“Princess Celestia! Princess Celestia!”
A violet mare barreled through the white hallway knocking over anyone that happened to be in her way. Her horn shined a bright purple slightly as she attempted to reach her mentor simultaneously.
“Princess… Please answer this!”
She bumped into a griffin, knocking the hybrid and her clawful of datapads clattering to the ground. Ignoring the complaints that immediately followed, the mare continued her storm rush through the complex until she reached the political wards. She passed several screens with quickly scrolling data referring to stocks, news about planetary affairs, and freshly enacted policies, among other things.
The mare passed by a mirror, her face which had once been set in a grimace was now changing to one of glee. Ahead was a pair of doors with ‘Conference Center’ marked above them both. Yes, I made it! Her horn flared slightly and a door opened, allowing her passage into this conference room.
“Princess, I have something I must show you! It is of the utmost importance!”
Inside the center was a steel gray, round table, the middle of which held the projection of what appeared to be a new colony. Surrounding the table was a tall, pure white alicorn and a well-built griffin with multiple scars on his body. Behind those two were blue holograms of an older zebra mare wearing what looked to be traditional Konakkatun robes and a Diamond Dog wearing armor encrusted with gems.
“Twilight? What are you doing here?” Princess Celestia turned toward Twilight slowly, her golden regalia shining in the light of the holograms.
Twilight trotted forward quickly and bowed to the princess of all Pony kind. She then looked at the griffin, who was glaring down at her. The scar across his left eye and down his beak absolutely terrified the young mare, but what she needed to say outweighed her fear.
“Princess, my team and I have discovered an ancient artifact dating back to the end of the last great races. It is a beacon, completely intact and… I believe the information is something that all of the Council leaders should see.” She paused after finishing, looking at the ground as though she’d seen a ghost. Celestia waited patiently, however the battle scarred griffin was the exact opposite.
“Well out with it, girl! What is this all important artifact you rabble on about?”
“Gadd, please!” Celestia stated firmly, but near silently. “Twilight, do you have the object with you?”
“Yes, your highness… It’s right here,” Twilight murmured as her horn glowed. The sides of her white body suit had a single diamond on each which resonated with Twilight’s horn. From them poured a blue light that formed into a disk once completely loaded. The purple scientist pressed the top of the disc, initiating the message that had been copied to it.
A blue, bipedal Asari rose from the disc. She looked human, save for the tentacles on top of her head and blue skin. She wore a white body suit nearly identical to that of Twilight’s as well. However, the occupants of the room were not paying attention to what she was wearing, but rather what she was and had to say.
”If you are hearing this, then there is still hope. Hope, that you can avoid the same mistakes we made.
“We fought the Reapers, but… we failed to stop them.
“We did everything we could. We built the Crucible… but it didn’t work. We fought as a united galaxy… but it wasn’t enough.
“I only hope the information in this capsule is enough to help you. My name is Dr. Liara T’Soni…
“And this is the recounting of our war with the Reapers.”
In the year 1635, astronomers found spatial objects of an unknown origin. The following decades of study wrought advances in technology not even the goddess princesses of Equestria could conceive. The basis of these items was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.
The ponies of Equestria called it the greatest discovery in history.
The civilizations of the galaxy called it…
Mass Effect
“Princess Luna, this beacon that Twily found has some… disturbing information.” A white stallion with a mane striped two different shades of blue levitated a datapad in front of him as he walked through a pair of transparent blue doors. On the other side was a deep navy blue alicorn wearing black and silver regalia with a mane that flowed as an ethereal mass of stars. Truly, she looked like the embodiment of the night itself. Currently surrounding her were three separate terminals and a plethora of datapads all covered in a light blue aura.
“Yes, Vice Admiral Armor. I require a summary of the information,” she stated without turning her head.
“Understood, your Highness.” Shining Armor lifted his right foreleg causing his grayish blue armor to shine slightly from the light of the terminals. An orange light in the form of a glove hovering above the end of his foreleg formed after a moment and the Vice Admiral tapped a few buttons, bringing up a screen. “I’ll transfer the contents of the beacon to your omnitool. You’re aware that the Asari race, along with krogans, salarians, and humanity, came to an abrupt end.” Luna nodded her head once. “Well, the beacon explains what caused the deaths of entire civilizations in such close proximity of each other. They were, believe it or not, attacked and defeated by a race of sentient war ships titled the Reapers. The disconcerting point is that these Reapers attack every 50,000 years, and we’re next.”
