Equestria Rimby ActionPonyChaptersOpening Narration: Majors!Prologue: The Trouble With High PlacesChapter 1: The PON ProgramChapter 2: The Harmony DomeChapter 3- Manehattan LunadomeOpening Narration: Majors!Opening Narration: Majors! When aliens came, they didn't come from Tartarus like we had been expecting nor did they come from the farthest reaches of the land, where no pony had ever explored. They came from beneath the sea; a portal beneath dimensions, in the Equestria Ocean. Something out there had discovered us. The first Major made landing in San Prancsisco, the second hit Maneila, and the third, Capony. That was when we knew, sure as sure, that this was not going to stop. We managed to kill the first few with conventional weapons, but it took a week, many ponies died in the meantime, and it was clear that we could never win that way. It was clear to them, too. They expected us to fall easily, crunched under their house-sized feet. Surprise. We didn't. The boat that had discovered the rift had also seen a book come through it. We didn't know where it came from, or how it survived the trip, but when we read it, it turned out that it was written by a race that had already survived attack by the Majors. It left details on what the Majors were, but most importantly, it showed us how to stop them. The Forerunners, as they were called, had decided that they couldn't defeat the Majors small, so they went big. To fight monsters, they made their own monsters out of metal, and called them Jaegers. The book contained plans on how to make them. There were many technical aspects that we didn't understand, but a fashion designer from the small town of Ponyville solved that. Rarity, as she was called, made a name for herself as a heroine when she figured out how to use magic with gemstones to imbue these Jaegers with to allow them to work off our magic. She also adapted their forms to suit ponies, making them in the forms of Alicorns. These were called PON-Jaegers. It was soon shown that they couldn't be used without three pilots, one of each type. Though not by Rarity, that problem was eventually fixed; the Forerunners had described a “neural bridge” that they used to connect their pilots' minds and synchronize them. This, too, was adapted for magic. Later PON-Jaegers were armed by another resident of Ponyville, one Pinkie Pie. A weapons genius, but still nobody understands her wish to include a “party cannon” in each PON-Jaeger. And with these PON-Jaegers, we fought back. We started winning, and then everything changed. They had counted on us ponies to fall as easily as our small stature suggests. I've heard that we don't look in any way too dangerous. They had never expected us to rise up to meet their challenge. Sure, the Forerunners helped, but we are ponykind. We have survived, and with the elements of Harmony, defeated such threats as Nightmare Moon and Discord. We have colonized the edge of the Everfree, and we have stood our ground against all comers. We are ponykind, and we never submit to those who would do us harm. We stood proud against the Majors. But pride goes before the fall, and we fell hard. Author's Note I hope you like it. I'm doing it in the spirit of Pacific Rim, but it isn't as much a rewrite as a sequel, I hope. Please read and review, constructive criticism welcome! Prologue: The Trouble With High PlacesPrologue Pt. 2- The Thing About High Places “Major Alert! Major Alert!" The call echoed through the bare corners of the Hussar quarters, through the door marked 'SONIC ECLIPSE', and into Twilight Sparkle's ears. Blinking back her sleepiness, she got out of her cot, and began getting on her uniform. “Ready to go kill some Majors?” asked a voice. Twilight turned around to see Hoops, the pegasus pilot for Sonic Eclipse, who'd gotten up before the others and already had his uniform on. His brown mane had gotten into his eyes, but he didn't seem to care. He had a cocky smile on his face, and he was fluttering his wings to get rid of pins and needles. Twilight smiled cockily back, the expression not coming quite naturally to her, and cantered over to the kitchenette to grab a snack and brush her teeth before she had to go out in her PON-Jaeger. Another chance to increase her kill count. Sonic's current was four, with two killed by Twilight's contribution directly. Hoops had one direct, and so did Big Macintosh. Speaking of Big Mac... where was Big Mac? Twilight got her answer when he stuck his head out of his sleeping area. Twilight grinned at him and asked: "Morning, Big Mac! Ready to go show some Majors what we're made of? Big Mac nodded yes and quickly finished his routine, leading their way out to the the room where they'd put their PON-Jaeger control armor on. Twilight and Hoops followed almost as enthusiastically. Though they had never known each other before they became Rangers, Twilight, Hoops and Macintosh shared a special bond. Despite difference in their personalities, they understood each other well enough to be drift-compatible. Sure, it might have taken a bit for Macintosh to open up enough, but they were a team, and their piloting Sonic Eclipse showed it. They reached the room where they were to be gotten ready for their venture. An attendant pony attached the 'spine' of their costume to their back and neck . They themselves could put the smooth gray plating of their control armor on, and they did. Twilight put on a special horn-ring, Big Mac leg-bracelets, and Hoops covered his wings with a special material. All to help control their PON-Jaeger. With their preparations done, they rushed through the corridors of the Lunadome and into the PON-hangar. A retractable walkway led the way into an entry port on the back of Sonic Eclipse's head. Half-way to said walkway, Twilight stopped to admire their PON-Jaeger. She knew it well, but pure awesomeness never stops turning heads, even heads who are used to it. Sonic Eclipse was made of titanium, an extremely strong and relatively rare metal. She was in the moderate shape of a pony, an alicorn, with a long, sharp horn perched on her head, titanium wings on her back, and the strength of an earth pony in her legs. The horn was the Unicorn's area of control, and the reason Twilight needed that horn ring. Hoops got the wings, and Big Mac... no real specialty, except in strengthening Sonic Eclipse. In the center of Sonic's chest, there was an embedded crystal array, the Harmonics which gave Sonic Eclipse her power. It was open to the air, to vent excess magical power. Wouldn't want the very expensive PON-Jaeger exploding, now, would we. The had was also vaguely pony-shaped, with a visor the pilots could use to see whatever battle they happened to be in. “Hey Twilight! It's time to go!” Hoop's yell interrupted her admiration. With one last longing wish that she could have been the one to have modified the original Jaegers into that, or better yet, have invented it from scratch, Twilight turned and ran across the walkway, into the PON-Jaeger. Inside Sonic Eclipse's head, there were three sets of hoof-stands, where the pilots would control the PON-Jaeger. Twilight stepped into the middle one, Big Mac took the one on the right, and Hoops the one on the left. A robotic arm descended from the ceiling and connected to the spines on their armor, their hoofs were clipped into the stands. Helmets were lowered onto their heads, and with them ready, Twilight contacted Mission Control. “Sonic Eclipse to Lunadome, ready for Drift.” She got the reply, filtered through a speaking crystal in her helmet: “Lunadome to Sonic Eclipse, prepare for Drift. Initiating Mental Hoofshake.” About a second after Lunadome said that, the Mental Hoofshake was initiated, and the minds of Twilight Sparkle, Big Macintosh, and Hoops were connected. It was a weird feeling, going through the memories, feelings, and instincts of the two other ponies, but the Sonic Eclipse team had done it before. They knew each other better than their mothers knew them, and had since long before this drift. It was no trouble, and the mental handshake was initiated smoothly. With the the handshake initiated, Hoops spread his wings, with Sonic Eclipse imitating him. He began flapping, and the pilots folded their legs into a flying position as Hoops' movement activated the flight gems embedded into Sonic Eclipse's wings. The PON-Jaeger rose into the air and left the Lunadome Hangar, heading to wherever the Major might be. Twilight contacted Lunadome, and asked for the Major's actual location, which could be found from their position. Lunadome returned: “off the coast of Marecorage. It is near your position, five minutes flying turning 5 degrees west”. Twilight nodded, and Sonic Eclipse turned in that direction. In five minutes, Sonic Eclipse had reached the spot, and splashed down into the water off the shores. PON-Jaegers sought to meet Majors in the water, as there was a limit on how much collateral damage you could do in the water. Sonic Eclipse waited. And waited. While Majors were known for their punctuality (great in the workplace, bad in the war), PONs were always sent out a while before the attack, so that they could always be ready. Twilight was on edge, looking around for the attack which she knew was going to come. Hoops was cocky, ready to beat down the Major when it came. And Big Macintosh was quietly confident in his, his copilots' and his Jaeger's ability to beat that Major senseless. It had happened before, and it could happen again. Soon, all of the pilots' expectations were answered. The Major came, exploding out of the water to the left of Sonic Eclipse. It was as big as a PON-Jaeger, and quadrupedal. It had scale-like armor, claws on the ends of its legs, a clubbed tail, and a head like an arrow. It was oddly lizard-like. Not all the Majors looked like this, they were all very different, but all shared this one's feeling of extreme dangerousness. Sonic Eclipse's crew didn't feel it. The PON-Jaeger turned, front hooves rising to meet the onrushing Major. They did, and the major was thrown into the water. Sonic reared up, and then came down, front hooves crushing the Major as it lay. Twilight fired off a horn-burst, the one spell that Sonic could do, to make sure, and Hoops started beating his wings in anticipation of leaving and returning to Lunadome, and maybe catching up on some sleep. Majors were never polite enough to time their attacks with a pony's natural sleep cycle. And that's when it happened. The water churned behind Sonic Eclipse, and the Major erupted behind from it, a little beat up but still ready to fight. Before Sonic's pilots could react, the Major's clubbed tail had swung up along the PON-Jaeger's side, crushing a wing into smithereens, raking the flank, and, most importantly, crushing the side of the Con-pod that formed Sonic Eclipse's head. Hoops cried out as the connection between his and the PON-Jaeger's wing shocked him, with magical energy crawling up and around the material used to form the connection, and Twilight did so too, as their connected minds meant that she felt it all. Big Macintosh felt the same thing, but he just bit his lip and turned to face the Major, ready to fight, even though they were wounded. This act of bravery would be his last. The Major's claws came through the Con-pod and snatched him away. The Major ate him, and until his death, both Twilight and Hoops felt every last thing Big Macintosh did. They felt his terror, his pain, and his final hopelessness as the Major killed him. Hoops fainted because of this. Twilight felt it too, but she held on. There was one last thing she needed to do. As the Major continued to ravage the PON-Jaeger, she charged up her, and by extension, Sonic's horn to its highest capacity. She stood firm, swallowing for the moment her fears of the Major, and the trauma of Big Macintosh's death. Those emotions she swallowed. But other emotions she used, her rage at the death of her copilot, her hatred of the Major, and her wish to protect all those ponies who would die if she didn't kill that Major. Those emotions, she used, and they gave power to her magic, charging that of Sonic Eclipse greatly. The magic crystal in the PON-Jaeger's horn began to shine, brighter than it had ever shone, or needed to shine, before. And when the pure magic reached a peak, Twilight threw it at the Major. A beam of magical energy lanced from Sonic Eclipse's horn, and burned through the head of the Major. It gave one final cry as it died for good, splashing into the water, nevermore to come out. But the battle was still not quite yet over. Twilight turned, piloting the PON-Jaeger to shore. