My Little Commander
Part One: Equestrian Dawn
Chapter One
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Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I have learned tha
A sudden crash made Twilight Sparkle jump, the quill she was using in her letter making a massive splotch on the parchment she was using. She looked around, almost half expecting that Rainbow Dash had somehow crashed into the library… again. But, except for a few books that had tumbled from their properly assigned spots, nothing else seemed to be out of the ordinary; Spike was sleeping, the books she was studying through were still in a neat pile (though on page had turned on her during the crash. A quick spell turned it back for her, though).
The violet unicorn pony sighed, before returning back to her letter. Or, rather, the mess that her letter had become due to the sudden distraction. Sighing again, she summoned another piece of parchment from the pile next to her desk, magically setting it down in front of her. Using her horn, Twilight starting writing again.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I ha
Yet another crash echoed through the library. This time, Twilight was lucky enough that her quill didn’t land on the paper, ruining another letter.
Nope. It landed on her muzzle, spilling the black ink on her face.
“Oh for the…” she growled, grabbing a cloth with her magic and wiping her face off before turning around to see a wide-eyed Applejack and Rainbow Dash panting heavily inside her door.
“Twilight, ya’ll got a come quick!” the orange colored earth pony gasped in her thick accent.
“Something just crashed into Sweet Apple Acres!” Rainbow exclaimed.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Are you sure it just wasn’t a, you know, apple?” she replied sarcastically.
Both shook their heads quickly. “No! Ah saw it come from the sky!” AJ replied. “So fast ya’ll have no idea! Faster than Rainbow Dash!”
“Ya! It…” the blue Pegasus pony started, before realizing the trap that the farmer had set for her. “I’ll get you for that,” she muttered.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Alright, let’s go see what it is then.”
Rainbow and Applejack immediately dashed off, running and flying as fast as they could back to the farm. Despite the urgency of the matter, they still couldn’t put aside their differences long enough to not race each other.
When they arrived, they saw Twilight already standing near the rather large crater in the middle of the apple orchard, near the small river than ran through it.
“How did ya’ll get her so fast?” AJ asked, panting heavily.
“You forget that I’m a unicorn, right?” she said, turning away from the crater. “One that can teleport?”
Applejack sheepishly chuckles. “Ah, ya, that…”
But Twilight had already turned back to the hole in the ground. She continued to study it for a good while, before at last turning around back to her other two friends.
“Well, what we got here is a meteor,” the studious pony stated, “just a lump of rock from outer space that managed to survive going through the atmosphere and embedded itself in your field, Applejack.”
“So, nothing dangerous then?” Applejack quizzed her magical friend. “Nothing that should harm mah apples?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. Though maybe checking again later might not hurt. It is still hot from the re-entry into the atmosphere, so staying away would be a good idea until tomorrow.” Twilight started to trot past her friends back toward Ponyville. “Now, if you excuse me, I got a letter to write.”
“I still think it wasn’t as fast as me…” Rainbow grumbled, crossing her front legs together while still hovering above the ground as Twilight walked away.
“And Ah think you’r jealous that a big rock from space is faster than ya’ll!” Applejack shot back.
“Oh cm'on, I was clearly at 20 percent faster!”
The orange pony rolled her eyes, flipping her tied ponytail. “As if!”
The two continued to argue for the rest of the night.
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The sun was slowly working its way out of the west when Applejack yawned and stretched from her sleep. Waking up, she clip-clopped her way down stairs of the large, homely farmhouse she resided in with her family, and walked out to start another day of farm work, grabbing an apple with her teeth to munch on while she went about her morning chores. She looked up to see a kinda cloudy day above. Looks like Rainbow Dash slept in... again.
She wandered her way through the large orchards that surrounded the homestead of the Apple family, humming to herself as she did so, looking for any apple trees that might need some more proper TLC than what they usually got. She was looking at one tree near the entrance to the farm, when she heard singing. And that singing could only be from one pony.
Applejack looked down the road toward Ponyville, and chuckled as she saw Pinkie Pie bounding her way down the road. The permanent smile on her face seemed much brighter than usual (if that was possible, Applejack thought), and she had her side bags with her. Which, when putting two and two together, could only mean one thing…
Pinkie Pie continued to sing as she bounded up along the road toward Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack stepped out from the orchard as Pinkie came up, stopping the bouncy pony in her tracks.
