> Friendship is Magic Redux
>  by paiohelohelo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Ch. 1- The Completely Ordinary Days of Twilight Sparkle (Junior)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC REDUX



It was not going to be just another ordinary day for Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight pulled up into the driveway of her father’s house. Her well- used Honda Civic sounded as if it was thanking her for giving it a rest. She got out and admired the view of the Pacific; after all, it wasn’t often that she came to the shore. She supposed in a way she should've been thankful one of her parents was a beautiful, famous supermodel and movie star, for the comfortable, if sheltered upbringing and the somewhat decent (by her own estimation) looks that she had. 

Twilight glanced at herself in the driver side window. She was still very young, with her father’s patented dark, swarthy features. Of course, she could easily make out her mother in her tiny, lithe frame and her long, straight jet- black hair, complete with those two streaks of pink and purple. She blew at her straight bangs in a half- sigh and remembered a time not so long ago when she desperately wanted to share everything in common with her mother. Alas, no longer; hence, the perennial highlights.

Twilight walked into the front kitchen, as always, expecting to find her father sitting at the table, a full English breakfast awaiting them on this fine Sunday morning (not that they were English). As she sauntered into the dining area she could not suppress her joy at smelling the delicious varieties of pancakes and waffles and, most importantly to her, Twilight Sparkle, Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee.

“Oh, joy!” she said out loud and giggled a little bit at the thought of partaking in its dusky, Caribbean glory.

Indeed, as Twilight Sparkle walked into her father’s dining room, as always, she saw him sitting at the table in a fuzzy bathrobe and a pair of koala slippers he bought in Australia, smiling as always, with a delicious assortment of cold and hot breakfast items and COFFEE sitting on the table, as always.

But there was someone else there.

“Hello, dear,” her mother smiled from her cup of Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee.

Oh, shit, Twilight thought.

“Oh, hello mother,” Twilight greeted. 

The tension in the air was literally, physically palpable, Twilight, in a rare move for the scientist, irrationally calculated. Nobody said anything for a while nor moved.

“Hey, Twily! Look who popped into town!” her father suddenly spoke, still smiling.

“Just… pop on in, did she?” Twilight tried to smile back.

“Come sit down, honey, we were just talking about you,” Twilight (Senior) tried to brush past the awkward first moment.

Twilight Junior gave Twilight Senior a funny look, as if she sensed a trap in the making. Eventually, that became a second awkward moment, so Twilight sat down at her usual place at the table, which was really, really far from her mother. She also got herself a fresh, steaming cup of coffee, so all in all she felt pretty comfortable.

“Is everything all right?” Twilight asked after she got down an initial sip. “Is Shining ok?” 

“Why, of course sweetie,” her father knitted his brow. “Why would you think otherwise?”

“Weeeeeell…” Twilight tried to stretch that word out as far as humanly possible.

“She means me, dear,” her mother explained. “Why would I be back?”

“Oh…” her father frowned again. “…Well, your brother’s doing fine; of course, he never talks about his assignments explicitly, but I guess if he did so, you know working for the CIA and stuff, he’d have to kill us all, and that’d be pretty awkward if you think about it!” 

He burst out into hearty laughter. Twilight loved him to death, but she was really glad that she and Shining took after her mother in the cerebral department. 

“Um, yeah. So… what’s up, mom?” Twilight realized how strained that supposedly normal question actually came out.

“Oh, you know, same old, same old.” Her mother smiled cheerfully. “What about you, dear, what are you doing these days? Still teaching?”

“Oh, I’m still just an Assistant Professor. I rent by myself now, own a non- hybrid car. I haven’t been with Dillon for over a year. So why are you really here?” Twilight cut to the chase.

Her father, now picking up on the atmosphere in his usually warm kitchen, got up abruptly. “So, does anybody want some wine or anything? I mean, I can just go to the cellar and get some…”

“Dad, it’s 8 am.”

“Yeah, but maybe I can get some champagne,” he explained as he steadily backed out of the kitchen. “Hey! We’ll make mimosas.”

When he was far, far away, her mother looked back at her and smiled. 

“I missed you, honey.”

Twilight shook her head. “Come again?”

“You asked me why I’m here.”

Twilight looked at her. “No, seriously, mother, come clean.”

Her mother looked hurt. “What? I can’t just come back to be with my only daughter, to tell her how much I love and adore her? Why, Twilight Sparkle, I can’t believe you.”

“You said you missed me, not that you loved me.”

“Of course I love you, dear.”

“Okay, I’m leaving,” Twilight took one last sip of her precious coffee. “Tell Dad to nix the mimosas. Bye, Mom.”

“Twilight!” Twilight Senior called as she rushed out the door. Twilight Junior never even slowed down, though her car kind of did on the freeway out of engine trouble.





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



It was turning out to be just another ordinary day for Twilight Sparkle.

“… And so, to summarize, if you can imagine that the Einstein- Rosen Bridge’s shared singularity is torus- shaped, matter could theoretically pass through to the other side, unharmed. It would then be transported from one region of spacetime to the other relatively instantaneously, depending on the amount of expansion between the two event horizons, each tethered to different regions of the universe.” Twilight was practically leaning on the podium. “Any questions?”

One boy in a backwards cap leaning on his seat raised his hand. “Yeah. So, like, why do we call them wormholes again?”

Twilight was sure she felt her eye twitch. Perhaps some of her students even caught it. 

She couldn’t believe it. She just couldn’t actually believe it. 

You know what? She thought to herself. Fuck it. It’s almost break. FUCK IT.

“Why, because of the sea worms, of course.” She answered very matter- of- factly.

Her student looked flabbergasted. “Sea worms?”

Twilight smiled. “Yes. The sea worms. Around the first wormhole they found at the bottom of the Marianas Trench in 1969? There were sea worms clustered around the Einstein- Rosen Bridge there, so they termed it ‘The Sea Wormhole’.” She laughed, just a little unwillingly. “Of course, that proved to be too cumbersome a name, so they eventually shortened it to just ‘wormhole’ for the sake of Discovery Channel programming.” 

There was a silence in the class. Then, a massive sound of typing on laptops.

“Will that be on the final?” the boy in the backwards cap asked.

Twitch. Twitch. Twitchy- twitchy- twitch- a- twitch.



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




As Twilight pulled up into her tiny, tiny driveway, she groaned as she saw her mother sitting on her porch, waiting patiently for her to come home.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she murmured.

Her mother smiled at her frowning daughter and stood up innocently. “Why, hello, dear.”

“Oh, Mom, please don’t make me go through the entire process of a restraining order… paperwork is hell, and besides, I have essays to grade for days,” Twilight walked into her house and immediately put all her bags and her jacket on the table. She walked to her fridge and pulled out a can of Japanese coffee.

“You know you’re going to give yourself insomnia and an ulcer if you keep drinking all that caffeine.” Velvet warned.

“Eh, it’s waaay better for you than heroin,” Twilight wiped her mouth.

“Ok, Twi, you found me out,” her mother sighed and leaned on the kitchen counter. “I didn’t come back here strictly for the memories.”

Twilight smirked. “Did you tell Dad?” she asked sarcastically.

“Your father will get there,” her mother brushed that off. “Look, honey, I… I need you.”

Twilight half- choked on her cold coffee, but abruptly laughed. “I’m sorry, you need me?”

Her mother looked her straight in the eyes. “Yes.”

“You need me?” Twilight wasn’t laughing anymore. “You need me? Dr. Velvet Sparkle needs somebody?” she clucked her tongue. “Well, color me surprised.”

“OK, kid, you can stop that, I’m still your mother, you know.”

Twilight shook her head. “Oh, no, oh no, no, no, you do not get to call yourself that. Not after what you did,” Twilight started to pace the kitchen. “You know, walking out on us for years and years was bad. Not a single letter or explanation of what you were doing, where you were, if you were even alive. However, making me think when I was little that all I ever wanted to be or could ever hope to be was you was sooo much worse- “

“Honey, I- “

“- BUUUUT the single worst thing you ever did, mother?” Twilight’s eyes gleamed with venom. “Was name me after you.”

“Now dear, wait- “

“Night Light and Twilight Velvet Sparkle? The Sparkles? The Sparkles?! Just how many drugs did you ingest during The Second Summer of Love, Mrs. Spiegel?”

“Look… ok, so perhaps it wasn’t the smartest idea for your father and I to legally change our names right after we got married in Ibiza… and maybe when you came around, I could’ve named you after my birth name instead… however, in my defense, as a fellow PhD and, as my own daughter, you really did say it, dear… paperwork can be hell.”

Twilight looked dead into Velvet’s eyes. Velvet started to smile, and Twilight couldn’t help but smile too. Soon they were both laughing, neither one knowing exactly why, both just happy that the dam had finally burst.

Velvet sighed happily and closed her eyes. “You know, I can still remember the day I met your father in Goa… he must’ve been the hottest thing I’d ever seen with a six pack and baggy pants.”

Twilight shuddered. Somehow, that mental image granted her new composure. “So what do you need me for, mom? Emotional or scientific purposes?”

“Oh, come on, honey, we both know that you’re way too good for Assistant Professor of Physics 101 at some state college.”

Twilight’s mirth cooled. “Hey, I like my job.”

“Well, I’m here to offer you a better one.”

Twilight laughed, and then headed for her room. “No thanks.”

“Twilight… “

“You can let yourself out. It was nice to see you again, mother.”

Twilight couldn’t believe it. After all this time, her mother still didn’t think that she could be a grown up and fend for herself. Like Twilight needed her mommy to find a position for her. Like she’d ever work with the only other Dr. Twilight Velvet Sparkle, ever.

“Ok, Twilight, ok,” Velvet put her hands up and began to say.

Twilight stopped. She had seen this tactic before. She waited for the final, surprise offensive meant to break down her resistance.

“I thought you would react that way… I guess this was a lost cause. Oh well, see you around kid, I promise to write more this time, honest.” Velvet surrendered. 

Twilight watched as she made a gesture as if to open the door before turning back. “Oh, but before you absolutely refuse, I would like you to talk with somebody first.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Moooooom, no.”

Her mother smiled. “Oh, but she said that she would really, really like to see you again. You know, it’s been years, dear.”

Twilight cocked her head. What could that mean?

Velvet, reading her expression, smiled wider. “Just follow me.”

Her mother slowly beckoned, and Twilight followed. Out her front door, on the curb in front of the house appeared a long, black limousine. The windows were almost opaque.

“Wow, I guess the lecture circuit is better than I thought,” Twilight joked.

Velvet just continued smiling and opened the door to the back. Wordlessly, she motioned Twilight to step inside. 

Twilight sighed, groaned, sighed again and got in. She turned her head inside to see who was there and immediately gasped.

Sitting near the front was a single passenger. She was a beautiful woman dressed in a stunning white, closely cut business suit with a matching white blouse. Her flowing light brown hair was naturally streaked in different shades along the length, as if it made up a monochrome rainbow. Her white designer pumps sported tasteful gold trim.

Even the woman’s eyes seemed to smile at her. “Hello again, Twilight Sparkle. My Most Faithful Student.”

Twilight swallowed hard, and tried to speak. Eventually, she found her manners.

“M- M- Madam President…”

It was not going to be just another ordinary day for Twilight Sparkle, after all.
	
> Ch. 2- The Most Awkward Parent- Teacher Conference Ever
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Twilight just stared, mouth agape, sort of how her father stared when the interviewers got too deep or too complex in their line of questioning. 

“Please, come in,” the President of The United States cordially invited her.

She looked back outside the limo towards her mother, who never stopped grinning. 

Twilight weakly smiled and got inside the limousine. Velvet also got in, closed the door, and sat opposite from her daughter.

“You know,” the President started, “There was a time when you felt comfortable enough to simply call me ‘Celestia’, Twilight.”

Velvet laughed. “Oh, you know her, always prone to stage fright.”

Twilight’s lips may have been sealed shut, but her mind was working a mile a minute!

…
This has got to be THE Most Awkward Parent- Teacher Conference Ever.
…

“Oh, but I couldn’t, President Everstar,” Twilight nearly bowed.

“Then what about ‘President Celestia’ instead?” her teacher could smirk like her mother, but somehow Twilight never got angry. “For old times sake?”

Twilight sort of grinned nervously. “Yes… President Celestia.”

President Celestia smiled and turned to her mother. “She really was my favorite student, Velvet. The very smartest, and the most eager to learn.”

Velvet smirked. “She sure didn’t like being my student.”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, maybe I was meant to be a politician or a philosopher- “ she nodded to Celestia- “-rather than a scientist.”

“Ladies?” Celestia gently interrupted. 

“Yes, President Celestia, sorry,” Twilight looked embarrassed to have her favorite teacher, the current POTUS no less, witness a tiff between her and her mom.

“Twilight, I know you and your mother have your differences; when she came to talk to you yesterday, you were less than receptive to her.”

Twilight looked a little guilty now. “Yes, Madam President… I was.”

“Twilight, I think it would be best for you to know that your mother… works for me.”

Twilight blinked. “I’m sorry?”

“No Twilight, I’m sorry,” Velvet suddenly opened up, sighing. “For all the years of on and off parenting. Missing your birthdays, and Shining Armor’s. Repeatedly. For letting my marriage to your father decay the way it did.” She looked at her folded hands in her lap. “I always wanted to know that you were ok, but secretly I really, really, really wanted you to know why I kept leaving home.” She looked down at her lap again. “Why I kept leaving you.”

Twilight was speechless. No, she didn’t expect this at all.

All the while, President Celestia patiently waited before gently speaking again. “What your mother means to say is that, for a long time, she has been working her specialty in theoretical physics for the good of The United States Government. Unfortunately, this often meant that, for the good of the country and, indeed the entire world, she has often had to sacrifice your comfort and happiness in order to ensure that progress was made. Oh, Twilight, as your teacher and closest confidant I could only see how this has has hurt you, and I am so sorry, as well.”

“It’s- it’s not your fault, Celestia…” is all Twilight could say as she tried to look her teacher in the eyes.

Celestia smiled kindly before continuing. “It is not my wish to ask you to make the same kinds of sacrifices your mother did, dear.”

Velvet looked out the window and crossed her arms.

“But you will… won’t you?” Twilight asked The President plainly.

Celestia looked out the window as well, deep in thought. 

“Twilight, do you remember when you were in my Philosophy class at Harvard, before the election?”

Twilight finally broke into a real smile. “Of course! You were my favorite teacher. It was my favorite class of all time!”

Celestia chuckled. “Twilight, you hated my class,” She chided.

Twilight blushed. “No, Celest- President Celestia- I didn’t!”

Celestia just smiled and wagged her finger. “Do you remember when you came to my office the first time?”

Twilight Sparkle lowered her head. “Yes.”

“Do you remember why you came by?”

She lowered her head further. “I… I was going to yell at you.”

Celestia kept smiling. “You were such a bright student, Twilight, but you were no philosopher. More at home with positrons than Plato. You were so fed up with the class that you came by to…”

“- To give you a whole diatribe on how the classical philosophers logically and scientifically sucked,” Twilight giggled. Her mother smiled.

Celestia beamed. “And what happened?”

“You assigned me a different philosopher every day from then on. I had to memorize their positions, learn how to defeat them, and face your defense of them in a debate with you after class. A different philosopher every day…”

“And?”

“… I aced the class.” Twilight smiled almost as brightly as Celestia.

“Twilight, why did you learn about all those philosophers?” Celestia asked. “Do things you hated even when you weren’t good at them?”

“…To ace the class.” Twilight admitted sheepishly.

The President smiled, and then looked down. “Twilight, I need you now. The country needs you. You’re one of the youngest, brightest experimental physicists today. There isn’t a lab in the country much less the world that you couldn’t be running someday on your own. And I believe I know how to utilize your skills.”

“Please, Madam President, you think too much of me.”

“Twilight Sparkle, I absolutely believe that right now, sitting here, I am joined by the two most brilliant scientists living in the entire nation.” She leaned closer towards her old student. “And it looks as though I will be needing both their help this time around.”

Twilight looked at her teacher. “…What for?”

Celestia looked at Velvet, her smile replaced by a look of grim determination. Velvet looked back at her seriously for a moment, and then slowly nodded.

“I apologize, my dear Twilight, but I will not be able to give you all the details yet. Unfortunately, you probably would not even believe me if I did tell it all now,” the President broke out into a small smile, quickly joined in by Velvet, leaving Twilight feeling a bit more left out of the party.

“However, I have decided it will be an acceptable risk to temporarily grant you the appropriate security clearance.”

“Security clearance?”

“Yes, so that your mother may show you herself what she’s been working on all this time… where she’s been working on all these years.”

Twilight’s mouth stood open in shock. 

Well, crap. She thought to herself. Be careful what you wish for…

“Then you may decide, My Most Faithful Student, whether you think you’re up to the task or not.”

Twilight’s eyes slowly moved from The POTUS to her mother and then back to The President again. 

“Do I really have a choice?” she asked meekly.

President Celestia smiled warmly. “My dear Twilight Sparkle, you will always have to make your own choices. No matter what you do. Have I taught you nothing at all?”

Twilight smiled back, then looked at her mother. 

“Checkmate?” Velvet asked her daughter.

“… Check. For now.”

“Yes, but as you can see, I pulled out my Queen, or President as she were…”

“Check.”

Twilight politely turned back towards Celestia. “Alright, I’ll go with her. Just to finally find out what she’s been up to all this time.”

Celestia smiled. “Thank you, Twilight. You don’t know how happy that makes me.” She knocked on the driver’s partition and the engine immediately started. 

“I do apologize, but I have other pressing matters to attend to, Velvet…“ she looked at Twilight Senior, who nodded, and then opened the door to get out.

“Thank you, Madam President… for the opportunity.” Twilight replied, and then added thoughtfully, “And for believing in me. It was very nice to see you again.”

Celestia cocked her head. “Twilight Sparkle, do you really believe you passed my class simply because you wanted to do so that badly?” 

Twilight looked at her in surprise. “Um, I guess so.”

Celestia offered one last regal smile. “Oh, Twilight… don’t you remember? You learned everything you could about the philosophers each day, and engaged in debates with me afterwards because, as I recall you saying to me repeatedly, you just ‘couldn’t stand the idea of anybody else telling you the world was supposed to work a certain way’… if you couldn’t demonstrate it for yourself, that is.”

Twilight was frozen, her gaze on the President, but she could feel her Velvet’s eyes boring into the side of her head, as well.

“Goodbye, President Celestia.” 

“Goodbye, My Most Faithful Student. I do hope to see you again soon.”

The limo lazily made its way down the street and around a corner. Both Twilights watched it in fade into the young and already starry night.

Neither of them said anything for a while. It was as if, sometimes, when the nation’s top two physicists get together, they needed to seriously plan out what they were going to say to each other beforehand.

“So… have you got all of your ass shots in order?” Velvet asked Twilight after a long and heavy silence.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been abroad, mom, but I should be fine,” Twilight frowned. “What for, are you working in South America, by any chance?”

Velvet smirked and pulled a manila envelope folded in half from out of her purse. “Here, this is your preflight checklist. You’re going to need to get your visas and a whole bunch of pretty painful shots in the ass as well.”

Twilight nodded. “Goodie,” she noted sarcastically.

“This is important, dear. They won’t let you into the work site, much less my lab if you don’t follow these through. Since you’re very fond of checklists, and not very fond of excessive amounts of sand, I trust you will make the right decision in the end.”

Twilight frowned. “Just where exactly are we going to, anyway?”

Velvet smiled, and then did something completely unexpected, completely uncommon, with her daughter: she took her in her arms and hugged her.

“Ummmmm okay…” Twilight said quite uncomfortably.

“You know I love you, right, kid?” Velvet asked. “Even if I don’t say it enough.”

“Ok… Mother? Mother. Mother. You are really starting to creep me out now.”

“Sorry dear.” Velvet broke away and, tearing a little, smiled sheepishly. “So! I will be here after you get packed and ready, around the end of this week. After that, I can only ask that you trust me on this one, honey.”

Twilight flicked her manila envelope. “Well, there’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?”

Velvet smiled at her daughter, and then headed to her little hybrid vehicle parked on the curb. Before reaching it, she turned back and said, as if it were an afterthought, “There sure is, dear… sure is.”
	
> Ch. 3- The Road to Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

       “Twilight Sparkle, are you still in bed?”

Twilight could recognize her mom’s voice, even as she struggled to regain consciousness.

“Just a minute, mother.” Twilight managed to mumble out, eyelids still closed.

It must have been Sunday morning because she could smell the assortment of waffles and pancakes down in the kitchen (she couldn’t smell the syrups but she relished their presence nonetheless), as well as that delicious, exotic coffee her parents loved so much. Right about now, her mother, father and brother would be downstairs, ready to start the day with a little bit of each other’s love and company.

“Twilight…”

Didn’t Shining Armor say something about interning in Washington, D.C. this year?

“Twilight….”

Oh, she really hoped she finished her Trig homework… for this weekend…

“Twilight, dear, wake up.”

Twilight’s eyes shot open. Not from suddenly realizing that she wasn’t in the time or the place she was dreaming about, but from realizing that she had slipped on her elbow upon which she was resting and whammed her forehead full on the tinny metal of the derelict jeep they were currently driving in across the barren landscape of Ethiopia.

“Motherf- !”

“- Oh, honey, so sorry, you should get some ice from the cooler in the back, that’ll probably welt right up.”

Appreciating the irony of that little moment, Twilight rubbed her aching forehead and scanned out her window. Yup, Ethiopia was still craggly, brown and sandy from where she could see. She had lost track of exactly how long ago they left the airport at Addis Ababa, but she was sure that she had the exact time written down somewhere in one of her notebooks in the back, along with all of her and her mother’s equipment and supplies. They had been continually driving eastwards towards Somalia, only stopping occasionally for water or gas for what seemed like days.

“We’re almost there, dear, so you’ll have to be awake when we reach the checkpoints.”

Twilight looked around. “I’m sorry, are you seeing something that I’m not?”

Velvet smiled. “You really believe the US Government would set up a clandestine laboratory out in the middle of the Ethiopian desert and not take all the precautionary measures to protect it?”

Twilight didn’t see him at first, the first sentry. They were driving along the same dusty road when suddenly he appeared on the side, in the distance. He was an equally dusty old Ethiopian man, guarding a red and white striped wooden pole across the way. As they got closer, Twilight noticed that he was wearing the same camo- colored Ethiopian National Defense Force uniform that the guards at the airport had on, only caked in a light red. As they got close enough to pull over, she also saw that he seemed very relaxed, smiling in a very friendly way and holding an old wooden stocked rifle that Twilight was pretty sure wasn’t even loaded.

They stopped right in front of the barricade and Velvet smiled at the man.

He smiled back. “Attam oolte!” he greeted.

“Attam oolte,” She greeted back. 

“Where, are- you… come?” the man asked in mincing English.

She didn’t miss a beat. “From The Dominion of Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia Everstar to The Path of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie.” 

Twilight glanced at her mother. Was the tremendous heat finally getting to her?

The man only smiled, slowly nodded, and limped towards the barricade to lift it by hand. The Twilights simply drove on as before.

“From ‘Princess’ Celestia to Haile Selassie?” 

Velvet didn’t bat an eye. “Oh, just military code. They pretty much run the entire security bit.”

Her daughter looked back. “Yeah, American tax dollars at work.”

Her mom giggled. “Oh honey, that’s only the first checkpoint.”

Soon enough, as they continued driving, Twilight saw a second guard post. It was getting darker, and the rocks around them were starting to grow into massive boulders on the sides of the roads, all along the sparse trees. As they approached, she noticed two guards, American soldiers, standing in front of what seemed to be a chain link fence with barbwire over the top. In four languages a red and white signed proclaimed that the area was off limits to civilians.

As before, Velvet slowed down at the barricade. When she stopped, one soldier, never moving, simply asked her:

“Where are you going, ma’am?”

Again, Velvet responded: “Towards The Path of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie.”

“And where is this path located?”

“Wherever Particular Ponies Congregate.”

Once again, the soldiers opened the barricade and let the dusty jeep on through. The longer and longer they drove on, the less and less snippy Twilight became.

Soon enough, the first stars of night appeared high overhead, and the boulders at the sides of the roads became sheer cliffs of ancient rock with the tiny remains of trees clinging to their tops. It wasn’t long before they came upon a long, gray anomaly in the endless expanses of brown, red and tan. As her mother drove closer, Twilight noticed that it was a long wall made up of pure metal stretching from the cliff on one side of the road towards the other. At regular intervals along the wall there seemed to be bulletproof guard posts where American soldiers armed with big, black machine guns bristling with shiny bullets sat behind thick armor plate attached to their weapons. At the very ends near the cliffs stood illuminated, high- powered searchlights. 

“Now, honey, I know you did some research at Edwards, but you really need to keep calm as we get through this last check point, ok?” Velvet asked her daughter evenly as they approached the large group of soldiers at the wall.

“Ok, mom,” Twilight agreed, eyes fixed on all their guns.

One soldier made a motion for the jeep to stop. The others quickly took their positions surrounding the jeep, their weapons drawn and cocked, pointing their deadly payload at the passengers inside. Twilight felt her heart race. What did her old philosophy teacher and her mother get her into now?

“Just stay calm,” Velvet reminded as a soldier walked up with an M4 in one hand and a strange looking telescope in the other.

He looked at Velvet, and then at Twilight. Her previously pounding heart was suddenly frozen solid as he glared at her suspiciously.

“What’s your destination, ma’am?”

“Canterlot.” Was all that Velvet simply replied.

“And how do you plan on getting there?” the guard seemed bored, like he had asked these questions hundreds of times.

“Through The Eye of The Alicorn.”

Again, Twilight glanced at her mother. Who came up with this stuff?

“Name?” he asked.

“Dr. Twilight Velvet Sparkle, Harmonics Division.”

The guard raised his strange telescope at Velvet’s face. It sprung out a bit and a green beam of light scanned her face and eyes. The guard looked at the other end.

“Identity confirmed.” He said as if he wasn’t surprised at all. He turned to Twilight. “Name?”

She started to panic. Oh, geez, this was going to be very awkward. 

“Um, um… um… Dr. Twilight Velvet Sparkle… as well.”

The guard looked at Velvet, and then at Twilight. And then he looked back at Velvet.

“She’s my daughter. Newbie for The Development Division.”

The guard looked at them both for a second, and then proceeded to scan Twilight Junior. As he did the other guards surrounding the vehicle seemed to perk up and hover their fingers over their triggers. Twilight was now very, very sweaty and very, very anxious in the dying Ethiopian heat.

The guard checked the other end. “Identity confirmed,” he pronounced, and the soldiers surrounding them relaxed their weapons. “Drive right on in.”

“Thank you,” Velvet offered casually and smiled as the humongous metal gates opened up. Twilight Junior breathed a very visible sigh of relief.

The guard with the scanner curtly nodded. 

“Welcome back to Camp Ponyville, ma’am.
> Ch. 4- There Will Be Blood & Chocolate Maple Syrup
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Twilight was slowly walking through the outer perimeter of the camp nestled within the canyon walls. 

She let herself take in the various sights and sounds: cities of tents like a Bedouin selttlement; more permanent structures of corrugated tin and brick; a couple of small horses, camels and cows milling about; great big open fires, and what seemed to be the modest makings of a homegrown bazaar. Everybody at the camp, except for the American soldiers, seemed to be a pretty even mixture of men and women, as well as all kinds of people from around the world. To hear the symphony of different languages was a very interesting experience for Twilight; it was as if Ponyville was a secret little hidden capital of The UN, tucked away in a canyon in Ethiopia.

She noticed, however, with a heavy heart, that there were no signs of white lab coats or pocket protectors or heavy machinery anywhere in sight. The only things beyond the makeshift city were the animal pens (jokingly called “Old Ponyville”) and a short runway near the opening in the cliffs, complete with a lot of large aircraft under camouflage tarps at one end.

“Uh, mom,” she spoke up a long time after they had finally parked the jeep and laid away their gear in Velvet’s personal tent. “I don’t see your precious lab anywhere.”

“Oh, honey,” Velvet grinned. “That’s not in Ponyville! That’s going to all be in Equestria when we get there.”

“I’m sorry- Equestria?” 

Velvet grinned. “Oh, Twilight, you’re going to love the old country. It’s as if you were made for it… I would explain more, but I don’t think you’ll believe me unless you see it for yourself.”

“Try me,” Twilight did her best deadpan.

Velvet scoffed. “Hey, I know you. You wouldn’t want me to spoil this for you. Unfortunately, we arrived a little late due to the sandstorm, so we won’t be able to fly in until tomorrow morning. Trust me, you don’t want to do The Eye of the Alicorn run at night, sweetie.”

Twilight was about to ask what that even meant when a voice rang out, calling “Dr. Sparks! Dr. Sparks!”

Both Twilights turned around out of instinct to see a young man running up to meet them. He didn’t even seem old enough to buy cigarettes- a short, scrawny boy, really, with fading green dyed hair, green eyes and a big, toothy smile. He was dressed in tan khakis that looked like they came out of a catalogue. He also had a pocket protector.

Velvet smiled. “Spike!”

Spike ran up to her and gave her a hug. “Good to see ya again, doc! It was getting boring just taking to all the animals wandering around here.”

Velvet laughed, and then turned to Twilight. “Spike, I want you to meet my daughter, Dr. Twilight Sparkle. She’s named after me!”

Spike snickered. “So, does that make you Velvet the Second, then?”

Twilight just looked at him in an extremely tired way. Spike stopped laughing when Velvet gestured wildly behind her daughter’s back.

“Um, ahem, Dr. Sparkle it is, too… I guess.”

“Just call me Twilight… ‘Spike’ is it?”

“Yeah. My name’s actually Sebastian Dragunov, but everyone around here calls me ‘Spike’… I just let ‘em,” he shuffled his feet, “do you think that makes me sound tougher?”

Twilight found that adorable as hell and giggled, tousling his green hair; he was a whole lot shorter than her, after all. “Sure Spike, whatever floats your boat, buddy.”

“Spike here is my best lab technician and my personal assistant at Canterlot,” Velvet grinned, “however, since I will be helping a friend of mine on a smaller project for a while, I want Spike to help you get adjusted while you’re here, honey.”

Spike started to blush. “Hey, are you sure you don’t need anybody to proofread those translations again for you?”

Velvet chuckled. “No, Spike, not this time.”

“Ok… but if you guys need someone- “

Velvet gave Twilight a glance that she knew to mean “don’t ask me now”, so she didn’t.

“Spike, why don’t you take Twilight to get fitted with an eggo by Pinkie and checked out by Doctor ‘Shy?” Velvet suggested.

Spike snapped to a salute. “Right away, Dr. Sparks! Milady,” he bowed and pointed the way for Twilight.

Twilight smiled, and then said sarcastically to Velvet as she left, “My own personal postgrad manservant… thank you again, mommy dearest.”

“Looooooove you, sweetheart!” Velvet sang.



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



Twilight and Spike found Pinkie’s service shop (of sorts) on one end of the homegrown bazaar, in one of those sturdier brick and corrugate tin roof buildings. As they walked forward, a very professional looking sign lit up; it was shocking pink and literally read “Sugar³ Corner… 3.0” on it with balloons and a cartoon of what looked like an equally pink tiny pony with a pink, fluffy cotton candy mane and big, blue Japanese cartoon eyes. 

When they walked towards the door, the sign suddenly activated and played what sounded like digital polka as the pink pony became animated and greeted them in a high- pitched song, playing an impossible number of instruments.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome, a fine welcome to you!
Welcome, welcome, welcome, I say how dooooooo…. Youuuuuu……”

Twilight and Spike both cocked their heads at the sign, which had suddenly glitched out and froze up.

Twilight snorted. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”

“I’ll say.”

“Hi!” The same pink pony voice spoke from the door inches in front of them.

“Argh!” both Spike and Twilight shouted and jumped away. 

Facing them was a young woman, between the ages of Spike and Twilight, who was in every single way the physical embodiment of that pink singing little pony on the sign. She was a very tiny, mousy in fact, girl with dark brown, frizzy hair that seemed to indicate that she liked to sleep on a pile of party balloons. She was dressed in civilian clothes, and had the same bright blue eyes as the pony on the sign, as well as a grin that seemed wider than Time itself. 

She snorted as she chuckled. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya! Was it fun for ya too though, was it? Huh- huh- huh?”

Twilight looked uneasily at Spike, who nearly sighed. He had the same “don’t ask me now” face as her mother often had.

“Um…. Are you the shop owner, by any chance?”

“Wow, you’re good at guessing games, maybe we should play Guess Who sometimes!!!” the tiny girl squealed as she bounced up and down. “Ooooh ooooh, or Monopoly! Or Xbox!!! My name’s Pinkie Pie! What can I do for you?”

Twilight didn’t think she caught every fragment of information from when Pinkie opened her mouth to, much later, when it finally closed. She shook her head and pushed on.

“Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m kinda new to Ponyville. I hear I need something called an eggo?”

“Ohhhhhh are you hungry, too?” Pinkie put her hands on her hips. “Don’t you just find that soooo annoying? Oooh! Oooh! I make my own mocha- infused pancakes, do you want some?! I call them “breakfast option #567” and I’ve even developed a special chocolate- flavored maple syrup to go along with ‘em!”  

All the time she spent talking, Spike had his hand to the bridge of his nose and was grumbling about something. Finally, he spoke up, saying “no, no, Pinkie, I think she just needs an EGO.”

Pinkie, already leaning on the side of her shop as she usually did when she subconsciously prepared herself for the strain of her extended soliloquies (or “Pinkie Time” as she referred to them), stopped talking about breakfast foods and snapped to attention. “Ohhhhhhhhhh,” she rolled her eyes, smiling, “Well, why didn’t cha just say so? Come on in!”

They walked on in. The place was pretty starkly furnished except for a couple items: some couches, chairs, a lot of wires and computer equipment, some hard drives, some monitors, some technological equipment Twilight surprisingly couldn’t readily identify, of unknown origin and manufacture, and lastly a lot of pink coloring and vintage My Little Pony® dolls and assorted paraphernalia. 

“Well… that explains the sign,” Twilight mumbled.

“Oooooh, are you a fan too? Are ya- are ya???” Pinkie squealed. “I know it’s kind of an old show, waaaaay before I was born, but I just luuuuuuuuurve My Little Pony®!!! Sometimes, when the animals congest the streets really, really badly, and it starts to smell really, really ripe, I hold conversations with all of them… it’s almost like I’m on the show, too!”

That sounds kinda disturbing, Twilight silently mused.

“Sooooo,” Pinkie grinned at them from her counter, “Welcome to Sugar² Corner, ‘Home of The Original EGO & Pinkie’s Original Chocolate Maple Mocha Pancakes’. Pinkamena Diane Pie, at your service,” she pronounced her name with a slow, mocking regal flourish, “… may I take your order?”

“Um…” Twilight stammered.

“One EGO, please,” Spike finished for her.

“Certainly!” Pinkie squealed. “What size?”

Spike looked at Twilight, and then at Pinkie. “I don’t think she’s been sized yet.”

“Oooh! Let’s get that done now, missy!” Pinkie leaped across the counter and led Twilight to the couch. “Let’s size you up!!!”

“Um, guys…” Twilight replied, “…you do know that hazing is illegal, right?”

“Relax…” Spike smiled, and then started to explain for her. “EGO, or ‘eggo’, stands for Emitter, General, Organizer. It’s like a cross between a holographic projector and a wrist- mounted personal computer. I’ll show you…”

Spike rolled up his left sleeve and revealed a thick band covering the top of his left forearm. It was made up of a smooth, nearly plastic material that reflected a bright purple. Running along the device was a thin grid of something bright, green and kind of metallic. He brought his right hand towards his left forearm and the green grid glowed blue from under it; suddenly, various pictures and what looked like browsers filled the air surrounding the top of his forearm, and Twilight gasped in surprise.

“Wooooah…” she breathed. “I definitely need one of those!”

“Well, then, let’s get a- crack- a lackin’, then!” Pinkie shouted. “One sizing, coming up!”

And with that she started to attach little electrodes to Twilight’s head.

Twilight became worried. “Uh, Spike…”

“Don’t worry, this is absolutely normal sizing procedure… even without Pinkie Pie.”

She looked back at her assistant. “…Ok.”

Pinkie never stopped randomly singing and humming the entire time she was plugging things onto Twilight’s skull. “Alright, so say we need to connect your nervous system to anything from your ‘leggo my eggo’ unit to the very mainframe of Canterlot itself,” she finally started to explain to Twilight. “This means that we need to do a “sizing”; what this does is measure the level of synchronicity that you have with the software in order to be able to accurately calculate your data processing rate, and adjust for any personal neurochemical specifications.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Twilight replied.

“Yeah… doesn’t it?” Pinkie sighed, as if the realization of such in itself bored her. “But not for long, baby cakes!!! I’m guessing you’re going where I’m going tomorrow… Canterlot, right? Right? Oh, please tell me that I’m right, oh please, please, please…”

“You’re right,” Twilight laughed nervously.

“Yes! I win! And you know what that means? It means I owe myself exactly 28 and 1/8th cookies!” Pinkie pumped her fist in victory. “Ok, so a normal synchronization rate is somewhere between 22% to like 44.5%. You should end up somewhere between there!”

Pinkie tapped some holographic keys on her eggo and the little things on Twilight’s head started lighting up and beeping.

“Ok, looks good. Initializing a program run- through… ok, we’re getting a rating already…” Pinkie was watching a complicated series of images on her computer monitors.

Twilight looked around nervously. She never liked taking tests, even though she was thoroughly determined to thrive on them.

“Ok, 16%... 19%.... 23%, we have minimum necessary synchronization…”

Twilight blew a sigh of relief. She would make the curve.

“27%.... 31%... 34%.... 37%.... wowsers, Twilight, you’re really synchronizin’!”

Twilight watched the screens with curiosity.

“39%... 40%... um, 42%? 46%? 59%?” Pinkie’s usual bubbliness died down. “Wait, this can’t be right…”

“What’s wrong?” a tinge of worry started to creep into Twilight’s voice. 

“Didn’t you say it would be between 22% and 44.5%?” Spike asked.

“I’ve done thousands of sizings, this can’t be possible,” Pinkie wondered as the charts continued to climb. “Nobody’s ever had this high a synchronization rating, ever! Like, nobody. And I designed the freaky- tiki- deaky system!”

“Is that bad?” Twilight inquired.

“Huh?” Pinkie turned around to her before looking back at the computers. “No, it’s not dangerous or anything, it’s just…” the computer beeped and Pinkie read the data collected. “Well, for starters, your score here…”

“What’s my final score?” Twilight inquired cautiously.

“…A 118.2% synchronization rating.” Pinkie looked at her.

Spike looked at Pinkie. “Wait, isn’t that impossible?”

“It should be,” Pinkie licked her lips and pondered it over. “Otherwise, I’ll have to redesign the system… well anyways,” she looked back at Twilight, clapping her hands, “I think you’ll like what I have in store for you!”

She went into a small closet in the back before coming back out with a nondescript brown box. It was long and thin, the size of an eggo. On the box, Pinkie had written (in what Twilight firmly believed was hot pink crayon): “Experiment #626- EGO”

Pinkie opened it to reveal a brand new, white EGO, one with a much lighter, wavier and thinner shape than the old clunky gauntlet. On the top were two rows of three emitters each. She handed it to Twilight and, after strapping it on, Pinkie instructed: “Touch it!”

Twilight touched the eggo with her other hand and suddenly all six emitters swiveled to life and lit up. Every one moved independently and emitted the same amount of information and graphics as the big single emitter on most eggos; Twilight felt bedazzled by all the sweet, sweet juicy science. The array was all too beautiful, with each emitter forming six points around a star- shaped central shut- off button area.

“This high- rating EGO is only suited for the most sensitive users in order to fully make use of its six independent holographic generators,” Pinkie explained. “I’ve been waiting to test it on someone, but I could never get anyone to use more than 2 emitters at once!” 

Waves of emotions swept through Twilight Sparkle as she stared at the little holographic information- retrieving device with the sort of passion one usually reserved for one- night stands.

“Twilight, are you… ok?” Spike asked her after a while.

“Gurgle- ahem… does it… does it come in pink and purple?” was all she managed to get out.

Pinkie smiled wider than the pink pony on her sign and nodded jubilantly.



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



He was glorious. He was breathtakingly beautiful. He was everything that she had ever wanted in another person, for as long as she had known about and subsequently desired true romance. 

Twilight was in love, and yes, she referred to her EGO by a masculine pronoun for a while.

“Twilight, you’ve been playing with that thing ever since we left the shop,” Spike watched as his supervisor navigated her way between two donkeys without even looking up from the flashing array of her custom pink and purple eggo emitters bringing up all kinds of wonderful graphics and information.

“Why. Would. You. Even. Look. Away???” Twilight breathed heavily as she layered full biographies of Winston Churchill and Lady Gaga over a detailed diagram of the Large Hadron Collider.

Spike just gave her a worried look. “Well, um, because we’re here?”

Twilight sighed and finally looked up. It was getting rather late, but Twilight and Spike had managed to make it to Doctor ‘Shy’s clinic. Like Pinkie’s service shop, it was located in a brick and tin shack. The sign outside was decidedly more primitive, just a simple plank of wood with a caduceus with light pink wings under a red cross on it. A few flowery designs and butterflies were painted around the main symbols.

They entered to find a slightly more traditionally furnished establishment. There were pink, green and yellow couches and pillows surrounding a wooden coffee table covered in the typical magazine titles you’d find at a doctor’s office. On the wall were several calming knickknacks, like a shelf full of lit scented candles, a Buddha statue, and some Chinese calligraphy scrolls and watercolor paintings. The opposite wall held one of those light up screens to pin up and examine X- Rays on. A table under that device held some more medical equipment, and again Twilight was surprised that she couldn’t recognize some of them. As the pair entered, the door touched against a wind chime, which tinkled soothingly.

“Um, just one moment, if you’d please,” a barely audible voice floated out from the single closet in the back.

“What’d she say?” Twilight looked at Spike quizzingly, who only shrugged.

“It can be hard to hear what she says sometimes.”

The closet door opened and, almost reluctantly, a young woman stepped out, smiling sheepishly to greet her new visitors. She was about Twilight’s age, with smooth, very pale skin, watery blue eyes, which were a little greener than Pinkie’s, and long, luscious cinnamon red hair that seemed to almost drape down to the floor. She had on the usual field clothing most women had on around Ponyville, a t- shirt and khaki shorts, but also wore a khaki vest whose pockets were filled with pens, little penlights, and a stethoscope.

“Um… hello…” she greeted, almost looking a little scared. 

“Yes, hello,” Twilight smiled. “My name is Dr. Twilight Sparkle, I’m here to visit Canterlot for the first time, and they said I needed a check up. Are you Dr. ‘Shy?”

Spike gave Twilight a look as Dr. ‘Shy looked at the ground and blushed.

“W- well no, actually my name is D- Dr. Felicia Cherie. ‘Dr. Fluttershy’ is just a nickname everyone around here calls me. Because, well…”

Twilight understood immediately. “Oh… do you mind that everybody calls you that?”

Fluttershy just shrugged. “Um, well, it seems to keep them occupied, so I guess I’m happy about it.”

Spike and Twilight exchanged glances.

Nobody really said anything meaningful after that, for a while.

Much later, it was Fluttershy who surprisingly was the first to make small talk as she was nearly done with Twilight’s check up.

“Um, are you by any chance related to Dr. Velvet Sparkle? I really wouldn’t want to just assume, I mean-“ Fluttershy asked as she finished entering information into her pink and yellow eggo.

“Oh, yes, she’s my mother. We actually share the exact same name. She likes to be called Velvet, so everybody just calls me Twilight.”

“Oh, that’s interesting,” Fluttershy remarked, oddly; it wasn’t as if her face betrayed that she didn’t think that information was interesting in the slightest; rather, she just seemed a tad bit depressed about it all.

“…Yeah.” was all Twilight could think to say.

She looked around trying to find something, anything, to continue the conversation. She then noticed some beautifully rendered paintings on the wall next to the calligraphy scrolls, paintings of the animals around Ponyville.

“Oh, did you do those yourself?”

Fluttershy blushed. “Yes. I really wanted to capture the beauty of the fauna around the camp.”

Spike wrinkled his nose. “Beauty? You ever smell that beautiful fauna?”

Fluttershy sighed happily, and then suddenly clasped hands with Spike. “Oh, yes! Why, isn’t it the most wonderful smell that you’ve ever smelled in your entire life?”

Spike turned to Twilight and gave her a “she’s clearly crazy” look.

“I take it you’re an animal enthusiast then?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy turned around real manically, slightly scaring Twilight. She had a look in her eyes, a gleam really, and a great, big smile on her face.

“Oh yes, yes, yes, a thousand times, yes! How can you not love them all in their cuddly- wuddly, slimy, majestic, ferociously man- eating glory?”

Twilight was actually trying to respond to that. “Um…”

“Wait, so why aren’t you a zoologist or something?” Spike frowned.

With that question, it was as if Fluttershy was suddenly pulled back down to Earth. The gleam faded, and she sighed heavily.

“I… I…” she looked up tearfully at the two of them. “I’m scared to death of animals… even as I am simultaneously in love with them.”

Wow, was all Twilight could think.

“I’m sorry, that sounds… terrible…” was all she said.

“Oh, it’s not your fault, but I do seriously appreciate the sentiment, anyway.” Fluttershy resumed her work as before.

Realizing how emotional she just was, Fluttershy looked up, blushing, with an attempted grin. “So, uh, what brings you to Canterlot? Business or pleasure?” her grin then faltered, and she shuffled her feet. “That was supposed to be a joke. I’m sorry.”

“Uh, hehehe, good one,” Twilight tried to reply, “well, I’m a physicist, but to be honest, nobody has told me what I’m even going to be doing inside Canterlot, so…”

Fluttershy gently smiled again. “Oh, well, it’s always a great big mystery to all of the new recruits who come to Ponyville. Don’t worry, once you make The Eye run and get into the city, I’m pretty sure you’ll have your hands busy in no time! At least, that’s how it was for me my first time in Canterlot. I’m actually heading back tomorrow, you know,” Fluttershy explained.

“Oh, you’re going back tomorrow?” Twilight asked. “I think I’m coming with you.”

Fluttershy tilted her head and stroked her hair nervously. “Oh, that’s nice! Of course, you’re sure to be on the plane with me, because they only attempt one Eye run a day. Um, it can be kind of… well…” she gulped. “…hair- raising.”

Twilight looked between Spike and Fluttershy. “What do you mean? What exactly is this Eye thing, anyways?”

Spike and Fluttershy glanced at each other. “The Eye of The Alicorn is a spacetime anomaly,” Spike went on, “it allows us to access The Ancient City of Canterlot. However, flying through it can be kinda turbulent and… tricky, to say the least.” 

Twilight tried to process this information in the context of her already accumulated knowledge base, but she was finding this harder and harder to accomplish as the night wore on. 

“Well then… let’s just hope we have a damn good pilot, right? Am I right?”

Spike grunted and rolled his eyes. Fluttershy half- smiled, made a coughing motion, and a little squeal last. “Oh! I almost forgot, Dr. Sparkle, I’ll need to take a small blood sample, um, if you don’t mind, that is.”

“Oh... Ok,” Twilight raised her arm and started rolling up her sleeve.




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



“Small blood sample?” Twilight was moving her arm back and forth at the elbow, but she had yet to regain feeling anywhere along it. “Small blood sample, my ass… that Dr. Fluttershy…”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much blood outside of a blood bank,” Spike snorted. “Or a Hong Kong crime drama.”

“Hahaha, you’re a walking comedy festival!” Twilight groaned in irritation. “Geez, I am starving. Probably gonna pass out from the lack of blood pressure. So, what’s good to eat around here, Spike?”

“Well, actually Dr. Sparkle told me that she wanted you to dine with her tonight in her tent. You’ll actually be sleeping there tonight, too.”

Twilight sighed. With all the meeting new people, she had totally forgot she had to see her mother again, sometime. It wasn’t as if she was dragging her feet in the face of the proposition, though. 

Well, not really…

“Fine. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” she said farewell.

“Alright. It was nice to meet cha, Twilight. And hey! Don’t worry too much about The Eye, it’s a lot scarier looking than it actually is,” Spike tried to reassure her. “Plus, you know Fluttershy’s, afraid of, like… well, everything that could possibly exist in the universe…”

“Yeah, I kinda picked up on that.” Twilight chuckled. “Thanks, Spike, for everything today. You really were a big help. Goodnight!”

“’Night!” he smiled back as he walked to his tent. “See you bright and early tomorrow!”

Twilight slowly walked towards Velvet’s tent. As she got closer and closer to the entrance flap, she might have been dragging her feet a little. The night air was now very cold and blustery, and the stars were littering the firmaments up above. Inside the tent held a warm, fiery glow and very little noise, save for that alternative rock album her mother would always play over and over again when they were both younger. For just one second, it was almost as if they were all back; her, Shining, her father, her mother, all together in that tent on the veld of The Free State, on a family safari together. Years ago, before her mother left to go off and do God knows what God knows where…

Twilight stopped at the tent’s entrance. She realized that tomorrow, after all the years and the absences, all the promises and all the evasive answers during holiday dinners, when Twilight came home from college and Velvet just happened to be there, she would now know everything. She would finally know what her mother was doing. And finally, she, Twilight Sparkle, could pass judgment on her mother, could finally decide whether whatever world- saving research she had undertaken could seriously excuse all of the severely crappy mothering she had endured over the years. In other words, tomorrow would be a real red- letter day.

Twilight casually strolled into the tent, only to find Velvet snoring, fast asleep on her bunk, surrounded by sheets and sheets of paper with some sort of squiggly, fancy code written on it. A box of field rations and a handwritten note graced Twilight’s own bunk. Twilight picked up the note and began reading her mother’s characteristically bad handwriting:

“Honey:

Am working on something for a friend I will see in Canterlot tomorrow. I may be asleep when you come in, that sandstorm!, so please eat something for dinner and sleep early when you get in, we have a BIG day ahead of us tomorrow. I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning, sweetheart.

XOXO,
Mom

PS: I got a little hungry and ate the last of the canned peaches. You know how I love the syrup. Sorry"

Twilight smirked. She remembered how on that safari all those years ago, Velvet had eaten all of the canned peaches on the first night as well.

Twilight dropped into her bunk and ripped open a meal packet. As she spooned the tasteless mush into her mouth, she stared up through the netted opening in the ceiling, revealed by an unzipped flap on the top meant to keep out the rain. It was a clear, starry desert night, but Twilight was sure that, in some clouds near the airfield at the edge of the canyon, she saw lightning. If there was thunder, it was lost beyond the constant cacophony of Ponyville winding down into the evening. 

Twilight found that as she began to focus on the end of Velvet’s album playing, her arm regained feeling, and indeed she began to feel very heavy throughout her entire body. Before she fell asleep, a single, random thought ran through her mind: she was kinda going to work with her mother tomorrow. Not side by side, working together, but a real “Take Your Daughter to Work” kinda deal.

Sure is a first time for everything, she finally mused before the darkness and the alternative rock overcame her.
	
> Ch. 5- Through The Eye of The Alicorn (20% Cooler Version)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        “ … And, yeah, yeah, you’re all looking at me like that. I know what you’re all thinking: just how is Lieutenant Alexandrova so fucking awesome, and so motherfucking badass, on top of that, as well?”

Twilight was shaking in the cold morning air as she was encapsulated by a very thick jacket and the afterglow of her first 3 cups of coffee of the day. She was currently on her fourth.

Dear Lord, why do we have to undergo this? She thought, and then immediately wondered if there would be decent coffee in Canterlot.

“… I mean, not just the awe- inspiring, patented hairstyle really, but how someone so amazingly beautiful can be so skillfully endowed as well… Believe me, kiddies, it’s not as easy as it looks…”

“She does this every flight run she gets. Every. Single. One. Seriously,” Velvet, wrapped in a similar jacket to Twilight’s, groaned.

Lt. Alexandrova flipped her hair with an “ain’t I the coolest?” type grin on her face. She was built tan, wiry and thin, with dark violet, nearly red eyes and messy, shoulder length side parted hair that stuck out in all directions at the bottom; it might have been dirty blonde originally, but it was now curiously streaked with a multitude of multicolored highlights to give the impression that she had a head full of rainbows. Beyond that, she was dressed in a US Navy fighter pilot jumpsuit and a G Suit rig with gloves and black boots. For all her braggadocio, she couldn’t have been any older than Twilight was.

The lieutenant was smiling very broadly. “… And I may be damn fast, kiddies, but I am not as easy as you might think. Sorry to disappoint ya, boys…”

“So why do they call this pilot ‘Rainbow Dash’ again?” Twilight asked her companions sarcastically as she checked out the ‘do.

Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Um… that’s not the only reason…”

Rainbow Dash, even while simultaneously talking, heard Twilight’s cheeky remark and glanced at her detachedly, looked her up and down. She then threw out a lighthearted smirk.

“… or anyone else,” she joked.

Twilight choked on her coffee, blushing, as Spike and Velvet simply laughed. 

