face, but she didn't betray any sign of pain. She finally got the gauze to yield with an uncomfortable jerk, and sucked air through her teeth. She saw Rainbow's body tense, but she still didn't show any trace of pain in her visage.

Dr. Fluttershy inspected the ragged tear of the wound. Bone, and sinew, and muscle lay bare under a thin layer of protective gel. She looked with a professional eye at the edges and saw they didn't look infected and the swelling was receding nicely. She smiled and said. "Well everything looks good here."

"Except the missing fucking arm." Rainbow quipped.

Dr. Fluttershy chuckled at the unexpected wit. "Well umm yes, I mean of course not that." She applied the solvent to remove the soiled biogel, and gently applied a fresh coating. "And after that dries you can bathe if you'd like."

Rainbow Dash rose stiffly and stretched. "Goddamn finally!" Rainbow thought to herself. "I've been smelling leftover bar skank for a fucking week now." She tore off her hospital gown, its small metal snaps all popping at once. Dr. Fluttershy's eyes grew slightly wider as she noticed that in addition to the bite marks she'd noticed, the knight was covered in scars from her head to her feet. The knight's small tone body was positively carpeted in little white marks, some long and jagged, others small lines. Her back was especially populated with scar tissue. She looked the knight up and down until something unusual drew her eye. Her eyes locked on a small spot of color on the knight's lower abdomen. Apparently the carpet did match the drapes, and the variety of colors drew the eye like a trainwreck.

"Now who's staring?" Rainbow quipped, trying to keep most of the smugness out of her voice.

Dr Fluttershy's face grew beet red and she snapped to her feet. She quickly scuttled to the doorway and said. "I'll just come back when you're done." Then Rainbow heard her footfalls all the way down the hall. Followed by an odd squeaking sound she realized was whispered mortified self reproach. Rainbow couldn't help but grin. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled for a brief moment. "I still got it." She thought to herself. Then her eyes fell on her wound and her mood sank. She entered the shower and the hot water felt amazing on her skin. She was happy to see it didn't hurt her wound to have the hot water on it and she simply stood enjoying the relaxing heat. She awkwardly dried off and summoned the doctor. She came in and the two sat in silence for a long while as she worked. Dr. Fluttershy finished the procedure and sat still for a long while in silence. Rainbow was about to ask what was wrong when Dr Fluttershy burst out with a loud, "I'm sorry!" Another moment passed before she clarified. "For staring I mean." 

Rainbow bobbed her head in understanding. She wanted to burst out with a raunchy, "Don't be." But she remembered the S word, and in a completely serious tone said, "Don't be."

Dr. Fluttershy's gaze snapped to Rainbow's eyes and stayed there for a long moment. Her face grew redder by the second until she finally looked away. "It's just I've never seen so many!" Rainbow was confused. "Your scars I mean." Rainbow looked down at the patchwork of torn skin and understood. She'd had them for so long she usually forgot they were there. "Excuse me." She said loudly and skittered out of the room. Rainbow watched her go. She put her arm behind her head and grinned.

The next day when Dr. Fluttershy visited Rainbow she saw several things piled on her nightstand. She saw a rainbow frosted cupcake, a gift basket full of various beauty essentials, and a rather thick book. "What's all this? She'd asked.

Rainbow smiled sadly. "Oh my friends finally found time in all this bullshit to come and visit." 

"Oh how nice! No more booze though I hope." She joked.

Rainbow's sad smile failed. "No uhh Applejack didn't uh. . ." 

Dr Fluttershy realized she'd hit a nerve and kicked herself internally. "Well I'm sorry I missed them."

"Oh it's cool. Twilight's fucked off on the surface learning to be god or whatever, Pinkie Pie's. . . " She was going to say getting her brains fucked out." But instead opted for. "Keeping her company, and Rarity's had to take over as Admiral with what's his fuck gone. Charles or whatever."

Dr. Fluttershy balked. "Your friend. . . The one who brought you to me. Your friends with the new VICEROY?" She asked incredulously.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yeah how bout that shit? She gets a pair of fucking WINGS! AND I LOSE AN ARM!" 

Dr. Fluttershy laughed despite herself. Rainbow gave a half smile. She really liked that sound. She shifted in her bed. "So I get out tomorrow right?"

Dr Fluttershy put on her professional pants, and consulted Rainbow's charts. "Umm no. You have surgery tomorrow then.~"

"SURGERY?! No one fucking told me about any surgery.'' Rainbow whined.

Fluttershy looked at her in mild confusion. "Of course. You didn't think we were just going to leave you like this did you? No! Your friend the uhh." Her voice grew mildly nervous. "The Viceroy. .  has gotten the best flesh smiths on Terra to implement your augmetics."

Rainbow was suddenly dramatically less annoyed with the prospect of surgery. "Bitchin! I get a fuckin robot arm?! Oh my god the captain had an augmetic laser eye. Can I get a laser on my arm?!"

Dr Fluttershy's mood darkened. "Yes, very nice. Hmmm." She walked quickly out of the room.

Rainbow called after her as she went. "Hey. HEY DOC! What's the matter?" But she didn't return. Rainbow thought she heard the sound of faint crying.

The next day she had her surgery and spent most of the day staring at her robotic arm. She thought it'd be cool to have but instead it served as a physical manifestation of her failure. She wasn't aware that she had tears trailing down her face, or of the fact that Dr Fluttershy was standing in the doorway. Eventually she silently crossed the room and sat at Rainbow's bed side. Finally after what felt like hours of silence she finally whispered. "I fucked up. She's always had to save me." She shook her head angrily. "She's always had to save my ass. From the day we met she's always had to pull my ass out of the fire." She sobbed wordlessly for a long while.

"Dash. . . That's what good soldiers do. They jump on grenades to save their comrades. They risk life and limb for their battle brothers." In the heat of the moment Dr Fluttershy let slip something she'd not spoken of in several years. "I would've given anything to save my squad from. . . " She realized her slip too late.

Rainbow gave her a quizzical look, still sniffling. "You. . . Were a soldier?. . ."

Fluttershy tried to get up to leave but she knew Rainbow needed to hear this. "I let my squad get wiped out to achieve the objective at the siege of Cloudsdale. I let them die. And now every day that passes I wish I'd done what Applejack did. She saved you. I DIDN'T save them."

Rainbow sat up in her bed, her tears forgotten. "Clydesdale. But that means you'd have to be a. . . "

Dr Fluttershy removed her lab coat and on her right shoulder was a tattoo of the sigil of the Viceroy's most elite squadron. She saw the winged lightning bolt of the Wonderbolts. Rainbow sat mouth agape. She couldn't believe she had been doctored by the sole surviving Wonderbolt. She was about to go complete fangirl, but she noticed Dr Fluttershy's expression didn't seem terribly pleased about the fact that she was a living legend. 

"Doc. You were a Wonderbolt?" She breathlessly asked.

Fluttershy looked away. "Yes I was a Wonderbolt. And a butcher. And just like all the other murderers in the galaxy."

Rainbow Dash couldn't understand. "What do you mean? You were the hero of the siege of Cloudsdale. It was because of you that Cloudsdale joined the empire!"

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT I DID AT CLOUDSDALE DASH?!" Fluttershy screamed, tears in her eyes. Rainbow shrunk back in surprise. "I left my squad exposed while I went to blow up a target full of people barely older than children. Because I left their flank unguarded every single one of them died! " Her expression dropped then. As if she'd simply run out of steam. "After Cloudsdale I just couldn't do it anymore. I didn't want to hurt people anymore. I wanted to help people. I just sat in my room all day reading medical textbooks. I just thought maybe if I could help people. . . If I could help people. . ." She broke down weeping then.

She felt herself laid against Rainbow's chest and heard her speak barely above a whisper. "Doc. Because you cracked Cloudsdale's defenses the planet's nobility surrendered. Had the siege gone on who knows how many would've died." Fluttershy looked up into Rainbow's eyes. Her expression was hard, almost angry. "I grew up where we fought to survive. We didn't have the luxury of limited objectives. I fought because I would be killed if I didn't." She looked Dr Fluttershy directly in the eye. "You fought to protect the empire." Rainbow tore open her hospital gown and Dr. Fluttershy and looked closely at her scars. "I FOUGHT TO GET SOME SICK FUCK'S JOLLIES OFF." A tear came to her eye. "You have nothing to apologize for."

Dr. Fluttershy leaned forward and kissed her then.
> But A Thousand Sounds Better.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity and Applejack were sitting in the officer's lounge they had colonized with the lights dimmed to a tolerable minimum. Both had been self medicating since the battle, and commiserating about their lack of luck in their love lives. They were drinking electrolyte replenishing fluids when they heard a crash that felt like someone pulling a saw across their frontal lobes. They looked and saw Pinkie Pie on the floor. She had tried to rest her weight against a chair, but had toppled over instead.

"Pinkie!" they shouted as they both leapt to their feet and rushed to help her into a chair at their table. Pinkie cracked an eye open and saw their electrolyte drinks. She lunged for them and chugged one and then the other. She breathed heavily as she lay sprawled out in the chair. 

"Pinkie darling what happened to you?" Rarity said as she grabbed them all another round of drinks.

Applejack, despite her luck with love lately, couldn't begrudge Pinkie her good fortune. Both her and Pinkie answered simultaneously, "Twahlaght." Applejack because of her ag world drawl, and Pinkie because she was exhausted to the point of slurring her speech. 

Pinkie's voice was hoarse from non stop moaning. "And I thought she was a freak before." Her head hit the table with a thud.

Rarity levitated her head off the table. "Pinkie, you know you're allowed to say no right? Just because she's a Viceroy now doesn't mean she owns you."

Pinkie hissed with a venom neither of them had ever heard her speak with before. "Of course I know that!" Her head resumed its place on the table. She spoke from her recumbent position. "It's like an all you can eat buffet and all the dishes are desserts." She started to tear up as she said, "Every time I want to stop Twilight just Twilight's at me and I want her again."

The two loveless members of the conversation smiled ironically at the situation. Neither of them was getting any, and she was getting too much. "How's that for irony." Applejack said to no one in particular."

A blinding flash made the three severely dehydrated women wince and a loud pop made their ears ring. Twilight stood there, her long ethereal hair flowing eternally behind her, a terribly satisfied smile on her face. "Oh Pinkie, there you are. Celestia had a meeting so I've got the afternoon off, and we saved you a piece of tiramisu from lunch."

Pinkie's head popped off the table. She screamed in a mix of exasperation and desperation. "SEE?! HOW DO YOU SAY NO TO THAT?" She sprang over to the glowing demigod and shoved her tongue into her mouth. With another loud pop the lounge resumed its ear ringing silence. The two couldn't help but laugh.

When Twilight had ascended to her new form she noticed a number of interesting changes. She'd had Rarity assist with her change of wardrobe, as she now had to make room for her large wings. There was a bit of trouble when she tried to sleep, but she slept on her side most of the time anyway so it wasn't too difficult. Not to mention she had Pinkie Pie there to make the bed more snug. She found that when she was unharmed she didn't actually need to tend to her normal bodily functions. She could still eat, she could still sleep, but she could simply do without breathing in the void if she felt like it. Fortunately for Pinkie Pie, the change had not changed the contents of her heart. She still loved Pinkie Pie dearly, and spent as much time with her as she could. Fortunately or unfortunately however her new form meant that she could also do more of what she liked to do without the limitations of normal humans. So poor Pinkie Pie was left to contend with the sex drive of someone who never tired.

After the chaos after the battle Celestia had finally had time to tend to the little matter of her protege becoming one of only two other such beings in the known galaxy. She summoned Twilight to her private study and saw just how much she'd changed. She felt that she was the same Twilight, but just more of her. Every aspect of her was simply increased. 

The two were a picture of divinity sitting across from each other. Two beings of immeasurable power, their long ethereal hair flowing behind them as they sat upright on cushions on the floor.
They sat just as they used to when Twilight was a child. Celestia felt a mix of pride, and of terrible sadness at the change. Twilight sat in comfortable silence sipping excellent tea waiting for her mentor to impart some wisdom as she always did. She could feel the mental struggle within her liege lord and waited patiently for her to make her will known.

"You killed my sister." Celestia finally said. Twilight coughed up the mouthful of tea she'd been sipping and spluttered ungracefully. Twilight's eyes went wide. She had no idea what this was going to lead to. Was she going to attack her to avenge her sister? Was she going to banish her? She sat in terrible expectation, waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

"Technically that was Pinkie Pie." Her heart felt like it had stopped beating in her chest. When she'd ascended and every part of her was increased, apparently the Pinkie Pie part of her had also been boosted. It was the single most mortified she'd ever been in her life.

Celestia however simply nodded and continued. "Quite. But I feel you misunderstand me. You were able to kill something that had survived for over ten centuries." Twilight's terror waned and her curiosity waxed. Celestia appeared to settle on a new tact. "Tell me everything you know about me."

Twilight pondered for a moment. "I know your measurements are fifty four, thirty six, fifty four. I know your favorite tea is only grown on the planet Appleloosa. I know that.~" 

Celestia put a hand on Twilight's in token she should stop. She once again tried a different tactic. "My history Twilight. I want you to tell me everything you know about my history." She put extra emphasis on the word.

Twilight sheepishly restarted. " Oh that well yes umm." She breathed deeply and recalled all she knew of her mentor. "Your earliest record was of a massive spike in thermal radiation coming from the Saddle Arabian desert. It's said you were first seen striding on a path of molten glass. Apparently they weren't certain whether you made the path on purpose, or if it was a side effect of the flame you were emitting. You were said to have gone willingly with the team that discovered you to Canterlot." 

"Then apparently you stayed in the libraries reading everything you could get your hands on. You suffered no one to lay hands on you, and no one could perform any scientific tests. After you'd read everything you could you walked to the seat of government and told them they needed to secure their borders. That started the unification wars. Every nation that didn't willingly join the empire you. . . " Twilight grew uneasy at this stage of the history, and she knew from the trouble with Luna that apparently it was a sore spot for her too. 

Celestia gave a small smile at the courtesy Twilight showed by considering her feelings. She nodded that Twilight should continue. "You waged war against them. Eventually bringing all peoples of Terra under your sway in just seven years. Then umm. . . "

Celestia's face fell but she quietly said. "Go on." 

Twilight sighed hard. "Then you set your sights on the greater galaxy. Starting with. . ." Twilight breathed deeply. "With Luna." Celestia made no move but Twilight could tell she wanted her to continue. "You sent envoys to Luna and they were rejected. Then you came in person to punish them for their impudence. That's when the earliest records of Luna begin. The two of you fought in the void for seven days. You landed in the Saddle Arabian desert. Then both of you seemed to vanish for ten years."

"You and Luna reappeared and established the empire as a constitutional diarchy with you as it's executive and her as the head of its judiciary. The peoples of Terra drew up a constitution and you two. . . " Twilight had to take a moment to still her anger. She was still bitter about Luna's betrayal and all the trouble it had caused. "You two swore an oath in blood to uphold the constitution. Then you went to Venus." 

"Luna stayed as temporary regent of Terra, while you went and Terraformed Venus. Then Mars." Twilight tried to keep the smile off her face, but she couldn't help but feel excited at this part of the history. "Then you went back to Terra and you didn't rest until you'd perfected faster than light travel!" She began to glow as her passion rose. "Then you helped spread the empire to the stars and foster a new golden age!"

Celestia sadly smiled, but she put a hand on Twilight's to once again signal her to stop. Twilight jerked slightly at the unexpected contact, like someone wakened from a doze. Celestia's face fell. "Yes. That's a way of putting it, yes." She rose and looked out the window sadly for a long moment. Twilight stared wondering what her mentor would do?
"Rise Twilight." Twilight was mildly surprised, but levitated to her feet quickly. Celestia's eyes were glowing and she raised a hand into the air. 

Suddenly the familiar study with its cozy fireplace, elegant bookshelves, and tea fixtures all were ripped away and vanished into the distance as if all had been but a tarp torn suddenly from over them. Twilight heard the howling winds, smelled the desert sand, felt the baking heat of the desert sun as if she stood herself in the Saddle Arabian desert. She looked beside her and still Celestia was there, hand upraised.

"This is my earliest memory Twilight." Celestia's voice echoed in her mind. "All that existed was rage." Twilight looked and saw her mentor, not as she knew her, the embodiment of benevolence and regality, like the first warming light of the sun after heavy snowfall. No, the Celestia she saw was akin to the desert sun to one dying of thirst. She crouched on all fours, naked, and screaming. "My whole world, was hate. As if I had been dealt some grievous wrong." Twilight felt in her own heart the horrible animal panic of Celestia as she screamed on the ground. The unyielding rage. She felt her own jaw set firm in her mouth. Twilight looked and saw that the Celestia standing next to her had an expression of barely contained anger. "Then they came."

Twilight saw a space shuttle land within light of sight of Celestia. "I felt them before I saw them. I heard their thoughts, their fear, their whole histories. I saw that there were more people like them, who built craft like the one they came in. I took in their languages. They landed far away so I walked to them. As I approached them they began to back away from the heat. I looked upon the ground and saw the sand melting as I approached. I learned how to scale back my fury and the heat abated."

The heat, sand, sun, and desert all vanished and were replaced by green grass, straight roads, paved walks, and towering buildings. She recognized it as a Canterlot from another age. She saw Celestia now striding head erect, shoulders back, walking boldly into the central library of the city. People came to gawk at the giant naked woman who came from the desert. "I reasoned from those who found me, that there was much I didn't know. So I sought out to learn as much as I could." 

Twilight saw Celestia levitate a book over to herself, look at a page once, absorb all its contents, do so for each page, then levitate the book back onto the shelf. Twilight smiled out of the side of her mouth and felt a giddy kinship as that was her method of reading as well. Then it occurred to her that she and Celestia were in fact two of a kind now. 

"What I learned horrified me Twilight. I saw a world in a state of perpetual self mutilation. I saw the potential of man constantly curtailed by the threat of war, always having to fear their neighbor. I hated it. I saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd and only with a rule of iron could they be made to prosper." Twilight felt the rage build in her again. The scenery turned into a great hall, full of potentates and rulers of the land. Twilight couldn't hear what the Celestia speaking to the powerful was saying, but she could feel their resentment. They all thought, "Who is this who speaks to us this way?"

Twilight felt the Celestia standing beside her grow sad. "They rejected me Twilight. I tried to tell them what to do and like any free person would they didn't listen. So I did it for them." The scenery changed again, Twilight felt but rage, but cold calm brutal determination. She felt the heat like a blazing furnace suddenly opened. She saw her mentor, her friend, her beloved Celestia float slowly through city after city, and burn anyone and anything in her way. She saw a weak resistance thrown together at the last second decimated by Celestia like a cardboard castle defended by children. Anyone who could make it to a space colony did so in mass exoduses. Alliances to stop her were made and broken in a matter of hours. "For seven years Twilight. I burned Terra for seven years until it lay helpless and broken at my feet." 

Twilight felt the cold stillness of the void. It almost seemed pleasant after the rage and the flames. Celestia no longer spoke. She couldn't bring herself to say the words. Twilight felt the anguish of loss radiating from her friend, but she did not look. She saw a ball of flame burning like a solar flare moving slowly through the void. She saw Celestia approach the metropolis of Luna. A series of interconnected bubble cities that sprawled across the surface of the moon like a fungus in a petri dish.

Then both the Celestia in the memory and Twilight were blinded by an unbearably bright light. She blinked the pain out of her eyes and saw Celestia, teeth gnashed, attempt to burn this obnoxious light. The energy she sent at the light merely came back and hit Celestia. Twilight's face darted forward in surprise and she felt herself tensed to be attacked. She felt a presence that seemed so real she was worried Luna had somehow come back to life. She felt Celestia's hand on her arm and Twilight saw her sadly shake her head. She slowly relaxed and Celestia spoke again.

"I went to Luna to make my will known, but when I arrived I was rebuffed by a presence that felt like I was attacking myself. Every attack I made in it merely came back and hit me. The presence itself felt akin to my own self, but clearly wasn't me. For seven full days I tried to destroy this maddening entity and for seven days was merely beating at the wind with a sword." 

The scenery changed back into the path of glass in the desert. Twilight saw Celestia laying on the glass, exhausted, panting like someone chased down. She screamed at the entity that remained a glowing ball of light. "I couldn't defeat it no matter what I tried, so in defeat I asked it its name. It understood no concept of self. I told it it came from Luna, and it had no understanding of place. I spent the next ten years teaching it to think and it became. . ." 

Celestia had to stop for a moment. "The Luna I once knew. We spent all that time debating and philosophizing on the nature of life, of right and wrong, and of policy. She insisted that my view of history was limited to the tragedy of war. She showed me the technological advances made during war that extended to peace time. She showed me the changes in governmental structure that occurred when a state failed to protect itself. She showed me the way a civilization progressed when it's people could defend itself and it's way of life led to success at home and abroad. Every crumbling empire was merely new life growing and making way for itself."

"We discussed how humanity should live and she convinced me that freedom was the most efficient way for a culture to handle the changing demands from day to day. We returned to Canterlot and asked our people to establish a government with us as its head. They gratefully accepted, and we became the heads of state. Luna took charge of seeing how the laws were carried out, and vowed to keep me from returning to how I was. She was to be as a check to my power, and I was to be the executive of the state. The two of us would rule together as Viceroys. Then I turned my eyes to the stars."

The scenery changed to a high orbit looking down on a space station above the planet Venus. Celestia chuckled softly. "You say I discovered Terraforming as if it just popped into my head one day and I just wrote it down on a napkin. No dear Twilight. No Terraforming was a long grueling process perfected by thousands of scientists and engineers. I simply gave them suggestions of what might work. You say I spread humanity to the stars." Celestia chuckled again. "Well Twilight I do not have children, nor did I just throw them into the void. No twilight, they colonized the sky, they took the initiative to strike out to foreign worlds, and settle, and make them into something great. I didn't make the empire Twilight. The empire made itself." She lowered her hand and the room resumed its coziness.

She sat down on her cushion and sipped her tea. Celestia was right back to her old placid self. Twilight remained standing for several moments not sure of what the point of that little history lesson was. She felt the Rainbow Dash part of her want to mouth off about it, but the Rarity part of her knew better. She joined her mentor and refilled her tea cup. "So why did you want to show me that?" Twilight finally asked.

Celestia blinked in surprise. "What was that not clear?" Twilight could only shrug her shoulders. Celestia seemed mildly embarrassed. "Oh right well I'm Twilight." Her face grew grave. "You are now like myself, and. . . " She paused for a moment and inhaled deeply. "Luna. And yet you have perfect memory of how you came to be this way. Neither Luna nor I ever knew our origin." Celestia looked hard at Twilight. "I want you to discover how I came to be."

A heavy silence hung in the air for a long while. Twilight was being asked to do something not even her mentor could do in a thousand years. "Celestia. . . How would I even go about doing that?"

Celestia opened her hands. "You'll have the entire empire's resources at your back. You're the greatest scholar on Terra Twilight. I know you can do it."

Twilight looked hard at the ground in uncertainty. "But why me? Why now? You could've asked me to do this at any time before you knighted me. And now I've got my team to think of. And what if the matter if piracy in the empire? Am I released from that commission?"

Celestia held up a hand for silence. "One at a time Twilight. I've already said there's no one more qualified to square this circle that you." Celestia once again rose and walked to the window. She stood staring out into the distance for a long while. "Because you killed my sister Twilight. Or rather, because Pinkie Pie killed my sister." Twilight cringed visibly. She turned to Twilight and she could see that she had concern written on her face. "I didn't know we could die. Luna's. . . " Twilight saw tears in her mentor's eyes. "When Luna tried to kill me it really surprised me."

The Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash parts of Twilight's brain all simultaneously said, "Well no shit." But the Twilight and Rarity parts of her brain told them to shush. 

"We lived for at least a thousand years Twilight. I didn't know we could die." She turned back to the window. "And if I died today the empire would be thrown into chaos. And now there's you to think about." She resumed her seat and spoke with a disconcerting earnestness. "You've become like I am. I never let them test me because I knew they'd try everything in their power to try and kill me. But you can see what makes us like we are. And what that means for the empire."

Twilight pondered for a long time. "And what does that mean for the empire? Me being this way I mean. What will happen without Luna? And with me this way?"

Celestia nodded sagely. "I've asked parliament to discuss the issue and they've requested as follows. You will be a junior partner to me. Second only to me in the empire. You will be the balance of terror that Luna was to me, but I will remain the head of state. You will be the commander in chief of the Imperial military, and I will be the head of the administratum."

Twilight was thunderstruck. She knew that her change of body would entail certain responsibilities, but to literally go instantly from knight to Viceroy was head spinning. Thankfully the shock was so great that most of it washed over her. She heard her mouth say, "What would be my responsibilities?" 

Celestia rose. "If you accept this charge you will do as you swore in your vow upon your commission. To handle all threats to the empire foreign and domestic, but not as my vassal, as my colleague."

Twilight's mind locked onto that one word. "If?" 

Celestia smiled sagely. "Yes Twilight. Luna and I seized authority without thinking about it in retrospect, but you Twilight, I leave it in your hands." Her voice echoed with solemnity. "The empire calls you. Its citizens groan under the constant threat of piracy." She held a hand out to Twilight. "Will you secure my realm?" 

Twilight's aura grew and gained luminescence. Her voice shook as she answered. "YES MY VICEROY!" 

Celestia smiled gently and thought to herself, "She's always so easily excitable." She rose and smoothed out the folds of her dress. "Well then let's go." She turned towards the center of Canterlot.

Twilight's glow went out like a candle extinguished. "Go? Go where?"

Celestia's aura surrounded them both and suddenly she was in the Imperial parliament. Nine thousand representatives from a thousand worlds scrambled awkwardly into their benches. Twilight's eyes opened wide with shock and embarrassment. She felt slightly better when she felt that half of them had also been caught off guard by her entrance. She felt the presence of her knights and she saw Rarity waving weakly at her; Twilight could feel the hangover from where she stood. Pinkie Pie blew her a kiss and she blushed. She turned her mind to the Damocles floating in orbit and she felt that Rainbow was watching from her room in the med bay. Her heart sank slightly when she felt Applejack's crushing depression.

Celestia addressed the representatives of the thousand worlds. For the record the solar empire only had nine hundred sixty two worlds, but "the thousand worlds" sounded better, and several space stations had their own representatives. "Most trusted advisors to the Solar Empire, as you have requested, the newest Viceroy has been offered your appointment. She has accepted!" The roar was deafening and Rarity put a hand to her aching forehead. She turned to Twilight. "Do you Twilight Sparkle, on this day swear on your honor and in blood to uphold the constitution, and to defend the empire against all threats foreign and domestic?" 

Twilight saw the constitution etched expertly onto an obelisk of the very glass Celestia had melted upon her manifestation a thousand years ago. Its point was keen as a razor. Twilight approached and laid her hand on it. "I swear, I Twilight Sparkle will uphold and defend the constitution of the Solar Empire, and shall defend it against all foes foreign and domestic." She pressed down on the point and her blood ran down its edges filling the gaps of the lettering and making them shine crimson. The representatives cheered loudly.

Twilight felt her blood burn within her. Her aura glowed brightly and she began to rise slowly into the air as she spoke. "I will rid this galaxy of piracy. The space lanes will be clear, and a citizen shall feel safe to travel from one end of this galaxy to the other. On my honor I swear that slave raids will be a thing of the past, and a new and glorious age of peace and prosperity shall reign!" 

The representatives roared with cheers and applause. Celestia grew slightly nervous. She'd heard a speech very similar to this recently. Twilight raised a hand for silence and then she did something neither they nor Celestia expected. She lowered herself to the floor and she bowed. She bowed low to the ground and softly said. "I thank you ladies and gentlemen, for honoring me with this task."

The representatives stood in stunned silence. "WOO! WAY TO BE HUMBLE LOVE MUFFIN!" Pinkie's voice echoed through the silent hall. That broke the dam and a thunderclap of applause shook the building. A tear came to Celestia's eye. Who was this gallant demigod who swore to rule with justice and humility? Surely not the little girl she'd once known.
> Day Late, Dollar Short.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight left a still twitching Pinkie Pie on her bed in their room on Terra. "Wait hold on I'm not." Was all she heard her say before she appeared on the bridge of the Damocles. 

A rather startled Rarity snapped. "I really wish you would let me know you were going to do that BEFORE you did that! It's not like I'm hard to get a hold of." 

Twilight smiled sheepishly. "Sorry Rarity. I always forget how loud it is until I do it." The crew of the bridge rose and saluted. She dismissed them and called Rarity aside. "Rarity, why wasn't Applejack at the ceremony?"

Rarity looked away and reflexatorily lied. "Oh she's trapped in her room with a terrible headache." 

Twilight stared hard at Rarity who squirmed under her gaze. Twilight's eyebrows went up but Rarity didn't say a word. She squinted and Rarity slammed her eyes shut and tried to think pleasant thoughts. "RARITY!" Twilight snapped, honestly hurt that her friend would try to keep something from her.

"OH WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY TWILIGHT?!" Twilight took a step back. Rarity cast her arms about wildly as she babbled. "That our friend is drinking herself to death because the woman she loves hates her?" Rarity cursed herself. Twilight glared with a cold piercing stare. Rarity's desperation softened. "Twilight you can read people's minds from space! You should know what's been going on. While you've been down on Terra preparing for this crusade of yours, Applejack has been drinking herself into oblivion. She thinks Rainbow's mad at her, and she loves her."

Twilight nodded. "Steady as she goes Admiral." She walked off without another word. 

Rarity stood there deflated. "Applejack's gonna kill me for this.''

Twilight chose to walk the long way to Applejack's quarters instead of teleporting into the room. When she reached the hall she unfurled her large wings and floated gently to her door. The door was open and she saw her heavy weapons specialist sitting against the artificial window staring blankly at the projection of her home world. Applejack looked like she hadn't eaten, slept, or even moved in days. She said nothing, instead choosing to enter in silence and sit on the bed beside her.

After what felt like hours, Applejack finally muttered, "Nahce speech." 

Twilight nodded, "You saw it?"

The bottle Applejack was holding gently slipped from her hand. Twilight took it in her telekinesis and placed the lid on it then placed it on the nightstand. Applejack said nothing. Twilight decided to try again. "That's your homeworld?"

Applejack only muttered, "eeyup."

Twilight was beginning to get annoyed. "Applejack." The knight only turned her head and stared into her eyes. "Applejack. She's not mad at you."

Applejack rose violently and attempted to storm out of the room. Twilight shut the door on her. Applejack violently kicked the door, not caring that kicking it outward would not open the sliding door. "Lemme out Twi." She growled.

Twilight patted the bed gently. "Sit down Applejack. I've been so busy lately we haven't had a chance to just talk."

Applejack wanted to do several things at once. She wanted to scream, she wanted to sock Twilight, she wanted to vomit her guts out, and she wanted to not talk to anyone right now. Twilight met her eyes and Applejack saw the very faint edges of pleading in them. She groaned in annoyance and plopped down heavily on the bed. She snatched the bottle of the table and had a sip. Twilight took the bottle from her. She was about to protest, but she was surprised to see her take a sip before returning the bottle. She took the bottle back and had another sip. Twilight channeled her best Rarity and in a sing-song voice asked, "So how are you?"

Applejack was not a happy camper. She was about the least happy of campers ever to camp. "Drunk. Pissed. Sad. Homesick. Annoyed. Nauseous." Twilight placed a waste bin in her hands and she retched pure liquid into it. She spit several times then tried to toss the wastebasket away, but Twilight levitated it to the ground gently. Applejack got up and kicked it several times out of spite. "GODDAMMIT TWAHLAGHT WHAT D'YA WANT?!"

Twilight gently answered, "I want my friend not to drink herself to death for doing the right thing."

Applejack screamed, "THE RIGHT THING?! DID YOU SEE HER TWAHLAGHT? SHE'S MISERABLE AND CRIPPLED AND IT'S MAH FAULT! AND NOW I'LL NEVER GET TO TELL HER!~" She cut herself off and stomped around her small room.

"That you love her?" Twilight asked.