Before the farmer could get a word in, Pinkie Pie exclaimed; “Hi Applejack! Just the pony I was looking for! I was going to bake some desserts for a party tonight, but we were all out of apples for Sugarcube Corner, and since no one else in town has a food cart open yet, which is kind of confusing because then how would the ponies who have to work in the night get food if they can’t go to a cart, unless they bring their own food, but then how would they carry it, unless they have a bag like I do…”
Applejack tried to continue following the one way conversation, but everything after that seemed to go into a downhill spiral, though she did manage to pick out “cloud,” “fudge,” “baseball bat” and “piano” from the seemingly random conversation, until at last Pinkie Pie stopped and took a deep breath.
“…and so, to make sure no one can screw up Halloween, I’ve come to ask for some apples!” she finished, smiling at the confused Applejack.
“Uh, yah, shure thing Pinkie Pie,” the orange pony drawled, her mind still spinning from the complete randomness (or was it?) that Pinkie Pie blabbered out. “If ya’ll just come in, Ah’m shure I can getcha some apples for your… thing.”
“Yay! Thank you Applejack! You know you are the best friend a pony can have! Much like…” Pinkie Pie started again before she stopped, starring wide eyed toward the center of the orchard. “Um, did you dress up your trees with those shiny green gems?”
“What gems? I don’t have time to use gems on my trees,” Applejack started, but Pinkie placed a hoof on her friends head and turned it toward where the exuberant pony was talking about.
Applejack’s jaw dropped at the sight. From where the little crater that Dash, Twilight and herself had investigated last night, shimmering green crystals seemed to have grown out of it, covering the ground and the some of the trees surrounding it. The green crystals shimmered in the light, dazzling the two ponies standing on the hill.
To Pinkie Pie, the dazzling display below her was too good to pass up. “You know what? I think I’ll just take some of those gems!”
Before she can bound off Applejack pulls on her tail, making Pinkie, in mid leap, fall to the ground. “Hold on there, Pardner,” she said. “I was talkin’ with Twilight last night, and she said it might be best to leave it alone for now.”
Pinkie Pie laughed. “Oh, come on, how bad could it be?”
Applejack looked back to the outgrowth of those strange crystals, and back to Pinkie Pie, before sighing. “Alright, I guess ya’ll can have it if ya want.”
The Pink pony leaped straight into the air, an expression of joy on her face. “You mean it? Yay!” she said. “Thanks a lot!” Before Applejack could reply, she was already on her way to the green crystals, and when the farmer pony looked again later, the bubbly party thrower was still gathering a bunch with her hooves and putting them in her side bags.
As the day passed, Applejack continued looking through the apple orchards, looking at all the apples that were almost ready for Applebucking. But as she got closer to where the crater was, she started to notice that the grass seemed to be browner, while the leaves on the trees were already starting to fall, though it was nowhere near time for autumn. She was growing concerned, especially when she started to notice that those green crystals were sprouting up a fair distance away from the impact zone.
“I wonder how Pinkie Pie is doin’,” she thought. “She shure has been takin’ her time with pickin’ those gems.”
She at last reached the impact zone, and froze in her footsteps. Her friend was on the ground, surrounded by the green crystals. She looked like she was unconscious and was still breathing, but that was almost the only thing she could recognize.
For one thing, her pink coat and mane was now spot-marked with green crystals growing out of her. The cutie mark on her flank had also changed: the balloons that curled up on her was now green, and shined just like the rest of the mysterious substance. Her coat also now had a more green tinge to it, though it was still identifiable as pink. Somewhat. Applejack was stunned: Twilight said that the meteor was okay… right? Yet, here, in front of her very eyes, was one of her best friends, with the green stuff growing out of her.
This was not good.
Not good at all.
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Twilight hurriedly flipped throw book after book, tossing each one behind her as she was done. The little purple and green dragon Spike, her assistant, was running around, trying to clean up the ever increasing mess of haphazardly thrown books all around. She had been doing this for what seemed like forever, as the sun was starting to set in the east, and she had started since mid-afternoon the day before. Sometimes Spike was not sure if Twilight ever slept.
