New Beginnings

Emerald sighed as she looked at the letter in her hand that Spike had just delivered.

“Thanks Spike. Let Twilight and the girls know that I will be gone a couple of days. Also tell Twilight that the thing we were going to do is postponed until I get this situation handled.” She said.

“Okay. I will, see you in a couple of days Emerald.” Spike said before giving the mare a hug and heading back into town.

Emerald looked at the letter again. Apparently after their conversation the night before, Twilight had written to Celestia asking for advice.

‘To be fair, I didn’t tell her to not tell anyone, so I can’t really be mad at her.’ Emerald thought as she headed to her room and packed some clothes before throwing the relevant documentation, a copy of which she had given to Twilight a couple of hours ago, into the bag.

Heading out front, she quickly ensured that the building was locked down physically before touching a set of runes on the back wall, bringing up the wards that would only allow her and Holly to enter.

After one last check, Emerald gathered her Chaos magic and disappeared in a flash of green light.

She reappeared in a warded alley in Canterlot, just down the road from the Castle. She could have gone directly to the throne room, but she was still trying to be discreet and it was also incredibly rude in her opinion to do so.

Walking up the street, she quickly made it to the main gates of the Castle. Presenting the summons to the guards, she was quickly escorted by a pair of stallions to Celestia’s private tea room.

Once inside, she saw both Celestia and Luna. Passively scanning their surface thoughts, she found that Celestia was incredibly annoyed with her and Luna was very curious.

“Miss Gear. Please, join us for tea.” Celestia said, the order masked as a pleasant request.

Emerald did so, knowing that fighting Celestia would be counterproductive and would hurt Twilight deeply.

“So I understand that you want to, what was the word, ‘augment’ Twilight?” Celestia said after Emerald had made her tea.

Emerald took a moment to savour the drink, pulling on her millennia of experience dealing with situations such as this.

Namely, showing the other party you are in full control of the situation without resorting to force.

“Actually, Twilight is the one who requested I do it after her experience in the Crystal Empire. If I had known how shoddy her intel was, I would have gone with her. But that is neither here nor there. She wants to go through with this and I spent most of this morning trying to dissuade her, but her mind is set. Even after giving her the list of augmentations and the possible complications, she won’t back down.” Emerald stated firmly.

“What sort of complications Emerald Gear?” Luna asked, her form of address so much like Emerald’s friend Teal’c it hurt her heart.

“Either crippling disfigurement or outright death. I can handle most with magic, but there is always a chance.” Emerald replied to the darker sister.

“What will these augmentations do?” Celestia asked.

“She will be faster and stronger than she is now. Her physical and mental reaction times will be off the scales. Her eyesight and hearing will border on the preternatural. Her skeleton will be nearly indestructible. Combined with the armor that I will fabricate for her, she will be nearly unstoppable.” Emerald replied.

“So you will only train her body.” Celestia stated.

“No. I will train her mind as well. I will teach her advanced mathematics, military history from Earth, the strategies used and basic aeronautics and astronautics. By the time I am done with her, she will be even more intelligent than she is now.” Emerald replied.

“So you mean to turn her into a weapon.” Celestia said heatedly.

Emerald raised an eyebrow. “You already did that. All I will be doing is making her into a scalpel, rather than the cudgel that she is from your haphazard preparation. She will learn how to think things through, formulate plans on the fly and see them through.” She said firmly.

“Emerald Gear, would it be possible for you to perform this procedure and this training on some of Our Night Guard? We wish to see them as a more effective force than they are now. To be able to handle all but the most dangerous threats that will require the Elements of Harmony.” Luna inquired.

Emerald paused to consider, taking a drink of her tea as she did so. “I can, but keep in mind, I will need more than just the recruits if I take on more ponies. I will need doctors and cooks, as well as even more supplies.” She said after some deliberation.

“What supplies do you need and how much do you require?” Luna asked.

“I would require three years worth of food for at least triple the amount of ponies that will be going. Once the augmentations are complete, their appetites will sky rocket due to the heightened metabolism.” Emerald replied.

Luna and Celestia shared a look, a gamut of emotions passing over their faces as they had a silent discussion. Finally, Celestia sighed and Luna smiled victoriously.