Applejack's eyes snapped to her in a mix of surprise and rage. "How did you?" Her head snapped towards the door. "Rarity. I'm gonna kill her."

Twilight finally let herself be mad. "Oh for fuck's sake Applejack! You don't have to be psychic to know your feelings for her. If you were any more obvious you'd be Pinkie Pie! Now WHAT. IS. UP? What's gotten into you?"

Applejack's mind was caught between about six different emotions, but eventually settled on broken sloppy sobbing. "She. Hates. Me. Twi." She said between sobs. "I fucked up and now she hates me." Applejack grabbed Twilight and pressed her face against Twilight's chest. She bawled heavily and Twilight had to hold her breath for Applejack's alcoholic breath. "She never wants to see me agai-ha-hain."

Twilight gently levitated her onto the bed with her head in her lap. "Now Applejack, do you really think that?" Applejack nodded her head and sniffled pathetically. "Do you believe I can see into people's minds?" Twilight asked telepathically. 

Applejack winced and said. "Twi just talk normal. Brain takin hurts mah head."

"Sorry. Sorry. Now Applejack. What do you know about Rainbow Dash?" She asked.

Applejack sniffled. "Ah knows she's a good fahghter. Ah know she's a good drinker. Ummm. I know she sucks at arm wrastlin." She chuckled weakly.

Twilight turned her head to look her in the eye. "So would she like to be seen, weak and helpless missing an arm?"

Applejack blinked several times in realization. She made several logical leaps at once. "Y'all know she don't hate me. Don't ya Twilight?"

Twilight said. "Eeyup."

Applejack asked. "She was just embarrassed about fuckin up, wadn't she."

"Eeyup."

"N I been makin an ass uh mahself haven't I?" Applejack asked.

Twilight lifted Applejack bodily up into the air to look her in the eye. "Oh yeah." She put her down and rose. "She's been missing you dearly. Every time we visit as a group the first thing she thinks is 'is Applejack with them."

Applejack put her head in her hands. "I fucked up again, didn't I Twilight?"

Twilight put a wing around Applejack. "Nothing that can't be undone." She smiled. "She graduates rehab day after tomorrow and I know she'd love to see you."

Applejack grinned. "Ya really think so?" 
Twilight looked at Applejack condescendingly. "Oh raght. Psychic. Right." 

Twilight gave Applejack a hug and whispered, "Just enough time to sober up and bathe."

She teleported away then, leaving Applejack's ears ringing. She reappeared in the med bay and scared the bejeezus out of Dr Fluttershy. Rainbow popped up out of bed. "TWILIGHT! Look, look look look look look, look what I can do now." She very delicately lifted a styrofoam cup full of water and took a sip through her grin then just as delicately released it. 

Dr Fluttershy clapped as she said, "Today's the first time since she had her surgery that she hasn't crushed the cup!" 

Twilight nodded, finally appreciating the significance of the act. "So she graduates tomorrow then?"

Rainbow Dash grew pensive. Dr Fluttershy put a hand on her arm comfortingly. "She'll pass her final test tomorrow and then she'll be back in fighting shape."

Twilight smiled warmly. "Excellent, because your new mech's almost done."

They both turned their heads sharply to Twilight. Rainbow shouted, "I GET A NEW MECH?!"

Twilight smirked, "Of course, I can't have my best knight unhorsed." She turned to walk away thinking that was a good note to leave on. She felt the joy radiating off of Rainbow Dash as she lifted the doctor into the air and spun her around. She made to teleport back to Pinkie Pie to tell her the good news when something happened that broke Twilight's heart. She, without looking, felt Rainbow Dash kiss her doctor. She felt the love both of them were expressing and she couldn't believe it. She put a hand to her heart and leaned heavily on the doorframe. "Poor Applejack" she whispered to herself.

Dr Fluttershy chided. "Not in front of the Viceroy!"

Rainbow, seeing Twilight leaned on the doorway, began to ask what was wrong, but she teleported away. She arrived back in the suite Celestia had assigned them and was instantly seized upon by an amorous Pinkie Pie. "HA! GOTCHA! Little miss leave before, oh no what happened?" Twilight spent the evening dreading tomorrow. All she could think was how this was going to crush her friend.
> Don't Think. Feel.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The knights of Strike Team Sparkle, minus one ag worlder, milled about anxiously in the officer's lounge they had claimed for themselves. Not that the other officers weren't permitted in the bar, it's just that there was no one on board that wasn't intimidated by a living god, the woman who had single handedly crippled their battle group, the hardest drinker on the Damocles, and a raving psychotic. 

Pinkie Pie whined, "Ooooh! Hurry up already! I wanna see." She put on a deep voice and a strange accent. "The Dashinator." The others just stared at her. They knew better than to ask Pinkie Pie to explain anything ever, as the answers only confused further, but they couldn't help but stare at times. She looked around in expectation. "What? Nothing to that." She ticked her tongue. "Shoot, knew I should've said Rainbow Skywalker."

Twilight levitated Pinkie into a chair beside her. "Calm down Pinkie. They're literally going to be here in three, two, one." They stared at the door in expectation, but nothing happened. The other two looked from the door to Twilight in confusion. Twilight knew what they were doing on the other side of the door. Rainbow apparently needed just a little boost of confidence before she could perform. She didn't want to intrude, but they were making it awkward. They heard in their minds, "Sometime today ladies." and levitated the door open. There stood a grinning Rainbow Dash, her knew augmetic arm shining, beside a red faced Dr. Fluttershy. 

They gave a gentle applause as they strode in. Dr. Fluttershy stood to the side and readied her holographic screen. She watched and made a note every time Rainbow did some prearranged action with her robotic arm successfully. She saw Rainbow successfully shake Rarity's and Twilight's hands, she took and held a piece of cake from Pinkie Pie. After the initial wave of congratulations and explanations Rainbow finally had a moment to look about and Twilight could feel the disappointment brewing in her mind. "Where's . . . Applejack." Rainbow finally asked barely above a whisper.

Rarity trying to be delicate said, "She said she'd be here.''

"Yes! I'm sure she's just a little late." Dr Fluttershy said, in an attempt to keep her spirits up. 

Rainbow stared at Twilight. The question hadn't been addressed to the group, it had been addressed to her. Rainbow knew Twilight couldn't not know where Applejack was, and her heart hung by a thread in her chest. Twilight looked her in the eye. She'd been giving Applejack the same courtesy she'd given them, but it was time to end the suspense. She telekinetically slid open the other door and a very nervous Applejack scrambled to shove the liquid courage she'd been fortifying herself with into a back pocket.

There was a heavy moment of tension in the air. The two locked eyes from across the room. Everyone held their breath as they step by step closed the distance between them. It was the first time they'd seen each other in two months and no one knew how this meeting would play out. Except Twilight. She knew both were a paper thin veneer of calm under which was an ocean of tension that the other was still mad at them. She thought to herself that if it wasn't so heartbreaking it'd be kind of romantic.

Applejack extended a hand. Rainbow Dash did nothing but look at the proffered hand for an overlong moment. Everyone watched the two in silent tension to see what she would do. She grinned and they did their complicated series of high fives as they always did. Everyone present released the breaths they'd been holding. Dr Fluttershy made one last note on her screen and smiled. "Well I've seen everything I need to see. Rainbow, I hereby certify you as recovered sufficiently to reenter military service."

Another round of applause went up and Pinkie cheered loudly. A voice cut through the air. "Not just yet." Applejack gave a predatory grin. "Ah gotta see somethin first." She sat at a table and presented an arm. Rainbow's eyes went wide. She leapt to the table and dented it slightly as she drove her elbow against it. The two locked hands, one flesh the other steel. The assembled gathered around to watch the struggle. "Now maybe you can fahnally win." Applejack teased.

The group watched the muscles in Applejack's arm tense. The robotic arm didn't move. Twilight glanced over at Dr. Fluttershy and noticed her expression, it was nervous. Not because she wanted Rainbow to win, but because she felt like this was dangerous. Twilight looked back to the contest, Rainbow gave a fake yawn as her robotic arm slowly interminably lowered towards the table. She looked at the servos in the hand and thought about what their power output might be. She suddenly shared the doctor's concern. 

Applejack didn't care though. There was no such thing as a no win situation, and she was going to give it her all. Rainbow decided to put the final nail in the coffin. Only two inches remained between her hand and the table. She meant to press the hand down firmly in triumph. What occurred was she broke every finger in Applejack's hand by smashing it against the table. Applejack's eyes went from squeezed shut with effort to wide open with shock and pain. She lurched forward and squeezed at her wrist giving a silent shriek. All assembled were frozen in shock at the sudden crack of bone and trickle of blood.

Rainbow panicked. She tried to open her hand but she couldn't focus in her shock. She could see her best friend's blood oozing through her metal fingers. She could actually feel the warmth of the red ichor through her synthetic nerves. She couldn't let go. She tried as hard as she could, but she couldn't make her augmetic hand open. Applejack finally got her voice back and she screamed in agony. The scream snapped the group out of their shock and Twilight tore open Rainbow's hand with her mind.

Applejack fell to the ground screaming in pain clutching her wrist. Twilight teleported her to the med bay. Dr. Fluttershy saw a distraught Rainbow Dash just as she stormed out the door, and she ran after her calling for her to stop. Pinkie and Rarity were left in their officer's lounge. "Well I guess Rainbow won." Pinkie said uncertainly. Rarity frowned in unamusement and she slapped her playfully across the face. "Damn. I am just zero for three today."

Dr. Fluttershy caught up with Rainbow Dash just as she entered her quarters. She saw Rainbow putting deep dents into the wall with her augmetic hand. "Dash! DASH STOP IT!" She desperately called out as she clung to the arm. Rainbow shoved her away violently. She toppled backwards and hit the wall hard as she accidentally knocked the various treasures off of her nightstand. The sound of glass shattering on the floor brought Rainbow out of her rage. She saw Dr. Fluttershy sprawled out on the floor, the whiskey bottle shattered on the ground beside her. 

Rainbow slowly, shakily stepped towards the fallen woman. She was at a loss for what to do. Dr Fluttershy shifted into a sitting position and Rainbow fell to her knees, grabbing her tightly. "SHY I'M SO SORRY!!!" She held her tight and broke down into sobbing the words, "I'm sorry." Over and over again. 

Dr Fluttershy took Rainbow's augmetic hand in her own. Rainbow was nervous at the action, like it might suddenly lash out at her. She took it and kissed it gently. Rainbow leaned back in surprise. Her augmentic hand still had small spots of blood still on it and a little of the wall's paint had rubbed onto her steel knuckles. Dr Fluttershy inspected the hand and whispered, "A lot of people worked very hard to give you this hand. It'd be a shame for you to break it right after you got cleared to use it."

Rainbow gently pulled the hand away and sighed hard. "I think that just proved I'm not ready." Her eyes turned to the broken bottle on the floor. The whiskey had already soaked into the carpet. What would Applejack think of her now. She'd told her to fuck off after her accident, and the second she sees her again she almost rips off her hand. "No. . . I don't think I'm ready to go back to that." 

Fluttershy put on a determined face. She gently pulled Rainbow's face to look at her, and stared hard into her eyes. She gave her a deep kiss. "Dash, you're just overthinking it." She stepped to the door and sighed hard before looking back intensely. She used the deep voice that she always used when she was serious. "Meet me in the launch bay in ten minutes." Then without another word she marched away. Rainbow stared at the doorway for a long while. Then it occurred to her it'd take a few minutes to walk to the launch bay so she started off at a trot. 

She arrived and there was no one in the launch bay. Not a tech, not a refueler, no one. It was the quietest she'd ever heard it. It was almost ominous. All of a sudden a cargo bay door opened and a mech slowly entered the launch bay. It was massive, towering over even Applejack's monster of a mech. Then she saw it, the winged lightning of Celestia's elite shock troops painted on the side. Rainbow stood in awe as she witnessed the last of an almost extinct breed. She saw the very last Wonderbolt stride forth.

Fluttershy had spent a very busy ten minutes. She'd called Twilight over the ship's communicators and had asked a very VERY big favor. Twilight had immediately begun giggling like a cross between a giddy schoolgirl and a person intoxicated. She'd immediately teleported herself down to an obscure warehouse on Terra, teleported back with an entire last generation mech unit, ordered the void cleared for a live fire test run, and ordered Pinkie to share the popcorn Twilight knew she'd have serendipitously prepared.

Pinkie Pie was starting to grow mildly uncomfortable with the fact Twilight seemed to be starting to predict her actions, even when she couldn't. Rarity fussed like a true officer at the seemingly random orders given to her fleet without any explanation. Twilight teleported them both to an observation deck, and shook like a Roman in the colosseum about to watch their first gladiatorial combat. Twilight had known Dr. Fluttershy's reputation and service record, and couldn't believe she was going to see her in action.

Dr Fluttershy has gone back to her quarters and had spent most of the ten minutes staring in horror at her old flight suit. She could still hear the screams of her squad as they were mowed down one by one. Their screams quickly cut off by their units being destroyed. She saw the Cloudsdale medal beside her flight suit. The only one of its kind minted. She'd kept it to punish herself for what she'd done. Then she'd remembered the words of her little knight. They'd all known what they were going into when they signed up. They'd had limited objectives, and after she'd cracked the void defenses, a lengthy, costly siege had ended. For the first time since the battle she could look unashamed at herself in the mirror.

She nodded and began to slip on the flight suit. Either it had shrunk in storage, or she had gained weight since she'd gone civilian. She couldn't get it to zip up all the way past her breasts and after a few determined minutes of struggling decided to just give Rainbow Dash a scenic view. Now she was in her old cockpit, the smell of old adrenaline laden war sweat that no amount of detergent could remove filling her mind with long buried memories.

Rainbow was star struck as she and the mech unit strode slowly towards each other as in a dream. Finally they met and Dr. Fluttershy opened the canopy. Rainbow's awe turned into babbling hysterical enthusiasm. "OHMYGOSHITSTHEVALKYRIECLASSONLY200OFTHESEWEREEVERMADEHOWDIDYOU~"

"Shut up. Get in. Strap down." Fluttershy interrupted in her deep voice. Rainbow blushed as deeply as she'd made the doctor do several times, and scrambled meekly into the cockpit. She sat herself down in the copilot seat, and the restraints had barely clicked before she was lurched back by the mech's boosters firing full throttle. Rainbow yelped in terror at the sensation of being grabbed by the hand of god by the seat of her pants and thrown bodily forward.

Fluttershy took to her old suit like riding a bike. Every twist of the sticks, every button, every move and twist felt right, as if she'd never sworn to never fly again. Rainbow became suddenly concerned as sensors started indicating incoming fighters from seemingly all directions. "Umm Shy? Did you order~" Before she could finish her question she saw Fluttershy loose a volley of heat seekers that blew a hole in the net of training drones in front of her. She flipped one hundred and eighty degrees vertically and loosed a series of scatter shots into the oncoming drones that tore through them before detonating. Another wave came from her starboard side and she dove right at them.

Rainbow watched in fascination at the doctor's style of fighting. She got right in close to where the other units couldn't get a clear shot, but was never precise in her shots. Every attack was for a wide area of effect. She made it to where anytime she fired she would hit something, even if it wasn't necessarily what she was aiming at. It was tantamount to a musketeer watching an armored blunderbuss user in pike formation.

Twilight and Pinkie cheered from their observation deck over mouthfuls of popcorn. Rarity watched in horror as her ships were sprinkled with scatter shot and barked orders to double the previously designated evacuation area. Fluttershy fought with a single minded determination. Nothing else existed for her. Not the alarms blaring drone movements to her, not Rainbow's screams and cheers coming from behind her, not her own sense of levity at being back in the saddle for the first time in years. All there was in the universe was center target, pull trigger.

After the last training drone had been reduced to scrap Dr. Fluttershy released the sticks with hands stiff from crushing grips. Rainbow babbled in joy and excitement. Dr. Fluttershy didn't hear a word. She simply unbuckled her harness, shifted to the copilot seat and did something that stopped Rainbow's ramble dead in its tracks. She unzipped her flight suit all the way down. She grabbed Rainbow's augmentic hand and stuffed it roughly into her pants. "Don't think. Feel." Were the only words she said before she shoved her tongue into Rainbow's mouth.

Twilight gained a knowing smile and lifted Pinkie Pie into her arms. "Well I think that's enough excitement for one day. Steady as she goes Admiral." 

With that she was about to teleport to the suite that Celestia had assigned them, but Rarity had had enough shenanigans for one day. "Excuse you?! Viceroy or not this has gone on long enough! First you order the void cleared for a random live fire test, then suddenly there's a dinosaur mech tearing up my fleet, AND NOW IT'S JUST HANGING THERE LIKE A BILIOUS PIGEON and you say STEADY AS SHE GOES?! No Twilight, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind right now!" She made to call them and the video of the cockpit suddenly filled the wall. Rarity didn't get two syllables off before she slammed the video off red faced and mortified. She decided to let sleeping dogs lie for now.

A terribly satisfied Dr Fluttershy lay naked floating in the void with an unconscious Sir Rainbow Dash clinging to her. She brought up Rainbow's chart. She smiled as she typed in. "Satisfaction on all points."
> I Finally Get To Stop Typing the Word Dr.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack's injuries to her hand were so extensive that it was declared easier to just give her a new one. Rather than this bothering her though, it gave her a secret joy that her and Rainbow Dash would have matching augmetics. The flesh smiths were annoyed that they'd have to spend even more time in the void, but Twilight made sure they were compensated handsomely. Rank did in fact have its privileges. 

A terribly satisfied Dr Fluttershy strolled casually in to see her newest dismemberment patient. She unconsciously let her hips sway a little more now. Ever since Rainbow Dash had reconciled her to herself she'd been more relaxed, less timid. Not to mention since the incident in space her body had been releasing a lot more endorphins, so she was essentially riding a natural high. She cheerily greeted the friend that her little knight had told her so much about. "And how are we this morning Sir Applejack?"

The knight chuckled. "Shee Oot doc! Y'all can just call me A.J. if ya lahke."

Dr. Fluttershy nodded. "Very well then A.J. and how is the hand?"

"Hurts lahke hell." Applejack said in complete contradiction to her beaming grin.

Fluttershy's smile fell into a concerned grimace. "Oh I'm so sorry umm. . . " She brought up a holographic file. "Umm it says here that. . . " She sighed hard and closed the file. "Sir Applejack, the Viceroy has made it known to me that you've been under the influence of alcohol for a considerable length of time. Do you mind me asking when the last time you imbibed alcohol was?"

Applejack looked embarrassed but still grinned. "Yeah, yeah, ah was havin a bit of a down spell cuz a all the troubles recently. But!" She held her head high, raised her augmetic hand, and gave the doctor a sincere look. "On mah honor, ah haven't had a drop since this happened." She wiggled the hand. 

The doctor gave this new knight the same routine she'd given her little knight. "Good." Her voice lowered an octave. "Because if there's any alcohol in your system it could negatively react with the painkillers you're on and it could stop your heart."

Applejack's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Shucks. Thank fer the warnin." She continued to grin.

Dr. Fluttershy seemed mildly taken aback. "Oh. . . Good then.'' Dr. Fluttershy had been concerned after Twilight had explained a tastefully edited version of Applejack's mental state. So the fact that she actually didn't have any alcohol in her system, and the fact she seemed so chipper just sat odd with her. 

She fiddled with Applejack's I.V. and after a few moments she leaned back and sighed contentedly. "Ah. . . Thanks doc."

Dr. Fluttershy couldn't get over her upbeat demeanor. The way Twilight had described Applejack made it seemed like she'd be even more depressed than Rainbow had been. Try as she might she couldn't keep the smile off of her face; Applejack's grin was just too infectious. "Well you seem to be rather happy for someone who just lost a hand."

Applejack snorted to herself. "Way yell imma liddle high raght now, but to tell y'all the truth it's more a weight off my mahnd if'n ya catch mah drift." The painkillers exacerbated Applejack's already thick ag world drawl.

Dr Fluttershy lowered herself into a seat. "No actually. I don't"

Applejack sat slightly more upright. "Well, ah was all down and out cause ah'd fucked up Dash's arm. Hence the intoxication see?"

Dr Fluttershy thought she understood but couldn't help but clarify. "So now that she's hurt you, you feel all better?"

"Yup! Even stevens." Applejack grinned genuinely. As if she was actually happy she'd been injured.

Dr Fluttershy couldn't help but chuckle at this odd woman. "Well I guess Dash was right. You are a tough one."

Applejack imperceptibly blushed. "Hey! You take it from me, anything she told y'all is a flat out lie." She chuckled with intoxication.

Dr. Fluttershy put on a mock pout. "Oh Don't say that! She's said such nice things about you!"

Applejack's blush crept ever so slowly further onto her face. "Uhh lahk whut?" She chidded herself for fishing for compliments, even from her boo. "Just ta make sure y'all ain't laborin under false pretenses."

Dr Fluttershy smiled. "Well she says you're strong, and brave. That you're a good drinker, and a good fighter." 

"Mmhmm" Was all Applejack could get out. She had to turn her face away. It felt like she was going to burst into flame. 

"That you two have always been the best of friends." She sighed happily. "As far as I can tell you're the person she most respects in the galaxy."

Applejack was silent for a long time. She stared straight ahead in embarrassment. Anyone else would've assumed this fact, but for Applejack it was gigantic news. It took all of her self control not to leap out of her hospital bed and hunt down Rainbow Dash right then and there. Dr. Fluttershy finally noticed the knight's demeanor and asked if she was alright. Applejack had a wide smile on her face, but tears streamed down her cheeks. 

She sniffled lightly and tried to rub them off. "Ahm fine doc. Really ahm." She grabbed the doctor around the neck in an uncomfortable crushing hug. "Ahm just so ha-ha-happy." Dr. Fluttershy managed to extricate herself without being rude and Applejack's tears began to slack. "Ahm sorry. Ahm sorry. These drugs have got me all over the place, it's just. Ah love er so much doc." She looked at the doctor, tears still lingering in her big green eyes. "Ah always have."

Dr Fluttershy's eyes grew in dawning horror. "Oh isn't that nice." She said half-heartedly.

"Ever since ah first saw her, in the battle I mean. Standin there in that bastard's cockpit. I mean she weren't afraid a nothin. It still hurts mah heart all this tahm layter." She put her augmetic hand to her heart. "Ya know what ah mean doc?" Dr Fluttershy had collapsed into her seat and was weeping openly into her hands. Her soul was once again racked with guilt. This woman who had saved her little knight's life more times than the doctor would ever know loved her little knight, and she, a complete stranger, had just stolen her heart right out from under her. Applejack noticed the doctor's tears and shifted in her seat. "Hey doc. Y'all alright?"

Dr Fluttershy took in a long breath and raised her head. "Yes A.J. I'm fine. That was just the most beautiful thing I've ever heard." She broke down again. She couldn't stay here any longer. She quickly walked out of the room and went straight to her quarters. She was startled to see the Viceroy standing there.

In the med bay Applejack's confidence was at an all time high. Her heart felt like it was going to jump right out of her chest if she didn't do something right then. She scrambled out of bed and shakily made her way down the hall. She'd underestimated the effects of the painkillers and was amusingly woozy. She giggled and panted as she stumbled her way down the corridors. She went straight, or as straight as she could in her intoxicated condition, to Rainbow's quarters. When she arrived she found the door open and a very cheery Rainbow Dash just finishing getting dressed. "Oh Applejack! I was just about to come see you!" 

She crossed over to Applejack who was leaning heavily on the doorframe and panting from exertion. Those drugs really messed me up." Applejack thought blearily to herself. She said breathlessly trying not to vomit. "Dash ah got somethin to tell ya." 

Rainbow Dash shook with excitement as she said, "Hold on! Me first me first!" channeling her inner Pinkie Pie.

Applejack took a big breath in. "Yeah, you first. Ah need a minute." Her head was spinning.

Rainbow grabbed Applejack by the shoulder and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. "Okay so you know the doctor with the gigantic jugs? Well me and her have gotten you know kinda close these last few weeks and the other day." She made a high pitched howl of joy. "We took her Valkyrie class on a joyride and we joined the void club. FUCKING. UH. UH. UH." She bit her lip and thrust her pelvis forward several times. Applejack's spinning head stopped and started spinning in the other direction. Rainbow released the shoulder and shouted down the corridor, "AH! I'M IN LOVE!!!"

Applejack tried to walk away but the floor rose up to meet her. She hit the deck hard and blacked out. When she woke up her head was pounding and she had to squint to adjust to the light. She opened her eyes and saw each of her friends standing around her bed. "Way to over exert yourself dumbass." Rainbow Dash growled. "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING? Shy didn't give you clearance to leave the med bay! You could've gotten yourself hurt!"

Applejack held her head, but looked Rainbow right in the eye as she said, "You're loud."

Rainbow Dash scoffed and she couldn't stay mad. She rolled her eyes. "Alright. Alright. But seriously A.J. you gotta not scare us like that girl!"

Applejack looked around and saw a pageant of expressions painted on the faces of her friends. Pinkie Pie seemed terribly concerned, Rarity gave her a knowing nod, Dr. Fluttershy wouldn't look at her, but Twilight stared as if she had something important on her mind. Applejack didn't have to be psychic to see she wanted to talk about something. "Yeah, I know, I know." Applejack finally said. "Just wanted to tell ya somethin." All eyes but Rainbow's snapped to Applejack's. 

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Well whatever it was you could've just called. So what was so important A.J.?"

Applejack remembered the words Rainbow had said before she'd passed out and gave Dr. Fluttershy a long look. "Ya know what? Ah can't rightly recall." The rest of the women sagged visibly in silent relief.

Rainbow Dash gave a mirthless laugh. "Well that's just great. Scare us half to death and can't even.~ Can you believe this shit?" She turned to Fluttershy and the doctor gave her a weak smile.

Twilight had waited as long as she could, but she couldn't contain herself any more. "Ladies if you would excuse us. The doctor needs to chastise her patient." Pinkie Pie began to protest but Rarity levitated her out of the room. 

Rainbow seemed confused but made to leave. "Ummm cool. Shy you wanna meet me in my quarters when you're done? Go planetside. Have some fun?" She wiggled her eyebrows. The doctor didn't respond. Rainbow gave her a peck on the lips, she didn't kiss back. Luckily for all involved Rainbow didn't notice and strolled in her usual swaggering gait out of the room. "Don't keep me waiting!" She called out behind her.

Twilight sighed hard. "Goddamned finally." She looked hard at Applejack's face. She was about to begin but Dr. Fluttershy flopped onto the bed crying. "I'm so sorry Applejack! I didn't know!" She wept pathetically in Applejack's lap and Twilight could only look on and sigh in empathy for the both of them. She could feel the emotional turmoil in both of them. Fluttershy was willing at the drop of a shell casing to leave Rainbow and transfer off of the Damocles. Anything for the knight that had saved her little Dashie.

Applejack on the other hand was in a negative feedback loop. She wanted to be mad. She wanted to be pissed. She wanted this woman to be shitty about it. She wanted this woman to be a stuck up cunt that she could hate the guts of. She wanted to challenge this woman to mortal combat for Rainbow's hand. She wanted to want this big titted usurpin ass bitch to fuck off and die. . . But she couldn't. Try as she might, she couldn't be mad at her. And it infuriated her. She raised her augmetic hand and gently laid it on Dr. Fluttershy's head. She snapped her head up in surprise. Applejack was smiling. In spite of the fact that she'd stolen the woman she loved, this woman was smiling. "Don't y'all worry bout it none. Ah missed the harvest. Don't want the crop to go to waste." She pulled Dr. Fluttershy into a gentle hug. The doctor could hear the tears in the knight's voice. "Take good care a her for me. Okay?"

Dr. Fluttershy grabbed Applejack and squeezed her tight. The two sat in this posture for a long moment. Twilight sighed, she still felt bad for her friend, but this was a better resolution than many that could've happened. A large part of her had expected Applejack to challenge her to mortal combat. "Alright, that's out of the way. Next on the agenda, Applejack!" The two disconnected and looked at Twilight in surprise. "Are you willing to work with her?" 

Dr. Fluttershy scrambled to her feet and both her and Applejack breathlessly asked, "What?!"

Twilight looked hard at Applejack. "I need to know that you can successfully work alongside this woman regardless of your personal history."

Applejack shook her head as if not understanding the question. "Twi, y'all are the Viceroy. Literally the head honcho a the whole military. It ain't mah place to tell y'all not to hire someone or not hire someone."

Twilight nodded. "Be that as it may, I still care about you. You're my friend Applejack. I don't want you to have to work with someone you might consciously or unconsciously have an issue with."

Applejack sighed. She turned to Dr. Fluttershy who had stood thunderstruck the entire conversation. "Doc. Ah hate lyin. Ah mean Ah really REALLY hate lyin. So ah won't. Y'all are real nahce. And ah can tell how much R.D. loves ya, and how much y'all love her." She took a deep breath and steeled herself for what needed to be said. "Ah'm jealous. Shame to say but Ah'm jealous as a mule is of a thoroughbred, and Ah'm always gonna be jealous. But Ah don't get ta choose who R.D.'s sweet on." Her face dropped and her voice lowered in sad realization. "Hell. . . She and Ah had fahve years to make a move . . . N. . . Nahther of us did. . ." She shook herself out of her introspection and addressed Twilight. "But if y'all think she's got the rahght fahght in er then Ah'll be happy to have er on the team."

Twilight smiled sadly and turned to the thunderstruck doctor. "And what say you? The empire calls for the hero of the siege of Cloudsdale to once again ride forth in her defence. Will you serve?"

Dr Fluttershy stared hard. She thought of the years of guilt over what she'd done. She remembered the words of her little knight. She thought about how much better Rainbow's life could've been if she hadn't been a pirate. Her face hardened with determination. She put a hand to her sternum and bowed. "I would be honored."

Twilight drew her sword. "Kneel." Dr Fluttershy knelt and she was knighted right there in Applejack's room. She rose and Applejack congratulated her newest comrade. 

They left and Applejack had a moment to think in silence. "Fahve years. . . I had fahve years to make a move."

"Five years or six months. Too late is too late." A soft voice said, startling Applejack out of her reflections. Rarity strolled in and sat down beside the bed. She produced a large bottle of brandy and two glasses. She poured them both a drink and toasted the glasses. 

Applejack stared at the glass in her hand and smiled. "Ah think Ah'd better not. Doctor's orders." She put the glass back down. 

Rarity looked in surprise at Applejack for a long while then smiled. "Suit yourself." She rose and exited the room.

Applejack stared for a long moment and whispered.



"Fahve years."
> S.P.I.K.E.'s New Do
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The knights of Strike Team Sparkle stared in cringing sympathy for the sparking, twitching form of S.P.I.K.E.'s shiny new physical body. Twilight tilted her head back in almost orgasmic catharsis. "God I've wanted to do that for years." She sighed contentedly.

Rarity had been working frantically for weeks after the attempted coup. With Twilight ascended to the second highest seat in the largest empire in the galaxy, and thereby being able to assign whomever she wanted to any position she chose in the military, Rarity had been the natural choice to replace Admiral Davenport as chief officer on the Damocles. Davenport being one of only three officers that left. 

She'd had to reorganize the entire structure of the armada to deal with the gaps in the fleets she had caused. She had to shuffle soldiers and pilots from units they'd been with for years into other units to cover her bases tactically. She'd had to put in requisitions to refueling stations along the path they'd be taking through the galaxy. Every ship had to be fueled, fitted, repaired, staffed, and reviewed. She'd had to have Pinkie's, Rainbow's, and Applejack's mechs repaired with the additions Twilight had ordered. Twilight had said some bold words to the galactic parliament, and Rarity was going to make sure she kept her friend's honor clean.

In the midst of this flurry of organization came the drama with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy. Having to wait for Rainbow's hand to heal before they could practice squad tactics, then having to wait until Applejack's hand healed. By the time Rarity signed over command to the duty officer every eighteen hours she was mentally and physically exhausted. S.P.I.K.E. had become an integral part of her work. He brought her food when she forgot to eat. He gently but forcefully urged her to sleep every eighteen hours. He corrected Rarity when her frazzled mind ordered the same ship to do two things.