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Beach Comber, an old Marelaskan unicorn stallion, lead his grandson, the earth pony Beach Ball, down the seashore. It was Beach Comber's hobby to use a metal finding spell to detect things that might have been left on the beach, and sometimes he brought Beach Ball with him. The colt didn't have much patience for combing the beach for little metal items of small value, but he loved his grandfather, and so went with him anyways. But still, even with that filial devotion, his patience tended to wear thin. “Are we going to find anything soon?” he whined at Beach Comber. Beach Comber, displaying the patience that had led to him discovering his cutie mark (a metal object half sticking out of sand) in the first place, replied: “Soon. I don't control what washes up on the beach, but things usually do. All we have to do is wait.” Beach Ball fell silent, and the trip continued. Eventually, the glowing red ball that was the metal detector spell started flashing green, which indicated metal nearby. An eager Beach Ball and his grandfather dug into the sand, to find... a small toy ponybot. Beach Ball drooped his head and sighed. “We never find anything good.” he complained. Beach Comber sighed. Beach Ball's complaints were annoying to him, too, although he tried not to show it. He levitated the toy into his saddlebags and told his impatient grandson: “Oh well. It'll happen someday, just not today. Did I tell you that I once found a coin on the beach from the early Unicorn Tribe? I got to show it to all Canterlot about it, and the royal museum paid me a lot of money for it. It's the only currency from the reign of Queen Gemstone the 4th that has ever been found. That was the best day in my life.” Beach Ball had heard the story before, and he knew the response. “Yeah, but that was a long time ago. We haven't had any luck since then. You even told me the five millionth time you told that story that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That means, it's used up, we aren't going to find anything good today!” Beach Comber just shrugged and proceeded on. There was silence between them for the next minute or so, at which point the metal finder spell started flashing green very rapidly, and beeping for good measure. Beach Ball's jaw dropped, and even the ever-stoic Beach Comber showed outward signs of surprise. That's when they heard it. A great thumping noise from offshore, sounding as if a dragon were coming towards them. They, though mostly frozen with fear and anticipation, looked up to see, looming out of the early morning mists, a gigantic metal figure. It was in the form of an alicorn, with one of its wings torn to shreds, and a limp in its right front hoof, and a ravaged head. There were great rakes along its sides, as if great claws had torn wounds in the proud creature's flanks, which was, in fact, exactly what had happened. Sonic Eclipse made it to shore, and once there, crashed down to her knees, and then on her side. And emerging from the wreckage, there was Twilight Sparkle. The lavender unicorn staggered out of the con-pod, magically dragging the unconscious form of Hoops with her. Blood seeped out of a wound on her shoulder, and she was extremely disoriented, not to mention, in shock. She and her charge left the PON-Jaeger and somehow managed to get to the ground, where she muttered “Macintosh...” and finally, exhausted by her ordeal, fainted. Beach Ball and Beach Comber were in shock too, although not as much as Twilight. Beach Comber recovered first, and rushed to the injured ponies' side. He checked her for a pulse, and found it, but she was bleeding, and wouldn't survive long without help. He motioned to Beach Ball, and then telekinetically draped the unconscious Hoops over his back, while he himself took Twilight. “Quickly”, he told his grandson, “we must get help!”. The grandfather-and-grandson duo made their way back to their house with their charges, and away from the wreckage of the once-proud PON-Jaeger. Author's Note And we get in to the main story! Little useless fact too insignificant to put in the main story: Marelaska is an island to the north of equestria, and not a peninsula, as Alaska is on Earth. Besides that, enjoy the story! Constructive criticism is much appreciated. Chapter 1: The PON ProgramYears Later: Fluttershy walked through the stone corridors of the base, her head drooping. The PON program had been going badly. Sonic Eclipse's fight with the Major 'Arrowhead' had proved to be a turning point. The Majors were getting far stronger and more numerous. There had been a double attack several days ago. The zebras had lost a city before they were able to beat one of the Majors. All of Zebrica was still mourning for that. 50 thousand equines had been killed. Fluttershy had cried for hours after she heard the news, in private of course. While she longed to be able to show her weakness like an ordinary pony, the Captain in command of the PON program could not act like anything more than the leader that she needed to be. The sooner this war was over, the happier Fluttershy would be, but the war had to be won first, or there wouldn't be a Fluttershy to be happy. She came to a door marked 'Council Conference Chamber', which she opened. Inside, there was a podium in the middle, with the walls covered with magical 'screens', a new invention, a modification of the old 'crystal balls', by which she could see the members of the Council of Equis, and they, with crystal balls in their chamber, could see her. And they were looking directly at her. Fluttershy meeped quietly to herself and resisted the urge to hide her face behind her long hair. She instead looked back at them determinedly. She didn't like them much. While Celestia had been rather occupied with helping fight the Majors, and international diplomacy on top of her normal duties, the Council had taken up governance of places where the rulers couldn't reach, which, around now, was a whole lot of places. There were deleglates from each race of the Equis Alliance: Zebras, Saddle Arabians, Griffins, and Ponies. And they all seemed to have a special grudge against Fluttershy and the PON-program. “You do know that this program of yours is entirely impractical.”, stated one delegate, a Zebrican. “The Majors are getting stronger, and we're losing PONs faster than we can build them.” Fluttershy replied: “I know. But if you'll give me one more year, I know I can make a difference. We can attack the Rift, and...” She was cut off by one of the Equestrian delegates, Prince Blueblood, who in all honesty was only there because of his connections, but he knew how to play the game with everyone else. Fluttershy thought of him as irredeemably arrogant. He never thought anyone of less-than-royal birth was worth anything, and he showed it in the rude way he interrupted her, saying: “The Harmony Dome is a viable alternative. It was even discussed in the Forerunners' Book, as a way for deterring the Majors other than Jaegers. It can work here.” Fluttershy replied: “But, do remember that their wall was not made to be against Majors that could fly! Half of the ones attacking us have that ability!” Fluttershy wished she didn't have to be so unkind, but a) Blueblood kind of deserved it, and b) as Captain, she didn't have that luxury. A zebra reminded her: “They did not have the advantage of magic. This dome will enclose even the sky above, and so there will be no loop for a Major to break through.” Fluttershy knew that she could do well, but the Council's collective minds were set on the Harmony Dome plan. Fluttershy didn't like it. It was too defensive. The Majors would keep coming, and eventually there'd be enough to break through the Dome. The rift needed to be closed, and the only way that could happen was an attack. The council, unfortunately, didn't see it that way. Except for one member. Fancypants, the other Equestrian delegate, broke into the conversation. “We can fund you for six months.”, he said. “I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but that is all I was able to get you. Six months, and then we'll all have to depend on the Harmony Dome.” Fluttershy nodded her head, to show that she understood. The screens that she viewed the council members with blinked out. Fluttershy turned, and with heavy head, hooves, and heart, made her way out of the chamber, closing it behind her. And then, when that door slid shut, she turned away from it and composed herself, thinking of all the sources that she could use for extra cash. There might be independent civilians willing to fund the program, but those with enough bits would be few and far between. There was a black market for Major remains, but Fluttershy shied away from allying with them. Maybe Fancypants would be willing to lend some money, but he wasn't made of it. Most of the Equestrian treasury was either under the control of the Council or going towards repairs for all the cities the Majors broke. She might be able to get out enough money by getting small funds from very many sources, but that would be hard. Fluttershy dropped to her knees and sighed. The war had been very hard on her, and she was very tired. She began crying, just a little. Only a few tears. She stopped when she saw that one of them glowed. When she saw that, she gasped a little, and got up. She needed to get to her room, her pills were there. She quickly left the entryway to the Council Conference Chamber, and headed down the bare halls to her own quarters. She stopped when she nearly ran headlong into a pink pony with a bright pink, curly mane and tail, blue eyes, and a cutie mark of a cannon firing party decorations. Fluttershy immediately skidded to a halt. “Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be working on something for that renovation project?”, she gasped in surprise. Pinkie gave her one of her trademark smiles, and said: “That project? Oh, it'll do okay without me for a few hours. I just wanted to check on you! I mean, I know you keep your pills in your room but I was worried that you might need one and so I brought a box here just in case!” The pink pony then proceeded to pull a tin of pills out of her mane. Fluttershy accepted the tin and took and swallowed one of the pills from it, murmuring her thanks to Pinkie. She didn't ask how the tin had managed to stay in Pinkie's frizzy hair. She'd given up on that question long ago. Pinkie then remembered something and said: “Oh, and I almost forgot! There's this new deli place about five miles over. Wanna taste their dandelion sandwiches?” Fluttershy shook her head and mumbled something about not being in the mood. Pinkie stuck her head close to Fluttershy's and stared at her. After a little while, in which Fluttershy was mostly trying to hide behind her mane, Pinkie seemed to come to a conclusion, and came over and put her front leg over Fluttershy. “Oh. Bad meeting, was it?” she asked. Fluttershy nodded assent. “Yes. Yes it was. The council wants to put all their hopes in the Harmony Dome, and they've cut funding. After six months, we're done for!” she replied, dejected. Pinkie Pie was one of that rare species of pony whom you could break down as much as you wanted before and could always be sure of a boost up. And she knew just how to boost Fluttershy up: “Aw, cheer up, Fluttershy”, she said “and come to lunch with me. I know a pony who knows ponies who definitely could do the funds! And she'd contribute herself, I'm sure of it. So, 'Shy, what say we discuss these PON-Jaeger funds over a good dandelion and hayseed sandwich, and I can tell you how to contact her!” Fluttershy perked up immediately. “Really? You know someone? Who can fund us? It isn't cheap, you know.”, she said excitedly, or at least, as excitedly as Fluttershy could. The tone of voice and facial expressions Fluttershy considered 'excited' a normal pony would consider 'slightly interested'. But excited, Fluttershy was. This was a good break for her. Pinkie nodded. “Yes, I'm sure. She might require a few things in return, but she'll do it. But I'll only tell you if you agree to come to lunch with me, so come on!” She led the way out of the Lunadome. As the two ponies cantered out one of the complex's many back doors, Fluttershy asked: “Okay, Pinkie, so who is it? Pinkie replied: “Well, her name is Rarity...” Author's Note And enter two more of the Mane Six! Here are the short versions of how PInkie Pie and Fluttershy came to be in the program: Fluttershy signed on because she wished to help protect ponykind. Poor filly didn't really know what she was getting into, but when she saw the stakes first-hand, she became determined to go on. During service, she received a magical injury, resulting in stuff like the glowing tear from this chapter, and was discharged from active service. She did, however, prove to be a great leader when she got her act together, and she was promoted to Captain in charge of the PON Program (Equestrian military titles are different from ours). Long years of pushing herself have made her rather more assertive than she is on the show, but it's mostly a mask. However, after living the mask so long, she's started to grow into it. Pinkie Pie stayed at the rock farm (as in, didn't go to Ponyville), but signed on to the Program to get away. She didn't like it, and when the recruiters came to town, she saw a life much different from the one she once knew, and she liked it. After a while of service, Pinkie opened up a little and became more cheerful, but it was when she built a cannon that fired parties to cheer up a Hussar that she really knew what she wanted to do, and earned a cutie mark of a party cannon, symbolizing her talents for engineering and spreading happiness. Once she found out how good she was at engineering, she resigned from active service and began arming the PON-Jaegers, but never forgot