“So, in conclusion to what I’ve been talking about here for pretty much the past hour, running The Eye will be a pretty gnarly experience, but since you all got me as your pilot, it will also be about 20% more badass than your usual flight route; it all kind of evens out in the end, if you really think about it. Oh, due to all your continual bitching in the past, I will try to keep the barrel rolls to a minimum; make sure you follow all the safety procedures we talked about, and you should be fine. In any event, Uncle Sam provides you with all the complimentary barf bags your heart desires…” 

Dash glanced at Twilight again. “… Some of you might need more than one, though.”

Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Alright, eggheads, lecture’s over. Let’s get this over with!” Dash clapped her hands and everybody started to pick up their bags and prepared to board her plane. 

Rainbow Dash started up the ramp first, but immediately turned around with a serious look on her face, whipping off the golden aviators she had just seconds before put on. “Oh, and I forgot to mention, food and drinks are still not allowed on The Sonic Rainboom. MY Sonic Rainboom,”

Everybody turned to stare at Twilight. She sighed heavily, said something under her breath about “air jocks”, and downed her coffee in one gulp. Then she displayed the empty cup to Rainbow Dash.

Dash smiled. “Don’t forget to recycle. Ok, everybody onboard!”

The plane itself, The Sonic Rainboom, was a repurposed B- 1 Lancer painted navy blue, stripped of its entire ordinance, with windows cut into its side. On its nose the name had been hand painted in many different colored letters, along with a cloud with a red, blue and yellow lightning bolt protruding out the bottom. Inside was very much an ordinary military transport plane, bare in the middle, with seats all along the sides and handles for the passengers near the top. The civilians all got in and started taking seats along the sides. Twilight noticed that, even though like Velvet and Spike they had all probably done this before, they all looked slightly nervous. There was some amount of chatter going on, but no real sense of ease in the entire fuselage.

“Um, mom?” Twilight turned to Velvet, who was quickly strapping herself in. 

“Yes, sweetie?”

“Is it just me, or is everybody a little… tense?”

Velvet tightened her buckle. “It’s not just you, honey.”

Twilight gulped. “Is it because of The Eye… or Rainbow Dash?”

Velvet smirked, and then tapped her hand reassuringly on Twilight’s. “A little bit of both. Buckle up, sweetie, things are about to get a little bumpy.”

Twilight turned her head and blinked a few times just as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy settled into the seats across from her, Velvet and Spike.

“Hello, Miss n’ Mrs. Twilight Sparkleriffics!” Pinkie greeted the Twilights as she started strapping herself in. 

“Hello,” Fluttershy smiled meekly as she did the same.

“Hello… everybody,” Twilight smiled. She had inherited neither her father’s social grace nor her mother’s way with names.

“Pinkie, Fluttershy, hello,” Velvet replied.

“So how’s your widdle baby doing?” Pinkie winked.

“Um, he- it- is doing really good actually,” Twilight gestured to her beloved EGO on her wrist. “Thanks again… Pinkie Pie was it?”

Pinkie nodded hard, happily, as if Twilight had just guessed her Pictionary drawing. “Wow, I have to say I can’t believe that they’re letting me back into Canterlot! I thought I was going to stay in Ponyville forever!”

“Why wouldn’t they let you back into Canterlot?” Twilight asked.

Pinkie frowned and pouted. “Awww, Director Everstar is such a party pooper. One time, just one time I synchronized the entire city’s lights to dance music…”

“Wait, Director Everstar?”

“Luna Everstar, dear,” Velvet clarified.

Twilight looked at her. “Celestia’s sister?”

“Ok, ladies and gentlemen, if I may have your attention,” Rainbow Dash’s voice came on abruptly over a speaker somewhere. Twilight turned to see her down the long, open cabin. “This is your Captain- well, Lieutenant- Dacha Alexandrova speaking, we have just closed the cabin door and will be taking off soon. Please fasten your seatbelts, we don’t have any lighted signs, and if anybody smokes on my plane, you will find yourself thrown out of a moving aircraft with a courtesy parachute thrown out after you.”

Twilight gave her a funny look.

“Huh... she must be in a good mood today to have mentioned the parachute,” Spike mused.

“Thank you for flying Equestria Airlines; we know that you have a choice when flying to and from secret government installations, and we appreciate that we can be of service to you today. From all of us here at the flight deck, please take care, and we do sincerely hope that you all have a really bitchin’ day. Peace out!”

And with that, the jet engines roared to life and the plane started towards the runway.

Twilight looked at her mother. “I hope you know that I am now on a military transport flying to somewhere through an “Eye” of some sort, and you still have not told me anything.”

“Oh, honey,” Velvet smiled, “welcome to my world.”

The Sonic Rainboom aligned itself perfectly at one end of the dirt runway, its engines standing idle.

“Rainboom Five to Town Hall, requesting permission for takeoff, over,” Dash asked.

“Town Hall to Rainboom Five, you are cleared for takeoff. Godspeed, over,”

The Rainboom started picking up speed down the runway until it was going so fast that the winds picked it up. Twilight stared out the window, the crowded vestiges of Camp Ponyville fading behind her.

After a while spent stabilizing in flight, the plane’s cabin lights turned on, and all of the passengers were bathed in a dull green aura.

Velvet stared at her daughter for a long time.

“Ok… so, during World War II, the Italians discovered something here in Ethiopia…” she began to say.

Twilight crossed her arms. “Oh, so is this you letting me in?”

Velvet smirked. “Kid, this is the beginning of me letting you in.”

Twilight smiled back and looked out the window.

“The Italians found something,” her mother continued, “Something… that has been here since as long as anybody who lived here could remember. The locals didn’t quite know what to make of it after so much time; they came to fear and respect this thing, which they eventually came to call ‘The Seal of Solomon’. 

Anyways, when the Italians invaded Ethiopia, they soon discovered ‘Solomon’s Seal’ for themselves. They must’ve expected a bunch of demons and mythology, but instead they found something that even they themselves, the European conquerors, couldn’t comprehend. So, in exchange for extra support in their war campaign, they handed over the location and control of ‘Solomon’s Seal’ to the Nazis. The Nazis couldn’t really do anything with it, either, mind you, but observe and record its inherent electrical phenomena. The Nazis, of course, had their own problems to deal with, and they eventually lost ‘The Seal’ in location and control to the Americans, who had captured all of the relevant documents and films in Germany near the end of World War II. 

From then on, since the end of the war, our government has negotiated the rights to the area surrounding ‘Solomon’s Seal’, which hides what we know now as The City of Canterlot and The Kingdom of Equestria… what may be, sweetie, the most important scientific discovery known to mankind.”

Twilight sat listening to her mother’s story, an unreadable look on her face. When Velvet finished, Twilight didn’t say anything for a while.

“Celestia was right, mother,” she finally said.

“About what?”

“I didn’t believe a single word you said.”

Velvet chuckled. “Seeing is believing, Twi.”

Suddenly, the entire cabin exploded in alarms, and the light switched from green to red.

“Alright people, we’ve reached the edge of the cell. It’s go time... condition red, I repeat, condition red,” Rainbow Dash blared on the loudspeaker. 

She turned to her co- pilot, who nodded. He pushed a button on the console and the top opened as a small glass vial popped out. In it was a very old looking, nearly black necklace- like object with small wings and a horned horse on top. In the center was a perfectly shaped red diamond. Rainbow Dash and her co- pilot both inserted keys from around their necks into slots beneath the vial. Looking at each other, they both turned them at the same time. Suddenly, the device in the vial lit up a bright red and started to hum with energy.

Twilight watched as every single passenger around her pulled an oxygen mask and a helmet from above and put them on. Pinkie flashed her a thumb’s up.

“…..Mom??” She asked.

Her mother, already wearing her gear, helped Twilight put hers on.

“Whatever happens dear, remember that I’m right here!” She secured Twilight’s mask.  “And that I love you very much!”

“Not helping, mom!!!” Twilight screamed through the mask covering her mouth.

Twilight looked out the window. 

Yes, we are clearly approaching a storm supercell head on. Yup. Yup, yup, yup.

“Mom!!! Why are we heading INTO that storm?!?!” 

Velvet was trying to scream an explanation but the alarms were still going up and, as Twilight could feel from the turbulence, the winds had picked up considerably. The jet engines whined in protest and the plane angled up suddenly.

“STANDBY, STANDBY!” Rainbow Dash’s voice shouted over the alarms. “CONDITION RED! CONDITION RED!”

Oh, shit, Twilight panicked.

The Rainboom flew straight into the dark, heavy clouds immaculately manicured by invisible, gusting storm winds. Soon, the air pounded loudly against the plane windows, and big, fat droplets of rain gave way to literal torrents streaming against the reinforced glass. Twilight was trying to hold onto her breakfast (which was mostly coffee, anyway) as the engines screamed and the plane dipped to and fro to avoid gusts of wind.

“She’s a little more cranky than usual today,” Dash said through her oxygen mask.

“We should be able to breeze right on into Canterlot if that wind shear doesn’t change too much,” her co- pilot dismissed. 

The Rainboom creaked more and more as she became entangled in high- powered winds. Her wings kept on extending and closing as she tried to maintain her altitude. Lightning began to flash all around the plane, and thunder boomed intermittently like flak shells.

Twilight was dizzy from all the hyperventilating that she was doing. Her brow under her helmet was drenched in sweat.

Am I going to die? She asked herself quite unexpectedly.

At that moment she felt an arm grab her around the shoulders. She looked to see her mother hugging her, trying to reassure her. Wordlessly, Twilight grabbed onto Velvet and held on tight.

“There it is,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “There’s The Eye. But- wait a second…”

Her co- pilot did a double- take. 

“Holy shit… that doesn’t look good…”

And then Twilight saw it for the first time, The Alicorn Eye. Scared shitless, she looked out her window at the maddening sheets of lightning almost licking the plane. And then she saw it. Beyond the blinding blue- white flashes, she made out a vague, steadily glowing pulse in the distance. As the plane fought to get closer, she could make out its fuzzy, diamond shape from her seat. Twilight was petrified. She had never seen anything like it before.

Her wonder was abruptly cut short when a brilliant lightning bolt arced across her window and struck the wing. The plane rocked suddenly, then dropped like a rock. Twilight screamed, clutching onto her mother.

“SHIT!” Dash cursed, trying to bring the plane back up. “THUNDERLANE!!!”

“I can’t do anything- we’ve lost variable wing controls- FUCK!”

The plane dropped out of the sky, it’s right wing twitching. Suddenly, both wings shot out and the plane leveled out.

“There, back online!” Thunderlane reported. “Fuck, we can’t take another one of those hits, that’s for damn sure!”

“What the hell is going on with that thing?!?!” Rainbow Dash pointed to the crackling necklace in the vial, under which monitors were going haywire.

“Do I look like I have a fucking clue?!” her co- pilot shouted back.

Shaking her head, Dash opened up a channel of communication to Ponyville. 

“May Day, May Day, Town Hall, Town Hall, this is Rainboom Five, we cannot maintain our present course, The Eye is too unstable and The Amulet is malfunctioning! Requesting permission to cancel run and return to base, over!”

The radio was scrambled. If Ponyville heard or responded, Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell.

“May Day, May Day, Town Hall, this is Rainboom Five, we are flying under severe weather conditions and have been hit by lightning, we cannot maintain our present course, requesting permission to return to base, over!”

Again, there was no response. 

“Shit!!! The Eye must be interfering,”

“Well we couldn’t turn back anyways, we’d be torn clean apart by those walls behind us!” Thunderlane reasoned.

Rainbow Dash punched the side of her cockpit. “FUCK!”

“Dash, we can’t land anywhere here even if we want to. We have to finish the run!”

Dash’s mind was scrambling to come up with a solution. On a whim, she opened up a channel with every single passenger’s helmet in the cabin.

“I need one of you eggheads to get up here now if you want to land, RIGHT NOW! One of you needs to fix The Amulet!”

All the civilians started to freak out, scream and stare at each other in sheer terror.

Are we all going to die? Twilight wondered numbly.

Suddenly, Velvet undid her buckles and stood up, shakily, as the plane lurched and rolled around.

“Mom!” Twilight yelled at her in her helmet.

“Sweetie, come with me,” she instructed, and Twilight froze. Eventually, she slowly undid her fastenings and shakily joined her mother.

“Pinkie Pie, let’s go!” Velvet shouted, and Pinkie saluted and got up as well.

The three of them slowly made their way up to the cockpit. Twilight saw flashes of terrified people all along the way. As they were almost there, the plane suddenly rocked and dropped again and Twilight, Velvet and Pinkie were forced to grab onto the handrails as their bodies swung with the G forces. Twilight thought she was going to pass out, but her feet eventually hit the floor again and she regained clarity of her senses. Velvet patted her on the shoulder and she nodded. 

The three of them entered the cockpit, walking a little unsteadily. They found Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane scrambling all over the consoles, trying to keep control of The Rainboom. Outside, the clouds look like they were being bombarded. Twilight’s eyes flittered from the exotic looking Amulet on the dashboard to the great, big Alicorn Eye spewing electricity in front of them.

“Holy Moly, That’s an Angry Holey!” Pinkie gasped.

“Please tell me one of you knows how to fix this damn thing!” Dash pointed to The Amulet spitting sparks in its vial.

Velvet walked up to it and examined the monitors. Twilight saw her mother’s lips moving wordlessly as she read the data. 

“This can’t be right. The energy levels are way too high to be normal,” she concluded.

“I don’t care if they’re over 9,000, just fix the little fucker!” Dash was losing control of the plane, fast.

Velvet started manipulating her EGO.

“Pinkie!”

Pinkie came over and examined the same data. She pressed the monitor a few times, changing screens. “All systems are functioning 100%, the power levels shouldn’t be cutting through the safety breakers like that. It… it looks as if The Amulet is drawing the extra power from Canterlot itself!”

“Can you re- establish the system limits?” Velvet was tapping away madly on her EGO.

Pinkie checked her own EGO. “No dice! The Amulet is running remotely off of an Equestrian subroutine from within Canterlot’s Mainframe! I can’t stop it or rewrite it from here!”

Velvet turned to her. “What? Are you absolutely sure?”

Pinkie nodded. “Positive! As far as the computers and The Amulet are concerned, this is all ‘business as usual’!”

“What part of this current fucking scenario is ‘business as usual’ to you?!?!” Dash screamed from the pilot’s seat.

“Pinkie, can you patch me through with a Unicorn Interface?” Velvet asked.

Pinkie nodded, then tapped on her EGO. Velvet’s EGO beeped, and she tapped it. A glove made entirely of purple light appeared and twisted itself around her other forearm; she examined it carefully. All the while Twilight stared in shock.

Velvet walked over to The Amulet and pressed a button under it. The vial disappeared and red electrical energy crackled around the cockpit.

“Woah!” Rainbow Dash dodged a bolt. “Hey, watch it, lady!”

Velvet gingerly touched the crackling necklace. It’s jewel glowed brighter and EGO- like holographic projections popped out. However, they were written in a strange, curving script that Twilight didn’t understand at all. Velvet seemed to be using the device like an EGO, reading the alien data and whispering under her breath.

“Well?!” Dash asked after a few seconds.

“She’s right, The Amulet is sucking up energy straight from Canterlot’s power core, making The Eye too unstable to approach, and… it gets worse…”

Dash said something like “Are you fucking kidding me?!” before Velvet continued. “It looks as though all the extra power is creating a feedback loop within The Amulet itself. Physical Disintegration is imminent,”

“ENGLISH!”

“It means that if we try to cross The Eye, we could be torn apart by the energy field surrounding it. However, if we wait long enough, The Amulet will explode, or we’ll eventually crash in this storm.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Velvet with an expression in her eyes that clearly registered her remorse over asking for a clarification.

“Mother?!” Twilight finally spoke.

Velvet turned and was about to say something when the cockpit rocked amidst a loud bang and flashes of light. More alarms went off.

“Jesus, we just lost an engine!” Thunderlane screamed.

Velvet turned back to Pinkie. “Pinkie, set Twilight up with another Interface!”

Pinkie looked at Twilight and then back and Velvet and nodded, fiddling with her EGO.

“Done!”

“Twilight, honey, mommy needs your help, OK?”

Twilight looked pale. “What?”

“I need you to activate the Unicorn Interface on your eggo, just like mommy did. Can you do that?”

Shaking, Twilight looked down at her wrist. It was flashing. She touched it, and her right hand was covered in a twirling energy glove, a different shade of purple than her mother’s.

“Good. Now, sweetie, do you still remember how to operate a thermal reactor?”

Twilight nodded wanely.

“Good. Now, I’m going to remotely access Canterlot’s power source. I need you to maintain the reactor at optimum level, so to speak, while Mommy stabilizes this device. Can you do that for me?”

Twilight, shaking like a scared child, nodded again. “I can try.”

“Good girl. Just prevent it from melting down, and mommy will do the rest. Come here, baby, put your hand here. I’ll walk you through it. That a girl,”

Velvet gestured for Twilight to come towards The Alicorn Amulet. Twilight approached it slowly, as it was still crackling like a live wire. Outside, the world looked like it was heading to hell in a handbasket.

“Now put your hand here, just like mommy...”

Cautiously, Twilight inched her hand closer and closer to The Amulet. Finally, she made contact and her Interface glowed brightly. Suddenly, a shockwave issued forth from The Amulet in all directions. Twilight screamed and collapsed into Velvet’s arms.

“TWILIGHT!!!”

The Amulet, previously red, now pulsed with a bright purple light. Suddenly, it charged up and fired a pure beam of energy through the cockpit window, phasing through it, straight at The Eye. Velvet watched as the beam from The Amulet connected with The Eye. For a moment, it just hung in the air like a ghostly fishing line, but suddenly The Eye exploded outward in a great shockwave of energy. The wave barreled at The Rainboom at supersonic speed; the two pilots and Pinkie immediately hit the floor as Velvet covered her daughter protectively. The wave of purple energy issued forth in all directions around The Eye, rapidly changing color as it expanded. It hit The Sonic Rainboom and passed right on through it harmlessly, rapidly blowing away all the storm clouds surrounding and brutalizing the plane. A strange, phasing sound was heard as the energy wave dissipated, leaving a huge ball shaped area of calm air around the jet.

Twilight opened her eyes. Her ears were ringing, and her vision was strewn with white, fuzzy static. She raggedly breathed in through her mask. On her arm, her EGO was endlessly spewing the same alien language that was displayed by The Amulet, but she didn’t notice.

“Twilight?!” Velvet tore off her’s and her daughter’s oxygen mask. “Twilight, baby, are you ok?!?!”

“ COUGH- Just peachy, mother,” Twilight rasped from the floor.

“And you can call me Peachy Pie!” Pinkie sat up from the floor. “Cough cough- woah, that sure was a doozy.”

“Christ, that was not a usual run,” Thunderlane panted, and then leaned over his console in exhaustion.

Rainbow Dash was panting as well. She stripped off the top of her jumpsuit to let her t- shirt air out, and then slowly reopened communications to the cabin.

“This is… This… Give me a minute…. This is your Captain speaking. No more jokes for today. We will be landing shortly. Over and out.”

“Twilight, look,” Velvet propped her daughter up towards the cockpit window.

Twilight looked down, but her eyes would not believe what was in front of them.

Below, The Eye was as calm as a gigantic open gate in the sky. Twilight’s brain malfunctioned, because through the large, diamond shaped expanse, the dessicated Ethiopian desert had given way to lush, green pastoral forests and fields. In the center of this very real Eden, there stood a magnificent, ancient city built upon a spired peak of a mountain. It gleamed white, gold and multitudes of striped colors, with grand towers ending in gleaming gold cupolas. Nestled in the mountainside amongst the castles were waterfalls so high, they evaporated upon falling. The bright, clear sky revealed a gigantic sun keeping watch over this beautiful, forgotten land. Twilight’s newly regained breath jumped in her throat.

“Welcome to Equestria, honey.” Her mother smiled and kissed her forehead.

Rainbow Dash, still sweating profusely, swiveled in her seat and looked hard at Twilight. 

“You… just who are you, anyway?”

Twilight was still panting, but breathed a little easier now and tried to compose herself. 

“I’m Twilight Sparkle… I… I… ” She sheepishly gestured to Velvet. “I’m here with my mom.” 

> Ch. 6- A Series of Meetings, Fortunate and Unfortunate
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

         The Sonic Rainboom was more limping into Canterlot’s hangar than rolling in. The old girl was a complete mess- she had a variable wing fried, an engine still sputtering hot, grey smoke, and black scorch marks all over her surface from where the lightning had struck her. Still, every passenger onboard just seemed to be happy to be on good old terra firma again as the plane had finished making its way down Canterlot’s wide, seemingly ancient runway into a large, round manmade plateau of a structure housing all of the installation’s vehicles. 

The engines that were still functioning turned off, and the walkway on the side of the plane came down. As soon as it did, Spike ran out first and puked behind a metal crate before wiping his mouth clean and kissing the ground repeatedly.

“Oh my God, any god, thank all the gods,” he murmured as his lips left the tarmac. “I will never, ever, ever leave my motion sickness pills in Ponyville ever again.”

With that, he immediately wiped his mouth again to clear off the taste of the discarded strawberry- flavored chewing gum that he had just kissed. 

“… You know, as we were flying through The Eye, I got to thinking,” Pinkie mused to no one in particular as she debarked the plane, “If we had crash landed like that soccer team in The Andes, would we all have, sooner or later, been forced into the desperate madness of cannibalism?”

“Pinkie Pie…” Twilight groaned as she slowly walked off, her mother helping her along on one side and Fluttershy on the other.

“What? I wouldn’t eat any of you, honest!” Pinkie made a series of gestures, “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” 

“Please,” Spike begged, as he gagged again, “please don’t talk about flying anymore.”

“But you could all eat me, though, no problemo! Some of the soldiers in Ponyville even said that I looked ‘pretty tasty’!”

“Oh my goodness, Spike, remind me to give you something for that,” Fluttershy made a face as she walked Twilight past Spike’s ‘offering’ on the floor in gratitude to touching down safely. “Goodness, that was quite a bumpy flight. Twilight, are you feeling any better now?”

“Yes, thanks a bunch, Fluttershy.” Twilight swallowed, but her throat was still bone dry. “I could really use an espresso, though.”

“I wonder where the pilot went?” Fluttershy wondered out loud. “Gosh, I hope she’s OK, she always seemed like such a nice person to me… plus, she kind of looked as if she was going to pass out right after we landed.”

“FUCKING CHRIST, DID SOMEBODY THROW UP IN HERE?!?!” Rainbow Dash cried out in anguish from inside The Sonic Rainboom. 

“So, um, I gotta go. I’ll see you guys later,” Spike motioned to the city behind him. “I gotta get all the gear unpacked and inventoried.” He made as if to leave, but stopped with a look of worry on his face. “Twilight, are you sure you’re feeling OK now?”

“I’ll be fine, Spike, thank you,” Twilight smiled.

“MOTHER OF GOD, IT. IS. LITERALLY. ALL OVER. THE MOTHERFUCKING PLACE.”

“Later, Spike.”

“Later!” Spike ran off into the distance as fast as his tiny little legs could carry him.

Twilight grinned as she watched him go. “You know, I’m growing more and more fond of him by the minute.”

Velvet smile back tiredly at her daughter.

“FOR CRYING OUT LOOOOOUUUUUD – ALL THE BARF BAGS ARE STILL UNOPENED??? WWWWHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYY”

A lone soldier frowned as she walked up towards The Rainboom. She spotted Twilight half- limping and smiled. Readjusting the rifle on her shoulder, she started walking towards the disembarking group of civilians.

“Howdy!” She greeted warmly. “It seems y’all got more shook up than a paint can in an earthquake! Everybody doin’ OK?”

Twilight, Velvet, Fluttershy and Pinkie stopped in front of the young woman. She was roughly the same age as the three girls in the group, with long, golden blonde hair she wore in a loose ponytail and messy sideswept bangs that settled down across her forehead like strands of stray hay, all under a standard uniform cap. She possessed a tan, freckled complexion to her skin, as well as an athletic soldier’s build under her regulation BDUs. Her friendly, emerald green eyes seemed to smile right along with her mouth. All in all, Twilight observed, she seemed to be the friendliest person Twilight had seen carrying an automatic weapon since she had first arrived at this government- sanctioned nuthouse.

“We’re no worse for the wear, thank you,” Velvet smiled in return. “I’m sorry, but who might you be?”

“Lieutenant Abbie Jacqueline Smith, ma’am, but y’all can jus’ call me Applejack for short, most folks do, anyhow.” The soldier kept on smiling and nodding along with her quaint accent, something that sounded like it came straight from the scenes of an old timey Western.

“Hello, Applejack, I’m Dr. Velvet Sparkle, Harmonics. This is my daughter, Dr. Twilight Sparkle, a newbie-

“- Nice to meet you,” Twilight greeted.

“Howdy, Twilight,” Applejack vigorously shook Twilight’s still weak hand, much too vigorously in the latter’s opinion. “Welcome to Canterlot!”

“Dr. Felicia Cherie, with Medical- “

“So nice to, um, meet you,” Fluttershy smiled politely. “You can just call me Fluttershy… I’m OK with it, honest.”

Applejack shook her hand as well. “Well howdy there, Fluttershy.”

“- And Pinkamena Diane Pie, with IT- “

“Howdy doody, Tutti- Frutti! It’s always nice to meet new people, especially cowgirls!” Pinkie trilled and shook the soldier’s hand enthusiastically. “You can call me Pinkie! I’m actually a doctor, too, but my degrees only count in Mexico and Brunei.”

Applejack smiled and frowned at the same time. “A pleasure makin’ your acquaintance, Pinkie…”

“So, Applejack, is there something we can do for you?” Velvet asked.

Applejack turned to her and grinned in a very friendly way. “Well, I’ve been sent by General Armstrong, ma’am. I’m ta escort Dr. Twilight Sparkle ‘round Canterlot, ta make sure she’s getting’ everythin’ she need’s needin’, and such,”

Velvet’s brow furrowed, but she quickly smiled again. “Oh, that’s alright, dear. Tell the general that she’ll be fine, her mother will take care of her.”

Applejack was still smiling, but was clearly a little less happy to hear that. “Well, uh, begging your pardon, ma’am, but orders are orders…”

“I understand that, lieutentant, but I’m sure that if you tell the general that Director Everstar signed off on it, he’ll let you off the hook. Thank you, anyway, dear.”

Applejack stopped smiling and looked down at her feet. “Well, ta be honest, ma’am, the general also told me that he needed ta talk ta Dr. Sparkle as soon as she arrived… he also said that he wouldn’t take no for an answer, ma’am.”

Velvet sighed. “Alright, Applejack, lead us to his office.”

Applejack continued to look down, shuffling her feet a bit unconsciously out of habit. “I’m real sorry, ma’am, but he specifically requested Dr. Twilight Sparkle… alone.”

Velvet looked displeased by this, but smiled at Applejack anyways. She turned to Twilight and brushed her hair.

“Well, you’re up kiddo. I’ll see you afterwards, OK?”

Twilight looked up at her mother with hope in her eyes. “With coffee?”

Velvet laughed. “Of course, sweetie.”

Twilight joined Applejack, who tried to smile in her friendly way again.

“It was nice meetin’ y’all,” she bid farewell as the others returned the sentiment.

As they were walking away, Velvet called out to Twilight.

“Honey?”

Twilight stopped and turned around. “Yes, mother?”

Velvet stopped and gave her a serious look. “Do you remember what we talked about in South Africa before? About the hippos?”

Twilight frowned. “Yes, mother.”

Velvet said nothing, only nodding to her daughter. Twilight started to walk again alongside Applejack, but threw one last look back before leaving the hangar.



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


Twilight sat in the passenger front seat of a newer jeep as Applejack drove them both along Canterlot towards General Armstrong’s office. Applejack would glance at her charge every few minutes, as if she was trying to think of something to say. Twilight was taking in the scenery with a mix of incredulity and awe. The streets were like a time machine trip back towards The Middle Ages, with tall, majestic- looking buildings made purely of stone and gold passing by her in a flash. It was almost like a big budget movie set too, with how colorful and fantastical her surroundings appeared, and Twilight half expected to see elves and wizards strolling around on such a fine sunny day. Instead, all the people she saw were surreally dressed in modern clothing- military uniforms of all shapes and sizes, white lab coats, and yes, plenty of pocket protectors.

“So, uh…” Applejack finally broke the silence, “if ya don’t mind mah asking, what did your mother mean when she asked ya ‘bout hippos in South Africa?”

“Hm?” Twilight’s attention turned to her escort. “Oh, that. Well, I think mom might’ve hit her head a little too hard in midflight.”

Applejack grinned. “Oh. OK, then.” She tried to change her approach. “You n’ your mother work together often?”

Twilight laughed. “Oh, I’m not working with her. Not voluntarily, at least.”

Applejack wasn’t sure what to make of that, so she pressed on. “Yeah, family’s a mite troublesome sometimes, but the way I figure, you can always count on ‘em when the chips are down, right?”

Twilight didn’t respond; she just turned to look at the scenery some more. 

“Where did you grow up, Applejack?” She finally continued the conversation.

“Why, New York City, of course,” Applejack smiled. “Did mah accent give it away?”

Twilight smiled back. 

“I grew up just outside of Sweetwater, Texas, on an irrigated farm. That’s the real reason why people been calling me Applejack, ‘cus we grow a lot of ‘em. Not ‘cus ‘Abigail Jacqueline Smith’ is that hard ta pronounce, mind you. I suppose i’s also because I got a bit of a kick ‘n me, as well.”

Twilight giggled. Applejack was happy that she was opening up to her.

“Yessirree, we grow all kinds at Sweet Apple Acres. Jus’ me, my granny, n’ my sister, who’s also named Abigail, Abigail Bethany Smith to be precise. Everyone jus’ calls her Apple Bloom, sure enough as I’ve been called Applejack all mah life. I suppose, though, it’s jus’ Granny n’ Applebloom all by their lonesome since I got assigned ta Canterlot.”

“What about your parents?” Twilight inquired.

Applejack pursed her lips. “They passed away a while back. Granny’s been running Sweet Apple Acres ever since mah brother went to Afghanistan.”

Twilight looked guilty for bringing that up. “I’m sorry, Applejack. I didn’t mean to pry.”

Applejack broke out into a big, friendly smile. “Well, shoot, sugarcube, I love ta talk about family! ‘N I like talking to ya, Twilight. What’s that ol’ line from all them black n’ white movies? ‘I feel like this is the beginnin’ of a beeaaau- tiful friendship’,” she added her own twangy emphasis on the last part.

Twilight giggled. Maybe this place won’t just be full of prickly assholes, after all.

“Well, we’re here,” Applejack pulled over at the side of the well- maintained stone road. “The scientists say this used ta be barracks of some sort. We’ll be going up to the top, that’s where the general likes ta stay.”

Twilight got out of the jeep and examined the barracks. Sure, they were built like the other buildings in Canterlot, with the same stone and gold, but there’s was something a little more grim, a little more foreboding about this place. It was a squat, square building as opposed to the rounded curves of most of Canterlot, and it seemed a bit greyer and dingier in appearance. There were no cupolas gracing the top, only elaborate golden spikes, as if they were taken straight off of the gates at Buckingham Palace; behind them solemn looking soldiers stood guard with their M16s.

Inside, the sights were was no prettier. Twilight and Applejack filed in past the seemingly makeshift stations staffed by military personnel, every single one of whom gave Twilight a dirty look when she passed by. She looked down at her ragged sneakers, dirty old jeans and t shirt under a filthy, wrinkled plaid button up, and immediately realized how out of place she looked among the crew cuts and starched uniforms. Instinctively, she hurried her pace down the hallways after Applejack as they both got into an elevator.

“So…” she began once she and Applejack were alone in the large, sterile lift.

“Yes?”

“This General… um, what is he like?”

Applejack looked uncomfortable for the first time since they entered the barracks. “Um, I don’t think I’m at liberty to speak about mah superior officer like that, hon’.”

Twilight grinned. “Like what?”

Applejack didn’t say anything; she just wrinkled her nose and looked up at the ceiling. 

Twilight cleared her throat, puffed out her chest, and mocked serious military protocol. “Permission to speak freely, soldier.”

Applejack laughed. “Alright, alright, I’ll give ya somethin’: the boys ‘round here like ta call him Iron Will.”

Twilight frowned. “That’s something?”

Applejack’s laughter faded to a mere smile. “General William ‘Iron Will’ Armstrong.” She leaned in closer, as if somebody would be spying on them. “’Round these parts, Sugarcube, you don’t get a brand new nickname like ‘Iron Will’ outta nowhere unless you really earn it, see what’m sayin’?”

Twilight’s spirits fell. “Oh. I see.”

The elevator beeped and the doors opened to yet another bare hallway. 

“This way, sugarcube,” Applejack led her down towards a large, wooden door all the way at the other end. 

Twilight approached it. It was nearly black, with those strange alien characters inscribed all over it. She swallowed hard, and then looked at Applejack.

“You wouldn’t, by any chance, want to come in with me too?” she joked, but only partly.

Applejack tried to offer a reassuring smile and a pat on the shoulder.

“Y’all be fine, sugarcube. Now just get on in there and get out fast, like rippin’ off a Band Aid.”

“Right,” Twilight nodded. “Just like a Band Aid.”

“Go on. I’ll be right here when y’all finish,” Applejack prodded her along as she knocked on the door.

“Enter,” a deep, male voice boomed from the other side.

Reluctantly, Twilight walked through the door after Applejack opened it and then closed it again. She found herself in basically every military general’s office that she had ever seen in every war movie. There was the little tank model on the general’s desk, along with the nameplate that said ‘Gen. William Armstrong’ and an expensive looking pen sticking up from its base. Behind the general, who was sitting at his desk signing off on paperwork, were framed Presidential citations, a bunch of war medals, and a diploma from West Point. 

Yup, Twilight thought to herself as she waited for the general to speak to her, I should’ve gotten my coffee before this.

General “Iron Will” Armstrong pretended for nearly a full 30 seconds that Twilight wasn’t even standing in the room. Then, crossing his last T’s and dotting his last I’s, he looked up at her, his hands folded.

“Well,” he spoke in a deep voice, “You must be Velvet Sparkle’s daughter.”

“Dr. Twilight Sparkle, actually,” she corrected him.

“Yes, Dr. Sparkle… The Second,” he shuffled all his paperwork and placed it in a filing cabinet.

Twilight stood uneasily. “May I sit down now?” she asked.

“Of course,” Iron Will gestured to the seat in front of him, and she sat down. He looked her over, leering really, and Twilight suddenly realized, again, that she probably looked exactly how she felt: like a sack of tired, caffeine- deprived crap.

“Well Miss Sparkle- “

“Doctor.”

Iron Will smiled. “Dr. Sparkle. I must say that, truthfully, I’ve never been on quite so good terms with your mother,” he leaned back thoughtfully in his chair. “You might say that she’s quite… a handful for me.”

Twilight crossed her arms. “With all due respect, general, I really don’t want to know the specifics of what goes on between you and my mother.”

Iron Will laughed. “Oh, you brainy types are always so quick off the cuff, aren’t cha?” 

Twilight smirked and tilted her head in response.

“Thirsty?” Iron Will asked as he reached under hid desk.

Oh please let it be coffee, please God just let it be coffee, Twilight’s pleasure center demanded. Instant, Sanka, anything at all…

To her chagrin, Iron Will pulled out a bottle of Scotch and two glasses.

“No thank you,” Twilight refused politely, but Iron Will still began pouring out two tumblers.

“You wouldn’t believe it, but this bottle of Scotch is older than you, Dr. Sparkle,” Iron Will mused as he dropped in some ice cubes. He took one of the glasses and downed it all in one gulp. He made an “aaah” sound of satisfaction, and then looked at the bottle’s label.

Oh, good lord, Twilight suddenly realized, this is going to be one of those things, isn’t it… where he uses the Scotch as a metaphor…

“You know, Sparkle, a fine Scotch doesn’t just grow on trees. It doesn’t just appear overnight,” Iron Will began lecturing.

It does if you live in Beverley Hills, Twilight sarcastically replied in her head.

“No, it takes time and effort for such a wonderful delicacy to appear. The right starter mash, the right blending, the right barrels of oak to let it sit in for years, maybe even decades. In other words, it needs seasoning.”

“…Seasoning?” Twilight simply replied.

“Yes, seasoning,” Iron Will looked her in the eyes. “Now, I’m not just another military grunt, or at least not to you. I am the highest officially sanctioned military authority in this land, The City of Canterlot, The Kingdom of Equestria, America’s own little dominion in the middle of shit- knows- where. Now, all the ‘academic types’ like your mother won’t stop going on and on about how important this all is,” he gestured around his office, but he clearly meant the entire installation. “How we can and should be doing everything possible to fulfill some Berkeley hippie bullshit wet dream that all you brainiacs can’t stop getting off on.”

“I went to Harvard, sir,” Twilight corrected again. 

“And that means… what? To me, personally?” Iron Will feigned confusion, and then settled back into his chair. “You may think you’re such a big shot, just like all the other little Bolsheviks we have running around this city, but you know what, Miss Sparkle? You ain’t shit around here. And do you know why this is the case?”

“Well, off the top of my head,” Twilight feigned thoughtfulness, “I’d have to say, ummmm…. a lack of seasoning, perhaps?”

“I like you much better than your mother, missy,” Iron Will chuckled. “You’ve got a sense of humor. Yes, seasoning. A plus with a gold star attached! Now, I know everything there is for the US government to know about you. I know that everybody thinks that the sun just shines out your mother’s ass, that everybody says she’s the real reason Uncle Sam still pumps money into this gigantic rat maze. I also know that you’re something of The President’s little pet, the same woman who signs my checks over and whose perennially menstruating sister, The Director, won’t stop busting my balls every chance she gets. But that all means diddly squat, little lady, because…” he paused for her to answer as he downed the entire second tumbler in one gulp, the other hand pointing her cue to her.

“… I’m gonna go with seasoning again.”

Iron Will snapped his fingers. “See, you catch on fast, missy. Maybe there’s hope for you around here yet. Because Canterlot is just like any other city in the world- you can’t just come in, fresh of the boat, and be a somebody. You can’t waltz on in and expect the townies to respect you right off the bat. Like every other city on this godforsaken rock, you gotta play the politics. You have to show us all, us, the old gang, that your ass is even worthy of checking out on the street. And that takes years, missy… trust me, it takes many, many years.”

Iron Will undid the bottle cap to pour another glass, but decided against it. He looked at Twilight again.

“A word of advice, Miss Sparkle? Plan out everything you do. Hell, you scientists are good with organization, aren’t cha? Every breath you take here, every shit you take, think to yourself, ‘what good am I really doing for The United States of America and The Equestria Initiative, really? Why should I even be here? What kinds of pains and headaches might I be giving somebody who is way, way more influential and powerful than me?’ ‘Cus, you know, us old timers, Miss Sparkle, we don’t take the constant migraines very well. Hence this,” he shook the bottle that was older than Twilight. 

Twilight frowned. “I’m sorry, I think I misunderstood you… are you threatening me?”

Iron Will smiled and folded his hands again. “Why yes, Miss Sparkle… you did misunderstand me. All I’m saying to you, as part of the advice from an old timer to a newbie, is to play it smart, and don’t be a hero… there’s no telling how badly you’d do in The Old City if you don’t learn how to play the politics.”

“And, just so I don’t misunderstand again… you’re the mayor of this little burg, right?” Twilight glared.

Iron Will just smiled. 

“No, Miss Sparkle… I’m The Godfather.”


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




Applejack noticed Twilight huffing and puffing as she opened the general’s office door for her and led her back to the jeep outside.

“Well, I guess that wasn’t exactly a daisy walk for ya, hon’,” she estimated as they got in the vehicle.

“Oh, no, it went along swimmingly. I’m just like this ‘cus he had no damn coffee.”

“The scotch metaphor?”

Twilight blinked. “It’s that old?”

Applejack patted her on the back and laughed. “Sugarcube, I reckon that man’s metaphor’s older than the whole damn bottle itself.”

Twilight broke out in laughter too. “Shit, I feel like I seriously need to take a bath to rid myself of a few things, least of which is old man stare.”

Applejack smiled and shook her head as she started up the engine. “You know, I have just the place.”



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



Twilight got out of the jeep with a canvas bag, inside of which were two towels, some toiletries and a robe. She looked back at Applejack, who was still sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked.

“Absolutely. These hot springs’ll fix ya right up n’ have ya feelin’ brand new again in no time! Better than any shower they put up in the housing installations. Best of all, its sort of a city secret too. Just fer us gals,” Applejack winked.

Twilight looked ahead. They were high up in the mountains and it was starting to get late in the day. Applejack was leaving her on a quiet, wooded trail through a dense rainforest.

“I mean, are you sure that you don’t wanna come along with me… this time?”

Applejack smiled. “Aw, no thanks ‘hon, I gotta git back to mah post. But don’t y’all worry none, hardly nobody comes up here, ‘cept the ones that know ‘bout it. There ain’t a whole lotta people in Equestria, anyways.”

Twilight looked down the trail’s path. “If you say so, Applejack.”

“If you need anything, jus’ raise a holler on yer eggo, n’ I’ll come runnin’ up after ya.”

“Thanks Applejack,” Twilight bid farwell. “See you soon.”

“Bye!” Applejack waved her hat in the air as she drove off.

All alone, Twilight made her way down the path. Applejack was right, it wasn’t a very long or strenuous hike to the hot springs. After emerging from the thick forest, Twilight was happily greeted by massive amounts of steam billowing from empty pools of water, which bubbled amidst the placid jungle scene.

Well, almost empty.

Twilight stopped walking when she spotted a young woman, about her age, sponging herself in one of the pools. If Twilight was right in thinking that she currently looked (and maybe even smelled) a little feral, then this woman was her complete antipode. She had smooth, pale, nearly translucent skin, big dark blue eyes surrounded by long, luscious lashes, and probably the most amazing, perfectly styled hair that Twilight, who had a celebrity father, had ever seen in her life- long, wavy, black, almost violet tresses that shimmered in the late day’s sun. The woman looked up from her cleaning and smiled warmly at Twilight.

“Why hello, darling,” she greeted with a little wave and a curious, barely rhotic upper- crust East Coast accent. “Come to enjoy a little rest and relaxation, as well?”

“So sorry,” Twilight excused herself, “I didn’t know the hot springs were taken.”

The woman simply laughed. “Oh, don’t be silly! There’s a whole lot of hot water to go around between the two of us, don’t you think?”

She beckoned Twilight, who slowly decided to strip off her smelly, dirty clothing and join in. However, the woman kept insisting Twilight keep her company in her pool. Twilight joined, reluctantly, as she had realized long beforehand that she really, really, really needed a bath, whereas this friendly, beautiful stranger looked as if she was ready to shoot some sort of erotic perfume commercial.

The women didn’t seem to notice, however, or at least she didn’t show any indications thereof. “What’s your name, darling? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you here before.”

“Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight introduced herself. “I’m, uh, kind of new to Canterlot.”

“Twilight Sparkle? Twilight Sparkle,” the woman repeated her name. “Now, I know I’ve heard that name before… ah!” She clapped her hands merrily. “Aren’t you Night Light’s daughter?”

Twilight grinned sheepishly. “The one and only.”

The woman gave a squeal of excitement. “Oh, I can’t believe it! Of all the people to meet in Canterlot, I run into Night Light Sparkle’s baby girl! I have to tell you, I’m such a huge fan of his… You know, the first time I ever saw your father in a movie, I thought to myself, “That man is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen with a six pack and baggy pants.”

Twilight shuddered, even though she was sitting in scalding hot spring water. “Yeah… apparently, you’re not the only one…”

“Oh, dearie, you really don’t remember me, do you?” the woman inquired with a smirk.

“Ummmm… sorry, I’m really bad with names.”

“Darling, we were in the same class at Harvard together.”

Twilight looked embarrassed. “We were? I’m sorry…”

The woman waved it off. “Pish posh, darling, the past is past. But you, you I remember! Twilight Sparkle, born with her father’s good looks and our class Valedictorian to boot, always in hiding underneath all those sweaters, hipster glasses, and stacks upon stacks of textbooks.”

Twilight understood now. She and this classmate of hers had obviously run in different circles at school, Twilight’s being much, much smaller in radius.

“You know, I once tried to get you to come to a party with me… it was being thrown by a sorority that I was trying to join, but as I recall you brushed me off, saying something like… now what was it… ‘I really don’t feel like becoming a Stepford Wife tonight.’”

Twilight blushed. “Yeah, sorry. I was going through an angry, rebellious phase… looooong after I had turned 18. Again, I sincerely apologize for the unnecessary bitchiness.”

“Oh, sweetheart, don’t worry!” the beautiful stranger laughed. “In the end, most of the sorority eventually did become Stepford Wives… in fact, it is I who owes you my sincerest gratitude for the early warning.”

Twilight laughed too and eased up a bit. “I’m really, truly sorry, but might I get your name again? I’m really bad with names.”

“It’s Rarity, darling, Dr. Rarity Belle,” the woman introduced herself with a flourish. “Linguistics Specialist nonpareil, with The Archaeology Division. I work on the Equestrian Codexes with Dr. Lyra Heartstrings.”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ve had the chance to meet her.”

“Oh, but you must! She’s an absolute gem, she is. A little on the kooky side, to be sure, but she is the one who taught me how to properly moisturize and tone your skin in the field!”

Rarity cocked her head at Twilight. “You know, you are positively gorgeous, darling.” She picked up her personal shampoo bottle. “May I?”

Twilight stared at her. “Um…”

Rarity didn’t even wait for an answer; she squeezed out a healthy glob of goo from her bottle, swam behind Twilight, and started to shampoo her hair.

“Okaaay… So, this is happening…”

“My stars, dearie, whenever do you find the time to untangle all of these knots?” Rarity rubbed Twilight’s scalp with a Tahitian vanilla and bergamot orange scented concoction. “And all of these split ends, don’t even get me started…”

“Yes, well- ow- that’s why I- ow!- prefer to wash my own hair, really- OW,” Twilight grumbled under the unwanted makeover attempt.

“Just a moment, darling- now, breathe in,” Rarity said before grabbing Twilight’s entire head and dunking her under the surface for a second. “And now- we condition!”

“I really don’t think this is necessary, at all,” Twilight spurted out water as she came up and Rarity squeezed out some more goo from a second bottle.

“Oh, but it is, darling. I even mixed this up especially for myself! Now, hold still,” Rarity was in the zone, her tongue clutched between her teeth.

“Do linguists usually adhere to such a strict beauty regimen?” Twilight asked sarcastically.

“They do if they’re me, sweetheart. And now- breathe in again!”

“Goddammi- “

SPLASH. Gurgle, gurgle. SPLASH.

When Twilight came up coughing for the second time, Rarity already had a comb in her hand.

“Please… have mercy upon me…”

“Oh, shush!” Rarity chuckled. “This is doing wonders for your volume, you know.”

For a few minutes, Twilight sat uncomfortably as Rarity hummed and combed through her hair. Twilight was pretty sure she had never, in a cumulative amount throughout her entire life, combed her own hair that much, ever.

“You know, darling, you’d have such great hair if you maintained it regularly. So shiny and full, it reminds me a lot of your mother’s.”

“You know my mother?” Twilight was surprised. “Do you corner her and force comb her hair, too?”

Rarity laughed gaily in response. “Oh no dearie, I’ve never really gotten the opportunity.”

“So, then… how do you know her?”

“Why, we work together, of course,” Rarity said as she worked out the last kinks in Twilight’s hair. “The Harmonics Division needs the upmost accuracy in translating Equestrian, so I’ve gotten to know Velvet very well. Such a nice woman; of course her daughter would also be nice, smart and pretty, as well. You Sparkles truly are a lucky bunch, aren’t you?”

“Yes, The Luck of The Sparkles,” Twilight responded flatly. “That’s exactly what it is.”

“All done!” Rarity suddenly exclaimed. “Oh, it turned out just beautiful, don’t you think? Don’t you just love it? Oh, I really think the genuine horn comb really straightened it all out just perfectly- I know an elderly Yupik woman who collects the material cruelty- free, just for me, in the wilderness of Alaska. Do you like it?”

Twilight was handed a mirror, and gasped. Damn, she was hot. Who would’ve thunk it?

Dillon, baby, eat your heart out, she smiled to herself.

“Wow, that’s just… wow.”

Rarity smiled in satisfaction. “You gave me a lot to work with, darling.”

“Twilight, Twilight, are you here?” a voice rang out from the trail behind them. “Twilight, I need to talk-“

Twilight and Rarity turned to see Spike stumbling out of the bushes, panting, and looking generally anemic.

“Twilight, I- OH GOD! You’re naked!” He covered his eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry- it’s just that you weren’t answering your eggo, and I got worried, um, and so Pinkie Pie helped me track it here, even though I’ve never been up here before, and, uh, when I heard ‘hot springs’ I thought you would be wearing a bikini- not that I was picturing you in a bikini- “

“Spike, it’s ok.” Twilight shook her head. “What is it?”

Still closing and shielding his eyes, Spike seemed to be locked in an immortal struggle between delivering his message and running away immediately.

“Um… well, when you’re done here, your mother wants to talk to you, and she told me to tell you that she promises to ‘explain everything’. She also told me that Director Everstar wants a word with you afterwards, too. I’ll take you to both of them when you’re, um… ready.”

“Alright, Spike, thanks.” Twilght responded, and then waited. “You can leave now, if you like.”

“Oh, do let him stay!” Rarity playfully shouted in Spike’s direction. “You know, it might be fun if we had a man around here, for once.”

When Spike heard Rarity’s voice, he made a jerking motion as if he were having a heart attack.

“Rarity- I mean, Dr. Belle?”

“Why hello, Spikey- Wikey, so good to see you again,” Rarity winked at Twilight, who looked amused. “Care to join us?”

Spike made a curious sound as if all the air in his lungs was being expelled at once. He hesitated in answering for a while, either because he was having trouble speaking or because he was doing some serious, serious thinking.

“I… I, uh… I really didn’t bring any soap with me…” he finally mumbled in a daze.

“Oh, it’s ok, darling, you can share mine,” Rarity replied rather seductively, “Although I do strongly suggest that you refrain from dropping it.”

“……………..”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Goodbye, Spike.”

“GOODBYE!” Spike ran back towards the trail, eyes still closed.

“I must say, he is really quite good at that,” Rarity observed as he missed running into all the trees. “And also, that was quite a lot of fun, don’t you agree?”

Twilight chuckled, and then sank back into the bubbling pool. “You are absolutely terrible.”
	
> Ch. 7- The Whole Truth (And Horse Puns)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight and Spike were standing together in an elevator that had been retrofitted inside The West Castle of Canterlot. Neither said anything; in fact, it had become quite awkward between the two of them ever since Twilight had unintentionally graced Spike with her naked presence. Alas, she was naked no more, wearing a fresh pair of jeans and a light, gauzy blouse that resembled a white kimono with elegant, abstract designs embroidered in red on the back and on the shortened sleeve cuffs. All in all, Twilight had to admit that she felt pretty freakin’ amazing after Rarity’s masterful (although admittedly non- voluntary) makeover.

“You know Rarity designed that top herself,” Spike finally spoke up as they neared the very uppermost floor. 

“Rarity?” Twilight giggled. “Ohhhh… so you two are on a first name basis.”

Spike blushed. “She used to be a designer … for a while after Harvard, I mean… but then she later decided to work for The State Department as a Foreign Service Officer, because, you know, she’s, like, a genius with languages… among other things…”

Twilight full- on laughed. “What are you, stalking her on Facebook?”

Spike blushed even harder. “Wh- What?! No!” He looked at the floor a little sadly and kicked at it. “Of course not…”

The elevator door beeped and opened. Twilight smiled, motioning for Spike to follow her.

“C’mon, Don Juan DeMarco, let’s go… we have a meeting to attend.”

The hallways in The Western Castle where the meeting was located were so much more inviting than those in The Barracks, with warmer yellows and browns coloring the walls, and cool, blue colored lights guiding the way. Spike, realizing that he was supposed to be leading Twilight, hurriedly stepped in front of her and began leading her down the gentler halls, still a veritable maze, though they appeared so much more welcoming.

Eventually, they reached a much larger, wooden doorway than the one at the general’s office, again covered in alien runes, but this one all white. Spike grunted as he heaved the weighty doors open to let himself and Twilight through.

Twilight walked in, glancing about her every which way. She was inside of a large chamber with an elaborately shaped ceiling that rose high above her. The walls were covered with frescoes of different ponies charging and even flying, and Twilight noticed that there were three different kinds of creatures, with horns and wings between them. In the center of the room stood a large, round brightly polished wooden table with wooden chairs arranged all around it edges. At the center of this table was an ancient, gray device that sort of looked like a glum, oversized metal gumdrop. The only other people in the room were Velvet and a woman Twilight had never seen before, both waiting patiently for the newcomers.

“Hello Spike, hello dear,” Velvet smiled and stood up from her chair as the pair walked in. She hugged her daughter. “How was the general?”