His A.I. had been connected to every ship in the fleet, so he could manifest anywhere in the armada at will, but he began to notice Rarity's loneliness. She still saw each of her friends nearly every day in some capacity, but they almost never had any time to simply relax and socialize. Twilight spent almost everyday on the surface with Celestia. The girls had to practice squad tactics, and she herself was handling a million and one various issues that come up when a fleet is going to war. 

In the few precious moments that they scheduled recreation time the couples would dance, and Applejack could always find some good ol boy to cut a rug with, but the officers that were brave enough to ask their Admiral to dance were few and far between.

He decided, as was part of his programming, to consider Rarity's mental health. A physical body it had to be. He decided to fiddle about with the ship's various cargo robots, and secretly ordered a few android units from Terra. It was by no means unusual for an A.I. to have a physical body. It was unusual however, bordering on the illegal for an A.I. to build itself a body without being programmed to do so.

He looked at the various babysitter models that fit his programming and didn't seem satisfied. He examined his code and saw that the base routines were still caring at heart, but with a much wider range of functions. He was still a guardian, but now he was the guardian of a fleet, not a child. 

He gave processing power to combat models, but again they didn't seem to be a proper fit. He wasn't a combat unit. He wasn't programmed for offense, or even defenses really. The extent of his confrontational programming was to put himself between his charge and whatever was attacking it. Then get the charge to a safe distance from the attacker while summoning aid. So combat units were right out. Plus if he was a giant mech unit fighting beside Rarity, he wouldn't be able to bring his new body into the ship's interior and make sure she got to bed on time.

It came down to him having to build a unique body for his unique programming and function. His avatar was always a small cartoon of a humanoid purple and green dragon, so he decided to stick with that in principle. He used an interface protocol droid as a base, but gave it various dragonesque features, such as small fringes on the top of his head, that ended up resembling a large green mohawk. He thought it would be disconcerting for a humanoid droid to go about naked, so he requisitioned himself a ship's uniform without rank and had it tailored to his size.

After weeks of scheming in secret he finally asked the Viceroy and the knights of Strike Team Sparkle to assemble in their officer's lounge. They eventually arrived in their pairs, Pinkie hanging off Twilight's arm, Rainbow with her hand halfway between Fluttershy's back and butt, and Rarity and Applejack discussing in mild confusion what could possibly be going on that they hadn't heard about. They sat down and S.P.I.K.E. transferred his central consciousness to the new android.

The automatic door slid open and instantly each member of the squad stood mouth agape at the six foot tall dragon robot that strode calmly into their midst. Rarity walked as in a dream towards S.P.I.K.E.'s creation in open awe. She began to reach out to touch it, to establish whether or not it was real, when Twilight's hand went upside it's head hard enough to scuttle a battleship. The second she had realized that S.P.I.K.E. had a physical form, she suddenly got flashbacks of one million and three little annoyances. "bRuSh YoUr tEeTh tWiLiGhT, DoN't ThRoW FuRnItUrE tWiLiGhT, DON'T EAT COOKIES BEFORE BED TWILIGHT!!!" And her body took over by reflex.

They all stared at her face, almost drunk with satisfaction and were almost afraid. Rarity knelt beside the fallen android. "Twilight what have you done!" She called out dramatically. "You've killed my widdle S.P.I.K.E.y wikey!" 

S.P.I.K.E. manifested in his old form beside the crying Admiral. "No no. That was a long time coming. Honestly I should've expected that. But don't worry Rarity, ten seconds." They all counted down in their heads, but only Twilight counted the exactly ten seconds of awkward silence accurately before a maintenance robot came in with a new head for S.P.I.K.E. and they watched uncomfortably as his damaged dome was removed and replaced.

Applejack shuddered. "Buuuh. Don't do that again."

Pinkie Pie was flicking his head spikes as Rarity marveled. "S.P.I.K.E., this is incredible. I didn't know you were this creative. And I must say I LOVE the design. It's so. . . YOU!"

Twilight after coming down from her hate boner glared at the new android. "Yes, very nice, so glad you asked for permission to assume physical form."

S.P.I.K.E. shuddered and the assembled wondered at the fact that he seemed genuinely afraid. He dropped to his knees and pathetically begged, "Please Twi! Please don't deactivate me! I did it to help Rarity! You're always busy with Celestia, and she's got so much to do I thought that this would help!"

Rarity came to the side of the terrified android. "You'll do no such thing to my little S.P.I.K.E.y wikey! Just look at this body he's made. It's a work of art! Quite frankly it belongs in a museum!" Twilight continued to glare.

Pinkie Pie took up the charge. "Yeah come on Twi, it's neato!" She put on her biggest puppy dog eyes and pressed her breasts together in the way she knew Twilight had a hard time resisting. "Pwease? Pwetty pwetty pwease wid kisses and whipped cream and sugar on top?"

Applejack and Rainbow joined the wall between S.P.I.K.E. and Twilight. "Yeah come on Twi. It'd be a downraght waste of a good piece a hardware to shut him down now."

Rainbow begged. "Please Twilight?" They all stared at her earnestly.

She only continued to glare. "Real reason S.P.I.K.E." 

They all turned as one to see a very nervous look on S.P.I.K.E.'s face. His robot body couldn't sweat, but the hologram emitters in the ceiling projected little beads of sweat trailing down his face. One distinctly good thing about S.P.I.K.E.'s programming, he couldn't lie. He dissembled, he looked away, he gave convincing half truths, but Twilight only stared. Finally he broke down and said in an apologetic mutter. "I didn't want Rarity not to have anyone to dance with."

Twilight face palmed, Rainbow Dash laughed until she cried, Applejack snickered in surprise, but Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity all had tears in their eyes. They all thought that was the sweetest thing they'd ever heard. Rarity stepped forward and bowed. "I would be honored, Sir." S.P.I.K.E. projected a glowing red blush onto his face, and delicately took her hand. He began playing soft waltz music and the two gently swayed about the floor..

Twilight rolled her eyes hard, but was soon crushed to Pinkie's chest and was spun wildly about. Rainbow and Fluttershy took hands and soon each couple in the room had joined the impromptu ball. Applejack smiled wide and shook her head. She fixed herself a drink and waited for the song to end. They bowed after their dance and Applejack cut in. "Alright Mr. Fancy Feet, don't leave me the seventh wheel. And play somethin with a beat." S.P.I.K.E. changed the music to a livelier song and the evening was spent in a whirl of dancing and drinks.

Every knight of Strike Team Sparkle got their chance to dance with the new android. Even Twilight begrudgingly let herself be talked into dancing with her old babysitter. Even in her ascended state she still couldn't dance to save her life, but S.P.I.K.E. made up for the both of them. Rarity'd had the best evening since the episode with Luna and could scarcely have had a better time. Eventually the couples decided they wanted to finish the night right, and the groups made to disperse.

Twilight called Rarity to wait a moment and she sent the rest of the group, S.P.I.K.E. included, out of the room. She psychically blocked S.P.I.K.E. out of the security feeds, and telepathically asked Applejack to ensure that none of them were listening to the conversation through the door. Twilight had enjoyed the evening well enough, but boundaries had to be set. She stared hard at Rarity, who grew slightly worried at the look her Viceroy was giving her. "Rarity. . .". Twilight's voice purred with barely hidden emotion. 

"Ye~"

"DO NOT FUCK MY BABYSITTER!!!" Twilight screamed in unchecked emotion.

Rarity reeled from the volume and the vulgarity of the command. She babbled indignantly. "Wha-je-bra-ba! You think~! In all my~! Why I never~!" Twilight's gaze didn't falter. She stared hard back. She realized Twilight was earnest in her order. "TWILIGHT?!" Rarity shouted in disbelief. 

Twilight ever so softly spoke into Rarity's mind. "You can't lie to me Admiral."

Rarity's face went beet red. She hung her head and whispered. "I'll be good."

Twilight smiled and walked past her. "Good. And I'll vouch for you to the girls that you haven't." She called over her shoulder as she walked out the door, "Not that they'll believe me."
> A.J. Phone Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After months of planning and preparation the fleet finally set off. There had been a grand parade the entire length of Canterlot, and everyone who could find any excuse to leave work came to gawk at the new Viceroy. Twilight sat in a large open top horse drawn carriage and Pinkie sat beside her and threw candy to the children. The knights of Strike Team Sparkle marched behind in their mech suits, and both Applejack and Fluttershy had to glare menacingly at several groups of women who cheered and flashed Rainbow Dash as she strode by.

Speeches were given and a public holiday was declared throughout the empire. A protracted photo shoot with the Viceroys was taken and Celestia had one last meeting with Twilight on the shuttle ride to orbit. They didn't speak of the upcoming struggle, or of tactics. They spoke like they always did, as mentor and student. Maybe now as nominal equals, but still with the same easy friendship they'd always maintained. 

"That knight of yours is certainly something. The crowd was very taken with her." Celestia said

Twilight grinned and fidgeted like a school girl with her first crush. "Yes and so am I." She looked out the window and sighed wistfully. "So am I."

Celestia's face fell slightly in concern. "And you're not concerned at all?"

Twilight looked at Celestia in confusion. "About what?"

Celestia sighed. "Twilight have you given consideration to the fact that in a thousand years neither Luna nor I ever took a spouse?" Twilight thought for a long moment. Celestia looked out into the void. "Twilight. In all likelihood you will survive long after your companion has passed. And what will you do then Twilight?"

Twilight thought for another moment. "I don't think that'll be an issue." Celestia looked at her in mild surprise. Twilight smiled sagely. "I'd rather spend a lifetime with her, than an eternity without her." She looked at Celestia with a far away look. "I fell in love with her when I was mortal Celestia. When both of us were knights who could die at any time. And apparently we can still die so, I'm really not that concerned." Celestia stared in wonder at her fellow Viceroy's humility. She smiled at the fact that even a thousand years later she still had much to learn.

"Oh ummm that reminds me but. . . " Twilight asked bashfully. Celestia raised an eyebrow. She'd never seen Twilight this embarrassed with her before. "Well I mean you said you never took a spouse but.. . ." Her face grew red. Celestia prodded her to go on. "Well I mean Pinkie and I were. . . Intimate. . . Before the transformation but now it's. . . It's constant." Twilight said both in red faced embarrassment, and a slight joy. She wanted to gush about her sex life to the only other person like her in existence, but that someone was her mentor so she kept it appropriate "I mean she was loving before but now she's much more." She fished for the right word. ". . . Amorous? I mean she wants it all the time now and I'm worried about her health."

Twilight was amazed to see a slight blush on her mentor's face. "Well Twilight, I . . . I wouldn't know much about such things. . . I mean I never ummm." It took Twilight a considerable amount of effort not to alienate herself from the woman she most respected in the galaxy. But here Celestia was, arguably the most beautiful woman in humanity, admitting she had no experience with love. "I'd imagine it's your charisma Twilight." She said at length. "Yes. I think that's it. You need to tone down your aura. Just like when you used to close off your mind from other people's thoughts, you just need to calm your psychic spill over." Twilight was given quite a shock as Celestia's long flowing ethereal hair slowly began to still then stop completely. She appeared as she did when Twilight saw her leaned against her throne, but this time still regal and smiling. She exhaled and she resumed her gentle glow and her hair began to flow again. "See? I'm sure you'll figure it out. Though do be cautious. I believe when we're at our calmest is when we're at our most vulnerable." 

They arrived at the fleet in orbit and every ship in the armada that was assigned to the crusade was in parade formation. The Viceroys stood in the void and waved at each ship as it passed with its escorts. Each battleship loosed a broadside as it passed in salute. Finally they teleported onto the bridge of the Damocles and Rarity saluted. "My Viceroys, all ships present and accounted for. Ready to set sail at your order." Twilight nodded.

She embraced Celestia and the two looked proudly at each other for a long while. "Good luck Twilight." Was the last thing Celestia said to her as she teleported back into her shuttle.

Twilight looked at her assembled knights. They each grinned in turn. They were ready. She looked at S.P.I.K.E. who sheepishly waved. She turned to the view screen and stared into the void. She picked a certain ever so special planet and called, "Admiral, Take us to hyperspace." A flood of instructions cascaded through the ranks and every soul in the armada felt the gentle jerk of them accelerating to a speed so fast that anything they would hit would be converted back into heat radiation from whence its atoms were formed.

Twilight left the bridge and decided to retire. It had been a very long day and it was a bit of a trek to where they were going. Rainbow came alongside, her hands casually folded behind her head in the cliche'd posture of confidence so appropriate for her. "So where we goin anyway."

Fluttershy chimed in. "Umm yes I don't think we ever got a debrief about our first objective."

Twilight turned and failed to keep a grin off of her face. "Well we had to start somewhere, so I figured why not in the outer rim. Oh I don't know maybe somewhere like. . . " She looked right into Applejack's eye. "Pomum Dulce." Applejack stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes swelled to the size of dinner plates.

Rainbow Dash turned and asked. "Hey A.J. ain't that.~" 

She was cut off by Applejack grabbing her and Pinkie's head roughly in a headlock as she screamed. "YEEHAW! I'M GOIN HOME!!!"
> Maybe We Should've Let That Be A Surprise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight had regretted telling the ag worlder their destination the second she'd done so, as she never shut up about the place for the rest of the three week voyage. Applejack would spend all her waking moments talking everyone's ear off with facts about her homeworld, her family, or most draining of all, apples. Twilight had written books about agriculture before, but Applejack could've taught a university biology course on the subject. She knew the best soil conditions under which to grow every sort of apple, the best recipes for each type, the way to tell ripeness without touching it, and a host of other facts no one but Fluttershy could even pretend for the sake of politeness to give one single fuck about.

That's not why it bothered Twilight though. She herself was an endless font of trivia, and could literally fill a human lifetime with details they would never once in that lifetime use. No, the unending apple flavored ramble bothered Twilight because it was a lie, a ruse, a smoke screen. Applejack was excited to go home, but only on the surface. In her heart it came to her like a death sentence. She hadn't been home in five whole years, and she was nervous beyond all rational thought about how they'd receive her at home. 

She'd written letters, physical letters, and had them sent to her home address, but getting one slip of paper from one side of the galaxy to the other was a Herculean task in and of itself. Not to mention getting a reply. It happened entirely more often that her family's responses were simply discarded rather than being shepherded successfully across hundreds of thousands of light-years. 

Twilight finally managed to ebb the tide of apple lore three days before reaching the planet during an especially dry ramble about the proper balance between cinnamon and sugar in apple pies. She stared hard at Applejack, who simply beamed in response. She adjusted her seat and locked eyes with the ag world chatterbox. Pinkie rose up slowly to try and join in on what she thought was an impromptu staring contest, but Twilight gently levitated her out of the room. "Applejack. You know you can't lie to me."

Contrary to Twilight's expectations Applejack didn't look away. "Ah know." Was all she said.

Twilight's eyebrow rose, but she didn't look away. "No, I mean I know what you really feel about going home."

Once again Applejack didn't look away. "Yeah. Ah. Know."

Twilight lost the staring contest by rolling her eyes. "Applejack they're your family, and if the history I've seen in your mind is anything resembling accurate they're going to welcome you with open arms and do their damnedest to keep you from leaving."

Applejack rolled her eyes as well. "Yes little miss psychic, we're all terribly impressed with the trick you've been showin non-stop for the last eight months. Ah know y'all can read mah mahnd. What's. Yer. Point?"

Twilight almost glared. She was trying to help Applejack, and she wasn't being very cooperative. She sent images of Applejack on the verge of tears with dread into her mind. Applejack clenched a fist, but didn't strike. She spoke through gritted teeth. "Yes. Twahlaght. I. Know. Ah'm. Worried. Thank. Y'all. Fer. Makin. Fun. A. Me. Fer. It."

Twilight dropped the images and her eyes went wide. She grasped Applejack's hands in pleading apology. "What?! No! No no no no no! Applejack I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" She sighed heavily and looked apologetically at her friend. "I just saw you were scared and I thought you were trying to cope by thinking about all the good things about your planet."

Applejack shouted in annoyance. "Yes. Twilight. Ah know y'all can read minds. We're all up to speed on that little trick of y'all's. Hey did ya know that Dulcean Plain Terrors shit in the thickets too?"

Twilight's eyebrow rose ever so slightly. "Well yes they use it to wipe, but what does that have to do with.~"

"Twi Ah am fine!" Applejack said in an irritated voice. She sighed. "Twi, Ah ain't been home in fahve years. Ah ain't even heard word from em since last year." Her mood fell even lower. "Ah ain't worried about whether or not they'll still love me. That ain't it. It's just. . . " She stared hard at her mech, its new coat of paint gleaming in the L.E.D. lights of the cargo bay. "I was only s'posed to be gone for three weeks Twi, n that was a long time to be away then. N in fahve years I never could break away long enough to go all the way to the atter rim and back. . . Much less scrape together the money to hitch a single ride from round abouts Terra and back. Ah dunno if there's even anyone ta go back to. They coulda got swept up in a slaver raid, or starved from a bad harvest, or. . ." She for the very first time in her life thought about just how vulnerable their position on their orchard was. "Or any other bullshit that happens in the atter rim." A tear started to form in her eye. "N ah don't think mah heart could take that Twi. Ah don't think Ah could see the orchard any other way then just how ah left it without doin somethin foolish. . ." 

Twilight gently embraced Applejack. "I know Applejack. I know. That's why we're doing all this. So that an orchard farmer can feel safe going from one side of the galaxy to the other." A small smile came to her face. "And hey, if they've got even half the fight in them that you've got in you then they'll be fine." She grinned at Applejack. "Come on, who brings a shotgun with them on the way to the out house?" Applejack smiled. "Huh! COME ON! THEY'RE GONNA BE FINE!" Applejack began a deep belly laugh and Twilight shook her gently. "Now come on A.J., stop talking all our ears off about pie and let's get ready to hunt some pirates!"

Applejack frowned. "Well excuse may. Ah thought we was havin a pleasant discussion."
> WINONA!!!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Pomum system was a small system that orbited a large red star, hence the name. The Armada of the Imperial Navy sat in high orbit above the planet Pomum Dulce, a scenic little green marble with large fields of rolling prairies. The language in which the planet had been named was long since dead so the apple clan, as Applejack called it, always referred to their homeworld as Sweet Apple. They spread out in a wide deployment to cover as much ground as possible. Applejack had no shortage of stories of fighting off slaver raids on her farm, much that they'd been brushed up on ad nauseum on this voyage, so they knew pirates must have operations in the area. The knights of Strike Team Sparkle prepared for deployment. 

Rarity asked, "Alright Applejack, since you're the resident expert, where's a good place to. . ." She turned and saw that Applejack was not in the room. "Applejack?" 

S.P.I.K.E. poured Twilight a cup of tea and chimed in apathetically, "She just deployed."

Rarity made an incoherent noise of disbelief and rage. "Without orders?!" They looked and saw that yes, one single drop pod had deployed.

Rainbow Dash gave a toothy grin. "Oh she wants a race does she."

Twilight sipped her tea and quipped, "Then you'd better move if you want to beat Pinkie Pie."

Rainbow snapped her head around and saw that Pinkie was indeed no longer in the room. They looked on the view screen and saw that Pinkie was already in her suit, boosting towards the planet below. She dropped a depth charge behind her for a firework effect and waved with her giant hand. "Mother FUCKERY!" Rainbow barked as she sprinted for the launch bay. 

She managed to use her suit's boosters to catch all the way up with Applejack's drop pod, and she knocked on it several times out of spite. She saw Pinkie's suit far down below and set her boosters to maximum to try and catch up. She closed the distance quickly and unexpectedly passed her. Pinkie had completely shut down her boosters. Rainbow grinned. "Hah! Too fast for ya Pinkie?" She called over her suit's communicator.

Instead of seeing Pinkie's big pink curls and smiling face, she saw Rarity's sneering grimace. "Dash. . . Where do you think you're going?"

Rainbow eased off the throttle only slightly. "What? We're going to see Applejack's family. Aren't we?"

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Yes and where exactly on this planet do they live? Hrmm?" Rarity purred with sarcasm. Rainbow stopped dead in her tracks. Then and only then did it occur to her that only Applejack knew where exactly on this big green dirt ball they were hurtling towards was her family orchard. Pinkie Pie came alongside sheepishly and called. "Yeah, I didn't think this through either." They both had to wait and trail behind Applejack's drop pod.

Applejack had been so excited that the second she saw her homeworld she couldn't wait any longer and jumped in the first drop pod she came across. She hit the dirt and the canister opened up directly onto Twilight and S.P.I.K.E. enjoying their tea, a shimmering bubble of psychic energy keeping the rich topsoil that Applejack's pod had tossed up from falling into it. Applejack stepped out slowly and rubbed an arm in embarrassment. "Oh yeah. . . Rahght. Y'all can teleport."

The two mechs that had followed finally landed with an earth rending thud and both knights slowly made their way to the others. "Now what have we learned about deploying without orders?" Twilight cooed teasingly. 

Each hung their head in shame and muttered like scolded children. "We're sorry Viceroy."

Their chastisement was cut short by a single large caliber round plinking off of Applejack's drop pod, and a deep voice calling out over a loudspeaker. "Ah told y'all sons a bitches never to come back round these parts!"

Pinkie and Rainbow Dash made to bolt back to their mechs, and Twilight began to glow, but Applejack let out a deafeningly loud, "YEEEHAAAW!!!" That left all of them wincing.

The voice called out questioningly. "Applejack?!" Suddenly a giant industrial walker started stomping towards them at top speed. Applejack bolted towards it and the three remaining women just stared in confusion. When the big green walker came into view they saw it had a giant chainsaw mounted to one of its mechanical arms, a flamethrower on the other, and its cockpit was surmounted by two larger caliber turrets. When the walker was within two steps of stomping on Applejack it stopped on a dime, and a large blonde haired man leapt out with a loud, "YEEEHAW!"

Applejack jumped bodily into the man's rather large arms and he spun her around like a ragdoll. "BIG MACINTOSH!" Applejack cried, tears in her eyes. "Sheeyoot dontcha reconahze yer own kin when ya see em?" And she picked him bodily up in a crushing embrace.

"Well shit sis! All ah heard was a crash in the lawn and a whole heapin helpin a robots standin there, ah thought we was under attack from them no good varmints on the other sahde a the hill there!" Big Macintosh said grinning.

Applejack began to drag him by the hand towards the landing site. "Well come on! Lemme introduce ya to the gals!" They all met in the middle and the landing party bowed reverently. "This here's Pinkie Pie, she's a mineral worlder." Applejack whispered, "And completely nuts." She gestured to Rainbow Dash. "This here's Rainbow Dash, she's mah bestest buddy." She reached an arm around Rainbow's neck and gave her a noogie. "This here's S.P.I.K.E. he's one a them ghosts in a shell, and THIS." She gave a grand sweeping gesture towards Twilight. "Is Twilight Sparkle." She nudged her brother. "Y'all know, the Viceroy." 

Big MacIntosh reflexatorily dropped to one knee. "Beggin y'all's pardon yer majesty. Didn't rightly know to be expectin royalty."

Twilight blushed deeply. Crowds and parades were one thing, but it was still uncomfortable on an individual level. "Oh no. No, that's not necessary. Please. Rise." She levitated Big Macintosh onto his feet. "You're the family of the woman who fought an entire fleet to save my life. I'm very honored to meet you Mr Macintosh." She bowed low.

Big MacIntosh grinned. "Well ain't that raght n friendly like. Well pleased to meet'cha Ms. Sparkle. Well y'all come on in, meet the family."

They turned as a group to walk to the farmhouse. Twilight teleported S.P.I.K.E. back onto the Damocles with instructions to send out recon teams into the surrounding system to gather Intel. They made their way to the farmhouse and as they approached they saw a young woman about fourteen glare at them and speed away in a four wheeler utility vehicle. Applejack called out after her, but the girl didn't stop. Big Mac sighed, but didn't explain her actions.

Twilight idly bent her will towards the disappearing shape and saw a mix of resentment and terrible sadness lingering in her. They arrived at the farmhouse and a young woman with high curly hair came out, a short rifle strapped to one leg, but a welcoming smile on her face. "Mac sweetie? everything o~" She saw the giant wings and ethereal hair and all the blood drained from her face. "Oh my stars!" She whispered as she fell heavily to one knee. 

Big Mac helped her up. "Now huney, she's a friend."

Applejack looked dumbfounded from her brother to the woman she didn't know. "Huney?"

Both Big Macintosh and the woman blushed. "Eeyup." Big Mac chuckled as they presented small golden bands on their left hands. "Last fall."

Applejack almost brained herself as she put her augmetic hand to her forehead. "Well tan mah hide. Howdy new sis!" She gave the woman a crushing hug. 

Big MacIntosh gently but firmly separated them. Easy now Sugarbelle, gotta be gentle with. . . " He couldn't finish the sentence for bashfulness. 

Applejack looked between the two and her smile grew until it nearly split her head in two. "Big MacIntosh you dog!" She chuckled to herself. "Well I bet Granny gave her no end a grief before she consented to let y'all get hitched. SAY!" Her face beamed with excitement. "Where is Granny? She nappin somewhere?" 

The young couple's faces fell. "Yeah. She's fallen asleep alright." Big Mac answered sadly. 

Applejack's eyes widened. She took an unstable step back. "No. . ." Was all she could utter.

"Eeyup. Last winter after a scrap with the slavers. We won, but her old heart couldn't take it." Big MacIntosh said and gently squeezed a forlorn Sugarbelle.

Applejack's tears finally surmounted the barrier as she turned and ran out the door. She sprinted to the harvester. She took off as fast as the big bulky industrial unit could stomp. Twilight saw in her mind where she was going and flew above her as she went. They wound up in a corner of the large orchard, which was more a monocrop forest than a farm. Twilight saw four headstones neatly lined up next to each other under a large dead tree. One of the headstones was now illegible, two were faded, but one was polished, new, and freshly carved. There was a bundle of dead dried apples blossoms laid on it, and its grass had barely taken root.

Applejack leapt out of the harvester and collapsed on the ground in front of the grave weeping bitterly. Twilight landed gently beside her and stood next to her in silence for a long while. She stared at the grave and for the first time Celestia's words rang with an uncomfortable tone. "And what will you do then Twilight?" She knew that someday Pinkie would die. But standing there. Seeing her best friend weep for her loss. It hit close to home.

"Twahlaght, just go. Please." Applejack gasped between sobs.

Twilight knew she didn't like being seen crying, but she wasn't sure Applejack should be alone in this state of mind. "Are you sure?"

Applejack half turned and Twilight could see the helpless misery on her face. She could only mouth the word "please." Twilight embraced her gently then slowly rose into the air. She glared hard and sent a telepathic message to the young woman who'd been watching them. " I doubt now is a good time for that." With that done she flew away, she felt like Pinkie Pie needed a reminder about how much she loved her.

Applejack lay on her knees, her head bent all the way to the ground with sorrow. "I'm sorry Granny. I'm sorry. Ah shoulda been here. I'm so sorry. . . Ah shoulda been here."

"Yayah ya should've" a spiteful voice called out.

Applejack's head popped off the ground and saw her younger sister Applebloom glaring at her. For just a moment Applejack had a distraction from her misery. She smiled and held out her arms to her baby sister. "Apple.~" She was startled to see Applebloom back away as from a dangerous animal. "Applebloom! What's~"

"Y'ALL ABANDONED US!" The young woman screamed at the top of her lungs. Tears started to stream down her face. "IF Y'ALL HAD BEEN HERE SHE WOULDN'T A GONE! SHE'D STILL BE HERE!" She turned sharply and ran. Applejack weakly scrambled to get feet, but by the time she had started after her sister Applebloom was already on her four wheeler and was speeding off. Applejack glared and ran back to her harvester. She stomped after her, having to scramble and weave through trails through the trees too small for her big bulky mech unit. 

Back at the farmhouse Twilight leapt back from the small kitchen table and snapped to her feet. She roared commands in her knight's minds. "Pinkie, Rainbow mount up! Now! Fluttershy!" The mech trooper had been idly chatting with Rarity and was startled off of her seat when she heard Twilight's voice in her mind. "Suit up and go to these coordinates NOW!" Fluttershy suddenly knew exactly where to be and rushed for the launch bay. "Rarity I need eyes on the ground here! S.P.I.K.E. send down some tea for our hosts." S.P.I.K.E. blinked a few times in surprise at the abrupt change in tone and urgency, but made to do as he was ordered.

Applebloom had ridden at breakneck speed through the orchard, her hair full of leaves and twigs, her face bleeding from a thousand small branches whipping her as she flew by. She made a mistake in her haste. She had unintentionally rode straight towards a clearing where Applejack's harvester would have no trouble closing the distance. Applebloom didn't care, she rode with the blind passion of youth.

Applejack burst into the clearing and from her elevated position in her harvester could see disaster on the horizon. Coming low and fast were a dozen or more slaver skimmers darting right at Applebloom. It hit her like a felled tree, they had seen Pinkie's and Rainbow's mechs, and they were coming to steal them. Applejack called out at the top of her lungs for Applebloom to turn and run, but she wouldn't listen, she drove straight on. She crested the slope of the land and suddenly saw the danger she was in. 

Two of the skimmers slowed to intercept, but the rest went on at full throttle, there was always room for another cute young woman on the auction block. Applejack leaned on the control sticks, but she'd already been running at full speed. She looked in horror at the two slavers tracking her sister. She thought about using the harvester's guns, but Applebloom was too close and was moving back and forth trying to avoid the slavers; she couldn't risk taking a shot.

Applejack willed the machine forward, but Ol Bessie was never fast, even in her prime, and she was a few harvests past her hay day. Two skimmers set their sights on Applejack, they recognized that harvester as the thorn in their side that had thinned their numbers so many times. They loosed a spray of automatic fire at Ol Bessie. Applejack raised the harvester's loading arms to protect herself. All outer rim harvesters were modified to handle offensive capabilities, but they weren't armored like combat mechs. 

Applejack felt Ol Bessie's stomping tread become more and more shaky. They had hit her hydraulics and her leg's were starting to bleed out. Applejack cursed and slammed at the controls, the harvester was dead in the dirt. Applejack looked and saw the Slavers were on Applebloom. They'd latched on to her four wheeler. She had to spray wildly at the skimmers that were circling in like sharks. She loosed sprays of burning napalm at them but it only served to give them smoke cover to work behind. She felt a blast from behind her and Ol Bessie collapsed in a roar of screaming metal. Applejack hit the ground hard and was only barely not flung from the cockpit. All she could think in that moment of smoke and fire and rage, was "How did I make the same mistake twice?" In five years of military service and countless actions, she'd still not learned to watch her rear.

A skimmer stopped mere feet from Applejack. She painfully lifted her head and saw straight down the barrels of the skimmer's nose guns. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. She heard an earth rending crunch. After an eternity of clenching she opened her eyes and saw a giant blue boot. Her eyes trailed up the leg and saw a giant blue hand reaching out for her. 

Rainbow carefully picked Applejack around the waist with a giant blue thumb and forefinger and lifted Applejack into her cockpit. Applejack took exactly one second to enjoy being saved by the woman she loved, then she remembered her little sister's mortal peril and looked desperately around the battlefield for Applebloom. 

She saw Pinkie Pie expertly toss three grenades and hit three skimmers that were all flying in three different directions. She saw Fluttershy land from orbit with one skimmer under each foot. Twilight Sparkle was in full Viceroy mode and was floating several yards in the air blasting deep gouges into the rich Dulcean soil. She finally spied Applebloom being dragged along by two slavers. She grinned for a split second when she saw her baby sister knee one of them in the groin.

All at once the battle was stopped by an earth rending howl from the tree line. Several trees were knocked over as a twenty foot tall bipedal horned monstrosity came barreling out of the orchard and loped heavily towards the two slavers. The knights all trained their weapons on the snarling beast that was charging towards Applebloom, but Applejack lurched forward in the cockpit and shouted for joy. "WINONA!!!" They all looked at her in shock and confusion. The Dulcean Plains Terror grabbed the two slavers one in each of its giant clawed paws and smashed them together like a giant child playing with its toys.