her true goal of making people happy. When she resigned, she styled her hair into its well-known poofy state, as she didn't need it not in the way or anything, and it looked cute. Chapter 2: The Harmony DomeLater... The wind whistled outside the town of Marebanks, Marelaska. Twilight shivered through her thick coat, trudging towards the unfinished Harmony Dome, bolstered with stone and other thick, strong materials, surrounding the island that was Marelaska. It was still under construction. Unicorns were feeding all their magic to the crystals anchoring the dome. Earth ponies were shoring it up from the bottom and bringing materials for the solid part of the dome, and Pegasi were working at the top. Twilight walked on to the big building next to the Dome, where the workers met before going to their jobs. The headpony, a big, burly dark brown pegasus stallion named Iron Hoof, stood on a stand in front of the crowd of workponies, where he could look down on them. “Alright, ponies,” he began, “night time's up, it's time to get to work. Crystal A-13 is broken, unicorns, so you who were working on it, conserve your power so you can fill up its replacement. And all of you, remember, this Harmony Dome is the Dome of Life for you. Work hard, and I won't have to give your position to any of the other comers that want the rations you get. So get going, everypony, and work enough to earn your bread!” “YEAH!!!!!” yelled out a large, extremely muscular white stallion with a straw-colored mane in a crew cut cut and a dumbbell cutie mark. Shaking her head at him, Twilight proceeded to her own magic crystal, crystal A-39. Usually, she'd have other ponies working on it with her, but Twilight's own magic was great enough that she could handle one solo. She walked on through the rough corridors of the complex around the Dome, until she reached her own crystal. It was huge. Shaped like a cube turned 45 degrees, the crystal was held in a simple but strong steel setting. It pulsed with its own inner light, glowing with Twilight's own lavender magical aura, casting out a pulse of magic every so often to keep what they had up of the Dome going. All of this was stuff Twilight had all seen before. But there was something new: A butter-yellow pegasus with a long pink mane and tail and an officer uniform was sitting by crystal A-39's base. Twilight was curious, and walked up towards the strange pony. She noted that as she looked whoever it was in the eye, the pegasus's first instinct was obviously to hide behind her mane, but she fought it easily and looked at Twilight directly. She spoke: “Um... Hi, Twilight Sparkle, I'm Fluttershy, and I'm the captain of the PON Program.” Twilight was surprised. The PON program? Hadn't she resigned from that years ago? She wanted none of it, not after what happened to Big Macintosh. Had 'Fluttershy' not gotten the memo? And what was someone with the name 'Fluttershy' doing commanding the PON-Jaegers? She told Fluttershy harshly, truth be told, a bit too harshly: “My involvement in that is finished. Done. I want no part of it, not after what happened to Big Mac. You should know that. I came here to get away.” Fluttershy nodded. She understood. She also understood that she needed Twilight Sparkle, no matter how tough she proved to convince. She told Twilight, in her soft way: “I know. But we're in a tough spot. We're losing PON-Jaegers faster than we can build them, and we're losing Hussars faster. You're a good pilot, and we need you, Twilight.” Twilight shook her head. She would not go. She was firm in that. “I said no, Fluttershy, and nothing you can say or do will change my mind, so go. I'm sorry, but I can't come back. I can't.” Fluttershy could no more just leave than Twilight could return to her duty. Softly, ever so Fluttershylike, she played her biggest card: “I'm not you, Twilight, but if I was you... I don't know how I could leave the world to end without first trying my very hardest to make sure it doesn't.” Twilight Sparkle looked at Fluttershy, pain and indecision in her eyes. Fluttershy was playing the guilt card, and Twilight knew it. That said, she did have a point. She could, maybe, help save the world, and probably die doing it... or, she could continue working on the Harmony Dome. She knew the Kaiju, and factoring in their increase in strength from the time she'd been in a PON-Jaeger, it would only take one before the wall came crumbling down, even if it was finished. Math was another strong point of Twilight's, and she'd made sure to get the measurements on the strength of the wall. It was, of course, only an approximation, as she couldn't be completely sure about the Kaiju. Twilight made her decision, and turned back towards the crystal, and linked her magic to it. Fluttershy drooped a little in defeat. Maybe she had failed at this, after all. Maybe the trauma was too great. Maybe Twilight Sparkle couldn't be persuaded. She got back up again. She hadn't come all this way to this far away place just to give up on first refusal. She took a deep breath to say more. And then Twilight capped off the spell that would allow smooth integration of other unicorn's magic. She used telekinesis to write a message on the wall: From Twilight Sparkle: I quit. She turned towards Fluttershy, with a smile. Fluttershy was beaming, and it was almost worth the choice just to see the cute pegasus so happy. Fluttershy led the way outside, where a Pegasi-pulled coach was awaiting. Both ponies got in, and Fluttershy called out to the coach ponies, and they got a running start and lifted the coach through the air, using a special magic coating to pass through the Harmony Dome like it was nothing. There was a video crystal inside the coach, and Fluttershy tapped it in the rhythm that summoned the news. Equestria Daily, Equis's biggest news source, came on. “Breaking news from Vanhoover” said a tired-looking white mare with a brown mane pulled up in a bun. “In one of the very few places where the Harmony Dome was complete, a Major broke through, taking less than one hour to penetrate the dome.” The picture then switched to a feed from Vanhoover, showing a wolf-like Major with disproportionately sized claws, membranes between each leg, and big, thick spines over its back. The Major took no trouble with the Dome, walking through it like a pony might walk through water. A voiceover of the reportmare came on: “The Major was taken down by Princess Celestia, after a day of battling it, and it exhausted her greatly. A large group of citizens, their exact number not yet recorded, also died when the Major penetrated their shelter. For a comparison, the last time a Major attacked, the PON-Jaeger Thundercracker was able to defeat it within an hour, and with no deaths.” A clip came on of a sleek silver PON-Jaeger, walking towards a dragonlike Major. Twilight couldn't see its Harmonics, which surprised her. She figured that it was a later model. The PON-Jaeger's chest plates disassembled, showing several several weapons, the purpose of which Twilight found out when they shot firework-like things at the Major. After a barrage of this and some zaps from a lightning-like spell from the PON-Jaeger's horn, the Major went down. The reporter came back on-screen. “Riots have erupted in the cities of Dreswing, Hoof Kong, and Las Pegasus. People are asking why the PON-Jaeger program was cancelled in favor of this. The Council of Equis has continued to hold that the Harmony Dome is still Equis's best option.” It then cut to an interview of Prince Blueblood. He was looking a bit uncomfortable, but he had pressed himself into a corner, and he stood by his views on the dome. He stated: “We recognize what has happened here, and we know what this means, but the Harmony Dome is still the best defense we have. If we...” Fluttershy tapped the crystal to turn it off. She was shaking, ever so slightly. She really didn't like hearing about how the Majors had started winning. Even the small amount of satisfaction she got from seeing Blueblood squirm failed under the knowledge that ponies had died. They wouldn't be coming back. Ever, and no amount of anything could bring them back. Twilight saw this and scooted over to her side. “Don't worry about it”, she reassured Fluttershy. “After all, that's what you have me there for, right?”. She smiled at her companion. Fluttershy looked at her and smiled, in the most adorable way, because that's how Fluttershy does everything. Adorably. And so the coach flew on to the Lunadome. Author's Note And here the story goes. Why is Snowflake on the wall, in Marelaska? I have no idea. I just couldn't do an attempt at a speech without him coming up to say that catchprase of his. Chapter 3- Manehattan LunadomeChapter 3- Manehattan Lunadome The coach landed on the sleek stone landing surface outside of the Manehattan Lunadome smoothly. The two pegasi pulling it unhitched and trotted over to the door leading to the personnel recreation chamber. Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy got out, and Fluttershy cantered up to two ponies approaching from the enterance to the Lunadome, so as to introduce them to her companion. “Twilight,” she said, “This is Applejack”, indicating a orange mare with a cutie mark of three apples, a blond mane and tail gathered in at the ends by a band, “and this is Rainbow Dash”, indicating a blue, blank flanked pegasus with pink eyes and a rainbow mane and tail. Twilight bowed to each of them. “Pleased to meet you, I'm Twilight Sparkle.” she said. Applejack replied: “Well, it's nice to meet you too”, in a south-equestrian accent. Rainbow Dash simply nodded. Fluttershy continued: “Applejack is a Hussar who's going to be your Earth Pony partner. Rainbow wishes to be your Pegasus partner.” Twilight felt uncomfortable. She didn't wish for another partner, not after what happened to Big Macintosh, but it was the end of the world. You had to take what you got, and Twilight optimistically hoped that they would make a good team. Applejack took her out of her thoughts when she came forward and tapped Twilight on the shoulders. “C'mon, Twilight. Let's show you the base, here.” Applejack led the way, and Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash followed. They cantered through the unfamiliar (to Twilight) halls of the Manehattan Lunadome. As they walked, Applejack filled Twilight in on the history of the Lunadome: “This is the only Lunadome operating. PONs are being destroyed like you wouldn't believe. Council wants to shut us down. I don't know why they left us this one, the zebras and the Saddle Arabians are having worse Major trouble than us right now, but it's what we got, and we're grateful”. She made a right turn, and led them down to the living quarters. Once she got there, she pointed out to Twilight where she'd be sleeping. “Twilight, this is your room. Rainbow Dash is across from you and I'm over to your right. Trixie is to your left. Down the hall are Lightning Dust and Time Turner, and over thataway (Applejack pointed) are Kwanza, Niyi, Durga, Shiva, and Vishnu.” Twilight commented: “Kwanza, Niyi,... those are odd names.” Applejack replied: “They're zebras. Their naming conventions are different.” Oh. Zebras. That made sense. Twilight had had a Hussar friend (not from the same PON-Jaeger) called Mstari. Twilight mentally clubbed herself on the head for forgetting that the zebras and griffins had their own PONs. Speaking of the Griffins... “Um, Applejack?” Twilight asked, “Are there any Griffin Nation PON-Jaegers here?” The orange pony shook her head. “Naw, the last Griffin PON, Kaiser Agustus, got destroyed a month ago. We haven't heard of any new PONs from them. Their politicians, or at least the ones on the Council, are for the Harmony Dome. Don't think much of the Dome, myself. It just seems a bit too static to stop the Majors.” Fluttershy meeped quietly and softly told Applejack the news, which she had apparently missed: “Um, Applejack... it's not that it's just too static. It's too weak also. A Major attacked in Vanhoover, and went right through the shield. Took it less than an hour. Princess Celestia stopped it, eventually, but ponies died.” Applejack stopped and looked back at Fluttershy, shocked. Her head drooped, and she held a mournful silence. Rainbow Dash also stared at Fluttershy, looking horrified. The silence lasted for two minutes, after which Applejack shook her head to clear it. She resignedly motioned for the three to follow her. Rainbow Dash snapped out of her shock and fell in to second place. Applejack led the party of ponies (but not the party of party ponies) through the halls to the main attraction of the Lunadome, the Stable, where the PON-Jaegers were kept. The stable was huge. It had to be, to keep the PONs in it. The ceiling soared many hundreds of feet over the heads of the small group of ponies walking into it, as well as the many workers clustering around the PON-Jaegers, with griffins and pegasi fluttering about the higher portions, and earth ponies, zebras, and Saddle Arabians either walking around on the floor or standing on platforms to reach the higher-up parts of the PON-Jaegers. There were four PONs in the stable. One was a great big brute of a pony, with the head a complete circle, its visor