“You were right,” was all that Twilight replied to her mother, who grinned sympathetically and hugged her again. Velvet then looked her daughter over at arm’s length. 

“My, my, my, somebody’s looking fabulous today!”

Twilight looked at herself. “Oh, totally not my idea… but thanks.”

The other women smiled. “I take it you’ve met Rarity, then.”

“Quite a peach, isn’t she?” Velvet added. “And that hair…”

Twilight grinned. “Oh, you have no idea,” she and Spike said simultaneously, and quickly looked at each other. Spike blushed furiously.

“I don’t believe you’ve met Dr. Heartstrings, dear,” Velvet motioned to her companion, who shook Twilight’s hand.

“Dr. Lyra Heartstrings, Head of The Archaeology Division,” Lyra introduced herself warmly. She was a little older than Twilight, with short, spiky hair and amber colored eyes. Around her neck was a small, gold locket, similar in design to the strange- looking Amulet on The Sonic Rainboom, depicting a unicorn raring up on its hind legs. “You must be Velvet’s daughter. She’s told me so much about you,”

Twilight smirked at her mother while shaking Lyra’s hand. “Oh, really?”

Lyra laughed. “Oh, yes, she won’t stop talking about you all the time, it’s really quite adorable. Is it true that in college you tried to become an indie rapper under the stage name ‘Twilightlicious’?”

Twilight glared daggers at her mother, who was laughing hard right along with Spike.

“Ha ha ha ha, oh, how did that song go? ‘I’m The T to The W, I, L- I- G- H- T-‘ “ Velvet started rapping.

“That is the last time I EVER send you a link to my YouTube channel,” Twilight crossed her arms and huffed.

Dr. Heartstrings moved on, fortunately. “So I take it that you’re here for a little history lesson on Equestria, then?”

“Well, to be honest, I still don’t even really know what I’m doing here in the first place.”

Lyra smiled again. “Maybe we should start at the beginning, then. The very beginning.”

She motioned for Twilight to sit down at a chair, which she did, along with Spike and Velvet, who pulled a thermos out of her bag and presented it to Twilight.

"Coffee?!" she gasped in delight.

"Instant, dear," her mother smiled. "But I'm sure you don't mind."

Twilight responded by flinging away the combination lid and cup and downing the thermos greedily. 

When everybody was comfortable, Lyra took out a small remote control from her pants pocket and clicked it towards the giant gumdrop on the table. It buzzed to life and immediately emitted a bright blue glow. A gigantic hologram of the planet Earth, similar to the displays on the EGO, popped up for all to see.

“Sure kicks Powerpoint’s ass…” Twilight mused out loud.

“About a half a million years ago, long before we even took step outside of our ancestral homelands, our species was just starting to evolve into the modern Homo sapiens we are today,” Lyra began as they all gazed up at their planet, a big blue ball floating amidst the vast, speckled expanse. “During that time, something fell from the heavens which would interrupt that natural process significantly.”

Twilight watched as a rainbow- hued streak fired from somewhere out of the emitter’s range and fell towards Earth, the African continent in particular.

“Six extraterrestrial artifacts impacted Earth together, in Eastern Africa, objects whose origin and construction we still do not fully understand; objects which we’ve come to call The Elements of Harmony…”

Twilight watched as the emitter display followed the multicolored, glowing objects as they barreled through the atmosphere and eventually impacted against the surface of the Earth in a colorful splash of rainbows radiating outwards. The landing site was the barren, tan desert landscape of Ethiopia, only a little bit greener and with a little more trees. Twilight watched as a group of humans in stereotypical caveman attire approached the brightly glowing artifacts in a small crater; apparently, they did not land with that much physical force.

“The native inhabitants of East Africa at the time came into contact with the first and last set of extraterrestrial cultural artifacts ever discovered in human history. They didn’t understand them at the time anymore than we do now, but The Elements eventually became very sacred items in their prehistoric culture.”

“Very Kubrick- esque. Where’s the bone?” Twilight joked. Honestly, she didn’t know what to make of this.

“Quiet, honey, the feature’s starting,” Velvet replied in jest.

Lyra smiled as she continued. “No bones about it, Dr. Sparkle, this is the real deal, I assure you. However, the inhabitants also began to exhibit changes in their behavior as well. Though they were still physically lugging their bodies towards becoming modern humans, they had begun to form real language and accumulate more and more sophisticated technology to aid their increasingly sedentary lifestyle. In other words, they were turning into us. And fast,”

The emitter flashed forward some time, showing the following scenes: the humans had built their tribe into a collection of grass huts surrounding the artifact; a little later, the area surrounding them became a mish mash of agricultural fields; still later, the grass huts became wood and stone structures as the settlement expanded exponentially, then continuing evolving at breakneck speed until it turned into the city they were now sitting in, Canterlot.

“Who recorded all of this, anyway?” Twilight asked her mother.

She smiled. “The Elements.”

“After a few millennia,” Lyra continued, “the inhabitants finally reached the zenith of Equestrian culture. They had become much more technically advanced than even we are today, though the archaeological records and the Equestrian Codexes seem to indicate that, at their peak, they retained what we would now know as a feudal level of socio- political organization, with a monarchy coming to rule the undisputed center of Classical Equestrian civilization: Canterlot.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but- question,” Twilight finally saw her chance, “why exactly were these people called Equestrians, anyway? I keep on seeing a whole horse motif running through this place, but I can’t seem to understand why that is. I mean Canterlot?”

“Well,” Lyra tried to answer, “even though we now have Equestrian historical and archaeological records in our possession, and we’ve even learned to read the Equestrian language, we still don’t know what that language actually sounded like or what they even called themselves or their capital, beyond things like ‘the people’ or ‘the city’. It also seemed that, upon technologically evolving beyond the need for their horses, they elevated their prized animals to a religious standing and function, similar to the status of the cow in the much later Vedic and Hindu cultures. It became taboo to slaughter a horse or harm them, and they were incorporated into the mythology and rituals of the day, being bred into smaller and smaller pony breeds for non- riding related purposes. Hence, The Equestrians… and Canterlot.”

Wow… Pinkie Pie must’ve simply gone nuts when she found that out, Twilight thought to herself.

“Eventually, the Equestrians became too numerous to contain within Equestria itself, and the inhabitants soon became forced with a choice: colonize the rest of the planet, or find somewhere else to live. The Equestrians, however, seemed to have developed a strictly environmental and pacifist philosophy… at least at first.”

“Proto- hippies, got it,” Twilight jabbed again. Velvet nudged her disapprovingly.

The scene shifted to show great, big white and gold spaceships, rounded, blue- striped, cigar- shaped beauties with arrays upon arrays of yellow- tinged thrusters behind them, lifting off from the runway at Canterlot, towards the great big, blue sky above.

“ At the peak of their existence, the Equestrians decided to literally leave the world outside of their kingdom; the rest of planet Earth was designated as a sort of nature reserve, for the benefit of all plants, animals and non- Equestrian peoples. These other species of human beings did not seem to react in the same way to The Elements of Harmony as the Equestrians’ ancestors did, though they came to enjoy amicable trading relations with Equestria; The Equestrians themselves decided to leave the planet and find new, non- inhabited bodies to inhabit, presumably after extensive terraforming using their mind- numbingly advanced technology. To ease the difficult sort of voyaging required to colonize these faraway planets and moons, however, the Equestrians themselves needed to become more than they already were; thus, they began to genetically modify themselves. First, they needed to better control their complex power and propulsion systems; eventually a group of their own inhabitants accumulated certain genetic markers, very few of which we understand completely, in order to manipulate those technologies involving extremely complicated physical forces and principles… very of few of which even you’d understand, Dr. Sparkle,” Lyra smirked at Twilight, whose interest in the matter had finally peaked in earnest. 

The scene still was still on the Equestrian ships taking off, flying outside of Earth’s atmosphere, and disappearing in a multicolored flash amongst the stars.

“As their genetic modifications were passed on to their children, the first group became what we now know as the Unicorns, from the animal symbol which denotes them in The Equestrian Codexes. However, the Equestrians also needed specialists to operate and navigate their enormous arks to travel to their colonies faraway, especially precarious journeys if you realize that they travelled with engines capable of propelling them faster than light. Thus, another group was born through another set of genetic transformations, a group who would be able to feel almost at home in the hostile environment of outer space, to actually feel what the others couldn’t in the interstellar currents. We named this group The Pegasi after their symbol, a winged horse. Lastly, to accommodate the extremely vast amount of data it took to travel within and maintain the complex network of Equestrian colonies, some of which extended far beyond our solar system, the Equestrians needed a computer or a set of computers much more powerful than the rapidly aging mainframe that currently runs Canterlot. They eventually decided to endow another group with genetic modifications in order to allow them to store computer data and run programs through the human mind itself, in conjunction with existing Equestrian hardware, so that every member of this last group could act as either an individual or communal quantum computer. To us they are known as The Earth Ponies, mostly because of the unadorned horse symbol that denotes them. In the late era of Classical Equestrian civilization, the three groups began to symbolically imbue the reigning monarch with all three of their genetic modifications, in order to solidify the bonds between the now Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies. We call this period of the genetically combined monarchy ‘The Era of Alicorn Rule’, again because their symbol, which was inscribed on all of their royal documents and devices, is that of a winged, horned horse.”

The scene of migrating ships froze by Lyra’s remote command when Twilight raised her hand for another question. “So what you’re saying is that these people kinda looked like us, but had horns and wings on them?”

Lyra smiled. “No, Dr. Sparkle, they looked exactly like us. Observe,”

Lyra pressed her remote again. The scene changed to the runway of Canterlot again, where many different people were loitering around one of the ships, preparing to board. Twilight could’ve sworn the scene came from just yesterday, or not that long ago at the very most, as all the people looked like normal human beings. Sure, they were dressed in strange, colorful robe- like garments and had different hairstyles, but they were, without a doubt, human. The interesting thing was, the variation between their physical features was enormous and shocking for a single, ancient population; their skin tones ranged from black to brown to yellow and white, with all of the world’s racial features blended into every single possible combination between them; their hair and eyes not only reflected all the colors every human being could possibly possess on Earth, but also shocking pinks, greens, blues, purples, and even metallic colorations. Yes, they were human, but Twilight thought that they all looked a little too much like science fiction actors discussing their next scene. 

“Isn’t it amazing?” Lyra beamed, leaning on the table as she watched the long dead passengers. “Everything so deeply engrained in the history of human civilization, about how people who look differently from one another are separate kinds of people… the Equestrians took it all for granted. All of it, races and what have you, meant little more to them than simple, willfully intentioned aesthetics… you know, I really, really wish the government would let me publish that anthropological report I’ve been working on… sure, they let me post it online, for plausible deniability purposes, in the form of a My Little Pony® fanfiction- of all the things the government would allow, can you believe that?- not that I ‘m complaining about the ratings it got, but still- ”

“Lyra,” Velvet interrupted, reminding her that she was in the middle of giving a presentation.

“Oh- sorry!” Lyra giggled, realizing that she started going off on a tangent. “The Ancient Equestrians just fascinate me sooo much,”

Suddenly, Twilight realized that there was audio coming from the emitter; the passengers were talking amongst themselves as they prepared to leave Mother Earth, and Twilight could distinctly pick up some snatches of speech in between the general murmur:

“- Oh, Radiant Nova, this will truly be the start of a new life for us, together, can you picture it?- a life amongst the stars- “

“Yes, Moondancer, my beloved. How I love you so- “

“- I say, Starswirl The Bearded’s new treatise is the most important piece of Equestrian literature to date- “

“- Mommy, when we get to Crystallia, do you think there’ll be trees there as well? Snowdrop told me her mother said that they just started planting them, oh, I do hope- “

“Wait a minute,” Twilight shook her head as if she felt crazy, “they’re all speaking English. I even heard one of them say ‘Equestrian’. What’s up with that?”

Lyra smiled. “I guess this is your first time encountering The Alicorn Tongue Effect, huh?”

Twilight thought that sounded rather gross, to be honest. 

“…The what?”

“The Alicorn’s Tongue is sort of a universal translating program built into Equestria’s mainframe. It uses your EGO to measure what parts of your brain are activated during speech, and then estimates the meaning of your words so that it may, using the vocabulary and grammar of any language inputted into it, translate any one language into any other. The IT Division, with Dr. Belle’s assistance, has uploaded all of the world’s modern languages into Canterlot’s Mainframe; the result is that you can hear and understand the EGO transmissions from these Equestrians that were recorded millennia ago. Thus, to you and I, they sound like they’re speaking English, our native language, but to anyone else they could be speaking French, Chinese, Arabic, you name it.” 

Out of nowhere, Twilight started to think of Ali Wong Toussaint, the gorgeous foreign exchange student that she had gotten pretty serious with in high school; unfortunately, they could never really communicate anything meaningful to each other due to the language barrier, and so their relationship pretty much ended by senior year. 

Man alive, he was good- looking...

“Ahem... please, continue,” she snapped to attention and cleared her throat.

“The Classical Equestrian civilization period came to an abrupt and extremely violent end,” Lyra clicked her remote. “A plague soon began spreading throughout Canterlot and beyond, one which even their greatest medical technology could not stop.”

The scene was still Canterlot, but it was different. The city was dirtier, people were in the streets, shouting or crying next to piles upon piles of elaborate coffins, and for the first time Twilight saw what looked like Equestrian warriors about, bedecked in some sort of gleaming golden armor from head to toe, with golden helmets and slatted visors completely covering their faces, holding shiny silver weapons resembling rifles. 

“The reason why they couldn’t stop this new disease was because the virus was targeting the very pony markers that they had built into themselves. The Equestrians had, in a little less than a dozen millennia, artificially evolved at a tremendously rapid pace, and they soon found out that they didn’t know how to cure the sickness they had brought upon themselves. Their entire civilization began to crumble as millions of people succumbed to the illness.”

The scene changed again. Again, the city of Canterlot looked the same as before, but was now enclosed in a large bubble of energy as the view of the emitter shifted to high above it. Twilight nearly jumped as a large, black object screamed from behind her and dove towards the city with others like it following. It looked like a jet fighter but was more alien in design, very spikey and cruel; the fighter and its squadron fired upon the city’s force field, long, brilliant bolts of blue energy impacting the barrier again and again. Some sort of long, forked cannon- like device, also jet- black, popped up in the city below the shield and fired an even larger beam of blue light. As it reached the barrier, the projectile penetrated it with ease and completely annihilated the attacking objects in a big flash of fire and outwardly exploding shrapnel.

“God…” Twilight gasped in horror, her eyes bathed by virtual flames.

“As The Pony Plague tore through Equestria, unchallenged, the peaceful political and cultural atmosphere gave way to militarism and tyranny. Several competing factions fought for control, all to no avail. If they weren’t blowing themselves to smithereens, they were rapidly dying from the virus. Soon, the disease spread beyond the stars to the colonies, and, as they began to destabilize as well, all contact with Earth was cut off; subsequently, we hear no more about them in the historical record. In the end, they undoubtedly suffered the same fate as the Equestrians did.”

“And what did finally happen to them?” Twilight asked.

“As a society? Extinction,” Lyra clicked her remote, and the emitter turned off. She shook her head, as if she was silently judging the Equestrians themselves.

“After the start of The Equestrian Civil War, historical records become spotty at best. You must understand that The Pony Plague, as it viciously tore a person’s very genetic material to pieces, made the victim become very, very delusional, almost rabies- like in symptomatic presentation. Whatever historical records we have left from that period are extremely disturbing, to say the least. I highly doubt you’d want to watch as many gruesome massacres on emitter as I have.”

Twilight shuddered, trying to imagine it. She really wouldn’t.

“What we know is that the casualty count from both war and pestilence became too high, and that all of the remaining inhabitants who had half a mind left migrated en masse out of Equestria. In a delusional state brought on by her Plague infection, the last reigning Alicorn Queen closed up the city of Canterlot in a spacetime distortion using the very latest in Equestrian technology; she had become insanely paranoid of the city being attacked by outside forces, perhaps from one of the faraway colonies. Of course, any of the refugees could have returned using the single Alicorn Amulet they had stolen away and which somehow survives today, but apparently no one ever tried, as far as the very last Equestrian records tell us. From the closing of The Eye, The Elements of Harmony seemed to have ‘gone dark’, so to speak, until your mother later helped to restart them, so the rest of Canterlot’s fate is purely archaeology. US Special Forces were first sent through The Eye in 1990, shortly after scientists had learned to manipulate The Amulet using modern computer programming. They found Canterlot to be eerily empty as well as completely spotless, all except for one ghastly sight- the thousands of human skeletons which lay everywhere. It seems as if the remaining Equestrians, isolated by The Eye and finally succumbing to The Plague, had turned the city into an enormous open- air mausoleum. The soldiers had thus discovered the very inglorious end to the Equestrian civilization.”

“But… what happened to the refugees?” Twilight inquired, feeling a cold chill run down the length of her spine. “The ones who made it out of Canterlot? Did they succumb to the infection as well?”

Lyra nodded. “Initially many of them did, yes. From what we can tell from the last Equestrian stone inscriptions, they carried The Pony Plague with them beyond Equestrian lands. The tribes of non- Equestrian humans were both immune to the disease as well as sympathetic to these strange people, and took them into their primitive settlements, even trying to heal them as best they could; in the end, their shamanic magic couldn’t stop the virus, which lethally continued to ravage the artificially enhanced humans. However, as time went on, it seemed the last of the Equestrian doctors came to discover that some of the Equestrians had a natural immunity to The Plague or, at least, to its killing effects. These lucky few mostly stemmed from the Earth Ponies, the group who supposedly had the least amount of genetic modification done. All of the Alicorn royal family who had escaped, as well as most of the Unicorns and Pegasi remaining on Earth perished, leaving very little of them behind to trace, genetically. The Toba Catastrophe many, many generations later further reduced the number of their descendants. However, the Earth Ponies, who after becoming cut off from Equestrian technology reverted back to just ordinary, albeit highly developed, human beings, continued to thrive; they adopted, out of necessity, the hunter- gatherer lifestyle of their kin, eventually moving far beyond Africa and rediscovering, among other things, agriculture, technology, medicine, hatred, mistrust, and a lust for war. As the saying goes, the rest is history… and our prehistory too.”

Twilight sat in silence with the rest for a while, allowing it all to sink in.

“That’s it?” She asked plainly.

Lyra smiled, placing her remote on the table. “That’s it, Dr. Sparkle. Any questions?”

“So, that’s another reason why you call them Earth Ponies. Because the entire planet is descended from Earth Pony… people…”

“Not entirely,” Lyra continued. “There still remains traces of the Unicorns and the Pegasi in every single living person on Earth. When these ancient lineages pool together, as they may very rarely, their descendants might even accumulate enough genetic markers to become, for all technological intents and purposes, full- blooded.”

“But what about the Alicorns?”

“It would seem as if they did not survive to the present day.”

Twilight, slowly, knowing what she was about to ask, turned to her mother.

“…How exactly do you fit into all of this, again?”

Velvet smiled, brushing her daughter’s hair with her hand- petting her, really. 
“About fourteen years ago, I was approached by The US Government for The Equestria Initiative. It turns out they had finally discovered that Canterlot ran on a very unusual power source- the energy from The Elements of Harmony themselves. I was brought in to study and maintain them and… once I was in, Twi, once I really got started, you have to understand, it just…” she bit her lip and closed her eyes, starting over. “…You have to understand, dear, why I did it all. What we’re doing here together.”

Twilight’s hands were ice cold. Her brain was buzzing with all the sundry realizations bombarding it. 

So that was it, huh? She thought numbly. The explanation I’ve been waiting for all these years… right out of an archaeologist’s mouth, for the most part.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” she asked in an almost whisper. 

“Oh, honey… I just… couldn’t…” Velvet looked at her daughter apologetically.

There then was a heavy silence, which seemed to fill up the entire room without being satisfied, inanimate as it was. 

“I really… should be getting back to Harmonics,” Velvet finally spoke up, slowly. “And I think Luna Everstar would really like to see you now.”

Twilight blinked at her mother. Her hands came up to rub her eyes.

“Oh, yeah…” she gave a little sniff, “I’m just like dad around here, a real big- shot celebrity.”

Velvet smiled. She didn’t try to hug her daughter again; she knew better than that.

“Thank you, so much, for the explanation, Dr. Heartstrings,” Twilight got up to shake Lyra’s hand, “You should really option that into a movie. Maybe Stanley Kubrick would even want to direct it.”

“Um, Stanley Kubrick is dead,” Spike muttered from the side for the first time as he got up from his seat.

“At any rate, it was a real pleasure to finally meet you, Twilight,” Lyra bid farewell. “I do hope that you enjoy working here.”

“Thanks,” she smiled weakly as she and Spike headed for the door. Before they left, Twilight looked at Velvet again. 

“Guess I’ll see you later… mother?”

Velvet was visibly pained; she had a million and one things that she wanted to say to her daughter, right then and there.

“… See you soon, sweetheart.”

As Spike and Twilight got into the elevator, the uncomfortable, oppressive silence seemed to follow them right on their heels. Twilight didn’t say anything because her mind was still racing from what had turned out to be, after all, a paradigm- shattering reinterpretation of her world. She also mulled over the story that Dr. Heartstrings told, just not with quite the same importance. Spike was nervously silent, but he kept on giving her long glances until she just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Yes, Spike?” she finally asked, as gently as possible.

“So… uh… you and your mom don’t really-“

“No, Spike.”

“And both of you are-“

“That’s correct.”

Spike’s brow furrowed. He needed to think really hard about what he was going to say next if he didn’t want to upset Twilight any further.

“Sooooo… is that ‘Twilightlicious’ song still available on YouTube, by any chance?”

Twilight just sighed.
	
> Ch. 8- The People vs. Twilight Sparkle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Iron Will sat at his desk, signing papers as usual. A knock issued from his door, and he put down his pen neatly, as if he were expecting it.

“Enter,” he gruffly answered.

The door was opened by his guard and in walked Rainbow Dash. She saluted him curtly after she had approached his desk.

“At ease,” Iron Will commanded, and Dash complied. 

“You wanted to speak with me, sir?”

“Lieutenant Alexandrova, yes,” Iron Will leaned forward in his chair. “As I understand it, The Sonic Rainboom’s Eye run today turned out to be quite a bit of an adventure, am I right?”

Dash smirked. “Nothing I couldn’t handle, any day of the week… sir,”

Iron Will smiled. “You’ve got a good attitude, lieutenant, I like that. I really wish we had at least ten more of your kind flying the Ponyville- Canterlot Express.”

Dash slightly grimaced; she couldn’t, with all her mental faculties, possibly imagine any sort of carbon copies of herself running around the place, not even if it was just one little one. No, she was definitely unique.

“…Thank you, sir.”

“So, I was reading over your report of the incident during the run, and I was wondering if you’d like to give me your account of it firsthand.”

“Well, sir, it’s all pretty much in there. I don’t think I could really add anything further,”

“Try me,” Iron Will leaned back in his chair. “Tell me, sailor, what do you make of this Dr. Twilight Sparkle?”

“…Which one, sir?”

Iron Will chuckled. “Why, the newer model, of course. She first came to Canterlot on your flight, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what do you make of that one?”

Dash shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “I don’t know, sir. Just another egghead to me, I guess.”

Iron Will smiled, picking up Dash’s report from his desk and skimming over it. “From what you’ve written here, lieutenant, it would seem as if she wasn’t just another egghead on that flight.”

Dash shifted in her stance. “Well, sir, to be honest I really don’t know what to make of that run. It just happened how it happened, sir.”

Iron will raised a brow at her. “And is everything always so clear cut to you, sailor?”

Dash smirked. “Pretty much, sir.”

Iron Will laughed again. “So, tell me about what happened in The Rainboom’s cockpit. With Twilight Sparkle there,”

Dash cleared her throat, and then started to explain. “Well, we had barely made it to the perimeter of The Alicorn Eye. The Rainboom was shaken up pretty badly, we’d been hit by lightning a couple of times, and we were having trouble maintaining our altitude. Anyway, I called some of the civilians to come up to fix The Amulet, which was just goin’ haywire, and both Sparkles showed up with an IT nerd, a really weird one, in tow. I thought we were going to die, sir- no egghead was gonna save our asses, no way in hell. Then, the younger Sparkle touched the Amulet, and… well… it’s all there in the report, sir.”

Iron Will nodded. “But what happened after Twilight Sparkle directly touched The Amulet? In your own words.”

Dash scratched the back of her head. “I… I don’t know sir. I’d never seen anything like it. The Eye just… opened, bigger and clearer than it ever did before. It also fired some kind of a force field, or something, must’ve cleared the entire sky away. From there it was easy sailing, considering we were barely able to keep afloat up there. In all my runs here, sir, I’ve never seen that storm clear out the way it did. Some of the older boys even tell me that it’s been raging ever since Uncle Sam first got here after WWII. I just… I don’t know how to explain it, sir.”

Iron Will thought for a moment, staring at her. “Well then, sailor, it’s a good thing that you’re not being paid to think.”

Dash looked away from him in silence.

“And just what do you make of this Twilight Sparkle, personally, lieutenant?” Iron Will went on. “It’s not everyday somebody comes to just clear away ancient storm cells with the touch of a hand, now, is it?

Dash tried to think about her answer beforehand. “Besides that, sir? Honestly? She seemed just like any other civilian. I fly them all the time, sir… she never really struck me as being exceptionally odd, at least not for a civvie.”

Iron Will examined Rainbow Dash carefully, leaning forward again so he could be then heard with the upmost clarity. 

“My question is, Alexandrova…” he phrased his words very slowly, “do you believe Twilight Sparkle to be… dangerous? To this base… my base… in any way?”

Dash blinked. Her mouth opened, and then closed, and then opened again to speak.

“She’s… just an egghead, sir.”

Iron Will continued to stare at Dash for a long time. She looked right back at him, giving him the coolest stare that she could muster.

“That will be all, lieutenant,” Iron Will finally ordered as he shuffled more papers at his desk.

Rainbow Dash just saluted him wordlessly, and left the office. When his door was closed and the guard before it was out of sight around the corner, Dash stopped walking and looked back for a moment; disturbed, she frowned deeply in the direction of the general’s office. She then sighed, restyling her colorful hair before continuing on her way.


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



“You’ve met Luna Everstar before, haven’t you?” Spike asked Twilight as they walked towards the director’s office.

“Only once, I think… at a Halloween party at the President’s house after graduation. I really didn’t get to know her very well, actually. But, if anybody can tell me what I’m doing here, she surely can.”

The door to the director’s office was situated right in the middle of Canterlot’s Main Castle; it was another Equestrian designed wooden door, this one speckled with what looked like silver stars and a deep blue, as if the wood itself was naturally colored that way. Spike knocked on it, and they both waited for an answer.

“Come in,” a cool female voice beckoned from within.

Spike pushed it open and Twilight walked in before Spike closed it again behind her. Twilight found herself in a very normal- looking government administrator’s office, save for how little light there was; there were papers and notices everywhere, but it all seemed to be organized in a certain way (and, boy howdy, did she know about organization), as if to give off a visual reminder of the nature of the director herself. Against one wall was a beautiful oak bookshelf stuffed very neatly with what looked like law tomes (ditto, books); the opposite end of the room from the door was a large, seamless window, curving and flowing with the castle walls, giving a clear and majestic view of Canterlot at night. The city was twinkling with all the retrofitted lights that had been put into place, with the complete darkness of the remnants of Equestria within The Eye ever expanding behind it. Sitting in front of this window was the director herself; she was somewhere in age between Twilight and Celestia, with pale, smooth skin that could rival Rarity’s, but with a less voluptuous frame than the linguist’s. Her long, flowing, slightly wavy hair was pure black, almost as if it absorbed light into itself, and her eyes were an almost aquamarine color; they appeared deep and seemingly in contemplation as she watched Twilight enter. She was wearing a very dark blue business suit and a spotless white blouse with the shirt collar over her jacket’s. Her light but skillfully done makeup included a touch of blue eyeshadow, as well as a different shade of blue covering the lips that smiled gently at Twilight as she entered.

“Twilight Sparkle, we meet again,” The Director greeted.

“Director Everstar, it’s been a long time. So good to see you again.”

Luna smirked. “You may call me Luna, Twilight. I’m sure my sister would most heartily approve,”

Twilight fidgeted. “With all due respect, Director, I’m not sure that I can in, good conscience, call the both of you by your first names.”

Luna just continued smiling gently at her desk. “Please, do sit down.”

Twilight nodded and then sat down in a very comfortable chair across from Luna.

“So, I take it you met with General Armstrong shortly after you landed?”

“Yes… indeed I did,” Twilight answered, a little darkly.

Luna smiled, picking up on her sentiment. “Let me guess: the scotch metaphor, perhaps?”

Twilight blinked at her, and then smiled back. “Is that, like, some sort of thing around here?”

“Oh, you really don’t even know the half of it,” Luna replied. “Let me guess further: he went on about the right amount of master blending, and he most likely threw the word “seasoning” in there, somewhere…”

“Alright, now, this is just getting scary.”

Luna looked down at her hands, and then looked up, smiling. “Did you happen to notice that he drinks single malt scotch, exclusively?”

Twilight gave her a funny look, and then started to smile, too. “No, I didn’t quite catch that. But my mother did warn me about him,”

Luna crossed her arms, looking at her with interest. “And just what did Velvet Sparkle happen to say?”

Twilight grinned at her, sheepishly. “She reminded me of a time when I was little, when our family took a big African safari trip together. I brought Hungry, Hungry Hippos with me, and, being six, I was really excited to see those colorful buggers up close, maybe even hand out some oversized plastic marbles. Mother took me aside, and she told me, very worriedly, that hippos were big, dangerous creatures that would attack you, even without provocation. She told me to steer clear of them, to give them as much space as I could if I ever saw one.”

Luna nodded, seriously. “Wise instructions.”

“Well, she pretty much is Yoda, if you think about it.”

Luna smiled again. “Yes, I have come to greatly trust and depend on your mother. Without her, none of this would even be possible.”

Twilight clucked her tongue. “Yeah… so everybody keeps telling me.”

“Have they told you why you are here?”

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. “God, no. Could you perhaps enlighten me, please, Dr. Everstar?”

Luna grinned and shook her head. “Twilight, you are the brightest, most creative physicist living today. Your mother certainly believes that you have much, much more raw talent than she could ever hope to possess.”

Twilight raised a brow. “She said that? Velvet Sparkle actually said that,”

“Why, yes,” Luna responded calmly, picking up on her sentiments again. “You do not believe it is so?”

Twilight thought for a while. “Well, if we have a corroborating witness, then I guess I’ll just have to accept the testimony as it is presented… for now,”

Luna chuckled gently. “Twilight Sparkle, it really is such a pity that you ended up dropping my law classes at Harvard.”

Twilight blushed, embarrassed, yet again, by another one of her former teachers. “I’m sorry, Dr. Everstar- it’s just that I already had too many credits, so the dean forced me to graduate- plus, the semester hadn’t even really started-“

Luna put her hand up to stop her. “Twilight … I understand that you were a very busy young woman. I simply wish to see if I can make use of what you had learned in all of your other classes.”

Twilight crossed her legs and settled in her chair. “What do you need, Director?”

Luna got up from her chair and gazed out of her window. “As you can plainly see, Dr. Sparkle, the US military believes that they have a strict monopoly in Canterlot. They were, after all, the first ones in Equestria, and for a long time afterwards, scientists such as yourself were relegated to catering to their every whim, or simply observing what they could. After Velvet’s groundbreaking work on The Elements of Harmony, however, things became radically different. Today, it is the civilian component of The Equestria Initiative that most attracts the government’s attention, guaranteeing the massive amounts of funding which keep this city well- oiled. However, General Armstrong, as you can also plainly tell, is not satisfied with the current status quo, as it were. He has been pushing the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop The Elements into a viable strategic weapon for the United States, a move which both my sister and I most heartily disapprove of, and have been fighting for years to resist.”

“Well, begging your pardon, Director… but doesn’t President beat scissors?” Twilight asked.

Luna smiled at her, and then turned to the window again, arms behind her back. “In ordinary matters, I would believe so, Twilight Sparkle. But Equestria is no ordinary matter. You yourself must have seen all of the scientific and humanitarian potential that this last bastion of our highly intelligent, if ultimately misguided, forbears holds for this entire world, not just for our nation. The military knows that; in the end, though, all the generals ever want to hear about is how sharp a stick we can fashion for them… the ideas for the non- violent applications that the Initiative will eventually produce simply go in through one ear and out through the other.”

“That’s all very intellectually stimulating, Dr. Everstar,” Twilight responded, carefully, “but I really don’t see the exact reason why I’m sitting here, right now.”

Luna turned back around to face Twilight, hands still behind her back. 

“Why, to save The Equestria Initiative, of course.”

Twilight shook her head in confusion. “I’m sorry, I think I seriously misunderstood you, Director. It sounded like you were asking me to save all of Equestria.”

Luna said nothing and only continued to look at her.

“Wait… wait a minute, you’re serious?” Twilight was taken aback.

“As I stated before, Twilight, you are perhaps the single most prodigious scientific talent that this world possesses. Who better than you to show the US Military that Canterlot is more than just an expensive weapons factory?”

Twilight was at a loss for words. She kept nervously crossing and uncrossing her legs.

“What would I even do here?”

“Well, for starters, discover a way to better harness The Elements of Harmony. Take the working principles behind the devices and utilize them for the greater good. Free, boundless energy for all, the manipulation of the very fabric of reality itself… do you not believe, Dr. Sparkle, as Celestia and I do, that such power should never be placed inside of a bomb, but instead channeled into things much better for our own collective well- being?”

“But what about Velvet?” Twilight asked in return. “She is waaaay more than competent enough to do all of that for you, ha ha ha, for sure.”

“Velvet Sparkle doesn’t seem to think that she’s the one for the job.”

“What, Superwoman? Pony feathers!” Twilight was getting nervously flippant now as the enormity of what Luna was presenting fully dawned on her. “Once, I was trapped under a school bus, and fueled by her adrenaline alone-“

“Twilight Sparkle,” Luna interrupted curtly in a voice that sounded all too similar to Celestia’s. Twilight immediately stopped talking. 

Damn… She can be kind of scary when she wants to be...

“This is serious,” Luna scolded her, though her voice dropped its stern, scary tone a bit. “I know full well that it is not your greatest desire to be put in such a position; however, if there is any chance of stopping General Armstrong and his kind from destroying the entire planet with a push of a button and, trust me, that day will come, then you must put aside your selfishness and your insecurities… we need you, Dr. Sparkle, whether you like it or not.”

Twilight looked down. “Celestia, she… she said that I had a choice…”

Luna, realizing that she was speaking a little too harshly, sighed and calmed down. “Yes, Twilight, you will always have a choice, I will make sure of that… however, I am not Celestia, and I will not let the fate of the Equestrians be repeated once more- not if I can do everything possible in my power, in this city, to help it.”

Twilight was silent for a while before looking up to Luna. “What else do you need me to do?”

“Become the new Head of The Development Division. The scientists there have been working since The Elements were reactivated to harness any and all Equestrian technology into more practical, usable forms. Unfortunately, no one can quite perform the same sort of magic that you do so well, Dr. Sparkle, and The Development Division has become a sort of a ‘black sheep’, as it were, for the entire Initiative, giving ‘Iron Will’ Armstrong the opportunity to press for more and more military control of Equestria. Your job will be to clean up and reorganize Development, to get it producing again; whatever it takes to give Celestia what she needs to fight the military and their fatal designs.”

Twilight felt a little dizzy and sick, and it wasn’t because of the crappy instant coffee she had drank earlier. Her? The head of an entire research lab? In motherfuckin' Equestria, no less. She wasn’t prepared for this. She hadn’t even really made a home for herself, never had a chance to get engaged, hadn’t even, after all these years, paid off her crappy Honda Civic. In other words, Twilight Sparkle hadn’t even had the chance to build a real life for herself, the kind of life she had always wanted. And now everybody was just asking her to potentially throw it all away, for what?

To become just like HER. 

Twilight cleared her throat, brushed her bangs out of her eyes, and looked straight at Luna.

“With all due respect, Director, I appreciate this once- in- a lifetime, golden really, opportunity that you’re handing to me, but… I think… I… I think that if it’s really my decision, then I need some more time to think about it before I give you my definite reply.”

Luna stared at her calmly, and nodded. 

“Of course, Twilight. For all that I’m asking from you, all that I wish to place upon your shoulders… I would expect nothing less.”

Twilight, trembling a bit, shook Luna’s hand as she got up to leave. “It was nice to see you again, Dr. Everstar.”

Luna tried to smile warmly at Twilight as she shook her hand back. 

“Likewise, Twilight Sparkle. I shall wait for your answer… in the meantime, I do sincerely hope that you keep away from any more hungry, hungry hippos.”
	
> Ch. 9- All That Glitters Is Not Golden Delicious
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Iron Will sat at his desk, signing papers as usual. A knock issued from his door, and his writing hand froze momentarily. He had not been expecting anyone.

“Enter,” he replied.

The guard opened the door and Applejack walked in. She saluted him as the guard closed the door behind her.

“At ease, soldier,” Iron Will ordered, and she relaxed. 

“I’ve been meanin’ to talk ta ya, General, sir,” Applejack stated as she stood before him.

The general put his pen down and leaned on his desk. “And what could this possibly be about, Lieutenant Smith?”

Applejack shifted her feet. “About the assignment I’ve been given, sir.”

Iron Will continued to stare at her. “Yes?”

“I don’t think I’m the best person for the job, sir, and I respectfully request ta be discharged from it… sir,” Applejack explained.

Iron Will, without even taking a breath, resumed his paperwork. 

“Denied.”

Applejack just continued to stand there.

Iron Will, seeing that she wasn’t in the process of leaving his office, sighed and put down his pen again. “Was there something else, lieutenant?”

“Permission ta speak freely, sir,” Applejack mustered up the courage to ask.

Iron Will looked amused. “Granted.”

“Begging the general’s pardon, but… I was jus’ wonderin’ why I was picked for this assignment in the first place, sir.”

Iron Will smirked. “Is somebody not happy about being given a cushy babysitting gig?”

“It’s not that sir, it’s just… well…” Applejack struggled to find her words.

“Lieutenant, how long have you been in Canterlot?”

“Goin’ on a year, now, sir.”

“And you were at Fort Benning before that, assigned as an instructor at the Sniper School, correct?”

“Yes, sir, I was.”

“Yes, yes,” Iron Will snapped his fingers, “As I recall, you got the best marks on the firing range and during combat exercises that Benning had ever seen in its entire history… is that also correct?”

“Yes, sir, but you already-”

“So, my question is, Lieutentant Smith… what the hell are you even doing on my base, anyway?” Iron Will’s piercing stare met Applejack’s eyes. “I mean, surely the Army’s bonafide best sniper should be able to join up with her brother as he fights America’s terrible enemies in the boonies somewhere, shouldn’t she? I mean, the fact that she’s a woman, aside.”

Applejack’s intestines felt like they were burning with acid. The worst part was that she had already heard most of this before, multiple times.

“With all due respect, general, I’m not askin’ ta join mah brother in Delta Force, I’m jus’ asking ya ta let me outta this here assignment… sir.”

“I would think,” Iron Will laughed, “that most of the military personnel on this base would be happy to be getting such special treatment in exchange for, what is essentially, a mall cop job… following mischievous young people around all day, making sure they’re not getting into all sorts of trouble…”

Applejack looked down at the floor and shuffled her feet.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you forget about the little deal that we made? The reason you literally begged me for this job when I gave you the chance, lieutenant?”

“N- no, sir… I just… I…”

“Oh, I see,” Iron Will nodded in mock wisdom. “Your conscience starts acting up, and all of a sudden you feel brave enough to renege on our deal.” He leaned forward. “Is that what you really want, Applejack?”

She looked at him, breathing a little hard. “No, sir… I just… I… why did ya even pick me for this assignment in the first place?”

Iron Will laughed again. “Because Twilight Sparkle trusts you, lieutenant. You’re charming, in your own Green Acres, The Waltons, country- bumpkin sort of way. She’s taken a real liking to you. Most importantly, though…” he looked hard at her to emphasize his next point, “you don’t look like a soldier.”

Applejack’s ground her molars in her mouth, but she didn’t say a word. 

“Oh, yes, your brother… that reminds me…” Iron Will snapped his fingers again and reached under his desk. “I have something for you…”

Applejack’s eyes became as big as dinner plates when the general pulled a small, nondescript brown package out and placed it on his desk.

“The complete and still classified, I might add, whereabouts of a certain Major Robert Macintosh Smith, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment- Delta… I believe they call your brother ‘Big Mac’… isn’t that right, Applejack?”

Applejack just kept on staring at the package. Her heart raced; she thought to herself, over and over again, he’s alive, he’s alive…

“When did that come in… sir?” she asked him.

“Hot off the presses, this one, just came in a couple days ago,” Iron Will smiled, wagging the parcel in front of her. “And, as part of the ‘good behavior’ clause in our contract, a certain benevolent general might have even pulled a few strings to allow ‘Big Mac’ to record a virtual postcard to his dear sister… all in one neat, tiny, little package. Modern technology is really just amazing, don’t you think so, lieutenant?”

If Applejack had been able to, right at that moment, crane kick the general in the face and run off with the package, she would have been extremely happy on all accounts. Instead she continued to stand there, mute.

“Of course, if you really, really find the assignment that I’ve so graciously handed to you to be, just, intolerable, well…” Iron Will pulled the package closer to him, away from Applejack, who unconsciously started after it. “…I’m sure that the Pentagon would be reeeaaal happy if Major Smith’s current whereabouts and clandestine activities stayed wrapped up… real tight.”

Applejack looked down at the floor in defeat.

Iron Will smiled. “I didn’t think so, either. Good choice, soldier.”

He tossed the package out on the table, as one would toss food scraps to a stray dog. Burning, Applejack slowly took the package in her hands.

“Now, I want a full report on Twilight Sparkle’s every movement, her every activity in Canterlot, in stunning, poetic, Shakespearean detail by tomorrow morning, 0600 hours. And I want a report every single day after that, until The Good Lord sees fit to finally rid my base of her preening, precocious little ass, or I tell you otherwise. You will weasel your way into whatever pathetic little group she surrounds herself with and ingratiate yourself to her. Do whatever it takes. I want her to truly believe that you’re her bestest, bestest gal pal in the whole entire world. Most importantly,” he leaned forward, his eyes piercing Applejack’s very soul, “I want you to let me know if she becomes a danger to Canterlot, in any way, and if we need to take any… precautionary measures in such an event. Is that understood, soldier?”

Applejack couldn’t look him in the eyes anymore.

“…Yes, sir.”

“Good, good…” Iron Will cocked his head. “You know, if I don’t hear anymore bitching or moaning from you, lieutenant, I might just be so inclined to pull a few more strings… maybe even grant you clearance to return your brother’s correspondence.”

Applejack’s head rose quickly and she stared at him with her mouth agape.

“However, I guess only time will tell… won’t it?” Iron Will gave one last smile before returning to his paperwork. “Dismissed,”

Applejack stood there like a zombie for a few seconds. Iron Will just continued working, as if she had already left. After a while, she coughed and then saluted him briefly before walking back outside again, her precious package still tightly clenched in her hands. 

Applejack drove from the barracks to a secluded part of the Canterlot mountainside. Above, the stars were shining brightly, as if they were trying to outdo the city lights. Applejack couldn’t have cared less; when she thought she was secure and alone, she pulled over into the forest on the side of the road, and with a sort of desperation tore open the package to reach the contents inside. She pulled out a small piece of plastic, opaque, white, and very unassuming, and then quickly jammed it onto the surface of her EGO. The device started to glow and beep as it read the data, and when the little chip had turned completely clear, Applejack threw it away and began reading the information that had come from it. Her eyes darted over the map coordinates and satellite read outs, and she sighed a breath of relief. It was ironic, really; he was so very close, on the same continent to be exact, but still worlds and an Alicorn Eye away. Applejack turned towards the western sky and wondered if he was still up, watching the same exact stars that she was.

Carefully, she started to play his recording. Her EGO whirred and a hologram of a young man, not too much older than she was, popped up. He had the same exact eyes and freckles that she possessed, but his messy, red hair had been almost cropped out of existence. He looked tired and muddy, but Applejack’s heart was thumping faster than she ever thought could be possible as she realized that, at least until a couple of days ago, her brother was still alive and in one piece.

Big Mac looked at the camera, smiling but looking a little unsure.

“Sis? I really hope ya get this… I can’t thank ya enough, Applejack, ya don’t know how much it means to me ta be able ta talk to you.” 

Applejack’s hand went to her mouth as she gasped with emotion.

“I can’t imagine what ya must’ve pulled ta get this ta happen, but…” Big Mac laughed, “Eeyup, I’ve never really been one fer talkin’, you know that better than anybody. But, I’ll give it a good try…”

Big Mac started to describe his day, but Applejack couldn’t hear him at all as she started sobbing uncontrollably into her arms on the lonely mountainside.


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



Twilight was tired. Dead tired. She shuffled her feet as she made her way down yet another vast hallway situated inside of The Main Castle. With a sigh of relief, she made it to the door of the room where she would be staying. She took out the little key card that was supposed to unlock it, and swiped it on the pad, expecting to be greeted by warm sheets and maybe her own little coffee maker. Instead, the light on the pad glowed an angry red and spat a buzzing sound at her. She tried it again, but it still reacted in a quite pissy manner.

“Shiiiiiiit,” Twilight cursed as she swiped it over and over again, to no avail. Exhausted, she banged her head on the door in frustration, and a few moments later it opened on its own. Twilight fell forwards a little bit, and then looked up to see her mother.

“Card not working? Happens all the time, dear, you should really have duplicates made,” she greeted.

“What in the name of all that is good and holy are you doing in my room, mom?” Twilight groaned.

“I just wanted to see how your meeting with Luna went, honey,” Velvet explained as her daughter trudged into the room and immediately plopped herself on the bed. “Apparently, not very well.”

“You knew what she wanted to ask me, didn’t you?” Twilight was barely audible with her face in the comforter. “I heard you say ‘Development Division’ when we entered Ponyville, mother.”

Velvet sighed and sat down next to her. 

“Yes, I did.”

Twilight just lay there, and Velvet half- wondered if she had fallen asleep.

“So… what did you tell her?”

Twilight sat up, facing her mother. “Oh, you know, that I really needed to get two weeks notice from the college first… paperwork, and all…”

“Twilight, what did you say?”

Twilight groaned and fell back onto the bed. “I told her I’d think about it, ok? Being the Head of Development isn’t something you take very lightly, apparently.”

Velvet looked pensive for a minute, and then her face seemed to light up. “Oh! While I was waiting for you, I prepared a little treat!”

Her daughter looked on quizzically as Velvet ran excitedly into the bathroom. As she was in there, a wonderful, exotic Caribbean fragrance began wafting out, and Twilight watched as Velvet reemerged, smiling, with a hot pot of fresh coffee.

“JAMAICA BLUE MOUNTAIN,” Twilight screamed in happiness and wonder as she immediately got to her feet.

Velvet giggled and nodded. “Your father sent me a small bag ages ago, and I found it in my drawer today. I thought it might cheer you up,”

Twilight immediately ran over and tightly hugged her mother who only laughed harder.

“The love of a junkie… eh, I’ll take what I can get,”

“Yesyesyesyesthankyouthankyouthankyou,” Twilight was ecstatic.

Velvet smiled and began pouring out two mugs. She thought of what to say as her daughter drank her coffee, happily making very loud slurping sounds in the process.

“You know, I’m the one who recommended you for the position. I even told Luna that I thought that you were the only person who could do it.”

Twilight lowered her mug. “Do you really think that I’m more talented than you?”

Velvet brushed her daughter’s hair. “Oh, honey, of course I do. I always have, even when you were just an itty- bitty talented baby. My special little Twilight, ready to take on the world.”

Twilight’s face fell. “Mom, I don’t think I can handle this. It’s all too much. I won’t do a good job.”

Velvet clucked her tongue in protest. “Sweetie, of course you can handle it. I know you, you’re my own daughter.”

“No, mom, I’m serious,” Twilight brushed her mother’s hand out of her hair. “This is all getting out of control… I step off the plane, and in less than 24 hours I get blasted by an army general, learn the real, secret history behind all of humanity, and then get blasted again, this time by the President’s little sister. Everybody wants something from me, wants me to do something, and you know what? I don’t wanna do a single damn thing! I just want to lie here, drink my coffee, and forget, just forget, that I’m currently lying smack dab in the middle of The Motherfucking Kingdom of Equestria- excuse the language,”

Velvet looked down at her lap. “Twilight, you have to understand, this is so much bigger than you or I-“

“No, you know what, mother? I don’t have to understand a goddamn thing. I went through years and years of advanced calculus, and look where I am now! Maybe, just maybe,” she pointed at Velvet, “the real key to being really, truly happy? Understanding absolutely nothing at all.”

Velvet sighed. “Another cup, dear?”

“Of course.”

As Velvet poured out another cup, she decided to change her approach.

“You know, if you get up early tomorrow you can come with me, you know, to check out my lab,” She smiled. “Now, wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Where is your lab, exactly?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, outside of Canterlot, in the ruins of an ancient Equestrian temple. It’s the original location where The Elements were discovered, and where they still reside to this day.”

Twilight looked at her mother. “Mom, just what are The Elements of Harmony, anyway? I mean, really? You can give it to me straight, don’t spare any of that sweet, juicy physics mumbo- jumbo.”

“Really, dear?” Velvet smiled at her daughter. “I don’t have a single clue.”

“…But you’re the head of the Harmonics Division.”

“Twilight, sometimes, in life… sometimes you just gotta throw your heart wide open. You gotta realize that there are things out there, way beyond that which we can feel and measure. Only then,” Velvet gazed deep into her daughter’s eyes, “can you even begin to understand The Elements of Harmony.”

“…Okaaaay,” Twilight replied. “Is there, like, some sort of cult in Canterlot that you’ve recently joined? You sure don’t sound like the Velvet Sparkle that I remember,”

Velvet smiled knowingly. “The Elements aren’t just an energy source, honey, or a weapon, or a singularity, or anything that we’ve ever seen or comprehended before. The Elements are a guarantee to all of humanity that, if used wisely, everything can and will turn out all right. We just have to keep our hearts open.”

Twilight thought about her mother’s words before responding.

“Seriously, mother, are you growing a hydroponic pot farm in your lab? Do you hear yourself right now? What happened to the woman who taught me to always check my logic, never rely on feeling alone, and to only trust in what I can calculate and then subsequently recalculate? What happened to her?”

Velvet shrugged her shoulders. 

“People change, dear.”

Twilight just shook her head slowly. “Must be some good dope down in Harmonics...”

“Twilight, don’t you think you’re being just a tad bit immature about all of this?”

Twilight snorted. “Oh, I’m immature? I’m the one being immature? Oh, I’m sorry, I’m just a little confused as to when my mother turned into Mother Teresa.”

“Is this because I never told you about The Equestria Initiative before?” Velvet’s eyes registered worry. “Honey, do you not want to take the position because you’re angry with me?”

Twilight laughed. “Oh, that would just make your day, wouldn’t it?”

“Twilight, baby, I don’t know when you’ve come to think that I… hate you so much, but…”

“You wanna know why? ‘Cus maybe if I had a mother who hated me, I could kinda understand why she left me for so long.”

Velvet’s eyes glistened. “Honey…”

“No, I want to get this off my chest mother, it’s about damn time,” Twilight jumped off the bed in a caffeine- fueled rage. “you know why I don’t wanna take this job? You really wanna know why? Yes, it’s because of you, mother. All my life you’ve kept on saying that you loved me, but you’ve never even gave me the time of day. And now I’m supposed to put my entire life on hold, isolate myself from everything and everyone that I could have, just to make you happy? To work with you? Well, that sounds like a pretty shitty deal to me, mom, I’m sorry.”

Velvet started crying, but Twilight pressed on. Sure, she felt completely rotten in doing so, but the words seemed to be just pouring out of her after years of hiding underneath a snarky exterior.

“And I guess you’ve changed, not that I have the sufficient data to prove such a theory, I’m really just extrapolating from what I know,” She pressed on, “but what about us, mom, what about your family? While you were off discovering yourself and getting enlightened, why couldn’t we come with you?” Twilight sniffed, her eyes watery. “Did you even love us?”

“Now, wait just a minute,” Velvet finally spoke up, choking on her tears. “I have never, ever, ever stopped loving you, Shining Armor, or your father. Don’t you ever believe that I could ever stop loving any of you.”

“Sure got a funny way of showing it, don’t you, Velvet Sparkle?” Twilight cruelly mocked. “You know that dad’s never dated another woman in fourteen years? Night Light Sparkle, the Hollywood heart throb, women still crawling all over him in his middle age, and he still pines away for you, every single day of his life. Is that really fair to him, mom? Was he just not smart enough for you?”

What are you doing? Twilight heard a voice in her head, pleading, as she watched her mother shaking in tears before her. Twilight, stahp.