The battle for all intents and purposes ended, Applejack called out for the giant monster to come and it stomped heavily over on its stubby back legs and knuckled hands. It lifted her bodily into the air and placed her on its large leathery torso. The two made joyful noises as it rolled back and forth on its back. Twilight and Rainbow face palmed and Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy joined the ag worlder in being rolled around by the gentle giant.
> If You Will Not Perish, Then Grow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the reunion was completed Applejack gently removed herself from the beast's clutches and looked for Applebloom. Neither her nor her four wheeler were anywhere on the battlefield. She saw her sister disappearing into the distance towards the house. Applejack stomped a booted foot on the ground and cursed. "Ah'm gonna turn her angsty liddle hide into a new pair a boots!" She was about to get in Rainbow's mech to follow her, but the sound of tearing metal distracted her. 

Twilight had summoned her sword and cut the smoldering remains of a skimmer in half. A terrified slaver was levitated into the air cursing and crying. Twilight floated just above the ground, her aura burning brightly. "You people." She growled, her voice boosted by psychic enhancement. "The people of this planet have the wit and the will to tame the savage wasteland and make something of value out of it." She put a hand to the slaver's neck and began to slowly close her hand. "And all you can do is take people by violence and send them into bondage!" The slaver squirmed and struggled in the air. Twilight's teeth ground together in her mouth. Her fingers began to dig into the man's neck. His skin was singed where her fingers grasped his throat. 

Pinkie Pie stomped over to the raging demigod and called over her suits loudspeakers. "TWILIGHT STOP! We already won! Let him go!"

Twilight glared at Pinkie Pie and she shrank back in fear. "To do what?!" Twilight's voice echoed with rage. "To crawl back to his hole and cause more misery?" Her voice rose in volume and in anger. "This man who makes his living by turning freedom into servitude, AND I SHOULD LET HIM RETURN TO IT?!" Pinkie raised an arm to shield herself. Twilight's eyes went wide with shock. Her aura faded and she slowly sank to the ground. She looked at the almost suffocated slaver in her hand and peeled her hand off of his scorched neck. "Go. . . Make sure everyone knows." She raised her sword. "I will not tolerate such disgusting practice in my empire." The slaver scrambled away and sprinted towards the tree line. Winona made to intercept, but Twilight glared at the giant monster and it slunk away whimpering.

Twilight turned to a still cowering Pinkie Pie and extended a hand. "Pinkie. . . I'm sorry. . . I'm so sorry." Pinkie smiled weakly and suddenly her mortal terror was gone. 

She leapt into Twilight's arms and rubbed her cheek against hers. "It's okay Sparkly Warkly, I know you get grumpy about human atrocity sometimes."

Twilight weakly smiled but soon her face hardened and she looked hard at Applejack. The ag worlder uncertainly approached her Viceroy. "Uhh thanks fer the save Twi. Ah guess it's a good thing that y'all can read mahnds." She chuckled nervously.

"APPLEJ~!" Twilight shouted in annoyance. She stomped around for a few steps trying to gather her thoughts. "Girls, get back to the ship. Applejack, come with me." The knights slowly uncertainly made for their mechs, but Twilight teleported Applejack into high orbit. They stood looking down onto the scenic green marble surrounded by a violet bubble of psychic energy. Applejack spent a few terrified seconds drinking in the situation. She was locked in a small bubble in space with a pissed off super psychic. Twilight fumed for several minutes. "Applejack." Twilight began, but simply paced around the small bubble of pressurized atmosphere she'd provided for them.

"Applejack. You can't live like this. People shouldn't live like this!" She glared at Applejack. "How am I supposed to secure my realms, when people are this isolated, this cut off from anyone and anything that can help them?!"

Applejack was struck with a stupified silence. "Twi. . . Ah know ya don't mean that. How can y'all say that?" Twilight glared but said nothing. Applejack shook her head and stared at her hands trying to come up with an answer. "Twi. . . This is the ONLY way ah wanna live! I can't imagine being away from the soil and the fresh air." Her temper grew and her voice rose. "Ah know y'all hubworlders can't understand, but this is the only way folks should live! By the sweat of their own brow! On their own land! In freedom. To make their own decisions and succeed or fail by their own hard work!"

Twilight's eyes began to glow and her voice began to echo with psychic enhancement. "And how are they to live when they're so easily picked off by the violent! How are they to prosper when it's one clan against an army?!" She screamed.

"She's proven one clan can be very effective against an army." Twilight heard a familiar voice in her head. She snapped in the direction of the voice and was amazed to realize it was Celestia's. She was casting her thoughts all the way from Terra. Twilight felt mildly embarrassed, her mentor had caught her having a petty argument with her knight. "She and three others stood against an entire fleet and won."

Twilight sighed hard. "Celestia. How can I secure our realm, when these people are so vulnerable? It's too easy of a target for anyone who would do them violence."

"Twi plenty a people die from crime in cities. Big cities are targets durin war. Everyone's gotta faght someone. But we out here are livin proof it can be done. Generation after generation of Apples, livin, workin, fightin, and dyin." She thought about her family's grave site. She thought about Granny's life and her triumphs. She'd survived the wars, the famines, losing her husband, then her son and daughter-in-law. She'd earned her rest. A sad smile came to Applejack's face as she stared at her beloved Sweet Apple.

"The empire was born on worlds like this Twilight. Do you think the thousand worlds were built in a day? People just like these Apples risked life and limb to spread, to carve out a niche for themselves in a hostile galaxy. It is the human condition to spread and to grow, to take wastes and turn them into something valuable. Every shining hubworld started with something that drew people there. And someone had to risk the isolation and the danger to settle the barbarous country."

Applejack smiled and shook her head. "Not to disagree with yer majesty, but that ain't quahte it. We ag worlders just like our freedom's all. We don't lahke busy bodies tellin us what to do. We get along just fahne mindin our own business. And that's just how we lahke it." On Terra Celestia smiled at the ag worlder's wisdom. Someone very close to her had also spoken to her about the value of freedom. 

Twilight looked hard at the planet hovering below. "But there's got to be some kind of order. The people shouldn't have to live in fear of all their hard work, and all their beloved freedoms being stripped from them by violence."

Twilight felt a large hand on her shoulder, and two voices spoke simultaneously. "Yes, that's what you're here for Twilight."

Twilight inhaled deeply. She cast a long look about the galaxy. Instead of seeing a galaxy of suffering and tyranny, she saw trillions of souls striving for their own and their neighbors good. She saw tens of millions ready to fight to the death for the peace and freedom of the empire. She looked down to the planet and saw millions willing to suffer want, cold, and danger just to live in freedom. She looked and saw her best friend, the woman who had fought tooth and nail for her and swore an oath to fight to the death to secure her realm. She embraced Applejack firmly and tears of pride rolled down her cheeks at having a friend like her to fight by her side.

Applejack wiped her tears from her own eyes and smirked. "Now come on Twi, stop talkin everyone's ear off about danger and let's go hunt some pirates!"

Twilight smiled. "Well excuse me, I thought we was havin a pleasant discussion."
> . . . And That's Where The Story SHOULD End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fleet stayed in orbit for two Terran months, ridding the Pomum system of slavers and pirates. Strike Team Sparkle had been organized to fight groups of pirates in the void and make it unprofitable to raid convoys, While diplomatic teams would work with planets local governments to enforce the laws, but with Twilight's ascension they now had someone who could see into the hearts and minds of an entire planet at once. She could literally tell who was and was not guilty from space.

Celestia insisted that those accused be found with sufficient evidence for a criminal court to convict. Twilight and Celestia extensively discussed what to do with the accused. Twilight remembered Rainbow Dash, and argued for leniency. It was decided that those in a position of leadership would be executed, but slaves, and those forced into service under duress would be examined by psychics to determine degree of guilt and punished accordingly.

The various diplomatic corps found sufficient evidence to convict three planetary governors, seventy four imperial magistrates, five thousand one hundred and nine pirates in just six weeks. Fifty thousand slaves were freed from their transports, and the destination logs were captured intact. It took all of Pinkie Pie's love to calm Twilight's fury at the evil she was uncovering. 

Applejack had her family's lands declared as her fief, and she was named the official ambassador of Pomum Dulce. She and Twilight argued for hours about what changes to the planet's culture and governance were appropriate. It was left almost entirely alone, but one single imperial bastion was permitted to be established on the planet. A massive telecommunications agreement was reached and FTL broadband would finally be made available at a loss in exchange for a generous tax break from the Imperial government.

The knights of Strike Team Sparkle were given a crash course in Dulcean culture, including but not limited to mud rastling, skeet shooting, and mudding. Rarity was given a thorough explanation of Dulcean clothing style and had S.P.I.K.E. draw up a complete outfit for her to make in her spare time. They saw Applebloom sparingly. Applejack asked to be able to hunt her down and make her explain her behavior, but Twilight insisted she be left alone.

Big MacIntosh cried like a baby when Twilight presented the Apple family with five brand new cargo mech suits. They were all armored and armed in addition to being functional for harvesting tens of thousands of apple trees. A week before they left the newest addition to the Apple clan was born. Applejack cried when she was told her name would be Apple Smith. 

Pinkie Pie and Sugar Belle had a long but polite debate about apple based confectioneries that ended in swapped recipe books and an agreement to hold a moratorium on the subject in five years time. The fleet restocked on everything the fledgling system could responsibly spare and the system gained the single largest economic and technological boom in its history. 

Applejack left a single yellow rose on Granny Smith's grave and said goodbye. Her conversation with Twilight in orbit had helped her to come to terms with her passing. She smiled as she gave Winona one last goodbye scratch behind the horns and made to enter her mech when a high pitched voice rang out. She turned and saw Applebloom riding towards her at break neck speed on her four wheeler.

Applebloom leapt off the vehicle and pressed her face into Applejack's chest. She wept bitterly as she begged her not to go. Applejack held her little sister tight and was amazed at how tall she'd gotten in five years. She finally coaxed her little sister into looking her in the eye. "Sis. Ah won't be gone long. What we're doin is important to make sure nothin like this ever happens again. D'y'all understand?" Applebloom shook her head no. She refused to let go. "A.B. it ain't gonna be like it was before. They've hooked up their fancy modern communications, so Ah'll be able to talk to y'all as often as y'all want. N it'll be safer to travel with all the pirates gone so Ah can come back more often. Ah promise."

"Ah'm sorry. Ah know it wasn't y'all's fault. Ah just miss er A.J." Applebloom whispered. 

Applejack held her sister tight. "Ah know. Ah miss her too."

The fleet departed and made their way to the offloading point from the slaver's itinerary. From there Twilight and her fleet found a horrifying network of corruption and human trafficking that stretched from the outer rim to Terra itself. So many slaves were liberated that entire worlds had to be terraformed just to contain all the displaced peoples. Slavery had been illegal since the founding of the empire, but many of the peoples displaced were born into servitude. It took a tremendous effort from private organizations, planetary charities, and various governmental organizations to acclimate the newly freed peoples to their new condition. 

So much corruption was found in the governments of planets that many rumors circulated that Celestia not only knew but actively participated in the slave trade. Many were still bitter about the death of Viceroy Luna and several claimed Luna was going to attempt to reveal the truth to the empire, and that's why she was killed. The massive influx of new bodies into the galaxy's civilized planets caused a local resentment amongst the unskilled workers, and a few riots broke out in capital cities across the empire. 

Celestia's information network began to notice an uncomfortable pattern of unrest in the empire. More systems held referendums on secession from the empire. Many worlds delegates wrote open letters to Celestia about their displeasure with the amount of power Twilight wielded. Several high ranking officers dropped off the grid and seemingly disappeared. Twilight was kept abreast of current events, but she didn't seem terribly concerned about it.

Fortunately the new found security in the space lanes meant that trade could move more smoothly without the need for convoys to protect them. The galactic economy skyrocketed like never before and the newly freed peoples more often than not quickly found legitimate work. Soon the rumors subsided and the galaxy seemed content with Twilight's work. Three years flew by in a blinding blur of space travel, battle, and bureaucracy.

Rainbow Dash became the unofficial brains of the operation, given her experience. She knew where they would hide, what targets they'd risk striking, and how they'd operate. Twilight drove her positively nuts with her tactic of non engagement. Twilight always tried to remove the pirates powerbase without drawing them into open combat. The Viceroy described it as "lifting the rock to allow the insects to crawl away."

Occasionally though a show of force was necessary. Every engagement broke down into a few well tested strategies. Applejack and Rainbow Dash would employ their tried and true hammer and anvil tactic. Rarity, in the rare occurrences she mounted up, would contain a battle within a certain area of the void. Pinkie would disrupt squads so that they couldn't coordinate. Fluttershy had refused entirely to upgrade her mech suit. She had trained in that model, she had fought in that model, and she felt she was most effective in that model. Her and Twilight fought as an extremely effective duo. Twilight would teleport them both into the thick of their enemy's formations, then the two of them would wreak havoc behind enemy lines. 

The few pirate clans that remained had an increasingly difficult time in recruiting new talent so only the most dedicated or most incriminated continued the fight. Those who didn't get picked off one by one combined and coordinated with each other. It all came to a head at the battle of the horsehead nebula. A thousand different clans had been bottled up between two of Twilight's fleets and they weren't able to break out between them. In a show of tenacity worthy of Rainbow Dash herself they decided to take their stand then and there.

This was the moment they'd been looking for. One final show of force that anyone who would think of taking by violence would know of this battle and think better of it. Their macrolasers bristled like an ancient phalanx. Their banners and figureheads made a collage of violence of obscenity. Twilight ordered her fleets to hedge in the area. No pirate would leave here alive. She led a single battle group into the fray. Her ships hung suspended in space just outside of their cannon's range.

Twilight stood on the prow of the Damocles, her long ethereal hair flowing behind her, her aura glowing like a supernova, a grin on her face. Her knights floated beside her itching for a fight. Twilight drew her sword and pointed it at the heart of the pirate fleet. "Rarity give the command."

"Applejack give the command."

"Git em."
> Unfortunately the Crying Will Continue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sir Rainbow Dash gently pulled her palm off of the cheek it had gotten stuck to for the umpteenth time that day. The axiom about hammers and shelves definitely applied. After the battle of the Horsehead Nebula the golden age of piracy had come to a sudden violent end. The only organized crime that could escape Twilight's roving eye was small-scale smuggling, which she didn't feel particularly inclined to hunt down with a vengeance. Not to say that piracy was nowhere in the galaxy, but incidents were so rare that local imperial bastions could handle complaints. So Rainbow Dash sat there, bored out of her skull, for the billion and third photo shoot next to her mech. Her augmetic arm had gained a quiet squeak from having to wave so often for such a long duration.

"Twilight!" Rainbow whined. "Can't you just start a war? Please? Just a little one."

Pinkie Pie appeared behind her and assumed a deep masculine voice. "Mah boy! This peace is what all true warriors strive for."

Twilight gently levitated her back by her side. The tabloids had made no end of her relationship with Pinkie Pie, a media campaign that S.P.I.K.E. had to watch diligently to keep Twilight from seeing. Freedom of the press was enshrined in the Imperial constitution, but every time a paparazzi asked some outrageous question, or a tabloid printed a wanton falsity Rainbow Dash got one step closer to getting her war. "Despite her way of putting it Dash she is right. You've fought hard, now it's time to relax and rest on your laurels, like Applejack."

The ag worlder had, as promised, kept up regular communication with her family on Dulce. Now she was laying idly on a passenger bunk on a long range transport. In reality she was doing Twilight a favor, she wanted to see if an orchard farmer really could travel safely from one side of the galaxy to the other. So instead of taking the route from Terra to Pomum Dulce she had gone to her cousin Braeburn's house on the planet Appleloosa, ironically on the exact opposite side of the galaxy. Then she would travel from there to Pomum Dulce.

She had finally earned some R&R and was going to spend a full year at home. Her and Twilight had a long, tense discussion about her career, and it was only by the narrowest margin that Twilight managed to retain her in her service. In Applejack's mind they were done. They'd set out to rid the galaxy of piracy, and for all intents and purposes they had done that. Her being on a space bus home proved that. She had no intention of abandoning her Viceroy of course. She'd meant what she said when she took her oath. Applejack understood that her service was for life, and even if it wasn't she would come a runnin if Twilight needed her. But that was just it, she didn't need her anymore, and what's the point of having fiefs if you don't get to spend any time on them. Applejack and Fluttershy had become genuine friends, but she never stopped loving Rainbow in secret. Everytime she thought about her it made her realize just how much time she'd lost in the military. It had been eight years. Both her own mother and Granny Smith had given birth twice by her age. Beyond homesickness she wanted to return to Dulce to maybe, just maybe, to find someone to start a family with.

Rainbow Dash refused entirely to be put out to pasture, so Twilight had reassigned her to being a flight instructor, to train up the next generation of pilots. Fluttershy had voluntarily gone back to practicing medicine and stayed close by her little knight, as she still called her, in one of Terra's space station's med bays. Rarity remained as the Admiral of the Damocles, and her and S.P.I.K.E. spent most of their days designing, and tinkering around with new designs for ships and mech units. Pinkie Pie had always been a baker at heart, so she was allowed to open a small confectionary on Terra. Though she was strictly ordered to never again participate as a stripper inside of a cake, an order she found genuinely offensive. She had said, "Sparkly Warkly! You know I only get naked for you now!"

Twilight had requested parliament to send out an official inquiry into the galaxy's security situation to get a better idea of the empire's realistic military demands. Peace for all intents and purposes had been secured within the empire, and the few sentient races that shared the galaxy with them had seemed to want not a damned thing to do with them in the last thousand years, so they didn't seem to be a threat. 

Parliament had requested a drastic diminution of the military budget, and Twilight had accepted. Hundreds of millions of soldiers were given their severance pay, and honorably discharged. So many war ships were disassembled that the galactic price of construction metals dropped. The following cut in planetary taxes fed into the already explosive growth of the economy, and the recently dismissed veterans more often than not quickly found gainful employment.

Twilight had kept a reserve force always prepared for sudden emergencies, but the rest of the galaxy was littered with bastions containing mostly interceptor class battleships for policing purposes. A grand ceremony had been held on Terra. Twilight had requested Parliament to attend and a galaxy rejoiced to see Twilight voluntarily lay down her sword. It had been difficult for Celestia to keep a straight face as Twilight drew her blade, allowed its edge to fade back into its handle, and placed it beside her own in her little black box. "Until such time as you order me to take it up again." She had said. Celestia couldn't have been prouder of her most faithful student. She'd given her a task that she was supposed to work on as a career, and she had completed it in just three years and six months, half the time it took her to conquer Terra.

With military matters for all intents and purposes handled, Twilight turned her eyes towards her next project. Figuring out how to make a super psychic.
> Because Science
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight had spent much time closeted with Celestia recalling her memories. It staggered Twilight that in a thousand years her beloved mentor, who had spent her first two months of life doing nothing but reading, never once gave thought to how she'd come to be. "Well tell me your family line to the twentieth mother then." Celestia had snarked. Twilight then spent two weeks compiling a family tree and sent it to Celestia.

Celestia and Twilight returned to that day in the Saddle Arabian desert and scrutinized the rage she felt by proxy for any clue. She traveled to the place where Celestia had first manifested and carefully examined under the historical marker for anything that would give her even a shred of insight into her mentor's existence. When she'd exhausted that line of investigation, she turned to her own ascension. Few of the palace's security cameras had been left intact during the battle, but enough had survived to allow Twilight to see her ascension from an outside view.

She stared at every frame for any sort of information she hadn't considered. It still hurt deeply to see her mentor in such a pitiable state even four years later. She saw just how recklessly suicidal her defence of Celestia was and considered maybe Celestia was reasonable in assuming she wouldn't survive. Pinkie Pie was thanked very thoroughly for saving her, she couldn't walk for two days. Twilight noticed that Luna had stopped glowing in her struggle to kill her. 

That gave her an idea. Celestia had shown that with concentration they could "turn off" their aura and appear as normal human women again. Celestia believed that was when they were most vulnerable, and Pinkie Pie's contribution to the fight seemed to confirm that. Twilight, despite being able to see the thoughts of everyone in the galaxy at will, still received her fair share of damage during her crusade. In one instance she'd been boarding a ship that had been a trap. The pirates had rigged it to explode, but they hadn't told any of the crew on board so Twilight couldn't read their minds and see the trap. The ship had been consumed in a ball of burning blue plasma, and Twilight had simply floated out of it stark naked and boiling with rage. Rarity was very upset at Twilight's uniform that she had designed was ruined, and Pinkie was very upset that Twilight was being ogled. Suffice it to say as long as her aura was up it seemed to be fairly hard to damage her. Even Celestia had only been defeated once, and that took seven full days of nonstop struggle with her sister.

In the scraps of video that Twilight could find she saw her own body being bombarded from both sides. Celestia giving her aid to keep her shield up, and Luna trying to kill them. She noticed at the very end something she hadn't realized before, a few seconds before the battle ended her shield had failed completely and Twilight's body was the only thing between Celestia's influence, and Luna's blast. Her body in that moment had begun to glow, and then dissipate leaving a glowing after image of her behind. 

Twilight had a hell of an afternoon trying to keep Pinkie Pie on topic discussing what she saw after she dismounted. She pieced together that by the time she'd realized the situation Twilight had already begun to become less coherently shaped. The camera's field of view cut off as Twilight's essence rose into the air, and the blinding flash of light is where the end of Pinkie's help came. Once again Twilight was stuck. The only pieces of information that seemed to hold any value were Celestia's rage, and the ability to reduce their aura. She poured over the information time after time but no new leads ever came up. She stared blankly at the screen in frustration. Pinkie Pie silently came up and gently laid her breasts on the top of Twilight's head. "Whatcha watching?"

Twilight was annoyed by the intrusion, but try as she might she could never quite stay mad at her little pink cupcake. She levitated her into her lap and gave her a short kiss. "Oh just trying to solve a thousand year old mystery, nothing special." 

Pinkie Pie looked at the single frame of Twilight being caught between two psychic resonances. "Hrmm. . . Just do that again."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Do what again?"

Pinkie pointed with a toe. "Just blast another psychic till it explodes. Just like you did!"

Twilight turned her head slowly to look at her beloved's big blue eyes. That was one of the issues with Pinkie Pie, you could never tell if she was serious or not. "Pink. . . We can't. . . That was. . . And with Luna gone we don't" Twilight tried to explain to the woman she loved that one simply can't just blast someone to death with psychic energy just to see if something cool happens, but Pinkie Pie just continued to look at her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

A train of thought that Pinkie Pie would have leapt into her mind. There were two super psychics, her and Celestia. They literally could test Pinkie's idea on other psychics. Then a dark thought that Twilight regretted instantly came into her mind. Pinkie Pie clearly wasn't a normal human. She was literally the only person in the galaxy that no psychic could read. Clearly her mind held some insight into the nature of psychics. If they could figure out how her mind worked, then maybe she could become the next super psychic, then she'd never have to die. They could be together forever.

Twilight immediately levitated Pinkie off of her and teleported into the void. Celestia felt Twilight's uneasiness of mind and gently excused herself from the meeting she was in. She flew rather than teleported into the void to meet Twilight. She found her most faithful student and able colleague in near panic, her fingers running through her ethereal hair. She could not pace in the void, but she kept turning around every few seconds. Celestia hadn't felt Twilight this panicked since her graduate school finals.

"Twilight what's. . . " Celestia began, but she stopped when she saw that Twilight didn't seem to be aware she was there. Twilight was muttering quickly to herself.

"No we can't do that, it's too dangerous. We should just be satisfied with the time we have with her. It's not right to reach for the sun Icarus, and we have no idea what that would do."

Celestia called out to Twilight, but she didn't answer. Celestia, for the first time in her life, felt genuinely afraid. She flew up to Twilight and gently grabbed her face. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE." Twilight flinched and stopped her babbling. Celestia sighed in relief and pulled Twilight into a hug. "Thank goodness. Now what's the issue?"

Twilight looked like she wanted to start babbling again, but she only looked away. Celestia gently led her down to the planet, and they landed in one of her gardens. Twilight's eyes still looked far into the distance with concern. Celestia placed a hand on Twilight's and their eyes met. "Please Twilight. I've ever seen you like this. Please tell me what's wrong."

Twilight looked at the ground and sighed hard. "Pinkie Pie gave me an idea."

Celestia leaned back slightly in surprise. "That is scary." 

Twilight gave a weak laugh. She put her thoughts together and explained. "I just had the kind of thought that makes people to terrible stupid stupid things." She placed her head in her hands. "Pinkie thinks we should try to recreate the incident that caused me to be like this."

Celestia's brows knitted in concern. "Oh Twilight you can't be serious!"

Twilight raised her hand consolingly. "No, no, I know, that's not the issue." She scoffed. "We'd have absolutely no way to verify our findings, no way to set up a control group, entirely too many variables to calculate. It'd be throwing the scientific method right out the window."

Celestia thought to herself, "Yes, that's why that's a terrible idea. Because science. . ."

"No. . ." Twilight was almost in tears. "I thought for just a moment to meddle with the best thing that's ever happened to me." She seemed to be getting worked up again. "I thought I could tamper with the natural order without consequence!" 

Celestia put a hand on Twilight's shoulder in concern. "Twilight please!"

Twilight batted the hand away and snapped to her feet. Her aura glowed fiercely as she screamed, "I WANTED TO MAKE HER IMMORTAL!" Celestia reflexatorily rose and her eyes glowed. The two stared at each other for a long while, their auras glowing brightly. After a tense few seconds Celestia dropped her aura. Her hair hung down and Twilight saw sadness in her eyes. Twilight's eyes snapped open in shock. Her own glow faded and she embraced her mentor, and wept with regret and fear.

Celestia held her close and smiled. She knew Twilight. She may have become a wise and humble demigod, but she was still the same Twilight she'd always known. She could get a little over excited at times. They resumed their seats and Twilight explained the situation. She spoke of how Pinkie's mind had always eluded her, how she wanted desperately to see how it worked, and maybe just maybe, it would give her a deeper insight into the human mind. If Twilight was capable of ascension, then why not Pinkie Pie?

"I just love her so much." Twilight said her tears finally coming. "I know she'll die and I'm fine with that really! But the thought is there Celestia." She looked almost panicked at her mentor. "It's there like a Pandora's box waiting to be opened!" 

Celestia put a hand to Twilight's shoulder. "Well?. . ."

Twilight's eyebrow rose. "Well what?"

"Well why not look?" Celestia said matter of factly. Twilight's eyes went wide in disbelief. Celestia mollified, "I don't mean search for the fountain of youth of course, but why not study Pinkie's mind if it interests you so much?" Twilight looked away. When Celestia said it, it sounded so much less dangerous. "And for the sake of argument let's say she does become like us and the two of you get to live forever together. Would that be so terrible?"

Twilight grimaced at the insinuation. "Of course not, but that's not it. It's the matter of meddling with forces one doesn't understand. We don't yet know what exactly caused me to be this way, and even less idea of what that would do to her."

Celestia smiled. "Then don't. Just see what you can find out about her. If that helps your inquiry into our being then so much the better." She stood and smiled. "Twilight literally all you have to do is war and figure out how I was born, and there's no war on right now so go ahead. Start a side project. See what goes on in that crazy pink head of hers, and if she becomes like us then well done you!"

Twilight still looked uncertain. Celestia crouched down beside her. "Twilight. It's normal to want things to last forever. Even love. The fact that you acknowledge that you should be satisfied is already a huge advantage. You're not greedy for wanting just a little bit more time with those you love." Celestia's face fell. "What I'd give to have one more day with my sister." She smiled again. "Go, see what makes her tick, and if she becomes like us, so be it."

Twilight gave her a long look. She rose and hugged her mentor. "Thank you Celestia." With that she teleported back to her room and shouted, "HEY PINKIE! WANNA BE PSYCHIC?"

Pinkie dropped straight down into her arms and shouted, "BITCHIN LET'S DO IT!"
> Well That Turned Dark Fast.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle was a lot of things. She was Viceroy of the largest empire in the galaxy. She was the third strongest psychic in human history. She was the commander in chief of the Imperial military. What Twilight Sparkle was NOT however, was a miracle worker. Pinkie Pie's mind proved to be a hedge maze constructed by a blind madman on psychoactive drugs. Every traditional psychological test turned up a woman who was bonkers fruit candy, and a brain wave detector seemed to be convinced Pinkie was dead.

The only information that yielded any insight was Pinkie's M.R.I. results. They noticed that Pinkie's brain was literally wired unusually. The connections instead of going the expected directions, seemed to go in random directions with no rhyme or reason. They asked Pinkie a series of questions during the M.R.I. and instead of her neurons firing from the expected cortexes, they seemed to fire from several different parts of the brain at once. An over enthusiastic doctor asked politely if they could perform a vivisection. Twilight promptly had him dismissed from practicing medicine. 

They traveled to Pinkie's homeworld and Twilight was appalled at the conditions. Not to say that they were inhumane or unlivable. It was just baffling that someone like Pinkie Pie could've sprung up from a place like this. After the meeting Twilight couldn't remember the Pies smiling once, though they said they were happy to see her again. Twilight took samples of the soil, but nothing out of the ordinary was found. She examined the minds of each of the Pie family and for the very first time in her life was bored by what she found there. The more Twilight learned about Pinkie the less and less sense she seemed to make. 

Twilight had just about decided that Pinkie was simply unknowable when a conversation with Celestia gave her another one of those terrible ideas she regretted thinking immediately. Celestia had told her about the conclusion of the investigation into the Diamond Group. With Rarity's testimonial her father had been found liable for billions of dollars worth of damage, and countless felonies. They had raided his labs and found dozens of psychics held against their will. Hondo Flanks, a name that raised one of Twilight's eyebrows, had been sentenced to life in prison and Celestia was delighted to have an excuse to remove his products from Twilight's military.

Rarity felt an odd sense of closure that the monster who had hurt her sister so badly would finally pay for what he'd done. Twilight ordered her and S.P.I.K.E. to immediately begin designing replacement control schemes for the fleets, and they poured themselves into the task. The breaking up and liquidation of the Diamond Group's assets yielded some horrifying, and for Twilight specifically, interesting finds. One of the last project's that they'd been working on was a certain drug that caused the brain to be more intimately connected. It boosted focus, reaction time, and in a few select cases, caused almost precognitive reactions to external stimuli.

Twilight looked diligently into the case and almost immediately became obsessed with the test results of the drug. It had been code named Discord, and its results only made Twilight more and more fascinated. She read up on every report available about it. When those didn't satisfy she hunted down every single member of the team that worked on it and probed their minds for anything about the drug and its effects. 

Apparently Hondo had been playing this one rather close to the chest, so none of them actually knew the full recipe. According to them he felt like this was going to be his Magnum opus. Everything she learned horrified and fascinated her in a perverse struggle between wanting to destroy this knowledge, and wanting to use it.

Finally the temptation proved too great and Twilight demanded an audience with Hondo himself. He was sentenced to life in a cell with his arms behind his back in a painful position, both as a punishment, and as a security measure to ensure he didn't attempt suicide. Twilight steeled herself for the interview. She had hated this man long before she met Rarity, but everything she'd learned since sickened her to her core.

She entered his cell and stared at him for a long while. He hardly seemed like the type who could've founded an empire of horrors, emaciated and bedraggled as he was now. He couldn't lift his head all the way to look at her, but he was shocked to see a Viceroy in his dimly lit cell. He couldn't stand but he did try to crouch more upright on the floor. "Hello your~"

"SILENCE!" Echoed through the halls and in the mind of the prisoner. Twilight hated playing the big bad demigod ever since she'd gotten carried away on Pomum Dulce, but this man sickened her to such a degree that she couldn't treat him with any civility. 

He could feel her probing his mind and saw she was looking for the Discord formula. "It's rude to root around in other people's minds without permission you know." Twilight sent a psychic shriek into his mind and he cried out in pain. He felt her find the memories associated with his work and he grinned through his tightly clenched teeth. "And why does the Viceroy want to know about secret illegal substances?"

