Heart of Courage

Twilight Sparkle followed James Fletcher as he briskly strode onto the ship’s bridge. Ponies and humans already worked frantically at computer stations, trying to prepare the warship for their mission. Dmitri had run ahead and already waited in his seat, nodding at them as they entered. “Captain, all systems green. We ready for jump.”

James returned the gesture. “Good job everyone. Spin up the jump drive and prepare for subspace travel on my mark.” He took his seat on the raised central dais and waved to a smaller chair next to him. “Sit here, Twilight. I had Socket install this for you. This way, I can keep you close by if anything happens.”

The unicorn mare sat in the chair, obviously designed to accommodate a pony, as James stared at a holographic readout of some sort of information. Isamu Zhang’s chair was in front of her at the weapons’ controls with Dmitri sitting next to him. On the far side of the room, a wall-to-wall-sized screen currently displayed the black veil of outer space, dotted with pinpricks of starlight. “Twilight,” James spoke softly, pulling her attention to him, “link with my computer.”

Nodding, the lavender mare activated her chair and quickly brought up the ghostly screen. After two weeks of late night ventures on Socket’s personal computer, she had become quite skilled at the strange new futuristic machines. It didn’t take her long to remotely plug into James’ monitor to see what he was doing. On the computer screen, Socket’s face popped up in a small window in the corner. “Sir, engines are running at one hundred percent and holding steady. Jump drives are charged and primed to go.”

“Roger that.” James acknowledged her before the window closed. “Alice, I read that the ship is ready to go. Please confirm.”

Another window opened up and the ethereal face of Alice smiled. “Secondary check complete. Rainbow Dash is green across the board. I will jump at your command.”

James gave a quick, redundant look at his data readout before nodding to Alice. “Do it.”

Twilight felt a familiar pull in her horn, similar to whenever she used her teleportation spell. The stars outside the ship blinked out, leaving only blackness wherever she looked. Next to her, James spoke up. “We aren’t jumping far so this will only take a few seconds. In that time though, we will have traveled over fifteen light years. Our jump drive takes us out of normal space and brings us back into it at a different point. Subspace is the name we give to the dimension we take our shortcut through.”

She listened attentively, and made a mental note to look up more information about subspace on Socket’s computer later. James then looked over his screen at Isamu. “Zhang, keep those weapons primed and ready to go. I don’t want to drop in with our pants down.”

“Yes sir, all targeting systems are online and ready to fire, Captain. Never fear, our pants are belted and ready.”

The corner of James’ mouth curled up slightly before he called up Azure Lightning. Twilight recoiled slightly when the hostile mare’s scowling face popped up. “Azure,” Fletcher said, “are the marines prepared and ready to board?”

“We are ready to kick ass and take names, Captain.”

“Good. We will be arriving soon.” James closed the window.

Twilight looked over at him and asked somewhat hesitantly, “What would you like me to do?”

“Stay here on the bridge and use your computer to monitor what’s going on. I’m going to send three squads onboard. Dmitri and I will take one to the command center as we have the most experience with cygnul computer systems. Azure will lead one to the fortress’s fire-control room to manually disable its weapons, and Socket will lead one to the reactor in order rig it to self-destruct when we are finished. You can safely watch our progress from your seat. It never hurts to have an extra set of eyes watching us.”

Twilight nodded and faced forward. Something she learned from the opening conflicts against King Moonclaw back home was how she hated the wait before a battle. It never failed to strain her nerves and twist at her gut, but luckily it wasn’t long before Alice’s voice came over the speakers. “Exiting subspace in five … four … three ... two … one.” The familiar tug happened again and outside of the ship, the stars winked back on but in a completely different pattern from before.

Immediately Zhang called back to James. “Captain, sensors report no enemy activity in the system. Our gravimeter is only picking up the fortress dead ahead of us. We’ve locked on but it appears to have only minimal power. Our target is currently in orbit around a large gas giant that, according to the star chart, was named Charybdis a hundred years ago by griffon explorers.”

“Bring us in close, Alice.”

“Yes, sir.”

Twilight leaned over to quietly ask James a question. “What’s a gravimeter?”

“Because it’s difficult to see long distances in space, we have several ways to figure out what exactly is around us. One of those is our gravimeter which detects anything with mass. Basically, it’s the fastest way to figure out if there is someone out there, even if it can’t tell us whose side they are on. We use other ways, such as our radar or optical sensors, to figure that out.”

Twilight nodded in understanding, having read up on some of the new technologies used today. As for the words she did not recognize, a small notebook and pencil magically floated out of a pocket on her uniform so that she could write them down to look up later in her shared stateroom. I need to read up on how this radar thing works.

Putting the notebook away, Twilight stared forward at the main screen as the Dash crept closer to the massive, acorn-shaped fortress over a hundred times the size of the little patrol frigate. Behind the cygnul structure rotated a large beautiful planet covered entirely in clouds. Bands of orange and brown wrapped around the gigantic world, creating a vista that rivaled any landscape she had seen in Equestria.

