"Thanks for dinner Ms. Smith." A young gray colt said to an aging mare.
"Your welcome Sky, see you tomorrow?" His green hostess said.
"Aw no, I can't do that to you, you've done so much for me already. You took me into your home and taught me proper English and fed me for who knows how long for nothing in return, I can't take anything else from you."
"Ok have a good night."
"Bye!" Sky Slicer called back to his near adopted mother as he left her homestead. He trotted down the dirt path through the apple orchards down to town all the while wondering what the future held. It was considerably late at night by the time he reached the town. The moon had risen a solid three hours ago and was considerably high in the sky. Many houses were just turning lights off as their inhabitants went to sleep. Sky's dark grey coat blended in well with the night, though his hardly off white mane stuck out like a sore thumb. He paused when he heard two older mares talking.
"Look Twilight, It's a very dangerous journey, I can't let you do it." A perfectly white alicorn said.
"I don't care, I'm a princess now, I ha-" The smaller purple one was cut off.
"Yes, you are a princess, you can't go out into the midst of a war most ponies don't know about! What if you die? What would I say to your subjects? 'Your princess went off into a war you had no clue happened and she was murdered?' Yeah, that would go over well!"
"But I've earned my alicorn status! I'm immortal."
"Twilight, you aren't invincible, immortality only protects against natural causes, you can be slain in battle."
"But Celestia, I know spells most ponies couldn't even dream of! I can do this!" The purple one pleaded.
"That's enough Twilight, you're staying here, my royal guards can handle it."
"But she is too powerful! She has her own army!"
"I said that's enough!" Celestia stamped her hoof as she heard a nearby trash can topple over. She and Twilight looked.
"Uhh. Hi." Sky said awkwardly as he got up. Celestia slowly walked towards him. He panicked and shot magic from his horn. All that resulted was a hardly blinding flash of light. "Hey, I can use magic!" He looked up at the princess now looming over him. "And I'm dead."
"I believe we have found our answer." Celestia said as she grabbed the colt with her magic and pulled him over to Twilight.
"A little colt?" She asked confused. "What is he going to do?"
"Remember project XD001?" Celestia asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"He is just right for it."
Twilight thought for a moment. "You're right."
"XD001?" Sky asked with a gulp from his magic prison. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Ok so are you going to tell me where your taking me or just leave me in this bubble forever?" Sky Slicer asked.
"Hush child, we are almost there." Celestia said.
"Sheesh it seems like we've been walking around this place for days!"
"We only met you five minutes ago." Twilight chimed in.
"Oh, well, are we there yet at least?"
"Just a little longer." Celestia said as she pushed open another door revealing another hallway.
"How much longer?"
"Lucky for you, we're here."
Celestia and Twilight stopped walking and Sky stopped in place, floating behind them, still encased in the magic bubble. The door in front of them was bigger than the previous doors and was a shining silver. Celestia tapped several buttons on a keypad on the side of the door using her horn. She did it expertly, as though she has done it several times before. The button presses were lightning fast and nearly impossible to see. Eventually, Celestia stopped and the door opened.
"Sky Slicer, welcome to the chance of a lifetime. Most ponies never have access to this room, only a handful of my guards know it's here. There are almost no ponies outside the guard with the knowledge of it's location. It's undetectable by magic and cancels all ingoing and outgoing transportation spells. This is where the smartest of my scholars develop new weaponry and armor used in the few wars that wage on Equestria." Celestia explained.
"It is vital that you don't tell any pony about this room, not your best friend, not your sister, not your brother, not even your parents may know about this room. And more, we need you to obey everything we say. This area is very dangerous and foals are not allowed in here often." Twilight added her part.
"I don't even know where I am, I wouldn't be able to tell anyone, why am I here anyways?" Sky asked.
"As you may have overheard us talking back in town, Equestria is in war right now. We have developed a new weapon slash self defense unit that is much too small for a full grown pony to use. We ran out of resources and had to lower the size, it's as big as we can possibly make it. You seem just the right size to use it, however." Celestia said as she revealed a robotic pony leg.
"Wait, so, you're going to send a child to war?"
"Yes, but it is completely safe, this machine constantly scans it's environment and will provide it's wearer whatever they need for survival, and then some. Though it is not completely reliable, as it scans like radar, so all dangers ahead of the scan line are undetected." Twilight explained.
"So, you're going to send a child to war?"
"Well, yes and no, what Twilight forgot to tell you," Celestia stopped to glare at Twilight, "is that if you accept what we ask of you, we will use an aging spell on you, some side affects include but are not limited to: rapid growth, extra strength, death, increased stamina, better agility, faster speed, and early signs of puberty in a child."
"Ok, so I'll be an adult then?" Sky asked.
"Only on the outside." Celestia answered.
"But, what is it you want me to do exactly, and wouldn't I not be able to use the leg anymore if I was an adult?"
"No, due do the adaptive abilities in the leg, it will grow to the wearer's size, but it can't change unless it fits the pony while they grow, and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go into war, break into the highly defended enemy base, and kill nightmare moon." Twilight said nonchalantly. Celestia facehoofed.
"Wait, you want me to KILL Celestia's SISTER, and didn't nightmare get reformed back into Luna?"
"Well, she got help from Queen Chrysalis and used a transformation spell, but due to the twistedness of Chrysalis, the spell she taught Lulu was corrupt, it caused her to become evil and there was no way to reverse it, trust me, I've tried." Celestia said. "And to make matters worse, Chrysi fled, she transformed into an unknown pony and moved to Hoofington. You see, when she attacked the Crystal Empire, I placed a tracking spell on her, it's only accurate enough to get within a few households of her."
"Ok, so what were to happen if I were to fail the mission?" Sky asked.
"You'd die." Twilight said.
"And if I don't?"
"Either we find some other pony to do the mission and you live, or we don't and every pony in Equestria dies." Celestia kicked Twilight and put on her best 'why would you say that' look possible.
"Umm, yeah, I feel the pressure here, so I'll accept the mission." Sky said.
"All right, here, stick out your hoof." Twilight said as she levitated the bionic leg to Sky Slicer. He did as he was told and she fastened it to him. "Fits like a glove." She said when she finished. "And now time for the spell. This won't hurt a bit." Twilight shot the little unicorn with a ray of magic and he grew rapidly.
"OW!" He shouted when the spell stopped working it's magic. "That hurt a lot!"
"I know, I said it wouldn't hurt a bit, it didn't, a lot isn't a bit." Twilight smiled.
"Did you see that?" Sky asked Celestia.
"Yeah, sorry, but we're still working on the painless spells." Celestia said with a guilty smile.
"OK, so what do you want me to do?"
"Here." Celestia gave Sky a small cube. "Keep this on you at all times."
"What is it?"
"A map."
"Ok?"
"Just tap it and it will open up a holographic map of the wargrounds on the ground around you. It has it's own little compartment slot on the bionic leg here." Celestia opened a small door on the leg with her magi and floated the map into it. "I'll teleport you just behind allied lines, just say when you're ready."
"This one wont hurt will it?"
"Not at all. I'm serious this time." Twilight said.
"Well, let's get this over with, beam me up!" Sky said, he braced for pain, and, surprisingly, it didn't hurt.
***
"You the new kid?" a royal guard asked Sky when he was flashed in.
"Uhh yeah, Sky Slicer sir."
"Good, here." the guard forced a spear into Sky's grip.
"Good luck out there soldier." the guard said before shoving him out of the safety of the small tent. Spells whizzed by Sky's face as his currently unseen enemies tried to kill him.