She sent another shriek tearing through his mind and he writhed in pain on the floor. She continued her search and found that the experiments had yielded much more than his team had known. An entire battalion's worth of normal humans had been successfully mimicked psychic powers under the use of the Discord Serum. She looked and saw the results of several live fire tests and was astonished at the results. She found the recipe for the formula and was about to end her search when something caught her attention.

She looked in his mind and saw Admiral Davenport. What the hell was he doing speaking with someone like Hondo? Her eyes snapped open as the knowledge that Charles had commissioned him to make the Discord Serum on behalf of his client. Charles had explained in brief about a clone army that needed a bit of a boost. Twilight's eyes went wide and she grabbed Hondo by the sides of the head. "Where are they?" She growled her eyes glowing fiercely with rage.

Hondo squirmed in agony and terror. "I DON'T KNOW THEY NEVER TOLD ME. I NEVER ASKED! I CAN'T LIE TO YOU YOU KNOW THAT."

Twilight held the squirming man up for a long moment, contemplating the idea of just squishing this traitor's head between her hands. He was right, he didn't know, but that only made her more angry. "And I take it all of your contacts have conveniently abandoned you, haven't they?"

The traitor gasped for breath as he whimpered, "Yes! Yes they did." He rolled onto his side and looked up in terror. "I tried to run when that ungrateful little brat ratted on me but they~!"

Twilight threw him against the wall hard enough to snap the bar holding his arms behind his back, along with several bones. It took every ounce of self restraint not to kill him for his treason, much less for his insult to her friend. "You have no right to speak of her in such a manner." She levitated him closer. "She fought tooth and nail to save your life."

He spoke through his tightly clenched teeth. "And who do you think gave her those skills? I was trying to make them into something great! And she ran off after one little mistake! I never meant for any of that to happen, but mistakes are made in the pursuit of knowledge. Because of my technology the empire had the tools to gain peace." He grimaced. "You think I don't feel bad about what happened to Sweetie Belle? Well I can't lie to you little Ms. Viceroy, so take a look and see!" Twilight could feel the well of regret emanating from the broken man floating before her. 

Twilight dropped him like a soiled rag. He hit the floor hard and he cried out as his broken bones shifted inside him. She stared down coldly at him. "You are simply the worst kind of person. We have rules in the scientific community. Rules to keep people safe! Informed consent, double blind tests, control groups, you broke every law the scientific community has and you blame your failure as a scientist on your subjects." She crouched down and got face to face with the wincing broken man. "Remember this. The only reason you're still alive is because Rarity asked me to spare you." She turned and walked out.

The second before she closed the door, Twilight heard him whimper. "Please Viceroy!" She, against her better judgment turned to look at him. "Tell her I'm sorry."

She looked him right in the eye as she whispered, "No."
> Yes Twilight, We Know
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash stared in confusion at the mech standing in front of her. Rarity and S.P.I.K.E. had poured themselves into designing it since the order from Twilight had come in, and the fruit of their labours stood in front of Rainbow Dash. It stood a whole twelve feet tall in front of Rainbow Dash. 

It was tiny. 

Rainbow walked around the mech suit and saw it lacked both armor and weapons. "Umm Rare, not for nothing but uhh. . . It's not done yet."

Rarity harrumphed. "Well of course it's not combat ready, we're just testing a few systems today. We need to see how the new controls feel, how well the new shield generators hold up, and how the new boosters work. Besides I thought you of all people would be champing at the bit for a chance to get back in the void." 

Rainbow grabbed tightly onto Rarity's shoulders in desperation. "IAMIAMIV'EBEENSOFUCKINGBOREDSIN~" She cleared her throat and composed herself slightly. "Yeah. I could give it a whirl." The launch bay was cleared and the void shield faded. Rainbow allowed her arms, legs, waist and head to be locked into the new control systems. She idly wiggled her left leg and the mech mirrored the actions with silent silky smooth movements. "Ooh that feels nice." Rainbow purred. She wriggled her whole body and the suit moved as if it was weightless. "Holy fuck, leave it to a robot to build a robot!"

S.P.I.K.E. appeared in a window on her view screen and cheerily said, "Thaaank you." His holographic blush lit up. "Though most of it was Rarity."

"Oh hush now S.P.I.K.E.y wikey, your new hydraulic system was brilliant!" Rainbow gagged at the mutual feedback loop of praise the two were giving each other. She looked into the open void and got a mischievous idea. She jogged towards the opening but instead of boosting out she grabbed the edge of the floor and swung herself out onto the outside of the ship. She pushed herself off, sending the boosters to full throttle.

She immediately crashed into a ship a thousand miles away. She had boosted so hard it had launched the Damocles backwards. She had literally accelerated so hard that she'd cleared a thousand miles in less than half a second. She slowly pulled backwards and saw a long glowing diamond shaped dent in the ship she'd hit. Rarity shakily got to her feet and shouted into the screen, "DAMNIT ALL RAINBOW! DON'T YOU DARE BREAK MY S.P.I.K.E.Y WIKEY'S HARD WORK!"

S.P.I.K.E. appeared on Rainbow's dashboard. "Rainbow you need to be careful, your boosters can hit point nine nine nine light speed in less than point seven four one seconds.

Rainbow's face snapped to the little glowing dragon in shock. "I feel like that's something I should've been told before I got in the suit." She shook her head. "Anything else I should know?"

Rarity sighed hard. "Be careful with your shields, they're much harder than on the standard model."

Rainbow looked at the dent she'd just put into the ship. She looked at her mech's hand and saw it gave the faintest green glow. She unthinkingly pressed her arm towards the ship and a line began to burn on its surface as if it was being cut with a plasma cutter. Her eyes lit up and she cut several holes in the ship with her shields, giggling like a mischievous child until Rarity barked for her to stop. She shook herself out of her immature vandalism, and turned to an open section of the void.

"S.P.I.K.E. how fast can I stop?" Rainbow asked.

S.P.I.K.E. raised an eyebrow on his robotic face. "Ummm. . . I guess as fast as you can speed up?

Rainbow looked at the empty stretch of space before her. She hit the thrusters at full throttle and quickly found herself thousands of miles out into the void. She turned around and was astounded to see how far she'd gone. She turned back towards Terra and hit the thrusters again. She shrank back against her seat and stopped in a panic as the tiny blue speck of light on the horizon suddenly filled her entire view screen. 

"Rainbow my God!" Rarity whispered breathlessly.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I know, I know. I'll be more careful and shit."

S.P.I.K.E. pulled up the video on Rainbow's screen. "Not that Rainbow, this!" Her eyes went wide when she saw a long streak that shined like a rainbow behind her. It started bright and wide behind her and became dimmer and thinner as it went. S.P.I.K.E. said, "I think you're accelerating so fast you're breaking the visible light spectrum Dash."

Rainbow sat there, eyes shining, mouth agape. She breathlessly whispered. "Blow him."

Rarity tilted her head. "I'm sorry, what was that darling? I couldn't hear you."

Rainbow looked at her communications screen with the biggest grin Rarity had ever seen on a human face. "YOU SUCK HIS DICK RARITY! YOU SUCK IT TILL IT FALLS OFF!!!"

Both Rarity and S.P.I.K.E. reeled with blushes glowing from the obscenity of the suggestion. Rarity screamed, "RAINBOW!" 

S.P.I.K.E. sheepishly rubbed a robotic foot on the deck of the Damocles. "I don't even have a umm. One of those."

"Well then build one and Rarity you thank him properly for me." Rainbow shouted as she hit the thrusters and took a victory lap around the planet hooting and cheering as she went. This was the most fun she'd had since the Horsehead Nebula. This mech was the single fastest single piloted craft in the galaxy, and she zipped around with reckless abandon seeing just how fast her reflexes were. She'd find a point just on the edge of visibility, and would see how close she could get without hitting it. Rainbow was astounded by the utter lack of g force she felt as she rocketed from one section of orbit to another. Meteorologists down on Terra were very concerned about the little Rainbow streaks observed all over the sky. 

Rainbow was just about to turn in and give it a rest when all of a sudden she hit a patch of empty space and suddenly went spinning off of it. Rarity lurched forward over the railing in shock. "Rainbow! Are you alright?" 

Rainbow growled, "Uhh what the fuck did I hit?" She managed after a while to regain control and examined the new suit, it wasn't damaged. She tested each of the systems on the new mech, it hadn't malfunctioned. She idly flew back to the section of space that she had smacked into, and saw a fizzing, sparking, section of space. Rainbow was confused and she decided to poke it, as one does.

Suddenly the small line of sparks turned into a full sized wrecked fighter ship. Rainbow floated idly in the void in shock. She looked and suddenly the empty patch of space she'd been tooling around in filled with an entire fleet of uncloaked warships. The universe went still for several seconds, neither Rainbow nor Rarity able to move from the shock.

Rarity snapped out of it first and screamed, "S.P.I.K.E.! GENERAL ALERT! ALL HANDS TO BATTLE STATIONS!" He sounded the alert, and across the fleet a whole division of soldiers collectively had the shit scared out of them simultaneously. 

In the med bay Dr. Sir Fluttershy had been explaining the evils of inserting things into the anus while under the influence of alcohol when the call to arms sounded off. She sprinted to the ship's teleporter and bodily removed a tech who was about to use it. She punched in the code for the mech storage bay and appeared there in a loud pop. She mounted up and blasted out into the void. Rarity barked at Rainbow Dash, "Dash! Get out of there!" 

Rainbow snapped out of her daze. "Oh uh right! She smashed the boosters to get free in a panic. Then the newly appeared fleet was a pin prick on the horizon. She blinked at the realization. "Oh yeah. . . Fastest thing under light speed. . . Huh." She wondered to herself if she should head back to the Damocles and suit up, or just board another ship further away from the new fleet that had appeared.

She looked and saw the invading fleet bearing down hard on the Imperial fleet, and realized Rarity wouldn't have enough time to respond before they were on her. ,"What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?!" Rainbow screamed to herself. This suit didn't have any weapons, or even any armor on it yet. She saw the ships take up firing positions. She bit her augmetic fingers in fear for her friends. What could she do? She then remembered cutting holes into a ship and the massive dent she'd left in it. This suit had some damned hard shields. The words of Pinkie Pie came to mind. "SHIELDS AND BOOSTERS."

The first wave of enemy battleships reached firing range, and their macrolasers began to glow, when suddenly the point ship's bridge began to rupture and break apart. All the enemy could see was a Rainbow streak across their lines. Rainbow grinned evilly as she held up a large mechanical hand. Her shields worked even better than a plasma cutter.She could keep them off of the fleet long enough for them to respond! She flew in and out amongst the ranks, slashing wildly as she went, wreaking havoc everywhere she could touch. S.P.I.K.E. was DEFINITELY getting that blowjob, even if Rainbow had to do it herself. She distracted the invasion fleet long enough for the Imperial fleet to get into firing positions.

Rarity saw what Rainbow was doing and felt a subtle giddiness at the sight, despite the gravity of the situation. "Good show Rainbow! Now clear out so we can end this!"

Rainbow poked a hole in the cockpit of a fighter, and boosted away. "On it!" She hit the boosters on her mech, but instead of being instantly at the fleet, she heard a loud pop and she only lazily drifted towards the fleet. She stared in horror at the dimly flashing screen. Powercore depleted. She pushed on the throttle several times but nothing happened. A chunk of debris drifted against her and thunked heavily against the mech's head. She had no boosters, she had no shields. She was dead in the void, halfway between the fleets. She for the third time in her life found herself in harm's way, in a dead mech, but this time Applejack was halfway across the galaxy.

The Imperial fleet sat ready to fire waiting for Rarity's command, but the Admiral wouldn't fire with her friend caught in the middle as she was. The invading fleet had no such qualms and they used the reprieve to form up into firing positions. Rainbow saw their macrolasers beginning to glow. Her eyes went wide as she saw they weren't aiming at the fleet, they were aiming at her specifically. They were going to kill this little nuisance that had caused them so much pain.

The entire invasion fleet loosed simultaneously and Rainbow saw a wave of light coming towards her. She slammed her eyes shut as she felt herself hit from behind. She opened her eyes and saw her tiny mech was being carried princess style by Fluttershy's Valkyrie class. She gave just a second to feel special. Rarity saw her opening and the fleet prepared loose a devastating broadside. Just before Rarity could give the order however, the invading fleet vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

Fluttershy brought Rainbow onto the Damocles and they scrambled out. Rainbow wanted to thank her rescuer properly, but Fluttershy was still in combat mode. She stormed off towards the bridge and Rainbow followed sheepishly afterwards. Fluttershy growled, "Who the fuck was that Rarity? Where did they go?!"

Before Rarity could answer a deafening pop made their ears ring, and a bright light put spots into their eyes. Twilight called out, "Rarity! Full alert all hands! We're. . ." She looked about and saw the grim faces and heard the surface thoughts of all present. "Oh. . . Umm right. You already know that. . ."
> May Cause Retinal Damage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight explained the situation to Celestia and Twilight's sword was once again taken up in defence of the empire. Both Viceroys were at a loss to explain to Parliament and the empire at large what exactly the situation was. The only information they had was that a clone army was in the works, and that they had the most effective camouflage in history. Rarity and Twilight had poured over the logs of the fleets and not one had detected their presence. The ship Rainbow had damaged the least was recovered and its cockpit repaired. When they activated it's camouflage it was nearly invisible to the naked eye, and was absolutely undetectable by ship's scanners.

The few corpses that were able to be recovered proved to all be Changelings. A sentient race of humanoid creatures that could moderately change their height, facial structure, flesh tone, and eye colour. Each of the bodies found showed the tell tale scars of being cloned on the quick. What was most striking however was that each had a device implanted in their brains that after a little tinkering was revealed to cause complete control of their functions. The biggest problem for Twilight was that the Changelings weren't a space faring race, much less one capable of reaching Terra
The only Changelings that ever left their homeworld were ones hired to do parlor tricks with their shape shifting. Someone else would've had to do this to them.

Celestia was distraught that her information network had absolutely no knowledge of any cloning operation, much less that they were able to get an entire fleet to Terra herself. She had once conquered the stars by the sword, now her enemies drew up their camp right in her own backyard. Cloning had been frowned upon before Celestia, and was outright forbidden in the constitution, yet apparently a whole network had been cloned, armed, and deployed completely under the radar. Literally.

After a long discussion it was decided not to enact a full mobilization, as they had no idea what they were up against. The reserves were stationed around Terra, and the Imperial bastions around the empire were put in a state of war readiness. Twilight felt a little awkward that the military budget had been slashed due to the outbreak of peace, but Celestia assured her that the tax revenues resulting from the economic boom had more than made up for the deficit.

Rarity and S.P.I.K.E. worked tirelessly on trying to crack the camouflage unit, but nothing they tried seemed to work. Pinkie Pie suggested the fleets just constantly send out explosives into Imperial space to break their camouflage. Rarity considered this and the fleets were ordered to fire a salvo into the void at randomized times, but no fleet was ever discovered. A surly Applejack had been recalled only halfway through her R&R. She made the three week journey in only eighteen days. Rainbow was overjoyed to see her best friend again, but the situation made their reunion less than enjoyable. She groaned at the knowledge of an enemy that she couldn't fight. As much as she had wanted a new war, this one failed to satisfy. What was worse is that with Rarity and S.P.I.K.E busy trying to crack the cloner's camouflage, they weren't finishing there new mech suit they designed, so it just sat there, not murdering the crap out of cloners.

Twilight, despite being furious at the treachery against her empire, had a secret joy at the distraction from her project. The Discord Serum was safely in an evidence locker and she could think of anything else while dealing with this crisis. Fortunately or unfortunately however the crisis seemed to stagnate the second it was discovered. Celestia's information network placed former Admiral Davenport as their number one most wanted, but despite six months of relentless search, and countless savants pouring over volumes of data he was simply nowhere to be found.

Twilight sat with her head in her hands, her long ethereal hair spilling through her fingers and trailing across the floor like a fog machine spilling out its vapors. Pinkie Pie had become more and more accustomed to this posture and knew it was better to leave Twilight alone in this mood, but seeing her just so distraught always broke Pinkie's heart. She just had to do something. She went to the suite's kitchen and prepared Twilight's favorite tea. She put it on the warped saucer that Twilight had begun to call the cowbell in her mind. Pinkie positively loved sneaking up on Twilight, but right now wasn't the time for it, so she used the warped saucer to announce her presence as she entered the suite's bedroom that they shared.

She set the tea down on the tea table, called so as they almost never drank coffee, and sat down beside Twilight on the bed. She said nothing for a very long moment. It was a trial just to get Pinkie to sit still on a good day, much less when the woman she loved was in such a state, but she simply waited for Twilight to be ready to talk. After what felt like hours she let her head gently rest on Twilight's shoulder. Again nothing was said. Finally Twilight wrapped a wing around Pinkie's shoulder and pulled her into a hug. Pinkie embraced her gently and pressed her cheek against Twilight's neck. She always loved the way her sparkly hair tickled her face when they got close. 

Pinkie heard that Twilight had finally said something, and she kicked herself for missing it. She reluctantly broke the hug and said, "Hrmm?"

Pinkie saw that Twilight had been softly crying. She was surprised to see that her tears were not those of sadness, but rather of frustration. Her face showed teeth grinding anger at her impotence. "How?" Twilight repeated. "How am I supposed to protect an empire of two trillion people, when I can't find their enemy." She rose and her aura began to light up the room. "We've tried everything Pinkie! I even went to the Changeling's homeworld, and I couldn't find a single scrap of evidence to show their involvement. How can I see across a galaxy, but I can't see the threat to my own planet!" 

She dropped heavily on to the bed and wept into her hands. Pinkie draped her long pink curls over Twilight's shoulders the way she liked. "I know Sparkly Warkly, I know." She sighed hard and pressed a cheek to her beloved's gently shaking shoulder. "Of all the times I knew exactly where to throw a grenade I don't seem to know where to throw one when it counts. I'm sorry love muffin."

Twilight's head popped off her hands and she ground her teeth. She leapt to her feet and teleported out of the room. Pinkie was left in ear ringing silence trying to blink the spots out of her eyes. Twilight reappeared and yelled. "Do ya do it on purpose?! Because. . . FUCK!" She disappeared again and Pinkie decided to put on some sunglasses. She was glad she did because Twilight once again teleported into the room. "How long have you known? Because I need to know. . . Shi~" and with that she was gone again. When she came back she growled in the tone Pinkie knew meant she was genuinely mad, but not AT Pinkie. "You know you frustrate the shit out of me sometimes right?" Pinkie nodded with her big goofy smile. Twilight's scream of frustration died as she for a fourth time exited the room.

Pinkie'd had enough of this gag, and pounced on Twilight when she reentered the room. She cooed in her perpetually cheery voice, "So we gonna do something stupid and dangerous out of desperation?"

Twilight glared daggers at Pinkie Pie. She knew better than to ask how she always knew, but it still pissed her off to no end. After a long moment of angry silence she burst out with a loud. "NO! . . . MAYBE!! . . . FUCK!!!"
> Don't Do Knights Drugs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie sat in a hospital gown strapped into a chair that completely immobilized her. She uncertainly called out. "Ummm Love Muffin? I'm okay with trying new things in the bedroom. . . But I'm not so okay with all our friends watching." Applejack and Rainbow Dash snickered. 

Twilight glared at the two and they hung their heads like scolded children. "Not right now Pinkie." Twilight said, completely devoid of amusement. "This is a bad idea even IF everything goes as planned, much less if something were to go wrong."

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Come on Twilight." She batted her eyelashes. "I trust you."

Twilight's heart melted. "I know, that makes it worse." She pressed Pinkie's head against her chest and stroked her hair. "I just don't know what I would do if I lost you." Rainbow made a gagging face at the display. Applejack promptly slapped her upside the head. 

Twilight took a deep breath and summoned S.P.I.K.E. "Testing effects of Discord Serum. First test point two five dose. Dr. Sir Fluttershy attending."

After Pinkie Pie had recovered from having angry sex with a demigod she had volunteered to have the Discord Serum tested on her on the extremely unlikely chance it would help her figure out where the cloners were hiding. Twilight had completely cleaned Terra's orbit of space trash with her tantrums, and Celestia had received several bills for destroyed satellites that had gotten caught in the crossfire. 

Twilight had taken the Discord Serum out of its evidence locker and used extremely small samples of it to test the accuracy of her recreation from the recipe she'd torn from Hondo's mind. She had poured over every single shred of information about the drug, its results, and its victims. She had worked for several days straight until she found a chemical compound that would neutralize the effects of the drug just in case. She had decided to start off extremely light, just one fourth of the dose given to the original test subjects. So everyone gathered in the observatory of the training bay, watching a vaguely orange liquid being pumped into Pinkie's veins.

They all leaned forward in expectation, waiting breathlessly to see what it would do to the enthusiastic woman. And they waited. And they waited. Eventually Applejack and Rainbow Dash fell into playing cards and Pinkie fell asleep in her chair. Twilight, instead of becoming bored with the lack of results, watched like a hawk on amphetamines. After three hours without a single change Pinkie Pie woke up suddenly. "Ooh ooh! I feel something!" The assembled women lurched forward to see what would happen. Pinkie Pie smiled and her stomach growled audibly. "I feel hungry." Rarity and Twilight facepalmed and both Applejack and Rainbow began banging their heads on the observatory glass.

Fluttershy moved to help Pinkie Pie out of her restraints but Pinkie smiled and shook her head. "Nah that's okay." She slipped her arms out of the restraints then slid smoothly out of the chair. "I got it." The rest of Strike Team Sparkle stared in confusion at Pinkie. Twilight rapidly recorded, "possible elasticity of ligaments." Twilight decided to call a halt for that day, but kept a close eye on Pinkie Pie. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen, or at least as normal as normal gets with her. 

The next day, after a full meal and a potty break just in case, Pinkie was strapped down with different restraints. "Twilight seriously, why do I have to be tied down?" 

Twilight got eye to eye and nose to nose with Pinkie and in a voice that was as cold as iron explained. "Because several victims of this drug have had violent muscular spasms, and I don't want to have any issues if we have to give you the antidote." Pinkie promptly licked the tip of Twilight's nose. She sighed hard and muttered to S.P.I.K.E. "Testing effects of Discord Serum. Second test point five dose. Dr. Sir Fluttershy attending." Again the orange liquid flowed into Pinkie's arm, and again they all leaned forward in expectation.

Pinkie sat bored out of her skull for several minutes. Rainbow and Applejack began their card game, but the remaining women still stared in expectation. Over the course of several minutes they observed Pinkie's mood begin to worsen and worsen. She whined, "Uuugh. . . Twilight! I'm boooored, and it's hoooot. . . And my chest hurts! And Rainbow Dash is cheatiiiiiing."

Applejack grabbed Rainbow's flesh wrist with her augmetic hand and saw that Rainbow was in fact holding five aces. Applejack frowned and Rainbow smiled sheepishly as she muttered, "Heh heh eat shit Pinkie." Fluttershy and Twilight whispered excitedly with each other, they agreed that irritability and increased body temperature and heart rate were common side effects of the Discord Serum. S.P.I.K.E. and Rarity were less than convinced though. Rarity remarked. "Well anyone could've told you that, it doesn't necessarily mean the drug's working."

S.P.I.K.E., apparently being the only sensible person in the room, turned down the air for Pinkie. "Ah thanks S.P.I.K.E.y wikey." Five sets of eyes all turned as if on one axis towards the restrained woman, who simply sat there red faced and smiling. Every woman there had just heard Pinkie's voice in their minds as well as their ears.

Twilight stepped forward slowly as if in a daze. "Pinkie? Did you just use telepathy?" She asked in the psychic equivalent of a whisper.

"WHAT?" The rest of them heard Pinkie shout in their minds. 

After she was done wincing Twilight furiously recorded everything that was going on. Pinkie, a non psychic, had just used telepathy, and on a half dose. They had no idea what would happen when they reached a full dose. They monitored her brain activity closely, and it seemed to be coming in more logical pathways than it had without the drug. Twilight decided to prod. "You said your chest hurts, can you elaborate on that?" She asked while still typing with her mind.

Pinkie looked down at her chest then up at Twilight. Twilight suddenly felt her own chest tighten as if her heart was beating harder than it needed to. "Like that." She said with a smile on her face. Twilight's face went pale. Pinkie, a non psychic, had just done something no other psychic had ever figured out how to do. She let someone literally feel her pain. Twilight decided she'd seen more than enough for one day and gave Pinkie the drug that would nullify the Discord Serum in her system.

Pinkie's head fell heavily with relief. "Ah thank God! I was baking like bacon!" She once again slipped her bonds easily. "Got a bit of a headache though. Think I'll take an itty bitty teeny weeny nap." She then collapsed to the floor. Twilight and Fluttershy rushed to her side then teleported her to the med bay. She was hooked up to an I.V. and they checked her vitals, everything seemed fine. They brought in a portable M.R.I. machine and Pinkie's brain looked like it always had, there was no swelling or bleeding anywhere to be found.

Twilight stayed by Pinkie's bedside all night and long into the next day. When she woke Pinkie merely stretched and yawned as she always did. Twilight was overwhelmed with relief when everything seemed to be okay. As it turns out they drug had just exhausted Pinkie rather than injure her. Twilight decided against performing any tests that day. The two spent a lazy day in bed. Pinkie's faint had genuinely scared Twilight, so she spent the day just reassuring herself that her little pink cupcake was safe.

The next morning Twilight reluctantly resumed her tests. This time Pinkie was sealed in suspended animation. The drug would simply be absorbed through her skin, and if the nullifying agent was required she would simply receive it the same way. "Testing effects of Discord Serum. Third test point seven five dose. Dr. Sir Fluttershy attending." The drug was administered, but this time every eye was on the large transparent cylinder. Pinkie's breathing immediately began to grow laboured. 

Again Twilight felt mirrored symptoms as they progressed, and she recorded whole pages worth of information as events transpired. Pinkie looked around as if reacting to sounds from all over the room. She looked at Twilight, her eyes wide. "Warkly is this how you feel all the time?" Pinkie could see and hear the thoughts of every soul on the Damocles within three decks of the training bay. She began to feel almost overwhelmed, as if too many people were trying to talk to her directly at once. 

Twilight felt what Pinkie was experiencing and it was almost nostalgic. All of a sudden Pinkie felt a relieving stillness coming in the direction of Twilight, just as Twilight had felt when she had first met Celestia all those years ago. Twilight stepped forward, a warm smile on her face. Her and Pinkie both pressed their foreheads to the glass and experienced a long pleasant moment of shared consciousness. For the first time Twilight could read Pinkie's mind, and she loved what she found there. Pinkie began to blush heavily and giggle. "Love muffin! Not in front of the girls." 

After an overlong moment of tenderness Rarity cleared her throat loudly and a softly blushing Twilight administered the nullifier. Twilight glared at the top of the suspended animation chamber, waiting for it to somehow just pop open because Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pied. Several moments later Pinkie knocked on the glass. "Umm Twilight, I'm kind of locked in here until you let me out."

Twilight nodded as if satisfied and levitated Pinkie out of the tube. Because of the shared consciousness, anything that Twilight had needed to know from Pinkie was answered instantly, so she decided they were done for the day. Plus after what was exchanged in their minds they needed a bit of private time. Words might give a hint at what's in the mind, but nothing even comes close to seeing what someone actually thinks of you in their deepest thoughts.

The next morning came, but instead of being terribly satisfied, Twilight was very unsettled. She wasn't sure about giving Pinkie a full dose yet. She tried to use any excuse she could find to delay the test. She poured over the original team's notes, she spoke with Celestia to see if any new news had arrived about the cloners whereabouts, she read and reread her own notes, she even sipped her tea extra slowly just to procrastinate for just a little longer. Finally Pinkie Pie had to put her foot down. "Twilight I know you're worried." She hugged Twilight tight. "But if you haven't killed me by now then you're never going to." She giggled. "Besides." She kissed Twilight's neck. "It was kind of hot being in your brain like that." 

Twilight held her tight for a long moment. She couldn't see the future like Pinkie, but somehow she knew this test wouldn't go well. If they stopped now everything would be okay. Nothing bad had happened yet. They'd played with fire, but no one had gotten burned. They entered the training room and Pinkie slipped into the suspended animation tank. Twilight sealed the top, but instead of administering the drug, she only stared at the woman she loved for a long moment. There she floated, so happy, so trusting, her adorable smile on her face. Pinkie put a hand to the glass. "I'll be fine love muffin. I promise." Twilight inhaled deeply and administered the Discord Serum. 

Pinkie Pie's breathing once again became laboured, but her expression wasn't of fatigue, it was of excitement. She again looked around at the voices she could hear and her smile grew. Twilight stepped cautiously forward. "Pinkie? How do you feel."

Pinkie's eyes snapped to Twilight's as if surprised. All of them heard, "I feel everything." The suspended animation tube opened by itself and Pinkie floated by herself out of it. "I need to fight something." Rainbow grinned widely and moved towards the door, but the rest were uncertain. Twilight was caught between curiosity and caution. Pinkie walked as if intoxicated towards Twilight. She stumbled up against Twilight and she felt the heat radiating off of her. "Please love muffin. I need this." She pulled Twilight's face down to an inch from her mouth and whispered, "Please."

Within five minutes six mechs were in the void with training rounds in their guns. It was all against one and Pinkie Pie was giggling madly over the coms with predatory excitement. Rainbow decided to start things off with a mad dash, no pun intended, towards Pinkie. Rainbow immediately found herself several thousand miles away. Pinkie had launched several explosives in such a pattern to gently launch Rainbow off course. Applejack immediately opened up on full auto. Pinkie only moved mere feet to avoid her sprays. Rarity was practically useless with her long range cannon as Pinkie neatly avoided her shots.

Twilight teleported her and Fluttershy into close range but Pinkie grabbed Fluttershy and swung her mech bodily into Rainbow's mech that had zoomed back in to attempt a slash. The two went hurtling off into space leaving Twilight having to dodge Applejack and Rarity's fire while Pinkie pressed her relentlessly. Applejack and Rarity were forced to hold fire as Pinkie always moved to keep Twilight between herself and their lines of fire. Pinkie and Twilight grinned with the joy of battle. Two mind readers dancing the compliment to each other's movements. One would strike and the other would be counter striking in the same movement. 

Pinkie loosed a curtain of explosives between her and Twilight. Twilight panicked and tried to teleport away from the blast. The second before she disappeared though, Pinkie blew through her own curtain and latched onto Twilight. She flipped Twilight behind her and they came out of the teleport bubble propelled forward by the small bit of the blast that had come with them. 

Pinkie used the momentum to blast away from Twilight and towards Applejack. In a flash she had stuck both Applejack and Rarity with a sticky grenade and the two sat still in shock staring at the small blinking indicator light on the charge. Just as she blasted away from the two she slapped Rainbow and Fluttershy with one sticky grenade each. Rainbow had attempted a surprise attack by grabbing Fluttershy and rocketing towards her at full blast. 

Twilight stared in blank astonishment, Pinkie for all intents and purposes had just tagged all of them with a lethal blow. Pinkie had just beaten all of them. They sat in dumbfounded wonder at the mech who simply floated there in the void staring off into the distance. Each of them couldn't believe just how much the drug had improved Pinkie's already impressive fighting ability. Twilight had an open shot at the bright pink mech as it hung there in the void, but she was paralyzed with shock at the performance she'd just witnessed.

Just as the shock was about to turn into hysterical congratulations they heard a sound through the communicator that froze all of their blood. Pinkie had been staring off into the void in silence for several moments. Each of them heard Pinkie crying softly. "No. But I would never! Not to my little love muffin!" They heard her whisper in horror.

Twilight moved forward and asked, "Cupcake wha~"

"TWILIGHT! NO!" Each of them was deafened by Pinkie screaming at the top of her lungs. Pinkie immediately began firing in seemingly random directions. Soon they each had to dodge to avoid Pinkie's attacks. "GIVE HER BACK! GIVE HER BACK!!!" Pinkie screamed, her voice breaking from the strain on her vocal chords.