“No… no… no… no…” the unicorn pony kept muttering as she leafed through each book.
“Um, Twilight, what are you doing?” Spike at last asked.
“No…no… no… NO!” she growled, gritting her teeth together. “I can’t find anything about this!”
Spike still looked at the violet unicorn, using her magic to pull yet more books down from the shelves all around her, trying to find SOMETHING.
“What’s wrong Twilight?” Spike asked again.
“Pinkie Pie is really sick, and something is happening to her that is impossible, and something weird is growing throughout Sweet Apple Acres. No one seems to know what it is. And it looks like Applejack is coming down with the same thing as well!” Twilight barked out in frustration. “And I can’t find a single thing about it!”
Spike scratched his head. “Well, what if it’s a new thing?”
Twilight turned around, her mane in a mess, bags under her eyes from over 24 hours of no sleep. “It makes no sense! How can a meteor have managed to make it here do this? It makes absolutely no sense at all!”
Spike was about say something when he paused, and with a belch a scroll appeared, with Princess Celestia’s seal on it. The baby dragon catches the scroll before it could land on the floor, and reads it out loud to Twilight:
My Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle,
I’m sorry to hear of your friends Pinkie Pie and Applejack, and the apparent sickness they are currently experiencing. Many such reports have come into Canterlot in the past few days, and, from what I hear, your friends are lucky to have not died from the exposure to this mysterious element.
However, no information exists as to this mysterious substance in the Royal Library. It seems as if nothing had ever happened like this before. But the smartest ponies in all of Equestria have come together, and have found out a few things about this substance;
First, it appears to be taking the minerals and materials from the ground and converting it into the green crystals, and growing at very fast rates. Experiments have shown that the crystals can be broken down and refined into usable materials. They are currently working on methods to do this on a large scale.
Second, it is very, very dangerous. The crystals seem to merge with the body of any pony, and any plant substance it comes in contact with, turning the host into more of the green crystals, sometimes resulting in their death, but other times mutating them, like with your friends. It also emits highly poisonous gases, so all contact should be avoided.
Twilight, I must ask you to please do your best to keep calm in Ponyville. This substance, though highly dangerous, also has valuable properties as well. Our scienponies need more time to research it before we can confront the problem.
Also, they have given it a name. Due to some of the first reports coming from the area of the Tiberony River area, they have named it Tiberium.
Further information will be sent when more is learned.
Your teacher,
Princess Celestia
Spike looked up from the letter to see Twilight standing in shock, looking out the window of the library toward Sweet Apple Acres, and the soft green glow emanating from one of its orchards, much larger than it was but just a few days before when Pinkie Pie and Applejack first got sick.
She at last sighed, and looked away. Twilight glumly climbed down from the window, and slipped out into the night, most likely heading for the hospital, where both Applejack and Pinkie Pie where in, isolated from the other patients.
And they were not going to be the only ones, sadly. Twilight was almost certain that this problem wasn’t one Friendship could solve. So what could?
My Little Commander
Part One: Equestrian Dawn
Chapter Two
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The rapidly evolving crisis surrounding the mysterious appearance of Tiberium in Equestria has sparked interest and fascination in many of the pony inhabitants of the fair land. While the smartest scientists of the land continued to explore the properties of the substance, many fields of the alien crystals had already begun spreading throughout the domain of the Princesses Celestia and Luna, forcing thousands of ponies to leave their homes and move to refugee camps.
One of these scientists, Doctor Marbius, soon became known as one of the prime experts of the substance. She began developing techniques in order to interact with Tiberium without exposing the pony to become sick, as well as also continued studying the transformative and genetic tampering properties of Tiberium.
One business man, using the ideas proposed by Marbius, began developing a “harvester” that could be used to gather the Tiberium, while other scientists perfected a refining process to take the valuable, yet dangerous crystals and turn them into useful materials for construction. Tiberium is soon recognized as a potential gold mine to investors, and the Manehattan Stock Exchange soon introduced the price of Tiberium beside the classic gold and oil indicators. New companies that specialize in Tiberium are soon making huge gains, building refineries along the edges of these fields throughout the land.