extending around its circumfrence. It had a mark on its flank that looked vaguely Zebrican. Applejack noticed Twilight looking at it, told her: “That's Janus. Zebrican Jaeger, it saw its first action a little after you left. It's one of their best works. The pilots are Kwanza and Niyi. About the flank, that's the PON-Jaeger's cutie mark. It was started soon after you left the force, as an identification thing. Janus was the first to have it, but now all PONs do.” She then pointed to the next Jaeger over. It was an odd looking thing, with two arms coming out of its shoulders, painted a bright pink, a 'cutie mark' of an odd, flowing script, circled. It also had very strong shoulders, but was a thin, for a PON, everywhere else. Twilight guessed that it had come from Sadlle Arabia, as that looked like their writing on the 'cutie mark'. Applejack said: “That's Doubled Fun. Comes from Saddle Arabia. If it looks weird, well, that's 'cause Pinkie Pie designed it. She's a bit odd. But odd or not, there's no denying that it's a good piece of work. Those arms are darned dangerous in a fight, especially with their 'Kali Maneuver'. It's been all the protection that Saddle Arabia has needed for most of the war. Applejack then pointed out another PON-Jaeger, a sleek silver one. Twilight recognized it as 'Thundercracker', the one shown defeating the Major over Vanhoover. Now that she got a better look at it, even with its wings folded across its sides, she could make out a 'cutie mark' of a bright yellow lightning bolt inside a half-white, half-black circle. The PON stood tall and proud, less stockily built then Janus, but sturdy and not as tall and 'willowy' as Doubled Fun. Its visor was a light gray, and it had kind of a cold look to it. Applejack gave Twilight more information: “And that's Thundercracker, from Manehattan. It's the latest one, incorporating some of the Forerunner tech we couldn't turn to magic before. It's the best one made so far. Pinkie sure surpassed herself with it. She...” Applejack never got to finish her sentence, for she as interrupted by a pink pony with a poofy, curly mane, who had just bungeed in from the ceiling. Seemingly oblivious to the shocked look on Twilight's face, or the resigned expressions everypony else was sporting, the mare chattered on, broken up by bungee-ing back up: “HI everybody! I just heard...” (bungee) “That there was a new...” (bungee) “Hussar, and I was all...” (bungee) “OOHH, someone new who I can...” (bungee) “Introduce to everyone and...” At this point Rainbow Dash, who'd been silent up to that point, interrupted the bungee-mare. “Pinkie, can you come down? Twilight is shocked into silence and it's really hard to talk to you when you keep bouncing up like that.” In between bungees, the pony called Pinkie nodded. When she bungeed up again, she came down via parachute. With her no longer moving rapidly up and down, Twilight was able to get a good look at her for the first time, and she saw her cutie mark. It was a cannon firing three balloons, two blue and one yellow, along with a few other party decorations. Twilight knew that decoration. It was emblazoned on most of the devices used at the dome, and on most of the magitech used pretty much everywhere recently. It was the logo of Party Time Magic and Technology, headed by the genius Pinkie Pie, who appeared to be the one who had just introduced herself via bungee cord. Twilight was a bit startled. She hadn't expected such a powerful pony to be such a complete lunatic. Twilight was startled about that for as long as it took Pinkie to notice her, after which she was a whole new variant of surprised. Pinkie studied her for a few seconds, and then burst out with her motor mouth: “Oooh, you're the new Hussar! Twilight Sparkle, isn't it? Hi! I'm so happy to meet you! I mean, I know you're supposed to be all “work” and everything, but I just heard 'new mare'' and I was all 'party!', and...” Had Rainbow Dash not interrupted her just then, she probably would have gone on forever. As it was, Dashie was able to stem the tide of words, and lead the party of ponies (now including the Party Pony) to another PON-Jaeger. This time, nobody needed an introduction to tell Twilight anything about the PON. She knew it all. There, in all its pre-Major-ravaged glory, stood Sonic Eclipse, Harmonics glowing, stance strong, looking ready to take on any amount of Majors. It, too, had a 'cutie-mark'; a lavender six-pointed star encircled by a rainbow, with wings on the sides of the circle. That didn't give Twilight any clue as to where Sonic Eclipse came from, but she knew already that Sonic had been built in Ponyville, so she supposed that that was the Ponyville mark. Rainbow Dash told her about it. “You already know Sonic, of course. She was salvaged when you left the force, and has been given some repairs and upgrades. Rarity herself helped upgrade the Harmonics, and it's currently got some better armor, more mobility, and easier magic-channels. I've been told that with upgrades to the wings, it will fly as easily as a pegasus. But other than that, it's about the same PON you're used to, just awesomer.” Twilight didn't know how to respond. It brought back memories. Memories of past battles won, and Majors trampled on like nopony's business. Memories of past loss, of Big Macintosh's death, and the horror that that had brought. She'd left the force after that, and so had Hoops. She didn't know what had happened to him after that. But the memories were just that, memories, and they were in the past, where they belonged. As if she knew what Twilight was thinking then, Applejack told her softly: “I know what you're feeling, about returning to Sonic. Big Macintosh was my brother.” There was silence. Rainbow Dash was giving Applejack a shocked look, as if she had never heard this before. Twilight herself gave a comforting smile and sidled up to Applejack to give her a hug. Of course she knew that Macintosh had two sisters, but she had never really paid them much attention, or ever really remembered their names. And now it was coming full circle, and she was going to be piloting with one of those sisters she could barely remember. Tartarus, that's probably why Applejack had been chosen in the first place. She now felt intensely uncomfortable for ignoring those memories of Macintosh's. The silence was broken by a soft fake cough from Fluttershy. Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack gave a start, having sort-of-kind-of forgotten that the quiet pegasus existed. Fluttershy hid a little behind her mane, and softly told the group of ponies who really ought to be finishing the tour: “Um, everypony? There's more to the facility than just the Stable, you know. We should show Twilight the way to actually enter the PONs, and after that the control room.” Rainbow and Applejack snapped out of their reverie and turned around, heading back towards the Hussar dorms. Twilight and Fluttershy followed. They backtracked through to the dorms, and then took a left turn, and then another left turn, into a lift-pad. Fluttershy activated the glowing crystal that put the magic in motion, and the lift shuddered up. It went up for twenty-five 'stories', represented by the crystal turning different colors, before Fluttershy stopped it. Twilight memorized what color it turned, because she would probably need it soon enough. Fluttershy led them through a hallway into the suiting-up room, with their 'armor' at the ready, and near the whole thing were the attendant ponies' dorms. The armor was different than Twilight remembered. Fore one thing, it was sleeker and less bulky than her earlier armor. For another, it was pink. Twilight suspected she knew who was behind that particular change. After she had had a good chance to look around and commit to memory the room and its surroundings, Fluttershy lead the way through a twisting set of corridors, into a room overlooking the Stable. There was a lot of softly glowing magical equipment in the room, that Twilight did not know the purpose of. There were several ponies manning posts there, but Twilight's eye was caught most by a beautiful mare, with a white coat and a purple mane, styled into a big ringlet, with her tail styled the same way. Her cutie mark was that of a PON's Harmonics. The mare was a bit busy, but soon she glanced over their way, and she made her way over to the party. “Oh, hello, Fluttershy, what brings you here? And Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, too. And who's the new mare with you?” Fluttershy replied: “Oh, this is Twilight Sparkle. She's the new Hussar for Sonic Eclipse. Twilight, this is Rarity. She is providing funding for the PON program, and she helps run the Mission Control.” Rarity. Yet another big-name. Rarity was the brilliance behind the Harmonics, and most of the gem-tech used in Equestria. The tour of the Lunadome was sort of turning into a tour of Equestria's celebrities. Rarity immediately turned her attention to Twilight, saying “Oh, hello, ms. Sparkle. It's so nice to see you. We here at the Lunadome heard that Fluttershy was going to get you, but I didn't know anyone else. Now that I see you, I think you look nice, and the pink armor- it was Pinkie's idea- might go well with you, and... oh dearest Celestia what left those scars?!?” Rarity turned her attention to the magical burns on Twilight's side. They had been left there when that Major (Twilight didn't know its name), had attacked Sonic. Magical overload had left a burn there, but it'd healed, so Twilight didn't notice it all too much. Now she looked, at it, a bit self consciously, looked at Rarity, and said: “This was from the Major fight that got me out of the force. I don't really want to talk about it. And, weren't you doing something when we came in?” Rarity replied: “Oh, it's nothing that can't be interrupted. I'll respect your silence on those burns, but really. It mars your coat something awful, and I can't imagine what you must have gone through to get it.” Twilight felt uncomfortable again. Why was this mare paying such attention to her? Rarity, who didn't know what Twilight was thinking, told her: “You know where your room is, right? You should go there and freshen up, maybe take a short nap. There's a small bathroom at the end of the hall. There'll be combat practice in thirty minutes. Dash and Applejack here are the major candidates, but should they be drift-incompatible, there are some backups. And after that, we'll brief you on some of our new theories. You should find these things very interesting.” Twilight considered Rarity's proposal. All things considered, it felt like a really good idea. After all the information that had been dumped on her recently, thirty minutes of alone time to process it would be a good thing. She said to Rarity: “Thank you. I'll take you up on that offer,” and turned to leave. But before she could, Rainbow Dash reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. She smiled competitively at Twilight, and said: “I'm looking forward to meeting you at the combat. See you there, and I hope you can keep up with me.” Twilight felt a bit of the old spirit return, and smiled cockily back at Dash. “Heh, you should worry about keeping up with me.” Rainbow laughed. “Big words, Twi” she said. “We'll see if you can keep them in the arena.” Twilight simply smirked a little, and took another step, but before she could take a second, Applejack said: “Good luck, Twilight. Be waiting for you.” Fluttershy simply smiled in a cute, Fluttershyish way. Twilight smiled back, and went on her way to her rooms. She took the lift-pad down, and wound back toward the Hussar dorms. She found the bathroom where Rarity had said it was, and after a brief wondering why Applejack hadn't pointed it out to her, went in, and took a shower. She relished the warm water, which had been very scarce in Marelaska. It relaxed her muscles and calmed her mind. It cleared away the confusion caused by Pinkie Pie. How ccould she be such a genius, and yet such a nutcase? Twilight stepped out of the shower, and dried herself off with an old towel that was in the room. She was tired. The nap option was seeming better all the time. Replacing the towel on its rack, she left the room, and walked over to her chamber/broom closet (she suspected that it had been converted from some sort of closet). Before she could open the door and step in, yet another strange pony hailed her. “So, you're the pony that's going to be flanking the Great and Powerful Trixie if we get that plan to work?” Twilight turned, and saw a light blue pony with a whitish, maybe really pale blue mane and tail, and the cutie mark of a crescent moon coming out of a wand. The pony was smirking in an arrogant way. Twilight replied: “Flanking you? What plan? And can you leave me alone, I'm just trying to take a nap here!” The Great and Powerful Trixie simply smirked harder. “Oh, haven't had the briefing, had you? You go on with your nap. Rarity will tell you later. Trixie is looking forward to seeing you in combat.” Trixie then left, and went into her room. Twilight entered hers, closed the door, and then dropped down to the cot at the far wall and went to sleep. She had a feeling that she'd need all the rest she could get. Author's Note New chapter! This took a long time to get out. But here it is anyways!"