But she couldn’t. She took a deep breath as she prepared herself for the terrible coup de grâce that she had known would inevitably come at the end of this speech:

“You know what, mother?” Twilight’s tears ran freely down her cheeks, and she sniffed again. “If you love Equestria so damn much, maybe you should’ve just stayed here and never came back home. For all our sakes.”

Velvet’s hand covered her mouth as her daughter’s vicious words tore through her like a wrecking ball. She wiped away her tears, sniffed, and got up to leave. Twilight felt like the most horrible collection of single cells to have ever called itself a human being, ever, but the pressure in her chest seemed to have eased somewhat as she sat, breathing in and out very fast on the bed.

Before she left, Velvet turned around and offered one last plaintive look to her daughter.

“I’m sorry… for everything,” Twilight heard her barely whisper, and then she was gone. 

> Ch. 10- Après elle, le déluge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rarity stretched her arms upwards as she yawned. It was another bright and sunny morning in Equestria, and she was just walking into The West Castle, towards her office in the Archaeology Division. Surprisingly, she spotted one of the division scientists pacing the otherwise empty halls anxiously; when the man in the labcoat saw her, he gasped and ran up.

“Dr. Belle!” he shouted in a distinct British accent, almost out of breath as he reached her. “Oh, thank God you’ve arrived.”

“Good morning, Dr. Turner. Is everything alright?”

“No, Rarity, it’s the military- they’ve… they’ve finally come for it.”

Rarity’s face turned even paler. 

“Where are they?” she asked grimly.

“Down in Storage… they said that they’ve come to take it to Harmonics. They absolutely refuse to leave without the artifact accompanying them as well.”

Rarity sighed. “Allons- y.”

Rarity and Dr. Turner made their way down to the very bottom of The West Castle. As the elevator doors opened unto an expansive subterranean warehouse, Rarity’s blood froze; sure enough, there was a large group of soldiers loading a very heavy crate from storage onto a forklift, as various scientists and lab assistants stood around them in a circle, yelling and arguing. Rarity picked up her stride as she approached the tumultuous group.

“Excuse me,” she addressed the highest- ranking member of the group of soldiers. “But just what do you think you’re doing?!”

The captain just glanced at her, and then turned his attention back to his EGO.

“Just following my orders, Doc. Simple as that.”

“You cannot just simply waltz in here when the department head is absent and take whatever captures your fancy, sir, I don’t care what your orders are or who they come from.”

The captain sighed and then looked at her again. “Look, this comes from the top brass. The very top. We have explicit orders to retrieve the artifact known as The Alicorn Casket and take it straight to The Harmonics Division, right away. If you got problems with that, Doc, then I suggest you take it up with General Armstrong. Otherwise, just let us do our job, alright?”

Rarity stared daggers at him, and then promptly turned around and starting walking back towards the elevator.

“Where are you going?” Dr. Turner asked her as she retreated in the distance.

“To get the director,” she shouted back. “Call Velvet Sparkle and warn her immediately!”




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




It was already turning out to be quite a crappy day for Twilight Sparkle.

Sure, it was a bright and clear sunny morning, but Twilight honestly couldn’t give a shit. She lay in bed, groaning unhappily, partly because she had been up all night, and partly because she currently had really, really bad heartburn. Twilight pondered with bitter irony about how her mother was 100% accurate in predicting the eventual outcome of her years upon years of unrestrained caffeine abuse.

Mother… Twilight thought as she lay there. God, why did she have to treat her so badly? Surely Velvet Sparkle wasn’t the best mom in the world, but she never would have been so willfully malicious or cruel to her daughter, and she always seemed as if she only had the best intentions in her heart for her children. Was it possible that Twilight really was being dumb and immature, this entire time? Was it possible that she really did need to give up her deep- seated selfishness and insecurities? Twilight sighed… for all the crap she gave Velvet about not truly knowing her own daughter, Twilight had to face the truth: she really didn’t know herself all that well in the end, either.

A knock on her room door interrupted Twilight’s train of thought. She blinked and got up to open it, wiping the sleep out of her eyes. Spike was standing in the hallway, grinning.

“Hey, Twi, I just wanted to… see…” his grin slipped as he really got a chance to look at her. “Hey, are you ok? You don’t look so good.”

“Thanks alot, Spike… though I probably, really deserved that,” She mumbled unhappily.

Spike looked down too, hands behind his back. “Something between you and your mom, huh?”

Twilight sighed, and then nodded. Somehow, she felt like she could really open up to the little guy.

“Did you see her today, by any chance?”

Spike shook his head. “No, although she’s probably working at her lab in Harmonics. She let me stay behind in Canterlot to take care of you.”

“Goody,” Twilight sighed. “Well, I feel like this day is wasted, I’m going back to bed… so… goodbye, Spike.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” Spike stopped her from closing the door in his face. “Don’t you wanna take a real tour of Canterlot with me? C’mon, Twilight, you don’t wanna be stuck in this room all day, do you?”

“Yes,” she simply replied, which shocked even her, given how sarcasm- free that response actually turned out to be.

“Twilight, you know that’s not good for you,” Spike crossed his arms, wearing a worried look. “Would you just let me take care of you like Velvet asked me to? You know, let me do my job?”

Twilight sighed in exasperation. “Fine. Just give me a minute to get ready,”


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


Outside of Canterlot, all that remained of Equestria were verdant patches of ancient rainforest, which, due to the distortion of The Eye, seemed to stretch right on past the horizon and in all directions underneath a lone helicopter soaring hundreds of feet above. Through the windows, Luna scanned through the distance of endless green for the grey stone ruins of the old Equestrian Royal Temple, the monolithic structure that held The Harmonics Division. She sighted it shortly before the helicopter made a wide bank to proceed to land near it.

Luna got out and trudged through the jungle overgrowth blocking the Temple entrance, business suit and all. The helicopter behind her idled, and its whirring blades started to slow down. 

Luna quickly made her way into the main chamber of the ruins, the very heart of this long abandoned religious complex, and soon found herself standing before two very different Equestrian artifacts at the middle of the room. One was basically a collection of six different colored miniature stars, each shining so brightly that the translucent container they sat in was polarized with a tint so that the room was not overcome by the light emissions. Underneath this first artifact, scientists in lab coats hurried around the consoles at its base, as if they were busy maintaining some sort of nuclear reactor. The second object, although larger, about 2 meters long, was jet black, resembling some sort of long, sarcophagus- like metal box covered all over in Equestrian script and a large Alicorn symbol. There were soldiers standing all around the box, guarding it and holding back angry- looking Harmonics engineers and scientists, the most prominent (and loudest) being Velvet Sparkle.

“Excuse me,” Luna spoke sharply and the arguing stopped. "What is going on here?"

“Madam Director,” the captain in charge saluted as his men did likewise. “As we’ve been trying to tell the Harmonics Division, we have orders directly from General Armstrong to connect The Alicorn Casket to The Elements, ma’am.”

“Director, they can't do this,” Velvet stepped up to explain. “Dr. Heartstrings and Dr. Belle clearly deciphered the inscriptions on its surface… it’s supposed to hold, and I quote, ‘A Nightmare In Store For Those Who Would Disturb Holy Canterlot, The Foreign Enemies of Equestria'… the archaeologists say that it’s almost guaranteed to be some sort of curse, in some fashion,”

“We are quite aware of the translations, Dr. Sparkle,” the captain replied as if they’ve both been through this already. “However, the general believes that this is a very important candidate for The Initiative’s Advanced Weapons Program, and so he ordered us to finally get it ‘cracked open’, so to speak.”

“Director…” Velvet looked at Luna pleadingly.

Luna sighed. “Unfortunately, doctor, I just got off of an emitter call with the President, and it seems as if the Joint Chiefs of Staff have finally convinced the Secretary of Defense to allow the Advanced Weapons Program to start up again. As a result, they’re fully backing whatever General Armstrong chooses to do with whatever materiel he chooses to do it with, all for the purposes of developing our nation's strategic defenses.”

“But Director Everstar!- it could contain a mutant strain of The Pony Plague, or some sort of rigged explosive device, or-“

“-I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do about it. However, I did come to oversee what we both know will turn out to be a horrible mistake on the general’s part.”

“I’m sorry too, Madam Director, really,” the captain looked sympathetic. “However, orders are orders... Dr. Sparkle, if you would…”

He looked at Velvet, whose eyes were still pleading with Luna. The director merely closed her eyes, sighed, and shook her head; Velvet sighed as well, quite heavily, and turned to her scientists:

“You heard the director… let’s get this damn thing hooked up, already. All personnel non- essential to power relay procedures will leave for Canterlot, right now,” she ordered, and her team reluctantly started to comply.

When most of the scientists had left and a skeleton crew was ready, Velvet manned a console under The Elements of Harmony, sweat covering her brow. The soldiers and Luna stood to one side, watching silently.

“Initiating energy relay,” Velvet stated, as her hand began to push something at the console up. The Elements started to whine with gathering power, almost as if in protest.

“Opening a subspace channel between The Elements and the artifact… connection established… begin power transfer,”

“Initiating transfer,” a technician parroted and began to do so.

The Casket immediately began to vibrate, even though no wires actually connected it to The Elements; the inscriptions on it began to glow with a bright blue light. The soldiers started to gasp with awe, but Luna’s heart started to race uncomfortably.

“Establishing full transmission parameters,” another technician reported, “transmission stream stabilized… artifact is now fully operational.”

Suddenly, The Casket stood up on its own, brought to life by an invisible force. The people in the room all jumped back in shock, and the soldiers raised their weapons at it.

The surface of The Casket began to separate into different segments and collapse into each other towards the floor as a great cloud of smoke issued forth from the newly formed opening, billowing across the room.

“EVERYBODY EVACUATE, NOW!!!” Velvet shouted, and all the people there started to run for the chamber doors. However, before they reached it, the doors completely shut by themselves and the soldiers found that they couldn’t open it. As Velvet attempted to manipulate them with her EGO, all the lights apart from The Elements turned to a low blue, and a menacing laugh started to ring all around the chamber. The soldiers immediately began to cover the civilians and the director for protection, rifles raised at the ready. Everyone looked through the thick clouds of smoke back towards where The Casket had activated.

The smoke eventually cleared, revealing a truly bizarre sight: in the center of the room where The Casket was located, there now stood a black, robotic figure, dainty, with spike- like projections coming out of its hands and shoulders. It stood on the casket segments, which had collapsed under its feet to form a pedestal of sorts. The terrifying robotic being’s eyes suddenly lit up a bright blue, as did a line of light across its mouth as artificial, fanged jaws opened to laugh again in a low female voice. Emitters placed at the top of its head began to issue forth long, flowing virtual hair that seemed to sparkle with stars of their own.

“Somebody get that fucking door open!” The captain cocked his weapon. “Alright men, prepare to fire-“

“WAIT!” Luna shouted and put her hand up. The soldiers looked at her.

Luna started to slowly walk forward, her eyes never leaving the ancient Equestrian figure standing before them.

“Madam Director!-“

“Stand down, soldier!” Luna shouted back. The captain fell silent, his weapon still pointed at the robot, and she continued to approach it as its head cocked in curiousity upon seeing her.

“Greetings,” she moved and spoke very carefully, “My name is Director Luna Everstar. Can you understand me? Are you able to speak?”

The robot merely regarded her in silence as it continued to stand there.

“Can you understand me? Do you have a name?” Luna pressed on.

The robot slowly walked forward, still saying nothing, and the soldiers started to ready themselves again.

“Stand down!” Luna turned to stay their hand again, before turning back to face the approaching thing. She stood up tall, almost defiantly, and gazed into the bright blue artificial eyes of the robot as it walked right up to her and stood, face to face, hot flesh to cold metal. 

The robot cocked its head again. “Luuuuuna….” It repeated the director’s name in its raspy, feminine though entirely mechanical voice.

“Yes… do you have a name?” 

“I am…” the robot seemed to be struggling to remember; it leaned forward as it continued speaking. “I am… I am…”

Luna’s heart was exploding in her chest; she didn’t think she had ever been this afraid before, though a cool, serene look remained on her face. She gulped, though her throat had run dry a while ago.

The robot bent its head over her shoulder, as if it was about to whisper something secret into Luna’s ear.

“I am your worst nightmare, Luna,”

A long, curving blade- like protrusion with a blue illuminated edge shot out of the robot’s gesturing hand and pierced Luna's chest. Her face barely had time to distort in shock and pain before she was completely run through. She started to slump down and the robot cast her body aside. Velvet’s hand covered her mouth as she gasped in horror.

“Holy fuck!- OPEN FIRE!!!” the captain shouted and his men started to unleash everything they had upon the black metal figure.

The robot’s head tilted again in curiosity as the bullets merely bounced off of its hard surface without even leaving a single dent. Suddenly, wing- like protrusions shot out of its back and fired with a bright yellow light all along their edges. The robot disappeared, taking flight at ground level and moving at a rapid speed. It started swinging its bladed hand at everybody it came into contact with; the soldiers fired uselessly at it until they were one by one sliced into two separate halves with ease; the civilians ran towards the door again, screaming, before they were cut down in their tracks as well. Velvet Sparkle, the last person alive in the room, reached the door and banged on it, only to find that it still would not open. Turning around, she faced the speeding death machine as it swung back its bladed hand for the kill. Thinking quickly, Velvet slammed her right palm onto the surface of her EGO, and her hand became encased in a twirling Unicorn Interface. Velvet threw that hand in front of her, and a great wave of purple energy shot out at the robot, knocking it straight back. It jerked and spun as its metal body clanged and rolled against the stone floor before it came to a rest, motionless. Velvet was breathing fast, her hand still outstretched.

Slowly, the monstrosity started to get up, laughing maniacally.

“My, my, my, does a simple, lowly Unicorn really believe that she can duel with The Alicorn Queen, herself?” the robot cocked its head in amusement. Velvet responded by charging her Interface again.

The robotic being raised he right hand as well.

“Here, peasant… let me show you TRUE power…”

A deafeningly loud dark blue blast of energy shot forward with supersonic speed and hit Velvet straight on, carrying her away and back. She was thrown with such force that she hit the wall behind her with a sickening crack before sliding down to the floor. She stopped moving.

The Nightmare lowered her hand. She turned to the heavily frescoed wall behind her and stopped in front of a large, black, cruel- looking horse rearing up in the middle of the mosaic. She raised her hand again, and the wall behind the horse gave way and opened up. Standing inside was another black robotic figure, this one much, much bigger in frame, its hands crossing its chest in ancient slumber.

The Nightmare made a gesture, and the robot immediately powered up, its eyes and fanged jaws glowing an electric blue. It moved out of its entombment and fully stood up. Upon looking down at the more feminine automaton who had awoken it, the larger figure immediately fell into a deep bow on its knees.

“Your Majesty,” it greeted with reverence, “How may I be of service?”

“Arise, O Warrior Priest,” Nightmare commanded. “Foreign barbarians have penetrated deep into Equestria, this our final resting place.”

The larger automaton stood up, looking down upon his liege. “And what does Her Highness desire from Her eternally loyal subject?”

“Ride, Priest, and awaken my Army of Shadowbolts,” The queen spoke, and then seemed to smile sinisterly with her fake, glowing mouth. “We shall kill them all. Every single last one of them.”

> Ch. 11- Canterlot Under Siege
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The helicopter pilot who had flown Luna to The Harmonics Division stared at his watch. How long had she been gone?

“The Director sure is taking an awful long time,” he mused to his co- pilot who was lazing in his cockpit seat.

“Don’t worry about it,” the other man replied without even opening an eye. “You know how busy she gets.”

The pilot merely sighed and began gazing out of the glass in front of him at the perfect morning sky. Something caught his eye, though, and he tapped his co- pilot on the shoulder.

“Hey, do you see that?” he asked as the co- pilot’s eyes shot open. “Up there… that black little thing…”

The co- pilot looked up to where the pilot was pointing, and squinted to try to make out a black dot in the sky against the serene blue and white.

“Hey, yeah… what is that thing?”

Both men watched as the little black dot started to grow larger and larger- it was coming straight at them, at high speed.

“Is that… a person?”

The black object flew in close enough for both men to make out its spikey, cruel shape and outstretched, fire rimmed black wings. It flew right above the cockpit and hovered there, staring at them with its cold blue eyes. Something was on its shoulder.

“Jesus Christ, what is that thing?”

“I don’t know- hey, wait a minute, is that a weapon?!”

The large silver tube on the black figure’s shoulder started to charge an angry electric blue at its opening, which was pointed straight at the cockpit.

“OH MY GOD-“

Both men screamed as the silver tube fired a massive stream of light blue energy, which pierced straight through the cockpit, running all the way through the helicopter’s tail. When the beam started to dissipate, the helicopter made one last final groan and then subsequently and violently exploded, various metal debris and parts of the rotor blades flying outwards and spraying all over the Equestrian jungle.

The Warrior Priest flew backwards and settled down far from the wreckage, in a clearing next to the larger trees of the adjacent rainforest. His wings collapsed back into his body and he threw the silver cannon on his shoulder to the side. When he had walked into the exact center of the clearing, he started to concentrate his attention, slowly raising his spikey arms outwards.

“Arise, O Shadowbolts of Equestria,” he commanded, “By Order of Her Majesty, The Great Alicorn Queen, arise to cleanse the land of those whose blood has been deemed most unworthy to even touch this hallowed ground! ARISE!!!”

Suddenly, the land around him started to shake and vibrate. Plumes of dirt started to explode upwards in concentric circles around The Priest, who stood watching with arms still stretched outwards. More black robotic figures, a little plainer in decoration, began to pop up, arms still crossed over their bodies in eternal slumber. One by one, they eyes and mouths began to glow a fierce blue, and after fully activating, all genuflected towards the Priest, who smiled with protruding metal fangs.

“O Shadowbolt Centurions, harken! Our country has been disturbed this day by the barbarian hordes from without Equestria. By order of the Queen, ride, Shadowbolts, and gather your forces scattered across the land, within their well- deserved resting places, for war. You will take the life of every outsider that dares to besmirch this very earth itself, and retake the glory of The Queendom that is Canterlot, holiest of all holies. Do not leave a single barbarian alive… may their deaths be a warning to all of those who would make a mockery of our eternal slumber! The Elements Save The Queen! RIDE FORTH, SHADOWBOLTS!!!”

The Shadowbolts merely said nothing, bowing in perfect synchronization to The Priest. The ground in front of each of them opened up, and a different type of silver weapon popped up for each of them to equip themselves. Once they were all well- armed, large black wings sprouted from their backs and one by one they began to fly into the sky, some speeding across the remnants of Equestria’s forests to gather reinforcements, and some linking up in a vast formation and heading straight for the city of Canterlot. The Priest merely watched from below and smiled.

“Yes…” he mused to himself, “…Equestria shall be cleansed. The Elements Save The Queen.”



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



“… Twilight, did you even listen to a single thing I said?”

Twilight’s attention snapped back to the real world. She had been wandering the commercial district of Canterlot for a while with Spike, who looked at her with annoyance. Twilight looked back at him sheepishly, and then down at her hand. For some reason, she was holding a rather large candy apple.

“…Um, yeah, sure. You were going on and on about how totally radical and completely bodacious Rarity is.”

Spike sighed. “…That was a lucky guess, and you know it.”

“Sorry, Spike, I’m just thinking about what happened with my mom last night. I really think that I should go to see her later, you know, to apologize. Do you think she’s still angry at me?”

“Twilight, your mom loves you a lot, I don’t think a little quarrel is going to make her suddenly hate you,” Spike put his hands on his hips and scolded her. “Not even if you were being a complete and total a- hole with sarcasm control issues.”

“Thanks again, Spike…” Twilight sighed heavily. “And you’re totally right about the sarcasm thing.”

“Glad I can help,” Spike smiled, and then nudged her in the arm. “Hey, what’s say we get some breakfast before we head over to Harmonics, huh? It’s a pretty long drive, and the snack machines there only stock Twinkies, which is pretty disturbing if you think about it.”

Twilight giggled. “Sure thing. I could really use some real food in my stomach right about now. Besides, I don’t even like candy apples…”

“Well, ain’t that a mighty shame,” Twilight heard a twangy voice speak out from behind her.

She and Spike turned around to find Applejack grinning at them. They smiled back.

“Good morning, Applejack,” Twilight greeted.

“Howdy there Twi,” the toothy Texan greeted back. “Hey, I’ve been lookin’ all over town fer ya, girl, I was wondering if maybe ya wanted ta take this humble soldier’s special tour of Canterlot?”

Spike scoffed. “Believe me, sister, I’ve already tried that. Twilight here is not exactly in a touristy kind of mood today.”

Applejack’s smile faded a little, but immediately was reignited. “Well, shoot, y’all know what they say, misery loves company! Mind if I join ya fer a little while, then?”

Twilight smiled back at her. “Of course, Applejack, it would be a pleasure.”

The three of them fell into step and began leisurely strolling the streets together. Applejack stole sideways glances at Twilight, thinking about what to say.

“Is everything all right, sugarcube?” she asked with a look of genuine worry on her face.

“Oh, it’s nothing, I just… had a little argument with my mother last night, that’s all.”

“Well, shoots, hon’, if that’s not a part of being a family, then I don’t know what is! I can’t tell ya how many times I’ve tussled with mah sis, or mah brother, or even Granny Smith over the runnin’ of the Smith Family Reunion…”

“No, Applejack,” Twilight explained, “I was pretty awful to her last night. I said some things I really, really regret saying now…”

Applejack looked at her sympathetically. “If a- you don’t mind mah askin’, hon’, what were y’all fightin’ about, anyway?”

Twilight sighed, rubbing her temples. “It was about the new job Director Everstar offered me here in Equestria. My mother thought it was absolutely essential that I take it… then we started butting heads about it, and afterwards I said some things… some things I must’ve been holding back for years… oh, Applejack, I was so horrible to her.”

Applejack looked down at the ground as she tried to take in all the information presented to her. A thousand different emotions ran through her mind, and she felt the irresistible urge to warn Twilight about the dangers that she currently faced, in some way possible.

“Well, sugarcube,” she began, treading carefully, in a figurative sense, “I don’t pretend ta know what kind of fancy pants position the Director’s offered ya, but it seems like it’s makin’ ya as uncomfortable as a blue whale in a tea cup… maybe even makin’ things a little more tense with yer ma… do ya think ya actually wanna take it?”

Twilight sighed again. “I… I really don’t know. I mean, on the one hand, it is a really big opportunity for me, I mean, it’s Equestria, but, on the other hand…I… ” she couldn’t finish.

“Well, it seems to me like you ain’t exactly jumpin’ all over this here big opportunity of yers,” Applejack continued. “Maybe it’s not exactly what’ll make ya the happiest camper in the end, sugarcube. Maybe… maybe…” Applejack’s soul felt like it was withering on the vine, “maybe ya really don’t need ta stay here in Equestria, hon’…”

Spike shot her a mildly quizzical look, but Twilight looked at her with a smile on her face.

“You know, that’s the first time anybody’s actually told me that. That it really is my choice,”

“Well, of course it’s yer choice, sugarcube,” Applejack started to sweat as she rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s yer own life, ain’t it?”

Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head, still smiling. “Thank you, Applejack, for being so honest. I really needed that right now.”

Applejack’s heart sank deeper than the ground beneath her, but she smiled back uneasily at Twilight and laughed. “Ah, come on, now, shucks… ya don’t have ta carry on like that… you’re startin’ ta make me blush, Twi…”

“No, I really mean it,” Twilight pressed on. “I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I really appreciate how nice you’ve been to me this whole time, Applejack… thank you so much for being somebody I can really trust.”

In that very moment, the last remnants of Applejack’s soul seemed to have shattered within her bosom and died.

“Hey,” Spike butt in irately, “What am I, chopped liver?”

Twilight laughed, and tousled Spike’s hair playfully.

“Girl talk, Spike, all girl talk… if it makes you feel any better, though, you’re still my #1 assistant,”

Applejack pretended to laugh along too, but that acidic feeling in the pit of her abdomen gurgled quite violently in protest. She truly felt like an awful human being.

Applejack’s internal self- loathing was abruptly interrupted by a piercing, rising sound screaming from every street corner. Her heart stopped; she recognized it as the emergency siren system.

“What is that?” Twilight screamed as she covered her ears along with Spike.

Everybody in the streets stopped and turned around, looks of surprise on all of their faces, some covering their ears as well. Suddenly, the EGO of every single person in Canterlot lit up and started to emit a flashing hologram. It faded into the grim likeness of Iron Will.

“Attention, attention all Initiative personnel,” he loudly spoke from both EGOs and a speaker system throughout the city, “Canterlot is under attack, I repeat, Canterlot is under enemy attack. This is a Code Black, I repeat, Code Black. I am hereby declaring martial law; all civilian personnel will immediately evacuate to The Main Castle. All military personnel will cover their retreat before evacuating into The Castle after them. I repeat, all personnel will IMMEDIATELY evacuate towards The Main Castle. This is not a drill, I repeat, THIS IS NOT A DRILL,”

All the civilians on the street started to scream and panic, and then immediately started running or driving in the direction of the city’s center. The soldiers started shouting at each other.

“Applejack?” Twilight asked, frightened as people started to bump and push past her in terror. “What’s going on?”

“It means we better get ta my jeep, sugarcubes, right now,” Applejack also looked very grim as she hurried Twilight and Spike off the commercial street. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

The three of them fought their way through the panicked crowds until they reached Applejack’s vehicle. They got in and then immediately started fighting with those same crowds in their vehicles. Applejack honked her horn at the other cars, whose drivers were freaking out and speeding erratically along the cramped, ancient boulevards.

“Goddammit! This isn’t gonna work!” Applejack cursed, hitting her horn repeatedly in frustration. “Hang on sugarcubes, we’re gonna try a different way!”


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


Iron Will stared up at a very large emitter console from deep within The Main Castle. On one projection, he saw civilians clogging the streets of Canterlot as they desperately made their way towards The Castle, the first of them having started to arrive across the drawbridge as soldiers hurriedly waved them in.

On another console he watched as an ominous black cloud sped ever closer towards the city’s limits. Touching his EGO, he zoomed the projection into the cloud, and was immediately greeted by swarms and swarms of menacing Shadowbolts, their weaponry glistening in the sun in stark contrast to their jet- black bodies. His lips pursed in anxiety.

“How long until the unknown bogies reach the city?” he asked.

“At current flight velocity, approximately fifteen minutes, sir,” a soldier at a nearby console reported.

“Which means there’s only time to charge up The Barrier for The Castle alone…” the general reasoned to himself. “Will all of the civilians be able to fully evacuate before then?”

Another soldier pulled up the city’s traffic data in real time. His brow started to sweat as he tried to make the calculations. 

“They should be able to sir, however… the military personnel will not be able to fully evacuate before the bogies arrive… sir.”

Iron Will’s hands clenched. “Have we heard anything from Harmonics yet?”

“No sir, we got no response from the last communication hail.”

“…What about The Director’s chopper?”

The soldier only looked at the general and shook his head.

Iron Will sighed and put his hands behind his back.

“Organize all civilian refugees within the castle, and make room for any more that come through. I want The Barrier to activate as soon as those bastards knock on our door, not a single moment sooner. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.”


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


Applejack grit her teeth as she sped along the mountainside. The commercial district had been on the far side of town, and she had gunned her engine at top speed in order to make it to The Castle on time. In the seat next to her, Twilight exchanged scared glances with Spike in the back. She looked at Applejack.

“Applejack, what’s going on?!”

“Don’t know, Sugarcube, but hell if I’m gonna let ya get caught up in whatever it is,” Applejack’s attention shifted over the hill she was driving on. “Look, there’s The Main Castle now!”

Twilight’s head turned towards the front, and sure enough she found The Main Castle of Canterlot. There was a long line of refugees snaking over the drawbridge, and soldiers had set up defensive positions around the entrance, armed with only a couple of tanks, machine gun nests, rocket launchers and their rifles. 

As the jeep made its way down the hill and began to approach the slowly vanishing queue, cars were still joining in on the refugee convoy as they could from ahead and behind of Applejack’s jeep. Twilight heard a loud explosion behind them. She turned to see a giant fireball speed upwards into the sky in the distance. When it had subsided, she saw the most frightening thing she had ever seen in her life- thousands upon thousands of black, spikey monstrosities were descending down upon the city, and they seemed to be coming from every direction. Twilight watched as a brilliant blue beam of energy issued forth from the cloud of attackers and struck down somewhere on the ground; another large explosion erupted, followed by another, and another. Twilight’s mind was frozen in absolute terror.

“Jesus Christ!” Applejack’s EGO started to crackle to life with a military radio transmission. “The tanks are all lighting up, oh God, they just keep coming- all units be advised- !”

Applejack shut off her EGO immediately when she noticed the effect it was having on the other two.

“Now, don’t y’all worry none, we’ll be there soon, safe n’ sound…” she tried to calm them, although she secretly wondered if she really believed her own words.

“Oh my God!” Twilight screamed. 

Applejack swiveled her head for only a split second. She saw a squadron of Shadowbolts swoop down towards the very last civilian stragglers, some of the scientists working outside of Canterlot, behind them. Their escorts, tanks and military trucks fitted with heavy machine guns, began to fire, but the speeding black objects were too fast for the snapping tracer rounds, shells and missiles. The Shadowbolts began firing their weapons, and Twilight watched in absolute horror as thousands of blue streaks began strafing the trucks, killing all of their occupants instantly. The trucks exploded and one by one started to careen, flaming, off of the road. The tanks were hit by enormous blue beams and immediately erupted in flames and twisted metal. Twilight felt she was going to throw up, knowing that real, live human beings were being massacred right there. She kept on thinking to herself, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening, this is just not right… oh God, more people are gonna die right in front of me, just like the others, these innocent people, right in front of my eyes, these people just like… me… so scared… so scared to die…

The very last civilian refugees were now left out completely in the open behind them, and the Shadowbolts immediately began to regroup and swoop down. The stragglers tried to speed up, but as the monstrosities of metal began to close in on them, they all started screaming.

“Applejack! We have to do something!!!” Twilight turned back to her driver, not really believing that she was saying those words, but truly believing it in her heart that she meant them.

“There’s nothing we can do for them, sugarcube, I’m sorry,” Applejack replied, keeping her attention on making it to the drawbridge in time; there were still lots people streaming towards it from all over Equestria, even as a war zone erupted right behind them.

“But they’ll be slaughtered!” Twilight screamed.

“There is no way in hell I’m gonna let ya get killed, dammit!” 

“WE CAN’T JUST LEAVE THEM!!!”

Applejack grit her teeth, thinking for a second. 

“Alright, I have an idea… hang on tight, y’all!”

Applejack banked hard on the steering wheel and the jeep made a complete 180° turn on only two wheels, then started to head straight for the last group of civilians behind them as the Shadowbolts approached from the other side in the air.

“THIS IS YOUR PLAN?!?!” Spike shouted.

Applejack started to beep her horn again and again, screaming.

“YEEEEEEEEE- HAAAH!!! SOUP’S ON, YOU SONS OF BITCHES, COME N’ GET IT!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE- HAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!”

The squadron noticed the ruckus Applejack was making and began to lose interest in the stragglers. They broke off pursuit and started to head towards her jeep, weapons charging with deadly energy. When Applejack passed the straggler group, she executed a sharp turn to the right and began leading them astray at full speed. The attackers followed her, firing blue bolts that speared the ground all around the vehicle as Applejack fought to avoid being struck.

“Well, your plan is working,” Spike observed from the back.

“Dammit, I know it’s working!- GET DOWN!!!”


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


“Sir, the last of the civilian convoys seemed to have made it into The Castle,” a soldier reported to Iron Will.

“And what about our boys out there?”

“Reports of extremely heavy casualties are coming in, sir,” another soldier replied grimly. “Most of the units we still have out there have been completely wiped out, sir, both infantry and armor.”

Iron Will pounded his first against his console, hard. Why didn’t the goddamn Pentagon supply him with the artillery and fighter jets that he had asked for? No, they had kept on insisting that The Alicorn Eye permanently secured the base from attack, that he was lucky to even get tanks. Now his men were paying the ultimate price for their stupidity.

“Sir, The Barrier is now fully charged and ready to be deployed,” the soldier asked. “Orders?”

Iron Will pondered his next move, head down. Every muscle in his body was tense.

“Withdraw all remaining units into The Castle. Lock it up tight, sergeant.”

“Yes sir,” the soldier responded, inputting commands on his console. “Recalling all remaining units. Activating Barrier Lockdown Procedures.”


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


Another bolt of energy zinged through the windshield, barely missing Applejack’s arm. The Shadowbolts were getting closer now, and she was having more and more trouble keeping them off of her tail. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she aimed for the drawbridge coming ever closer. The civilian convoys and the remaining army units had all made it safely inside, and the bridge remained opened but deserted, tantalizingly inviting for the desperate group of three.

“Hang on, y’all, I think we’re gonna make it!” Applejack shouted.

Suddenly, a lone Shadowbolt dropped down from the sky in front of them; on its shoulder was a silver cannon. It began firing huge beams at the jeep, and Applejack swerved to avoid the energy as it ripped into the ground and exploded, throwing stone fragments and dirt clumps in their faces. Twilight and Spike screamed as they narrowly avoided each shot. 

“FUCK!!!” Applejack cursed as the beams started to get closer and closer; she couldn’t keep avoiding them for long. Then she spotted something in the distance, and another plan was hatched.

“Alright, listen, now when I say jump, JUMP. Ready?” She started to angle her increasingly overheated vehicle. “JUMP!!!!”

All three passengers lept out of the open jeep and rolled onto the ground as best they could. Applejack looked up, panting, and watched as the jeep sped itself over a military loading ramp and flew high into the air, straight at the firing Shadowbolt. It charged for another shot but the jeep was faster, impacting hard against the black robotic being and exploding in a bright orange burst before them.

“Holy shit,” Spike gasped in awe. “Did you just Die Hard that guy right in the face?!”

“Yippee- ki- yay, motherfucker,” Applejack smiled with immense relief.

Spike smiled at her and they both immediately shared a high five in victory, laughing and whooping. Even Twilight had to admit, that was pretty damn apropos.

Suddenly, the attacking Shadowbolt started to emerge out of the flaming wreckage, its cannon still on its shoulder and its armor seemingly unscratched.

“Um, guys…” Twilight began.

“Crap,” Spike muttered.

“Alright, pardners, we gotta hustle now- MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT, GO, GO, GO!!!”

The three of them started to run towards The Main Castle, with literally an entire army of Shadowbolts hot on their trail. They swerved and snaked to avoid being hit as the drawbridge inched painfully nearer.

Suddenly, all the Shadowbolts stopped firing and looked towards the edges of Canterlot. An enormous ring of energy began to surround the city, and shot up into the air to form a large energy bubble. It immediately began to contract, and as it’s edge passed the Shadowbolt legions it washed harmlessly over them as they watched.

“Now what is it?!” Twilight asked as they all kept running; Spike cursed loudly.

“It means we just ran out of time,” Applejack responded with dread. “GO! GO! GO! GO!!!”

The three of them now found themselves racing against the ever- diminishing Barrier, and Twilight ran faster than she had ever done before in her life. They started to cross the drawbridge, The Main Castle right in front of their eyes.

“Come on now, you can do it, almost there-“ Applejack tried to egg them on in tired desperation.

As they were about to finish crossing the drawbridge, Twilight heard a roaring sound and turned her head to see a single Shadowbolt diving in at her from beyond the pathway. It fired its rifle- like weapon and a single blue bolt issued forth, straight for her. She didn’t even have time to gasp in surprise as death approached her in plain sight.

“TWIIIIIILIGHT!” Spike yelled out and charged at her.

He shoved her out of the way just as the bolt made contact with his body, ripping through him and splashing into the water below. Spike collapsed onto the drawbridge just as the Shadowbolt sped off behind the other side of The Barrier, which had stopped mercifully at the bridge.

“SPIKE!” Twilight shouted as she got up from the ground and crawled over to him. “Oh my God, oh my God- SPIKE!!!”

Spike moaned, dazed, a perfectly round hole burnt all the way through his left shoulder. He was getting paler and paler by the second.

“Oh my God, Spike- I’m so, so sorry-“

“We have to get him inside The Castle, now!” Applejack shouted, grabbing Spike by his non- injured side and lifting him up. “Let’s go!!!”

Spike roared in pain as Applejack and Twilight helped him up and half- carried, half- dragged his courageous little ass towards The Castle doors.


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


“Sir, the barrier is now fully integrated and has just completely enveloped The Castle perimeter. All enemy movement has ceased, for the moment,” a soldier reported to Iron Will, who was sitting in his chair.

“How many people did we lose?” he asked quietly, his head in his hand.

“Not entirely sure yet, sir, battle reports are still flooding in on all of the channels,” another soldier responded. “But it seems as if we lost at least… 70% of our ground forces, plus a currently unknown number of civilian casualties… sir.”

Iron Will just sat quietly in his chair, neither moving nor speaking.
	
> Ch. 12- No Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	President Celestia quickly made her way into the impromptu war room set up in Ponyville’s Town Hall. She counted herself lucky to have been in midflight from Algeria to Saudi Arabia in between diplomatic missions, and that the growing storm over Ponyville had given Air Force One the cover it needed to fly directly to the secret base. She found a mixture of military officers and scientists there, gathered around the various consoles, as rain splattered hard against the windows. When she walked in, everybody took notice, and the officers gave her a sharp salute.

“How long has it been?” she saluted back.

“A little over two hours since we lost contact with Canterlot, Madam President,” a female air force general with short red hair informed her.

“And have you been able to send any more flights through The Eye, General Spinelli?” 

“No, m’am, the storm’s blowing harder than ever now. Worse yet, every time one of my squadrons even manages to approach it, The Eye refuses to open- even with The Amulet activated, m’am.”

Celestia pondered this, and then turned to one of the civilians. “Can you explain this, Dr. Heartstrings?”

“No, Madam President, I'm afraid it's outside of my area of expertise... but The Eye was working perfectly when I returned to Ponyville with it, shortly before all this happened,” Lyra explained. 

“But you believe you know why Canterlot is cut off now, don’t you?”

Lyra sighed, shaking her head. “Yes, Madam President, I know exactly why. As you are well aware, right before all communications were cut off General Armstrong ordered The Alicorn Casket to be activated. There can be no other explanation.”

Celestia crossed her arms, looking out the windows through the raging storm obscuring Canterlot, and sighed. “What do you think is happening inside, Doctor?”

Lyra shook her head. “I’m sorry, Madam President, I really don’t have a clue. All I know is that The Casket bore strict warnings against all non- Equestrians on it. Whatever is going on in Equestria, it surely must be the belated response of some long dead Equestrians who strongly despised all outsiders. Hence the reason we can’t reopen The Eye,”

Celestia continued to stare in silence at Canterlot in the distance.

“Madam President?” General Spinelli, whose sharp tone of voice and skills as a former pilot had earned her the nickname “Spitfire” from her subordinates, finally asked after Celestia became lost in thought. “Your orders, m’am?”

The President closed her eyes, still facing Canterlot.

“General, take a squadron of your stealth fighters and maintain reconnaissance; keep up the attempts to reopen The Eye with The Amulet. However, as you know, we must follow protocol to the letter… I want you to take the majority of your planes and prepare them for the possibility that something will come through The Eye, and that it will neither be one of ours, nor very friendly… arm them with the thermonuclear weapons kept in store for just this very occasion. Lastly, please keep trying to re- establish emitter contact with Canterlot,”

“Yes, m’am.”

“Dr. Heartstrings, I want you to go through every single Equestrian artifact and document that you’ve brought back with you to Ponyville and try to find something, anything that might shed some light on what Canterlot is dealing with.”

Lyra nodded. “Of course, Madam President.”

Celestia turned back to the ancient city in the distance. Though she no longer spoke anymore, her mind kept racing with the same thoughts, over and over again.

Luna, my dear sister… please be ok… oh, Twilight… Twilight, I’m so, so sorry…


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


Even though she was exhausted, Twilight ran behind Spike’s hospital bed as the medics pushed him, screaming, down the halls of The Main Castle. Applejack ran right alongside her, worried for the little guy as well.

“We got more wounded!” a medic shouted out as she pushed Spike’s bed to their destination, a makeshift triage unit set up within The Castle to accommodate all of the survivors of the Shadowbolts' surprise attack. Inside, a mixture of badly injured civilians and soldiers were being given first- line emergency treatment, many screaming or crying. Fluttershy was checking on the patients and their charts, one of the doctors helping to assess their conditions before ordering more intensive care as needed.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight cried out when she saw her.

“Twilight, Applejack!” Fluttershy began to greet them, but immediately gasped when she saw Spike. “Oh, no- Spike!”

“This one’s shot up pretty bad, doc, though he’s sure lucky to be alive- no internal organs hit,” the medic informed her. “He’s fading fast, though.”

Spike was constantly hollering out in excruciating pain as the initial daze of being hit had long wore off.

“Oh dear, hold on, hold on,” Fluttershy fiddled with a preloaded painkiller syringe from her coat pocket, which only had a few minutes earlier been chock full on them. “I’m going to give you some demerol now, ok, Spike?”

“YES, YES, GIVE ME THE DAMN DEMEROL!!!” Spike cursed loudly through his teeth.

“SPIKEY- WIKEY!”

“WAIT!”

Spike abruptly stopped screaming in pain as Rarity suddenly ran over, a worried look on her face.

“I… want to… remember this…”

“Darling, what happened to you?!” 

“Oh, ahem- this? It’s nothing… really,” Spike must have been delirious to try to play down his horrific laser- inflicted wound.

“He saved my life,” Twilight answered simply, still numb. “Pushed me out of the way.”

Rarity turned to Twilight and gasped, and then turned back to Spike. “Is that true?”

Spike tried to laugh, which was incredibly painful given his condition. “Heh heh- well, kind of…”

Rarity started to touch Spike’s hair, tears in her eyes. Curiously, Spike no longer felt any need for Fluttershy’s painkillers anymore.

“Oh, Spikey- Wikey… I never knew that you could be so brave… saving Twilight’s life at the risk of losing your own… oh, my little knight in shining armor…”

She kissed him on the forehead. Spike’s face immediately began to relax as a big, contented smile played on his lips. He closed his eyes, slowly and serenely.

“He’s going into shock!” Fluttershy shouted anxiously as Spike’s heart rate began to drop precipitously, causing the monitor next to him to emit a loud warning. “We need to get him to the OR right away!”

She pulled a mask over his face and directed the medics to pull Spike’s bed into a room that was closed off from the triage unit. Twilight, Applejack and Rarity stood before it, watching and breathing hard.

“Oh, Spikey- Wikey,” Rarity sniffed and wiped her eyes.

Fluttershy came back into the triage unit, looking worriedly over Applejack and Twilight, who was still frozen mentally and physically.

“Are you two alright?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, jus’ some scratches is all, nothing like poor ol’ Spike over there,” Applejack answered as Twilight said nothing.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Fluttershy replied. She looked at Twilight with a frown. “Twilight?”

“Huh?” Twilight snapped out of her thousand- mile stare. “Yes, I’m fine, Fluttershy. How is Spike?”

Fluttershy sighed. “Well, the wound should clean up pretty well, and he didn’t lose too much blood due to the cauterization… he’s very, very lucky to be alive.”

With that, Twilight gave a little jerk from guilt. She looked down.

“Twilight?” Rarity suddenly asked. “Twilight, you… haven’t seen your mother in The Castle, by any chance, have you?”

Twilight’s eyes suddenly widened; her heart raced. “No… Rarity, where is she?”

Rarity’s hand went to her mouth. “Oh, darling, that’s… that’s the reason why I came down here… Velvet wasn’t with the others who fled Harmonics… before the attack…”

Twilight just shook her head silently at Rarity, her eyes growing wider and wider. She started to back away.

“No… no…”

Twilight turned around and ran before the others could stop her.

“Twilight!” Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy called after her, but she didn’t turn back.

“Where is she going?!” Rarity inquired shrilly.

“I have an idea…” Applejack turned to Fluttershy. “Doc, I may need some help calmin’ her down some, she might try ta do somethin’ when she gets there that she’ll really regret…”

“Oh my goodness,” Fluttershy immediately began checking her pockets for tranquilizers.

“Oh, Twilight…” Rarity gasped.

“Come on!” Applejack shouted as she ran after Twilight with Rarity and Fluttershy following behind her.


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


Iron Will sat in his chair, watching emitter images of the Shadowbolt army as it hung, perfectly still, over The Barrier. Not a single one had moved since the force field was fully integrated. They just hovered there, almost as if they were waiting for something. But what was it?

“Hey, you’re not supposed to be in here!” He heard one of the privates below the consoles yell out. “Hey, lady-!”

“General Armstrong!” Twilight shouted up to him as she pushed her way towards his chair.

“Now’s not the time, Sparkle,” he answered without even looking at her. “Go back to the other civilians.”

“General, what happened to Harmonics? My mother she…” Twilight felt like she was going to cry, “…she didn’t come back with the others.”

Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy ran up to her and tried to persuade her to leave, but she refused to.

“What happened?!”

Iron Will hung his head and sighed. “I’m sorry, Dr. Sparkle, but Harmonics seems to have been the first place they hit. If she’s still out there, then she’s gone. I’m sorry.”

Twilight’s hand went to her mouth as she held back tears. “No… no, this can’t be possible…”

“Come on, now, sugarcube,” Applejack pulled her arm.

“Come on, dear…” Rarity joined.

“Twilight, you really should lie down, you’ve been through enough,” Fluttershy reasoned.

“No, no, NO!!!” Twilight shouted as she threw them all off. She turned back to Iron Will. “General, let me go out there. I need to look for her.”

“Absolutely not, Dr. Sparkle,” he replied, looking at her. “There is no way we are lowering The Barrier for a search party, not for my men, and not for your mother. This place would be swarming all over with those things in a heartbeat… I can’t allow anyone to leave, not now.”

“GODDAMMIT, THAT’S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!” Twilight roared in fury. She caught her breath and calmed down. “General, please… nobody else has to go, just let me go out on my own, please… she’s my mother… please,”

The soldiers and technicians in the room all looked at her with sympathy, and then started to stare at Iron Will.

“I’m sorry, Sparkle, but no means no,” Iron Will flatly denied. “If those things weren’t hanging over the castle, right now, we could all leave.”

“Well, pardon me, but if you didn’t unleash those things upon Canterlot in the first place, none of this would’ve even happened!” Rarity burst out in anger, thinking about how many friends she had in the different Divisions that were either badly hurt, like Spike, or unaccounted for.

Twilight looked at her, mouth agape, and then turned back at the general. “…Is that true?”

Iron Will hit his fist against the arm of his chair. “Dammit, we didn’t know that The Alicorn Casket would do this! I would never have endangered the lives of my citizens or my soldiers if we did, believe me! Nobody could’ve known this was going to happen!”

“We warned you, Dr. Heartstrings warned you!” Rarity responded with pure venom. “The Casket was a trap. For all of us.”

“You?” Twilight’s eye twitched as she realized the general was to blame. “This is all because of… you? My mother is out there or dead because of YOU?!”

She screamed in fury and rushed at the general. Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy wrestled her, holding her back as she lunged, over and over again to assault the man whom she believed had just as well killed her mother himself. Iron Will merely looked on at her, and then sighed.

“Lieutenant Smith, take Twilight Sparkle down to the dungeon, where she won’t be a danger to herself or any others. Take the doctor with you to care for her, as she has clearly become delirious with grief,” he ordered.

“You bastard!” Twilight continued shrieking. “How could you do this, this is all your fault, YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!”

Applejack looked at him with horror. “General, I… I really don’t think that’s necessary-“

“Get her out of my sight,” he ordered again as clearly as possible.

Twilight had calmed down some, and she began to openly weep onto Fluttershy’s shoulder; Fluttershy stroked her hair and whispered soothing words into her ear. Rarity held onto her other side and stared daggers at Iron Will. Applejack, having broken off from them while Twilight had calmed herself, just stood there. Eventually, Fluttershy got Twilight to start towards the door, Rarity supporting her as they began to leave. Applejack turned to Iron Will, a look of pure disdain on her face.

“Keep her wrapped up so I can fix this mess without any more distractions, Lieutenant,” he glared back at her. “And for God sakes, soldier… do your goddamn job.”

Applejack just shook her head at him, and then left with the other girls, her arm also wrapped tightly around Twilight.


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


Twilight couldn’t believe it. All her life she had tried so hard to stay on the right side of the law. She never did hard drugs, never went over the speed limit, never even attempted to rip the tags off of her mattresses. But now she was sitting in jail. A dungeon, no less.

Twilight was in a small, dimly lit cell covered by large, rusty bars of metal. She was sitting with her knees to her chest, staring off into the distance, which as it turned out wasn’t very far. Fluttershy and Rarity had opted to sit inside with her to keep her company; Applejack stood guard outside, pacing and huffing, thinking about a million different, conflicting things all at once.

“Twilight, you really should eat something,” Fluttershy stroked her hair, worried. 

Twilight just sat there, catatonic. Fluttershy and Rarity exchanged frowns.

“You know, darling, it really doesn’t look that bad…” Rarity picked up a packet of food and tried to tempt her with it. “Mmmmm, Chipped Chicken With… Mushroom Gravy… I mean how different is that from coq au vin, really?”

Twilight just sat there for a long while before she spoke.

“I killed her.”

“Twilight,” Fluttershy gently began to scold her.

“Darling, there was nothing you could’ve done. There was nothing any of us could’ve done,” Rarity reasoned.

Twilight sniffed and looked at them. “Do you know what was the last thing I said to her? I told her she was a terrible mother. I said that I… that I…” she squeeze her eyes shut as tears began to flow anew. “…Wished she never came back home from Equestria.”

Applejack looked down at the stone floor outside the cell with her balled fists shaking, her heart breaking to hear the dialogue coming from within.

“Darling, I don’t think that there’s a single person on this Earth that your mother loved more than you,” Rarity smiled comfortingly at her, stroking her. “Believe me, dear, I saw it. And I don’t think anything you said to her could’ve changed that, ever.”

Twilight looked up at her with puffy and red eyes. “Do you think she’s really gone?”

Rarity exchanged glances with Fluttershy again.

“Twilight, you’re going to get sick if you keep on forcing yourself to think about what happened… just rest a little, Rarity and I aren’t going anywhere, promise,” the doctor responded carefully.

Suddenly, every EGO in the room activated, all at once. At first, Twilight bitterly expected Iron Will’s face to appear before her, but instead the emitter streams coalesced into something far darker and more sinister: the face of Nightmare, The Alicorn Queen. Fluttershy and Rarity gasped, and Applejack reached for her sidearm instinctively. Nightmare’s jagged mouth cracked open in a devious smile as she laughed maniacally. 

As every EGO and emitter in The Castle lit up simultaneously, Nightmare’s crazed laughter carried throughout every hallway, every room, and every chamber. At IT, Pinkie Pie gasped out loud as Nightmare popped up from her console. In the hangar bay, Rainbow Dash sat in The Rainboom’s cockpit and stared darkly at The Alicorn Queen cackling evilly over her joystick. In the control room, Nightmare’s laughter rang out the loudest from the giant emitter in the center of the consoles. The soldiers and the technicians began to panic as they fiddled with their controls; however, nothing they did could make the queen go away. Iron Will stood up from his chair and approached the demonic figure, enraged.

“Identify yourself!” he demanded.

Nightmare stopped laughing and smirked at him. 

“My, my, my, do you really not know who I am? Has it really been so long?”

“If I was to hazard a guess, I would say that you’re the one responsible for the deaths of my people,” Iron Will spat angrily.

Nightmare smiled. “I, you ignorant barbarian, am The Ruling Monarch of Equestria, The Last Alicorn Queen of Canterlot, The Living Nightmare Herself… it would be wise for you to learn who I am before your last breath has been drawn.”

“Why did you attack us?” the general asked. “The United States of America has no intentions of war against your people, there is no need to continue this. Let us all leave peacefully, or suffer the full, unrestrained consequences of your ill- conceived actions!”

Nightmare laughed heartily at the general’s threat. “Fool! It is not I who shall reap the grave consequences of my actions, but you and your kind. By stepping foot on our sacred resting grounds, by disturbing that which was never meant to be disturbed, you have all sealed your own doom. We shall never stop, never tiring, never partaking of sustenance, and we will, ultimately, be upon you… every last throat in this Castle shall be slit, every last body broken, every last life destroyed, until the very air of Holy Canterlot is filled with the acrid smoke of your collectively burning corpses, and the city is made clean once again…”

“I don’t know if you noticed, queenie, but there’s a little something between your damn army and this Castle,” Iron Will referred to The Barrier.

The Queen only smiled. “Oh, is there? Well then, maybe I better take another look outside, hm? It would be most wise for you to do so, as well.”

The emitter view instantly changed to that of the area surrounding Canterlot; a chill ran down Iron Will’s spine. In addition to the legions of Shadowbolts surrounding the castle from air and land, at least 10 times more Shadowbolt warriors had joined in. Large, spikey black vehicles resembling fighter planes also screamed in between them in the rapidly darkening skies. Even further than that, enormous, jet- black balls of metal hundreds of feet in diameter had begun to roll right up to The Castle Barrier and surround it. The gleaming white towers and golden cupolas of The Castle almost seemed to be blotted out by all the darkness, right along with the sun up above.