But Fluttershy, being the kind and gentle caretaker of the animals around ponyville, was getting a first hand look at what Tiberium could do. For over three weeks now she was inundated with a rapidly escalating number of cases of poisoning related to Tiberium. Like Applejack and Pinkie Pie, the crystals were growing on the creatures as if it was eating away at the bodies of these creatures to fuel its own growth. In a way, that was exactly what it was trying to do.
She carefully wound her way through her cottage wearing a hazardous material suit, pushing a cart with medicine for the animals that had already been infected with the alien substance. The weak birds unable to fly, the injured mice unable to scurry, and the incapacitated bunnies that were unable to bound, conspired to make Fluttershy feel more and more useless to help these critters she had grown to love.
She gave them all the care she could, but it there was too many. She was barely functioning on the little bits of sleep she had to take when her body couldn’t go any more. She was driven more or less on the hope that she could save some of these animals. But as day after day passed, those chances continued to look more and more grim.
“Oh, don’t worry Mr. Parakeet,” she said through the plastic of her suit to one bird that tried to squawk, but instead coughed. “I’m sure you will feel fine soon.” The bird nodded and whistled softly, and lay down again, while Fluttershy turned away, tears streaming down her cheeks as she lied, yet again, to another animal that would not survive.
She walked past a dog, who, instead of dying, was actually transforming. Green crystals grew out of its back, while its formerly grey coat was turning into a blackish shell. It looked so fierce, but was still so much like the little puppy it had been before. It even came up and licked the haz-mat suit, almost begging for a friend.
“I know Spot, I wish I could play with you. But you might hurt me.” The transformed creature whimpered softly, but Fluttershy was right. If one of these creatures (which someone called “Tiberian Fiends”) got too excited, or felt it was in danger, it could shoot the Tiberium spikes out of its back, and strike and instantly kill a target.
She petted the Fiend again, before continued through the makeshift veterinary hospital, trying to do everything she could for the animals inside. So many where not going to make it, she knew. And she was heartbroken over it.
A knock at the cottage door distracted her, and she clip-clopped her way to see who it was.
Rarity stood on the other side of the door, holding a plastic bag with her magic as she gently knocked on the door again. “Fluttershy!” she sang out. It had been so long since she say her friend, so she knew she must do something to help.
The door opened to show the timid yellow and pink maned pony in her haz-mat suit, startling Rarity.
Fluttershy closed the door, and pulled back the head of the suit, before realization struck her. “Oh... I missed our Spa appointment, didn’t I?” she said.
“Well, actually three... but don’t worry about that.” Rarity was quick to assure her friend. “I know you have been busy with all the animals...”
Fluttershy broke down into tears with that. Rarity skittered back, before at last approaching the pegasus.
“They are all so sick, Rarity,” Fluttershy sobbed. “Most of them are not going to live, while the rest are turning into monsters. I don’t know what I can do.
Rarity knelt down beside the overworked, stressed and scared pony, pulling her close to rest. “Well, you are comforting them when they need it most, Fluttershy. No one else wants to care for them, but you do. You love all animals, and hate to see them like this. That make you such a good caretaker and friend.”
Fluttershy was still whimpering, but the soft, friendly words soon lulled her to rest. Rarity looked down at her friends, and gently brushed her mane. It was a mess, as Fluttershy had been cramped in that plastic suit for days with little rest. Rarity set the little bag down she had brought, and pulled out a little blanket and wrapped it around Fluttershy. In a little bit, Fluttershy would wake up and go back into taking care of the animals with Tiberium poisoning, but for now she needed a friend. And if Rarity couldn’t do anything else beside look fabulous, she could at least do that.
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As the weeks passed on, a large refinery was established on the outskirts of Ponyville, and dozens of new ponies came to town in order to help with the Tiberium process. Most of them seemed friendly enough, but a few were... different.
First of all, they were reclusive. And in a place where friendship and hospitality were the order of the day, that aroused curiosity, but despite the townpony’s best efforts, they remained isolated in their camp. Second, they had been overheard talking about a Ponyhood, and Nod, which made no sense to anyone that listened, but they became angry and aggressive if anyone came to close to their place, or asked to many questions.