“You will have what you require.” Celestia said

Emerald nodded before turning to Luna. “How many of your Guard do you wish to send. I know you would probably like to have all of them go, but the more ponies, the higher the likelihood of something going wrong.” She said.

“There are twenty that We wish to approach about this. They have shown that they are capable soldiers and have a desire to do more for our nation.” Luna replied.

Emerald nodded before turning to Celestia. “Are there any of your Day Guards that you wish to go through this training?” She inquired.

Celestia was quiet for a moment. “I can only think of five that would excel in this training.” She said finally.

Emerald nodded. “That will give you five SPARTAN fireteams. If they accept the offer. Get them together and I will meet with them in an hour. I am going to go back to Ponyville and get my armor.” Emerald said as she stood.

Celestia and Luna nodded before Emerald disappeared in a flash of green.

The two sisters looked at each other before they stood and gathered their candidates.

An hour later, Emerald reappeared in the Castle wearing her newest incarnation of the MJOLNIR power armor before Celestia and Luna.

“The candidates are in here.” Celestia said, gesturing towards a door. “I will go first and let them know you are here.” She said.

“Understood.” Emerald replied.

Celestia entered the room followed by Emerald. Luna was already in the room and was observing the troops inside.

Emerald looked upon the candidates. From the Day Guard, there were two unicorns, two earthers, and one pegasus. From the Night Guard, there were eight saberhorns, six nightstalkers and six thestrals.

Celestia stood before the group and spoke.

“This is Emerald Gear. Most of you may remember her from the Royal Wedding several months ago. She has an opportunity to make you more than what you are now. She wished to address you and inform you of the risks associated.” She said before stepping back and letting Emerald address the group.

Moving to the position that Celestia vacated, Emerald reached up and removed her helmet, a hiss issuing out as the seals released.

“As Celestia said, my name is Emerald Gear. Yesterday, my marefriend Twilight Sparkle returned from the Crystal Empire shaken from the events that nearly cost her and her friends dearly. She asked me to help her become stronger. She asked me to make her a SPARTAN. I told her that I would if she still felt the same after thinking on it after a week. She contacted Princess Celestia asking for advice. After meeting with both Princesses, they requested that I train and augment some of the Day and Night Guards. You twenty five are their candidates.” Emerald began. “I won’t lie to you and say that this is an easy decision or process. It WILL be painful and there is a chance that you will not survive the procedures that will augment you. Either crippling disfigurement or death is a possibility. But if you will survive you will be better than an entire army of normal ponies. But this also has the possibility of alienating you from your fellow troops. During the training, you will come to hate me. I will not go easy on you. Your bodies will be pushed to the limits and past them. Your minds will also be trained. You will become a scalpel to be wielded against all but the most dangerous magical threats that will require the use of the Elements of Harmony. For those in the Night Guard, you will become even more feared by the enemies of the Crown than you already are. During my time fighting with the Tau’ri over ten thousand years ago, I was called ‘Demon’ by my foes. From most it was an insult. But from a few who had come to our side and rebelled against the false gods, it was a sign of respect. My mere presence on the battlefield could break sieges on friendly positions before I even began my attack.” She finished.

“So we will be stronger than we are now?” An earther mare inquired.

“You will be stronger, faster, and smarter.” Emerald said. “What is your name?”

“Corporal Meadow Song, ma’am.” Meadow Song replied.

Emerald nodded. “You will become Equestria’s greatest hope for peace. The training you will receive will make you far more effective than you are now.” She replied.

“How so?” A thestral stallion asked. “Sergeant Shadow Wing, ma’am.” He added.

“When was the last actual war the Equestria fought? Something like four or five hundred years ago right?” Emerald asked, getting nods in response. “You are currently trained for peace time. I will train you for war. You will be trained in small team tactics that would be considered dishonorable by the current leadership. You will learn how to operate behind enemy lines and conduct hit and run attacks designed to demoralize the enemy. Things like sabotage and assassinations. You will be taught to go for the officers first to cause confusion in the enemy’s ranks. You will infiltrate enemy positions while they sleep and eliminate them. You will be ghosts, striking from the shadows.” She finished, making the Day Guards recoil and the Night Guards smirk. They already operated from the shadows, so this would make them more effective.