Opening Narration: Majors!Opening Narration: Majors! When aliens came, they didn't come from Tartarus like we had been expecting nor did they come from the farthest reaches of the land, where no pony had ever explored. They came from beneath the sea; a portal beneath dimensions, in the Equestria Ocean. Something out there had discovered us. The first Major made landing in San Prancsisco, the second hit Maneila, and the third, Capony. That was when we knew, sure as sure, that this was not going to stop. We managed to kill the first few with conventional weapons, but it took a week, many ponies died in the meantime, and it was clear that we could never win that way. It was clear to them, too. They expected us to fall easily, crunched under their house-sized feet. Surprise. We didn't. The boat that had discovered the rift had also seen a book come through it. We didn't know where it came from, or how it survived the trip, but when we read it, it turned out that it was written by a race that had already survived attack by the Majors. It left details on what the Majors were, but most importantly, it showed us how to stop them. The Forerunners, as they were called, had decided that they couldn't defeat the Majors small, so they went big. To fight monsters, they made their own monsters out of metal, and called them Jaegers. The book contained plans on how to make them. There were many technical aspects that we didn't understand, but a fashion designer from the small town of Ponyville solved that. Rarity, as she was called, made a name for herself as a heroine when she figured out how to use magic with gemstones to imbue these Jaegers with to allow them to work off our magic. She also adapted their forms to suit ponies, making them in the forms of Alicorns. These were called PON-Jaegers. It was soon shown that they couldn't be used without three pilots, one of each type. Though not by Rarity, that problem was eventually fixed; the Forerunners had described a “neural bridge” that they used to connect their pilots' minds and synchronize them. This, too, was adapted for magic. Later PON-Jaegers were armed by another resident of Ponyville, one Pinkie Pie. A weapons genius, but still nobody understands her wish to include a “party cannon” in each PON-Jaeger. And with these PON-Jaegers, we fought back. We started winning, and then everything changed. They had counted on us ponies to fall as easily as our small stature suggests. I've heard that we don't look in any way too dangerous. They had never expected us to rise up to meet their challenge. Sure, the Forerunners helped, but we are ponykind. We have survived, and with the elements of Harmony, defeated such threats as Nightmare Moon and Discord. We have colonized the edge of the Everfree, and we have stood our ground against all comers. We are ponykind, and we never submit to those who would do us harm. We stood proud against the Majors. But pride goes before the fall, and we fell hard. Author's Note I hope you like it. I'm doing it in the spirit of Pacific Rim, but it isn't as much a rewrite as a sequel, I hope. Please read and review, constructive criticism welcome!
Prologue: The Trouble With High PlacesPrologue Pt. 2- The Thing About High Places “Major Alert! Major Alert!" The call echoed through the bare corners of the Hussar quarters, through the door marked 'SONIC ECLIPSE', and into Twilight Sparkle's ears. Blinking back her sleepiness, she got out of her cot, and began getting on her uniform. “Ready to go kill some Majors?” asked a voice. Twilight turned around to see Hoops, the pegasus pilot for Sonic Eclipse, who'd gotten up before the others and already had his uniform on. His brown mane had gotten into his eyes, but he didn't seem to care. He had a cocky smile on his face, and he was fluttering his wings to get rid of pins and needles. Twilight smiled cockily back, the expression not coming quite naturally to her, and cantered over to the kitchenette to grab a snack and brush her teeth before she had to go out in her PON-Jaeger. Another chance to increase her kill count. Sonic's current was four, with two killed by Twilight's contribution directly. Hoops had one direct, and so did Big Macintosh. Speaking of Big Mac... where was Big Mac? Twilight got her answer when he stuck his head out of his sleeping area. Twilight grinned at him and asked: "Morning, Big Mac! Ready to go show some Majors what we're made of? Big Mac nodded yes and quickly finished his routine, leading their way out to the the room where they'd put their PON-Jaeger control armor on. Twilight and Hoops followed almost as enthusiastically. Though they had never known each other before they became Rangers, Twilight, Hoops and Macintosh shared a special bond. Despite difference in their personalities, they understood each other well enough to be drift-compatible. Sure, it might have taken a bit for Macintosh to open up enough, but they were a team, and their piloting Sonic Eclipse showed it. They reached the room where they were to be gotten ready for their venture. An attendant pony attached the 'spine' of their costume to their back and neck . They themselves could put the smooth gray plating of their control armor on, and they did. Twilight put on a special horn-ring, Big Mac leg-bracelets, and Hoops covered his wings with a special material. All to help control their PON-Jaeger. With their preparations done, they rushed through the corridors of the Lunadome and into the PON-hangar. A retractable walkway led the way into an entry port on the back of Sonic Eclipse's head. Half-way to said walkway, Twilight stopped to admire their PON-Jaeger. She knew it well, but pure awesomeness never stops turning heads, even heads who are used to it. Sonic Eclipse was made of titanium, an extremely strong and relatively rare metal. She was in the moderate shape of a pony, an alicorn, with a long, sharp horn perched on her head, titanium wings on her back, and the strength of an earth pony in her legs. The horn was the Unicorn's area of control, and the reason Twilight needed that horn ring. Hoops got the wings, and Big Mac... no real specialty, except in strengthening Sonic Eclipse. In the center of Sonic's chest, there was an embedded crystal array, the Harmonics which gave Sonic Eclipse her power. It was open to the air, to vent excess magical power. Wouldn't want the very expensive PON-Jaeger exploding, now, would we. The had was also vaguely pony-shaped, with a visor the pilots could use to see whatever battle they happened to be in. “Hey Twilight! It's time to go!” Hoop's yell interrupted her admiration. With one last longing wish that she could have been the one to have modified the original Jaegers into that, or better yet, have invented it from scratch, Twilight turned and ran across the walkway, into the PON-Jaeger. Inside Sonic Eclipse's head, there were three sets of hoof-stands, where the pilots would control the PON-Jaeger. Twilight stepped into the middle one, Big Mac took the one on the right, and Hoops the one on the left. A robotic arm descended from the ceiling and connected to the spines on their armor, their hoofs were clipped into the stands. Helmets were lowered onto their heads, and with them ready, Twilight contacted Mission Control. “Sonic Eclipse to Lunadome, ready for Drift.” She got the reply, filtered through a speaking crystal in her helmet: “Lunadome to Sonic Eclipse, prepare for Drift. Initiating Mental Hoofshake.” About a second after Lunadome said that, the Mental Hoofshake was initiated, and the minds of Twilight Sparkle, Big Macintosh, and Hoops were connected. It was a weird feeling, going through the memories, feelings, and instincts of the two other ponies, but the Sonic Eclipse team had done it before. They knew each other better than their mothers knew them, and had since long before this drift. It was no trouble, and the mental handshake was initiated smoothly. With the the handshake initiated, Hoops spread his wings, with Sonic Eclipse imitating him. He began flapping, and the pilots folded their legs into a flying position as Hoops' movement activated the flight gems embedded into Sonic Eclipse's wings. The PON-Jaeger rose into the air and left the Lunadome Hangar, heading to wherever the Major might be. Twilight contacted Lunadome, and asked for the Major's actual location, which could be found from their position. Lunadome returned: “off the coast of Marecorage. It is near your position, five minutes flying turning 5 degrees west”. Twilight nodded, and Sonic Eclipse turned in that direction. In five minutes, Sonic Eclipse had reached the spot, and splashed down into the water off the shores. PON-Jaegers sought to meet Majors in the water, as there was a limit on how much collateral damage you could do in the water. Sonic Eclipse waited. And waited. While Majors were known for their punctuality (great in the workplace, bad in the war), PONs were always sent out a while before the attack, so that they could always be ready. Twilight was on edge, looking around for the attack which she knew was going to come. Hoops was cocky, ready to beat down the Major when it came. And Big Macintosh was quietly confident in his, his copilots' and his Jaeger's ability to beat that Major senseless. It had happened before, and it could happen again. Soon, all of the pilots' expectations were answered. The Major came, exploding out of the water to the left of Sonic Eclipse. It was as big as a PON-Jaeger, and quadrupedal. It had scale-like armor, claws on the ends of its legs, a clubbed tail, and a head like an arrow. It was oddly lizard-like. Not all the Majors looked like this, they were all very different, but all shared this one's feeling of extreme dangerousness. Sonic Eclipse's crew didn't feel it. The PON-Jaeger turned, front hooves rising to meet the onrushing Major. They did, and the major was thrown into the water. Sonic reared up, and then came down, front hooves crushing the Major as it lay. Twilight fired off a horn-burst, the one spell that Sonic could do, to make sure, and Hoops started beating his wings in anticipation of leaving and returning to Lunadome, and maybe catching up on some sleep. Majors were never polite enough to time their attacks with a pony's natural sleep cycle. And that's when it happened. The water churned behind Sonic Eclipse, and the Major erupted behind from it, a little beat up but still ready to fight. Before Sonic's pilots could react, the Major's clubbed tail had swung up along the PON-Jaeger's side, crushing a wing into smithereens, raking the flank, and, most importantly, crushing the side of the Con-pod that formed Sonic Eclipse's head. Hoops cried out as the connection between his and the PON-Jaeger's wing shocked him, with magical energy crawling up and around the material used to form the connection, and Twilight did so too, as their connected minds meant that she felt it all. Big Macintosh felt the same thing, but he just bit his lip and turned to face the Major, ready to fight, even though they were wounded. This act of bravery would be his last. The Major's claws came through the Con-pod and snatched him away. The Major ate him, and until his death, both Twilight and Hoops felt every last thing Big Macintosh did. They felt his terror, his pain, and his final hopelessness as the Major killed him. Hoops fainted because of this. Twilight felt it too, but she held on. There was one last thing she needed to do. As the Major continued to ravage the PON-Jaeger, she charged up her, and by extension, Sonic's horn to its highest capacity. She stood firm, swallowing for the moment her fears of the Major, and the trauma of Big Macintosh's death. Those emotions she swallowed. But other emotions she used, her rage at the death of her copilot, her hatred of the Major, and her wish to protect all those ponies who would die if she didn't kill that Major. Those emotions, she used, and they gave power to her magic, charging that of Sonic Eclipse greatly. The magic crystal in the PON-Jaeger's horn began to shine, brighter than it had ever shone, or needed to shine, before. And when the pure magic reached a peak, Twilight threw it at the Major. A beam of magical energy lanced from Sonic Eclipse's horn, and burned through the head of the Major. It gave one final cry as it died for good, splashing into the water, nevermore to come out. But the battle was still not quite yet over. Twilight turned, piloting the PON-Jaeger to shore. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Beach Comber, an old Marelaskan unicorn stallion, lead his grandson, the earth pony Beach Ball, down the seashore. It was Beach Comber's hobby to use a metal finding spell to detect things that might have been left on the beach, and sometimes he brought Beach Ball with him. The colt didn't have much patience for combing the beach for little metal items of small value, but he loved his grandfather, and so went with him anyways. But still, even with that filial devotion, his patience tended to wear thin. “Are we going to find anything soon?” he whined at Beach Comber. Beach Comber, displaying the patience that had led to him discovering his cutie mark (a metal object half sticking out of sand) in the first place, replied: “Soon. I don't control what washes up on the beach, but things usually do. All we have to do is wait.” Beach Ball fell silent, and the trip continued. Eventually, the glowing red ball that was the metal detector spell started flashing green, which indicated metal nearby. An eager Beach Ball and his grandfather dug into the sand, to find... a small toy ponybot. Beach Ball drooped his head and sighed. “We never find anything good.” he complained. Beach Comber sighed. Beach Ball's complaints were annoying to him, too, although he tried not to show it. He levitated the toy into his saddlebags and told his impatient grandson: “Oh well. It'll happen someday, just not today. Did I tell you that I once found a coin on the beach from the early Unicorn Tribe? I got to show it to all Canterlot about it, and the royal museum paid me a lot of money for it. It's the only currency from the reign of Queen Gemstone the 4th that has ever been found. That was the best day in my life.” Beach Ball had heard the story before, and he knew the response. “Yeah, but that was a long time ago. We haven't had any luck since then. You even told me the five millionth time you told that story that it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That means, it's used up, we aren't going to find anything good today!” Beach Comber just shrugged and proceeded on. There was silence between them for the next minute or so, at which point the metal finder spell started flashing green very rapidly, and beeping for good measure. Beach Ball's jaw dropped, and even the ever-stoic Beach Comber showed outward signs of surprise. That's when they heard it. A great thumping noise from offshore, sounding as if a dragon were coming towards them. They, though mostly frozen with fear and anticipation, looked up to see, looming out of the early morning mists, a gigantic metal figure. It was in the form of an alicorn, with one of its wings torn to shreds, and a limp in its right front hoof, and a ravaged head. There were great rakes along its sides, as if great claws had torn wounds in the proud creature's flanks, which was, in fact, exactly what had happened. Sonic Eclipse made it to shore, and once there, crashed down to her knees, and then on her side. And emerging from the wreckage, there was Twilight Sparkle. The lavender unicorn staggered out of the con-pod, magically dragging the unconscious form of Hoops with her. Blood seeped out of a wound on her shoulder, and she was extremely disoriented, not to mention, in shock. She and her charge left the PON-Jaeger and somehow managed to get to the ground, where she muttered “Macintosh...” and finally, exhausted by her ordeal, fainted. Beach Ball and Beach Comber were in shock too, although not as much as Twilight. Beach Comber recovered first, and rushed to the injured ponies' side. He checked her for a pulse, and found it, but she was bleeding, and wouldn't survive long without help. He motioned to Beach Ball, and then telekinetically draped the unconscious Hoops over his back, while he himself took Twilight. “Quickly”, he told his grandson, “we must get help!”. The grandfather-and-grandson duo made their way back to their house with their charges, and away from the wreckage of the once-proud PON-Jaeger. Author's Note And we get in to the main story! Little useless fact too insignificant to put in the main story: Marelaska is an island to the north of equestria, and not a peninsula, as Alaska is on Earth. Besides that, enjoy the story! Constructive criticism is much appreciated.
Chapter 1: The PON ProgramYears Later: Fluttershy walked through the stone corridors of the base, her head drooping. The PON program had been going badly. Sonic Eclipse's fight with the Major 'Arrowhead' had proved to be a turning point. The Majors were getting far stronger and more numerous. There had been a double attack several days ago. The zebras had lost a city before they were able to beat one of the Majors. All of Zebrica was still mourning for that. 50 thousand equines had been killed. Fluttershy had cried for hours after she heard the news, in private of course. While she longed to be able to show her weakness like an ordinary pony, the Captain in command of the PON program could not act like anything more than the leader that she needed to be. The sooner this war was over, the happier Fluttershy would be, but the war had to be won first, or there wouldn't be a Fluttershy to be happy. She came to a door marked 'Council Conference Chamber', which she opened. Inside, there was a podium in the middle, with the walls covered with magical 'screens', a new invention, a modification of the old 'crystal balls', by which she could see the members of the Council of Equis, and they, with crystal balls in their chamber, could see her. And they were looking directly at her. Fluttershy meeped quietly to herself and resisted the urge to hide her face behind her long hair. She instead looked back at them determinedly. She didn't like them much. While Celestia had been rather occupied with helping fight the Majors, and international diplomacy on top of her normal duties, the Council had taken up governance of places where the rulers couldn't reach, which, around now, was a whole lot of places. There were deleglates from each race of the Equis Alliance: Zebras, Saddle Arabians, Griffins, and Ponies. And they all seemed to have a special grudge against Fluttershy and the PON-program. “You do know that this program of yours is entirely impractical.”, stated one delegate, a Zebrican. “The Majors are getting stronger, and we're losing PONs faster than we can build them.” Fluttershy replied: “I know. But if you'll give me one more year, I know I can make a difference. We can attack the Rift, and...” She was cut off by one of the Equestrian delegates, Prince Blueblood, who in all honesty was only there because of his connections, but he knew how to play the game with everyone else. Fluttershy thought of him as irredeemably arrogant. He never thought anyone of less-than-royal birth was worth anything, and he showed it in the rude way he interrupted her, saying: “The Harmony Dome is a viable alternative. It was even discussed in the Forerunners' Book, as a way for deterring the Majors other than Jaegers. It can work here.” Fluttershy replied: “But, do remember that their wall was not made to be against Majors that could fly! Half of the ones attacking us have that ability!” Fluttershy wished she didn't have to be so unkind, but a) Blueblood kind of deserved it, and b) as Captain, she didn't have that luxury. A zebra reminded her: “They did not have the advantage of magic. This dome will enclose even the sky above, and so there will be no loop for a Major to break through.” Fluttershy knew that she could do well, but the Council's collective minds were set on the Harmony Dome plan. Fluttershy didn't like it. It was too defensive. The Majors would keep coming, and eventually there'd be enough to break through the Dome. The rift needed to be closed, and the only way that could happen was an attack. The council, unfortunately, didn't see it that way. Except for one member. Fancypants, the other Equestrian delegate, broke into the conversation. “We can fund you for six months.”, he said. “I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but that is all I was able to get you. Six months, and then we'll all have to depend on the Harmony Dome.” Fluttershy nodded her head, to show that she understood. The screens that she viewed the council members with blinked out. Fluttershy turned, and with heavy head, hooves, and heart, made her way out of the chamber, closing it behind her. And then, when that door slid shut, she turned away from it and composed herself, thinking of all the sources that she could use for extra cash. There might be independent civilians willing to fund the program, but those with enough bits would be few and far between. There was a black market for Major remains, but Fluttershy shied away from allying with them. Maybe Fancypants would be willing to lend some money, but he wasn't made of it. Most of the Equestrian treasury was either under the control of the Council or going towards repairs for all the cities the Majors broke. She might be able to get out enough money by getting small funds from very many sources, but that would be hard. Fluttershy dropped to her knees and sighed. The war had been very hard on her, and she was very tired. She began crying, just a little. Only a few tears. She stopped when she saw that one of them glowed. When she saw that, she gasped a little, and got up. She needed to get to her room, her pills were there. She quickly left the entryway to the Council Conference Chamber, and headed down the bare halls to her own quarters. She stopped when she nearly ran headlong into a pink pony with a bright pink, curly mane and tail, blue eyes, and a cutie mark of a cannon firing party decorations. Fluttershy immediately skidded to a halt. “Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be working on something for that renovation project?”, she gasped in surprise. Pinkie gave her one of her trademark smiles, and said: “That project? Oh, it'll do okay without me for a few hours. I just wanted to check on you! I mean, I know you keep your pills in your room but I was worried that you might need one and so I brought a box here just in case!” The pink pony then proceeded to pull a tin of pills out of her mane. Fluttershy accepted the tin and took and swallowed one of the pills from it, murmuring her thanks to Pinkie. She didn't ask how the tin had managed to stay in Pinkie's frizzy hair. She'd given up on that question long ago. Pinkie then remembered something and said: “Oh, and I almost forgot! There's this new deli place about five miles over. Wanna taste their dandelion sandwiches?” Fluttershy shook her head and mumbled something about not being in the mood. Pinkie stuck her head close to Fluttershy's and stared at her. After a little while, in which Fluttershy was mostly trying to hide behind her mane, Pinkie seemed to come to a conclusion, and came over and put her front leg over Fluttershy. “Oh. Bad meeting, was it?” she asked. Fluttershy nodded assent. “Yes. Yes it was. The council wants to put all their hopes in the Harmony Dome, and they've cut funding. After six months, we're done for!” she replied, dejected. Pinkie Pie was one of that rare species of pony whom you could break down as much as you wanted before and could always be sure of a boost up. And she knew just how to boost Fluttershy up: “Aw, cheer up, Fluttershy”, she said “and come to lunch with me. I know a pony who knows ponies who definitely could do the funds! And she'd contribute herself, I'm sure of it. So, 'Shy, what say we discuss these PON-Jaeger funds over a good dandelion and hayseed sandwich, and I can tell you how to contact her!” Fluttershy perked up immediately. “Really? You know someone? Who can fund us? It isn't cheap, you know.”, she said excitedly, or at least, as excitedly as Fluttershy could. The tone of voice and facial expressions Fluttershy considered 'excited' a normal pony would consider 'slightly interested'. But excited, Fluttershy was. This was a good break for her. Pinkie nodded. “Yes, I'm sure. She might require a few things in return, but she'll do it. But I'll only tell you if you agree to come to lunch with me, so come on!” She led the way out of the Lunadome. As the two ponies cantered out one of the complex's many back doors, Fluttershy asked: “Okay, Pinkie, so who is it? Pinkie replied: “Well, her name is Rarity...” Author's Note And enter two more of the Mane Six! Here are the short versions of how PInkie Pie and Fluttershy came to be in the program: Fluttershy signed on because she wished to help protect ponykind. Poor filly didn't really know what she was getting into, but when she saw the stakes first-hand, she became determined to go on. During service, she received a magical injury, resulting in stuff like the glowing tear from this chapter, and was discharged from active service. She did, however, prove to be a great leader when she got her act together, and she was promoted to Captain in charge of the PON Program (Equestrian military titles are different from ours). Long years of pushing herself have made her rather more assertive than she is on the show, but it's mostly a mask. However, after living the mask so long, she's started to grow into it. Pinkie Pie stayed at the rock farm (as in, didn't go to Ponyville), but signed on to the Program to get away. She didn't like it, and when the recruiters came to town, she saw a life much different from the one she once knew, and she liked it. After a while of service, Pinkie opened up a little and became more cheerful, but it was when she built a cannon that fired parties to cheer up a Hussar that she really knew what she wanted to do, and earned a cutie mark of a party cannon, symbolizing her talents for engineering and spreading happiness. Once she found out how good she was at engineering, she resigned from active service and began arming the PON-Jaegers, but never forgot her true goal of making people happy. When she resigned, she styled her hair into its well-known poofy state, as she didn't need it not in the way or anything, and it looked cute.