Luna was silent for a while before she finally dropped the datapads and turned toward him. “You are sure this is what the datapad relates?”
Shining nodded. “There are also schematics for weapons developed over the course of their battle. With the massive amount of Element Zero on Equestria, outfitting all of our battleships with the armaments will only be a matter of construction time.”
Luna walked past him, her head gazing at the ceiling. “My sister once had a dream of these Reapers. In it, a human was battling against one alone. It was a horrific sight, seeing what this ‘Reaper’ had wrought on the city surrounding it, but decided that it been a dream and just that.” She turned back to Shining, who had a slightly surprised look on his face. “I see now that we were wrong. Come, Shining Armor. We will need somepony to ensure the creation of the weapons goes unhindered.” A set of faces appeared in front of both of them once Luna tapped her omnitool a few times. “And I have just the pony…”
“Woowie! Now ain’t that a beauty?” An orange mare with a blonde mane wearing burgundy and gray combat armor was gazing at a results board. On it read “Applejack – 1:19” along with other names and time recordings. “Ah told y’all I was fit as a fiddle, just like Ah’ve always been!” She turned to face a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and a light brown earth pony colt with a a darker mane. “How ya like them apples, Ms. Ten-Seconds-Flat?”
Ms. Ten-Seconds-Flat looked away in derision. “Yeah, well I was just having an off day. Without this armor weighing me down, I’d have finished way before you!”
The light brown stallion chuckled and said in a deep voice, “Yeah, sure Rainbow.” He looked up to the ceiling and put a hoof to his chin, feigning serious thought. “But then again, you’d probably get blown to Tartarus.”
Applejack guffawed once Rainbow Dash’s cheeks went from blue to red in about a second. Her merriment was cut short once Shining Armor’s voice began playing from her headset.
”Lieutenant Commander Applejack, report to my office immediately.”
The mare’s brow furrowed. “Now what in tarnation do you think that’s for?” Rainbow flew next to her and whispered something into her ear. “I did not drink that much cider yesterday.”
“You sure? It was your birthday, after all.” Her eyebrows waggled, causing Applejack to roll her eyes. “Who knows what else you did… am I right?”
“I can vouch for her, Rainbow,” Caramel interrupted, “She didn’t drink more than 9 mugs of cider.”
“And that isn’t a lot?”
Applejack beat her chest. “Good ol’ Earth Pony constitution. Couldn’t live without it!”
The rainbow Pegasus shook her head. “Of course not. You don’t have wings or a horn; Earth Pony endurance is pretty much all you got-“
”Lieutenant Commander. My office. Now.”
“Applejack, I think you should probably leave…” Caramel looked up to see Applejack already running, leaving him and a snickering Rainbow Dash behind. They all knew that if Shining Armor had to repeat himself, terrible things would ensue.
Applejack barreled through everyone and everything that was unfortunate enough to be in her path. A combination of natural Earth Pony prowess, years of military training, and a background in applebucking made her a force to be reckoned when it came down to pure power. With the addition of her armor, nopony had a chance in Tartarus of not getting sent flying. She burst into the Vice Admiral’s office, stomping on the ground to stop herself like she was a 10 on the Richter scale accidentally heading to California.
“Applejack, you’re here!” He raised his omnitool. “And only three minutes late. Impressive, considering you were all the way in the training ward when I called you.”
“I’m sorry, sir. There’s no excuse for mah lateness.”
“It’s fine, Applejack. The reason I called you in here gives me cause to overlook a bit of tardiness.” At this, Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“And what is it that Ah was called up here for, Vice Admiral?” A ping sounded from Applejack’s foreleg. She checked her omnitool to discover that Shining had just sent her a rather large amount of data.
“There’s something that’s come up. Something serious. You’ll find all of the information concerning this matter in the data packet you just received, but here’s the gist of it; there’s a fleet of sentient warships out in dark space. They… destroy whatever civilizations are capable of space travel every 50,000 years and they are only able to be destroyed specially. That’s where you come in.”