“What is this?” Iron Will whispered to the emitter.

“Certain death, barbarian, ‘tis certain death,” Nightmare cruelly smiled, superimposed on the frightening imagery of her war machines. “Because if there is one thing we Equestrians have on our side… it is time.”

Suddenly, every black metal ball stopped rolling right at the edge of The Barrier. A large hole opened up on the side of each ball closest to it, and a very nasty- looking, black, forked cannon- like protrusion popped out, aiming right for The Main Castle of Canterlot. Charging up, they began firing massive streams of energy at the force field, all at once, in perfect synchronization. Again and again The Barrier was slammed by the brillliant, massive rounds; it held up but became visibly disturbed by the new onslaught. In addition, the fighters and Shadowbolts above unleashed their own barrage, and soon the entire shield was wavering under the stress- still holding up, for the present moment. 

“We shall not stop until we have breached The Castle’s defenses, and we shall kill every single last one of you where you stand, where you sleep, and where you hide. We shall take no prisoners. Before you are even granted the sublime mercy of starving to death, you shall be made to choke on your own blood by our cold, unfeeling hands. They are My Shadowbolts, and I am Your Very Worst Nightmare. Look upon your inevitable fate, you fools, and tremble before it. For we are coming in… for all of you.”

The transmission from Nightmare cut off, and all emitter activities resumed to normal. All throughout the entire Castle, not a single person spoke. Every last Initiative member was frozen in shock and renewed hopelessness. Outside, the constant barrage of energy against The Barrier could be heard, as well as the moaning of the shields as they struggled to stay active. Iron Will just stood there before the emitter, long after Nightmare was gone.

In the dungeons below, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity were frozen with shock as well. Nobody said anything for a while, but, slowly, Twilight’s brain began to fire up, perhaps even harder than it had ever done before in her life. A plan began to form in her mind, an admittedly insane one; a new resolve began to strengthen in her heart, warming it from within. She turned to her terrified companions, all of them, and spoke to them simply and directly:

“We have to stop her.”
	
> Ch. 13- All Together Now
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Forgive me, darling,” Rarity, her face ashen from Nightmare’s sudden appearance, turned to Twilight as she sat in the corner. “But did you just say that we had to… stop her?”

Twilight looked her straight in the eyes and nodded.

“And how in the hay is that even possible?” Applejack, who had slowly moved towards the cell bars, asked.

“Twilight, you’ve been through a lot today… you should really rest for now…” Fluttershy offered.

“No, girls, I mean it,” Twilight answered while simultaneously formulating her plan which, even she had to admit, had only a very, very slim chance of working. “We have to stop The Alicorn Queen. We may be the only ones left who can do so,”

“Sugarcube, you jus’ heard Nightmare fer yourself, ya saw what’s waiting fer us out there,” Applejack argued, “We have about a snowball’s chance in hell of defeatin’ that ourselves.”

“Actually, a snowball’s chance in hell would statistically be 0%, barring any extenuating sorts of refrigeration or the total non- existence of eternal damnation, in which case the entire exercise is moot,” Twilight corrected. “I have an idea to stop this, and it definitely- well, ok, probably- has a better chance of working than 0%.”

“And just what did you have in mind, dear?” Rarity asked.

Twilight sighed, finalizing her plan in her head.

“The Elements of Harmony.”

“The Elements?” Rarity asked.

“Yes… they’re supposed to be the power source of what’s left of Equestria, right? The Alicorn Eye, all the buildings in Canterlot, its mainframe… well, that just means that Nightmare and her Shadowbolts, who obviously aren’t alive in the strictest sense, are running off of them too, doesn’t it? Or at the very least, their siege engines are,”

Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy exchanged nervous glances with each other as Twilight continued.

“If we can get to The Elements in Harmonics, outside of the city, and turn them off, you know, pull out Nightmare’s batteries at the source, well then, theoretically at least, the entire army, as well as Nightmare herself, should be deactivated,” she finished.

The three beside her looked at each other again; nobody quite knew what to say.

“Sugarcube,” Applejack began with upmost precaution, “I know you’ve jus’ been through a mighty terrible loss… but couldn’t this all jus’ be a part of yer wantin’ ta get back out there and, ya know… look fer ya mother?”

“No! No, I mean…” Twilight rubbed her temples. “…Of course, if my mother is out there, still alive, I want to find her, but if she isn’t… look, I really don’t see anything else to do, except to sit here and wait to die… horribly.”

With that, everybody else in the dungeon looked down; they knew what Twilight had said was the truth- there was no other viable or less- crazy way to even begin to get out of the sudden mess that they all found themselves in.

“I… I don’t know, Twilight,” Fluttershy stammered, fidgeting with her hands.

“Maybe the best thing fer us ta do is sit and wait, ya know, for reinforcements from Ponyville,” Applejack tried to persuade her.

“Are you forgetting that Nightmare is an Alicorn Queen?” Twilight answered. “Haven’t you wondered why no one has come leaping to our rescue yet? It’s because she has obviously shut The Eye. At any rate, even if they do eventually arrive… come on, Applejack, you’ve seen what those things can do. It would be a very short, very one- sided battle, and Nightmare would then be free to roam the Earth as she wished, unchallenged by any nation’s army. No, if we are going to stop her from killing any more innocent people, this is the only way to do it. But we have to act now, before that Barrier breaks down and they kill the only ones who can stop them!”

“Darling, one does not simply walk into Harmonics and turn off The Elements of Harmony, not now,” Rarity added. “And besides, you’re supposing that we can even shut them off once we get there.”

“I can do it,” Twilight responded with fierce determination, suddenly thinking back, with pain, to her mother’s praise and affirmation of her scientific genius. She held back her tears as she continued. “Believe me, if there’s anybody left that… that can do it, it’s me. And in the event that we can’t turn The Elements off, then, well… we’ll just have to destroy them.”

She looked at them all fiercely. She had never been surer or more afraid of anything in her life.

A sudden realization flashed through her mind, though, and she lowered her head to the ground. “But… I can’t do this alone, girls. I’m only one person. I… I… I need your help if this plan is going to succeed,”

The other three just sat or stood there in silence. Twilight was asking a lot from them; sure, her plan seemed to be the very minimum amount of sound, but she was asking them to risk their lives with her, to possibly even give them up in sacrifice. Such propositions were not so easily accepted, at least not by normal, run- of- the- mill people.

“I’ll do it,” Rarity slowly answered, nodding her head. Twilight looked up at her and, for the first time in a very long while, smiled.

“Really?”

“Ok, darling, we’ll try your plan. Besides, if you even have a chance of turning off The Elements, then you’ll probably need somebody fluent in Equestrian,” Rarity smiled back as Twilight’s heart grew warmer and warmer.

“Well, if you’re going to go out there with those…” Fluttershy shuddered as she spoke gently, “…things, it’ll be very dangerous. I would never forgive myself if you got hurt, Twilight, or if you found your mother and she’s hurt, with nobody around to help, so, um… I guess I’ll come too.”

Twilight gasped in tears, her heart flooding with emotion. She hugged them both tightly in deep, sincere gratitude.

“Thank you, girls, oh… thank you.”

When she broke off from her hug, she noticed that Applejack had become very silent. She saw her military guard standing right outside her cell with her back turned towards her. Twilight got up and walked right up to the bars.

“Applejack,” she called out to her, “you have to let me go.”

“I can’t do that, sugarcube,” Applejack quietly whispered without even facing her.

“Applejack, you know General Armstrong will eventually get us all killed, every single one of us… this is the only way,”

“DAMMIT! ORDERS ARE ORDERS!!!” Applejack bellowed out in frustration. Twilight could hear her ragged breathing afterwards through the bars.

Twilight lowered her head and sighed. “Applejack, do you remember what I said to you, earlier today, before all of this happened?”

Applejack finally turned around, tears in her eyes.

“I said that you were somebody that I could trust. Even when you had to do your job, you still came around to talk to me, to treat me kindly. Do you remember what else I said to you?”

Applejack grit her teeth as she wiped her eyes, but continued to say nothing.

“I said that you were a very honest woman.” Twilight started to chuckle a little before continuing. “You know, Applejack, you’re probably the most honest, down- to- earth person that I’ve ever met; because of that, and because of what we’ve been through, together, I trust you. I trust you with all my heart, and just like I needed your honesty then, well… I need you right now. Because, Applejack, I…” Twilight looked down and sniffed. “…I really need you to trust me right now. Just like I trust you.”

Applejack turned her back on Twilight again; the last remains of her heart were obliterated, and tears streamed freely down her face. Twilight just stood there; Rarity and Fluttershy sat together in the cell, waiting in anticipation for her response. After a few moments, Applejack cursed loudly and then turned around and ran to unlock the cell door. Twilight ran up to her and hugged her tightly.

“Oh, Applejack,” she sniffed again.

“I still think this is all crazier than a rattlesnake at a square dance, but…” Applejack sniffed too, “… if’n y’all remember, I told ya that there is no way in hell I’m a- gonna let you git yourself killed, not if I can help it… I’m comin’ with you, too.”

“Thank you, Applejack, thank you,” Twilight hugged her even tighter.

Rarity and Fluttershy walked out to join them, hugging Applejack gently in gratitude. She sniffed and hugged them back.

“So, uh, now what are we supposed ta do?” Applejack wiped her eyes clean as she asked Twilight.

“We’ll need some additional help,” Twilight replied, and the others nodded in agreement with her.


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


Pinkie Pie sighed. She had been sitting at her console at IT since this whole mess had started, had watched and listened in horror as the grisly one- sided battle took place outside. After those first few shocking moments, though, the IT Division had come under a complete lull as the entire Castle settled into the siege and the military command center had apparently found no more need for her skills. General Armstrong had simply ordered the entire Division to keep up maintenance of the Canterlot Mainframe. Pinkie Pie was quite bored, true, but such a state didn’t bother her as much now as it usually would. No, Pinkie Pie was mostly scared, scared for all her friends throughout The Initiative, and scared for herself as well. She just didn’t know what the future held in store for all of them.

Pinkie yawned and stretched, moving for the first time in what seemed like hours.

“I think I’m gonna get a soda, you guys want anything?” she turned to the IT technicians working next to her.

“Oooh,” a blond female communications specialist to her right replied, “Do you think you can get me a muffin? I’m starving,”

“I can’t make any promises, but I can sure try!” Pinkie winked at her as she got up and walked out of IT.

She made her way down the hallway where two soda machines still stood. Licking her lips, which were, oddly, covered in traces of frosting, she inserted a dollar into a machine and made her selection. The machine just read “OUT OF ORDER” on its little screen, and Pinkie frowned. She tried every selection on both machines, but they were both completely empty. Pinkie sighed, realizing that people had probably panicked during the start of the siege and had started hoarding all of the available food and drink for themselves. She contemplated how much longer this day would turn out to be now that she was deprived of her much needed sugar fix.

“Pinkie Pie,” she suddenly heard someone whisper her name.

Pinkie gasped and turned around, scanning the halls for the person who had called her. She didn’t see anybody in either direction, so she scratched her head.

“Pinkie!” the voice came again, a distinctly female one, and quite familiar to her at that.

“Is somebody out there?” Pinkie inquired out loud. “It can’t be me talking to myself again, I don’t usually sound so much like Twilight Sparkle! Or do I?” she began to seriously wonder.

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight stuck her head out of a small corridor that intersected the hall near the soda machines. “It’s me!”

Pinkie jumped with surprise and joy. “Hiiiii Twilight!” she began to wave like a maniac.

Twilight put a finger to her lips and shushed her. “Pinkie! Please be quiet!”

Pinkie only laughed at that. “Oh, Twilight! Only children are meant to be seen but not heard, but we’re adults, silly filly! Of course, I think children should get to be as loud as they want to, but-“

“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight interrupted, still nervous that, any second now, she would be found by somebody else. “Will you please get over here? Please?”

“Ok, ok… now, should I go real fast, like I’m powerwalking, or real slowly and stealthily, like I’m a ninja?” 

Pinkie heard some pretty audible groans coming from the corridor, and Applejack’s head suddenly appeared next to Twilight’s. “Girl, would you jus’ git over here?!”

“Okey- dokey- lokey!” Pinkie responded simply and happily and ran over to the corridor, skipping really, where Twilight and Applejack were very unsuccessfully trying to hide. Twilight watched her come over, noticing that, although she seemed as cheerful and energetic as always, her eyes had pronounced bags under them, and she seemed a little more frazzled than usual.

“Oh!” Pinkie gasped when she entered the corridor to also find Fluttershy and Rarity hiding there as well, “Are you all having some sort of party? Like a ‘We’re All Gonna Die, There’s Really No Way Out, It’s Totally and Completely Hopeless, So Let’s Make Tonight The Best Night Ever!’ kind of party?!”

“Shhh!” Twilight shushed her. “No, Pinkie, we’re not throwing a party.”

“Hey Applejack, hey Fluttershy!” Pinkie greeted happily. “Ooh, I recognize your hair, didn’t we work together on The Alicorn’s Tongue a while back?” she asked Rarity.

“Yes, darling, hello, I’m Rarity, Rarity Belle… a pleasure.”

“Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie shook her hand earnestly. “We should exchange shampoo tips sometime!” Her face suddenly fell a little. “If we’re not all dead, that is.”

“Pinkie,” Twilight drew her attention again. “We’re here because we need your help. We think the only way that we can stop Nightmare’s siege is to turn off The Elements of Harmony,”

“Ooooh, good plan,” Pinkie replied in awe. “How can I help?”

“Can you reconfigure The Barrier to let us through without losing its entire structural integrity?” Twilight asked, remembering with a shiver the exploding fighter planes in Dr. Heartstring’s presentation.

Pinkie bit her tongue in thought. “I think so, it shouldn’t be that hard to reconfigure a single region for only one- way traffic. Anything else?”

“Yes, I need you to find a spot in The Barrier for us to escape through, somewhere that won’t be directly fired upon just as we’re leaving,” Twilight explained further.

“No problemo! I’ll just extrapolate a point of escape using some realtime data of the weapons impacting against our shields! That should get you through without a hitch, though I can’t imagine you’re gonna have a very good time once you’re out there…”

“I know, Pinkie Pie, I know…” Twilight sighed. “There is one last thing… I may need some help once we get to Harmonics, configuring the systems and even dealing with The Elements themselves… would you, just maybe… be willing to come with us?”

The small group stared at Pinkie Pie; Twilight was very worried that her advanced computer skills would not be available for this crucial mission. For the first time since she appeared, Pinkie sighed, looking down at the floor with a totally serious face. Twilight’s heart stopped- she believed Pinkie was about to say no.

“I… I’m really scared, Twilight,” she started to reply, “I don’t really know what’s going on outside, and when I saw all those soldiers fighting on my emitter, I… I just…” she looked up at Twilight with her big, blue watery eyes. “…I just can’t stay here. I can’t sit and wait for those things to come in and get me, to get all of my friends… I couldn’t take waiting for that to happen, I just couldn’t take it to watch everybody get… so… yes, I’ll come with you.”

Twilight hugged her, breathing a sigh of relief. 

“I’m scared too, Pinkie Pie, we all are. But if we’re going to have any chance of getting out of this alive, all of us, then we need to stop Nightmare before she can hurt anybody else.”

“Okey- dokey- lokey,” Pinkie Pie sniffed a little and wiped her eyes. She started to smile again when Twilight let go. “You know, this could be kinda fun! An adventure with my brand new, very bestest- best BFFs! Oooh! Oooh! This will be just like Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, except The Elements of Harmony are the hamburgers!”

Rarity hugged her gently, smiling and shaking her head before turning to Twilight. “And just how are we supposed to even penetrate The Barrier, darling? By walking?”

“No, by flying,” Twilight answered, grinning. “And I know just the pilot who can get us through.”


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


The ragtag group of five made their way into the hangar bay; The Barrier had fortunately protected it from the attack due to its close proximity to The Castle. Before them sat, undisturbed, military jets and helicopters of all sorts lining its entire length. As Twilight led the small group forward, she noticed with relief that it seemed to be quite empty of any people.

“Are ya sure she’s even in here, sugarcube?” Applejack asked warily.

“Positive. All the other pilots and flight crews are with the other remaining military personnel at the command center, just as General Armstrong ordered,” Twilight responded as she looked around. “However, Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to have joined up with them, and Pinkie tracked her eggo to this place. She’s gotta be around here somewhere,”

“I don’t know, Twi, if she or anybody else lets the general onto us, we’re sure ta be in a whole heap a trouble. How do ya even know that we can trust this Rainbow Dash, anyway?”

Twilight thought for a minute as they walked quickly. “I don’t. However, if there’s any pilot here who can fly us through that siege in one piece, it’s gotta be her, believe me… ooh, here’s The Rainboom…” they came upon Dash’s precious plane, and she scanned around it for the pilot. “Now, where could she be?”

“’Sup?” a voice suddenly greeted them from above.

They all gasped and turned towards the source; Applejack instinctively drew her pistol in shock. They found Rainbow Dash standing on one of the variable wings, looking down at them. When Dash saw that Applejack had her weapon raised, she pulled her own sidearm and pointed it right back at her.

“Woah!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flipping her safety off.

“Oh my goodness...” Fluttershy blanched as the others all backed away from the little standoff between the pilot and the soldier. Pinkie Pie was waving happily at Rainbow Dash, even as she backed away.

“DROP IT!” Dash ordered as sweat began to pour over her brow.

“YOU DROP IT!” Applejack responded, sweating too as she cocked her hammer back.

“Ladies, please,” Rarity nervously tried to calm them down. “There’s really no need for this- I mean, ha ha ha, we’re all on the same side, aren’t we?”

“I don’t know, it looks to me like you’re all trying to desert The Castle… I mean why else would you be sneaking around here when nobody’s looking?” Rainbow Dash accused, still pointing her gun at Applejack. “And then this grunt here decides she wants to play Rambo, so here we all are.”

“You’re the one lurkin’ in the hangar bay all by yer lonesome, pointin’ a gun at people passin’ by… so what does that make you, exactly?” Applejack spat back.

“You pulled your weapon on me first, hayseed!”

“Well, it takes two ta tangle now, don’t it, Skittles?!”

“GIRLS!” Twilight walked in between the two of them, her hands up. “Could you both just quit it with the Army- Navy Game for a minute?! I think we all have much bigger problems to deal with, don’t you?!”

She gently began to pull the barrel of Applejack’s gun downwards. Applejack looked at her and then sighed, finally holstering her weapon. After she did, Rainbow Dash did the same.

“Thank you,” Twilight and the rest of them breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh, man,” Pinkie Pie clapped her hands, laughing, “This is exciting! I’m soooo glad that I decided to tag along!”

Rarity and Fluttershy just stared at her with apprehension.

“Just what are you all doing down here, anyway?” Rainbow Dash crossed her arms. “Shouldn’t you be with the others?”

“Funny, I was jus’ about ta ask you the same thing,” Applejack was still frowning at her.

“Well, I figured if I’m gonna die, then I might as well fly out and take as many of those fuckers with me as soon as The Barrier falls,” Dash explained, and then sighed, shaking her head. “I mean, what else is there to really do now?”

“That’s why we’re here, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight explained, “we think we’ve figured out a way to stop Nightmare and her army.”

Rainbow Dash just laughed bitterly. “Oh, that’s rich… I heard war can make people go crazy, but that is just friggin’ unbelievable…”

“I’m serious,” Twilight pressed on. “The Elements power each and every piece of native Equestrian technology, don’t they? Well, if we can get to Harmonics and shut them off, shouldn’t Nightmare and her Shadowbolts all die?”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight, frowning. “Assuming that would even work, how in the hell do you plan on getting to Harmonics, anyway? Last time I checked, there was still a medieval- ass siege going on outside the Castle, or did you forget?”

“That’s why we’re here,” Twilight explained again, “We want to fly our way out.”

Dash looked at her again as if she was crazy. “Are you serious? Do you even know what would happen the second a plane leaves that force field? You wouldn’t make it ten meters without being shot down, not to mention the fact that The Castle would be left completely defenseless the moment you lowered The Barrier,”

“Pinkie Pie here thinks that she can get us out without lowering the shields entirely,” Twilight gestured to the programmer, who again waved happily at Rainbow Dash. “She also thinks that she can find a spot where they won’t be firing, giving us a good chance of running the siege.”

Rainbow Dash scoffed, jumping down from the wing of her plane. “Even if you do manage to do all that, what makes you think that you can make it past an entire army of those robotic bastards?”

“Well… we would probably need an extremely capable pilot who could handle that,” Twilight continued, quite anxiously. “Somebody with the skills, somebody with the courage… and maybe, just maybe, somebody with a really, really fantastic and patented hairstyle, too?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Oh, no… oh, no, no, no, there is absolutely no friggin’ way,”

“Rainbow Dash, please, we need you,” Twilight pleaded.

Dash looked at her, and then at all of the others. “You’re really serious about this? Does General Armstrong even know what you’re all doing?”

The girls all looked at each other with shifty eyes, and Dash chuckled darkly.

“Yeah… I didn’t think so.”

“Darling, there is no way any of us is getting out of here alive just sitting around- I mean, let’s face it, nobody’s going to come to our rescue, we have to do it ourselves,” Rarity reasoned.

“Yeah! Rarity here even says that it’s that meanie- weenie general’s fault everybody’s in danger in the first place! Oh, he’s so terrible, I even wrote a song about him on the way over here!” Pinkie added. “It’s an experimental piece called ‘Pralines and Dick #9’.”

“Um, if we’re going to have any chance of, uh- gulp- surviving this, I would think that we could use a brave, talented pilot such as yourself, Rainbow Dash, but… you know, that’s really just my own personal opinion…” Fluttershy added nervously as well.

“Please, Rainbow, help us. Help us save all of the people in this Castle. Help us stop Nightmare,” Twilight begged.

Rainbow Dash just shook her head and turned away from them. It sounded like a reasonable plan- well, sort of- and there really wasn’t any other way out that she could think of. Well, any other way where she would still be alive in the end …

Applejack walked up to her. “Sugarcube, Twilight’s right, they all are… even Pinkie Pie too, I guess… this is the only way. Now, we gotta defeat that psychotic bitch, or else a whole lotta people’s gonna suffer n’ die, fer nothin’.” Dash turned around to face her as she continued. “Ya said it yerself that you were ready ta go out there on yer own, guns blazin’ n’ all… well, why not take a couple more passengers wit ya, hon’?”

Rainbow Dash looked Applejack in the eye, and they stared at each other for a while. Dash turned to look at the others as well, each holding their breath in anticipation for her answer. She groaned loudly.

“Fine, let’s get this sad little kamikaze show over with.” 

To her surprise, the other girls shouted in joy and ran over to give her a big group hug.

“Um… this really wasn’t a part of the plan,” she muttered uncomfortably.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash, oh, thank you, thank you so much!” Twilight was smiling; they now stood a fighting chance, together, against The Alicorn Queen.

“So, should we leave right now?” Dash asked as they all parted from the hug.

“Well, I never thought I’d ever have to say these words, but…” Twilight sighed. “We’re going to need a lot more guns. Big ones.”
	
> Ch. 14- Edit: Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“President Everstar!” Lyra shouted as she ran into Ponyville’s impromptu war room. “Madam President, I found something!”

Celestia was busy discussing important matters with some of the other civilian and military personnel when she turned around to greet Lyra. “Dr. Heartstrings, what is it?”

“Madam President, I was going over all of my artifacts and documents, and I figured something out… you see, I’ve always wondered why the Equestrians who had fled during The Civil War never returned through The Eye, even when they had an Alicorn Amulet, so I did a little digging…”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, and what did you find, Doctor?”

“Well, the last stone inscriptions of the exiles seem to make reference to a certain cult that developed in Equestria right at the very end of The Civil War, a cult centered around the then last Alicorn monarch… the allusions don’t really go into all that much detail, but they talk about certain rituals involving the Queen’s faithful, fanatical Pegasi army becoming entombed with the ruler in the event of her death, and that such a retinue would serve to protect her in the afterlife, holding at bay any encroaching forces from the colonies outside of Equestria…”

Celestia felt a chill run down her spine. “An army?”

“Yes, throughout human history such acts have often been repeated by everyone from the ancient Babylonians to the Chinese emperors… however, the Equestrian exiles speak of this army in very frightening terms, almost as if they greatly feared the evil spirits of the Queen’s loyal dead, whom they referred to as ‘The Shadows of Lightning’… it was almost as if they truly believed that the very land, upon receiving this unholy contingent, would have become cursed itself… thus, The Eye became taboo for them to cross through, even as they found themselves in desperate need of Equestria’s advanced technology.”

Celestia began to piece together what Lyra was implying. “My God…”

Lyra nodded grimly. “Given what we know about that advanced technology, Madam President, you can see where I’m going with this… imagine that an entire army of Equestrian warriors had somehow transformed themselves into artificial lifeforms, right along with their last Queen, whom they seemed to view as the divine bearer of The Elements of Harmony… everything about them, their very souls if you will, were placed in mechanical bodies that would be designed to mimic their functions in life, except that they would be specifically made to battle the foreign hordes that might besiege Equestria long after their deaths… however, bear in mind that they all would’ve been dying of The Pony Plague when they were ‘interred’, so to speak, and the outcome, unfortunately, would’ve been an entire army of nigh indestructible, at least by our standards, Equestrian automatons uploaded with the diseased, insanely irrational, and highly aggressive personalities of those they were supposed to copy.”

Everyone else in the room stared at Lyra with horror. They began to imagine all the horrible sorts of things now plaguing Canterlot and its current residents.

Celestia breathed sharply, trying to take in everything Lyra had just explained; she looked around the war room, and upon noticing that someone was missing, she immediately started for the door.

“Madam President?” Lyra asked.

“Come with me, Dr. Heartstrings,” Celestia ordered as Lyra began to follow her, “you need to tell everything that you just told me to General Spinelli… this changes everything…”


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


“Come on!” Applejack motioned to the five behind her. “This way!”

The six of them were cautiously making their way down the halls of a deserted part of The Main Castle. Applejack was using her sharply honed sniper skills to help them all evade detection as they made their way towards their destination.

“Are you sure about this, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked as they crept along as fast as they could without drawing attention to themselves.

“Yes… most of Dr. Heartstring’s recovered artifacts are still at Archaeology in The West Castle, but according to Pinkie Pie, records indicate that she left a small cache of ancient objects right here in The Main Castle… if the inventory checklist is correct, then that would include a very small amount of Equestrian weaponry, which won’t be nearly enough to defend The Castle against The Shadowbolts but might help us on our way to Harmonics.”

“Alright, then, we better git there as soon as we can, y’all,” Applejack replied as she took out her keycard to open the next door. “There’s no tellin’ how long The Barrier will last under that barrage,”

She swiped her keycard to open the door, only to find Iron Will standing right in front of them, along with three soldiers armed with M4s. The girls all gasped in shock as Applejack and Rainbow Dash drew their pistols on them.

“Going somewhere?” Iron Will asked as his men pointed their weapons at the six of them. “Drop your weapons, lieutenants.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other, and then slowly placed their guns on the floor. The general smiled.

“Shit,” Rainbow Dash cursed.

“Here I am trying to save all of your ungrateful little asses, and what should happen? My eggo suddenly informs me that the locator tag I placed on Lieutenant Smith’s own device a while back-“ he nodded to Applejack, who seethed with rage, “-is moving from the dungeon, where I ordered her to lock up Miss Sparkle, and going all over this Castle, almost as if she was giving a grand tour of the place.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere else, yelling really loudly at somebody?” Twilight’s eyes narrowed at the general.

Iron Will smirked. “The situation, Sparkle, hopeless as it may be, isn’t changing anytime soon, so I thought I might take a little break and see what my favorite little troublemaker was up to, if she was still going to keep causing me migraines… little did I know that you had brainwashed these little civilians to come along with you, as well as two of my uniforms who now stand as mutinous traitors in my eyes, and will be dealt with accordingly…”

“Well, beggin’ the General’s pardon, but…” Applejack responded as she stared hard at him, “…y’all can go fuck yourself. Hard,”

“Agreed, sir,” Rainbow Dash added, glaring as well.

The general laughed heartily in response; Twilight was really starting to wonder how unhinged he was becoming from this siege. “You know, Applejack, I honestly can’t believe that you were dumb enough to fall for Twilight Sparkle’s manipulation. Ha, ha, ha, let me guess, you really think that you’re all best buddies now, don’t you? I wonder if she knows that the only reason you even began buddying up to her in the first place was because I specifically ordered you to…”

Applejack turned to Twilight with widened eyes as the truth finally came out. Twilight looked back at her, a hurt, surprised look on her face.

“Oh? The plot thickens now, doesn’t it?” Iron Will caught the exchange between the two. “Why, yes, Miss Sparkle, honest Applejack here was assigned by me to watch you, to spy on you, and to report back to me your every doing. In the event that you became too great a pain in my ass, like, for example: right now, she was to give me everything I needed to neutralize you, as a threat, by any means possible.”

Twilight just locked eyes with Applejack, forcing her to shut her own eyes and grit her teeth.

“Well, Miss Sparkle, I’ll deal with you and your little friends once this is all over, believe me…” he turned to Applejack, “Lieutenant Smith, how does it feel to know that, in one fell swoop, you lost your new best buddy and totally failed as a competent soldier under my command? Please, do tell me… how do you like them apples?”

“Well,” Pinkie Pie spoke up as she reached into her pocket, “how do you like- EPIC GLITTER TIME?!?!?!”

She threw a handful of little metallic flakes at the general and the soldiers. They all screamed and immediately reached for their eyes. Seeing their chance, Applejack and Rainbow Dash both grabbed two of the carbines and yanked them up in the air with one hand, the other hand punching out the soldiers holding them. Rarity crouched down low and swept her leg hard against those of the third soldier; his body jerked high into the air and he came back down, his head cracking hard against the floor, knocking him out as well. Twilight ran forward, grabbing his carbine and then aiming it at him.

“ARGHHHH,” Iron Will screamed, “YOU LITTLE BITCH!!!”

He raised his gun blindly, and Applejack and Rainbow Dash drew a bead on him with their stolen carbines. However, before they could fire, Fluttershy walked up to Iron Will’s side and quickly squeezed a pressure point on his gun hand. He screamed in pain and dropped his weapon, which Fluttershy caught in her other hand as her tiny, petite fingers bent his big, muscular arm all the way behind his back, making him scream even louder. With one smooth motion, Fluttershy flipped the handgun over in her other hand and then proceeded to pistol whip Iron Will in the back of the head. He fell down to the floor, unconscious, joining his men. 

“Hiii- yah!” she squeaked gently as he went down.

When the situation was under control, the other five just stared at Fluttershy in incredulity.

“…Wow,” was all Twilight could think to say.

“Damn, girl,” Rainbow Dash breathed.

“Now where’d ya learn ta do that, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

Fluttershy, blushing, shrugged her shoulders as she handed Rainbow Dash Iron Will’s pistol. “Um, after college I spent a lot of time meditating at The Shaolin Monastery…” she looked down at Iron Will’s still form. “…Sorry,”

Rainbow Dash smiled widely, patting her on the back in appreciation. “No need for apologies, Doc, ha ha, yeah!”

Rarity, still breathing hard, frowned and turned to Pinkie Pie. “Darling, where did you get all that glitter from?”

“Oh, I always keep plenty of glitter in my pockets!” Pinkie smiled as she dusted off her sparkly hands. “In case of glitter emergencies,”

Rarity nodded quite seriously. “You know, dear, that’s actually not a bad idea…”

Applejack shuffled her feet in guilt. “Twilight, about what the general said, I… I’m so sorry, and… you gotta believe me, sugarcube, I felt jus’ awful treatin’ ya the way that I did, and I… oh, Twi,” she looked down in deep shame, “I’m so, so sorry… you must hate me…”

Twilight looked at her as she got to think for the first time since the flurry of action had died down. Eventually, she put her hand on Applejack’s shoulder, smiling gently.

“Applejack, you’re a good person… believe me, I know it. Please, don’t make me repeat myself, because I already told you, I trust you… with all my heart.”

Applejack grabbed Twilight and hugged her tightly, sniffing.

“That’s real fucking beautiful and all, guys, but we still kinda got a job to do,” Rainbow Dash reminded them as she pointed her carbine down the hall beyond the door littered with big, strapping, unconscious army men.

“Alright, let’s find a closet or somethin’ ta lock these guys up in,” Applejack wiped her eyes and then motioned for the others to help her start dragging the soldiers out of the way.


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


The ragtag group of six ran quickly down the aisles of a dark warehouse beneath The Main Castle.

“It’s here!” Pinkie Pie checked her EGO in front of a large shelf filled with dull grey metal containers. “Right here!”

“Allow me,” Rarity equipped herself with a Unicorn Interface and waved her hand. All the boxes on the shelf became enveloped in a blue glow and started to move, on their own, into a neat pile on the floor. Twilight gasped in awe when she saw this.

“What is that?” 

“Why, it’s my horn, darling,” Rarity smiled as she worked. “Aren’t you a Unicorn, as well? Haven’t you ever used one before?”

Twilight thought back to The Eye Run. “Um, not like that.”

“It’s easy; dear, come, put on your horn,” Rarity beckoned and Twilight stood next to her. She pressed her EGO and her “horn” popped out.

“Now, all you have to do is will something to move, and with enough practice, your horn can become quite powerful, you know,” Rarity instructed. 

Twilight nodded as she raised her horn at a box, willing it to move. To her delight, the entwined energy glove hummed and glowed a bright purple, and a corresponding purple glow similar to Rarity’s appeared around the object. She focused her concentration and the box began to move itself over from the shelf to the floor. Twilight laughed, lowering her hand, and the box’s glow faded.

“My eggo… he’s just so… great,” she exclaimed with renewed passion, clapping her hands together with glee.

Rarity smiled as she finished moving all the boxes on the shelf down. “If we get out of this alive, darling, I’ll show you how to make organizing your entire wardrobe all at once a literal snap,”

“Ok, let’s see what we got here,” Applejack opened two of the larger boxes. 

Inside were what looked like golden astronaut suits. Many were in terrible condition, but there were at least six that looked serviceable. Rarity plucked one out and began to examine it.

“Ooooh, I like very much,” she turned it this way and that.

“That must be the Equestrian armor, the PALADINs,” Twilight read the boxes' data on her EGO.

“The what now?” Rainbow Dash asked as she inspected a suit as well.

“Initiative scientists called it PALADIN, for Powered Advanced Laminar Ablative Defensors of Impact Neutralization,” Twilight explained, still reading her EGO. “Judging from the battle data collected earlier today, I believe that they’re made from a completely different material then the Shadowbolts, and that they’ve even been reinforced with a miniature version of The Barrier within each cell of the armor in order to protect living humans inside. Now, theoretically, that should protect us from even direct blows from an enemy’s weapon, although too much damage will start to transmit through the suit; as more damage is accumulated, the suit’s Barrier will eventually shut down, leaving only the hard material as protection. When that’s penetrated, then the suit will be fully compromised. In addition, the armor will also exponentially increase our speed, agility, strength and stamina as long as it remains uncompromised… fascinating,”

They all began to put the suits on; eventually, however, the tiny, young females found them to be too large and bulky for their bodies.

“Yeah… I don’t think this will work,” Rainbow Dash flopped her arms.

“Wait, I think we need synchronize our eggos first,” Twilight pressed hers and the others did so as well. The micro- plating of their suits suddenly began to shift around them, becoming much more form- fitting, and even began to change colors as well: Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie changed from a uniform gold to purple, orange, blue, white, yellow and pink, respectively.

“Christ, we look like the fucking Power Rangers,” Rainbow Dash groaned. 

“We can change this, right?” Applejack, always the sniper, frowned.

Twilight fiddled with her EGO, shaking her head. “It seems to be a normal part of the synchronization,”

“I think we look just splendid, darlings,” Rarity ran her hands over her snow white armor. “I wouldn’t change a thing!”

“It’s… nice,” Fluttershy added quite vaguely.

“I love it!” Pinkie Pie squealed as she admired her incredibly pink body.

“Yeah?” Dash snorted at her. “Remind me not to stand next to you when they start shooting at us… I look bad enough already as it is,”

“Let’s see what else we got,” Applejack began opening thinner boxes. Inside, packed in foam, were long, silver, plastic- wrapped metal objects that resembled rifles. Under them were smaller, handheld examples similar to pistols. Applejack plucked one of the longer ones up and pulled the shrinkwrap off, whistling as she admired its sleek, shiny design.

“Light Rifles,” Twilight explained, reading from her EGO again. “They utilize coherent bolts of photons as projectiles,”

“Now this here is what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!” the soldier grinned.

“Here, lemme turn it on for ya!” Pinkie fiddled with her EGO and suddenly all the weapons in the case as well as the one Applejack was holding started to hum with energy, small lights along the guns glowing brighter. 

“These are the same weapons that the Shadowbolts are using,” Twilight continued as she read her own EGO. “They should be able to penetrate their metallic surfaces with ease, if I’m reading their energy outputs correctly. Since native Equestrian weapons run off of The Elements of Harmony, your ammunition is essentially unlimited, although I must warn you that excessive firing will cause your gun to overheat and shut down temporarily. So, to operate the weapon, it’s really quite simple-”

Applejack shouldered her Light Rifle and aimed it at an empty box far away. She squeezed the trigger once and it released a rapid succession of brilliant blue bolts that impacted against the box, flinging it high into the air. She kept on releasing bursts of energy, hitting the box dead on each time so that it seemed to hover in mid- air as she pummeled it mercilessly. She stopped firing and it fell to the floor, smoking.

“I don’t need instructions on how ta use a gun, sugarcube,” She smiled at Twilight, who grinned and shook her head.

“Nice shooting, Tex,” Rainbow Dash smirked, picking up another Light Rifle for herself. 

“Thank ya kindly, pardner,” Applejack reached for a set of pistols and placed one on either hip. They attached with a magnetic force and she smiled again.

“Yee- hah!” she exclaimed joyfully.

Rarity opened a small box and picked up what was inside. It was a silver D- shaped handle, and she examined it with curiosity.

“Oh, do be careful with that one, Rarity!” Twilight warned. “It’s called a Light Foil, and it can be quite dangerous!”

Rarity turned it over in her hand, examining it closely. She held it away from her, and pressed a small button on the handle. Suddenly, a thin, curving, segmented metal protrusion shot out; when it fully extended, a bright blue blade of solid energy erupted along its front, forming an edge. Rarity waved it around, admiring its pretty glow.

“Oooh… I rather do like this,” she smiled. “It’s simply fabulous, darling!”

“Yes... an elegant weapon, for a more civilized age…” Rainbow Dash joked.

“Oh, hush,” Rarity scoffed at her insult, “I’ll have you know that I’m a master La Taille fencer,”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened, and she nodded in newfound respect.

“La Taille?” Twilight asked quizzically.

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes at her. “You really need to get out more. La Taille is only the newest, coolest martial arts ever invented! It’s like gymnastics, parkour and fencing all mixed together!” She jumped off from the wall and pretended to stab at an opponent. “Super- duper deadly!!!”

“Most importantly, it’s an excellent way to help keep one’s core tight and fit,” Rarity added.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Geez, Rarity, ya really think a sword’s gonna be any help out there?”

Rarity just grinned and stuck her chin out as she closed up the Light Foil and stowed it away on her armor. “A lady never goes into battle unprepared, Applejack.”

“What are these?” Rainbow Dash pulled out a large, metal backpack- like device.

“Um… are you by any chance a Pegasus?” Twilight looked up from her EGO.

“Sure am!” Rainbow Dash answered proudly.

“Well, then you’re going to love that,” Twilight smiled. “It’s called a Wingpack. It’s only operable by Alicorns and Pegasi... I think you can guess the function from its name,”

Rainbow Dash made a choking sound. “I can fly? You’re saying that I can fly without a plane?!”

Twilight nodded and Rainbow Dash quickly put on the Wingpack. When it attached to her back, the color changed to match her suit. Expansive, feathery blue metal wings popped out, and Dash found that she could, using her mind, move them with ease. She gave them a little flap, fired their thrusters, and then raised both hands to her face, yelping like a little girl.

“SO!! AWESOME!!!” 

“Is anyone else here Pegasi?” Twilight asked.

“Um… I am,” Fluttershy raised her hand nervously.

“Here,” Dash threw her another Wingpack, “we might need another TOTALLY BITCHIN’ flying person on this mission,”

“But… I don’t think…”

“Step it up, Bruce Lee,” Dash was still preoccupied with her newfound wings.

Fluttershy sighed. “Ok…” she put on the device and it turned canary yellow.

“Here, take this, too,” Applejack threw her a Light Rifle. She caught it, whining slightly as she felt its weight. Twilight and Rarity picked up Light Rifles as well.

“Oh, dear…” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Here, Fluttershy,” Twilight handed her a small metal box, “These are some Equestrian medical supplies… I don’t know if they still work, but we might need them.”

Fluttershy nodded as she took the box, seriously wondering why she had to carry so much stuff.

“Check it out, girls!” Pinkie Pie lifted a large, silver particle cannon up onto her shoulder, and then broke into a bad Austrian accent, “Say hello to my PARTY CANNON!”

“Pinkie Pie, be careful with that!” Twilight scolded.

“Aw, Twilight, come on, I’m not a child-“ Pinkie was responding when she accidentally pulled the cannon’s trigger. The barrel started to glow, and everybody screamed and ducked for cover. Luckily, Pinkie pulled her finger off of the trigger before the weapon had a chance to fire. She giggled nervously. “Oops! Sorry,”

“PINKIE!!!” they others all shouted at her.

“Sorry,” she continued to giggle, “That probably won’t happen again… ooh, ooh! Let’s get some of these ones-”

“Pinkie!” Twilight scolded.

“What? You said you wanted big guns, Twilight,” she replied with a grin, loading some very large boxes onto a cart next to her. “So I’m bringing some BIG, HONKING GUNS!!!”

Twilight sighed, heavily. “Ok, if everybody’s suited up and well- armed,” she looked directly at Pinkie Pie, “then we should really get back to The Sonic Rainboom now.”


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


The ragtag team of six, decked out to the nines, made their way back to Rainbow Dash’s plane in the hangar. They were met by a group of five bright yellow and blue robots that looked like large, round balloons floating in the air. When they saw these, Applejack and Rainbow Dash raised their rifles and prepared to fire.

“Hold on, girls!” Pinkie Pie stopped them. “It’s just my Pinkiebots! I called them here!”

One of the Pinkiebots floated down to its master. It’s bottom opened up, and a mechanical appendage offered her a package of Chips Ahoy.

“Pink- ie- Pie! Pink- ie- Pie!” it spoke to her. “Time- to- eat! Time- to- eat!”

“Not now, silly filly!” Pinkie giggled. “Later,”

She pointed to The Rainboom, and they all started to board.

“Pinkie Pie, what the hell-?” Rainbow Dash began to ask.

“Trust me,” Pinkie winked at her, “We’ll need them.”

“Ok… if there isn’t any further craziness scheduled, then let’s all get onboard,” Twilight directed the others.

The team of six boarded the plane, Twilight remembering with apprehension the last time she was on here; she had been with her mother...

Twilight sighed, trying to steady her nerves. Come on, Twilight Sparkle, you can do this… she told herself, you know that she wouldn’t… she DOESN’T want you to fail this. Everyone’s depending on you…

“Alright, ladies, take your seats,” Rainbow Dash ordered. “Fluttershy, get up here in case I need a co- pilot.”

Fluttershy whined again, this time quite loudly, as she joined Rainbow Dash in the cockpit.

The girls all started to take their seats near the cockpit and buckled themselves in. They each put on a skullcap to cover their hair, and then activated brightly colored helmets that slid automatically over their heads to protect them. Rainbow Dash brought the engines to life, and Pinkie Pie started to fiddle with her EGO.

“Opening bay doors… initiating Barrier reconfiguration protocols…” Pinkie informed them as she worked; Twilight noticed that she sounded much clearer than the last time they had on helmets during The Eye run.

The hangar bay doors began to groan and slowly started to open up. Beyond them, all six of The Sonic Rainboom’s occupants looked nervously towards a sea of bubbling, rippling energy, the walls of The Barrier still under heavy fire. Loud, thumping explosions reverberated throughout the entire hangar, and flashes of light pierced their eyes.

“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…” Fluttershy kept whispering nervously.

“Ladies, this is your captain speaking,” Rainbow Dash grinned with suicidal abandon as her hand started to push the throttle forward, bringing the engines to roaring life. “Let’s do this.”

> Ch. 15- Trust- Building Exercises
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Ok, here we go!” Rainbow Dash pushed all the way forward on the throttle and The Sonic Rainboom began picking up speed.

“…Oh dear, oh dear…” Fluttershy was still repeating in her seat.

The Rainboom left the hangar bay and was now barreling down the runway at full speed. The wings were picked up by the air and the plane started to lift off. When they were fully flying, Twilight began to relax a little subconsciously; the air inside The Barrier was calm and peaceful, and their flight would’ve seemed almost mundane if it wasn’t for the boiling wall of energy before them.

“Finishing reconfiguring The Barrier region… checking calculations on the exit point extrapolation…” Pinkie was working hard to guide them through what was coming up very soon to meet them. “Ok, marking target- NOW!”

She pressed her EGO and a light shot out from Rainbow Dash’s console, giving the illusion that it reached straight up towards a spot high above on The Barrier.

“Ok, Dashie, that point should be free of any bombardment when you hit it, as well as any Shadowbolt warriors or fighters!”

“Got it,” Rainbow Dash angled The Rainboom upwards towards a blinking point of light.

“Oh! I almost forgot to prepare the Pinkiebots!” Pinkie started to unbuckle herself from her seat. 

She ran down towards the rear of the plane where the Pinkiebots were all huddled together like massive party balloons on an express delivery to some ludicrously expensive party. She carried a large bag with her, and when she got to her robots she removed a large, pink, pumpkin- shaped device and promptly stuck it to the plane’s interior, where it hung there.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash shouted back at her as she flew the plane closer and closer to the exit point, “nobody said you could put up decorations!”

Pinkie pressed the device’s center and it started to glow. She then turned to her huddled Pinkiebots and cleared her throat; standing with her arms behind her back, she started to address them like a general:

“Pinkiebots, at ease. Now, you’ve all done some pretty fine work for me over the years, some pretty damn fine work, indeed…”

“Tell me she’s not giving a battle speech to her robots,” Twilight turned to Rarity.

“…She is,”

“…However, lives are at stake here, and your sacrifice is needed on the field of battle in order to ensure our mission’s success. I honestly couldn’t be any prouder of you than I am right now, ladies. You know, they say old robots never really die, anyway… mostly because they’re not living things to begin with… they just sort of… fade away,” 

Applejack slapped her own helmet where her face was and groaned.

“A- ten- HUT!” Pinkie barked sharply as she gave them a curt salute.

“Pink- ie- Pie! Pink- ie- Pie! Time- to- Eat! Time- to- Eat!” they all responded.

Pinkie sniffed with emotion. “Yes… I’m going to miss you all, too,”

“Alright, we’re almost there!” Rainbow Dash shouted as the bubbling wall of energy was almost upon them. “Everybody stop giving war speeches and sit the fuck down, this is gonna get rough!”

Pinkie ran back towards the front of the plane with her bag in tow. When she buckled herself back in, she began to pass out bright pink metal disks to everyone besides Dash.

“What are these?” Twilight asked, examining hers.

“Specially made emitters for controlling the Pinkiebots,” she barely explained before turning to the cockpit. “Rainbow Dash, right after you hit the exit point, I want you to open the rear loading ramp to release my Pinkiebots, ok?”

“What the hell for?!” Rainbow shouted back.

Pinkie giggled, even as they headed into a war zone. “To protect the plane, of course!”

Rainbow Dash just shook her head in confusion. “Alright, alright… ok, girls, this is it! HOLD ON TIGHT!”

Twilight held her breath as they hit the exit point. Before it, there was only a vague thundering sound indicating that the siege barrage was still going on outside. As soon as they crossed it, though, it was as if the entire world exploded before her, all at once. She covered her eyes due to the blinding flashes, and her helmet didn’t seem to be able to keep the deafening noise out of her ears. The plane abruptly started to rock violently, and all of Dash’s passengers screamed in terror as they were thrown about only to be yanked back in place by their seatbelts.

“HOLD ON!!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew to avoid the sudden light beams that streaked towards The Rainboom.

The plane shot upwards, its wings closed all the way and its afterburners firing at full strength. The Rainboom rocketed past the Shadowbolt warriors and fighter planes that had been surrounding and firing upon The Barrier in unison. When the Shadowbolt fighter planes nearest to the exit point realized that their enemy had slipped right through their grasp, they all started to turn around and speed upwards in hot pursuit.

“WE DID IT! WE DID IT!! WE RAN THE SIEGE!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Fluttershy whooped and hollered as loudly as was possible for her.

As if in answer, the plane started to rock again as the Shadowbolt fighters fired upon it.

“You might’ve spoken a bit too soon, darling,” Rarity muttered, pale from the extremely turbulent flight.

“Ok, Dashie, open the rear!!!” Pinkie commanded.

Rainbow Dash complied and the plane started to depressurize as the rear- loading ramp began to open up; the girls were horrified to find a swarm of Shadowbolt fighters right on their tail, each of them firing a volley of light bolts at them. Every so often, a bolt would glance The Rainboom and cause it to rock.

“Pinkie Pie, are ya crazy?!?!” Applejack shouted as a stray bolt hit the inside of the ramp, sending sparks flying.

“GO, MY PINKIEBOTS, GOOOOO!!!” Pinkie shouted to her creations; they began to open up the cargo that she had brought onto the plane earlier and each of them picked out a rather large weapon in their appendages before floating off of the ramp at her command.

“Girls, activate your Pinkiebot emitters, now!!!” she yelled to them.

Twilight looked down at her pink emitter and pressed the center. A joystick popped up as a hologram simultaneously appeared before her eyes, showing her a part of the sky outside through the eyes of her respective Pinkiebot.

“Pinkie, how are we even supposed to-“ Twilight began to ask.

“It’s just like a video game, silly filly!” Pinkie explained as she activated her own controller. “Thumb button goes ’VROOM- VROOM’ and trigger button goes ‘PEW- PEW- PEW’! Don’t stray too far from the plane or the gravity tether will pull you right back… GO!!!”

The girls glanced at each other before taking to their respective controllers. Through her emitter display, Twilight saw that her Pinkiebot had strayed too far from the plane; it suddenly got yanked back by an invisible force until it was again following The Rainboom closely at the same speed. Twilight shook her head and began manipulating her robot, trying as hard as she could to dodge Shadowbolts as they zipped past her to attack the plane. She saw a lone Shadowbolt fighter dive in front of her towards The Rainboom, and she accelerated to catch up with it. Before she got to it, though, Twilight watched as another Pinkiebot dove in to intercept it, its cannon blazing and spitting out a rapid stream of light bolts. The Shadowbolt fighter exploded, and the Pinkiebot zoomed past its flaming remains. 

“Yeeeee- hah!” Applejack whooped in victory. “Now we can finally give those rusty ol’ bastards a taste of their own medicine!!!”

Twilight smiled. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad game, after all.

The five players began to get into the feel of controlling their Pinkiebots, defending the plane as it swerved up and down and side to side under Rainbow Dash’s expert control. The cloud of enemy fighters behind them was growing larger and larger as more Shadowbolts joined up with the pursuit. The five Pinkiebots zipped around the plane in a sphere of protection, firing upon and destroying any fighter that came within their reach as The Sonic Rainboom sped ever onwards towards The Harmonics Division.

“Rarity, watch out, behind you!”

“I see him, darling!”

“Pinkie Pie, git that one right there!!!”

“POW! RIGHT IN THE KISSER!!!”

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness…”

They seemed to have been holding up pretty well, initially; however, as the swarm of fighters surrounding the plane increased, it began to get harder and harder to keep them away. Soon light bolts started to impact against The Rainboom’s hull again, making it even harder to keep control of the drones protecting it.

“Um, guys,” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as her plane began to take more and more damage and multiple warning lights started to come on.

“We’re tryin’, sugarcube, we’re tryin’!” Applejack shouted back as she obliterated two fighters at once.

“I’m out!” Twilight shouted as her screen went blank after multiple light bolts had hit her Pinkiebot.

“So am I,” Rarity sighed when the same fate befell her drone.

“Bye- bye, my brave little Pinkiebot,” Pinkie sniffed as her screen also went dark.

“Shit!” Applejack cursed as her Pinkiebot got hit by three light bolts at once. A warning sign on her emitter display started to beep, and she found that she was starting to have trouble keeping control of her ailing drone. She watched as three Shadowbolt fighters zoomed in front of her for the kill. “I think this is it for me!”

Suddenly, all three enemy fighters exploded; a lone Pinkiebot sped by and then proceeded to destroy seven enemy planes in rapid succession. Every one of the four other players turned in shock towards Fluttershy, who was manipulating her joystick deftly and adding to her body count with every second that passed.

“Wow, Fluttershy!” Pinkie called to her happily. “You’re a natural born killer!”