Chapter 2: The Harmony DomeLater... The wind whistled outside the town of Marebanks, Marelaska. Twilight shivered through her thick coat, trudging towards the unfinished Harmony Dome, bolstered with stone and other thick, strong materials, surrounding the island that was Marelaska. It was still under construction. Unicorns were feeding all their magic to the crystals anchoring the dome. Earth ponies were shoring it up from the bottom and bringing materials for the solid part of the dome, and Pegasi were working at the top. Twilight walked on to the big building next to the Dome, where the workers met before going to their jobs. The headpony, a big, burly dark brown pegasus stallion named Iron Hoof, stood on a stand in front of the crowd of workponies, where he could look down on them. “Alright, ponies,” he began, “night time's up, it's time to get to work. Crystal A-13 is broken, unicorns, so you who were working on it, conserve your power so you can fill up its replacement. And all of you, remember, this Harmony Dome is the Dome of Life for you. Work hard, and I won't have to give your position to any of the other comers that want the rations you get. So get going, everypony, and work enough to earn your bread!” “YEAH!!!!!” yelled out a large, extremely muscular white stallion with a straw-colored mane in a crew cut cut and a dumbbell cutie mark. Shaking her head at him, Twilight proceeded to her own magic crystal, crystal A-39. Usually, she'd have other ponies working on it with her, but Twilight's own magic was great enough that she could handle one solo. She walked on through the rough corridors of the complex around the Dome, until she reached her own crystal. It was huge. Shaped like a cube turned 45 degrees, the crystal was held in a simple but strong steel setting. It pulsed with its own inner light, glowing with Twilight's own lavender magical aura, casting out a pulse of magic every so often to keep what they had up of the Dome going. All of this was stuff Twilight had all seen before. But there was something new: A butter-yellow pegasus with a long pink mane and tail and an officer uniform was sitting by crystal A-39's base. Twilight was curious, and walked up towards the strange pony. She noted that as she looked whoever it was in the eye, the pegasus's first instinct was obviously to hide behind her mane, but she fought it easily and looked at Twilight directly. She spoke: “Um... Hi, Twilight Sparkle, I'm Fluttershy, and I'm the captain of the PON Program.” Twilight was surprised. The PON program? Hadn't she resigned from that years ago? She wanted none of it, not after what happened to Big Macintosh. Had 'Fluttershy' not gotten the memo? And what was someone with the name 'Fluttershy' doing commanding the PON-Jaegers? She told Fluttershy harshly, truth be told, a bit too harshly: “My involvement in that is finished. Done. I want no part of it, not after what happened to Big Mac. You should know that. I came here to get away.” Fluttershy nodded. She understood. She also understood that she needed Twilight Sparkle, no matter how tough she proved to convince. She told Twilight, in her soft way: “I know. But we're in a tough spot. We're losing PON-Jaegers faster than we can build them, and we're losing Hussars faster. You're a good pilot, and we need you, Twilight.” Twilight shook her head. She would not go. She was firm in that. “I said no, Fluttershy, and nothing you can say or do will change my mind, so go. I'm sorry, but I can't come back. I can't.” Fluttershy could no more just leave than Twilight could return to her duty. Softly, ever so Fluttershylike, she played her biggest card: “I'm not you, Twilight, but if I was you... I don't know how I could leave the world to end without first trying my very hardest to make sure it doesn't.” Twilight Sparkle looked at Fluttershy, pain and indecision in her eyes. Fluttershy was playing the guilt card, and Twilight knew it. That said, she did have a point. She could, maybe, help save the world, and probably die doing it... or, she could continue working on the Harmony Dome. She knew the Kaiju, and factoring in their increase in strength from the time she'd been in a PON-Jaeger, it would only take one before the wall came crumbling down, even if it was finished. Math was another strong point of Twilight's, and she'd made sure to get the measurements on the strength of the wall. It was, of course, only an approximation, as she couldn't be completely sure about the Kaiju. Twilight made her decision, and turned back towards the crystal, and linked her magic to it. Fluttershy drooped a little in defeat. Maybe she had failed at this, after all. Maybe the trauma was too great. Maybe Twilight Sparkle couldn't be persuaded. She got back up again. She hadn't come all this way to this far away place just to give up on first refusal. She took a deep breath to say more. And then Twilight capped off the spell that would allow smooth integration of other unicorn's magic. She used telekinesis to write a message on the wall: From Twilight Sparkle: I quit. She turned towards Fluttershy, with a smile. Fluttershy was beaming, and it was almost worth the choice just to see the cute pegasus so happy. Fluttershy led the way outside, where a Pegasi-pulled coach was awaiting. Both ponies got in, and Fluttershy called out to the coach ponies, and they got a running start and lifted the coach through the air, using a special magic coating to pass through the Harmony Dome like it was nothing. There was a video crystal inside the coach, and Fluttershy tapped it in the rhythm that summoned the news. Equestria Daily, Equis's biggest news source, came on. “Breaking news from Vanhoover” said a tired-looking white mare with a brown mane pulled up in a bun. “In one of the very few places where the Harmony Dome was complete, a Major broke through, taking less than one hour to penetrate the dome.” The picture then switched to a feed from Vanhoover, showing a wolf-like Major with disproportionately sized claws, membranes between each leg, and big, thick spines over its back. The Major took no trouble with the Dome, walking through it like a pony might walk through water. A voiceover of the reportmare came on: “The Major was taken down by Princess Celestia, after a day of battling it, and it exhausted her greatly. A large group of citizens, their exact number not yet recorded, also died when the Major penetrated their shelter. For a comparison, the last time a Major attacked, the PON-Jaeger Thundercracker was able to defeat it within an hour, and with no deaths.” A clip came on of a sleek silver PON-Jaeger, walking towards a dragonlike Major. Twilight couldn't see its Harmonics, which surprised her. She figured that it was a later model. The PON-Jaeger's chest plates disassembled, showing several several weapons, the purpose of which Twilight found out when they shot firework-like things at the Major. After a barrage of this and some zaps from a lightning-like spell from the PON-Jaeger's horn, the Major went down. The reporter came back on-screen. “Riots have erupted in the cities of Dreswing, Hoof Kong, and Las Pegasus. People are asking why the PON-Jaeger program was cancelled in favor of this. The Council of Equis has continued to hold that the Harmony Dome is still Equis's best option.” It then cut to an interview of Prince Blueblood. He was looking a bit uncomfortable, but he had pressed himself into a corner, and he stood by his views on the dome. He stated: “We recognize what has happened here, and we know what this means, but the Harmony Dome is still the best defense we have. If we...” Fluttershy tapped the crystal to turn it off. She was shaking, ever so slightly. She really didn't like hearing about how the Majors had started winning. Even the small amount of satisfaction she got from seeing Blueblood squirm failed under the knowledge that ponies had died. They wouldn't be coming back. Ever, and no amount of anything could bring them back. Twilight saw this and scooted over to her side. “Don't worry about it”, she reassured Fluttershy. “After all, that's what you have me there for, right?”. She smiled at her companion. Fluttershy looked at her and smiled, in the most adorable way, because that's how Fluttershy does everything. Adorably. And so the coach flew on to the Lunadome. Author's Note And here the story goes. Why is Snowflake on the wall, in Marelaska? I have no idea. I just couldn't do an attempt at a speech without him coming up to say that catchprase of his.
Chapter 3- Manehattan LunadomeChapter 3- Manehattan Lunadome The coach landed on the sleek stone landing surface outside of the Manehattan Lunadome smoothly. The two pegasi pulling it unhitched and trotted over to the door leading to the personnel recreation chamber. Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy got out, and Fluttershy cantered up to two ponies approaching from the enterance to the Lunadome, so as to introduce them to her companion. “Twilight,” she said, “This is Applejack”, indicating a orange mare with a cutie mark of three apples, a blond mane and tail gathered in at the ends by a band, “and this is Rainbow Dash”, indicating a blue, blank flanked pegasus with pink eyes and a rainbow mane and tail. Twilight bowed to each of them. “Pleased to meet you, I'm Twilight Sparkle.” she said. Applejack replied: “Well, it's nice to meet you too”, in a south-equestrian accent. Rainbow Dash simply nodded. Fluttershy continued: “Applejack is a Hussar who's going to be your Earth Pony partner. Rainbow wishes to be your Pegasus partner.” Twilight felt uncomfortable. She didn't wish for another partner, not after what happened to Big Macintosh, but it was the end of the world. You had to take what you got, and Twilight optimistically hoped that they would make a good team. Applejack took her out of her thoughts when she came forward and tapped Twilight on the shoulders. “C'mon, Twilight. Let's show you the base, here.” Applejack led the way, and Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash followed. They cantered through the unfamiliar (to Twilight) halls of the Manehattan Lunadome. As they walked, Applejack filled Twilight in on the history of the Lunadome: “This is the only Lunadome operating. PONs are being destroyed like you wouldn't believe. Council wants to shut us down. I don't know why they left us this one, the zebras and the Saddle Arabians are having worse Major trouble than us right now, but it's what we got, and we're grateful”. She made a right turn, and led them down to the living quarters. Once she got there, she pointed out to Twilight where she'd be sleeping. “Twilight, this is your room. Rainbow Dash is across from you and I'm over to your right. Trixie is to your left. Down the hall are Lightning Dust and Time Turner, and over thataway (Applejack pointed) are Kwanza, Niyi, Durga, Shiva, and Vishnu.” Twilight commented: “Kwanza, Niyi,... those are odd names.” Applejack replied: “They're zebras. Their naming conventions are different.” Oh. Zebras. That made sense. Twilight had had a Hussar friend (not from the same PON-Jaeger) called Mstari. Twilight mentally clubbed herself on the head for forgetting that the zebras and griffins had their own PONs. Speaking of the Griffins... “Um, Applejack?” Twilight asked, “Are there any Griffin Nation PON-Jaegers here?” The orange pony shook her head. “Naw, the last Griffin PON, Kaiser Agustus, got destroyed a month ago. We haven't heard of any new PONs from them. Their politicians, or at least the ones on the Council, are for the Harmony Dome. Don't think much of the Dome, myself. It just seems a bit too static to stop the Majors.” Fluttershy meeped quietly and softly told Applejack the news, which she had apparently missed: “Um, Applejack... it's not that it's just too static. It's too weak also. A Major attacked in Vanhoover, and went right through the shield. Took it less than an hour. Princess Celestia stopped it, eventually, but ponies died.” Applejack stopped and looked back at Fluttershy, shocked. Her head drooped, and she held a mournful silence. Rainbow Dash also stared at Fluttershy, looking horrified. The silence lasted for two minutes, after which Applejack shook her head to clear it. She resignedly motioned for the three to follow her. Rainbow Dash snapped out of her shock and fell in to second place. Applejack led the party of ponies (but not the party of party ponies) through the halls to the main attraction of the Lunadome, the Stable, where the PON-Jaegers were kept. The stable was huge. It had to be, to keep the PONs in it. The ceiling soared many hundreds of feet over the heads of the small group of ponies walking into it, as well as the many workers clustering around the PON-Jaegers, with griffins and pegasi fluttering about the higher portions, and earth ponies, zebras, and Saddle Arabians either walking around on the floor or standing on platforms to reach the higher-up parts of the PON-Jaegers. There were four PONs in the stable. One was a great big brute of a pony, with the head a complete circle, its visor extending around its circumfrence. It had a mark on its flank that looked vaguely Zebrican. Applejack