To say Applejack was confused would be a vast understatement. She’d stopped understanding some point after ‘sentient warships’. “Uh, sir. Are you absolutely sure that’s what the data says?”
Shining deadpanned. “Yes. Princess Luna said something similar until she realized the truth of the matter. You will see, just watch the vid.”
Applejack wasn’t really sold on this idea, but if it came from both Admiral Luna and Vice Admiral Shining Armor, there had to be some merit to it. “Understood, Vice Admiral. Now, what’s the mission I’m gonna get have to do with these Reapers?”
“Princess Celestia is currently wiwth the three other members of the Council in efforts to coordinate a united front against this threat. As you know, however… Not all of the races are on the friendliest of terms.” Those being the dragons, changelings, and little skirmishes between the other races. “Since we have the largest pool of eezo in the galaxy, we will start the weapons early.” Shining stood out of his chair at this point and walked around his desk to stand directly in front of the orange mare. “The Reapers have a weapon called indoctrination, which they use to manipulate the minds of organic beings. I want a smaller squad that won’t as susceptible to this to protect the team creating the materials.” He placed a hoof on the nape of Applejack’s neck. “You will lead that team.”
Applejack recoiled. “Sir, ya can’t be serious! If this mission’s that important, shouldn’t somepony else with more experience be on the job?”
Shining smiled and lowered his hoof, “I’m going to be honest with you, Applejack. You were specially chosen by Admiral Luna herself. She has over a thousand years of experience, so I’m sort of inclined to trust her judgment.”
Applejack swallowed and braced herself. A hundred things were running through her mind simultaneously, but one seemed to stand out. Why would she pick me? The orange mare shook her head and smiled broadly, saluting at the same time. “It’d be my honor, Shining Armor, sir!”
“That’s more like it! Now, we’ve already provided you with one of our latest and stealthiest ships available. The crew is complimentary, but feel free to bring along two or three ponies of your own choosing. Now, you’re to leave in 5 hours. Your ship is located in Docking Bay D-24.”
Sensing that all that needed to be said was already out in the open, Applejack saluted once more and turned to leave the room. Before she’d left the room, Shining called out to her.
“Oh, and you’ll need to stop by the Citadel before heading to Roverkan.”
“What for?”
“You’ll have to pick up Twilight Sparkle. She’s an expert on nearly everything concerning the past races and technology. Direct orders from Princess Celestia herself.”
“Yes, sir. You got it.”
“Tell her I said hi, won’t you?”
Applejack trotted to the cafeteria, where Rainbow Dash and Caramel were conversing with each other and a few other ponies. “Rainbow! Caramel! Ah got a proposition for y’all.”
Rainbow looked up first. “Oh, hey AJ!” She flew in front of the earth pony in the blink of an eye, since her armor had been taken off. “So, how was getting chewed out by the Vice Admiral? Pretty bad, I bet.”
She grinned and looked into the cyan mare’s eyes. “Ah didn’t get fussed at by Shining Armor. He called me in there to give me a mission.”
“A mission?” Caramel had walked over to the duo while they’d been speaking. “Seems a bit sudden. What would the Vice Admiral need a Lieutenant Commander for in a time of peace?”
“I gotta agree with Caramel on this one. Nothing’s happening right now, so what’s your mission?”
“Let’s just say somethin’ big’s comin’ and it’s comin’ soon. Mah mission is to be a bodyguard for some of those smarty-pants ponies and dahmond dogs while they make guns good enough to fight with.” She stood up straight and stated firmly, “And Ah’m gonna need some good friends to help me. Y’all want in?”
Rainbow and Caramel looked at each other briefly before large grins overtook their faces, “Of course!” they yelled simultaneously.
Applejack grinned. “Then pack ya stuff and get to docking bay D-24. We leave in 5 hours!” The three of them high hoofed and separated to prepare.
The orange mare looked at her room, the room she’d called home for the past two years. It was rather compact and only the bare essentials were there. After all, despite her rank of Lieutenant Commander, AJ preferred to not live in any of those ‘fancy-schmancy’ apartments that the higher ups tended to get. Before, it held a bed, two drawers, a bath, and a toilet. Only one of those drawers had actually been used though. At the moment, all of her clothes had been placed inside a pair of saddlebags. Currently, she was still wearing her burgundy and gray combat armor, so there was only one thing she needed.