“Thumb button goes… ‘vroom- vroom’… trigger button goes… ‘pew- pew- pew’…” Fluttershy was murmuring to herself over and over again in deep concentration.

Rainbow Dash laughed even as she was pulling some very advanced maneuvers with her plane. “Ha ha ha! That a girl, Fluttershy! Show those buckets of bolts what a real, live Pegasus can do!”

Fluttershy calmly continued her massively hardcore Shadowbolt killing spree as Applejack worked to cover her rear. However, the Shadowbolt fighters, noticing how many of their comrades were being downed by this single, tenacious little party balloon and its ailing companion, soon began to gang up on them, firing a massive barrage from all sides. 

“Dammit!” Applejack cursed again as her Pinkiebot was blown to pieces.

Though Fluttershy deftly ducked and weaved to avoid them, she began taking more and more damage until her drone became overwhelmed and her screen finally went blank. She sat back and sighed, exhausted.

“Sorry, girls,” she apologized sheepishly.

The Shadowbolt fighters now began to fire upon The Sonic Rainboom unchallenged, their light bolts ripping into the wings and fuselage like a pencil poking through paper. The six occupants all screamed in terror as light bolts began steaming down from the ceiling to the floor, ripping large gashes and revealing the sky above them and the earth below. Soon, the enemy fighters began targeting the engines, and they all exploded in bright fireballs; The Rainboom's wings began smoking heavily as the plane began to drop out of the sky.

“SHIT! We’re losing all flight controls!!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she scanned the mountainous terrain as quickly as she could. “I’m going to have to make an emergency landing, HANG ON, EVERYBODY!!!”

Rainbow Dash angled The Rainboom towards a large, dark green patch on a mountain below. The Shadowbolts behind her continued firing, and the entire right wing broke off.

“SHIIIIIT- HERE WE GO!!!”

The Sonic Rainboom dropped out of the sky like a rock as Dash fought hard to keep it from rolling about its axis. The girls all screamed as the bottom of the fuselage slammed against the moutainside, groaning as it was contorted by the massive forces of the crash. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both hit their helmets hard against the control panel as their seats ripped out from the floor, throwing them towards the windshield. The Rainboom spun along the moutain, ripping up a lot of trees, until it finally came to a rest on a gently inclining slope, still groaning, a large, flaming gash and a lot of twisted debris left in its wake. 

Seeing that their quarry had been seemingly destroyed, the Shadowbolt fighters immediately stopped firing at it and pulled away, flying high into the atmosphere and back towards the siege at Canterlot.

For a long time, nobody moved in the entire plane. Then, Twilight began to come to, groaning with pain, her vision still very blurry.

“Ughhhh…” she rubbed her helmeted head. 

Slowly, the others in the cockpit started to come to and get up as well. Rainbow Dash winced and turned to her ‘co- pilot’ who was shaking her head dizzily.

“Hey, Fluttershy, you ok?” Dash asked worriedly, shuttering her helmet off of her head.

“Um… cough, cough… yes, I think so…” Fluttershy smiled as she shuttered hers as well.

Rainbow Dash smiled back, patted her on the shoulder, and turned around. “Hey, is everybody still alive back there?”

Twilight opened her helmet and coughed. “I’m fine. Relatively,”

Rarity removed her helmet and took out a compact mirror to be sure. “And I as well,”

Applejack shuttered her helmet like the others. “I think mah heart’s still beatin’,”

Pinkie Pie removed her helmet and yawned for some reason. “I’m good, too,”

“Wow... these PALA- whatsits are pretty amazing,” Rainbow Dash knocked on her sky blue armor with respect.

“Keep your friends close and your pals even closer!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she got up and then started to wobble a bit. “Woah, head rush,”

“Alright, sugarcubes, we better git the heck outta dodge,” Applejack started checking her weapons to make sure they were still functional, “won’t be long before them Shadowbolts figure out we ain’t really dead,”

Twilight got up and groaned. “Ohhhhhh… speak for yourself, Applejack…”


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


Rainbow Dash wanted to cry. She really, really wanted to cry.

Fluttershy stroked her on the arm in sympathy. “She was a good plane, Rainbow Dash,” she tried to offer comfort, “and, uh… a really, really pretty one, too. She even got us all the way out here safely. You should be very proud,”

Rainbow Dash sniffed, holding back tears as she looked upon the twisted, burning wreckage that she once called The Sonic Rainboom. 

“I know, ‘Shy…” she whispered softly. “…I know.”

“I’m mighty sorry about yer plane, Rainbow,” Applejack rubbed the back of her head. “It’s a real shame, is what it is... still, we gotta git a move on off of this here mountain… now,”

Dash groaned. “Fiiiiiine.”

Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie looked over from their little huddle as they were discussing the sorts of technologies they would be facing at Harmonics. 

“Oh? Is it time to leave?” Rarity inquired as she was in the process of clarifying some Equestrian characters for the other two.

“We gotta git a move on if we wanna reach Harmonics before sundown,” Applejack explained as she attached her Light Rifle to her back. “We sure as hell don’t wanna be walkin’ around in the dark wit’ those things about,”

“And just which way are we headed, anyway?” Twilight asked, scanning the mountainous terrain around them.

“Through The Everfree Rainforest, down yonder that- a way,” Applejack pointed. “Should be the quickest route to Harmonics.”

Twilight shaded her eyes from the sun and stared off into the distance to where Applejack was pointing. The green mountains slowly subsided and gave way to deep, dense rainforest as far as the eye could see.

“The Everfree Rainforest?” Fluttershy gulped, quaking. “Oh… oh, dear…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her. “What’s wrong with The Everfree Rainforest?”

“Dr. Heartstrings told me that it was once some sort of ancient Equestrian park,” Rarity explained, “Because of the lack of artifacts found there, The Initiative never really explored the place in its entirety,”

“Noooobody knows whats really lurkin’ around in there,” Rainbow Dash tried to scare the others as Fluttershy continue shivering. “Some say that the Equestrians had to genetically modify animals in order to learn how to do it on themselves, and that their horrendous, monstrous creations all lived to roam the forest to this day…”

Fluttershy whined loudly, and Applejack narrowed her eyes in annoyance.

“Rainbow, quit it,” she scolded, but Rainbow Dash ignored her and went on.

“Some people who’ve been into the forest at night say that they’ve heard something, something big, roaming around in there… they say that, every so often, you can hear low, animal growls among the dense, suffocating brush, but when you look back behind you, all you find is nothing… other people, claim that, if you’re fast enough, you can catch a glimpse of a pair of big, yellow eyes staring at you from afar before- boom!- they’re gone in a flash…”

Applejack sighed. “Rainbow Dash, ya know The Manticore Myth is just that, a myth. Now stop freakin’ out poor lil’ Fluttershy so we can all git a- move on, already!”

Fluttershy shut her eyes as she whined and squealed at an almost imperceptible frequency; Rarity hugged her gently to comfort her.

“Aw, come on ‘Shy, I was just playin’ around,” Rainbow Dash patted her on the shoulder. “There’s no such thing as manticores, really. Besides, even if there were, hello? We all have guns. With laser beams. Also, Pinkie Pie has her Party Cannon,”

Pinkie Pie jumped up and down in place, her bulky silver weapon bouncing around on her shoulder, and flashed Fluttershy a big thumb’s up.

“Oh… ok…” Fluttershy started to feel better, and they all started to walk down the mountain towards The Everfree Rainforest below.

As they were walking, Rainbow Dash kept sighing as she thought about her plane; she felt a big hole in the center of her heart as she pondered over all of the golden- well, rainbow- memories that they had shared together.

Twilight glanced over at her. “You ok, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash looked up. “Huh? Yeah, I was just kinda thinking about The Rainboom again…”

Twilight frowned; she decided to distract Dash from her gloomy thoughts, perhaps in an effort to also distract herself from her own.

“So, uh, Rainbow Dash, I was kinda wondering if I could ask you something?”

Rainbow still seemed distracted. “Huh? What?”

“Um…” Twilight paused, “…So, um, how did you get that hairstyle in the first place, anyway?”

Suddenly, the entire group burst out in agreement and inquiries, ranging from Rarity’s tactful “Well, it is quite an interesting fashion choice, darling,” to Pinkie Pie’s more direct “Yeah! So, like, what’s up with your hair?!”

Rainbow Dash broke out into a smile as they marched along. “Well, if you really wanna know… Back when I was still at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center-“

The entire group besides Applejack met the beginning of her story with blank stares.

“-Ummm… back when I was still at Top Gun-“

“Ohhhh,” they nodded their heads in understanding.

“-Yeah, so back then there was this captain who was giving me a really hard time. I guess it was because I was one of the few women at the school, and also because of the fact that I was also, well, you know, openly gay. Anyways, this asshole captain realizes that he can’t get me out of his program on account of the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, so he starts giving me a really, really hard time… extra hard assignments, smart- ass comments about my sexuality during lectures, the most difficult or boring flight routines any of us could receive- you know, basically trying to make my life a living hell. Anyways, the day of our final test arrives, a combat exercise involving mock Iraqi Air Force fighters, and every single other pilot in my squadron gets ‘shot down’ except me... not only do I manage to survive the bandit attack, but I ‘shoot down’ every single one of those friggin’ instructors by myself… well, the minute I land, the captain comes running up to me, a big, fat grin on his face, like he suddenly wants to kiss me or something… psst, I mean, come on, please… anyways, he tells me that the Navy’s never seen such excellent flying in its entire history, that I had broken all of the school’s time records, and that he was personally going to recommend me for a commendation or some shit like that… anyways, as he’s yabberin’ on, I suddenly decide to take off my helmet right there in front of him to show him my buzz cut, which I had dyed completely rainbow the night before the test as a final ‘fuck you’ for all of his abuse during the course…” Dash started to laugh really hard, “oh, man, you should’ve seen the look on his face! He turned so fucking red, standing there right in front of this little rainbow- headed lesbian after he had congratulated her on besting all of The Navy’s big boys and their big toys… eh, I knew I was gonna get in trouble, but I decided to go through with it in the end, anyway, fuck it, I just had to have the last laugh… ha ha ha ha, anyways, he starts screaming at me and telling me that I was gonna be grounded for misconduct for the rest of my naval career, that he would personally see to it that I never flew again for daring to mock him in front of all his subordinates and all that shit… God, what an asshole… well, as much as he hated me, the Pentagon must’ve finally realized how totally friggin’ awesome I was, ‘cus they eventually assigned me to The Sonic Rainboom and The Eye Run… ever since that test, I’ve been dying my hair to remind myself that nobody, nobody has the right to tell me who I am or what I'm capable of doing… soooo…” she smiled, shrugging. “The End!”

The girls were all smiling widely at her as she finished.

“Hoo- wee, Rainbow Dash, now that was a helluva story!” Applejack grinned at her.

“Go, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

“Didn’t any of your superior officers ever order you to cut it off?” Twilight inquired, cocking her head quizzically.

“What, here in Equestria? The very definition of the word ‘boonies’?” Rainbow Dash gestured towards the mountains all around them, “Naaaah… and besides, even if they did, there is no way in hell anybody’s touching this badass mane of mine with a razor, not now, not ever,”

The girls all laughed together merrily; Twilight smiled, shaking her head. That Rainbow Dash sure is something else, all right…

“Shit!” Applejack suddenly cursed out, grabbing her Light Rifle, “We got company, girls!! GIT YER HELMETS ON!!!”

Twilight’s heart started to race as she looked up towards the part of the sky that Applejack was staring at- a small group of jet- black figures was flying down upon them, fast, silvery weapons in their hands. The girls all closed their helmets and stood in a line against the mountainside with nowhere to escape to.

“HERE THEY COME!!!” Applejack raised her rifle at them. 

The Shadowbolts started firing, and streams of light bolts impacted the mountain all around them. Applejack took careful aim and fired back, her own light bolts streaming upwards and through the Shadowbolt warrior in the lead, causing it to fall from the sky, smoking. When the Centurion was destroyed, its squadron tried to evade the girls’ returning fire as they all started to really open up with their weapons. 

“EAT PARTY CANNON!!!” Pinkie cried out as she unleashed a massive particle beam that completely obliterated two Shadowbolts and half of another.

The remaining Shadowbolts then decided to change tactics and banked sharply downwards, firing, in an attempt to close the gap in between them. They swirled and jerked as they maneuvered to avoid the girls’ withering fire. 

One of them landed on the mountain next to Rainbow Dash and immediately began shooting at her. She charged at it, screaming; her wings popped open and her thrusters ignited. True to her name, she rapidly dashed in a zig- zag towards The Shadowbolt as it tried to kill her, and then suddenly closed her wings right before she hit it. Rainbow Dash skidded down close to the ground as the momentum of the thruster burst sent her flying in between the Shadowbolt’s legs; once she was behind it, she raised her rifle up and shot it multiple times through the chest. It jerked, smoking from its chassis, as it stumbled towards Fluttershy; she watched in terror as it slowly raised its gun at her. 

“Eeeek!!!” Fluttershy squeaked as she turned away, closing her eyes, and fired a single shot straight through its head. The attacking Shadowbolt finally fell down on the mountainside, smoking.

Four Shadowbolt warriors flew along the slopes behind Twilight and Rarity and fired at their backs. They both turned, raising their horns, and projected a combined purple and blue wave of energy that violently knocked the Shadowbolts into the wall of rock, stunning them; the two Unicorns then fired their own weapons and destroyed the Shadowbolts at close range as they slid down all the way, stopping dead at their feet.

Six Shadowbolts charged at Applejack, and she quickly took out two of them. When the other four enemies attacked her from both sides at close range, she threw down her rifle and pulled out her pistols, dual- wielding them at two different angles and destroying the four attackers in rapid succession at point- blank range. Suddenly, a light bolt hit her square between the shoulders and she screamed out in pain; even though most of the projectile had been absorbed by her armor, some of the energy had transferred right through her suit to her body. Applejack fell down to the ground, gasping for breath, and turned around to find the attacking Shadowbolt pointing its gun straight in her face; her eyes widened as she stared down its barrel.

Without warning, the arm holding the Shadowbolt’s weapon was completely severed by a bright blue, curving flash. It simply looked down at its stump, almost as if to think oh, gee, I wonder where that arm went? The same flash of light severed its other arm, and again it just dumbly looked down at its other stump. The blue light then penetrated straight through its chest and began to rapidly cut upwards until it had sliced straight through the top of its head. The Shadowbolt fell down to the ground, dead and heavily smoking; standing behind it was Rarity, her Light Foil in one hand and her other hand placed jauntily on her hip. She stepped forward and stuck out her non- sword hand to help Applejack up.

“Touché?” Rarity grinned victoriously under her helmet.

Applejack sighed, smiling with relief as she took her hand. “Touché.” 

She groaned in pain as she stood up, her back still tingling from the direct hit. 

“Y’all alright?” she called out to the rest of the team.

The others were all sitting down on the ground, exhausted from the sudden skirmish that had taken place. 

“Yeah…” Rainbow panted, “…Are you alright?”

“I’ll live…” Applejack groaned again, rubbing her back where she had been shot.

“Um, guys… this one’s still moving!!!” Twilight shouted and the others turned around to find her now standing over the half- destroyed Shadowbolt that Pinkie Pie had hit; the automaton was still struggling to get up, even without its bottom half. Twilight looked back behind her and realized that she had left her weapon where she had been sitting.

“Goddammit!” Applejack ran over with her rifle raised, preparing to finish it off. “Why won’t these things jus’ die already?!”

The damaged Shadowbolt’s chassis suddenly popped open, and with the last of its strength it pulled out a small, black metal sphere and activated it right before its body started to relax, its glowing eyes fading into nothingness. The object it had turned on began to emit a beeping sound that grew faster and faster.

“Holy smokes- is that a bomb?!?!” Pinkie Pie gasped shrilly.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened in her helmet. “Motherfucker-!”

“RUUUUN!!!” Applejack yelled and they all scrambled together along the mountain, screaming, trying to get as far away from the device as possible.

The bomb ignited in a bright blue flash that was subsequently followed by a booming shockwave and loads of fire and rock thrown violently in every direction. The narrow trail that the girls had been standing on began to collapse as the ground shook furiously, and they all screamed in terror as they began to slide uncontrollably down the steep mountain.

“FLUTTERSHY!!! QUICK!!!” Rainbow Dash called out to the other Pegasus as her wings opened up.

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness,” Fluttershy muttered as her wings opened up as well; the both of them rapidly soared downwards to catch up to their friends.

Applejack screamed as her hands struggled to get a hold of the mountain to stop her fall. She finally found an outcrop and grabbed onto it as tightly as she could, her body jerking with gravity in protest as she finally stopped sliding. Her heart slowed, just a little, as she realized that she was secure, for the moment.

“APPLEJACK!!!” she heard Twilight scream and snapped her head down to find Twilight hanging below her, right on the edge of a sharply protruding precipice, her body and legs dangling freely below her.

“Hold on!!!” Applejack shouted back to her. “I’M A- COMIN’!!!”

She immediately let go and slid down towards Twilight’s position, stopping at the very top of the precipice when she grabbed the mountain again with one hand. With the other, she grabbed Twilight’s hands and attempted to pull her up, screaming with all her might to lift her. She soon found that she couldn’t, even with the added power of her PALADIN, as her own tenuous grip on the mountainside began to slip a little and they both slid down a few feet, shrieking as Applejack fought to re- establish her hold on the rocky surface.

“Applejack!” Twilight panted when they had stopped, her grip on the soldier ever weakening, “what do I do?!”

Applejack shut one eye and grit her teeth as she struggled to keep a hold of her. She glanced over the mountain and saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy far, far away, pulling Rarity and Pinkie Pie up as best they could. Would they even make it back here in time?

Applejack sighed. “Let go.”

Twilight made a choking sound. “Are you CRAZY?!”

Applejack willed her helmet to open, and looked straight where Twilight’s eyes would be. “No I ain’t… I promise you’ll be safe,”

“That’s not true- !” Twilight, always the debater, began to argue with her.

“Now listen here, what I'm sayin’ to you is the honest truth…” Applejack thought carefully about what she was about to say; both of her grips were getting weaker and weaker, and time was running out… “…I’m gonna let go, and we’re both gonna fall, ok? Together. If anything happens to you, sugarcube, then it’ll happen ta me, too… you n’ me, we’re both in this together, alright? Together. Now, I’m gonna let go, and I promise you, I promise you, we'll be safe, ya hear me? Everything’ll be jus’ fine…”

Twilight willed her own helmet open and Applejack saw that she had tears in her eyes. 

“Applejack…” 

“Now, on the count of three, we’re both gonna fall, ya hear me?” Applejack’s fingers felt like they were on fire; Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both remained very, very far away.

“I… I don’t think I can do it on three…” Twilight replied, scared out of her mind.

Applejack gave a little chuckle. “Alright, sugarcube, then we’ll do it on four. Ready?”

Twilight gave a little nod, her eyes as big as dinner plates.

“Alrighty, then… 1, 2, 3- 4!”

Applejack let go of the mountain and Twilight began to scream as they both started falling. Applejack immediately pushed off and grabbed at her, holding her tightly in a death grip as they both freefell towards the sharp, rocky base hundreds of feet below. Twilight’s mind ran numb, racing with all of her life’s memories as she prepared to die; Applejack just continued to hug her tightly, her eyes closed and her teeth grit in absolute fear.

Suddenly, two blurs, one yellow and one blue, quickly intercepted them and stopped their fall cold. Twilight stopped screaming and opened her eyes, noticing that she and Applejack were hovering down slowly to the ground. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy held onto them from both sides, their metallic wings flapping to keep them all afloat.

Twilight was about to let a sigh of relief out when they suddenly dropped a few feet; she yelped in terror as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy caught them again.

“Oh, sorry, girls!” Fluttershy apologized as she struggled to hold onto the pair, “I’m not used to holding this much weight… though there was that time I had to move all of my Tamagotchis in a really, really big box…”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in her helmet. “Girl, seriously? Get a bunny, or a tortoise, anything,”

Twilight just stared at Applejack who smiled gently back at her. She honestly didn’t know what to feel now except extreme gratitude and happiness. Still a little shocked, she mouthed the words “thank you” and smiled widely.

“Like I told ya, sugarcube... everything’s gonna be jus’ fine,” Applejack tightened her hug around her new best friend.
	
> Ch. 16- Fear and Loving Kindness in Equestria/Army of One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“…And then, once Pinkie and Rarity were saved, whoosh...” Rainbow Dash added her own sound effects as she rolled around in the sky, the other five walking along under her at the opening of The Everfree Rainforest, “me and Fluttershy loop-de-loop around and WHAM! Caught you right in the nick of time!!!”

“…Goodness…” Fluttershy blanched with shock; Pinkie Pie happily clapped her hands and shouted “yaaay!”, bouncing up and down.

Twilight sighed. True, she was very glad that they were all still alive, but Rainbow Dash had just told that story for the sixteenth time in a row as they had entered the forest- in stunning HD narrative, no less.

“Yes, Rainbow I was there, if you’d be so kind as to remember that part of the story, for once,” she replied tiredly, again. “I’m very, very grateful too, believe me, but I would probably be even more grateful about it if I had time to, you know, process the event… on my own… without all of your sound effects being constantly added into the background…”

Applejack rolled her eyes and muttered something to herself that sounded suspiciously like “now that’s fer damn sure”; Rarity just sighed again and continued applying more concealer on her face from a plastic pen which, amazingly, she had somehow managed to store somewhere on her skintight white armor.

Rainbow Dash just laughed as she continued zipping happily through the air with her metallic wings; she had begun to master them quite well, as if they were just a part of any other aircraft. “Pssst, are you kidding me? Sound effects make everything waaay more bitchin’, and that goes for life in general too- I mean, come on, Twilight, you should know that already, geez- you’re a scientist. Seriously, my sound effects make that story, like, at least 20% cool-“

WHAM!!! A sound effect suddenly reverberated throughout the forest.

The girls all screamed in shock as something, something BIG, had come shooting out of the trees to their right and tackled Rainbow Dash straight out of the sky and onto the ground. Rainbow Dash was shouting loudly in fear and surprise as a gigantic creature pinned her down, roaring, with its large, muscular claws; it resembled an oversized lion with stretched, bat- like ears, two enormous, webbed wings and a long, sinister- looking scorpion’s tail. It roared again in Rainbow Dash’s face as she closed her helmet in order to avoid being showered with its hot saliva.

“RAINBOW DASH!!!” Pinkie Pie screamed out as they all closed their helmets as well; she raised her Party Cannon and prepared to shoot at the beast.

“HOLD YER FIRE, PINKIE!!!” Applejack ordered, worried that Rainbow would be caught in the blast.

Fluttershy dropped her rifle on the forest floor, standing there frozen in terror. It’s a real manticore, she thought to herself as she struggled to breathe, a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp- tail having, wing-wearing, spit… um, spitting, could- eat- a- person- in- one- bite, totally all grown-up MANTICORE…

“HOLD, ON!!!” Applejack ran towards the manticore to save Rainbow Dash. The mighty beast lunged with its jaws at the Pegasus’s head, but she turned quickly to the side to avoid it; its sharp fangs grabbed a hold of one of her wings instead and began biting hard down on it, crushing and distorting its metallic feathers with a groan.

“Awwww… SHIT,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, more out of annoyance than anything else.

Applejack reached the creature just as it was being distracted with destroying Dash’s wing and grabbed a hold of its fur in one hand, her rifle in the other. She used her grip on its side to hoist herself up onto its top, carefully perching herself as she straddled its back and aimed her rifle down at its head.

“Yee- hah!” she exclaimed right before she pressed the trigger, her legs tightly gripping around the creature’s flanks. “Say yer prayers, ya big, ugly motherfu- WOAH!”

The manticore, sensing her presence up on its back, suddenly bucked her off hard, and she went flying away back towards the group.

“Aaaaaallllll yooOOUUUUurs, paaaardnerrrrr,” Rarity heard her say as she ran past the flying cowgirl to try her hand at defeating the creature. Pinkie Pie and Twilight watched with horror, fingering their weapons and not knowing what to do. Fluttershy just continued to stand there, watching the monster as it fought her friends. Did she know what to do?

“Take this, you RUFFIAN!!!” Rarity shouted as she charged at it with her Light Foil extended, preparing to aim a killing blow to its head.

Without any warning at all, she felt a sudden blow smack against her side and she went flying towards a tree, slamming into it hard. 

“Ohhhhh,” she grumbled, “My head…”

The manticore whipped back its tail that it had just used to strike her before it turned back to Rainbow Dash and started to rip her other wing off.

“Jesus Christ- why the wings, WHY ALWAYS WITH THE WINGS?!” she exclaimed mournfully.

Pinkie and Twilight decided that they had enough of just standing around. They quickly glanced at each other and both nodded, raising their weapons and aiming as high on the manticore’s body as possible to avoid hitting Rainbow Dash. Pinkie pressed down on her trigger, and her barrel began to glow dangerously…

“WAAAAAIIIIIIIIT!!!!” She pulled her finger off of her trigger immediately as Fluttershy screamed out, throwing her hands out in front of the two. They both stared at her in shock, lowering their weapons.

Fluttershy, breathing hard, lowered her hands when she found that they had actually listened to her; even the manticore was now paying attention, still pinning down Rainbow Dash who was, incredibly, still moaning and griping about the loss of her wings.

Fluttershy slowly turned around to face the beast, shuttering her helmet open and shaking her hair free, and stared straight at it. It growled ferociously at her as she locked eyes with it, moving from on top of Rainbow Dash to pace towards her, slowly.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight called out to her as she started to walk forward to meet it.

“Shhhh…” Fluttershy responded without ever taking her gaze off of the animal’s own; curiously, her deep, bluish- green eyes seemed to be darkening around the irises until they were almost turning pitch black. “…It’s ok, now, Twilight, it’ll all be alright…”

The manticore roared at her, a fierce, dangerous look on its face; Fluttershy’s own face remained calm and relaxed, serene even.

“Shhhh…. It’s ok, Mr. Manticore… It’s all alright…”

Slowly, Fluttershy began to feel something open up deep within herself, almost as if her own feelings of calm and reassurance were starting to flow through the air and towards the perturbed beast; in return, Fluttershy felt the animal’s own emotion suddenly flooding right into her heart, and she began to really feel its presence for the first time. She continued to offer soothing words as she approached, smiling, her hand raised in the air; the manticore seemed almost transfixed in her gaze, and it eventually started to calm down, too, though it still let off a low growl every so often.

You. Fluttershy began to understand its feelings, almost as if it were speaking directly to her, though it only continued growling. You. Will not hurt us. Again.

“Shhhh…” she cooed, “it’s all alright… nobody’s going to hurt you, don’t be afraid…”

“Well, I got half a mind ta shoot the damn thing,” Applejack groaned as she joined Pinkie and Twilight in watching this bizarre little circus act as it played out right in front of them. Rarity joined them as well, groaning and cursing hard in quite an unlady- like manner.

The manticore stared at Fluttershy with its big, yellow eyes and softly growled again. I. Will not let you hurt. My family.

“Nobody’s here to hurt you, Mr. Manticore… this is all just one, big misunderstanding,” Fluttershy gently explained. She stood right in front of the beast, staring at it eye to eye. The manticore’s anxious, yellow gaze met with her own pitch black eyes, eyes that were like two black holes irresistibly drawing the animal’s attention and unusually developed thoughts into them. 

Fluttershy looked down and noticed for the first time that the animal had been bleeding from its paw. She started to reach her hand out towards it, but gasped when she realized what she was doing; her eyes began to lighten up again, and the manticore growled at her a little louder, unsure of her true intentions. Steadying her breath, Fluttershy allowed her eyes to darken again, and she reached back out, slowly, towards the manticore’s matted, bloody fur and began to stroke its paw gingerly. She giggled a little, and then looked up towards the creature’s eyes with her own blackened irises.

“Shhh... It's okay,” she reassured it with gentle cooing, stroking its fur. “Oh, you poor, poor little baby…”

Rainbow Dash now joined the others as they looked on. Her helmet opened up and she frowned. "Little? Take a look at what it did to my poor little fucking wings- !”

Twilight shushed her loudly, her eyes still locked on the incredible feat of manticore whispering happening right before them all.

Fluttershy slowly reached to her side and opened up the small Equestrian Medical Kit that she had with her. The manticore growled at her, still unsure of her intentions. She plucked out one of the thin, silver tubes within it and gently took the animal’s paw, looking up at it reassuringly with her big, black eyes.

“Now, hold still, Mr. Manticore…” she advised as she prepared the tube, “this might hurt for just a second…”

She pressed one end of the tube and the other end sprayed a golden liquid onto the animal’s paw. Immediately, the bloody wound started to close up and scab over. The animal roared out in pain, snatching up the healer and bringing her to its wide, open jaws.

“FLUTTERSHY!!!” the girls screamed out to her and ran forward, weapons raised. They stopped when they realized that the manticore was now beginning to lick her enthusiastically in the face instead of mauling her, and they all gasped in shock.

Fluttershy was laughing and giggling, the manticore purring as it happily showed her affection and gratitude for healing its wound.

“Awww you're just a little ol' baby kitty, aren't you?” Fluttershy relaxed, her previous fear of animals now forever banished, “Yes you are, oh, yes you are…”

She continued to giggle without fear as the girls all sighed and lowered their weapons.

You. Make my pain go away. The manticore thanked her. You are pretty. You smell nice. I’m licking you in the face. Because I love you.

“Oh, don’t mention it, Mr. Manticore, it was nothing, really…” Fluttershy chuckled merrily as the animal put her down, purring at her and nuzzling her face. She rubbed her hands over its soft, furry mane. “Now, how did you even get that big ol' boo- boo in the first place, I wonder?”

The manticore growled softly. The demons. Came back. Won’t let them hurt. My Family. Again. Tried to scare them. Away. They threw lightning. I ran. Forest exploded. I bled.

“The demons with lightning?” Fluttershy cocked her head quizzically. “The Shadowbolts?”

The creature growled louder and almost appeared to nod to her. The demons lived. Long before. Looked like you. They killed themselves. Brought lightning and death. Insanity. And fire. Many of us. Killed. Because of them. Now the demons came back. Worse. Now I’m scared. The last ones. My family. Will Die. The other one, He growled at Rainbow Dash, She looks like a dirty. Filthy. Disgusting. DEMON.

Fluttershy gasped disapprovingly. “Mr. Manticore, such language!”

“Does anybody else hear Fluttershy talking to herself?” Rainbow Dash asked, frowning at the little interaction going on in front of her. The others all nodded in agreement and confusion.

The manticore lowered its head in shame. I’m sorry. Pretty one. Sorry.

Fluttershy clucked her tongue and petted its great big head. “It’s ok, Mr. Manticore… we’re actually here to stop the Shadowbolts, too, and, um… fight them. We don’t want them to hurt anybody else, either,”

The creature looked up at her, its eyes widening. You. Will help. Us?

Fluttershy smiled and nodded, and the manticore nuzzled her gently. Then it turned around and started to walk through the rainforest. It stopped and then turned back, beckoning her to come with it.

Come. Will show you. You will avoid them. Demons who soar. Throw lightning.

Fluttershy gasped at it and nodded sagely. She turned back to the others who had been waiting, patiently but perplexed, as she had communed with the creature. They laughed hard and congratulated her on her mighty manticore taming performance, hugging her and patting her on the back in gratitude for her efforts as well as in relief that she was still unharmed.

“Fluttershy, are you ok?” Twilight gasped, staring into her coal black eyes.

“Hm? Oh yes, Twilight, thank you for asking,” she replied.

“Y’all have a nice chat, now?” Applejack asked sarcastically, releasing her from a hug.

“Yes, Applejack, yes we did, and, um…” Fluttershy answered. “…um, I think he wants us to follow him.”

Rainbow Dash groaned in disbelief. “You have got to be kidding me,”

“No, I think he wants to show us the way…” Fluttershy explained. “…The way to avoid anymore Shadowbolts, and… I think I can steer him towards Harmonics.”

The girls’ eyes all widened in shock, and they looked at each other. They started to whoop it up again and congratulate Fluttershy on the very fortunate turn of events; she just calmly smiled as they started to walk in line behind the manticore. When they were on its tail the beast growled lightly and then continued forward, leading them through the dense rainforest. Twilight just continued to stare at Fluttershy in amazement for her bravery and almost supernatural skill in dealing with the wild creature. After a while, she walked up to approach Fluttershy, whose darkened eyes were still staring at the beast, her hair sticking up with dried saliva in an almost There’s Something About Mary sort of way.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight began to ask her.

“Hm?” she replied calmly.

“Um, how did you know that the manticore could lead us to Harmonics without running into any more Shadowbolt patrols?”

Fluttershy smiled back at her; Twilight found her new eye color to be both a little unsettling and a little comforting at the same time.

“Oh, I didn’t, not really, anyway… sometimes, Twilight, I guess we all just need to be shown a little kindness... At least, that’s what I really, truly believe,”

Twilight felt spellbound by both Fluttershy’s blackened gaze and her wise words. She smiled back at her, and then continued walking along the deep, dark rainforest, thinking.


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


As the sun began to fall precipitously in the sky, the ragtag six marched behind the manticore; every so often, Fluttershy would, with Applejack’s help and a map, gently steer the lumbering beast towards Harmonics. Once in a while, the manticore would suddenly tense up, and Fluttershy would command the whole group to lie down next to it amongst the dense, green bush. As soon as they did, they would look up in trepidation as a massive cloud of Shadowbolt warriors passed overhead, their glowing eyes scanning the forest floor below, almost as if they were searching for them. After each group of Shadowbolts finally passed, the girls and their trusty manticore would relax, sighing a breath in relief, and continue on their way towards their destination.

Soon, it became early dusk as the manticore led them for countless miles through the rather featureless terrain of the Everfree Rainforest until they happened upon an enormous, ancient Equestrian canal system that had run dry many, many ages ago, carved right between two jutting cliffs that reached high into the darkening sky above, their tops bare of any vegetation and totally exposed to the roaming Shadowbolt warriors. Instead of water, the enormous ditch- like stone feature before them was filled with thousands upon thousands of black metallic spheres that were stuck along its steep sides, stacked up on top of one another and lined up very neatly in rows. The manticore growled and started to back away from the dried up canal.

No, the creature told Fluttershy, and she began to feel its fear transferring into her heart, I cannot go. This is the way. You want to go. No other. But little demons. Sleep here. You should not go. Pretty one. Dangerous.

Fluttershy pet his flank, smiling. “If this is the way, then we must go, Mr. Manticore. I guess… um, I guess this is where we have to say goodbye,”

The manticore looked deep into her eyes, almost as if it were pleading with her. No. No, pretty one. Don’t go. Dangerous.

“We have to stop the Shadowbolts, and if this is the only way…” Fluttershy looked again at the metal- lined canal before she smiled again, petting the manticore one last time. “Goodbye, Mr. Manticore. Thank you for all your help… I won’t forget you, my little ol' baby kitty,”

The great, now gentle beast nuzzled her affectionately one last time as it realized her will was unwavering. Goodbye. Pretty one. Who smells nice. I still love you.

When they had both said farewell, the manticore turned back around to re- enter the Everfree Rainforest. It looked back one last time at Fluttershy, who smiled gently and waved happily at it. The great, big beast purred at her, and then quickly disappeared into the overgrowth. As soon as it was gone, Fluttershy’s eyes lightened back to their original color, and she sighed.

“Ok, beastmaster, now what?” Rainbow Dash asked as she scanned the canal.

Fluttershy gulped, now back to her normal, anxious self again. Now, uh… we go through there.”

Twilight stared, frowning, at the black metal objects lined along the walls. “I don’t know Fluttershy… those look an awful lot like mines to me… perhaps some sort of ancient Equestrian weapons system left over from The Civil War,”

Fluttershy squealed when she realized what Twilight was explaining. “But… but the manticore said that they were, um… sleeping… he said that this was, um, the only way…”

Twilight just shook her head.

“Well, as much as I hate ta agree with that big ol’, smelly jungle cat, he’s right,” Applejack analyzed the situation, scanning the cliffs on either side of the canal, “There’s no way we can go around this thing, not unless y’all wanna risk another firefight up there,”

The girls all looked at each other and sighed. Fluttershy squeaked in fear.

Suddenly, Rarity got an idea. She turned to Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie, darling, can you upload an original Equestrian map of this area on my eggo?”

Pinkie Pie pressed her EGO, smiling. “Sure thing! I think I may have a pretty old one in store,”

Rarity’s own device beeped, and she opened up a large, static- filled map of the canal area that they were now in. It wasn’t very detailed, neither visually nor written out in Equestrian, and only vaguely made any indication that a canal even existed where they were standing. Rarity bit her tongue as she concentrated, trying to decipher the archaic script before her and glean as much information as she could. 

“Darling,” she turned back to Pinkie Pie, “Does ‘Nerve Center’ mean anything to you? In the context of Equestrian technology,”

Pinkie grinned. “Sure does! A Nerve Center would be the nexus of any kind of computer network that the Equestrians set up, where they could control whatever went on inside it all at once!”

Rarity nodded. “There’s one located on this map, dear, not too faraway… I believe that this canal was built long before The Civil War… now, pardon me if I’m mistaken, darling, but couldn’t you maybe disable those mines from there?”

Pinkie thought seriously for a minute before her face reverted back to its perennial smile. “Don’t know! But I can sure try!!!”

“Do you need any of us to come with you?” Twilight asked.

“Nah, I’ll be fine!” Pinkie checked her EGO for the waypoint to the Nerve Center that Rarity had just sent her. “It’s just right on top of this cliff here next to the canal. Maybe you could all watch my back, though, in case anymore of those black snooties come flying around?”

“Sure thing, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack nodded, “We got yer back from down here.”

“Thanks, girls!” Pinkie handed Rainbow Dash her weapon in order to lighten her load and winked as she started off down towards the dessicated waterway. “Be back in a jiffy! I’m goin’ ROCK CLIMBIN’!”


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


After a while, Pinkie Pie finally pulled herself up to the top of the cliff. Even taking into account the strength endowed by her PALADIN, the kooky farm girl from rural Pennsylvania had a pretty remarkable talent for climbing up large rocky formations with ease. Pinkie shuttered her helmet and removed her skullcap, wiping the sweat from her brow and then dusting her hands off.

“Whew!” she breathed hard, talking to nobody in particular, “Man, I really should’ve eaten those Chips Ahoy when I had the chance!”

“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight’s voice suddenly spoke out from her EGO.

“Yes, Twilight?” she answered.

“Is everything ok?” 

“Yup! I can see the Nerve Center,” Pinkie answered as she scanned the flat, bare, rocky cliff top and found a large, round metal hemisphere a few hundred feet away. “Best of all- no Shadowbolts!”

“Ok, Pinkie, let me know when you get there,”

“Roger- Dodger!”

Pinkie quickly made her way towards the Nerve Center, wary of any Shadowbolts in the sky. She made it to the ancient structure, undisturbed, and manipulated its door open with her EGO. Coughing from all the dust spewing forth from inside, she entered as the interior lit up to reveal a derelict emitter console. Pinkie Pie immediately began to activate it.

“Ok, I’m here, Twilight! Attempting to reprogram the mines now!” she informed her as she started working.

Pinkie immediately found the mine network and began attempting to hack into it to shut it off. She input a large number of lines of advanced computer code into the console, but when she finished writing the console just beeped angrily at her; Pinkie frowned, clucking her tongue.

“How’s it going up there, Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked her after a few minutes.

“No dice, Twilight,” Pinkie shook her head as she spoke into her EGO, “the Nerve Center doesn’t seem to be able to turn off the mines, and I can’t seem to be able to hack my way into their network to tell them to stop,”

In the ancient canal below the Nerve Center, Twilight sighed. The others began to look worriedly at each other. “Can you try again?” she asked Pinkie through her own EGO.

“Okey- dokey- lokey,” Pinkie Pie replied nervously and quietly as she attempted to reprogram the mines again. And again. And then again still. Each time, each different way that she attempted it, the three emitter displays from the console all inevitably just spat back a buzzing sound and flashing lights. Pinkie Pie shook her head again.

“Sorry, Twilight,” she sighed heavily, no longer smiling. “They won’t turn off by my command…”

In the canal, Twilight sighed right back and lowered her head.

“Well, if Pinkie can’t turn those mines off, then we’ll just have to go on,” Applejack got up, impatiently, and picked up a large rock from the ground. “Who knows, maybe they’re not even active anymore, anyway… find some cover, girls,”

She threw it right between the walls of mines on either side, the girls bracing for some sort of explosion. To their collective relief, the rock simply hit the ground between the mines without causing any sort of reaction from them whatsoever.

Pinkie Pie sighed as she stood in the Nerve Center. “Oh, goodie…”

“Alright, girls, let’s get a move on,” Applejack ordered as she started to enter the minefield with the others following right behind her. “If those things find us down here it’s gonna be hell ta pay… Pinkie Pie, we’ll meet ya on the other side, sugarcube,”

“Okey- dokey- lokey,” Pinkie said from the console, listening as the girls cautiously made their way through the mined canal. Fluttershy gulped nervously as she walked, staring up at the rows upon rows of black Equestrian weapons that almost seemed to be staring right back down at them. They remained undisturbed as the five continued on their way towards Harmonics.

Pinkie was about to turn around towards the door and leave when she saw something, three different things to be exact. The three emitter displays continued to spit out massive amounts of computer data that streamed by every second, data that would be all but unintelligible to anyone else besides the spunky little programmer. In a split second, Pinkie’s big, blue eyes caught three different fragments of data as they each flashed by on separate holograms; in another split second her mind put together the fragments and interpreted their meaning; her body suddenly started to twitch and jerk, and she gasped in horror.

“Oh no-!” she whispered to herself before abruptly bringing her EGO to her face, “Oh no, oh no- GIRLS, STOP!!!”

Just as Applejack heard Pinkie’s sudden, frantic communication, her right foot stuck out to take another step in front of her; a bright blue line of light suddenly appeared between her foot and a mine on the wall, a loud beeping sound reverberating throughout the entire canal. Applejack froze along with all the others, who gasped and widened their eyes in fear. 

“Shit… I think I stepped in something…” Applejack muttered with remorse as they all stared towards the activated mine. 

The object started to hum with energy as it came to life; a hole opened up on its side and a tiny light gun popped out in a manner similar to the siege machines attacking Canterlot. The weapon fully extended and began to swivel down towards the group.

Rarity gasped in terror as Rainbow Dash raised Pinkie’s Party Cannon at it without fully thinking about her action first. “Little bastard!- I got it- !”

At the Nerve Center, Pinkie Pie gave a little shudder again. “DASHIE- NO-!!!” she cried out into her EGO.

It was too late. Rainbow Dash unleashed a rather large particle beam at the mine and it exploded, leaving behind a large, smoking crater. When the mine had been eliminated, the others that were still active in its vicinity all began to beep and activate as well, extending their guns outwards; when these others had been awakened, more and more mines surrounding them began to come to, as their horrendous awakening began to spread along the canal walls like some sort of enormous wave of death.

“Heh, heh…” Rainbow Dash started to sweat as her heart raced. “…Sorry 'bout that.”

“RUUUUUNNNNN!!!!” Applejack yelled as the five of them stuck right in the center of the canal all screamed and began to run towards the end; the mine drones all began powering their weapons and firing streams of light bolts at them, and Applejack led the group in destroying as many as they could as they sprinted down what was essentially an extremely deadly, automated gauntlet.

Pinkie Pie gasped and covered her mouth with both hands as her EGO began to emit battle sounds. “Oh, no… girls…”

Applejack ran full speed down the canal, trying to destroy as many mines as she could before they had a chance to fire back at her; more and more mines started to spring to life, however, and soon she and the others began to take light bolt hits on their armor as the drones began to overwhelm them. They all began to scream in pain as their PALADINs fizzled and attempted to absorb the brunt of the lethal energy.

“AAAAHHHH! Dammit!” Rainbow Dash shouted as a bolt seared into her side. 

Rarity screamed as she was hit as well. Fluttershy cried out as two bolt hit her in the back and she stumbled. 

“GIT’ER UP- FUCK!! KEEP MOVIN’, KEEP MOVIN’- AARRGGHHH!- KEEP MOVIN’!!!” Applejack yelled out as she was hit again and again. Rainbow Dash grabbed Fluttershy and, both of them hollering in pain as they were hit, began to drag her forward.

“AAHHH!” Twilight screamed in agony as a bolt hit her in the chest; she continued to fire her weapon as she ran, even as it began to emit a warning sound. “AAAAHHHH!- APPLEJACK, MY RIFLE’S OVERHEATING- AAAAAHHHHH!!!”

“SHIT, MINE TOO- FUUUUUUUCK!!!”


“SWITCH TO SINGLE SHOTS- ARRGGHHH!!!- CONSERVE AMMUNITI- ARRRGGHHHH- MOTHERFUCKER!!!!”

Rarity's PALADIN began to warn her, through her EGO, of its failing integrity. “AAAAHHHHH!- WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT- AAAAHHHH!!!!”

At the Nerve Center, Pinkie Pie collapsed into a heap on top of the console, shuddering and gasping in tears as she listened to her friends scream in pain below. They were all about to die, horribly, and there wasn’t a single thing she could do to help them; she could only stand there and listen to their final, grisly moments, just like she had done at her console at IT during the initial battle at Canterlot…

“My poor friends…” she sobbed uncontrollably, “oh, my poor, poor friends…”

Pinkie Pie broke down, emotionally and mentally, as the five below continued to scream out from their torture and imminent death and the situation grew worse and worse. Pinkie’s mind raced with self- loathing and taunting before it suddenly took her back to a flash of a memory from her childhood, back on the family farm where she grew up. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie was six years old, snuggled tightly against her Granny Pinkie whom she was named after, the both of them sitting on her bed at night after little Pinkie had awoken, screaming, from a nightmare. Her two sisters slept peacefully in a bunk bed nearby, their dreaming still undisturbed. Granny Pie just stroked her hair, which was still straight and flat before she would, many years later, perm it in order to make it look more “festive”; Her grandmother was smiling down reassuringly at her.

“Now, Pinkie, remember what we talked about last night?” she asked gently, “About facin’ your fears?”

Little Pinkie just sniffed and hugged her grandmother even tighter. “I can’t, granny, I just can’t…”

The elderly Pennsylvania Dutch woman just chuckled and hugged her granddaughter and namesake to comfort her. “Pinkamena Diane Pie, the world’s a mighty scary place, always has been n’ always will be… now, you’ll never go anywhere if you don’t learn to face yer fears, sweetheart… remember, little one, ‘If ever you find the world scary n' wrong, then open yer heart up n’ let out a song’…”

Pinkie’s entire body started to twitch and jerk as Granny Pinkie’s words reverberated throughout her entire being; she gasped as an entirely different plan began to crystallize in her newly clarified mind. She immediately began inputting massively complicated lines of new programming into the console as she started to sing a song out loud, making the words up as she went along:

“When I was a little filly and the sun was going doooooowwwwn...”

Twilight yelped as she tried with all her might to continue running; another bolt had hit her on the shoulder as Pinkie Pie’s shrill little voice began to sing out from her EGO.

“Good Lord-“ she muttered in a daze from all the pain and light bolts that threatened to overwhelm her and her PALADIN, “-tell me she’s not-“

“The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frooooowwwn...”

“She is-“ Rarity breathed hard, almost passing out, before she was hit again and she screamed out.

Pinkie Pie continued hacking the drones; eventually, one jerked with her new directives and suddenly turned to its comrade next to it, firing upon and destroying it. Pinkie Pie began to smile again, widely.

“I'd hide under my pillow,
From what I thought I saw,
But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way,
To deal with fears at aaaaaallllll!!!”

Rainbow Dash screamed in pain as she was hit by a drone and then immediately destroyed it; she frowned at her EGO. “The fuck-?”

“She said: "Piiiinkie, you gotta stand up taaaallll!
Learn to face your feeeeaaars!
Yoouuu'll see that they can't hurt you
Just laugh to make them disappeeeeaaar!!!"

She started laughing pointedly as she pressed her finger down on the console.

“Ha!”
BOOM.

“Ha!”
BOOM.

“HA!!!”
CUE EPIC EXPLOSIONS.

The five girls below just turned to each other and gasped as the drones stopped firing at the group and suddenly began turning on themselves.

“SOOOOOO- giggle at the ghoooostlyyyy!!!”

Fluttershy began to giggle nervously as she ran through the self- destructing drones.

“Guffaw at the groooosssssly!!!”

Rainbow Dash guffawed heartily as she ran next to her.

“Crack up at the creeeepppy!!!”

Rarity cracked up with immense relief as she sprinted down the canal.

“Whoop it up with the weeeeppppy!!!”

Applejack complied and whooped with joy as she was showered with drone debris.

“Chortle at the koooookkkky!!!”

Twilight chortled out loud when she realized that they were no longer in any danger anymore, all thanks to one very silly little computer programmer.

"Snortle at the spoooookkkky!!!”

The girls were now literally skipping along together, laughing hard at the enormous destruction occurring all around them.

“And tell that big, dumb, scary face to take a hike and leave you alone, and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna...” 

Pinkie Pie let out an incredibly girly, hearty giggle as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She pushed her finger down on the console one, last time and then began to spin around the Nerve Center, her arms spread out in complete joy and her lungs belting out her final note:

“LAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” 
she sung out happily as every single active drone in the canal was obliterated with mechanical precision, all at once, lining the walls with a spectacular brilliant blue light show and fiery explosions.


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


Smiling, Pinkie Pie made her way down the cliff side towards her exhausted friends sitting in the midst of all her gloriously glorious, extremely wanton destruction. When they saw her, the five of them jumped up and clapped their hands, whooping and hollering.

“GIRLS!!!” Pinkie cried out as she ran up to hug all of them.

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight grasped her tightly, grinning proudly, “that was just… amazing!!!”

“Go, Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash winked as she softly and playfully punched her in the arm.

“Good on ya, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack smiled and hugged her in gratitude.

“Oh, girls…” Pinkie Pie just giggled happily, standing there and waving her little hand at them, “If ever you find the world scary and wrong, then open your heart up and let out a song!!!”
> Ch. 17- White Knight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The sun had now completely set behind the horizon, and the stars had come out to adorn the dying light of early evening. The six girls were now hurrying, as quickly as their tired bodies would let them, for Harmonics was very close by indeed. They all came upon a large, quite turbulent river before them. The land right in front of the river was taken up by marshlands as far as the eye could see; what remained of dry land lay under what appeared to be a large, ancient Equestrian amphitheater, dug out of the earth, furnished with eroding, falling stone columns and overgrown in moss and vines. 

“If I’m not mistaken, this is the beginning of the ancient Equestrian temple complex,” Rarity informed Twilight as they all entered the amphitheater around its edges, looking all around them in otherwise stony silence. “Now, I’ve never come this way before, but the main structure where Harmonics is held shouldn’t be too far away, darling, and there should be a bridge to cross the river right behind this coliseum,”

Mother… Twilight thought to herself with a sort of blind, intractable hope born of both love and desperation; she picked up her pace, listening to her heart rapidly beating in step with the multitudes of crickets which had started to come out in the gentle afterglow of the day. Mother, hold on… I’m coming…

Rarity was busy marveling the amphitheater’s exquisite architecture when her sharp eyes noticed a strange black obelisk in front of her; she stopped abruptly to avoid hitting it, as her eyes focused on its surface to try to read some of the archaic Equestrian inscribed there. Those very same eyes widened as she gasped with horror; the black obelisk hidden in the absence of light was not actually an obelisk at all but a Shadowbolt, looming and exceptionally well- decorated with Equestrian runes and abstract illuminated adornments covering the entirety of its body. Rarity’s gasp quickly turned into a scream as its eyes activated and glowed brightly.

The girls all started towards Rarity’s blood- curdling shriek, but then were forced to stop in shock; Shadowbolt warriors suddenly appeared from behind every towering stone column, their glowing eyes suddenly popping out through the darkness and their weapons all pointed at them.

Rarity’s heart stopped as the heavily decorated Shadowbolt walked up to her, its artificial male voice emitting what sounded like “tsk, tsk, tsk”. It’s great black metallic head shook gently, as if it were taunting her.

“After all the trouble that you have caused The Alicorn Queen, my fair barbarian, it is indeed a great pity that all it had taken to catch you was a bit of slumber, still and deep,” it spoke as Rarity slowly backed away from it, tripping over a loose stone and falling to the dirt.

The girls all pointed their weapons around them, but they were unfortunately outnumbered and outgunned. Rainbow Dash and Applejack kept cursing as all their helmets shuttered closed. 

“You all have put up a fairly decent, very noble struggle,”  he stretched out his arms as he addressed the entire group, “However,” he continued as he now bent down to stare at Rarity directly. “As Her Majesty’s High Priest and The Supreme Commander of The Shadowbolts, I just cannot allow this little escapade of yours to come to any sort of fruition. And so… you all must die now, I’m afraid,”

In between the bouts of sheer terror wracking her brain, Rarity was focusing on one word that he had used, noble, as she tried to think of a way to stay alive… what was it that she had learned about ancient Equestrian society from Dr. Heartstrings?