noticed Twilight looking at it, told her: “That's Janus. Zebrican Jaeger, it saw its first action a little after you left. It's one of their best works. The pilots are Kwanza and Niyi. About the flank, that's the PON-Jaeger's cutie mark. It was started soon after you left the force, as an identification thing. Janus was the first to have it, but now all PONs do.” She then pointed to the next Jaeger over. It was an odd looking thing, with two arms coming out of its shoulders, painted a bright pink, a 'cutie mark' of an odd, flowing script, circled. It also had very strong shoulders, but was a thin, for a PON, everywhere else. Twilight guessed that it had come from Sadlle Arabia, as that looked like their writing on the 'cutie mark'. Applejack said: “That's Doubled Fun. Comes from Saddle Arabia. If it looks weird, well, that's 'cause Pinkie Pie designed it. She's a bit odd. But odd or not, there's no denying that it's a good piece of work. Those arms are darned dangerous in a fight, especially with their 'Kali Maneuver'. It's been all the protection that Saddle Arabia has needed for most of the war. Applejack then pointed out another PON-Jaeger, a sleek silver one. Twilight recognized it as 'Thundercracker', the one shown defeating the Major over Vanhoover. Now that she got a better look at it, even with its wings folded across its sides, she could make out a 'cutie mark' of a bright yellow lightning bolt inside a half-white, half-black circle. The PON stood tall and proud, less stockily built then Janus, but sturdy and not as tall and 'willowy' as Doubled Fun. Its visor was a light gray, and it had kind of a cold look to it. Applejack gave Twilight more information: “And that's Thundercracker, from Manehattan. It's the latest one, incorporating some of the Forerunner tech we couldn't turn to magic before. It's the best one made so far. Pinkie sure surpassed herself with it. She...” Applejack never got to finish her sentence, for she as interrupted by a pink pony with a poofy, curly mane, who had just bungeed in from the ceiling. Seemingly oblivious to the shocked look on Twilight's face, or the resigned expressions everypony else was sporting, the mare chattered on, broken up by bungee-ing back up: “HI everybody! I just heard...” (bungee) “That there was a new...” (bungee) “Hussar, and I was all...” (bungee) “OOHH, someone new who I can...” (bungee) “Introduce to everyone and...” At this point Rainbow Dash, who'd been silent up to that point, interrupted the bungee-mare. “Pinkie, can you come down? Twilight is shocked into silence and it's really hard to talk to you when you keep bouncing up like that.” In between bungees, the pony called Pinkie nodded. When she bungeed up again, she came down via parachute. With her no longer moving rapidly up and down, Twilight was able to get a good look at her for the first time, and she saw her cutie mark. It was a cannon firing three balloons, two blue and one yellow, along with a few other party decorations. Twilight knew that decoration. It was emblazoned on most of the devices used at the dome, and on most of the magitech used pretty much everywhere recently. It was the logo of Party Time Magic and Technology, headed by the genius Pinkie Pie, who appeared to be the one who had just introduced herself via bungee cord. Twilight was a bit startled. She hadn't expected such a powerful pony to be such a complete lunatic. Twilight was startled about that for as long as it took Pinkie to notice her, after which she was a whole new variant of surprised. Pinkie studied her for a few seconds, and then burst out with her motor mouth: “Oooh, you're the new Hussar! Twilight Sparkle, isn't it? Hi! I'm so happy to meet you! I mean, I know you're supposed to be all “work” and everything, but I just heard 'new mare'' and I was all 'party!', and...” Had Rainbow Dash not interrupted her just then, she probably would have gone on forever. As it was, Dashie was able to stem the tide of words, and lead the party of ponies (now including the Party Pony) to another PON-Jaeger. This time, nobody needed an introduction to tell Twilight anything about the PON. She knew it all. There, in all its pre-Major-ravaged glory, stood Sonic Eclipse, Harmonics glowing, stance strong, looking ready to take on any amount of Majors. It, too, had a 'cutie-mark'; a lavender six-pointed star encircled by a rainbow, with wings on the sides of the circle. That didn't give Twilight any clue as to where Sonic Eclipse came from, but she knew already that Sonic had been built in Ponyville, so she supposed that that was the Ponyville mark. Rainbow Dash told her about it. “You already know Sonic, of course. She was salvaged when you left the force, and has been given some repairs and upgrades. Rarity herself helped upgrade the Harmonics, and it's currently got some better armor, more mobility, and easier magic-channels. I've been told that with upgrades to the wings, it will fly as easily as a pegasus. But other than that, it's about the same PON you're used to, just awesomer.” Twilight didn't know how to respond. It brought back memories. Memories of past battles won, and Majors trampled on like nopony's business. Memories of past loss, of Big Macintosh's death, and the horror that that had brought. She'd left the force after that, and so had Hoops. She didn't know what had happened to him after that. But the memories were just that, memories, and they were in the past, where they belonged. As if she knew what Twilight was thinking then, Applejack told her softly: “I know what you're feeling, about returning to Sonic. Big Macintosh was my brother.” There was silence. Rainbow Dash was giving Applejack a shocked look, as if she had never heard this before. Twilight herself gave a comforting smile and sidled up to Applejack to give her a hug. Of course she knew that Macintosh had two sisters, but she had never really paid them much attention, or ever really remembered their names. And now it was coming full circle, and she was going to be piloting with one of those sisters she could barely remember. Tartarus, that's probably why Applejack had been chosen in the first place. She now felt intensely uncomfortable for ignoring those memories of Macintosh's. The silence was broken by a soft fake cough from Fluttershy. Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack gave a start, having sort-of-kind-of forgotten that the quiet pegasus existed. Fluttershy hid a little behind her mane, and softly told the group of ponies who really ought to be finishing the tour: “Um, everypony? There's more to the facility than just the Stable, you know. We should show Twilight the way to actually enter the PONs, and after that the control room.” Rainbow and Applejack snapped out of their reverie and turned around, heading back towards the Hussar dorms. Twilight and Fluttershy followed. They backtracked through to the dorms, and then took a left turn, and then another left turn, into a lift-pad. Fluttershy activated the glowing crystal that put the magic in motion, and the lift shuddered up. It went up for twenty-five 'stories', represented by the crystal turning different colors, before Fluttershy stopped it. Twilight memorized what color it turned, because she would probably need it soon enough. Fluttershy led them through a hallway into the suiting-up room, with their 'armor' at the ready, and near the whole thing were the attendant ponies' dorms. The armor was different than Twilight remembered. Fore one thing, it was sleeker and less bulky than her earlier armor. For another, it was pink. Twilight suspected she knew who was behind that particular change. After she had had a good chance to look around and commit to memory the room and its surroundings, Fluttershy lead the way through a twisting set of corridors, into a room overlooking the Stable. There was a lot of softly glowing magical equipment in the room, that Twilight did not know the purpose of. There were several ponies manning posts there, but Twilight's eye was caught most by a beautiful mare, with a white coat and a purple mane, styled into a big ringlet, with her tail styled the same way. Her cutie mark was that of a PON's Harmonics. The mare was a bit busy, but soon she glanced over their way, and she made her way over to the party. “Oh, hello, Fluttershy, what brings you here? And Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rainbow Dash, too. And who's the new mare with you?” Fluttershy replied: “Oh, this is Twilight Sparkle. She's the new Hussar for Sonic Eclipse. Twilight, this is Rarity. She is providing funding for the PON program, and she helps run the Mission Control.” Rarity. Yet another big-name. Rarity was the brilliance behind the Harmonics, and most of the gem-tech used in Equestria. The tour of the Lunadome was sort of turning into a tour of Equestria's celebrities. Rarity immediately turned her attention to Twilight, saying “Oh, hello, ms. Sparkle. It's so nice to see you. We here at the Lunadome heard that Fluttershy was going to get you, but I didn't know anyone else. Now that I see you, I think you look nice, and the pink armor- it was Pinkie's idea- might go well with you, and... oh dearest Celestia what left those scars?!?” Rarity turned her attention to the magical burns on Twilight's side. They had been left there when that Major (Twilight didn't know its name), had attacked Sonic. Magical overload had left a burn there, but it'd healed, so Twilight didn't notice it all too much. Now she looked, at it, a bit self consciously, looked at Rarity, and said: “This was from the Major fight that got me out of the force. I don't really want to talk about it. And, weren't you doing something when we came in?” Rarity replied: “Oh, it's nothing that can't be interrupted. I'll respect your silence on those burns, but really. It mars your coat something awful, and I can't imagine what you must have gone through to get it.” Twilight felt uncomfortable again. Why was this mare paying such attention to her? Rarity, who didn't know what Twilight was thinking, told her: “You know where your room is, right? You should go there and freshen up, maybe take a short nap. There's a small bathroom at the end of the hall. There'll be combat practice in thirty minutes. Dash and Applejack here are the major candidates, but should they be drift-incompatible, there are some backups. And after that, we'll brief you on some of our new theories. You should find these things very interesting.” Twilight considered Rarity's proposal. All things considered, it felt like a really good idea. After all the information that had been dumped on her recently, thirty minutes of alone time to process it would be a good thing. She said to Rarity: “Thank you. I'll take you up on that offer,” and turned to leave. But before she could, Rainbow Dash reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. She smiled competitively at Twilight, and said: “I'm looking forward to meeting you at the combat. See you there, and I hope you can keep up with me.” Twilight felt a bit of the old spirit return, and smiled cockily back at Dash. “Heh, you should worry about keeping up with me.” Rainbow laughed. “Big words, Twi” she said. “We'll see if you can keep them in the arena.” Twilight simply smirked a little, and took another step, but before she could take a second, Applejack said: “Good luck, Twilight. Be waiting for you.” Fluttershy simply smiled in a cute, Fluttershyish way. Twilight smiled back, and went on her way to her rooms. She took the lift-pad down, and wound back toward the Hussar dorms. She found the bathroom where Rarity had said it was, and after a brief wondering why Applejack hadn't pointed it out to her, went in, and took a shower. She relished the warm water, which had been very scarce in Marelaska. It relaxed her muscles and calmed her mind. It cleared away the confusion caused by Pinkie Pie. How ccould she be such a genius, and yet such a nutcase? Twilight stepped out of the shower, and dried herself off with an old towel that was in the room. She was tired. The nap option was seeming better all the time. Replacing the towel on its rack, she left the room, and walked over to her chamber/broom closet (she suspected that it had been converted from some sort of closet). Before she could open the door and step in, yet another strange pony hailed her. “So, you're the pony that's going to be flanking the Great and Powerful Trixie if we get that plan to work?” Twilight turned, and saw a light blue pony with a whitish, maybe really pale blue mane and tail, and the cutie mark of a crescent moon coming out of a wand. The pony was smirking in an arrogant way. Twilight replied: “Flanking you? What plan? And can you leave me alone, I'm just trying to take a nap here!” The Great and Powerful Trixie simply smirked harder. “Oh, haven't had the briefing, had you? You go on with your nap. Rarity will tell you later. Trixie is looking forward to seeing you in combat.” Trixie then left, and went into her room. Twilight entered hers, closed the door, and then dropped down to the cot at the far wall and went to sleep. She had a feeling that she'd need all the rest she could get. Author's Note New chapter! This took a long time to get out. But here it is anyways!"