A beat up, brown Stetson.
Applejack gazed down at the Stetson as she thought about who had given it to her. Now that I think about it, I haven’t talked ma and pa in a while. I better check in with the family, let ‘em know what’s goin on. A few taps on the omnitool and her parents were getting called.
”…Shush, Anna! AJ’s callin’!” Another southern voice sounded from her omnitool. A large stallion appeared on top of her omnitool, although his colors couldn’t be made out. He seemed to be just a bit smaller than Big Macintosh.
“What? She is? Well, don’t just sit there flappin’ ya gums, Brock, tell ‘er I said heyya!” This was a Manehattan accent. While the woman wasn’t visible on AJ’s omnitool, since only the called pony appeared, Applejack knew exactly what she looked like. With a navy blue coat and orange mane always tied back by a bandana of some sort, her mother was a bit thinner than Applejack herself, possibly due to her Manehattan heritage. Brock Apple, on the other hand, was born in Ponyville, a quaint little town not too far south of the world capital, Canterlot. Applejack’s father was a pinkish red with a tint of cream in coat color, while his mane was a vibrant green, almost like a mix of Applebloom and Big Mac.
The farm mare turned soldier smiled at the sounds of their voices. She really hadn’t heard from them in a few months, but it was always a good sound. “Hey pa, hey ma. How y’all doin’ down there?” The image of Anna appeared next to Brock’s after a ping sounded from Applejack’s omnitool.
”We’re doin’ just fine ova here, sweetie pie. Farm’s neva been betta, especially since Big Mac started helpin’ out. Y’all would be suhprised how much havin’ a business major here boosts profits!”
”And little Applebloom is doin’ great too. She misses ya AJ, but she made a new group of friends not too long ago. Callin’ themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or some nonsense like that.”
“Well,” Applejack placed the Stetson on her head, “It’s good to hear everythin’s fine in Ponyville.”
”Applejack,” Anna started, “Ya haven’t called in two months! What’s the occasion?”
“Ma, pa, Ah got a mission not too long ago and Ah’m not sure how long it’s gonna take. Could y’all tell Big Mac and Applebloom everythin’s fine? Ah’ll come visit right after it’s done,alright?”
”You got it, AJ,” Brock replied, “Y’all be careful out there.”
“I will, pop.”
Applejack severed the connection and sighed. She had no idea when she’d been returning. If she was tasked with protecting the scientists and engineers, who knew how long it would take them to finish the guns necessary?
Until they the Princess finishes that alliance, probably a while. Anyway, no time to mope. I gotta get to the docking bay! She made sure her Stetson was secure and all of her belongings were in her saddlebags before barreling out of the room.
“Woah, nelly… That’s the sleekest ship I dun ever seen!” At the moment, Applejack was in the docking bay gaping at what was to be her new ship. Although she didn’t know any of the technical terms or reasons for why it would look the way it did, it was nothing like a frigate or battlecruiser, for certain. In fact, it looked more like a ship one of the more well off ponies would purchase to show off the credits they’d stored. It was primarly silver in color, although there were thick, dark gray lines lining its sides to wrap turn onto the wings. There was a single thruster in the back of it, large and seemingly powerful. Its wings seemed more like smaller versions of the main hull, except they leaned inward rather than straight. Right above the grey lines on both sides of the hull was the name Revelation.
“Pretty ironic, huh? A super sneaky stealth ship being named Revelation? Gotta appreciate Princess Luna’s sense of humor!” Applejack turned around to see a bubbly pink mare standing, or rather, hopping, right next to her. She was entirely pink; both her coat and mane were just a normal and darker shade of it, respectively. Her mane was also poofy and appeared to look a lot like cotton candy. The Lieutenant Commander had only seen hair like that extravagant back in Ponyville. Usually ponies trimmed their hair or styled it to something more manageable for helmets. This seemed to be exact opposite, like she didn’t care.
“Uh, and who are you?”
“Me?” The pink earth pony stopped bouncing and gazed at Applejack. Her eyes were a deep blue, the only thing about her, save for her uniform, that wasn’t pink. “I’m Pinkie Pie and I’m going to be your pilot for the whooooole mission!” Applejack blinked.