Seeing the reactions of the Day Guard, Emerald frowned. “If you can’t handle it, then there is the door.” She said pointing to it. “Don’t let it hit you on the way out.”

The unicorns and the earther stallion stood and with a glance at Celestia, they exited the room.

“Celestia, once we are done here, impress upon those three that they are not to speak of this to anyone, even their mothers.” Emerald said, getting a nod from the solar diarch.

“Lieutenant Highwind ma’am. Who will lead us?” The pegasus asked.

Emerald smiled. “With the blessing of the Princesses, I will take up my old rank of General and will lead the SPARTAN Corps.” She said, getting nods from the pair. “Now here is something that less than a dozen ponies know. I am immortal. I have existed for over eleven thousand years and before I was brought to Terra, I fought in engagements on over a thousand different worlds. I will be introducing you to technology that is in some cases millennia beyond what currently exists. You will learn how to use it and maintain it. One of which is the facility that we will be using for training. I can only estimate the age of the facility due to not knowing the timeline of the rest of the galaxy, but it is at least ten thousand years old.” She said.

“Where did you find this facility?” Luna asked.

Emerald waved her hand and a holographic globe appeared. It was centered on Canterlot, but quickly rotated to show an island just north of the northern 33rd parallel.

“This island is roughly three hundred square kilometers and is situated in a temperate zone so it has multiple seasons, even though due to my plan we will only experience the current season.” Emerald explained.

“What is your plan?” Celestia asked.

“I plan to set up a time dilation field that encompasses the island and a hundred kilometers of ocean in any direction. We will experience the three years that the training will take while only about a week will pass on the outside. This will also allow us to stay off the radars of the military leadership and the nobility for as long as possible. Goddess knows they would try to say I am trying to lead a coup. It will also allow for us to focus on training and not having to worry about the weather changing on us, though there will be days where I will be having it rain or snow so you can learn to deal with adverse conditions.” Emerald explained.

“Master Sergeant Midnight. Will the other Bearers be joining the training, or will it just be Miss Sparkle?” A saberhorn stallion asked.

Emerald shook her head. “No, none of them are even close to SPARTAN material. Truthfully, neither is Twilight. She has a long road to go to get up to your current level. I know that she has gotten some military training as a battlemage, but she hasn’t done anything with it since she finished basic training.” She said before looking each of the ponies in the eye. “I expect all of you to help her out. As SPARTANs, you will be more than just a military unit. You will be a family. You will have each others backs no matter what. If one of you fails, all of you fail. There will be times that I will be cruel in this training, even with her. She wants to be stronger, and to do that, I can’t coddle her or treat her differently. Also, once the time dilation starts, you will all be equals. Your current ranks will be out the window. Platoon and squad leaders will be assigned based upon your current rank, but if I feel if someone is better suited for the role, that will change. This will be a new type of warfare that I will be training you in. I would eventually like to see the rest of the Equestrian military trained the same way you are going to be trained. It will allow Equestria to be more flexible in responding to threats.” Emerald finished.

“Yes ma’am!” All of the candidates responded.

“Now, all of you are to spend the next week getting your affairs in order prior to reporting to my house in Ponyville. I will arrange transport to the training site. Once there, I will conduct a briefing on what we will be doing and assign you quarters. The medical teams and other support staff will be there the day prior and will process you and ensure that you are physically fit for training. The next morning we will start training.” Emerald said before looking over the group once more. “Dismissed.”

The group stood, came to attention and saluted the armored mare. Emerald returned the salute and the group left the room.

“A small group. I had hoped all of them would have stayed.” Celestia said.

Emerald nodded. “So did I, but we had to give them the option. There is another reality where there were more SPARTANs, but only the I and IV series were volunteers. The II and III series were conscripted children. Indoctrinated to follow orders and have no humanity. Even I didn’t have a choice, not really anyways.” She said.

“How so?” Luna asked.

“I was an alien on another world. My choice was become a SPARTAN, or get tossed into a hole on a black base for the rest of my life. I chose the path that had the least chains.” Emerald said, donning her helmet. “I think it worked out pretty well overall. Send the supplies to my house and I will take them to the training site.” She added before teleporting out.