The weirdest of all was their cutie marks. Everyone knew that, for the most part, Cutie Marks are a unique symbol for the pony that has it. But these mysterious newcomers all had the same, or minor variations of the same cutie mark.
A black, recoiled scorpion tail in a black bordered red triangle.
More and more of these strange ponies came to Ponyville, but no one wanted to do anything about it. After all, they were here for the Tiberium, right? They were just different, and Ponyville respected the differences of other ponies. At least, that is what the Mayor of Ponyville kept saying.
But Rainbow Dash was becoming suspicious of these ponies, and had good reason to. When she was moving clouds around one day to prepare for a rainstorm, a couple of the pegasus ponies with the weird cutie marks flew up beside her.
“Hey! What are you doing!” one shouted at Raindow Dash, flying in front of her and holding back the cloud she had been moving.
“I’m doing my job,” she replied, moving the cloud around the two stallions trying to stop her.
But they flew back in front of her, and stopped her again. “Did we say you could do that?”
RD looked at them suspiciously. “I don’t need orders to deal with the weather around Ponyville. That is my job.”
The two ponies pulled the cloud away. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t need you to go messing around with the weather over the Refinery or our base. Now, get out of here!” the talkative one barked.
“Says who?” asked the fastest flyer in Ponyville.
The one that so far hadn’t talked reached into his bag and pulled out an object that Dash couldn’t see clearly. Until it was aimed at her face. And she found herself looking down the barrel of a gun.
“We do.”
Rainbow Dash stared at the gun, before at last deciding to fly back to Ponyville. She looked back, almost expecting to see the two of them laughing at her for fleeing.
But they weren’t, like other bullies would have. They kept glaring at her, making her feel as if they were boring straight into her with their eyes.
Over the next few days, she would continue to try to deal with the weather over Ponyville. But day after day, those same pegasus ponies came up and stopped her from going near the refinery, or where their “base” was.
“Are you just trying to anger us?” the first stallion growled one day. “One of these days we will just shoot you without warning. See how you like that!”
Rainbow Dash was now scared (though she wouldn’t admit it). “I’m only doing my job,” she protested, holding her ground.
“Well, do your job elsewhere. If you come back over here, we will shoot first, and ask questions later... if at all,” the first stallion coldly replied.
Later that day, Rainbow Dash stopped into the Library to talk to Twilight. When she entered she could see Twilight running around, a duster being held by her magic cleaning the place.
“Twilight,” Rainbow Dash called, but Twilight ran past her, picking up some of the books on the floor and putting them back on the shelf.
“Twilight,” RD called louder, but Twilight ran past again, to pick up a garbage can full of trash.
“TWILIGHT!” Rainbow Dash yelled out, startling the magical unicorn, causing the can to fall to the floor, upsetting all the garbage in it.
The purple pony sighed, and turned around. “What is it Rainbow?”
“Um.... what are you doing?”
“Can’t you see I was trying to clean up?” Twilight asked, picking up the garbage again.
“Why?”
“Because Princess Celestia is coming to visit, and I want everything pristine for her,” she replied, before at last picking up the garbage can and setting it out the door.
“Uhh... okay...” Rainbow said. “Why is she coming?”
“She has news, but wanted to tell me in person. And I’m supposed to get my friends, and, well, your here now!” Twilight then sighed. “Unfortunately, Applejack and Pinkie Pie are still too sick to come. I hope that Tiberium poisoning gets better.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said, “I hope so too. But I have something else I want to talk to you about.”
“What is it?” the unicorn asked, dusting off some book cases.
“Those ponies at the refinery, they keep stopping me from moving the clouds over the Tiberium field.”
Oh... I thought you were just being lazy... Twilight thought. Again.
“And the other day they put a gun to my face,” Rainbow said, he voice starting to shake as she said so.
Twilight stopped dusting. “What?”
Rainbow Dash, the full meaning of what happened before starting to sink in, collapsed to the floor. “Oh my god... they could have killed me!”
Twilight trotted over. “They had... guns? But... but no one has guns in Equestria anymore... not even the Royal Guards!”
“Well they sure did, and they threatened to shoot me if I come close again!” Rainbow exclaimed.
“Maybe the Princess could help sort it out... it might have just been a...”