Twilight's eyes went wide. This was just like several other cases, she was firing at invisible, non-existent enemies. Twilight's aura glowed blindingly bright and she burned straight through her own cockpit. She teleported to the training room and grabbed an emergency injector of the nullification agent. She appeared back in the void close to the area where Pinkie was flailing and firing wildly. She wouldn't stop screaming her name. "TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!!!" 

Twilight stretched out her hand and held the mech unit still in a crushing grip. She teleported into the cockpit and was struck with a wall of horror. The woman she loved had blood running from her eyes and out of her nose. She had foam leaking from her mouth and her eyes were out of focus, darting around as if tracking an unseen foe. Pinkie was unintentionally projecting the visions she saw and Twilight saw horrifying scenes of destruction and debauchery the likes of which could fill the nightmares of a lifetime. Most of the visions involved her having terrible things done to her by their hidden adversary. 

Twilight shrugged off the psychic thought noise and jabbed Pinkie firmly in the leg with the nullifying agent. Pinkie still thrashed about wildly and Twilight began to fear the drug may have caused permanent damage. She lurched forward and grabbed Pinkie's face, staring hard into her eyes. She focused all of her telepathic might on the hysterical woman and commanded. "Pinkie. Be still. You are safe. I am here. Be still.''

Pinkie's thrashing began to slow and after a moment her eyes came back into focus. Her tears of impotent rage turned into weeping with overwhelming relief. She crushed Twilight to her chest and sobbed deeply. Twilight held her tight and stroked her hair as she sobbed. Pinkie clung to her like she'd vanish the moment she let go. Suddenly Pinkie broke away and shouted. "WE HAVE TO GO! NOW!" She began to boost towards the surface.

Twilight tore her hands from the sticks and still in her commanding tone said. "Pinkie. You're okay. I'm okay. I'm here. We need to get you to."

Pinkie didn't hear a word. She merely darted her head around the cockpit as if still searching for her unseen attackers. She lurched forward in her seat and vomited from the stress of the situation. She grabbed Twilight's head in her hands and Twilight saw her tears of relief had turned to pleading sobs. "Please Twilight. We have to go. Please." Pinkie begged through her sobs. Twilight was astounded to see how genuinely afraid she was. This wasn't the lingering fear of a nightmare. Pinkie's eyes were focused, present, clear, and terrified.

Twilight held her close and guided the mech down to the surface with her mind. They landed right on the beach at a lovely little cabin in a resort in the tropics. Twilight telepathically explained to the owner of the resort that it was a military emergency and that they'd need the cottage for at least a night. The resort director graciously accepted, and Twilight saw in his mind that he had been one of the millions of slaves she had freed during her crusade.
> Honestly How Do You Fuck Up Chocolate?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a hell of a day for the knights of Strike Team Sparkle. Twilight had ordered them back to the Damocles and S.P.I.K.E. was ordered to clean up the training bay. Pinkie's mech stood like a sentinel on the beach, the tide rolling gently off of its giant boots. Pinkie and Twilight had gone straight from orbit to the cabin and Pinkie hadn't let go of her since she'd come back to herself after her episode.

Twilight was racked with guilt at Pinkie's condition. Even at the thickest of fighting the pirates, she had never seen her this scared, this broken. Pinkie laid in her arms staring, almost catatonic, barely even blinking. Twilight ran her a shower, but Pinkie refused to let her go, so they bathed together. In an odd way Twilight wished that Pinkie was still on the Discord Serum, that way they could share a consciousness again, and she could convince her everything was fine.

Twilight felt someone approaching the cabin and politely but firmly asked them to leave what they were holding and leave them be. It was the director of the resort. He had prepared a gift basket out of gratitude for two of the women that had freed him from his living hell in slavery. Twilight held back a tear and levitated the basket into the cabin. 

Twilight looked and saw what to anyone else would've been luxury food items. There was champagne, aged wine, fresh fruits, and several different types of expensive chocolates. A tear came to her eye, because of the work her soldiers, her diplomats, and her knights had done, this man was freed from bondage and was able to rise to the directorship of a luxury resort on the capital world. She smiled gently and levitated one of the squares of chocolate to Pinkie's face. "You see that Pinkie. The director is thanking you for all your hard work. You helped bring that man into freedom and safety. And the two of us are going to get through this crisis the same way, by working together." 

Pinkie's unnerving stillness erupted into a blur of movement. She slapped the chocolate away and snapped to her feet. "NO! YOU HAVE TO STAY AWAY! YOU CAN'T GO ANYWHERE NEAR THEM!" She rushed back to Twilight and crushed her to her chest, weeping bitterly. "I won't let them have you."

Twilight gently levitated her into her arms. "Pinkie. I'm here. I'm just fine." Pinkie struggled in Twilight's grasp but Twilight gently but firmly held her in place with her telekinesis. She gently ran her fingers through her hair and cooed softly to her, "Cupcake hush now. It was just a hallucination brought on by the drug. Your symptoms matched exactly with several of the original test subjects. I saw what you saw and that's never going to happen, I pro~"

"What did you see?!" Pinkie said in a voice like molten lead. She had somehow managed to wriggle hard enough to grab Twilight's face. She gave Twilight the most intense glare she had ever seen on a human face, and from Pinkie, the one who had never worn a serious expression in her life. It genuinely scared Twilight.

She shakily said. "I saw myself getting experimented on by the cloners. But I promise tha~"

"What Else!" Pinkie barked. Her big blue eyes were bloodshot, and their expression lacked any shred of the joy they had once contained.

Twilight levitated her away, and rose to her feet. "That's all!" Pinkie's hysteria was concerning her even more now. She seemed to genuinely believe what she saw in a drug induced nightmare was bonafide fact.

Pinkie scrambled off of the bed and roughly grabbed Twilight. There was no love, no gentleness in the gesture, there was only desperation and anger. She shook Twilight like an interrogator with an uncooperative suspect. Twilight could hear the damage to Pinkies vocal chords as she screamed, "PROMISE ME!!!"

Twilight reflexatorily increased her aura and shoved the hysterical woman roughly away. Twilight was about to reprimand Pinkie, but the expression she saw there stopped her heart. Pinkie wasn't afraid, or regretful, or even dazed from the violence of the rebuff. Pinkie was glaring at her, as if she was being reckless and stupid during a moment of extreme danger. It was the least love Twilight had seen on her face since their first kiss. A tear came to her eye and she relaxed her aura. She focused intensely and slowly her hair began to slow, then stop completely and hang down.

Pinkie's glaring eyes snapped open and she gawked at the sight. Twilight had just turned off her god mode. She stood there looking exactly like she had that day in the garden. This seemed to make Pinkie less mad and somehow more considerate, as if correcting something that had been stuck in her mind. Pinkie looked on Twilight's crying face and saw just how heart broken her little love muffin was. Pinkie got slowly to her feet, still staring aghast at the human woman standing where moments before a demigod stood. Pinkie crossed the room and ever so delicately took a lock of Twilight's long navy blue hair and let it fall limply back down. Twilight met her eyes and brokenly whispered, "I'm not your enemy Cupcake."

Pinkie immediately broke down sobbing. She squeezed Twilight and Twilight squeezed back. Pinkie repeated. "I'm sorry" over and over through her sobs. They kissed through their tears, and Twilight was overwhelmed with relief at the change. They slowly shuffled to the bed and lay down. Pinkie still wept, but now they were tears of reconciliation, not of nightmarish terror. Twilight stroked Pinkie's hair and whispered sweet nothings to her until she calmed down enough to speak.

"Twilight. . . They're coming. We have to get ready."

Twilight squeezed Pinkie gently and whispered into her hair. "Let's not think about that right~"

"Twilight Please!" Pinkie hissed loudly. She shuffled to where she could look Twilight in the eye. Her tears started up again. "Please. I need you to take this seriously." 

Twilight looked at how scared her little pink cupcake was and sighed hard. She allowed herself to be just a little frustrated as she said, "Okay Pinkie. Where are they? In the brief flash I saw I didn't see a planet, or a star system I know. So where are they?"

Pinkie pulled her legs against her chest and hugged them tightly. "Oh God. . . You don't believe me. . . do you?"

Twilight slowly wrapped a thin arm around Pinkie. She didn't resist. Twilight sighed hard. "No Pinkie. No I don't. And I should! You're the woman who just took out five of the most elite pilots in the galaxy with barely an effort. But your symptom matches the original test subjects perfectly: hallucinations, fear of a non-existent foe, hysteria, and that makes me think you're wrong." Twilight sighed hard. "What do you want me to do Pinkie? I'll listen to whatever you say."

Twilight stood with her bare feet in the sand, her neck craned up towards the sky. In her reduced state she had to focus much harder to speak at such a long distance. She ordered the fleet to be in immediate readiness for an attack. It was a damnable nuisance to get Rarity to understand they didn't know when the attack was coming. She ordered an invasion force to be prepared for immediate deployment to the changeling homeworld. Rainbow would accompany the fleet, but Applejack and Fluttershy would stay to help guard Terra.

With her message sent Twilight stretched and popped her neck painfully. She came into the cabin and saw Pinkie making a disapproving face at the expensive chocolate Twilight had offered her. "Pleh! How do you fuck up chocolate?!" She said, wiping the offending treat off of her tongue. "Here you try it." Pinkie said, holding out the small square of chocolate with a single bite taken out of it. Twilight's heart glowed at seeing the woman she loved almost back to her old self.

Twilight allowed Pinkie to feed her the piece of chocolate out of her hand. Twilight agreed the flavour was terrible, but that wasn't important right then. There was a small smudge of chocolate melted onto Pinkie's finger and Twilight slowly ran her tongue over it. Pinkie couldn't look away as Twilight teasingly ran her tongue over the spot, licking it squeaky clean. She took the very tip of the finger into her mouth and began to suck gently on it. Twilight ran her tongue along Pinkie's finger and kissed it softly several times.

With the other hand Pinkie put another piece of chocolate into her teeth and stuck out her face. Twilight bit the other end of the small square and the two fell into a passionate kiss. They made slow gentle love, each making sure the other felt the depth of their contrition. They spent the rest of the day frolicking on the beach together not worrying about their troubles. They made love on the beach and in the ocean. It was the best time Twilight had had since she laid down her sword.

With her aura dropped Pinkie had once again resumed the role of the energetic one, so Twilight could relax and enjoy the experience. Throughout the day they polished off both the bottle of champagne and the aged wine, and they ate all the fruit in the basket. By the time they fell asleep in each other's arms the only thing left in the basket were the chocolates. 

They were terrible.

The next morning a very satisfied Twilight woke gently to the sound of the tide breaking against Pinkie's mech. She lay simply enjoying the afterglow for several moments and considered drifting off back to sleep. She rolled over and saw that Pinkie was not in the bed. Twilight was mildly disappointed at not seeing her little pink cupcake, but was too satisfied to be concerned by it. 

She lazily sat up and felt amused at the fact that for the first time since her ascension she had genuine bed head. It occurred to her she was still in her reserved state. She decided against resuming her aura for now and she took her time getting out of bed. Even in her reduced state she could still feel anyone within range, and there wasn't a soul around for miles, so Twilight decided to just go naked to search for her little pink cupcake. Maybe she could get another serving of what Pinkie had given her the previous evening.

She strolled lazily out of the cabin and looked around for the woman she loved. She wasn't on the beach as far as she could see. She couldn't see her anywhere in the ocean. Twilight felt the very edge of concern creep into her heart. It occurred to her that Pinkie was the one person in the galaxy that she couldn't see, so if anything happened she'd be all but useless in a search. A flash of pink caught her peripheral vision and she finally spotted her. Pinkie was standing on top of her mech staring out to sea.

Twilight took just a moment to stare and bask in the beauty of the sight. The woman she loved, standing in the tropical sun, her long pink curls blowing in the sea breeze. A thought Pinkie Pie would've have came into her mind. Pinkie had snuck up and scared the shit out of Twilight countless times. Was it physically possible to sneak up on a woman who for all intents and purposes could see the future? She unfurled her large lavender wings and silently levitated herself towards her beloved. She floated to within a few feet of Pinkie, her plan being to tackle her straight off of the mech and into the ocean.

Pinkie turned and Twilight's plan died on the spot. Twilight could see she'd been crying. Pinkie was in full boarding load out, her sword at her side. In one smooth movement Pinkie slashed Twilight across the face with her energy sword right in her right eye, the glowing blade slicing straight through flesh and bone and only stopping at the bridge of the nose. Twilight lost focus on levitating herself and dropped limply out of the air. She saw the blood from her face trailing behind her with her left eye as she fell. She hit the deck hard and blacked out. The very last thing she heard before she lost consciousness was Pinkie whispering through her tears.


"I'm sorry."
> Never Split the Team!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity ground her teeth as she lay on her silken sheets in her queen sized recessed bunk. She'd been trying without success to catch a nap for the last two hours. Twilight had put them on full alert a full eighteen hours earlier and S.P.I.K.E. finally convinced her to try and sleep. She sat up in bed and put a hand to her head. How did S.P.I.K.E. expect her to sleep with everything going on.

Pinkie was one of her best friends and she'd had to watch her panicked and screaming, trying to fight off non existent enemies. Then a few hours later Twilight had put them on high alert, "AND WOULDN'T FUCKING TELL HER WHY?!" Rarity growled groggily. Then had come, "that ABSURD ORDER" to send a hastily crafted invasion force to a planet they'd already investigated. 

On top of that they had split the team! They had fought shoulder to shoulder for four years! Yet now Rainbow was hurtling through the void faster than light, but thankfully at a leisurely pace by Imperial standards. Fluttershy had been heartbroken at the news that she'd be separated from her little knight, and she'd had to guilt trip her and Applejack into not simply defying orders and going with the invasion fleet.

She decided to rise and dress herself. Her bed had always depressed her with its loneliness, so she saw no reason to linger there. The second she opened the door she saw S.P.I.K.E. standing there, his mechanical face frowning. "Rarity." He said in the voice of rebuking a child.

Rarity would have none of it. "S.P.I.K.E.! I will not be ordered about like a child! And certainly not on my own ship!" S.P.I.K.E. didn't move and his face didn't change. Rarity sighed hard and her face softened. "S.P.I.K.E. one of my friends is going to a wild goose chase on a planet we've already searched, another had a mental breakdown, and all we can do is sit here and wait for an enemy that may already be at our gates and we're none the wiser. No one could sleep through that."

S.P.I.K.E. rolled his eyes. "You're just like Twilight with her finals." They walked slowly down the corridors in uncomfortable silence. When they reached the bridges all the helmsmen snapped to their feet and saluted. Rarity apathetically dismissed them and stared into the void. Her pattern oriented mind instantly picked out obscure constellations from the dots of light in the heavens. She looked hard at every dot, every star trying to see any blur of camouflage distortion. 

She sighed hard and shook her head as she walked slowly out of the room. She barely bothered to say, "Steady as she goes gentlemen." She wandered the corridors without any destination in mind and her feet carried her to her officer's lounge. She saw Applejack raise a glass in acknowledgement of her, but Fluttershy was too drunk and too sad to do anything but blubber on the bar. 

The two of them had spent their time consoling themselves after Rainbow's departure. They had both begged to go with her, but Twilight had insisted they stay. She wanted a stout wall between the cloners and Terra. Rainbow had to join the invasion fleet because she'd trained up a whole company of brash hot headed new mech pilots, and she was the only one capable of keeping them in line. If ever they got uppity Rainbow would threaten to perform manual stimulation on them with her augmetic arm, and it was amusing to see just how fast they would fall into line.

Applejack was still in love with Rainbow and seeing her again had cut her deep. Then to have her torn away from her gave her a need for a stiff drink. Fluttershy had taken the departure especially hard. This was the first time they'd been apart since they'd met and she dearly missed her little knight. 

Rarity pulled up a stool next to them and the automatic bar gave her a large glass of cognac. She saluted her friends and took a small glass mixing spoon. She picked up a single drop of her cognac and dropped it onto a napkin. Rainbow had explained the tradition of pouring one out for the departed, so she now did so for her sister.

The three sat in heavy silence for a long while. They all felt crushed by the tense atmosphere. Rainbow gone, Pinkie crazy, Twilight giving nonsensical orders, an invisible enemy on the prowl, what could they say? That, oddly enough, gave Applejack something to say. "Heck, shame Pinkie Pah ain't here. She'd know ha to lahghten the mood."

Just then S.P.I.K.E. appeared, concern was evident in his holographic face. "Uhh guys. . . Pinkie's here!" He pulled up a video feed of Pinkie's mech boosting through the fleet. "We tried to hail her but she's locked out her coms." They all snapped to their feet, except for Fluttershy who snapped to the floor, then her feet. 

"Whah idn't Twah with er?" Applejack said to S.P.I.K.E. 

S.P.I.K.E worriedly replied. "I don't know! She isn't accepting calls!"

Rarity attempted to hail Pinkie, but the connection was rejected. "Ladies suit up! Something's wrong!"

Applejack nodded and Fluttershy saluted, "Yes Admirable!" Then she promptly ran smack into the doorway. 

Applejack picked her up like a sack of potatoes and sprinted to the ship's teleporter. She put Fluttershy down in front of her mech and spared a moment to ask, "Shah, are y'all sure yer fit to flah in y'all's condition?"

Fluttershy leared. "Hell we Wonderbolts used to drink before every battle. Steels the soul." She said as she weakly pounded her chest with a delicate fist. Applejack shook her head. They mounted up and gave chase after Pinkie Pie. She had stopped just outside the fleet's cannon range and their big slow mechs sluggishly closed the distance. 

Rarity made it back to the bridge and barked orders to her crew. A video feed of Pinkie's position was brought up and Rarity squinted at the screen. "What is she doing?" Rarity whispered. She should've known better than to ask. Pinkie stared into the black empty void in front of her. She slowly raised one of her mech's large mechanical arms and launched one single crack missile into the emptiness in front of her. After a few dozen miles of uneventful flight the missile seemed to detonate prematurely.

Suddenly the void filled with thousands of warships. The camouflage failed like a tarp was suddenly snatched off of the top of the fleet. They had waited just outside of the Terran fleet's cannon range. Rarity was stuck still with shock. The entire screen was filled with battleships, landing craft, and fighters. This wasn't a scouting party like the last time, this wasn't even an attack to cripple the Terran fleet, this was a full scale invasion of Terra.
> The Last Charge of the Wonderbolts.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack and Fluttershy were staring straight down the barrels of ten thousand cannons. Applejack sat in her mech frozen in terror. She was shocked out of her stupor by a scream coming over her coms. "FOR THE WONDERBOLTS! FOR CELESTIA!! FOR TERRA!!!" Fluttershy roared the warcry she'd screamed in a hundred battles on a dozen worlds. She charged full throttle into the fray. Applejack knew the situation at a glance. She followed as fast as her boosters would carry her. It was the same tactic they'd used in a thousand battles, get in close so they couldn't hit you without hitting each other.

Fluttershy's warcry had shocked Rarity into action as well. She thanked her lucky stars that Twilight had ordered the fleet into readiness. They assumed firing positions and assigned targets. Rarity snapped at the helmsman. "Well you heard the Knight! For Terra! Onward!" The entire fleet roared with pride and moved forward. They began to pick off the closest targets in a massive opening salvo. The invading fleet charged forward full speed. She put through an emergency transmission to the invasion fleet that had departed only hours earlier that day. 

Oddity of oddities it was Rainbow Dash herself who answered. "Sup bitch?" Rainbow said unenthusiastically. 

She had just enough time to notice Rarity's expression before she was deafened by Rarity screaming, "DASH! GET YOUR SCARRED ASS BACK HERE WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

"What the fuck! How?!" Rainbow screamed as she tore a tech over the railing with her augmetic arm. Rarity cut the call and focused on the battle. The Imperial fleet that had set sail for the Changeling's homeworld had puttered along at a leisurely pace, but Rainbow had them turned around and high tailing for home in a matter of seconds. "I will personally tear off the balls of every single one of you if we're not home five minutes ago!" She screamed at the frantically scrambling techs and helmsmen. 

A female crewman timidly told Rainbow, "Sir, we can't push the engines that hard or they might go critical!" She, for reasons she could not have told you if you had asked her, decided at that moment to joke. "And I don't have balls."

Rainbow gave her the single most intimidating glare she'd ever seen as she raised her augmetic hand. She curled it into a fist and the woman's eyes went wide. The fist began to vibrate and the woman's pupils narrowed to pin pricks. The fist began to gyrate forward and back quickly on its servos and she scrambled back to her seat then frantically pushed buttons.

Fluttershy and Applejack couldn't miss at this range, but their munitions couldn't punch through the larger battleships hulls, so they focused their fire on the bridges of the larger ships, and picked off any fighters that came into range. The fleet was too tightly ordered to respond to the two individual mechs, and with Rarity's fleet tearing them apart they grew desperate. Every ship in the fleet charged full throttle towards the planet. 

Rarity's eyes went wide with realization. She got on the ship's coms and S.P.I.K.E. connected her to every bridge, personal com, and ship's radio. "Soldiers and sailors of the Imperial fleet, this is your Admiral speaking. When I was knighted I swore an oath never to retreat, never to surrender. Out there are a million or more monsters that want to take your people and use them to make more monsters like themselves. "She drew her plasma sword and burned a line on the bridge's tile floor. "I for one will not let one of those poorly wrought creatures past this line." Her voice rose with emotion. "WHO'S WITH ME?!" The entire fleet cheered at once and every fighter, mech, and boarding craft deployed at once. Rarity decided against mounting up as she needed to coordinate the fleet. 

The two fleets fought a desperate struggle in the void. Ships mowed down wave after wave of fighters, battleships loosed broadside after broadside, ship's atmospheres ignited and broke apart. The invading fleet was in decisive control of the battle. Rarity with her pattern oriented mind observed that they were fighting as a single unit. Each squad of fighters would fire in perfect unison on a target then instantly move on to the next target. Several landing craft attempted to break past the fleet and dash for the planet and Rarity barely managed to keep them from breaching their lines. 

She kept ordering the fleet to lower and lower orbits, but they soon ran out of sky to give. Any lower and they would be out of Terra's orbit and into its atmosphere. There were simply too many targets to watch and too few eyes to track them all. Rarity herself brought up a point defense laser from her perch on the command deck and mowed down ship after ship, but the tide was endless. She knew that soon the wave would break and thousands of landing craft would blow past the fleet. Then the battle would devolve into brutal ground combat and guerilla warfare that could drag on for years.

No. They had to be held here. She would not let them cross her line. She had vowed never to surrender, and never to retreat, and she'd been giving up ground for too long. A horrifying thought entered her mind and all other considerations faded into the background. She rose and walked as in a dream towards the cargo bay. S.P.I.K.E. saw what she was doing and called after her. "Wait Rarity where are you going? You're needed on the bridge!"

He followed after her to the ship's onboard teleporter, and they arrived at the cargo bay. He saw Rarity staring at Twilight's mech suit. He looked from her bloodless face to the suit with the large hole melted through its canopy and snapped. "Rarity you're more useful on the bridge than in the void, and Twilight's suit isn't spaceworthy anyway. Forget about it!"

Rarity spoke as if in a trance. "No, but it does have an intact sync drive." She slowly climbed the boarding ladder and crawled through the hole melted in the cockpit.

S.P.I.K.E. showed amazing likeness to exasperated confusion. "What does that have to do with anything?!" 

He looked and saw that Rarity had tears falling down her expressionless face. She pressed a few buttons and then looked at S.P.I.K.E. like one looks at their executioner. "S.P.I.K.E.y wikey. . . Please connect all ship's controls to this mech unit please."

S.P.I.K.E.'s eyes shot open in surprise. He limply held his hands out in silent babbling pleading. His programming couldn't process a request so unfathomably dangerous. "Rarity! That's insane! The amount of information alone would overwhelm your mind. The mental strain would."

Rarity spoke with a terrifying calm. "S.P.I.K.E. I will not be ordered about like a child. Do as your Admiral orders." 

S.P.I.K.E. took several steps backwards in horror. He tried to process a valid reason to override his programming. This was clearly endangering the woman he loved, but he was now the ship's A.I. and he wasn't allowed to defy an order from an officer. He knew what would happen if they didn't do this now, he understood the danger to Terra, but he could hardly bring himself to do it. Rarity looked him in his holographic eyes and smiled. She nodded her head once and activated the sync drive in Twilight's mech.

S.P.I.K.E.'s programming ran a gamut of simulated emotions, but one thing he could not do was cry. He knew from general experience that it was the thing to do in this situation, but he was literally unable to cry. He projected a single drop of nervous sweat at the corner of his eye to simulate the action as he gave all control of the entire fleet to Twilight's mech suit.

Every muscle in Rarity's body tensed as her mind synchronized with fifty thousand different computers simultaneously, each one becoming an extension of herself. She opened her eyes and saw out of a hundred thousand cameras. She moved her fingers and ten thousand cannons retargeted at her will. Cannoneers and point defense gunners raised their hands in surprise as their joysticks began to move on their own. She could feel herself floating in the void, enormous and great. The sensation of utter power almost overwhelmed her as she flexed her new bodies. Rarity was now one small woman and a thousand enormous battleships at the same time.

A predatory light entered her eyes and simultaneously every ship in the fleet turned towards Terra. Ten thousand macrolasers glowed and suddenly every ship that had slipped past her evaporated into space dust. Applejack and Fluttershy had been causing as much damage as they could, but suddenly the invading fleet's giant distraction was removed. They now had the breathing room to spread out and focus on the two of them.

Applejack called repeatedly for covering fire as they attempted to cross back to friendly lines, but for some reason no one would respond to her comms. "It's lahke the whole damned fleet had their mahds on somethin." She growled. Fluttershy was down to using her melee weapons while Applejack covered her. They were just about to consider attempting to board a ship, when suddenly several streaks of blinding light met their eyes. Rainbow's fleet had just dropped out of hyperspace.

Both knights cheered as they saw mech units and fighters pouring out of the ships and heading towards them. Applejack called out to Fluttershy over the comms, "YEEEHAW! That'll keep em off a our backs! Come on Flutters! Let's get back to the ship n reload! The cavalry just arrived!" Fluttershy took off in front of Applejack and she followed. She set her thrusters to maximum and their two big slow mech units began to exit the wreckage field of the invading fleet. All of a sudden Applejack felt herself hit hard from behind.

She looked in the rear view screen and saw that none of the invading fleet had turned to engage with Rainbow's ships. They were still on a suicide charge straight for Terra. Just as Applejack realized the situation, it became much worse. She crashed bodily into Fluttershy's mech and went spinning off. She stabilized herself and hailed the other knight. "Flutters! What in the hell are y'all doin?! We gotta git outta here!"

Rainbow Dash barked orders and the fleet began to mark targets. She saw they weren't even turning to engage them, they were set on a mad dash towards the planet. Well no matter, Rainbow had no objections to stabbing an enemy in the back of they were too stupid to stand and fight. 

Her eyes tracked their line of fire and saw the Imperial fleet picking off with surprising precision any landing craft or boarding vessel that tried to slip past them. Her eyes went wide as she saw about halfway between the two fleets, were two mechs. Exposed. Out in the open. And what was worse, one of them wasn't moving.

Fluttershy's voice came back solemn and calm. "My power core's dead Applejack. Take good care of Rainbow Dash for me."

Applejack eyes went wide. She looked towards the invading fleet and saw that their macrolasers were already glowing. She whispered, "no!" As she hit her boosters at full throttle towards Fluttershy.

Rainbow screamed, "FLUTTERSHY!!!" As she hit her boosters at full throttle towards the unmoving mech. Rainbow cursed at herself for using her old mech instead of the new one Rarity and S.P.I.K.E. had built.

Applejack raced towards Fluttershy. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a wave of blinding white light coming towards her. She was only seconds away from her target when her world went blinding white then pitch black.

Time slowed for Rainbow as she saw a wave of white hot plasma engulf the woman she loved.
> And Celestia Actually DOES Something This Time!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Terra Celestia had been coordinating the ground defenses in preparation for the attack. The invading fleet had assembled on the day side of the planet to mask their approach, and no one on Terra was even aware of the battle currently raging in the void until small streaks of flame were made visible in the sunlit sky. Celestia thought out loud, "That's odd. I don't remember there being a meteor shower scheduled for today. . . During the day. . ."

She decided to look into the heavens and saw blood and carnage like she hadn't seen since Cloudsdale. Instantly she was on her feet and barking orders to every mind on the planet. Now technically it was illegal for Celestia to get involved with military affairs as that was Twilight's prerogative, but when it became public knowledge that there was an invasion on, no one seemed to quibble about legal technicalities. Pieces of destroyed ships began raining down onto Canterlot, and a few buildings began to be damaged. Celestia herself flew high above Canterlot and began to blast pieces of debris out of the sky before they could hit her city.

Terra had never been directly threatened in all of Celestia's reign so the situation was chaotic to say the least. Evacuation centers in many places simply didn't exist. Ground defenses were sparse at best and non-existent at worst. Royal guards, police, and even some crosswalk attendants were drafted, tossed a rifle, and told where good choke points were in their areas. Celestia tried desperately to contact Twilight, but for the first time since they'd met, Celestia couldn't find her. Twilight wasn't in the battle, she wasn't where they'd landed on the beach yesterday, she was simply gone! Celestia began to fear the worst for her beloved student and colleague.

In the orbital battle Applejack slowly came to herself. She had the fourth worst headache of her life and she could barely see. She blinked several times and realized she just had spots from the giant wave of plasma that had hit her. That's when she recalled what had happened and looked around frantically. She looked on her mech's radar, no she wasn't there. She'd been too slow. Fluttershy was gone.

Hot tears ran down her face. Fluttershy had become a genuine friend to her. They had fought side by side for four years. Now she was gone. On top of everything else, what would Rainbow think of her now? She came back to herself when several hard hits began to thud heavily off of her mech's armor. She looked around and saw that she'd been blasted several thousand miles closer to friendly lines, but was still in the midst a space battle. She limped slowly towards the Damocles, not caring what hit her. She didn't care anymore.

Rainbow Dash hung limply in the void in horrified shock for several moments. The woman whom she had loved, the one who had gotten her back in the sky when all she wanted to do was lay down and die, was gone. Not just dead, but completely erased from the cosmos. Her hands went slack on the joysticks. She barely breathed. She had always assumed she would fight to the death someday, but Fluttershy had been her way forward. With her Rainbow might actually be satisfied with living for once. Fluttershy had always hinted about settling down someday and raising some bastards, a thought that in any other context would have revolted her, but with Shy it almost seemed tolerable. Now she was gone. 

Rainbow's eye caught a glimmer of movement near the spot of newly emptied space. It was Applejack, creeping away from the battle like a coward. She had left her Fluttershy exposed and without help! It was her fault Shy was dead! Rainbow saw red and hit her mech's thrusters to full throttle. 

Several of her fleet's officers had been begging for orders, but Rainbow hadn't heard them in her shock. They saw her charge forward and followed grinning. This is what they'd all heard about their commander. They roared like warriors as they charged into the fray. Rainbow didn't even see the fleet, she could only see one thing, only one thing in the universe existed right then. Applejack, she was going to murder her for what she'd done to Fluttershy.

Several squads of fighters moved to intercept her in her charge, but they were quickly dispatched. Rainbow didn't care about the battle, she didn't care about taking hits. No, all that mattered was revenge for Fluttershy. Rainbow was going to crush that traitor's throat with her own augmetic hand. She didn't even look at the few targets she had to kill to keep moving. She let peripheral vision handle them as she focused on Applejack's mech. Rainbow was in the zen of battle, the perfect warrior.

Rarity had cleared enough of the sky to  slowly carefully turn the fleet. She looked and saw that every ship in the invading fleet was still charging headlong towards the planet. She didn't understand, any other force would've seen their terrible losses and turned tail by now. More than half of the invading fleet had been converted into smoldering wreckage in the void. A terrible reality dawned on her then, they had no intent of surviving this day. The invasion fleet had one goal in mind, and the very last invader would keep charging until they had either succeeded or died. It was to be a knock down drag out fight to the death.