Rainbow Dash snorted as she took aim at one of the many Shadowbolts surrounding them. “Pssst, give me a break…”

“That’s your big bad guy speech?” Applejack shouted insultingly as the girls all grimly continued to aim their weapons at the enemy, their prospects looking bleaker and bleaker by the second. “Eh... I’ve heard better.”

The Priest only laughed cruelly. “Yes, YES! Oh yes, DO put up a fight, struggle, resist us… it’s been MUCH too long since I have personally taken a life that still kicked in desperation to continue!!!-”

“EXCUSE ME,” Rarity suddenly cut into the beginning of his monologue and began addressing the Priest. “Excuse me, but… you there, in the fancy, luminescent armor…”

The Shadowbolt turned back towards her, smiling in his insanity. “Yes, my dear?”

Rarity stood up erect; she thought that it would help her improvised planning if she acted her part with some bearing.

“High Priest,” she began to inquire, “You are of the nobility, correct?”

“Woman, none but the noble houses may supply Equestria with the keepers of the sacred traditions; even a filthy barbarian commoner such as yourself should know that,”

“Ah, but you are grievously mistaken, sir,” Rarity stuck her chin out, “for I am no commoner.”

The Priest only laughed at her. “You, a noblewoman? Surely you jest, wench.”

Rarity huffed. “I, sir, am none other than Lady Rarity of The House of Belle, from The Duchy of-“ she sighed, suddenly thinking about her ill- dressed parents and her rambunctious little sister, “-Minnesota.”

The other girls all looked at each other and simultaneously mouthed “Duchy of Minnesota” together, frowning in confusion.

The Priest laughed with his glowing, fanged mouth. “A colonial aristocracy? Why, I have never heard anything as pathetically absurd in either my life OR my death…” he proceeded to give a little bow with a flourish of his hand, “LADY Rarity,”

Rarity smirked; now she could proceed with the next part of her plan.

“As you and I are both of noble blood, Priest, then hear me and consent- I challenge you, sir, to a duel,” Rarity announced with regal flourish as she pulled out her Light Foil and extended it.

“WHAT?!” Applejack shouted out in disbelief.

“Applejack, please, be quieeeet…” Rarity sang to her as she continued to look the Priest in the eyes. “You heard me, Priest, now, what say you?”

The Priest merely laughed again. “What good would such a sacrifice on your part even accomplish in your current state of affairs, my lady?”

“A matter of honor, sir, a matter of personal honor,” Rarity continued. “To kill a noblewoman as she stands defenseless against her attacker would be a most heinous and ignoble act to perpetrate upon her, indeed,”

The Priest thought this over. “What terms do you propose, then, my lady?”

“Fair terms, good sir… if I defeat you in a duel, to the death, your men shall give us all passage to the Temple, unmolested. And you will swear on it, sir, by The Elements of Harmony themselves,” she elaborated.

Rarity was no fool; she didn’t truly expect that this psychotic High Priest or his men would ever keep to his word, even if he did agree to her terms; however, she had witnessed the effect that taking out the Centurion did to the enemy formation it commanded in their firefight earlier, and she desperately hoped that if she could defeat the Supreme Commander of The Shadowbolts, or at the very least distract him, even at the cost of her own life, then maybe she could give the others a chance to get out of the amphitheater alive.

“Rarity- NO!” Twilight shouted and started towards her when she realized what she was proposing and exactly why she was doing it; however, the Shadowbolts stepped in closer in a ring around the group, guns drawn, and she stopped running.

“I gotta agree with Twilight, sugarcube, that sounds jus’ nuts,” Applejack argued.

“And I gotta agree with both of ‘em, Rare,” Rainbow Dash licked her lips nervously, “this is some real weird Medieval Times shit right here.”

“Giiiirls… please,” 

The Priest cocked his head slowly in the other direction. “And if I win, my lady, then I assume that I may act as… ignoble... as I please with your party?”

Rarity blanched at the specifically sinister way that he had phrased the word “ignoble”. “I suppose…” she responded, very quietly and grimly, “In that event, I would not be in very much of a position to protest, now… would I?”

The Priest laughed darkly. “I agree to your terms, Lady Rarity, and because you have dared challenge THE MIGHTY CHAMPION OF EQUESTRIA-” he shouted for all of his minions to hear, “-It would now seem that MY personal honor is at stake, in dueling with a colonial wench such as yourself-“ he bowed in mock apology, “-even a noble one at that, my lady… thus, I will grant you an additional boon in the unlikely event that you emerge the victor… by The Elements of Harmony, if you shall win this duel, I pledge that my men shall all suffer the same fate that will be inflicted on your party in the event of MY victory… that is to say, DEATH... do those sound like fair terms to you, my lady?”

Rarity’s eyes popped open. “What… what do you mean?”

The Priest raised his arms towards his Shadowbolts. “If I am defeated, then all of the Shadowbolt warriors that you see here before you shall join me, their immortal vessels snuffed out like candles that have long burned past their usefulness. I am well aware that you have an Equestrian systems specialist with you; ask her to check on our programming, and she will tell you that what I say is the binding truth.”

Rarity continued to stare at him, her heart racing; she turned to Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie Pie, darling?”

Pinkie fiddled with her EGO for a minute, and then widened her eyes in shock. “Holy- moley… he’s telling the truth, Rarity! He’s just written a program into their network where his deactivation would trigger all of their deactivations!”

“Are you absolutely sure about that, dear?”

Pinkie nodded. “Unless he reverses the directives himself, they’ll execute when he’s executed… I’ll keep monitoring their network and let you know if he tries to do anything funny,”

“Ah, but there is no need… for it is not I who shall be the one executed,” The Priest replied in supreme hubris, still smiling sadistically at Rarity, and flourished his hand again. “But you… my lady,”

Rarity just waved her Light Foil in front of her body, smirking. “We’ll just have to see about that…”

“Then come, let us not waste the night,” The Priest floated high into the air on his wings and then settled down slowly towards the center of the amphitheater, beckoning her. 

Rarity wasted no time as she began to run down to meet him; the stakes were now too high for her to not give it everything she had.

“Rarity!” Twilight called out to her from on high. She turned back around to look at her friend, whose eyes were pleading with her not to go; Twilight shook her head.

“Don’t worry, darling, this won’t take long,” Rarity’s voice quivered a bit as she tried to smile reassuringly at Twilight. Her smile faded a little, and she silently mouthed the words “when you can, go”. Twilight shut her eyes tightly and turned her head. Rarity nodded to the rest of her friends, and then hurried down to meet an uncertain fate.

As Rarity entered the ring, she faced her opponent who stood at the ready, his Light Foil extending out from his hand. He bowed to her and she bowed back before bringing her own sword to bear before her, taking a fighting stance. 

“En garde,” she warned him as she closed her helmet over her head.

The Priest smiled briefly and then came rushing at her, roaring. He swung wide at her head and Rarity easily dodged it, rolling forward on the ground as he passed by her. When she was upright again on one knee she sliced at the back of his legs, but to her surprise the Priest backflipped before her blade could touch him. When her own sword passed by, he landed on his feet again, spun around, and aimed a downward cut at the defenseless side of her body; Rarity quickly spun her blade around, shifting on the ground, and raised her Light Foil upwards to block his blow, glowing edge on glowing edge. The sheer force of his attack sent a shockwave jarring through her arms and body, but she grit her teeth and stopped his movement cold. The Priest sneered at her evilly and laughed.

“My, you are a FEISTY ONE, aren’t you?!” he exclaimed with a sort of depraved relish.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” she grinned in her helmet as she shifted her blade, deflecting his sword’s forward force downwards towards the dirt, and spun to aim a cut at his unprotected body. 

The Priest was quick, however, and counterturned to meet her blade again, and then again after that when Rarity attempted to rapidly change direction and strike lower at him. He rolled his wrist and spun her blade out of the way in an attempt to stab at her, but Rarity jumped in the air and spun with her body parallel to the ground until she had landed behind him; she immediately slashed at the back of his head, but the Priest simply blocked her attack without even facing her. She broke off contact, panting.

“My, my, my, well, aren’t you surprisingly fast for your size,” she taunted.

“And aren’t you extraordinarily difficult to exterminate for yours,” he taunted right back, smirking.

Rarity changed tactics and charged at him; the priest simply blocked her attacks as she pressed him out of the center of the ring and towards a wall. When he finally made another powerful downward slash at her, she deflected it lightly out of the way, ran up to the wall and lept off of it, lunging at his back in a stab. The Priest rapidly spun and slashed at his attacker, this time catching her fully in her chest. Rarity screamed out in agony as her PALADIN fizzled and she hit the dirt, sprawling and gasping for air. The girls all shrieked loudly when they saw that she had been hit.

“RARITY!!!” they all cried out and ran forward, but were immediately stopped by Shadowbolts brandishing weapons.

Rarity coughed as she lay on the ground. The Priest merely laughed as he encircled her as a predator encircles its prey. She checked her abdomen to find a large black scorch mark slashed across it, her armor still smoking.

“I regret to inform you, Lady Rarity, that your armor will be of much less use against my Light Foil then, say, a Rifle,” he explained with some measure of glee. “It won’t be long before my hungry blade finds a spot on that soft, warm flesh of yours…”

Rarity struggled to get to her feet, and then resumed her fighting stance. “En garde,” she called out again as she prepared herself for another round. 

The Priest cocked his head in amusement before rushing forward again, putting Rarity in the defensive position. They exchanged blows and parries, but this time Rarity was having trouble pressing him onwards, much less keeping her ground; she eventually found herself pushed back against the wall; the Priest stabbed at her and she jumped high in the air, backflipping; when her legs were in the position to push off from the wall of the amphitheater, she sprung off, reversing direction and front flipping high over the priest. His sword penetrated the wall to the hilt, and Rarity smiled in mid- air, thinking that he had been trapped; she landed behind him and immediately turned in a wide, slashing maneuver, but the Priest merely dodged her blade by crouching and swept his leg back to trip her, fully turning around just as Rarity hit the ground, defenseless. The Priest laughed as he walked up until he was standing right over her; he pushed the tip of his sword into her armor, and it crackled and glowed as Rarity screamed out in pain once more.

“YOU BASTARD!!!” Applejack shouted down from the sidelines as she watched her friend being viciously tortured by an exceptionally sociopathic opponent.

“Rarity!!!” Twilight shrieked, covering her mouth and cringing at this sick little game playing out right in front of her.

“YOU CALL THAT NOBLE, YOU SICK, TWISTED FUCK?!?!” Rainbow Dash added in anger and helplessness.

Before the blade had a chance to fully compromise the PALADIN plating, the Priest pulled it away and Rarity rolled over, gasping and coughing, clutching her chest as she tried to get to her elbows and knees. Her EGO was beeping frantically about the state of her armor; the Shadowbolt Priest leisurely paced in front of her, laughing with genuine mirth.

“Oh, do be a dear, Lady Rarity, and at least put some EFFORT into it,” he sneered at her cruelly, “If I grow any more bored with you, then I'm afraid I will just have to end this… that really wouldn’t be very much fun for me, now, would it?”

Rarity simply struggled to get on her knees again, her head threatening her duel with a total black out. Her EGO was still beeping.

“Well, it seems as if you, sir, are refusing to take me seriously,” Rarity coughed again, and then glared at her opponent. “In that case, I’m just going to have to ‘step up my game’, so to speak,”

The Shadowbolt Priest made a clucking sound at her, even though he had no tongue to speak of. “You do only fool yourself, Lady Rarity, and perhaps your pathetic little friends whom you shall never have the chance to see die, quite slowly, by my hand-”

“If the good sir is quite finished,” Rarity interrupted him irately, “and if he would be so kind as to consent, then I would like to ask of him one, last, teensy- tiny little favor,”

“And what is that, my lady?”

“Another Light Foil, please, if you'd be so kind,” she stood up defiantly to meet his eyes.

The Priest cocked his head in amusement. “Very well,” he acquiesced, and motioned towards a Shadowbolt covering the other five. It immediately opened up its arm and pulled out a Light Foil, which it promptly threw down into the ring, right at Rarity’s feet. She picked it up and extended it before readying herself in a twin swordfighting stance.

“I’m warning you, Lady Rarity, I grow weary of this children’s play that you call a duel,” the Priest took up a fighting stance as well. 

“As do I, sir, as do I, however…” she stole glances at the other five that seemed to read “what are you all still doing here?! GO!!!”, to which they all just shook their heads at her, eyes bulging with fear for their friend in the ring. Rarity just sighed in return, and then turned back to face her opponent. “…I suppose we all must make sacrifices.”

With that, the Priest cocked his head in amusement before charging at her fiercely, his opponent armed with two Light Foils at the ready. He smirked, preparing to easily strike her down, but Rarity had transformed into an entirely different creature; instead of making use of any fancy footwork, she began twirling, with the grace of a dancer, her dual swords becoming long streaks of light that protected her in a cocoon of elegant fury; the Priest soon began to go from attacking to merely deflecting the maelstrom of blows that were soon aimed at every portion of his body; as soon as he deflected one blade, the other would come swirling towards his weak spot, and he began to struggle to keep from getting hit. Eventually, though, Rarity, deftly flipping a Light Foil in one hand, managed to jab it into his torso and, as he tried to remove her sword, she slashed the other around and across the Priest’s face; he recoiled and shrieked, obviously not out of pain, but in infinite rage that she had dared to deform his elaborately decorated, immortal vessel.

“ARRRGGHHHH!!!!” He shouted, and his eyes seemed to glow brighter with livid rage, “YOU WENCH!!! YOU SHALL PAY FOR THAT WITH EACH OF YOUR LIMBS, SLOWLY, AND ONE BY ONE!!!”

When his metallic face had cooled down from the touch of the Light Foil’s energized edge, he looked to find that Rarity had quickly bolted to the far side of the ring, turning around to face him again, both swords at the ready. 

“Vanity is one thing, darling, believe me- I KNOW!!!” Her helmet flipped open and she pulled her skullcap off to reveal her very luscious, if a little sweat- drenched, raven locks of hair; she stared at him, proud and tall, in all her radiantly defiant splendor.

“HOWEVER-“ she shouted as she ran forward and the Priest bellowed in his rage and ran at full speed to meet her. They both rushed towards each other for a final, killing blow; before Rarity reached the Priest, she suddenly reached out to the ground, both blades angled carefully out of the way, and propelled herself, spinning forward; she pulled in her legs and crossed her arms to tighten her flip as she began to sail right over the Shadowbolt Priest; he shrieked in fury as he aimed a mighty blow at her head, or rather, where her head should’ve been; as Rarity spun above him, the Priest became confused by her mass of silky, spinning hair and his blade cut at it and nothing else. When his opponent saw her chance, she sprung out her legs, locking her body as straight as an ironing board as it hovered above him; as her spin began to slow down she uncrossed her arms and, in a literal flash, completely decapitated the Priest. She landed behind him with the prodigious skill of an Olympic gymnast, not even a single step taken out of place. As the Priest’s body fell to the dust and his eyes some distance away went dark, she allowed herself a little smirk from one corner of her mouth.

“…There’s really no need to go losing one’s head over it, now, is there?” she finished, her deadly blades glowing at her sides.

At that precise moment, all of the other Shadowbolts holding her friends captive suddenly turned dark, falling dead to the floor. Their prisoners stared around themselves in shock before erupting in a massive, celebratory cheer. They all ran down at full speed to hug a very exhausted Rarity, almost tackling her over with excitement as she retracted her two Light Foils, grinning.

“Rarity!” Twilight shouted in relief as she hugged her, tears in her eyes. “Oh, Rarity, thank God you’re ok… I mean, you are ok, right?”

“Why, yes, darling,” Rarity was still panting as she hugged them all.

“BOOM! Right before she hit the ground- SHOOM!” Pinkie Pie gave her blow- by- blow account of Rarity’s killing blow, “NAIL- BITING ACTION OVERLOAD!!!”

Rarity giggled. “To be honest, girls, I really wasn’t quite sure that the two- handed technique would even work, I mean it’s all still very experimental… buuut,” she gestured to all the dead Shadowbolts littering the amphitheater, “…it all turned out quite nicely, don’t you think?”

The others all laughed happily; suddenly, though, Twilight gasped and reached out for Rarity’s butchered locks on her head.

“Oh, no, Rarity, your beautiful hair,” she cooed in sympathy.

Rarity, her adrenaline rush fading, finally noticed her hair with a pout, but quickly smiled. “Oh, it’s fine, my dear... short and uneven is in this season, you know... and besides…” she sadly played with her still silky tresses, “…It’ll grow back…”

Rainbow Dash snorted, gesturing to the headless Shadowbolt Priest on the ground next to them. “Well, he sure won’t be growing anything back, that’s for damn sure.”


	
> Ch. 18- Ms. Rainbow Dash’s Wild Ride
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The ragtag six finally crossed the river and were soon standing on the other bank, looking across the misty distance towards their final goal, the Royal Equestrian Temple structure holding the Harmonics Division and The Elements of Harmony. If it had originally been anything like the castles of Canterlot in color or shape, Twilight didn’t know it; she stared across the billows of fog towards what appeared to be a dark, grey stone monolith that stood out against the full moon now soaring overhead along with all of the stars. Twilight’s heart raced, and her pace began to pick up as she realize that the end was in sight.

“We’re here… we’re here…” she kept on repeating to herself as she started to run, full speed, her mind gone along with the fog towards the last known spot where her mother was seen alive; the spot where her destiny, as well as the destinies of her friends and of everyone else in Canterlot, all seemed to be converging towards a single, ineffable point before her.

“...We’re here…” she repeated again like a shell- shocked foot soldier finally emerging out of the trenches; she was running even faster now. “...GIRLS, we’re finally here!!!”

“Twilight!” Applejack called out as the she and the others began running as well to catch up with her, “Wait for us!!!”

Rarity was busy trying to remember something, something quite important, about this entrance way to the Royal Temple; when she realized what she was missing, her eyes widened in terror.

“Twilight!” She cried out, “Darling, WAIT!”

“We’re almost there-“ Twilight was about to egg them all on when she felt the earth slip out from under her feet; she gave a little gasp in surprise as she started to fall, without warning, into a large canyon hidden by the mist. Before her heart had a chance to have an attack, though, she felt two wiry arms grab her own and hoist her back up; her heart immediately began giving her its two weeks notice in the form of loud, rapid beating for having put it in so much danger, time and time again.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her as she carried her away from the abyss and towards safety. “So, like, seriously, what’s with you and falling off cliffs today?”

Twilight sighed in relief and silently chastised herself for her puppy- like naïveté, which had very nearly caused her to fall to her death for the second time in only one day. “I… missed my caffeine fix for today, entirely…”

The girls all stopped in front of the canyon as the winds began to pick up and slowly reveal its existence, at least partly. They all frowned as they started to wonder how they would even get across it to reach Harmonics.

“Oh, my goodness… it’s so… deep,” Fluttershy finally whispered, quite anticlimactically. “…and… um, well… incredibly fathomless.”

“What are you, a dictionary?” Rainbow Dash asked in an off- hand manner, distracted by the seemingly insurmountable obstacle before them.

“Now how are we supposed ta get over this here crack in the ground?” Applejack scratched her head. "Isn't there supposed to be a bridge somewhere?"

“Girls, look!” Rarity suddenly drew all of their attention to the side. They ran over to find her standing next to what appeared to be three wide silver sheets of metal joined together, all lying flat on the ground. Besides this strange device was a thin silver post, at the top of which was a slot that looked an awful lot like a key- hole.

“It’s a Light Bridge, darlings, of late Equestrian construction,” Rarity squinted to make out the Equestrian inscribed on the post, “we should be able to use it to cross the chasm, but… unfortunately, the key is missing,”

The girls all sighed in exasperation. Just when they were that close to reaching the Royal Temple, after all of the trouble that they had encountered and then subsequently overcome, they were now being confronted by an extremely obstinate, entirely uncaring geological formation before them.

“Wait!” Pinkie Pie ran up and began scanning the post with her EGO; the girls all watched as she fiddled with her device for a second, seemingly bringing out a virtual map in the process; her brow furrowed as she worked to find a solution to their quandary. “Hmmm, it seems as if I’m picking up the distinctive electronic signature of that key somewhere in the area, I’m guessing it has a lot of juice in it, or something, but… awww, criminy cricket, it's right at the bottom of this canyon!” she checked her program’s accuracy and then sighed heavily. “Yup, its at the bottom all right, some help..." She sighed even harder in frustration. "Now what?!”

“Duh-" Rainbow Dash gave a victorious little grin and started to flap her wings; however, much to her surprise and consternation, she only had half of one left, and it was still badly mangled after her close encounter with Mr. Manticore. “-Oh, right...”

She turned to Fluttershy as she detached her broken Wingpack and threw it away. “Hey ‘Shy, I’m gonna need your wings,”

Fluttershy nodded and removed her yellow Wingpack, handing it over to Rainbow Dash; Dash attached it to her back and it turned sky blue.

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie Pie grinned at Rainbow Dash, sending her the key’s waypoint way, way down in the abysmal, smoky darkness.

“Now, I’ll just head on down there and before you know it, I’ll be right back with that key,” Dash winked at the group with total confidence in her abilities. “You all stay here and form an impromptu book club, or something.”

“Alright, Rainbow… but be careful,” Twilight smiled at her as she tested and flapped her new pair of wings and their thrusters. “And keep in contact with us on your eggo.”

Rainbow Dash just smiled back at her with a devil- my- care sort of grin and sharply saluted her. “Yes, oh fearless leader, will do!”

She then proceeded to step off of the cliff backwards and fall down into a freefall towards the misty bottom below. Twilight and the others watched her disappear into its smothering mass before a soft yellow glow flashed out from within and they saw Rainbow Dash’s slightly illuminated, shadowy outline soar through the canyon at great speed. 

Rainbow Dash kept her helmet and skullcap off, immensely enjoying the cool, wet evening air as it rushed through her short, distinctively colored “mane”. She closed her eyes for a moment, swearing to herself that she could actually feel the canyon walls rushing by besides her, the very trajectory of the flight springing forth unerringly from her calm, slowly beating heart. Every so often she glanced one eye at her EGO, which was currently agreeing with her that she was on the right course. A communication crackled to life from it as she sped through the chilly, silent darkness.

“Rainbow Dash, is everything alright down there?”

As Dash was thinking of something witty and bad- ass to say back to her, a brilliant blue light bolt suddenly broke her concentration as it zipped past her, coming within inches of her smirking face. She gasped in surprise as more like it soon followed, and she banked swiftly to avoid this new barrage trying to kill her as she flew.

“Rainbow?” Twilight asked again as Dash heard anxiety creep into her voice. “Rainbow Dash?”

“Um, heh heh…” Rainbow tried to remain calm as streams of light bolts began to issue forth from the opaque, white fog and trace her movements more and more closely, “…um, we’re currently experiencing some technical difficulties here in the canyon, please stand by,”

“Rainbow!” Twilight called out to her as another burst of light bolts led in front of the swiftly flying Pegasus and she flapped her wings extra hard to shift direction and avoid it.

When she was clear of the initial, blind onslaught against her, Rainbow Dash squinted in the wind to find a very grim sight suddenly appearing before her; a large squadron of Shadowbolt warriors was coming out of the mist to meet her, a very large one, their Light Rifles blazing at full automatic. She cursed and then began to close her helmet in preparation for the dogfight that was to come.

“I got some company down here, fearless leader,” she nervously whispered back to her friend before she shook her head, starting to pump herself up mentally, and slowly began to grin, “I guess they really couldn’t have made this easy for us, now, could they?”

“RAINBOW DASH!!!” she heard Twilight cry out again, but her attention was now entirely focused on the task at hand as she swept her wings back and fully fired her thrusters, sending her rocketing forward to meet the enemy. She began to roll and spin, flitting gracefully through the air as energy bolts came rushing past her, all without even coming close to hitting her. As Rainbow Dash aimed for a vacant region of space within the daunting, jet- black formation, she fired off quick bursts of her Light Rifle, destroying and downing many Shadowbolts surrounding it, and quickly burst through their enormous screen with ease. However, as she continued down the misty canyon towards the Light Bridge key, she heard the entire formation of Shadowbolts quickly make an about face, racing behind in hot pursuit and firing their weapons at her, unrestrained.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight called out into her EGO; the others gasped and watched as bright flashes of blue and yellow began to erupt from the canyon beneath them. “Rainbow Dash, come in, do you hear me? Are you still there?!”

“I hear you, Twilight, loud and clear,” Rainbow Dash spouted back as she loop- de- looped around to avoid the enemies who were now right on top of her and turned around, flying backwards, to fire upon them. “I’m a little busy at the moment, so - hang on,”

She destroyed all of the Shadowbolts in the lead of the pursuit before flipping back around and shooting forward with a hard flap of her wings coupled with a large thruster burst; still, her pursuers didn’t seem to slow down in the least, but instead began to gain on her again and spread out from their tight clusters in order to surround her once they had caught up with the spunky little Pegasus. As they were beginning to overtake her, Rainbow Dash spread her wings out and unexpectedly slowed down for them; sensing an opportunity, the next group of Shadowbolts in the lead flapped their wings hard and sped up to catch her. As they fired upon her and were almost close enough to actually hit her, Rainbow Dash suddenly, with a burst from her wings, changed directions again and shot left, straight towards the canyon wall; the pursuing Shadowbolts, in a fraction of a second, decided to follow her, right on her tail. As she was about to hit the cliffs, Rainbow Dash suddenly banked again and out of the way; the Shadowbolts, lacking her skill and her daring, just continued forward as each of them slammed into the wall, one right after another, like some sort of pathetic little troupe of airborne lemurs; they didn’t impact hard enough to be outright destroyed, but Rainbow Dash shot a glance back and watched their black, metallic bodies fall to the canyon floor, unmoving, their glowing eyes sputtering in and out of focus. She didn’t stop to check to see if they were ok, and let out a big, mocking laugh as she corkscrewed downwards and then shot forwards near the bottom of the canyon, her massive speed rattling the leaves on the trees growing there as well as the loose rocks surrounding them.

However, Dash soon realized that her little stunt had cost her much of her velocity, and she soon found the rest of the Shadowbolts flying all around her and even in front of her, firing their weapons wildly to hit her. She tried to roll and swerve to avoid them, but the sheer amount of fire strafing at her eventually found its mark, and Dash jerked in mid- flight as familiar, sharp, stabbing pains began to riddle her entire body. She gasped with palpable nausea and dizziness as she wobbled a little, fighting hard to keep flying in a beeline away from her attackers.

“RAINBOW DASH!!!” Twilight shouted to her as she began to hear Dash’s now audible cries of pain through her EGO, “COME BACK, NOW!!!”

“What, and lead these punks straight to you?!” Dash, through her grit teeth, replied as she spun behind three Shadowbolts and destroyed them with a burst of light bolts. "Pssst, yeah, right. Totally not gonna happen. And besides…” she dodged another pair of speeding enemies before riddling their chassis with smoking holes, “…I’m not done yet...”

Twilight began shouting something further, but Dash couldn’t hear her beyond all of the rushing wind, explosions, and sizzling projectiles. She continued to weave back and forth in between the cloud of attackers, dodging their fire as best she could and firing back, destroying them in droves. Soon, that cloud began to dissipate, and Rainbow sighed, smiling, as she turned around to continue her escape. However, when she had begun flying forward again her heart lept into her throat as another, even larger, squadron of Shadowbolts came out of the mist to greet her; she gulped hard.

“Well… this just got a helluva lot more interesting,” she muttered to nobody in particular, trying to deny herself the immense feelings of fear and hopelessness that, like her attackers, now threatened to consume her entirely.

In spite of how she was feeling at the moment, both physically and emotionally, Rainbow threw all of her worries to the wind as she sped forward to meet her new adversaries head on; the other group of Shadowbolts was still chasing her from behind, and the Light Bridge key still lay further down the smoky canyon...

Rainbow Dash raised her Light Rifle in one hand and attempted to fire upon this new wall of attackers; before she could, however, she screamed out in pain as a barrage of light bolts suddenly hit her in the back, causing her to lose both her focus and the control of her wings. As she swerved around in the air, attempting to fly straight, the two massive walls of Shadowbolts in front of and behind her closed ranks and she suddenly found herself caught right in the middle of them. The next few moments for Rainbow Dash became nothing but a world of pain beset by a flurry of jet- black blurs, and she tumbled in midair, literally covered in enemy fire; the Shadowbolts began to knock her around viciously as they passed their ailing prey. Rainbow lost the will to control her wings entirely and she started to fall towards the canyon floor, still getting hit with each second; she began to black out.

“RAAaaiinboowww…” she heard Twilight’s voice grow more and more distant as her vision grew blacker and blacker.

Suddenly, her EGO’s insistent beeping brought her back to consciousness, even though an unbearable amount of pain was still ripping through her body; Dash's mind snapped back into focus; her EGO was trying to inform her of two very distinct things happening at once- one, that her PALADIN was obviously about to fail, horribly, and two, that she had just about reached the key. 

Forcing her wings back into action, Rainbow Dash grit her teeth, threw out another one of her trademark devil- may- care grins, and immediately began fighting her way through the massive cloud of Shadowbolts surrounding her in order to continue her escape. Though her EGO was now beeping more and more insistently, warning her that her armor was on the verge of total, catastrophic failure, Rainbow Dash somehow managed to run and gun her way back out of her attackers’ grasps and fly forward again at full speed; she began pushing her wings even harder, and they whined insistently in protest as their thruster exhaust turned from yellow to orange and then to an angry red. Her EGO was now telling her that they were overheating, but she just ignored the warning and continued to fly faster and faster, barreling down the canyon with her pursuers growing farther and farther behind her.

“I’m… not… done… yet…” she started to repeat to herself over and over again as Twilight seemed to be shouting something from her EGO. Whether it was due to her adrenaline rush or her constant struggle to avoid blacking out, the world seemed to be slowing down in front of her, and the blurry canyon walls began to appear crystal clear in their every detail. Her wing thrusters were now as red as they could possibly be, but, as she pushed them even further beyond their limits, they began to take on a strange, multicolored hue that reflected every single visible wavelength in the light spectrum. Her EGO informed her that the key’s location was coming up fast now, and Dash streamlined her body and her multicolored wings behind her, throwing a fist out instinctively before her face as a cone of pressurized air began to narrow around her exponentially accelerating form. Hell, she reckoned to herself, if she was going to die right now, then and there, then she might as well go out looking like fucking Superman…

Dash began screaming as the cone wobbled around her, threatening to break the very sky itself, and her wings whined loudly in a rising, droning pitch; their exhaust ports began to throw out a distinct, rainbow- colored trail behind her. Dash took one last breath before she screamed out again and gave it everything she had left.

“I’M- NOT- DOOOOOOOOONE YEEEEEEEEET!!!!” she roared as she abruptly broke the sound barrier. 

The girls above the canyon gasped in shock as an enormous booming sound, quite distinct from an explosion, echoed from the mist below them; without warning, a gigantic shockwave expanded rapidly from within the canyon, bathed in the most beautiful, gloriously rainbow- colored hues that Twilight had ever seen in her life. They were followed by a series of successively smaller waves of the same colors as the entire canyon began to glow with an ecstatic light display along its entire length, at least as far as the eye could see.

For Rainbow Dash, the world around her was simultaneously moving at supersonic speeds while it abruptly came to almost a complete stop. She took in all the information pertaining to her flight with calmness and clarity, and she could see everything around her lurch by at a snail’s pace. When Rainbow Dash turned her head lazily to see how far the Shadowbolts had been left behind in her dust, she gasped in surprise to find a rainbow- colored trail of light, solid and seemingly unmoving, stretching out from behind her and into the grey mist. She smirked as her mind was gently blown away.

What do ya know, a Sonic Rainboom, she thought to herself serenely. Bitchin’.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash’s EGO began beeping extremely slowly to her now superhuman Pegasus senses, and she glanced down at the canyon floor at where it was indicating. The key, she thought to herself, almost yawning, as she suddenly changed direction and headed down towards it. Her chest almost skimmed along the ground as she flew right on top of its location and, in a fraction of a second, let out a long burst from her weapon, exposing the item with a shower of molten rock. Her hand indulgently stuck out and, as she felt herself hovering over it slowly, she picked up the golden, pronged key with ease and began lifting off from the ground again, her Sonic Rainboom still thundering loudly behind her. Smiling to herself in a completely zen trance, she suddenly decided to lift up even higher, and soon her rainbow trail was tracing a path straight to the heavens as she quickly left the canyon far below, flying straight up into the air. Once she was satisfied with her altitude, Rainbow Dash began curving backwards down towards the earth again, rocketing straight back down into the canyon. 

The girls all watched in absolute silence as a beautiful rainbow appeared before them in the middle of the night, glowing brightly amongst the moon and stars. Not one of them spoke, their eyes opened as wide as they could possibly force them in order to take in this wondrous, breathtaking miracle happening right before them, their hearts all beating as one and burning with a strange, ferocious new fire that none of them had ever felt before. Suddenly, Fluttershy became the first of them to speak up, screaming really, as she roared and shouted out in uncharacteristically total rapture, jumping up and down as hard as she could.

“A SONIC RAINBOOM, A REAL SONIC RAINBOOM!!!” she shrieked, still bouncing, “WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!”

Twilight just smiled, sighing with relief. Oh, Rainbow Dash…

The cocky little Pegasus re- entered the canyon right behind the cloud of Shadowbolts who all seemed to be frozen in confusion. She smiled as she zipped past them, flipping onto her back at supersonic speed, and they belatedly raised their Light Rifles at her long after she was gone from their sights. Suddenly, her Sonic Rainboom caught up with her and battered the unfortunate Shadowbolts with a tremendous force, slamming them all into the wall and causing their eyes to flicker from severe damage. As each one was hit by her Rainboom, Dash simply let out short bursts of light bolts from her rifle to destroy each one with rapid precision. The entire Shadowbolt air force that had seemed to have been the end of her earlier was rapidly eliminated until Rainbow Dash flew on, her rifle stowed back at her side, her enemies now completely and utterly destroyed. She smiled serenely as she continued to speed along, throwing rainbows far behind her, and wisely ruminated in a deeply profound trance state.

Best. Ownage. EVER.


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


When Rainbow Dash flew up out of the canyon to meet her friends at the Light Bridge, she slowed down abruptly and landed on the ground in a shower of light and color, throwing her body into a sort of heroic pose, her helmet opening up to reveal her very sweaty but widely grinning face. Her friends all screamed with cheer, laughing happily, and ran over to hug the triumphant Pegasus in immense joy. Dash hugged them all back after she had discarded her heavily smoking, permanently damaged wings on the ground beside her.

“Anybody still looking for this?” Rainbow continued to smile as she playfully wagged the Light Bridge key in front of them.

“Oh, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight hugged her tightly again, her previously gnawing concern for her rough and gruff friend now fading away with the Sonic Rainboom, “You did it, Rainbow, you did it… thank you,”

Dash just flipped her hair back stylishly and coolly scoffed. “Psst, and just what were you expecting? That I’d go and let everybody down?” Rainbow looked straight at her amazed friend and threw out another devil- may- care grin. “Yeah, right, as if. Come on egghead, you should know better: I’d never leave my friends hangin’.”

Twilight was at a loss for words; she grabbed Rainbow Dash in a tight hug again, tears streaming down from her eyes. 

Dash laughed. “Alright, Twilight, alright, already… geez, if you hug me any tighter, I’m gonna have to start asking you to buy me dinner… I mean, not that I would really mind a free meal…”

The entire group burst out in laughter and high spirits, and Twilight let the Pegasus go, eventually.

That Rainbow Dash, she wiped a tear from her eyes and sniffed, smiling, She sure is something else…

“Alright, ladies,” Rarity got their attention as she slipped the key into the Light Bridge’s post and turned it. “It's time to get moving.”

As soon as she activated the device, the two sheets of metal on either side of the big center one immediately sprang to life, humming. The center sheet emitted a bright yellow walkway of solid light straight across the canyon to the other side, and the two smaller sheets rotated until they too activated, issuing forth rails of finely wrought brightness to complete the bridge. The girls all stared at it in wonder before each and every one of them turned to each other and nodded, a shared look of renewed courage and determination on all of their faces. They had now reached endgame…

Together, Twilight finished that thought as she stepped forward to meet that single, ineffable point awaiting her in the distance, side by side with the very bestest best friends that anyone in the entire world could ever hope to have.

> Ch. 19- Friendship is Magic, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The main six found the doors to the darkened main chamber of the Royal Temple to be unpowered, as was most of everything in the very still, very expansive room, and they all pushed it open together to let themselves in. The girls very slowly and cautiously walked into the eerie, empty silence of the chamber; each and every one of them raised their respective weapons as they entered, but to their surprise they had not seen a soul since they had crossed the Light Bridge to enter these centrally located ruins within the Equestrian temple complex. 

The walls were entirely covered with equine frescoes, some friendly looking and others not so much. The girls all turned to admire The Elements of Harmony, now finally there before them; The Elements were truly a sight to behold, like some sort of miniature multicolored constellation hovering right in the air, each shining so brightly that the translucent container they sat in seemed to be throwing off most of the ambient light still left in the room. Underneath the elements, a massive golden base covered in emitter consoles propped up the very heart of Canterlot’s power, this the very source of The Alicorn Queen’s mechanical onslaught itself. The Elements of Harmony were emitting a soft, pleasing hum, almost as if they were beckoning the six of them in a very friendly welcome.

However, if The Elements were saying anything to Twilight, she didn’t hear a single thing; her eyes were widened in shock and horror like the those of her friends’ as she tried to take in the rest of the room. The floor of the main chamber was littered with the grisly remains of dead soldiers and scientists; Twilight fought the tremendous walls of despair and bile rising up through her being as she walked among what appeared the aftermath of a vicious massacre. Her hands were cold and clammy as she broke out into a cold sweat, and her breathing grew faster and faster until she had begun hyperventilating in earnest. While she had borne witness to the deaths of many innocent people earlier that day, it was only now that she was forced to look upon the casualties of this hopeless situation with a kind of unbearable intimacy. The macabre sight eventually became too much for her to bear and her mind slowed down even further from the emotional and psychological trauma, beginning to only then register flashes of the group’s unspeakable discovery in the main chamber… a flash of a white lab coat covered with dust here, the torn BDUs of a soldier there… over in the corner, near the wall, a dead woman who looked just like her-

A massive, belated heart attack finally struck the very core of Twilight’s heart. She dropped her weapon, choking for breath, and it clattered to the floor. All of her friends jumped in alarm and turned to her in an instant.

“MOOOOOOOOM!!!!” Twilight shrieked at the top of her lungs and ran forward as fast as she could. Whatever strength and resolve she had built up over the course of her journey seemed to evaporate in a single instant as her eyes locked on the still, unmoving form of Velvet Sparkle, crumpled against the wall like the rag doll that she once carried everywhere with her as a child.

“Oh my God, oh my God- MOOOOOOOOOM!!!” she began to sob loudly in fear and desperation as she reached her mother’s still form and bent down to check on her. Velvet Sparkle was in bad shape, there’s was no doubt about that. However, as Twilight’s uncontrollably shaking hand stumbled towards Velvet’s neck, it found a very faint pulse still beating; she let out a teary gasp with emotion, sniffling as she felt an enormous wave of gratitude wash over all of the dark, dreary thoughts she had carried within her since this whole ordeal had begun. The other five came running towards her, staring in shock at Velvet and lowering their weapons to the ground; Fluttershy immediately bent down next to Twilight, whose breath was still jagged from a mixture of relief and great sadness to see her mother in such a condition. Fluttershy checked for Velvet’s pulse herself; she then pulled out everything she had in her Equestrian medical kit, placing it all beside her, and began to scan Twilight’s mother with her EGO.

“She’s hurt bad, Twilight,” Fluttershy knit her brow in both worry and intense concentration. “She’s got multiple broken ribs, her skull is fractured, and she’s bleeding internally… oh my goodness, we need to get her back quickly to Canterlot if we’re going to keep her from getting any worse…”

Twilight sniffled again as she placed her hand, vey gingerly, on Velvet’s shoulder. “Mom? Mother, can you hear me?”

Although she hadn’t dared to shake the woman in her present state, Velvet suddenly began to groan and move her head at Twilight’s beckoning, which immediately prompted her daughter to once again gasp for breath. She was still in a daze and didn’t seem to be able to fully regain consciousness.

“Twilight, honey?” she grumbled tiredly, her eyes still shut. “…Just let me sleep one more minute, sweetheart… really, I mean it this time…”

Twilight chuckled at that in spite of the copious amount of tears she was simultaneously crying for her mother. “No, mom… you… you’ve been badly hurt… mom, can you still hear me? You’re at The Harmonics Division…”

Slowly, Velvet began opening her eyes as she came back into the land of the living. She stared around her, slowly, as her newly reignited brain began to take in the ghastly massacre still lying all around her, and she began to remember what had happened earlier. Her widened eyes turned back to face her snot- nosed, bleary- eyed child, who was gasping with emotion as she gazed down upon her. Velvet immediately grabbed Twilight and began to hug her, yelping in pain because she still had many ribs broken. Twilight sobbed as she returned the hug as loosely and gently as possible.

“Mom, you need to be careful, your ribs are broken,” Twilight tried to release her grip but found that Velvet wouldn’t let go.

“Twilight… oh, thank God, Twilight… oh, my little baby girl, you’re all right, my God, you’re all right…” Velvet began to cry as well as she hugged her daughter’s warm body to her in order to make sure that it was all really happening.

Twilight finally got Velvet to release her little baby girl, and now smiled at her as a great weight on her shoulders, well, at least one of them, was finally released. She wiped her eyes.

“Mom, you’ve been hurt, really, really badly… we need to get you back to Canterlot right away… do you think you can walk at all?”

Velvet slowly tried to get up, but screamed in agony and resettled against the wall, gritting her teeth and clutching her broken ribs.

“Easy, Dr. Sparkle, easy now,” Fluttershy helped her back into a sitting position; she turned to her daughter. “If she can’t walk, then we’ll just have to carry her back, Twilight…” Fluttershy, her medical training taking over, quickly turned to the others. “Girls, I need you all to help me find something to make into a stretcher!” 

The others all nodded, touching Twilight’s shoulder in support before quickly moving on to scour the main chamber for anything usable. As Fluttershy applied some sort of bandage around Velvet’s torso, she winced and whimpered, still locking eyes with her daughter who was crying as she smiled at her, gently holding and stroking her hand in comfort. When the doctor moved to the side and began applying an analgesic patch on Velvet’s arm, she moved forward to embrace her only daughter again.

“Mom,” Twilight sniffed, laughing, “Seriously, mother, you need to stop doing that, already… broken ribs, remember?”

“Oh, Twilight…” Velvet spoke, choking with tremendous emotion, “Oh, kiddo… I’m so, so sorry,”

Twilight hugged her back, again gently, hot tears still freely streaming down her face. 

“…Me too, mom… me too…”

As the other four were busy scavenging the main chamber for materials, a sudden gust of wind kicked up in the center of the room. It coalesced into a glowing maelstrom of light, and without warning a sudden flash of energy burst out. Twilight gasped and began to cover her mother protectively; the other girls looked up in complete surprise and horror as The Alicorn Queen, The Living Nightmare herself suddenly materialized right before their eyes, laughing maniacally and floating on her big, black wings in the middle of the air. Twilight began breathing hard as all of her friends besides Fluttershy immediately began to aim their weapons at her, growling fiercely upon recognizing the root of all their troubles. When Nightmare saw this, she only laughed harder before sneering evilly and opening her mouth to address them-

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!! Another sound effect suddenly roared out through the room.

Twilight, her mother, and her friends all gasped in total shock as an enormous blue wave of telekinetic energy suddenly slammed into The Alicorn Queen, driving her into the wall like a massive wrecking ball completely made out of light. Nightmare, clearly caught off her guard, only had time to emit a pathetic little “oh” before she impacted the wall with a loud crushing sound, the stone fresco behind her cracking and crumbling to pieces. When the energy wave began to dissipate, she hung in a large crater for a second, groaning with flickering eyes, before gravity began to pull down her spikey, black body towards the floor again. However, before she fell another enormous energy wave, identical to the first, slammed into her, soon followed by another, and then another, each successive wave issuing forth like bullets from a machine gun. Twilight watched this little scene play out in front of her, feeling just a little bit of satisfaction, a sort of well- deserved schadenfreude, mixed in with all of the confusion about what she was looking at, exactly.

The gigantic chain of energy blasts eventually subsided in full, and Nightmare was finally allowed to fall, quite ungracefully, to the floor, heavily damaged and groaning in a daze. When the majestic display before them was finally over, all of the people in the room spun their heads around to look towards the source of it all, and their eyes unexpectedly rested on a seriously pissed off Luna, still very much alive but struggling to stand to her feet; a fierce, enraged look played upon her face as one arm held a greivous wound on her chest and the other stuck straight out at The Alicorn Queen, a heavily smoking horn wrapped around it. She breathed hard, gasping for air, even as she glared daggers at the motionless Nightmare.

“That…” she rasped in between breaths, still raising her dark blue horn, “…is for stabbing me, you ugly, DECEITFUL bitch.”

Eventually, though, the pain from her wound overtook her, and Luna gasped as she collapsed to the floor, grimacing.

“LUNA!!!” Twilight shouted to her. 

She looked at her mother, who only nodded, and Twilight ran over to the director with all of her friends, helping her to sit up and checking that she was ok.

“Oh my goodness, oh dear…” Fluttershy nervously exclaimed and she examined Luna’s completely penetrating stab wound. “…She needs to get back to Canterlot, too, right away,”

“Oh God…” Twilight gasped as she helped Luna up, looking over the extent of her injury. “Oh, hang on, Luna, you’ll be ok, we’re all going to take you back to get help, I promise…”

Luna, extremely pale and her breathing growing more and more shallow, glanced up at Twilight and gave a small, tired smile.

“Why, Twilight Sparkle, do my ears deceive me?” she rasped softly in jest, “or did you really just call me Luna?”

Twilight frowned, but then started to grin back at her. “I’ll tell you what, we’ll split the difference… Director Luna,”

Luna tried to laugh, but immediately began to cough up a fair amount of blood, and Fluttershy worriedly instructed her to settle back as she started to administer emergency care.

Suddenly, the main six all heard the sound of glass shattering and a strong gust of wind blowing behind them; they turned around to find Nightmare up and about again and standing right on the base of The Elements of Harmony, The Elements themselves swirling madly next to her. The Alicorn Queen gave a crazed laugh as she began to gather crackling energy around her to teleport the alien artifacts away.

The main six all gasped in shock; something deep within Twilight snapped at that very moment and she immediately bolted towards The Alicorn Queen, running as fast as she possibly could.

“TWILIGHT!” her friends all called out to her as they got up and ran behind her to catch up.

Twilight’s face was contorted in infinite rage as she grit her teeth and pumped her legs, the energy field around Nightmare humming louder and louder…

OH.

Her friends called out to her again as they attempted, in vain, to catch up with her; however, their leader and friend was now being fueled by pure hatred along with a fair amount of adrenaline…

NO.

Twilight started to pant hard, almost reaching the glowing sphere of energy as it threatened to disappear on her…

SHE.

She was right on top of it now, and as the crackling ball of energy began to contract and disappear along with Nightmare’s hideous laughter, Twilight screamed out and lunged forward, jumping as hard as she could to make contact with the escaping Alicorn Queen and The Elements of Harmony…

DIDN’T!!!!!

Twilight lept into the teleportation field as it shrunk into non- existence, disappearing entirely right along with it. Her friends behind her all skidded and looked around, breathing hard and panicking, screaming her name and calling out to her towards all of the corners of the main chamber.

“Twilight?” 

“What?!”

“Where did she go?!”

“What happened?!”

“What’s going on?!”

“Twilight?” Applejack spun about, “Where are you?”

“LOOK!!!” Rarity shouted, and the others all turned towards where she was pointing; they all raced towards the window, looking out across the temple complex and finding a bright glow emanating from a large tower far away.

The girls all worriedly turned back to the two wounded women that were lying on the floor. Both in terrible condition, Velvet and Luna glanced at each other with grim looks on their faces.

“We’ll be fine here,” Luna nodded to them.

“Go,” Velvet added with pointed anguish for her daughter, looking them dead in the eye, “Please,”

The girls all turned back to each other, nodding. 

“Alright, ladies, ya heard the doctor…” Applejack raised her Light Rifle, ready for battle. “For Twilight,”

Her friends all raised their own weapons, prepared to give everything they had to save her. 

“FOR TWILIGHT!!!” they all responded resoundingly. In the heat of the moment, Pinkie Pie accidentally pressed her trigger again but caught it much quicker this time.

The five of them ran out of the main chamber as fast as they could to Twilight’s rescue. Velvet watched them go with great emotion, smiling, silently wishing them all the very best of luck. 


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


A sudden bang and a bright flash erupted inside of a dark, empty chamber in a faraway tower of the ancient Equestrian temple complex. As the teleportation field expanded, Twilight Sparkle found herself thrown out of it, grunting as she hit the floor and rolled some distance away. Rubbing her head, she turned to see the teleportation field dissipate, revealing a maniacally laughing Nightmare standing over the glowing Elements of Harmony. 

Twilight quickly glanced down to realize that she had left her Light Rifle back at the main chamber. Looking towards her left arm, she slammed her right palm down on her EGO and drew out her horn; a ribbon of purple light wrapped gracefully her arm as she stood up to face The Alicorn Queen, her helmet closing, preparing herself for battle.

Nightmare looked upon her and sneered, still laughing. “You’re kidding… you’re kidding, right?”

“I will NOT let you hurt anybody else…” Twilight spoke back to her, charging her horn with as much energy as she could muster. “…I will NOT let you even come CLOSE to the people I love… THIS ENDS HERE, NIGHTMARE- RIGHT NOW!!!”

Twilight gave a ferocious battle cry as she rushed forward, her horn poised for the attack. The Alicorn Queen simply chuckled and began running forward to meet her. 

Twilight let loose an enormous purple wave of telekinetic energy rivaling Luna’s, square at Nightmare’s face. The Alicorn Queen simply waved her hand and the wave split evenly down the middle before reaching her; she smirked. Undaunted, Twilight rapidly charged her horn a second time and fired again, this time straight at the ground in front of her; the telekinetic force spread out and shot upwards in a wide sheet of destruction, but Nightmare simply took to the air on her wings, firing down telekinetic bursts of her own at her opponent. Twilight jumped out of the way as the stone floor exploded from the impact, and began running towards the wall beside her. Mustering all of her physical knowledge, every single last bit of information about the natural world that she had hammered into her brain over the years, Twilight finally began to put her scientific genius to work as she began visualizing ways to manipulate the very fabric of spacetime itself using her Unicorn abilities. When she had reached the wall, her horn flickered with purple as she ran forward and began to climb it using just her feet, her powers holding her against the downward pull of gravity. Nightmare began firing enormous telekinetic blasts towards her, and Twilight zig zagged along the wall to avoid being hit as the stone surface exploded all around her, showering her PALADIN with pebbles and shrapnel. 

When she had reached the same level that Nightmare was hovering at, Twilight waved her horn and the wall she was standing under began to morph and shift; a great spike of rock began to shoot forward, and Twilight rode it like a surfboard as she barreled towards her opponent; taking a cue from Rarity, she materialized a two- handed, double- edged sword of light and swung it back as she approached The Alicorn Queen.

Nightmare quickly raised her hand and demolished the impromptu spike with a rapid flurry of telekinetic blasts; Twilight was one step ahead of her, however, and quickly jumped up as the bridge under her feet was obliterated, attaching herself to the ceiling right above Nightmare. Not wasting a single moment, she suddenly dropped downwards, screaming, and swung her mighty sword down on Nightmare’s head. The Alicorn Queen smiled as she teleported away, and Twilight’s eyes widened as she rocketed towards the floor. Nightmare appeared with a flash behind her and fired a burst of telekinetic energy into her back, causing Twilight to scream out in pain as she accelerated even quicker with gravity, slamming hard against the ground and forming a small crater with an audible boom.

Twilight stumbled to her feet as her EGO gave out a final warning that her armor had now been completely compromised by the impact. She turned to angrily face The Alicorn Queen again.

“Well, your abilities ARE quite impressive, dear,” Nightmare mocked from above, “But they shall not save you against the full force of my wrath, little one,”

“If I’m going to die, well, then-“ Twilight began forming balls of purple light all around her body, “- I’M TAKING YOU WITH ME!!!”

The balls of light surrounding her all exploded at once and threw forward an entire artillery barrage of Light Bolts, as if from an army of her own. Nightmare merely flew to avoid them, but Twilight rematerialized each ball and continued her ferocious barrage. Smiling, Nightmare began to materialize copies of herself, and Twilight began to lose track of her as she started to destroy her clones. 