A massive explosion rocked the massive tree that the library was housed in, sending books tumbling to the floor. Rainbow and Twilight, after a moment of fear that the library would fall in on them, looked at each other wide-eyed before at last running out of the building.
When they left, they gasped at the sight of what happened. The town hall had been attacked!
The majority of the structure was a pile of wood splinters and crushed stone, while the little that remained was on fire. Sirens in the distance told of the volunteer fireponies coming as fast as they could to put out the fire.
Rainbow and Twilight raced to the scene of the attack. The Mayor, dust and bruises all over her, stumbled towards them. “Oh my goodness! A...a bomb!”
“Bomb?” asked Twilight. “Are you sure?”
The Mayor nodded her head, though whither in agreement or shock Twilight could not tell. The two friends then helped the older pony to lay on the ground before she fell down.
“I bet I have an idea who did this,” Rainbow whispered to Twilight, before pointing a hoof in the direction of the Tiberium field.
“But why would they want to do this?” Twilight asked.
The Mayor looked up to them. “I...I sent someponies to go, to try to get them to tell us what they were doing. They refused to let them in... then this happened.”
Twilight looked at the Mayor, and then over the massive refinery building that dwarfed Ponyville, even though it was in the distance. If they didn’t want anyone to see what they were doing, they must have been doing something that they shouldn’t be.
But what?
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The Royal Carriage came to a stop outside of the Library, and the graceful Princess Celestia stepped off of as evening descended on Equestria. Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy and Rarity bowed low to greet their monarch.
“Thank you so much,” the princess said kindly, though her voice seemed to hiding something. “Let us go inside, for I have something I must tell you.”
Inside the five equines went, while two guards (which the other ponies noticed where no longer carrying spears, but actual rifles now) took their places outside the door.
“What is it Princess Celestia?” asked Twilight, once they got inside.
“I have bad news,” she replied mournfully. “A series of bombing and attacks throughout Equestria, and including the Ponyville Town Hall, are all linked to one organization that no one had heard of before.”
“Which is...?” Rainbow asked.
“The Ponyhood of Nod,” the Princess said.
The other four ponies looked at each other in confusion.
“Um...what are they?” Fluttershy asked timidly, like she normally would.
Princess Celestia looked up to the window to watch the moon, being lifted by her sister now, rising to its place in the night sky. “All we know is that they are indirectly in control of most of the Tiberium refineries in Equestria, and they are making enormous profits from the sale of the substance. And they are using this money to build an army.”
“Why would they want to build an army?” Rarity asked. “Equestria doesn’t have one, so what are they trying to do?”
“They are trying to take over Equestria, and the world,” the Princess replied. “We may not have an army, but other places do. And, starting now, Equestria is also building a military force.”
Fluttershy looked the most stunned at this. “But.. but... that means that...”
“...we’ll have to fight them?” Rainbow finished. The Princess nodded, and Fluttershy meeped softly.
“What do you want us to do?” Twilight asked. “We can get the Elements of Harmony...”
“They will not work. The Ponyhood is too widespread, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie are too sick to help. We do not even know who the leader of Nod is yet. And stopping him will not mean that the the rest of it will be.” The Princess rose. “Therefore, by Royal Decree, the Equestrian Defence Initiative, or the EDI, will be established. As of this moment, you are all Generals. Rainbow Dash, you are to join the Air Force; Rarity, you will become part of the Quartermaster Corps; and Fluttershy, we are asking that you join the Medical Corps to help those with Tiberium poisoning.” The three ponies saluted the queen, though Fluttershy was, indeed, scared of the war about to break out (for it was most likely going to), while Rainbow Dash was thrilled at this new adventure. Rarity was already running through her mind which forms of camouflage would look best in the field...
“What about me, Princess?” asked Twilight.
“You will be the Second in Command, under General Shepherd, of all EDI forces in Equestria.” the Princess replied. “You will be sent to battles wherever you are needed, and use the forces there to help defeat any attack.” Twilight nodded, and saluted herself.
The Princess nodded. “We have no idea when, or if, Nod will attack. Right now, we are preparing for any eventuality. Hopefully, by showing Nod we are not to be trifiled with, we may just be able to stop them before they start.”