With Rarity and the invading fleet now on a level playing field the Terran fleet gave better than it got. For every ship they took, Rarity scuttled five, but every one of her ships that was destroyed she felt physically. She felt active tangible pain as one of her bodies was attacked, breached, broken, and ignited. She clenched her teeth and fought on, disregarding the pain. She saw every movement, every action, every mistake the enemy made and exploited it by the book. This was war at its most theoretical, and Rarity was its philosopher.

Applejack landed on one of the primary deck of the Damocles, but simply sat there in shock. Two techs came over and began switching out fuel rods, and ammunition canisters, but Applejack didn't stop them. Rainbow came tearing into the landing bay and stomped heavily up to Applejack's mech. The ag worlder didn't even look up as Rainbow leapt from her cockpit and smashed her in the face with her augmetic fist.

She screamed as she thrust her steel knuckles against Applejack's face over and over again. The two techs saw what was happening and scrambled up the ladder to try and stop her. Two other techs had run in to help refuel Rainbow's mech and they too joined the attempt to tear Rainbow off of the bloodied woman. It took all four of them to carry her off, and it took three of them to overpower her augmetic arm. She was dragged away screaming for blood and Applejack was left a bloody wreck in her mech.

Rarity had noticed the invading force's expert coordination and had inferred that they were working as a single hive mind controlled from a single origin. Well now that single origin was set against her, and she was clearly a better strategist. The invading fleet's greatest strength had just become its undoing. Rarity poured expertly timed volleys of macrolaser into their lines decimating their formations.

Rainbow's fleet faced no opposition at the other side of the battle. To them it was like a day on the firing range and the invading fleet was torn to shreds from behind. The two fleets made quick work of the invasion force and soon the battle had come to a quick bloody end.
> Like Teacher Like Student
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity scanned the orbit around Terra with her hundred thousand eyes and no opposition forces could be found. She searched inside her hundreds of holds and no boarding parties could be detected. She finally relaxed. Her engines dimmed, and she let her boiling plasma cannons cool. Now came the test that she'd been dreading. 

She opened her physical eyes and saw S.P.I.K.E. watching her. She sighed in relief. She tried to move her physical hand and it responded. She'd done it. She'd not lost herself to the machine. She slowly stood up and S.P.I.K.E. suddenly lurched forward and squeezed her tight. "I was so worried! I thought I'd lost you."

Rarity smiled gently and patted him on the back. "Now now S.P.I.K.E, none of that." She rose and climbed out of the mech unit. She attempted to climb down the ladder but her foot slipped. She began to fall, but S.P.I.K.E. caught her. He carried her down the ladder and placed her on her feet. Rarity walked upright but still rested an arm heavily on his arm. 

"Thank you S.P.I.K.E." rang out on every speaker in the whole fleet. Rarity's eyes snapped open and she turned shakily towards the towering mech unit. She blinked and realized she could see herself from four different points of view. Even when the sync drive was powered down, she was still inside the fleet's computer. She broke down weeping in the deck and the launch bays sprinkler system activated. It was found that Rarity could still control any system in the fleet, but if she went out of range of Twilight's mech she would enter a vegetative state. Her mind was literally trapped in the Damocles.

On the beach Twilight dreamed of a beautiful woman with long pink curls blowing in the sea breeze, the tropical sun shining off of her. She approached the woman expecting to receive joy and love. Then the woman turned, and Twilight saw she was crying. Before She could ask what was wrong the woman drew a glowing sword and slashed her across the face.

Twilight's eye snapped open and pain greeted her. Her face hurt horribly and she couldn't see out of her right eye. She rolled painfully to her side and cried out in agony. She blearily looked around and screamed for the woman she loved. Then she remembered, it hadn't been a dream, Pinkie had attacked her. She gasped and her head snapped heavenward. Her remaining eye grew wide at the destruction and death she saw there. Blood and tears ran down her face in equal measure as she surveyed the damage.

Her aura began to grow and rise in luminosity. Twilight pounded her fists against the sand in rage. She screamed and her aura continued to brighten. Her hair resumed its ethereal quality but began to glow like a supernova. All that Twilight knew in that moment was rage. The woman she loved had betrayed her, her military was in ruins, her planet had been attacked and she hadn't been there. The sand beneath her began to melt into glass and the sea boiled as it approached her crouching form.

Celestia had just confirmed with S.P.I.K.E. that the battle was indeed over and was on a shuttle on its way to the Damocles when she felt Twilight's rage. Her joy at finding her lost friend died instantly when she felt the seething rage emanating from the woman she'd been so proud of. Celestia exited the shuttle and flew as fast as she could to the spot.
She had to put a hand to her mouth in shock when she saw Twilight.

It was a mirror image of her manifestation. In the sand, crouched, and screaming at some horrible wrong done to her. Celestia was heartbroken at the sight. She always remembered that rage and wouldn't wish it on even her worst enemy, now the woman she respected most in the galaxy was reliving her fury.

She brightened her aura and stepped into the blazing inferno. Her tears boiled off of her in Twilight's psychic fury as she closed the distance between herself and the screaming woman. She stopped less than a foot from her beloved pupil and layed a hand on her shoulder. Twilight's face snapped up to her and she saw nothing but animalistic snarling anger there. She knelt down and gently put her hands on Twilight's wounded face. "Twilight, I am here. Be still." She whispered.

Twilight's snarling face slowly softened and the furnace slowly cooled. Her expression slowly relaxed and soon her eyes stopped glowing. Celestia was shocked to see the wound to Twilight's face didn't reassert itself when she calmed. Twilight's rage turned to utterly broken weeping and she buried her face in her mentor's neck. Celestia held her favored pupil and softly cried in sympathy for one so noble brought so low.

On the Damocles Rainbow Dash had to be restrained in a cell in the ship's small brig. She was strapped down head to toe and her augmetic arm had to be welded to the wall. 

Applejack had been beaten so badly that her face required reconstructive surgery and she was sent planetside with the other wounded. A full fifty percent of the Terran armada had been reduced to casualties. The dead had to be loaded into funeral barges and the wounded were ferried down to the planet by any ship that would take them. There was scarcely a hospital on Terra that didn't have at least one wounded soldier in it.
Thirty percent of the Terran armada had been knocked out of action and one in every ten ships was irreparable.

After Twilight had calmed enough to think clearly she had only one question on her mind. She teleported onto the bridge of the Damocles and locked eyes with S.P.I.K.E. She growled through tightly clenched teeth, "Where. Is. She?" S.P.I.K.E looked at her and sadly shook his head. Pinkie Pie had disappeared in the confusion and had stolen a ship in Rainbow's invasion fleet. They could neither find a tracking signal from the ship, nor from Pinkie's mech. She was simply gone.

On the I.N.S. Cloudsdale Pinkie Pie sighed as she plopped down into a seat. She'd sounded the evacuation alarm so every crewman on the ship thought that it was sinking and she was the only one left onboard. The coordinates to the Changeling's homeworld were still in the navigation computer, so her ship knew which way to go, all that remained was the week-long trip. She inhaled hard and said to herself, 



"Step one. . . Complete."
> And It Only Gets Worse From There.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia's schedule suddenly became much fuller after the battle. The worldwide panic had to be quelled, the wounded had to be transported, the damage had to be assessed, a statement had to be made to Parliament, and ten thousand other little considerations that a sovereign has to attend to on a daily basis. Normally much of this headache would have been Twilight's responsibility, but after she had awakened she'd all but shut down. She hung silently in the void, her aura burning brightly. For a whole six days after the battle she hadn't said a word to her friends, or to S.P.I.K.E., or even to Celestia. She just stared hatefully out into the void.

Celestia, despite her immense power, could still only do one thing at one time and unfortunately that created a backlog in the flow of information. A tech who had extremely high priority information kept being elbowed out of the way as Celestia darted from one crisis to another all over the planet. 

The tech eventually got desperate and did something that very easily could've gotten him killed. Celestia didn't necessarily need to sleep and most nights simply chose not to, but every single person who knew the princess knew that there was one time of the day that was sacred to her, a tone that under no circumstances should she be bothered for any reason. If the palace was on fire the standing order was to just let her burn rather than interrupt her in this one little thing she demanded for herself. Her tea time.

The tech lied, bribed, threatened, and snuck, until he had reached Celestia's private study. His breathing was extremely laboured as he stood shaking like a leaf in the wind. He, a low level tech, had just infiltrated the holiest of holies in the Imperial palace. He thought nervously to himself about who else could make it in here if they tried hard enough. His eyes, already wide with terror, opened fully as he heard a murderously calm voice purring with malice. 

"Twenty three hours and thirty minutes." Celestia whispered into his mind. He turned and saw the person who single handedly conquered a planet glaring straight into his soul. He froze in panic. "Twenty three hours and thirty minutes a day, every single day. That's what I give you people. And I ask only one thing in return. Eighteen hundred little seconds. Just a little time to sit and enjoy a cup of tea." She reached out a hand and gently lifted him in her telekinesis and brought him closer to her. "But that's just not enough for you is it?"

By some merciful providence, right then, just as he was about to have unspeakable things done to him managed to squeak, "wefoundhim!" Celestia's eyes went wide and she read his mind. He dropped heavily to the floor. He lay there in quivering terror until Celestia helped him to his feet. She walked him to the door and nodded once before shutting it firmly behind him.

Two of his fellow techs immediately ran up to him and caught him as he collapsed. They congratulated him and promised to make it all better. He whined through his tears of utter relief. "You guys owe me big ti-hi-hime." He had drawn the short straw and was the one chosen to deliver the message to Celestia. They carried him along and promised rewards of controlled substances and sexual gratification.

Rarity's imprisonment on the Damocles gave her a very unique advantage in the cleanup. She knew exactly which vessels were spaceworthy, which were damaged, and what repairs were needed and where. She, with her traditional unbreakable stoicism, handled herself with dignity and grace. . . And cognac. 

She thanked her lucky stars that she had S.P.I.K.E. to keep her company, what with literally all of her friends being out of commission. Poor Fluttershy dead, Applejack beaten to a pulp on Terra, Rainbow practically mad attempting to tear off her mechanical arm, Pinkie as far as anyone could tell turned traitor, and Twilight. 

Rarity sighed as she thought of the woman she loved, so hurt, so lost. She pulled up a view of her. Yes, she was still there, floating in the void, burning like a miniature sun. Oddly enough just as she watched the star grew in luminosity. Rarity leaned closer to the screen then suddenly fell in agony on the floor clutching at her head. Every crewman in the Imperial fleet did likewise as Twilight's roar of impotent rage tore through their minds.

Rarity managed to get back to her feet and looked at the demigod floating in the void. Her rage had slipped into hysterical sobbing and she was slowly returning to the Damocles. Rarity decided to clear the ship all the way from the airlock to her quarters just in case and Twilight floated still weeping to her room. Rarity shook off the last lingering effects of the accidental psychic shriek. Rarity summoned S.P.I.K.E. and loudly whispered, "What the devil was that all about?!"

S.P.I.K.E.'s face was long and he looked up at her sadly. "She just got word from Celestia. . . They found Davenport."

Rarity's eyes snapped open and she grabbed his robotic shoulders tightly. "And?! What's the word? Where is he?" 

"He's dead." S.P.I.K.E. said almost in a whisper. Rarity stumbled backwards in shock and limply fell into her seat. She couldn't believe their misfortune. Davenport had been their only real lead, and now he was dead. His body had been found dead in his home on Terra, and the autopsy showed he'd been in that state since before the attack. They had nothing, no leads, no clues, and an invisible enemy that they had no way to know how many they were or where. Rarity let her head fall heavily in her hands.
> Bad Dreams
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since her ascension Twilight had only ever bothered to sleep when she was with her little pink cupcake. She'd had a secret joy in being able to read, or to study, or do research all through the night without having to wake up and peel her drooling face off of a book anymore. But now, in her emotional state she wept pitifully on her bed until she mercifully fell asleep.

Twilight dreamed of hearing waves crashing on the beach and the salty smell of the sea filling her nostrils. She rose and knew she wanted to see someone, someone that she loved, someone who loved her. She walked naked onto the beach and saw an enormous machine standing there. On top of the machine was the woman she'd been looking for and her heart warmed at the sight. The woman stood there, in the late morning sun, her long pink curls flowing behind her in the breeze.

Twilight knew she wanted to be close to that woman and stretched her long wings out to fly to her. She felt her love grow as she neared the woman on the mech. She hovered mere feet from the woman when she turned around. 

Twilight's dream turned to a nightmare as she saw her face. It was drawn and Twilight could see she'd been crying. It broke her heart to see the woman she loved so sad. She began to reach out for her when suddenly the woman drew her sword and slashed at her. She tried to fly away but wasn't fast enough and the blade caught her across the eye.

Twilight's eye snapped open and she rocked forward into a sitting position as she screamed. "PINKIE NO!" She gasped for breath and put a hand to her face. It was still there, the gouge that Pinkie had left her was still there. The woman she'd loved most in the world had attacked her and destroyed her right eye. She put her hands to her face and wept bitterly. 

Twilight cried herself out and felt a crushing emptiness afterwards. She had fallen asleep in her uniform and her feet carried her automatically to the command deck. She wasn't even aware of the officer's and deck hands saluting her as she entered. She plopped down in a gunner's chair and idly looked about the room. She made eye contact with Rarity and only nodded.

Rarity inhaled deeply and attempted to make conversation. Anything to ease the terrible tension in the room. "Good afternoon Twilight." Twilight just stared silently. Rarity cleared her throat and continued. "The repairs are going slowly but steadily, I'd say we're at about sixty percent capacity currently. Umm, recruiting is going well, and we've been able to spread about the crews to cover the two ships that have been made operational since. . ." Rarity slowed and stopped.

Twilight was glaring at her. She wasn't saying anything telepathically, but Rarity knew what she was asking. She sighed heavily, having to hold back a tear as she did so. "No. We still don't have any idea where she is." Rarity said softly. 

Twilight leaned forward heavily and sat in silence for a long while. Rarity squirmed desperately inside herself, trying to think of something to say. When it came to her she instantly regretted her choice of topic as she reflexatorily spat out the question. "How's Applejack?" She internally kicked herself at the question, but she'd already begun so she may as well continue as she was genuinely concerned for her friend. "She can't speak because of the surgery, and I was wondering if you could umm. . ." She pointed to her head.

Twilight sighed deeply and bent her will towards the hospital in Canterlot where Applejack had been transferred. "Not good." Twilight rose frowning. "She blames herself for Fluttershy's death." 

Rarity sighed hard. "Poor thing." She inhaled in preparation for sticking the other foot into her mouth. "And Rainbow."

Twilight rolled her eye. "She ALSO blames Applejack for Fluttershy's death." She shook her head in exasperation. "So dramatic those two."

Rarity couldn't help but think, "hello pot, my name's kettle."

Twilight was unfamiliar with the expression and didn't question the thought. She rose and stared out into the void surveying her crippled fleet. One of every three ships had been damaged, and so many had died that several ships weren't in fighting condition. She sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry Rarity. I should've been there." She unconsciously touched the black leather eyepatch that Rarity had made her to cover her wound. "If I had been here to lead the fleet, maybe you wouldn't've. . ."

Rarity put a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Now now, none of that Darling. None of us could've expected Pinkie to be a turncoat. We j~"

Twilight slapped Rarity's hand off of her shoulder like it was a venomous serpent. Her aura flared and she roughly grabbed Rarity in her telekinetic grasp. Her eyes glowed with anger as she growled. "Never. Say that. Again." She ground her teeth as she squeezed Rarity tight with her mind. She dropped her heavily to the floor with a huff and began to stomp out of the room when the door slammed in her face.

Rarity rose slowly to her feet, her face hard as stone. "Pardon me Viceroy, but EXCUSE THE FUCK OUT OF YOU?!" She stared daggers at Twilight. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT AFTER WHAT SHE DID TO ME?! TO YOU?! She destroyed your face and stole a ship. What the fuck do you call that if not treason?" She projected an unnecessarily large screen an inch from Twilight's face. "Because as far as the dictionary is concerned assaulting your sovereign is the LITERAL DEFINITION of treason!"

Twilight turned, her eyes still glowing. She walked solemnly step by step until she was nose to nose with the Admiral. Rarity didn't move an inch, she stared into Twilight's eye unblinking, unafraid; she had fought fleets, pirates, and cloners, fear and she had long since parted ways. Twilight whispered, "Rarity I understand you're upset, but try to think for one fucking second. She had me at her mercy but didn't kill me. The cloner fleet was completely undetected until Pinkie broke their cover. If she was a traitor why would she have done any of that?" Twilight's face fell, "I've seen her kill a Viceroy before." She ground her teeth as she shouted, "IF SHE WAS A TRAITOR THEN WHY DIDN'T SHE JUST KILL ME THEN?! I was unconscious and at her mercy, it would've taken zero effort."

Rarity looked away and her face softened slightly. "That's. . . Hrmm." She was silent for several seconds before looking back. "Well then what in the hell is she up to then?"

Twilight turned away from Rarity and leaned heavily on the railing. "I don't know Rarity." She sighed hard. "I just don't know."

The crew of the bridge had spent this entire conversation cringing in fear at their stations. A tech's screen was blinking brightly at her and it managed to distract her from her shock. Her eyes went wide and she leapt up from her station. "MADAM VICEROY, MADAM ADMIRAL!" 

Both women glared daggers at the tech and she heard, "Now is not the time." echo in her mind.

The tech went stalk still but managed to squeak out in her mind. "wefoundher."

On the Changeling homeworld Pinkie turned away from the console she'd just been working on, the large red letters "transponder activated" still blinking behind her. She plopped down into her chair and sighed heavily. "Step two complete." She idly chewed a bite of emergency ration bar and grimaced at its taste. "Now we wait for Rainbow."
> Old Habits Die Hard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash hung limply from her restraints in total darkness, her mind barely functional. She'd struggled against her bonds until she'd passed out, then lay nearly catatonic in her cell. The only thought she could process was killing Applejack, then Pinkie Pie. She would crush that deserter's throat with her own augmetic hand, then Pinkie Pie for working with the monsters that had killed her Fluttershy. That was all that existed for her. No memories of friendship, no battles fought and won together, no plans of living. Only vengeance, only death.

She winced as the door slid slowly open, the bright LED lights hurting her eyes sore from weeping. She blinked away the pain and saw Twilight stepping silently in, a grimace on her scarred face. She heard Twilight say in a voice cold and hard as iron, ''I've got a job for you."

Twilight, instead of being pleased with the discovery of Pinkie's location, was furious beyond reckoning as it lent credence to the notion that Pinkie was a traitor. She'd argued without conviction that she was leading them to their enemies. She had worked furiously with S.P.I.K.E. and had developed a weapon of retribution. A fusion bomb that would unleash a blast not in a sphere, but in a disc. It was intended to split the entire Changeling homeworld in two, then its own tectonic action would slowly grind the planet into dust. 

S.P.I.K.E. was distraught that his new found creativity was being used for destruction, not protection, not instruction. All he wanted to do was find a way for Rarity to escape the fleet's computer, instead his processing power was being used for what for all intents and purposes was genocide.

Rarity had scraped together every ship in the fleet and they had loaded the device into Rainbow's new mech. Applejack had healed from her surgery and was recalled back to the Damocles for the invasion. She strode slowly through the cargo bay and stared in horror at her mech. The armor on the entire right side of the machine was melted from taking the broadside, the back armor was scarred with deep rents from point defense lasers. She was genuinely surprised she'd survived the battle.

Twilight scowled as she teleported into the cargo bay. She thought to herself, "What the fuck is so goddamned important that she couldn't tell me over the comms?" She made eye contact with Applejack and her surface thoughts hit her like a slap to the face. 

Twilight's eye went wide and she went through several emotions very quickly. She felt shock, then anger, then betrayal, then sympathy. She spluttered as she fished for something to say. "Applejack, yo-you can't you. . . You swore an oath! You can't do this to me! I CAN'T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU!"

Applejack looked at her in despair. "Twahlaght. . . Look at it." She gestured limply to her mech. "Ah can't do this anymore." Her voice gained a subtle hint of anger. "Ah've given you EVERYTHING!" The anger dropped back into despair. "And look what its gotten us. What're y'all gonna do? Nuke em? Then what?" She lowered her head. 

"Y'all don't need me fer that." She weakly climbed the ladder and sat in her cockpit. "Ah'm done. Ah'm gonna clear out mah mech, and Ah'm goin home." The her voice cracked with emotion as she shouted. "N if y'all gotta kill me fer bein an oath breaker than you go ahead!" She hung her head and sobbed. "Ah got nothin left here."

Twilight ground her teeth and her hand gripped her sword hilt tightly. She glared hatefully out of her one remaining eye at the oath breaker. Then she remembered how she'd fought tooth and nail to save her during the Lunar coup. Then she remembered every battle, every skirmish, every bullet she'd loosed in Twilight's service. She saw the scarring on Applejack's mech suit, it was an engineering miracle that it still ran, much less that it was still in fighting condition. Twilight teleported away without saying a word. 

Applejack stared into space. She'd gotten her answer. She'd return to Pomum Dulce a traitor, an oath breaker, never to return. She tearfully gathered up the few things she kept in her cockpit and started up her mech's computer to wipe its files. 

Suddenly a morbid curiosity stole over her and she instantly felt guilty at the idea that had popped into her brain. She looked through her mech's battle records and brought up her last battle. She couldn't resist, she had to know. "How close was ah?"

She fast forwarded past the beginning of the battle, then ground her teeth at seeing Pinkie Pie's mech again. She thought to herself that was probably her biggest regret in retiring, that she'd never be able to, "wring that double dealin bitch's neck." She continued to skip forward past the battle. It didn't occur to her that neither killing nor the risk of being killed held any significance for her now. 

Then she arrived at the critical moment. She saw the Valkyrie class and had to draw in a long breath before continuing. Her eyes snapped open with terror as she heard a voice from beyond the grave. "My power core's dead Applejack. Take good care of Rainbow Dash for me." 

Applejack screamed, "RAINBOW!" She leapt bodily out of her mech and sprinted for the ship's teleporter. She ran down the corridors to the ship's brig and the two armsmen stationed at the entrance knew better than to stop the large charging knight barreling towards them. They each took one big step out of her way and she shouted for Rainbow as she looked into the small cells. She opened the cell marked with her name and the door slid open. The scorch marks were still on the wall but the woman herself was gone.

Applejack stared in confusion and surprise. Her knees buckled under her and she fell heavily to the floor. She turned and saw that S.P.I.K.E. had silently appeared next to her, his face drawn and sad. "She's gone Applejack."

The crew of the I.N.S. Manehattan cringed in fear as they manually flew the ship to the coordinates that had been preset in preparation for the invasion. Rainbow slowly fanned her las rifle back and forth across the few crewman she'd kept alive. Her eye twitched, both from stress, and at the random sparks given off by the smoking transponder that she had shot to pieces. Twilight had given her a job, she decided she was going to do it her way. Her mech sat in the cargo hold, its fusion bomb blinking menacingly.
> I Doubt He'd Mind If You Ate That
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow sealed the airlock behind her and scrambled into her new mech, super nuke and all. She thought out loud to herself, "Huh, back in the day captain woulda just killed em all. Oh well, I guess all this military bullshit's made me soft." She cut her way out of the cargo hold and flew slowly down to the surface. The cowering crewmen passed out where they sat in relief at having survived the ordeal.

Rainbow surveyed the blackish ball of dirt rising up to meet her. The Changeling homeworld was a planet with sporadic volcanic activity that littered its surface with a thick coat of volcanic ash. The planet was considered a deathworld not even fit to terraform. The only reason the Changelings had survived is because they could change their coloring to avoid the planet's few predators. "Such a shithole they didn't even bother to give it a name." Rainbow grumbled to herself as she followed the tracking beacon to the surface.

Rainbow tensed as she saw the I.N.S. Cloudsdale sitting in a large canyon. She scanned the ship and saw its cargo bays were opened and Pinkies mech wasn't inside. Rainbow growled to herself, *
"Now where are y~" Suddenly Rainbow felt her suit lurch forward and several alarms went off at once. Rainbow saw red as she heard a voice calling out in a mocking tone to her.

"I'll take that thank you. What took you so long Dashie? Do you ha~" Pinkie was interrupted by Rainbow screaming at her as she charged wildly. Pinkie barely managed to dodge Rainbow's strike and a long glowing line went up her suit's arm. Rainbow's momentum carried her into the cliff wall before she could stop herself. Pinkie called out teasingly "Woah! Careful now! I need this." As she bounced the fusion bomb in her mech's large hand like a beach ball. Rainbow beat on the dashboard in frustration. She extricated herself from the canyon wall and leapt madly at Pinkie in a murderous charge. Pinkie held up the fusion bomb as a shield and Rainbow awkwardly juked away from the device, coming to a stop on the other side of the canyon wall.

When Rainbow managed to pull herself out of the wall she snapped her head around violently looking for her target. She consulted her radar and saw that Pinkie was flying away. "Nice try," Rainbow growled predatorily. She moved her boosters and she rocketed out of the canyon. She picked up the very edge of Pinkie's mech as it disappeared over the horizon. She charged screaming at the top of her lungs. Rainbow attempted another slash, but Pinkie dodged, in the way only Pinkie can, and Rainbow went zooming past her.

Rainbow punched a hole through her dashboard with her augmetic hand and once again turned to find her adversary. She saw Pinkie's giant pink mechanical hand waving at her before she fell backwards into another canyon. Rainbow's rampage had dragged on for too long and her murder boner was starting to droop. She ground her teeth and set her boosters sensitivity lower so she wouldn't miss.

Rainbow chased Pinkie into the canyon and stopped suddenly in shock. Her screens showed no activity inside the canyon, but her eyes saw an entire war fleet staring in horror back at her. There were massive sprawling compounds, and living quarters, as well as Hundreds of warships, fighters, and landing craft all undetectable by Imperial scanners, and every single one of their cannons pointing at the two of them. Rainbow went slack in her seat. "B-bu-but. . . We already checked this planet. . . Where did. . . How did. . . When did. . . "

Pinkie once again appeared on her comm screen. "Yup, sneaky little buggers aren't they?" 

In the void the Imperial fleet was racing through the heavens at full speed, their engines all a hair's breadth from going critical. Twilight stood on the bridge, her single remaining eye glowing, her hand crushing the steel railing. The second she'd gotten the word that Rainbow had stolen the Manehattan, she'd ordered every operational vessel to launch literally right that second. Rarity did her best to find places for the ground crews, visiting Terran medics, and other non-crew to stay during the three day journey.

The fleet arrived in orbit around the Changeling homeworld in only sixty eight hours. Twilight had a deployment force prepped and ready to launch before they'd even dropped out of hyperspace. When they arrived they saw the Manehattan, Rarity could feel the home in its cargo hold and rolled her eyes at Rainbow Dash. Twilight couldn't care any less about the Manehattan, or Rainbow Dash. She saw the I.N.S. Cloudsdale's transponder signal and launched every landing craft in the fleet towards the planet. She herself flew without ship, or mech towards the planet, a determined scowl on her face. Finally after weeks of misery and doubt she would know. She would find out what Pinkie was up to.

She stopped and hung in the air for a moment, surveying the Changeling's complexes. Twilight had been fooled, they'd been here the whole time and she had missed them! She ground her teeth and dove straight out of the sky. She landed heavily and the ground cratered beneath her. She looked and saw that the I.N.S. Cloudsdale wasn't so much landed in the canyon with the facility, as much as dropped haphazardly. It was on its side, it's landing gear pointing awkwardly to the side.

The landing parties swarmed into the facilities and had a determined battle against empty rooms and unlocked doors. Several unfinished meals sat steaming on their plates in cafeterias, 
The further in they went the more they saw there wasn't a soul in the place. Team after team reported no activity. The entire facility, clone vats, technicians, and fleet, were just gone. 

Twilight stood staring at the Cloudsdale on its side. She could hear the thoughts of every single infantryman and tech within the invasion fleet. The consensus was that the Changeling fleet had left within the hour, the atmospheric radiation alone proved a massive fleet had just departed recently. Applejack stomped slowly up to Twilight in her mech suit. It hurt her heart to see the once proud Viceroy demigod look so defeated. She scrambled down out of her mech suit and put a large hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Twah. . . I'm so s~"

Applejack snatched her hand off of Twilight's shoulder as it seemed to become red hot. Twilight's aura grew in intensity and Applejack had to begin backing away from her friend. She felt like she was standing next to a roaring bonfire and the heat kept rising. Applejack held a hand to her face to shield it's from the blazing heat. She saw Twilight turn her face to look at her and there was a steady stream of blood running down from her wound. Applejack thought Twilight's teeth would break in her head she was clenching them so tightly.

She darted back to her mech and Twilight raised a hand towards the I.N.S. Cloudsdale. It evaporated in a blinding flash of light and psychic fury. Applejack snapped for Rarity to recall all forces on the ground double quick, Twilight was throwing a tantrum and she wasn't sure if she'd stop for innocent bystander or not. The infantrymen and techs scrambled haphazardly away from the raging demigod as she burned away building after building. Applejack had to hit her thrusters at full throttle just to escape the inferno.

Twilight screamed in blind rage and she destroyed everything in sight, her blasts burned straight through buildings and for several yards into the volcanic soil. She slowly, meticulously destroyed everything inside the canyon. The woman she loved had betrayed her, she'd been incapacitated in Terra's most dire moment, her best knight had stolen her token of retribution, and now she had no leads. She floated above the burning crater like an avenging god staring into the roiling abyss. It wasn't enough. She needed more. She needed to punish those who had caused her so much misery. 

Her cast her mind about and she saw one of the few Changeling hive cities in the planet, and she ground her teeth. These people, these sorry creatures that had helped and fostered her enemies, the monsters that had attacked her. She flew towards them, her fury scorching the ground beneath her as she flew.

Applejack saw her fly away and decided to follow her. "Rares! What in tarnation is she doin now?" Applejack barked into the comm.

Rarity held her hands up to her mouth. "After Rainbow had stolen the bomb I thought we could've avoided this."

"What?" Applejack called out in annoyance at the nonanswer.

Rarity appeared in a window on Applejack's screen. "She's going to exterminatus the planet manually Applejack! God forgive us." She wailed as she cut the call.

Applejack ground her teeth. "Alright. Ah've had enough." She set her boosters to full and raced Twilight towards the hive city. Twilight stopped and prepared to strike. Applejack closed the distance as fast as her boosters could carry her. She loosed a blinding wave of psychic fury straight into Applejack's armored chest. The mech went flying backwards straight through towers and created a long trough in the ground as she came to a stop.

Twilight's eye stopped glowing as she saw what she'd done and flew as fast as she could to the glowing mech. She tore the canopy straight off and saw a groaning Applejack still alive inside. "Ah gotta stop jumpin in front a shit." 

Twilight's relief at her friend being alright faded and get rage that she'd interfered flared. She grabbed Applejack by the throat and lifted her high into the air, her sword in her other hand. Her voice was enhanced by psychic emanation "Don't interfere Applejack. These people have to pay."

Applejack weakly lifted herself enough to croak out, "They didn't do nothin and y'all know it."

Twilight ground her teeth then shouted, "YOU SAW THE FACILITIES APPLEJACK! THEY'VE BEEN HERE FOR YEARS! THEY HAD TO HAVE KNOWN!" She dropped Applejack heavily to the black soil.

Applejack winced, "And what would they a done Twilight? They can't fight space farin creatures. They ain't got no weapons that'll do any good." She weakly got onto her shaking feet. "Them cloners were usin mahnd control on their soldiers, that means they ain't exactly signin up fer this shit." She pointed at the hive city. "Go on and look! See if they knew for fuck's sake."

Twilight stood silent for a long while. She could see the thoughts of the Changelings if she'd wanted to. The brood queen of the Changelings hadn't known anything when they'd investigated six months previously. She idly turned her will towards the hive city and saw that no, no one there had in fact actually known about the cloner's operations on their planet. Her shoulders drooped and her aura fell. "Ah know y'all are mad Twah, hell I'm mad too, but killin folk ain't gonna bring her back!"