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, Twilight saw a black blur barrel down towards her. She turned to quickly face it but Nightmare impacted hard against her body, cracking her deactivated PALADIN, and threw her with a roar at the wall next to her. Twilight hit it hard, cracking her Paladin helmet open as well as slamming her sideways turned head against the wall, cutting her cheek and lip. As she shook her head to regain focus, Twilight watched as The Alicorn Queen was now running along the ground at her, a Light Foil ready to strike. Thinking quickly, Twilight rolled on the floor, dodging the blow as Nightmare slashed a deep gash into the wall; the tenacious little Unicorn then stuck her leg out, kicking Nightmare square in the back and sending her slamming into the wall, momentarily distracting her opponent; as Nightmare quickly turned back around to attack her again, Twilight gathered large storm clouds all around her, unleashing a crackling barrage of lightning bolts at The Alicorn Queen; she projected a force field in front of her as quickly as she could, but Twilight merely bent the multiple lightning strikes behind the shield and they all struck Nightmare all at once. She jerked and twisted, screaming, and then stumbled back, smoking, as the attack dissipated.

Nightmare looked at Twilight with pure, seething hatred on her mechanical face, but her opponent only smiled back mockingly. Incensed, The Alicorn Queen summoned up large, hulking behemoths from the floor, gigantic living statues that ran to attack Twilight when they had fully formed. Twilight charged her horn again and another purple ball of energy, this one swirling ferociously, appeared in her hand. She threw it at the statues and the ball detonated, destroying all of the puppets before they could even reach her. Misjudging her own power, Twilight shielded her eyes from the mighty blast, which turned out to be a tactical mistake; she screamed out in pain as Nightmare came at her blindside again, slashing at her with her Light Foil. Twilight’s PALADIN absorbed as much of the energy as it could before it shattered and the blade’s edge cut through and deeply sliced Twilight in her side. As she tried to turn to face her attacker, Nightmare kicked her in the middle of her chest, sending Twilight careening to the floor. She struggled to get up, holding her badly cut torso and trying as hard as she could to avoid passing out from the shock of the enormous pain coursing through her body.

The Alicorn Queen approached her, laughing cruelly, with her Light Foil waving playfully in front of Twilight’s face as she grew closer. She looked down disdainfully upon the Unicorn, her fanged mouth grinning widely.

“You little FOAL! Thinking you could defeat me? You dare challenge The Living Nightmare HERSELF?! Now you will never see your loved ones again, or anything else, for that matter! My night, child, will last for an eternity… but yours… YOURS ENDS NOW!!!”

She raised her up blade to finish off her opponent, and Twilight shut her eyes, preparing for certain death to come down swiftly upon her...

Suddenly, the doors to the room exploded and were thrown outwards; Nightmare stopped her killing blow as both she and Twilight turned to find the other five of her ragtag team running in, screaming and firing their weapons. Having blown the door wide open, Pinkie Pie charged for another shot as Twilight rolled out of the way.

“HAVE A TASTE OF MY PARTY CANNON!!!” She bellowed as she let out another massive blast, forcing The Alicorn Queen to fly back on her wings to avoid being hit.

Twilight rolled on the ground, gasping for breath, and watched as her friends all ran forward without a single moment’s hesitation to defend her. Even Fluttershy was screaming bloody murder as she fired her Light Rifle on full auto at Nightmare, The Alicorn Queen now retreating behind her force field and firing back telekinetic blasts. 

“Don’t worry, Twi!!!” Applejack shouted, firing her weapon at full burst. “We’re here!!!”

Twilight…

Twilight was getting very woozy from her sword wound, but she was pretty sure that she had distinctly heard somebody else call out to her from across the room.

Twilight Sparkle…

As her friends continued to fight their way towards her, dodging Nightmare’s attacks as best they could, Twilight slowly turned her head towards the source of the voice: The Elements of Harmony.

Twilight Sparkle… the six rapidly spinning multicolored stars hovering over the floor beyond her called out in a clear, calm voice. …Are you ready?

Without even knowing why, Twilight nodded.

…Then come. It is time.

Twilight suddenly got up to run towards the voice beckoning her, but found that she couldn’t get to her feet in her condition. Concentrating with all her might, she then forced her horn to glow one last time and immediately teleported right next to The Elements of Harmony. When she had arrived, Twilight reached out to them with her horn, her mind still blank in a daze. Her friends battling Nightmare all turned towards her and gasped.

“TWILIGHT!!!” they screamed out to her as telekinetic energy rained down around them.

But it was too late; Twilight was already gone. In fact, the entire universe suddenly seemed to disappear in a blinding flash of white light.


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


“Twilight Sparkle, are you still in bed?” a voice called out.

Twilight thought she recognized her mom’s voice, even as she struggled to regain consciousness.

“Just a minute, mother.” Twilight managed to mumble out, eyelids still closed.

It must have been Sunday morning because she could smell the assortment of waffles and pancakes down in the kitchen (she couldn’t smell the syrups but she relished their presence nonetheless), as well as that delicious, exotic coffee her parents loved so much. Right about now, her mother, father and brother would all be downstairs, ready to start the day with a little bit of each other’s love and company. It was nice of her mother to be home; she had started to work longer and longer hours at some job that she was extremely reluctant to discuss with her daughter.

“Twilight…”

Didn’t Shining Armor say something about interning in Washington, D.C. this year?

“Twilight….”

Oh, she really hoped she finished her Trig homework… for this weekend…

“Twilight, dear, wake up.”

Twilight’s eyes shot open. She sat up, looking around at her surroundings. She was in her house alright, well, now just her father’s house. The room was decorated with all of the various knickknacks that she had collected in her youth- posters of Good Charlotte and The Notebook adorned her walls, and her various school books littered the floor, right next to her old skateboard. Twilight got up, feeling a very strange sort of déjà vu creeping up on her, and approached the mirror hanging over her dresser littered with pencils and studded leather bracelets. She looked at herself and, sure enough, a fully- grown, albeit still scrawny adult peered back at her, frowning slightly.

“Twilight… time for breakfast,” the voice called up from the kitchen again.

“Alright… coming mom,” she replied, a little unsure of what was going on.

Twilight walked down the familiar stairs of her family home and into the front kitchen, as always, expecting to find her father sitting at the table, a full English breakfast awaiting them on this fine Sunday morning (not that they were English). She heard laughter growing louder and louder as she approached, but, strangely, the voices didn’t sound as familiar to her as they should. She sauntered towards them, anyway, and Twilight found that she could not suppress uncanny feelings of self- awareness as she smelled the delicious varieties of pancakes and waffles waiting on the dining table along with that old favorite of hers, Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee. Her stomach grumbled as she walked into the dining room for Sunday breakfast with her family, as always, and expected to find her mother, brother and father sitting at the table, her dad wearing his fuzzy bathrobe and koala slippers, as always. Instead, she found Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy all sitting around and enjoying breakfast together, laughing and talking with none other than Twilight Sparkle Junior, who was serving them all another cup of her favorite coffee.

Twilight just stood there and took in the physically impossible scene happening right in front of her. Apparently, Pinkie Pie was just about done regaling them all with a silly story, and she and the girls all burst out in laughter together.

“-And then I said- ‘oatmeal? Are you CRAZY?!’” 

That just made everyone laugh even louder; Pinkie slapped the table in good spirits.

As if she sensed her own presence, the Twilight at the table slowly turned around to meet her counterpart, a calm smile on her face as she beckoned her forward.

“Why, good morning, sleepyhead,” Twilight greeted herself in the absolutely most unnerving way possible, revealing herself to be the voice who had first awoken her. “Care to join us? Pinkie Pie brought over some of her world- famous mocha- infused pancakes, with chocolate maple syrup to go along with them.”

The Twilight standing gulped hard, and turned back to her friends, who had all abruptly stopped laughing to gasp and stare at the twin Twilights.

“Girls…” the standing Twilight began, “What are we all doing here? Why aren’t we all back at Harmonics?”

The five of them jumped up from the table and began to move away from the Twilight sitting there; she only smiled in a very friendly way.

“What in tarnation- ?!” Applejack began to get angry.

“None of this is real,” Rarity concluded as Fluttershy ran behind her and squeaked. 

“You!!!” Rainbow Dash picked up a butter knife and began waving it at the fake Twilight. “You’re an imposter!”

Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes at her, opening up the spout on a bottle of her chocolate maple syrup and then proceeding to hold it in a threatening manner. “I knew you were just a LITTLE too funny to be Twilight Sparkle!”

The real Twilight frowned at her in indignation; Pinkie merely shrugged at her sheepishly.

The fake Twilight just sat there, continuing to smile warmly at her counterpart.

“We do apologize for bringing all of this back, Twilight Sparkle,” she motioned to the house around them, “but interacting with your kind can be especially difficult for us unless you’ve been given a familiar, comfortable environment.”

“Who are you?” the real Twilight asked. “Nightmare?”

“No, Twilight, we are not the empty husk of that once proud, fair and just Equestrian ruler,” the fake Twilight sighed, but then smiled at her again. “Allow us to properly introduce ourselves… We are The Elements of Harmony, and it is most definitely a pleasure to finally meet you.”
	
> Ch. 20- Friendship is Magic, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight and her friends just stood there, their mouths agape.

“Please, do sit down, we have much to discuss,” The Elements motioned for her to join them at the table. Slowly, Twilight complied, nodding to her friends to do the same; they eventually all sat down with the two Twilights, frowning in absolute confusion.

Twilight was the first to speak up. “What do you mean We?"

The Elements smiled. “Though we appear as one, we actually exist as separate parts, each piece of the greater whole entirely dependent on the others,” she made a point to glance around at everyone at the table as she said this, “six sides of the same interdimensional coin, so to speak.”

Twilight frowned. “If you’re intelligent, if you’re all self- aware, then… you could’ve stopped all of this, couldn’t you?”

The Elements shook their head. “Regardless of what the Equestrians believed, Twilight, we are not omnipotent gods… we simply exist, just as you simply exist, and we may be abused or ignored as anyone else in this universe might be.”

Twilight took in what they said. “Where did you come from?”

“We are the last remnants of an intelligent form of life stemming from another existence, one entirely separate from yours; an ancient universe that has long since faded away into the Great Nothingness,” The Elements explained. “I believe your people have certain theoretical terms that loosely approximate our true nature, terms such as Technological Singularity and Omega Point.”

Twilight shook her head, which was overloading with all the implications of this revelation. “What do you want from us?”

The Elements smiled widely at her. “We have been watching you, Twilight Sparkle, indeed-“ they turned to all of her friends- “-we have been watching all of you. We have observed you disregard your own lives, time and time again, all to protect and nourish others, all to protect and nourish each other. You have all kept your hearts wide open, even in the most dire and inhumane of circumstances, and for that we have come to deeply admire you. As we have said before, we are no gods, and others may choose to ignore our advice and abuse our power… however-“ The Elements looked Twilight very seriously in the eye, “if we choose to do so, we may redirect that power to those who we wish to possess it, those who have proven themselves worthy… those who choose to leave their hearts open, always.”

Twilight looked at all of her friends, and then back at The Elements. “Wait a minute, you want to give us your boundless energy, your ability to rearrange reality itself, all of that jazz… seriously?”

The Elements laughed, but in a kind manner. “Oh, Twilight Sparkle, do you really believe that those are the most important gifts that we can give you? A bag of fancy parlor tricks?” The Elements leaned in and put their hand on top of hers, almost as if Twilight was her own wise, world- weary mentor. “Maybe, Twilight, just maybe, it wasn’t the free energy or the power to change reality that made the Equestrians great… maybe all we really did for them was to teach them, in the beginning, how to open up their hearts, how to dream and to hope, to trust that, if you give yourself over to love and tolerance, entirely, then everything could work out all right in the end. After a very, very long time, however, the Equestrians just stopped listening to us, becoming more and more obsessed with obtaining physical power, with becoming us themselves… when things took a turn for the worst, as such things will naturally happen in all of the universes that have ever sprung into being, they chose instead to shut their hearts up tight, hurrying towards their inevitable ruin.”

Twilight tried to think about that, but her mind suddenly snapped back to the task that the main six had all left unfinished.

As if they had read her mind, The Elements smiled back at her. “Yes, Twilight, we will help you defeat The Alicorn Queen and save Equestria… however, such power doesn’t come easily, I’m afraid. You will now have to carry our collective burden as your share our power. Not parlor tricks, but-“ they turned to address each of the girls in turn- “Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, and-“ The Elements turned back to Twilight, “-Transformation itself. The only real Magic that has ever existed; these will be the most important gifts that we can bestow upon you, augmenting what stores you already have until you may, together, achieve anything that your hearts desire. Then,” the fake Twilight touched her counterpart where her heart was, “The spirits of The Elements of Harmony will be right here. The question is, however… are you ready to accept us?”

Twilight turned to her friends; they looked uncertainly at each other before they all turned to look at her. Somehow, in her heart, Twilight began to understand that, through all of their ordeals together, Rainbow Dash’s off- hand joke had somehow become true- she really had become their leader. They all stared at her, waiting for her to speak. 

“You know,” she began to address the entire table thoughtfully, “I never really believed in magic. I always thought that the only way to make it in life was to check my logic, never rely on feeling alone, and to only trust in what I could calculate and then subsequently recalculate… I thought that magic was all just lies, sparks shooting out of a wand, or something like that. But, the exact moment I met all of you…” she started to tear up as she smiled towards all of her friends, “I felt a spark ignite deep within me, a different kind of spark… I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all... are my friends, and… I… I…” she tried to continue, but she found that she couldn’t as she gasped with all the feelings she had for them, all coming up to the surface at once.

Applejack walked around the table to hug her tightly. “I felt that spark too, sugarcube,”

Rarity joined her. “As did I, darling,”

Fluttershy hugged the three of them. “Me too.”

“Yeah, I have to admit, you’re all pretty damn awesome, even in comparison to me,” Rainbow Dash added as she came over.

Pinkie Pie just burst into great, big tears, wailing as she took a napkin off of the table to wipe her eyes; she ran up to hug all of them as tightly as she could.

“I love you, girls,” Twilight declared, sniffling, and turned to her counterpart; the fake Twilight beamed brightly at them all, and her smile seemed to light up the entire room that was rapidly fading out of sight as the girls hugged and laughed with each other.

“Then you are ready,” The Elements nodded to them as everything turned completely white.


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


Nightmare stopped attacking the group of humans that had come to her opponent’s rescue; she watched in uncertainty as they had all closed their eyes and started to float, unaided, into the air. But what about her opponent herself? Nightmare felt an unbearable light start to shine from behind her, and she turned around to find the pesky little Unicorn floating before her, eyes closed; she had suddenly transformed, her battered PALADIN armor changed into a beautiful, traditional Equestrian gown in a deep, royal purple; The Elements of Harmony had disappeared, and the light source was emanating from the Unicorn herself. Nightmare turned back again and watched in disbelief as her companion’s armor became pieces of elegant Equestrian clothing as well, and they began to glow with the respective colors of the lights that had chosen them, slowly floating into the air to join Twilight as she unconsciously faced The Alicorn Queen.

“What?” Nightmare muttered to herself as their bodies began forming some sort of bright, glowing formation before her.

In front of each of the five attacker’s necks, an ornately designed golden necklace appeared, each one denoting the very essence of its bearer in a potent, jeweled symbol. The energy around the main six started to hum louder and louder, and Nightmare watched in horror as a large, golden, bejeweled tiara topped with a six- pointed star appeared on the Unicorn’s head. It was the most beautiful, most terrifying, and very last thing that The Alicorn Queen ever saw. 

The five behind the Unicorn suddenly shot out their respective colors of light high up towards the ceiling, and the Unicorn’s own tiara fired a purple light of its own; the lights swirled around each other in a massive double helix before raining down on The Alicorn Queen, a rainbow- colored blast that swirled around her as she kicked her legs and flapped her wings in a vain attempt to escape.

“No… no, this cannot be- how could THEY have been chosen-“ the last of her working circuits tried to process as her body began to disintegrate in the unbearable light. “No, no- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Nightmare screamed out loud as she was obliterated into a black dust, which was itself pulled apart on the subatomic level into nothingness.

Twilight and her friends floated there, all radiantly beautiful with calm looks on their faces and their eyes closed. The enormous amount of light around them seemed to be increasing again. Twilight opened her eyes, finally awakened; time and space twisted to her demands as all of Equestria faded into the brightness.


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


“Cloudbuster One to Town Hall, Cloudbuster One to Town Hall, come in Town Hall, OVER!!!”

“Town Hall to Cloudbuster One, what’s your status, over?”

“I… I don’t know, General… something’s happening to The Alicorn Eye… something BRIGHT, over!"

The female stealth bomber pilot and her co- pilot both started to panic when The Alicorn Eye began to open up, all on its own, glowing with a strange new light that they had never seen before in all of their Eye runs. Suddenly, the Cloudbuster and every other stealth aircraft in the fleet surrounding The Eye watched as it threw itself entirely open, for the first time; it continued to widen until it had completely dissipated, throwing out a massive, multicolored shockwave in the night sky, in all directions. The bomber pilot and her co- pilot threw their heads down, expecting their aircraft to be thrown about like a toy, but the wave merely passed by each and every stealth plane around it without doing any harm, sending a supernatural display of light shuddering towards the stars up above. Breathing hard, the pilot looked down, and gasped in shock at the sight far below her- it was the most glorious thing that she had ever seen in her entire life.

“-I said, come in Cloudbuster One, REPORT! Is there a need to arm and drop your tactical payload?!?! OVER!!!” General Spinelli came crackling back on her emitter console.

The bomber pilot panted and began collecting her wits about her before answering back, shaking her head. “Negative, Town Hall, there’s nothing but… but…” she struggled to describe the phenomenon before her, “…but rainbows, m’am… lots and lots of… rainbows…” 

She turned to her co- pilot. "You okay, Flitter?"

Her co- pilot gasped, but slowly started to nod. "I... I think so... you okay?"

Cloud Chaser nodded as Town Hall seemed to deliberate on what it had just received. “Do you see anything else, Cloudbuster One, anything at all?!”

Even though she was still scared out of her mind, Cloud Chaser allowed herself a small, uncertain smile.

“Affirmative, Town Hall, it’s, well… it’s Canterlot, m’am.”


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


“Mother…” a voice called out into the darkness.

“Twilight?” another seemed to urgently call back.

“Mother…” Twilight began to open her eyes in earnest.

She found herself lying in a brightly lit hospital room, the curtains thrown wide open to let the sunshine in. A plastic tube was stuck in her nose, and a soft beeping sound was emanating from a machine next to her. Twilight blinked a couple of times, allowing her eyes to focus on the image of her mother, wrapped in bandages and her own eyes red and puffy, leaning over her bed and looking at her daughter as she stroked her hair affectionately.

Twilight smiled, allowing herself to take in her mother’s soft touch with complete happiness and relief. She suddenly remembered her very last conscious memories, though, and shot up from her pillow, gasping.

“Oh no- !” she began to panic, “Nightmare- !”

Velvet shushed her daughter and pushed her back down, smiling. “She’s gone, honey, they all are… thanks to you.”

Twilight settled back down, feeling relaxed though still very confused. “Mom, where am I?”

“You’re in Ponyville General Hospital, as they call it,” Velvet replied, still stroking her hair, “Canterlot is a bit of a mess, right now, so they took you all here after it all happened.”

“Mom, what happened?”

Velvet hugged her daughter as she started to tear up, “You did it, kiddo, you did it… you saved Equestria…”

Twilight smiled. “I wasn’t alone…” she abruptly started to panic again. “oh, no, the girls- and Luna- and Spike- !”

“They’re all fine, dear,” Velvet laughed as she had to push her daughter down again. “Once you started to wake up, I sent Spike to get the girls to come see you; unfortunately, the director still needs some more rest, but she’s going to make a full recovery.”

Twilight felt the weight of the entire world fall off of her shoulders; she sighed, now insistent on settling into her not- so- cozy hospital bed. Velvet handed her a coffee cup that she had been drinking from, and Twilight squealed with delight and clapped her hands. As she drank from it, her mother looked at her, and she sighed as well.

“Twilight… after we argued the night before all of this happened, and as I’ve been watching you sleep for a couple of days afterwards, I… I got to thinking... I just wanted to tell you that you were right,” Velvet looked down at her hands. “I never should have left you, your brother and your father to come out here. You know, I always told myself that you were all the most important people to me in the entire world, but thinking back on how much of your lives I missed out on, well… I was more selfish and immature than I had even realized. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I’m sorry, baby, I’m truly, truly sorry for everything I put you through… everything,” she gestured to the hospital room around them. 

Twilight’s face was unreadable for a minute; a million different voices in her head were all yelling at her, all demanding their own separate conclusions to this conversation. Eventually, she just smiled at her mother and stroked her gently on the arm.

“You know, a very smart, nice, pretty, and important scientist once said something… now, what was it?” Twilight feigned forgetfulness and slapped her head, “aw, you know how bad I am with quotes… I think it was something like, 'people change', but… then again, I might just be paraphrasing,”

Velvet sniffed, wiping away tears, and smiled as wide as she possibly could. “Oh, you only think I’m pretty ‘cus I look like you,” she shot back.

Twilight shrugged, smiling as widely as she possibly could as well. “I also only think that you’re nice ‘cus you keep bringing me coffee, but… eh, I guess we all take what we can get.”

Velvet happily laughed and tightly hugged her daughter, now feeling closer to her than ever before.

“I love you, sweetheart.”

Twilight smiled, patting her mother on the back. “I love you too, mom.”

“HUUUH!!! SHE’S AWAKE?!?!?” Twilight suddenly heard Pinkie Pie exclaim down the hall before she even saw her.

Twilight and Velvet laughed, shaking their heads.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie walked into Twilight’s room, smiling widely in relief that their friend was ok. Twilight cocked her head upon seeing them and stuck out her arms. Not needing any further invitation, Pinkie Pie jumped onto her bed and hugged her tightly, soon followed by the others. They all laughed and whooped and hollered together, as war heroes are wont to do after having survived so much together. 

“TWILIGHT!!!” Pinkie Pie screamed in pure ecstasy.

“Oh, girls!” Twilight laughed, “I’m so glad you’re all ok!!!”

“Well, we’re not the ones who’ve been out for two days straight, sugarcube,” Applejack answered, smiling.

Twilight frowned. “Really?”

“Why yes, darling, we’ve all just been going out of our wits waiting for you to come to,” Rarity explained, fluffing her hair with her hand. “Stress really does a number on your complexion, you know.”

Twilight gasped. “Oh, Rarity- your hair,” 

Rarity looked down at her newly regrown, luscious raven tresses, and genuinely smiled in delight. “Oh yes, I know!” she took up a clump of it, rubbed it against her face, and sighed. “I don’t believe I’ll be ever parting with it again, EVER, a- hahahaha- heh…” She stopped admiring herself when she saw the looks on everyone else’s faces. “Ahem- I mean, being superhuman does have its advantages, I suppose…”

Twilight cocked her head. “Superhuman? What do you mean by that?”

Fluttershy rubbed the back of her head. “Um, well, you see-“

“THIS!” Pinkie Pie finished for her as she threw off Twilight’s blanket and began raising her hospital gown up. Twilight gasped; she was about to yell at Pinkie, something about a grievous violation of personal space, when she noticed in shock that the large, gaping slash mark in her abdomen had completely disappeared, leaving only smooth, undisturbed skin. She struggled to find words, but only muttered incomprehensibly for a few seconds.

“Whudda- hud-d-duh- hud-d-duh- huh?!” she elaborated quite eloquently. “Fluttershy, how did you do it?”

Fluttershy blushed and tried, quite unsuccessfully, to hide behind Twilight’s IV drip. “Um, gosh, Twilight, it wasn’t me… b- but, um, I really appreciate that you would think that I was capable of doing that, really…”

“The Elements, hon’,” Applejack explained as well as she could, “We all just sorta woke up n’ we were ok, I guess… ‘cept you’ve been out fer a mighty long time, had us all real worried,” she playfully chucked Twilight on the shoulder.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash sighed, “we all woke up…in dresses. AND jewelry.”

“Awww, now don’t be so grumpy, dearie,” Rarity began pinching her cheek playfully. “I thought you looked just adowable.”

Rainbow Dash just made a sound akin to a basketball slowly deflating, albeit a slightly pissed off and indignant basketball.

“Hey!” a voice spoke from right outside the door, “I get you guys a couple of sodas and you all leave me to go off by yourselves? Especially lugging this thing around… geez, the things I do for you people-“

Spike walked into the room with one armful of cans and the other in a sling, just in time to see everybody in there turn around to stare at him; Twilight still had her hospital gown lifted up.

Spike immediately dropped all of the sodas and covered his eyes with his good hand, blushing. “Oh God, Twilight- I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Twilight laughed, pulling down her gown. “Spike!”

Spike, still blushing, grinned sheepishly as he walked into the room and hugged her.

“I’m so glad you’re ok, Twilight, you really had me worried there for a bit,” he released his hug.

“Me? What about you?” Twilight stared at his sling. “Didn’t you get shot?”

Spike laughed and rubbed his shoulder. “Heh heh heh, yeah, I did… however, Fluttershy was nice enough to do the surgery to close up the wound herself when she got back, and I actually feel a lot better now,”

Twilight smiled at the Pegasus doctor, who only blushed and muttered something inaudible but surely humbling.

“And besides,” Spike’s mood visibly picked up a great deal, “Rarity promised that she would give me a sponge bath!”

“Now, Spike, I’ve already told you,” Rarity sighed, rolling her eyes. “That was a joke…”

They all laughed together, every one of them except Spike.

“You know, Twi, I was thinking,” Applejack said to her, “About what’cha said when we were all talkin’ to those freaky Elements… and, I know that, during combat, emotions can run high n’ all, but… well, I know that a lot a hooey can start flying around, and-”

Twilight held her hand and smiled. “I meant every word of it, Applejack, every word.”

Applejack’s eyes started to glisten, and she pulled Twilight into a big hug. The others started to jump in on it as Velvet and Spike watched happily from the side; Velvet smiled to see her daughter surrounded by so much love and affection.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you guys actually make me feel gayer,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Eeek! I’m so glad we’re all friends!” Fluttershy squealed with delight. 

“BFFs forever!” Rarity giggled.

“Awww, I LOVE you guys!” Pinkie Pie shouted happily.

A sudden knock on the open door brought all of their attention elsewhere. Standing at the threshold to Twilight’s room was none other than The President of The United States herself, smiling warmly at them all.

“President Celestia!” Twilight cried out as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and, for some reason, Pinkie Pie snapped to attention with salutes.

“Hello, everyone,” she greeted as she entered the room, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if I might have a word with Twilight, alone,”

Twilight’s new best friends all gave each other one last, big hug before they left her to talk with Celestia. 

“I love you, dear,” Velvet hugged her daughter tightly as well, “I’ll see you soon.”  

“Love you, mom,” Twilight replied before she left the room with the others.

“Good to have you back, Twi, I mean it,” Spike hugged her, too. “I’ll, uh, go get you another cup of coffee,”

“Thank you, #1 assistant!" Twilight chuckled as she waved goodbye and he left as well, closing the door behind him.

Celestia smiled as she watched them all go; when she and Twilight were alone, she sat down on the bed next to her.

“How are you feeling, my dear?” she inquired with genuine worry.

“Oh, you know, same old, same old,” Twilight joked, making Celestia smile. “How’s Luna doing, President Celestia?” 

“Oh, she’s definitely been better, but she’ll be fine; after all, she really does love sleeping in during the day… She sends you her regards as well as, in her own words, her ‘sincerest thanks’,”

Twilight grinned, relieved; Celestia just patted her hand gently.

“Twilight Sparkle, my dearest, most faithful student,” she beamed at her. “You really are quite a remarkable person, aren’t you?”

Twilight blushed, combing back her bangs with one hand. “Oh, Madam President, gosh… I really wasn’t alone out there,”

Celestia turned her head towards the door, smiling. “Yes, I see that you’ve made some very good friends as a result of your adventure. Why, I can’t remember you ever being this social during Philosophy class,” her grin turned into a playful smirk. “In fact, I seem to recall that there was this one boy who you just seemed to absolutely hate… oh, what was his name…”

“Dillon,” Twilight blushed, thinking back on the many years that she spent dating him afterwards. “Yeah, we just… never seemed to really get along, in retrospect,”

Celestia nodded. “Well, it seems as if you’ve finally found people who really care for and trust in you, my dear… such friendships really are very difficult to come by,”

Twilight nodded back. “Indeed they are, Madam President. I’m just so lucky to have had them out there with me. You know, I’ve really learned so much from them…”

“Oh?” Celestia raised a brow. “Would you care to give me a ‘friendship report’, then, so to speak?”

Twilight giggled. “Well… my friends have taught me that there’s a lot more to life than just what’s in front of our eyes. Sometimes we can’t see or feel these amazing things that are happening right in front of us, maybe just a little out of reach… we need the people that we love, people who really know who we are, on the inside, to show them to us. If we don’t have that sort of love around us, well, then we’re really not living, to be honest. We’re just like…” Twilight thought about her words for a minute. “…cold machines going through life without ever feeling it. And once we find the kinds of people who allow us to open up our hearts, really wide open, then I guess we kind of become different people ourselves, rediscovering who we are when we’re forced to do new and scary things to protect the love that we’ve found, and, you know, rise up to the challenge… and… and… that’s kind of why I’ve decided to stay here in Equestria and take up your job offer, Madam President.”

Celestia beamed at her faithful student again, her eyes glistening. She shook her head with emotion, and then hugged Twilight tightly.

“Oh, I'm so proud of you, Twilight Sparkle, and I'm very impressed with your friends, as well. It sounds like you're all learning so much from each other.”

“Well,” Twilight replied, “you know how much I love to learn.”

Celestia stroked her arm and laughed merrily. “I’ll let you rest now, my faithful student. We have much more to discuss, surely, but that will all come in time.”

Twilight smiled at her, before hugging her favorite teacher one last time. “Thank you, President Celestia, for everything.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “And what have I given you, exactly, my dear?”

“The chance to meet so many wonderful, amazing people,” Twilight thought back to all of her new friends, “and a reminder of who I really am.”

“Twilight Sparkle, all I did was remind you that you couldn’t help but ace all of your classes, nothing more,” Celestia smiled.

Twilight just smiled back at her, mouthing the words “thank you”.

Celestia got up to leave; right before she walked out the door, however, she turned around, smirking again at Twilight.

“You know, I would be very happy if you kept in touch with me, Twilight; perhaps if you ever get the chance to write another ‘friendship report’, you might think about sending me a copy.”

Twilight laughed heartily. “If I ever do, Madam President, I’ll get my personal assistant right on it.”

Celestia chuckled. “Goodbye, my faithful student. Please get well soon,”

Twilight smiled at her favorite teacher. “Goodbye, President Celestia.”

Celestia left the room and Twilight sighed, settling back into her pillows. She really wished Spike would get back with her coffee soon; surprisingly, however, she wished even more that she would soon be seeing her friends again.
	
> Epilogue- Mornings in Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Many months later, Luna found herself sitting in her Director’s Office, signing away papers as usual. She sighed, thinking back to all of her glorious sick leave, and how she had been able to laze about in bed for literally the entire day. However, business was business, and an ancient Equestrian city didn’t just run itself… well, not usually…

Luna’s daytime musing was interrupted by a light knock on her door. She frowned; she didn’t even have any meetings with anyone scheduled for now.

“Come in,” she replied, and the door opened to reveal her smiling sister walking in and shutting the door behind her.

“’Tia,” she greeted, “What brings you to Canterlot?”

“Hello, Lulu,” the president greeted cheerfully back as she sat down in the seat in front of Luna’s desk. “I admit that I’m not here for purely personal reasons, however I couldn’t leave without catching up with my favorite little sister, now, could I?”

Luna smiled, shaking her head. “’Tia, I’m your only little sister.”

“That doesn’t mean that you can’t be my favorite,” Celestia leaned forward on the desk and smirked.

Luna just laughed as she put down her pen. She reached into her desk and pulled out a bottle of scotch and two glasses, offering them to Celestia. 

“Scotch? Apparently, they found it in Iron Will’s desk…”

Celestia smiled and nodded, and Luna poured out two glasses for them both. Celestia took one and sipped it, immediately making a face afterwards.

“My, that is quite terrible,” she began sticking her tongue out as Luna did the same after her sip.

“Indeed, it is, dear sister. However, it does seem to help a lot with the pain,” Luna patted a spot on her ribs gently. “Speaking of Iron Will, any word on our favorite little general yet?”

Celestia shook her head. “As far as both the Pentagon and The CIA are aware, the rogue American general known as Iron Will has disappeared completely off the face of this planet.”

“It’s a pity that he didn’t join his much more honorable men during the Nightmare Incident… he surely deserved their fate more than any of them ever did,” Luna scoffed quite harshly. 

Celestia clucked her tongue at her. “Now, Lulu, must you be so dour all the time? We surely believed that was the case, that is, until we discovered that his body had never turned up in the end… surely he must have realized the sort of consequences that his extremely negligent, dare I say entirely criminal behavior would eventually bring down upon his head afterwards… but did you honestly think that he would run off when The Eye had finally dissipated?”

Luna just shrugged. “To be honest, sis, I never figured him for that much of a coward. In fact, I had honestly thought that the Shadowbolt army had somehow vaporized him before the CIA last tracked his whereabouts to Somalia… I do sincerely hope that Twilight Sparkle’s brother manages to track him down and bring him to justice.”

“Always the prosecutor, Luna,” Celestia unconsciously took another sip of her glass and retched again, frowning.

“Speaking of The Alicorn Eye, how has The UN been treating you lately, dear sister?”

Celestia sighed. “Well, we both knew that The Eye’s dissolution and Equestria’s subsequent reappearance after so many millennia wouldn’t go unnoticed by the entire world for very long. However, I really believe making Dr. Heartstrings a sort of official Equestrian ambassador has smoothed things over with The Security Council somewhat, though, Lord knows, not nearly enough… I guess I should be relieved that they haven’t found out about The Nightmare Incident, at least not yet… only time will tell, I suppose…”

Luna was about to put her scotch to her lips; however, with the extremely unpleasant taste still fresh in her mind, she ultimately decided against it. “Good Lord, I really must buy my own liquor.”

Celestia laughed. “Yes, Lulu, I’m sure that you could spring for something a little more palatable. How is your old injury doing, anyway?”

Luna's countenance soured, the Director of Canterlot as dour as ever. “Getting better with each passing day. I suppose I should just be grateful to be alive… in any case, I really can’t recommend being run through by a sword, sis.”

Celestia turned serious for a moment. “I still can’t believe that she did that to you… I mean, our very own ancestor…”

“Oh, I’m sure that she would’ve been much kinder and gentler to me had she not been suffering from The Pony Plague… or turned into an automaton, for that matter… it’s kind of ironic, really, every time I watch Dr. Heartstrings’ emitter records of the younger, unravaged princess that she was, I can’t help but get a distinct chill down my spine… I mean, I look just like her, ‘Tia…”

Celestia patted her hand. “But you’re not her, dear sister, and you are most certainly not Nightmare…”

Luna smiled, grateful for her sister’s words. “Well, you certainly wouldn’t know it from all my grumbling, overworked peons,” she joked.

Celestia gave a gentle smile, but otherwise looked troubled. “Speaking of Alicorns, Lulu… Twilight Sparkle’s blood work finally came back.”

Luna raised a brow as she settled back into her chair. “Oh?”

“She’s most definitely a Unicorn, however… the tests came back positive for certain recessive Alicorn genes… more than that, she seems to be showing some sort of mutation on her Pony markers, as do some of her friends,”

Luna nodded. “Well, that would all certainly explain her tremendous skill in wielding a horn,”

Celestia seemed to grow even more serious. “I think she’s the one, Lulu, I think Twilight can do it.”

Luna frowned at her sister. “She’s still got a long way to prove that’s she capable, or even willing, to finish Starswirl the Bearded’s final work.”

“I agree, but think about it,” Celestia leaned across the desk and looked her sister in the eye. “The very last fragments of Equestrian evolutionary knowledge, the very methods leading to the three Pony tribes, and even to the Alicorns themselves…”

“Such knowledge may have been lost for a reason, ‘Tia,” Luna answered back grimly. “However, I do see potential in Twilight Sparkle… after all, The Elements of Harmony are the most important part of the entire evolutionary process…”

“The Elements…” Celestia heavily sighed. “I wonder if Twilight Sparkle and her friends are even aware of the fact that they have now become The Elements of Harmony themselves... that they together now stand as the most powerful living beings in the entire world, if not the entire universe.”

“…You could just tell them,” Luna simply suggested.

Celestia shook her head. “No, Lulu, not yet. They’re not ready for that now. I want to give them time to bond with each other, to settle into a comfortable, happy, normal existence. Being a Bearer of an Element of Harmony is a heavy burden, indeed… they shouldn’t have to find out just how heavy that burden is, not just yet.”

Luna sighed. “Oh, ‘Tia, must you always feel the need to protect everybody, everywhere?”

Celestia started to smile. “Well, if I wasn’t so inclined, my dear sister, then I wouldn’t be a very good president, now, would I?”

Luna laughed at that as Celestia checked her watch.

“I do apologize, Lulu, but I really must get on with business,” she explained, “I’m supposed to inspect the new safety protocols in place for all Level 1 Equestrian artifacts… I’ve got to be at the ancient Equestrian outpost by tomorrow to make sure that the exact same protocols are applied to the Draconequus statue there, as well.”

Luna nodded as she stood up to see her sister out. “I do hope you can meet me for dinner tonight before you leave,”

To Luna’s great surprise, her older sister tightly embraced her; she held her for a very long time before letting her go.

“Um, ‘Tia?” she asked.

“It’s good to have you back, Lulu,” was all that the President of the United States replied.

Luna smiled. “It’s good to be back, sis.”

She suddenly thought about her warm, cozy bed, and the levels upon levels of comforters…

Well… sort of.


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


Twilight Sparkle awoke with a yawn, stretching her arms high over her head. She got out of bed and started to comb her hair at the little wooden dresser in her makeshift room. Twilight looked at herself in the mirror; the same old eyes from her father, the same straight and lustrous hair from her mother. Twilight smiled at her little highlights running through her mom’s hair; she sort of liked them, and was glad that she had decided to keep them.

Twilight opened her bedroom window and was greeted by another bright and sunny Ponyville morning. God, she really did love living in a tree; she didn’t know why, exactly; it was just kind of comforting, in its own way. Twilight smiled, realizing that the fact that there was an enormous library downstairs probably helped to influence her opinion so.

Suddenly, Twilight started to think about a certain saying that Pinkie Pie was oft to repeat, something about "opening your heart up and letting out a song"…

“Morning in Ponyville shimmers,” Twilight unexpectedly began to sing out loud, making up her own words as she went along, 
“Morning in Ponyville shi- i- iiiiiines,
And I know for absolute certaaaiiin,
That everything is certainly fiiiiiine…”

Twilight stopped, chuckling and shaking her head. Sure, she had a much nicer singing voice than she would have even cared to admit to anyone, but it still didn’t feel right for a person to suddenly go bursting into song in real life; perhaps she just needed a little more practice.

Twilight walked downstairs after a quick shower and finishing getting ready. It was truly amazing; the entire oak tree had been carved out in a matter of months, leaving her with a truly beautiful combination of a loft and the town’s sole library. Twilight smiled as she walked down an elaborate, albeit slightly unsafe, wooden staircase.

“Spike,” she called out, “Spiiiike…”

Spike suddenly appeared from behind a corner, a few books ready to be shelved in his hands. “Hey, Twilight, morning,”

Twilight put her hands on her hips and pretended to be annoyed with her close friend and #1 assistant. “Awww, Spike, I was really hoping that you would’ve gotten breakfast started already…” she jokingly huffed and turned her head to the side, even as she was smiling, “…or is that something you only do now for your girlfriend?”

“Girlfriend, right,” Spike sighed as he pulled a cup of steaming hot coffee, seemingly out of nowhere, and handed it to his boss/best friend/sister figure. “You know, Twilight, sometimes your boundless amounts of sarcasm can really hurt.”

Twilight sipped her coffee happily in one hand and tousled Spike’s green hair with the other. “Aw, Spike, I’m sorry… you know, its not like Rarity’s dating anyone else… perhaps she’s just, you know, intimidated by the very thought of going out with you…”

Spike knew that she was simply exercising that boundless sarcasm of hers again, but he smiled at her anyways. “Thanks, Twilight.”

“So, what’s on the list for today?” she asked him, already having finished her entire cup of coffee by then. “Eternal vigilance is the price of a spotless, efficient library, you know.” 

Spike clapped his hands together as he remembered something. “Oh! Pinkie Pie wanted us to come over as soon as you got ready, she said that she would even have breakfast there for us… she say’s its ready,”

Twilight laughed, shaking her head. “Well, finally. I mean, I know she put a lot of hard work into it, but it’s been months…”

“Yeah, but now she wants us to come see it for ourselves,” Spike began motioning for Twilight to step outside with him, grinning, “If you’re ready, then let’s go!”


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


Twilight walked along the quaint, picturesque streets of New Ponyville with Spike tagging along beside her, excited to see Pinkie’s new project in all of its completed glory. Twilight smiled as she gazed upon the beautiful, cottage- like structures that adorned the partially paved streets; it was truly amazing that, as soon as The Eye was gone forever and Equestria had once again taken up its rightful place in the physical world, the entire settlement outside of Canterlot had decided to up and move to a much sunnier and open location, starting over again entirely. Sure, the hastily built structures were all made of wood, straw and other natural materials, but Twilight thought that it had a certain old- world charm to it all; besides, Pinkie Pie had ensured the entire town that her new Firefighter Pinkiebots would handle any problems arising from the extremely combustible building material. Twilight couldn’t have been happier living anywhere else in the world, especially now that she and her friends had applied themselves to their second jobs, helping to develop a real sense of community in Ponyville. Twilight smiled brightly and waved to a lot of passerbys, including a certain blond IT technician whom she could never quite get the name of; the technician happily waved back, even as she stumbled backwards over a box and tumbled into an archaeologist that Twilight had met a few times before, a man whose British accent she had always thought sounded quite lovely.

“Awwww, dammit,” she suddenly heard a certain Pegasus in front of her exclaim, “Dammit, they’re doing it ALL WRONG-“

Twilight chuckled. “Good morning, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash turned from looking angrily at the sky to Twilight and immediately broke out into a huge smile. “Hey Twilight, just watching some of my weather teams bringing in a shower over Sweet Apple Acres,” she gestured to Applejack, who was standing right next to her. “And making a friggin’ mess of it all without yours truly,”

Twilight glanced up in awe as what looked like Shadowbolt fighter planes, redesigned to be more gently curving and painted in bright colors, soared overhead to corral some clouds in between their formation.

“Now, I told you, Rainbow Dash, we gotta git ta Pinkie’s place, she wants ta show us that there new project of hers,” Applejack tried to prod the distracted Pegasus along. “Yer weather teams’ll be jus’ fine without ya,”

“Morning, Applejack,” Twilight turned to greet her other friend warmly. “How’s Sweet Apple Acres doing?”

“Why, jus’ fine Twilight, thanks fer asking,” Applejack gave a little tip of the Stetson that she had become used to wearing recently. “It’s not quite the same as the original, I’m guessin’ ‘cus there’s only one Smith workin’ there, but some of the scientists from the Hydroponics Division have been mighty helpful in increasing our crop yields a great deal,”

“Psst,” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “I still can’t believe you couldn’t come up with a better name for that place,”

“Hey,” Applejack huffed. “What’s wrong wit another Sweet Apple Acres? Well, shoot, I happen ta think the same name jus’ gives the place the same good luck,”

“Ha ha ha, you would think that, wouldn’t you, Forrest Gump?”

“Well, y’all can kiss mah ass, Skittles… I mean, figuratively speakin’,”

“Girls,” Twilight chuckled, “I think we should all go see if maybe Rarity’s at Carousel Boutique,”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash burst out laughing, slapping each other on the back. Twilight just shook her head and led them and Spike towards the elaborately constructed, tent- like structure that was Carousel Boutique, located just across the street.


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


They entered the dress shop to find a very amusing scene playing out in front of their eyes; Fluttershy was decked out in an extremely fancy, if not a little ostentatious, ball gown, being slowly backed into a corner by a very crazed looking Rarity. The both of them were obviously too distracted to hear either the bell at the door or their footsteps in entering the shop.

Fluttershy looked extremely uncomfortable. “Please stop asking me this, I...”

“Well, just tell me what you really think,” Rarity had a certain gleam in her eye that Twilight had only witnessed while watching some of the gorier parts of Planet Earth.

“No, that's okay...” Fluttershy’s eyes began darting back and forth in searching for an escape route.

“Tell me.”

“No... it's fine...”

“Tell me!”

Fluttershy began to visibly break out in sweat. “I... like it...” 

“Tell me, tell me, tellmetellmetellme!”

“All right!” Fluttershy snapped as gently as she could. “Since you really wanna know...”

She sucked in a huge lungful of air, preparing to finally unload her honest opinion on the predator/fashion designer stalking her. Suddenly, Twilight cleared her throat and both of them turned towards the small group.

“Wow,” Rainbow Dash sniggered with Applejack.

“Hello, girls,” Twilight greeted them warmly, “I hope we’re not interrupting.”

“Twilight, thank good- I mean, um, hello,” Fluttershy let out her breath of air.

“Why, hello, darlings,” Rarity cleared her throat as well and patted down her maniacally frizzy hair. “I just finished Fluttershy’s dress for the lovely gala event in Canterlot that President Everstar was kind enough to invite us to. I’ll be expecting you all here for a proper fitting once I’m done with all of your dresses, as well,” 

The other girls all shot glances at each other.

What can I, ahem, do for all of you?” Rarity smiled.

“Well, I was wondering if you would both like to join us, we’re about to head over to Sugarcube Corner… Pinkie says the project is finally finished,” Twilight explained.

Rarity clapped her hands in glee. “Why, of course, darling! You know, I helped out with some of the designs, oh, I bet it all turned out just splendid!”

“That sounds really nice, Twilight,” Fluttershy added. “We’d love to come.”


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


After Fluttershy had practically threw her dress away, the five girls and Spike all made their way to the brand new Sugarcube Corner. They stared up at the massive, frosting- covered pink building and its brand new sign, a surprisingly simple wooden one, which read:


         SUGARCUBE CORNER
{4.0}
 NOW SERVING ACTUAL PASTRIES!!! 


“So, Fluttershy, how’s work in the Everfree Rainforest going?” Twilight asked her friend as they stepped into the sweet shop’s foyer.

“Um, it’s been great,” Fluttershy smiled back. “The Manticore pride just had a new litter of cubs, I helped deliver them, and I’ve been slowly communicating more and more with many of the other animals living there…” Fluttershy squealed in happiness. “I also took in a poor, adorable baby bunny… he’s a little fussy, but, awwwww, you should see him when he sleeps, he’s such a little angel…”

Twilight grinned warmly at her. “You know, it’s just amazing how much care and attention you give to all living things,”

Fluttershy blushed at that. “Well, gosh, Twilight… I mean, I’m sure that anybody else with a talent for communicating their inner most thoughts to wild creatures as if they were speaking directly to them would do the exact same thing… I mean, I’m nothing special…”

Twilight giggled, as Fluttershy had not carried a single hint of sarcasm in her voice.

They all walked into the very busy pastry shop/electronics & computer service center and approached the shiny glass counter. A happy looking couple that had previously been working at Old Ponyville’s mess hall was serving customers when they both looked up at the group and smiled.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake,” Twilight greeted them. “Is Pinkie Pie upstairs?”

“Hello, Twilight, why, yes she is,” Mrs. Cake replied warmly. “She says she’s been expecting all of you,”

“Um, Twilight,” Mr. Cake rubbed the back of his head, “do you think you could ask her to bring down some sugar once you get up there? I mean, I really don’t know why she insists on keeping it all in her room…”

Twilight laughed, nodding her head. “I’ll try, Mr. Cake… but you know Pinkie Pie…”


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


The small group of friends ascended the sweet shop’s stairs and came upon Pinkie’s door. Twilight was about to knock, but Pinkie Pie suddenly opened it, grinning widely and partially covered in some sort of simple syrup.

“Hi, Twilight, hey everybody!!!” she greeted all of her friends happily, twitching a little bit. “I thought I felt you at my door!”

Twilight just shook her head in confusion at the apparent non- sequitur. “Hey Pinkie Pie, you said you wanted to show us your project?”

Pinkie Pie clapped her hands, jumping up and down as if she were in a moon bounce. “Yup, yup, YUP!!! It’s all done now! Come in and see for yourself!!!”

Pinkie Pie led them into her extremely bright, extremely festive, extremely- painful- to- directly- look- at- bedroom. Inside, she had arranged a delicious looking assortment of breakfast foods, all colored very brightly and sitting in front of an enormous flat- screen TV. Pinkie was still jumping up and down as she walked around her room, making it appear as if she were hopping about on an invisible pogo stick.

“Help yourselves, girls- ooh, and Spike too, heeheehee!” Pinkie Pie squealed as the others all sat down before the big TV screen. “We’ve got a full English breakfast, some popcorn, spicy tofu curry, and some things I’ve even invented myself!” she proceeded to lift up a brightly colored chain of sausages- “-these are some of my super- duper delicious toffee sausages! I call ‘em ‘toffages’!!!”

Pinkie Pie bit into the links with gusto, and the others took that as a cue to start helping themselves to the tasty, albeit colorful, looking platter before them.

“Man, I can’t wait to see how I turned out,” Spike mumbled through a mouthful of breakfast toffage, “I know I’m only supposed to be a baby dragon, but, man, come on, I bet I still look ferocious! Probably kicking ass and saving all of you damsels in distress with my extremely awesome dragon flames!!!”

Pinkie Pie simply giggled as she took a seat at the table next to Twilight. She activated her EGO and the screen started playing a video that she had uploaded.

“So, I know we already did all the voice acting and stuff, but… this is really an entirely fan made episode of My Little Pony®?” Twilight asked as the beginning started to play.

“You bet!” Pinkie Pie replied proudly. “All computer animated by yours truly and heavily drawing on all of our own life experiences!”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her. “Seriously?”

“Well, I did have to tone some stuff down, I mean, come on Dashie, it’s a children’s show… for example, I made that mean ol’ Shadowbolt that Rarity decapitated into an effeminate sea serpent with a moustache!”

“And I thought Steven just did an excellent job of it, dear,” Rarity praised the character’s voice actor who happened to work with her in Archaeology.

“You didn’t put this up on YouTube, um, did you?” Fluttershy squeaked nervously, wondering how the world would accept her pony self.

“Well, DUH! OF COURSE!!! President Everstar even said that I could make it public, for plausible deniability or something like that… however, she did tell me that I would have to take it down if Hasbro® told me too…” Pinkie suddenly looked worried. “Gosh, that would be just awful… I mean, we all worked so hard on it and everything, and it’s not like we’re making any money…”

As Twilight finally appeared onscreen, she once again found herself confronted with the uncanny feeling of staring at her doppelgänger, albeit this time in pony form.

Pinkie Pie’s attention suddenly returned to the TV screen and she squealed again in delight. “Alright, get ready, everypony! HERE COMES THE THEME SONG!!!”

They all watched as their characters began to appear onscreen, all at once. As their colorful little equine selves flashed past in a cheery burst of music, the little group began weighing in with their thoughts and opinions:

“…Wow, you guys, I have to admit, I look pretty friggin’ awesome… so colorful, so fast… I’m like some sort of flying, living race car…”

“…OOOH!!! OOOH!!! WHEEERE’S PINKIE PIE?! WHEEERE’S PINKIE PIE?!?! HERE I AM!!!”

“…I have to agree with Rainbow dash, darlings, I look simply fabulous, even for a tiny horse… I must simply get all the stallions…”

“…Hoo- wee, I am strong! I tell ya what, if I could kick like that, boot camp would’ve been a helluva lot easier…”

“...Eeeeek! Look at the cute little bunny!!!”

“…That teleportation thing? Not as easy or as painless as it looks, people…”

“...Awwwww… dammit, why did you have to make me so tiny?!”

The tiny little baby dragon Spike vaporized a letter (which Twilight thought was scientifically ludicrous) and it spiraled high into the air as a cloud of smoke. The correspondence eventually reached a smiling Princess Celestia, Twilight giggling slightly at her candy- like mane, and she opened it, smiling warmly, to find a picture of the six ponies all posing together, smiling happily as the very best of friends in all of Equestria.

“Do you know you're all my very best friiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeends?” Pinkie Pie sang along with the end of the theme song as the title My Little Pony® Friendship is Magic (trademark symbol conspicuously absent) flashed across the screen in all of its pink and purple, girly, girly glory.

The main six all immediately turned to each other; in fact, they had all just sang the ending together, in perfect timing and harmony. The six bestest best friends in all of Equestria began laughing aloud and hugging each other, all immensely grateful to have found one another in the end.

“It’s starting, it’s starting!!!” Pinkie Pie simply went nuts and her mouth just kept on going and going. “Isn't this exciting? Are you excited cause I'm excited I don’t think ANYBODY’S ever been so excited- well, except for the time that I saw Twilight and Spike and they went HUUUUH- but I mean, really-“

Twilight simply laughed. No, it definitely wasn’t going to be just another ordinary life for her, after all.