Right, Ah remember her! Pinkamena Diane Pie. Profile said she was raised on a rock farm and decided to become a pilot after witnessin’ Rainbow’s Sonic Rainboom. Her special talent was throwin’ parties though, and the psychological section only said ‘I can’t deal with this!’, so I’ve got no clue what I’m in for. She seems nice enough, though.
“Helloooo, Equestria to Applejack! Oh wait, we’re on the moon, so Equestria is actually pretty far away. Never mind, then!” Pinkie stopped waving her hoof in front of Applejack once the orange mare shook her head.
“Right, right. So, Pinkie, y’all gonna show me the inside?”
Pinkie gasped loudly, “Oh, I totally forgot I was supposed to do that! The rest of the crew is already on, so let’s go!” Pinkie zipped into the Revelation, leaving Applejack wondering how it was possible for anypony to move that fast without some sort of tech or magic. She trotted into the ship as well, finding the beginning to be mostly a long hallway until it reached the back. In the center of the back was a hologram of the galaxy, from the looks of it, and it stood below a pedestal for whoever may be viewing it. Surrounding that hologram were several terminals connected with each other. To the left and right were doors that led t the wings of the ship. Behind it was an elevator. Pinkie was walking down the middle hallway past some seats that were placed in front of terminals.
“Okay, Commander, welcome to Grand Revelation of the ship, led by your host and pilot, Pinkie Pie!” She bounced into the end of the hallway, entering the room with galaxy map. “See what I did there? Did ya? Ah, anyway, the room in the front is the helm, if you didn’t see it. This is the command center, where you’ll be making the decisions on where we get to go!” She walked around the back to where the pedestal began. “To your left, you will find your own personal terminal. Well, you have another one up in your room, but that’s not the point! This is where messages will be sent when you’re not here.” She pointed to the door on the left next. “Over in the left wing are the labs! That’s where all of our smart ponies where do their science stuff. On the right are the living wards, where the other crew mates will be staying.” She tapped her chin with a forehoof while she thought for a moment. “…Um, right! This is the second floor. Your room is on the first floor, and maintenance and the shuttle bay are below us! Any questions?”
“Just one. Where’s mah crew?”
At that question, Pinkie smiled broadly. Actually, broadly would be an understatement. It was more like her face went from pink to white and suddenly flattened, how big her smile was. Applejack was a bit put off. “They’re in the living ward! Follow… meeeeee!” Then she leaped from her current position to the door on the right in one go. As she walked through the door, AJ sighed. Looks like she got a weird one.
Inside the living ward was a café area to the immediate left. To the right were bunk beds for the entire crew, save AJ herself. What Applejack noticed first was the fact that Pinkie had completely disappeared upon entering the ward. Then she noticed that she couldn’t see anypony else either.
“Okay, what the hay is going on here? Where is everypony?” She took one step forward and a lot of things happened at once. First, confetti exploded out of hidden canisters around the room. Second, all of the ponies AJ had been searching for popped out from various locations screaming “Welcome aboard, Commander!” Third, Shining Armor walked in behind her. She nearly bucked him out of reflex.
“Hey, Commander! How do you like the party we set up?” Pinkie bounced out from the back of the kitchen with a cake precariously balanced on her back.
“Uh, Pinkie?” Applejack finally gained her bearings, although she didn’t notice Shining behind her, “I’m just a Lieutenant Commander.”
“That’s where you’re wrong~!” She sang as she popped the cake into the air. It landed on the only table flawlessly.
“What are you talkin’ about?”
“You’ve been promoted, Commander Applejack,” Shining stated as he walked past her.
Applejack blubbered before finally managing to utter a single, “Huh?”
Shining turned to her, “You’ve been promoted. Princess Luna figured it would make this mission a bit easier if you were a commander rather than lieutenant commander. Besides, lieutenant commander is such a mouthful to say!”
Applejack stared first, before deciding to take it with a grain of salt. Who was she to question the decision of a goddess? “Welp, now that that’s out of the way, I believe there was a shindig we were supposed to be getting’ to?”