Twilight's shoulders began to shake and she fell to her knees sobbing. Applejack stepped slowly towards her and knelt beside her friend. Twilight grabbed her in a tight embrace and wept bitterly against her shoulder. "I'm sorry Applejack. . . I'm so sorry. . ." She kept blubbering through her sobs. Applejack held her tight. She'd deny it if you asked her, but a tear crept from her eye too. Twilight joined Applejack in her mech and they slowly made their way back to the Damocles.

Twilight flew slowly out of the cockpit and walked solemnly to the bridge. She silently walked to the railing she'd crushed and stared at a map of the stars. Rarity and S.P.I.K.E. watched her in silent expectation. She spoke in a voice devoid of emotion. "Recall the fleet, we make for Fillydelphia. That's their most likely target."
> Tripped at the Finish Line
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack leaned idly against an I beam waiting for her mech to be refueled and reloaded. In the five years of ceaseless, fruitless searching she'd wasted no small amount of ammunition on asteroids, training drones, and empty space. She had spent every sober second of those five years with one goal in mind, she had to find Rainbow and clear her name. 

That was all that mattered to her. She'd tried and failed to save Fluttershy, she had to know. It didn't matter that Rainbow had taken up with Pinkie Pie and the separatists, it didn't matter that Twilight would probably have Rainbow executed on sight, it didn't matter that Rainbow had more than once tried to kill her in the rare instances they found each other in the massive expanse of the Solar Empire. All that mattered was that the woman she loved was hurting, and Applejack had something she needed to show her.

The five years since the attack on Terra had been the darkest in Imperial history. Every once in a while in its thousand year existence a separatist movement had cropped up, a system or two breaking away for a few years, but nothing like this. Terra was perpetually under siege from an invisible enemy that could strike at any moment without warning. The throne world had been fortified a thousand times over in response. Its gleaming towers were interspersed with macrocannons disguised as buildings, armories were established every few miles in cities, children practiced evacuation drills at school. 

The mood in the empire was that of a nervous prisoner on death row waiting for the sound of footsteps in the hall that would spell death. Trade suffered at the idea that at any time a fleet of cloners would appear out of nowhere and seize their entire cargo, not to mention the crews and passengers. Convoys had to be reestablished just to make merchants feel safe enough to cross the galaxy. Twilight's military was stretched razor thin trying to keep up as much trade as possible, but it was never enough. The military budget had to be increased to even more than its prewar percentage, and with the recession in the Imperial economy every citizen felt the bite of the tax increase.

Celestia was heartbroken to see so much progress lost so soon. It was even worse than before Twilight's crusade. What was the worst for Celestia however, was seeing her beloved Twilight so broken. In the rare instances that they spoke she barely said a word. She never stayed at a planet long, the Imperial fleet would arrive in system, spray a wide arc with lascannons and crack missiles to see if they hit anything, then, after it never did, they would take on supplies quickly, then be off for the next system.

The number one thing the fleets always needed were new recruits, Twilight had become cold and cruel in the five years of ceaseless hunting, so desertions were so high that at times entire ships had to be recrewed. Rarity could handle most day to day operations of the fleet, but it took some of the strain off of her mind when someone else physically performed the task. 

Twilight spent most of her time standing on the prow of the Damocles staring out into the void, searching, hunting, hoping against hope to find her. If she could just get a hint at where Rainbow Dash was then she'd be able to find her mind there and then she'd have them, yet in five whole years of searching they'd only had three pitched battles, all of which wound up the same way. They'd drop into a system already being attacked by the cloners, the cloners would fall into a fighting withdrawal, then would vanish into the void without a trace.

Twilight groaned at the fact that unless Rainbow streaks were seen across the battlefield, then Applejack wouldn't even bother mounting up. She would chase Rainbow all over the sky then after they disappeared she would just limp back to the ship, reload, refuel, and be right back out chasing training drones. In all of this misery Rarity thanked her lucky stars for her little S.P.I.K.E.y wikey, she would've been completely alone without him. They spent their days tending to the fleet, watching Applejack train, and idly discussing more pleasant matters, it was a strained existence.

Twilight, despite always having the exact same dream, slept every sixteen hours. It was the only way she could see her again, if only for a moment. Twilight dreamed of hearing waves crashing on the beach and the salty smell of the sea filling her nostrils. She rose and knew she wanted to see someone, someone that she loved, someone that loved her. She walked naked onto the beach and saw an enormous machine standing there. On top of the machine was the woman she'd been looking for and her heart warmed at the sight. The woman stood there, in the late morning sun, her long pink curls flowing behind her in the breeze.

Twilight knew she wanted to be close to that woman and stretched her long wings out to fly to her. She felt her love grow as she neared the woman on the mech. She hovered mere feet from the woman when she turned around. Twilight's dream turned to a nightmare as she saw her face. It was drawn and Twilight could see she'd been crying. It broke her heart to see the woman she loved so sad. She began to reach out for her when suddenly the woman drew her sword and slashed at her. She tried to fly away but wasn't fast enough and the blade caught her across the eye.

Twilight's eye snapped open and she rocked forward into a sitting position as she screamed. "PINKIE NO!" Then as always the memories would come flooding back in. That had been five years ago. Her scars had already faded and the bridge of her nose had a crease from her eyepatch. Pinkie was still out there. Twilight was still alone. Rarity had been walking the halls aimlessly when she heard Twilight scream in desperation. She knew exactly what was happening. Rarity had always had the delicacy to turn off the security cameras and microphones in Twilight's room, but every crewman on the Damocles could physically feel when Twilight woke up every morning.

Rarity couldn't stand it anymore and without thinking burst into the room. She saw Twilight sitting up in her bed, her face in her hands, her sobs coming heavy and loud. Twilight's ascended state meant that her memory was crystal clear, and every time she remembered anything, she remembered as if it happened yesterday. Rarity slowly crossed the room in a mix of mortal terror and heart breaking sorrow. She never knew what Twilight might do in her emotional states so she knew she was in very real danger as she crossed the room and sat gently on the large bed.

"Twilight." Rarity gently took Twilight's hands away from her face and held them softly. "I beg of you, you mustn't keep doing this to yourself." 

Twilight sniffled miserably as spoke. "I- I just. . . " She leaned forward and wrapped Rarity in a tight hug. "I just miss her so much" She sniffled again. "In the dream I remember what it was like to be loved, if only for a moment."

Rarity blushed slightly and her heart rate increased. She leaned back and looked Twilight in her one remaining eye still filled with tears. Rarity's face was mildly fearful, but set with determination. "But you are loved Twilight." She inhaled deeply to prepare herself mentally then leaned forward and planted her lips on Twilight's. The Viceroy's one remaining eye shot open in surprise. She tensed slightly but didn't pull away. Her heart sank in her chest, she still loved Pinkie with all her heart, but her body had needed this for so long.

Rarity felt that Twilight wasn't going to pull away and kissed her more deeply. She slowly reached a hand up to Twilight's breast and heard a small moan escape her lips. Finally after all these years, Rarity was finally getting what she wanted. Finally Twilight was accepting her. She mentally shut and locked the door, then slipped out of her uniform. Twilight was completely dead inside, whereas Rarity felt vindicated excitement, she only felt guilty pleasure.

Rarity explored Twilight's body and kissed her up and down her neck. Twilight felt a heat build in her face as Rarity worked. Rarity could feel Twilight tensing beneath her hands and grinned. "Do I do it as well as she did?" Escaped Rarity's lips. Twilight's eye snapped open glowing brightly and Rarity was sent through the wall.
> Heh! He Thought He Was Going To Live
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie tiredly wiped the various fluids off of her face and painfully pulled her too large for her great coat over her naked body. Rainbow had been rougher than usual lately and she had to go to further and further lengths to keep her in line. Pinkie never complained though, she knew what she had to do and bore up under the constant strain. Her long pink curls had begun to hang limply from her head with the stress. It was a Herculean task to keep an entire separatist conspiracy in line, much less Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie knew she may be in charge in theory, but Rainbow was the terror that kept these slowly rotting clones in line. She had to do whatever it took to keep Rainbow Dash from doing something stupid and "whatever it took" became more and more deviant acts. Rainbow couldn't risk a shore leave again, not after last time, so Pinkie became the only person that Rainbow could stand to look at, much less bed. Rainbow, disregarding the less than comfortable amount of oxygen onboard, lit a cheap cigar and propped her bare feet on the command deck. 

She stared hatefully at Pinkie's cowering form. It disgusted her how Pinkie always slunk around like a beaten dog nowadays, it reminded her too much of her as a child. She spat on the floor and growled, "How much longer Pink.?" Pinkie had genuinely convinced Rainbow of why they had to do what they had to do, but it sickened her to her core that they had to work with the things that had murdered her Fluttershy.

Pinkie winced as she straightened up. "We just need to cow or kill the holdouts in Trottingham then we can finally go home." Pinkie said in a pleading whisper. 

Rainbow grew angry and threw an empty bottle at Pinkie, barely missing her head. "TERRA'S NOT MY HOME!" She screamed, her voice coming as a gravely shriek from years of hysterical weeping and bellowing orders. "The only reason I'm going back is to finally crunch that coward's throat in my hand!" She shattered another empty bottle in her augmentic hand for effect. 

"I know, I know please." Pinkie began to tear up in fear. "I promise were almost."

"Umm captain?" A weak voice called out.

Rainbow immediately put three rounds into the wall by the doorway. "I told you pieces of shit never to bother me while I'm fucking!" 

The voice called out in terror. "YES MA'AM, BUT YOU SAID TO SEND WORD THE SECOND WE HEARD WORD FROM TROTTINGHAM AND."

He was cut off by Rainbow grabbing him by the collar and his breathing tube and pulling him into the room. She slammed him against the wall with her robot arm and growled, "And?" She glared directly into his soul.

He attempted to speak but Rainbow's death grip on his breathing tube meant his words had no volume. She rolled her eyes and relaxed her grip enough for him to wheeze, "They killed their Chief officer like you demanded! They're all yours captain! Ten thousand strong!"

The clone's pupil's narrowed to pin pricks as he saw the single most terrifying thing he'd ever witnessed. Rainbow Dash was smiling. This particular clone felt no fear that his genetic makeup was becoming less and less coherent with each passing day, he didn't flinch at flying head first into void combat, but nothing clenched his sphincter tighter than the sight of Rainbow Dash's teeth.

Rainbow turned still holding the clone's neck. "Well, speak of the devil." The clone gained a glimmer of hope. Maybe he wasn't going to~. Rainbow closed her hand and cut his head clean off. 

Pinkie didn't even notice the senseless act of cruelty. She was already donning her boarding gear, her hair already beginning to resume it's trademark curls. "Finally. . . " She began to giggle madly. "It's finally over. Finally we can make them pay for what they've done!"  Rainbow began to feel a similar terror to the clone she'd just killed. Pinkie drew her sword and grinned evilly into its glowing blade. "I'M COMIN HOME!"
> Homecoming
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight dreamed of hearing waves crashing on the beach and the salty smell of the sea filling her nostrils. She rose and knew she wanted to see someone, someone that she loved, someone that loved her. She walked naked onto the beach and saw an enormous machine standing there. On top of the machine was the woman she'd been looking for and her heart warmed at the sight. The woman stood there, in the late morning sun, her long pink curls flowing behind her in the breeze.

Twilight knew she wanted to be close to that woman and stretched her long wings out to fly to her. She felt her love grow as she neared the woman on the mech. She hovered mere feet from the woman when she turned around. The woman had tears in her eyes but a smile on her face. The tears were tears of joy, the woman leaned in close and whispered in a sing song voice, "I'm Baaaaack!"

Twilight's eye snapped open, the alarms were already shrieking, and a red flashing light filled the room. Twilight sat up in her bed almost dazed. The dream had been different. For the first night in five whole years the dream had been different. She felt something in her hand and looked at it. There in her hand was a cupcake with orange and yellow frosting piled high. She gave a small smile. Twilight couldn't care any less about the alarm blaring, or the fact that both Rarity and S.P.I.K.E. were trying to get her attention, she simply rose and slowly dressed.

In the void Admiral Sir Rarity had just dropped out of hyperspace in the cleared space above Terra. She leaned her face against the back of a hand in boredom as the fleet prepared to loose its broadside as standard procedure. She looked and saw the shining blue marble of the throne world and sighed hard. Hondo Flanks had been executed years ago as the Viceroys needed something, anything to show they were doing what they could against the Separatists. She sighed hard, "All those years of not going to Terra because of him, now I couldn't return if I wanted to."

The fleet loosed it's broadside and just as she was about to hit the button that said no fleet detected, the cloner fleet dropped out of hyperspace directly above them. Every soul in the Imperial Armada stood still for a moment in shock, until S.P.I.K.E.'s voice cut through the air barking "BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Every ship shook with the turbulence and several ships in both fleets crashed into each other upon reentry. 

With that the battle was begun. Boarding craft poured by the thousands out of the Invading fleet and darted straight for the Imperial Armada. Rarity took personal control of each ship's weapon systems and mowed down wave after wave of boarding crafts, but it wasn't enough, they were already too close. She felt the boarding lasers cut into her and the crafts infantry spilling out. She sealed off bulkheads and locked doors in a desperate attempt to slow them down, but she realized soon that this wasn't a ground invasion, they were coming straight for her.

Applejack was the first out of the Damocles, her new engine flinging her across the battlefield. She uninterestedly took potshots at passing boarding craft as she went by. She didn't care about them, she didn't even care about keeping them off of the Damocles. No, Applejack had only one thing in mind, find her. Suddenly she spied what she was looking for. Small Rainbow streaks of light could be seen on the other side of the battlefield and she set her thrusters to full speed.

Rainbow had been using her shields to open makeshift portholes for boarding parties when she felt herself hit hard. She went spinning away for several seconds before her suit's computer stabilized her. She grit her teeth as she saw Applejack closing the distance between them. Finally, it was her moment, after years of denial for Pinkie's stupid fucking plan she could get her revenge. She blasted towards her grimacing with hate. Her shield absorbed several hard impacts and veered off to the left. Applejack knew Rainbow's suit like the back of her augmentic hand, she knew all she had to do was wear down its battery.

On the Damocles Twilight walked with a small smile on her face, a tuneless song escaping her lips, this was the happiest she'd been since that day on the beach. She strolled casually to a loading deck, the were techs and mechs scrambling to get to various points of action throughout the battle. All of a sudden each felt an overwhelming urge to quickly leave the room. Twilight lazily dropped the void shields with her mind and the atmosphere rushed out with a howl. A small landing craft slowly entered the ship and landed in the empty bay.

Twilight closed the void shields and allowed the atmosphere to reassert itself. She never knew how Pinkie always knew, but she always knew. The landing crafts canopy opened and Pinkie slowly rose out of the cockpit, a warm smile on her face. "Hello love muffin."
> Why Do We Even Have That?!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow was feeling an unfamiliar sensation, slowness. Not to say she wasn't darting about the void like a mosquito on amphetamines, but the fact that someone, ANYONE, was able not only to follow her, but to KEEP UP with her was terribly unsettling. Whereas Rainbow barely had the technology to maintain her suit, Applejack had spent the five long years constantly upgrading her mech and training herself how to use it more effectively. She twisted and weaved and doubled back on herself trying desperately to get away, but nothing worked, the ag worlder was relentless.

A death knell started to sound in Rainbow's suit as the low power alarm began to sound. She had less than ten percent power in her suit's core and she was forced to pick a place to fight or hide. She made a b line for the planet and coasted along the shoreline of some deserted ocean. Applejack was right behind her the whole way, lazily spraying rounds to the right and left of her, hemming her in, draining the little power she had left from her shields. Rainbow glanced at the rearview screen hatefully to see that Applejack was toying with her, closing the distance then backing off.

Suddenly Rainbow came to a complete stop, she'd run headlong into a cliff wall and a diamond glowed in the stone where her shields had cut into it. Applejack suddenly appeared behind her and focused her head mounted gatling guns on Rainbow's trapped suit. Rainbow reflexatorily held her suit's arms in front of her to protect herself. She watched helplessly as her suit's power meter ticked down, three, two, one. Her shields dropped suddenly and her screens died. That was it, once again she found herself in a dead mech, but this time it was applejack who was trying to kill her.

Applejack had timed her fire perfectly and had spent her very last bullet with the very last of Rainbow's shields. Applejack grinned as her gatling guns' barrels smoked. "Fahnally." She said as she slowly stomped forward. She picked up Rainbow's suit with one large hand and with the other tore the canopy straight off of it. "Fahnally Ah can do what Ah should a did ALL THOSE YEARS AGO!" Applejack snatched Rainbow out of her suit.

Rainbow wasn't afraid, she wasn't even angry, if anything she was glad, it was finally over. She closed her eyes and a small smile appeared on her face. She whispered, "Here I come Fluttershy." Then she heard Fluttershy's voice.

On the Damocles Pinkie and Twilight silently stared deeply into each other's eyes, even after five years of separation they still deeply loved each other. Then Twilight remembered what happened the last time they saw each other and she leapt screaming at Pinkie, sword drawn. Pinkie laid back and let Twilight's attack fly straight over her and out through the void shields. She activated the boosters on her boarding suit and she flew forward through the cargo bay. Twilight flew straight through the hull of the Damocles and two walls after her.

Rarity winced and shouted through every speaker on the Damocles, "STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP!" She'd had her hands full with the invasion. Every ship was crawling with boarding parties, and her tactic of sealing bulkheads was only delaying the inevitable. Suddenly a thousand of her fifty thousand eyes went out, one of her ships had just been captured. It felt like losing a limb, an eye, and a thousand sailors simultaneously.

She had to put a hand to her heart to steady herself. She inhaled deeply and started voiding entire decks to fling boarders into the void, but it still wasn't enough. Ship after ship fell to the boarders and soon their cannons were turned on her other ships. Then the horror, they were here, they had just boarded the Damocles. A thousand or more had flown into the hole that Twilight had punched in the hull. She inhaled deeply and focused on the Damocles speakers.

"Attention pilots, crewmen, and sailors of the I.N.S. Damocles. It has been an honor to serve with you all, but this ship has been boarded. I'm ordering a full evacuation of all remaining soldiers. You'll be needed for the surface battle. I swore an oath never to retreat, never to surrender. Therefore I will remain and take as many of these monsters with me as I can. Farewell. Hail the Solar Empire." 

She turned to S.P.I.K.E. with a determined look. "S.P.I.K.E., you're not a combat unit, you'll be useless to me here. Get down to the planet and coordinate the survivors." She sighed hard as she drew her sword. "It's going to be a damned long ground war." S.P.I.K.E. silently shook his head. Rarity grew red faced and shouted, "S.P.I.K.E.! YOU ARE AN A.I.! YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO DENY AN ORDER!"

S.P.I.K.E. smiled "I'm integral to the ship's function Rarity, and I'm not an officer. I'm neither programmed to order about soldiers, nor do I have the authority to give orders."

Rarity threw her hands up in the air and stomped in frustration. "Oh Fuck it! Stay here and die then!" She mumbled grumpily to herself. "Artificial intelligence can deny an order when it bloody well suits him."

Pinkie Pie darted between rooms and down corridors. Twilight kept over shooting and flying past her through walls, all technique, all thought were just gone. Pinkie burst through the doors to the cafeteria and shoulder checked a terrified cook who was trying to evacuate as she entered. Twilight burst through the wall on the other side of the cafeteria and stomped towards Pinkie, her sword glowing brightly. Pinkie tried to turn around but slipped and began scrambling backwards. Twilight stepped heavily onto an overturned lunch tray and a banana cream pie was flipped up directly into her face.

Pinkie scrambled backwards holding a hand out in front of her shouting, "That wasn't me! That Wasn't Me! THAT WASN'T ME!!!" Twilight screamed and her aura consumed the entire cafeteria, burning a hole through the upper and lower decks as it did so. Pinkie scooted along the floor with her boosters away from the raging demigod and finally got to her feet. She sprinted down corridors and finally got to where she was going. She searched frantically through cabinets and drawers shouting, "Where is it? WHERE IS IT?!" Her eyes lit up when she found what she was looking for.

Twilight's burning hand gripped the doorframe to the med bay and it crumbled under her grasp. She found Pinkie Pie standing there smiling with something in her hand. Twilight was panting like a sprinter as she raised her sword. Her eyes went wide as she realized that what was in Pinkie's hand was the very last vial of the Discord Serum.
> Three Beaches
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow smiled warmly at hearing Fluttershy's voice again. It took a few seconds to realize what she'd said. The voice came again,  "My power core's dead Applejack. Take good care of Rainbow Dash for me." Her eyes snapped open and she found she was pointed at Applejack's screen, she saw Fluttershy's mech floating dead in the void, the battle raging in the background.

The video rewound and she heard the voice again, "My power core's dead Applejack. Take good care of Rainbow Dash for me." Rainbow stared in awe at the screen. Fluttershy looked just as beautiful as she remembered. She heard Applejack whisper "no" and her boosters thrust to full. Fluttershy's mech grew larger and larger until the screen lit up white. The video rewound and she saw the events play out again. 

Rainbow slowly turned to Applejack and saw that she was crying. "Ah tried Are Dee. But Ah just wasn't fast enough. I'm so sorry." Applejack placed Rainbow Dash gently on the ground. She stood thunderstruck and Applejack scrambled out of the cockpit. "Rainbow?" Applejack asked timidly.

Rainbow clenched her augmetic fist and whispered, "All this time." She whirled around and decked Applejack. She grabbed Applejack by the collar and tried to strike her again but Applejack placed her large booted foot against Rainbow's stomach and flipped her over.Rainbow didn't stop. She kept moving forward swinging wildly. "IT WAS ALWAYS YOU SAVING ME! EVERY FUCKING TIME! WHY?! WHY COULDN'T YOU FUCKING SAVE HER? HUH? WHY?!!!"

Applejack caught Rainbow on the tip of the jaw with her augmetic fist and screamed. "BECAUSE AH LOVE YOU YOU FUCKIN IDJIT!" Rainbow stopped dead with shock. Applejack slowly lowered her hands. "Ah always have. Ever since ah first saw y'all." Her eyes began to tear up. "Ah tried to save er Dash, ah really did, but ah just wasn't fast enough." Rainbow grabbed Applejack's collar with her flesh hand and grabbed her throat with her right.

Applejack felt the cold steel on her throat and exhaled. She'd made her peace, Rainbow knew the truth to do with as she wished. Rainbow tried. She wanted to do the deed she'd dreamt of for years. She could feel how fragile the throat under her hand was. She tried, but she couldn't make her augmetic hand close on the throat. Applejack suddenly felt Rainbow's lips against hers and her eyes snapped open. Her shoulders sagged and she wrapped her arms around Rainbow. The two melted into each other and fell to the ground. After all these years Applejack finally got to kiss the lips she'd longed for. She held Rainbow against her tightly and her tongue danced in her mouth.

Suddenly she broke violently away. "SHIT! FUCK! GOD DAMMIT! THE BATTLE!" She started scrambling towards her mech. "COME ON WE GOTTA~" 

She stumbled when she felt her ankle seized by Rainbow's augmetic hand. "Don't worry about it, Pinkie's got it." Applejack stared in wonder and Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Really? You thought Pinkie wasn't playing with a loaded deck?"

On the Damocles Twilight's aura went out like a candle extinguished. Her sword shook in her hand and she backed slowly away in terror. The last time Pinkie had been on this drug she beat five of them at once, she had no idea what she would do to just Twilight. Pinkie began to laugh softly to herself as the drug began to take effect. She took unsteady steps towards Twilight. Twilight made a desperate stab for Pinkie but the giggling woman grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a deep kiss.

As their lips connected their consciousnesses merged and Twilight saw everything in a flash. Twilight's sword fell limply from her hand. Pinkie pulled gently away from the kiss and whispered, "I'm not your enemy love muffin." The two revisited the memories just like when Celestia showed Twilight her history. They saw Pinkie's episode in her mech. Pinkie spoke gravely, "I saw what they planned to do to you Twilight. They wanted to make a race of super psychics based off of your genetic profile. I had to get you as far away from them as possible." She gave Twilight a small kiss. 

"I was so scared when I saw myself attack you in the vision but. . ." She paused for a moment. "But after you didn't believe me I knew. . . I knew it had to happen. When you dropped your gloweyness." She took a second to run her face through Twilight's sparkly hair. "Gosh I've missed that. Anyway, I knew that I could knock you out and keep you away from them in your human state." She slowly pulled off Twilight's eyepatch and looked at the terrible scars she'd caused. "Oh Sparkly Warkly I'm so sorry." She began to cry again.

Twilight stroked her hair as she cried. "Cupcake. . . I'm so sorry. But why didn't you tell me?" 

Pinkie's eyes flicked up to Twilight's and she clung to her tightly. "You didn't believe me. You thought it was just the drug. And if you knew the attack was coming you would've fought and gotten caught! I couldn't let that happen!" She reluctantly pulled away from Twilight. "I had to find these people and stop them from ever touching my love muffin. . . So I did. It took five years to track them all down. To bully them into joining me or kill them all." She turned with a sad smile on her face. "But I did it!" She resumed her hug and wept for joy. "It's over. . . It's over."

Twilight held Pinkie close and simply enjoyed holding the woman she loved. The shared consciousness gave her everything she needed to know. "And that's why Rainbow was with you all those years." Twilight scoffed in disbelief. "You even saw my bomb."

Pinkie chuckled weakly through her tears. "I couldn't have done it without it. That's how I got the first separatists to follow me. I said do or die, so they did." She giggled again.

"So Davenport then?" Twilight asked.

Pinkie gave her a confused look. "Chucky? What about him?"

"He was our only lead at the start. What was his role?" Twilight asked.

Twilight's heart leapt when Pinkie gave one of her trademark snorting giggles. "CHUCKY?! He was a single sprinkle in an ice cream bar. He didn't do shit!''

Twilight pressed. "But I saw him! I saw him in Hondo's memory. He was the one who negotiated the use of the Discord Serum in the clone army!"

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Well duh. Then he got killed. That was the very end of his involvement love muffin!" She laughed again.

Twilight stood dumbfounded. "Well what do we do now?" She kissed Pinkie deeply. "I leave it in your hands." She looked around at the chaos and destruction all around them. "Cause we're kinda right in the middle of the people you went out of your way to keep me away from."

Pinkie gained a predatory grin. "Now we finish it!" She produced a detonator button from who knows where.

Twilight's eyes went wide. "My bomb. You still have it!"

Pinkie giggled. "And they're all nicely on an even plane."

Twilight took Pinkie's hand in hers and was about to press the button with her when luckily a thought occurred to her. "WAIT! Rarity's still on the ship!"

Pinkie just shrugged her shoulders. "Eh S.P.I.K.E.'ll get her. SHIELDS PLEASE!" And she pressed the button. Twilight reflexatorily threw a shield around them.

On the bridge of the Damocles Rarity was working off years of stress on the misshapen flesh of her enemies. "Get off! Get the hell off my ship!" She scolded coldly. She crushed a squad of clones with a bulkhead, she sliced through two boarders with her sword then threw their bodies at the on rushing horde. Suddenly the fusion device went off and sliced the Damocles in two with a flaming rainbow disc that spread outwards destroying ship after ship.

Rarity dropped to her knees screaming in agony and terror at the sensation of her bodies dying over and over again. S.P.I.K.E. saw his chance and performed a few functions on the ship's computer and Rarity went limp. He carried her to the escape pod he'd chosen not to use and blasted towards the planet.

They landed on a beach on an island near Terra's equator. S.P.I.K.E. carried Rarity's limp body over to the shade of some palm trees. He laid her on the beach and sat down in the sand beside her. He waited beside her all that night and all the next morning. Rarity's eyes opened and she saw nothing but blue skies and clouds. She inhaled deeply and sighed, "Well fuck I died. Time to go find Sweetie Belle I guess."

She sat up and saw S.P.I.K.E. sitting there and grew confused. "Wait, S.P.I.K.E. you're an A.I. how are you here? Do A.I.s have souls?"

S.P.I.K.E. blinked several times and answered, "I always suspected it would work, but it's something you can't really test. I'm sorry Rarity." 

Rarity weakly stood up and moved her arms. "I'm not dead. . . Huh." Was all she could think to say. She looked around and saw that the area they were in was deserted. "Well come on S.P.I.K.E., activate the locator beacon. We need to get to a hardware store."

S.P.I.K.E. raised an eyebrow. "A hardware store?"

Rarity sat beside him and kissed his cheek. "Yes S.P.I.K.E.y wikey, we'll need to build you a dick."

Rarity could feel the heat radiating from S.P.I.K.E.'s glowing cheeks. "Well umm. . . Ma'am. . . You remember when Rainbow told you to umm. . . Well you see uhh. . . She told me to uhh. . . To build a uhh. . . And she was a knight at the time and umm. . . And I'm not allowed to deny an order from an officer so. . . " 

Rarity looked down and saw a tube extend from his lower abdomen. "Oh. . . Well then. . . S.P.I.K.E.y wikey turn the locator beacon back off."

In the void Pinkie was showering Twilight in kisses to the point where she simply had to say, "Pinkie, cupcake, I love you, but I'm rather tired from the fight. I need to focus on this bubble or we will both die." Pinkie awkwardly detached herself from Twilight and sat hands folded until they reached the same cabin they'd landed on the last time. Twilight carried Pinkie into the cabin and hung the do not disturb sign on the doorknob.
> So What Do We Do Now?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A galaxy rejoiced at the announcement of peace in the empire. The blast that wiped out ninety percent of the Terran division of the Imperial fleet could be seen on all continents of the globe. The few remaining Changeling clones that had been developed for the separatists had been collected, their control units removed, and were returned to the changeling homeworld to manage the discomfort of their decaying organs. Cloning on the quick never ends pretty.

The clean up effort took months and the knights of Strike Team Sparkle were, for some unknown reason, devilishly hard to find. Celestia had a very long talk with Twilight after she'd emerged and it took considerable effort and much retelling of the same story again and again to hammer out the details. Celestia reluctantly pardoned Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash for everything they'd had to do to protect the empire. Rank, as previously mentioned, did in fact have its privileges.

After they'd all gotten the romance out of their systems the knights of Strike Team Sparkle eventually reconvened at the Imperial palace. It was a cold reunion at first. Five years of relentless hunting don't disappear overnight, not to mention Twilight saw what Rainbow had done to Pinkie. It was only because she saw how much Rainbow regretted it that she didn't punish her for it. Pinkie was also a bit cool with Rarity, she knew it had been five long lonely years, "But no one touches my Sparkly Warkly!"

After a few nights and several rounds of drinks they fell back into their old friendship and began to celebrate their victory in earnest. Parades were held, interviews were sat through, Twilight's sword was once again laid down, and nights were spent in pleasant company. After a while it occurred to Applejack that they were all effectively homeless. Rainbow had never had a physical address, and the rest had spent at least thirteen years in military service. It was decided by unspoken agreement that each of them would establish their fiefs on Pomum Dulce and would all be neighbors. 

Big Mac was deputized to select good plots of land for them and he came through in fine style. Rarity and S.P.I.K.E. were to be established in a lovely little shop on the edge of the village of Bonneville. Twilight and Pinkie Pie would establish themselves at the Bonneville library, a library in desperate need of some expansion, and Rainbow and Applejack would simply live on her farm.

They made their preparations and on the day they were scheduled to ship out they arrived at a large field dressed head to toe in black. They'd all spent five years away from Terra so none of them had ever visited the memorial. They were shuttled past miles and miles of gravestones. No one said a word. They were allowed through the gate to the Wonderbolts private burial ground and stepped out of their shuttle. They walked slowly up to the enormous monument.

Standing there keeping watch over the honoured dead, was a full size statue of a Valkyrie class mech with a gas light torch burning in front of it. Each lay a rose on the grave, Applejack's yellow and Rainbow's a full bouquet. They stood in silent reverence of their departed friend, there wasn't a dry eye among them. By an unspoken symbol they saluted their fallen comrade and began to walk away. Rainbow walked a bit slower than the rest. She held Applejack's augmetic hand in hers. She felt her squeeze it gently as she whispered. "Ah know. Ah miss er too."





Fin.