Pinkie jumped at the question. “Youuuu betcha! Let’s get this party started!” Music cut on and everypony cut loose, including the Vice Admiral. It was a very surreal experience for many of the soldiers and crew mates present. The party persisted for about two hours before it had to be ended, much to Pinkie’s chagrin. There was a schedule to keep, though, and everypony understood that. They were about to break into their tasks before a mare’s voice sounded from the main corridor.
“Applejack, I’m here… Wait, did I miss a party?” Rainbow trotted into the room a moment later. She looked around, obvious displeasure on her features. “Come on AJ, couldn’t you have told me there was gonna be a party for early birds? I might not have slept in then!”
“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that, Rainbow. I didn’t know ‘bout it mahself until I got here.”
“Oh well, is this where we sleep?”
“Sure is!” Pinkie bounced over to stand directly in front of Rainbow. The mare in question flinched backward a bit. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?”
“Uh, Rainbow Dash…”
“Hi, Rainbow Dash!” She bounced over to Rainbow’s left. “Oh, I get it! Rainbow, because your mane’s a rainbow, and Dash because you’re fast, right?”
Rainbow blinked a few times before her cockiness reasserted itself. “Oh I’m not just fast. You’re gazing at the fastest Pegasus in all of Equestria!” Her wings raised and she adopted a smug smile. “Heh, I’m probably the fastest in the universe!”
Pinkie smiled and began bouncing out of the room. “Oh, I don’t know, Dashie. It’s a big universe~”
The grin remained for a few moments before it dropped in a sudden bout of realization. “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow chased after Pinkie, who was giggling the whole time. Applejack shook her head and walked after them.
Now that the party was over, 5 hours had passed. It was time to begin the mission. “Alright everypony, this is your Commander speakin’,” Applejack said from the radio in the helm, “We got our orders, and I can’t lie to any of y’all; this probably won’t be easy.” She paused for a moment to take a deep breath. “Everypony aboard this ship was chosen because y’all’ve proven to be worthy of it. This mission needs to go off without a hitch, not only to show we’re toughest in the galaxy, but to be the first step in protecting everything in the long haul. We will succeed, that, I promise.”
Applejack turned off the radio, and took a deep breath. “Whew, that was a doozie. Never was one for those long speeches.”
Pinkie tapped some lights and the ship began to move. “Well, Commander, for your first time that was pretty good! I know I was inspired. I think it would have been better if you’d done it as a song, though!”
“A song, Pinkie?” Pinkie just nodded her head. She may be one of the greatest pilots in the Navy, but she’ll always be a weird one, I guess. “Alrighty then, call Rainbow-“
“Wait, don’t forget me!” Caramel charged through door, saddlebags leaking items and everything. He tripped over his own two hooves in his rush and fell face forward, planting his face on the ground and sliding into the wall on the opposite side. Both Pinkie and Applejack couldn’t help but laugh at his misfortune. He got up and shook his head, snorting and releasing some confetti… somehow. “I’m here, Lieutenant Commander. I’m not late!”
Pinkie continued laughing while Applejack managed to calm herself down. “Caramel, mind lettin’ me on why ya got here with only seconds to spare?”
“Well, you see, I was… uh, I left and sort of forgot… everything. So I had to run back to my room and pick up my saddlebags. Then, I was halfway here and some pony cut my saddlebags by accident! I didn’t even notice until I realized my bags were becoming so much lighter when I was ALMOST HERE. So I had to go pick up my items, patch up my bags, and then I came back.”
“Wow, your luck really hasn’t gotten better since we left Ponyville, huh?”
“Unfortunately,” Caramel sighed in resignation.
Applejack patted the nape of his neck with her hoof. “Well, ya made it on time, even if it was almost late. Follow me; I gotta debrief you and Rainbow.” He nodded and picked up a few of his items, placing them into his torn saddlebags. They fell out the moment he began trotting, eliciting more snickers from both AJ and Pinkie. He shook his head and decided to just pick everything up later.
Moments later, both Rainbow and Caramel were in the debriefing room, a room that was primarily white and actually illuminated. In the center was an oval shaped, white table that had its ends clipped off so that they were flat.
“Ahem, now I’m gonna give y’all the gist of the mission.” She tapped her omnitool a few times and a hologram appeared on the center of the table showing weapon schematics. “We’re going to be protecting a group of engineers and scientists while they get together to start makin’ some weapons to combat the Reapers. Now, we’ll need to-“
“Wait, wait,” Rainbow interrupted, “What the hay are Reapers? They sound like the bad guys in some foal’s tale!” Caramel simply nodded his agreement.
“Look, everypony thinks that when they first hear about. Ah’ll send y’all the data about it once we’re done, but ya need to listen to what we’ll need to watch for.” After Rainbow had sat back down, Applejack continued, “Now, as Ah was sayin’, we’re gonna have to protect them while they’re makin’ them weapons. Nopony knows who may attack ‘em, so be on the lookout for anythin’ that looks suspicious. These Reapers can apparently take over anybody’s mind with enough time and we can’t have them screwin’ with our operations. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Caramel confirmed as he saluted, “Though, is this the only thing we’ll need to do? It’ll all take place on…” He looked at his omnitool for a moment. “…Roverkan?”
“If everything goes according to plan, yep.”
“Alright then, Lieutenant Commander. If that’s all, I’ll be picking my stuff up and packing it… again.”
“Same here, but do you mind tellin’ me where the weapons are, AJ?”
“Sure, they’re… uh…” Applejack stammered as she realized she hadn’t actually asked where the weapons were. How could a soldier forget that? “I… don’t know. Forgot to ask Pinkie.” Rainbow shrugged and both of them moved to leave the office. Before they could leave, AJ suddenly turned to them, “Oh, and Ah was promoted to Commander! Just, so you know.”
Two days later and the Revelation had arrived at the Citadel. Pinkie brought the ship in low and docked it relatively quickly. “Okay Commander, we’re here!” Applejack walked toward the exit of the ship wearing her trademark Stetson along with a navy blue soldier’s outfit.
“Got it. I’ll be right back Pinkie and I’ll be bringing along somepony else, so be ready with a big welcome, alright?”
“You bet, Applejack!”
The orange mare nodded and stepped out of the ship to find that there were a female griffin and a male diamond dog both waiting for her. “Commander, we will be your escort to Twilight Sparkle’s abode,” the diamond dog spoke, “Am I not mistaken when I believe you have not yet been to the Citadel?”
AJ finished walking to them by the time he’d finished his question. “That’d be correct, partner.”
He nodded and turned around. “Then follow us.” As the group traversed the giant space station, Applejack found herself wondering how anybody could possibly live in a place with so little nature around them. As an earth pony, she was more attuned with the earth and natural creatures than other species. The Citadel just felt… cold, even though it was a nice 70 degrees.
It wasn’t long until the two reached what appeared to be a data library. Inside the rather tall building were tons of datapads holding all of the information of the known races in one place. Well, those were the first and second floors. Everything above that were rooms where the researchers and recorders of this information lived. On the top floor was a single room devoted just to Twilight Sparkle. Standing in front of it, Applejack was more than a little awed, considering she came from a farmhouse and moved to meager soldier barracks.
The female griffin pressed a button on the keypad directly to the right of the door, speaking into it, “Ms. Sparkle, Commander Applejack has arrived.”
”Oh, I’ll be right out!” A few fumbling noises could be heard inside before the guard released the button. A few minutes later, Twilight Sparkle fumbled out of the door with nothing but her white body suit. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I needed to take care of a little something… anyway!” Twilight stood up straight and looked directly at Applejack. “Commander, it’s nice to finally meet you. My name is Twilight Sparkle, but you already knew that. Will you be departing immediately?” She raised her foreleg for a shake.
Applejack shook it firmly. “Nice to meet ya too, Twilight. And to answer your question, yes. We need to get started on this project right away.”
Twilight smiled and lowered her foreleg. “I like the way you think, Commander. You’ve got your priorities straight.” She trotted past her. “Well, let’s get going!”
The commander started to leave as well but paused as she realized something. “Twilight, where’re your saddlebags? Ain’t ya bringin’ anything?
Twilight didn’t stop as she began talking, “Oh, I’ve got everything I need with me.” Her horn glowed and one of the diamonds on her side lit up. A blue light streamed out and formed a pillow. “Compressor bags! I made them not too long ago.”
The guards began following her without a single change in emotion. Applejack trotted after them, shaking her head and muttering to herself. “Unicorns and their new, fangled contraptions…”