As the Rainbow Dash approached the cygnul fortress, its exterior could be seen in much finer detail. Bulbous structures dotted every surface, their purpose unknown to the unicorn. She also took note of several burn marks and holes that appeared to be randomly scattered all over its skin. Some sort of battle damage maybe?

Next to her, James studied the structure in quiet contemplation as his ship circled all the way around. Then his face lit up with a grin. “I knew it.”

Twilight looked over inquisitively. “Knew what?”

“It is a trap. The cygnul outdid themselves this time. I almost missed it.”

Dmitri leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “What? It is? I don’t see trap.”

In front of them, Zhang turned his head. “I agree with your speculation, Captain. This is most certainly a trick.”

Twilight stared at the damaged structure, scratching her chin in frustration. “How is it a trap? The fortress looks like it was attacked and abandoned.”

“Alice,” James said “bring us around again.” Then he turned towards Twilight. “Study the station carefully. Use your computer to identify any structures you are curious about. I want you to figure out why this is a trap. Call it… your first lesson on situational awareness.”

Twilight gave an annoyed sigh and began scrutinizing the cygnul fortress carefully. Her computer marked the various weapons turrets, airlock doors, sensor hubs, exhaust vents, and a few other points of interest. It also identified each burn mark or scar, and calculated the actual damage sufficient enough to create those pockmarks. She read over the data closely and tried to find the connection. She didn’t understand most of it, but if James thought she could figure it out, then she would try.

By the time Dash had made her second pass, it finally dawned on her. She may not have trained for this advanced of combat, but the answer was very simple. It was so simple in fact, that she almost missed it as well. With a smirk, she looked over at the knowing grins on James’ and Isamu’s faces.

“What did you decide, Twilight?” Captain Fletcher leaned back in his seat, waiting for her answer.

“The attack was too clean. The damage and burn marks must have been done on purpose by the cygnul.”

Zhang laughed. “Good job, Twilight Sparkle! How could you tell?”

She pointed with her hoof at the computer screen. “Well, I eventually realized that the damage doesn’t impair any useful structure on the fortress, except the airlocks and landing bay but I’ll get to that in a second. The only places that seem to be severely hit are regions of thick armor plating. Then I looked at the actual damage itself. The blasts don’t even penetrate through the actual armor itself. It is all superficial. The landing bay was destroyed but again, the damage doesn’t progress further than that. I assume that is to keep you from using Tank to get onboard. There are three airlocks and two of those seem to have been smashed, leaving just one for you to use which would be perfect for an ambush. I don’t know how much actual strategy has changed over the years, but it looks like a setup to me.”

James nodded his head. “Very good, that is exactly what I saw as well.” He then glanced over at Dmitri with an amused expression. “Keep it up, Twilight, and maybe I will give you Dmitri’s job.”

The earth pony waved a hoof in the air. “Gah! I knew it was trick whole time.”

“Sure you did.” Zhang’s chuckle was rewarded with a glare from the earth pony.

James then stood up out of his chair. “Alright, enough fooling around everyone. Zhang, you have the control of the ship. Put a few slugs in every weapons turret you can find. Their shields are down so the five inch guns should be able to get the job done. Then bring us around to the less damaged airlock of the two that the cygs wanted us to avoid. We should still be able to make a strong enough seal to get onboard.” He then paused for a second before continuing. “If anything happens to us, I want you to get Twilight to Harmony as soon as possible. Let’s get ready, Dmitri.” Then he turned and left the room.

Dmitri jumped out of his chair and trotted after James with a big smile on his face. “Let’s go crash a party!”

Twilight watched the stocky earth pony leave the room then turned back towards the front to watch Zhang maneuver the Rainbow Dash around again. Before she could ask what he was doing, several thuds reverberated through her chair, and a pop-up on the computer notified her that the ship had opened fire with secondary weapons.

She clicked on the icon and a view from the exterior cameras popped up, just in time to watch as several squat, double-barreled turrets sent a second round of shells into the fortress’ weapons. Zhang lazily drifted the Dash around the acorn shaped station as her weapons kept up a barrage of fire. Soon, every cyg turret bore a label as being out of commission.

Zhang then announced over his communications system, “Captain Fletcher, all cygnul weapons are destroyed. I’m bringing Rainbow Dash over to the airlock you requested. Good luck, sir.”

Twilight switched the external camera view to one inside the ship’s airlock where the assault team waited. Both humans and ponies wore full suits of combat armor. The humans carried weapons in their hands while the ponies had small turrets positioned above their flanks. The few unicorns among the group carried weapons with their magic. One human, almost unrecognizable in his helmet, looked up towards the camera. That must be James, she thought.

Fletcher’s voice came over the radio. “Good job, Zhang, We are ready to go as soon as we get a working seal. Twilight, go ahead and keep an eye on us. Let me know if you see something we miss.”

“Okay, James… I mean, sir… I mean, yes sir!” A flustered Twilight stammered.

James laughed over the radio. “You’re not under my command, Twilight, so just James will do.” As soon as he finished speaking, a hissing noise sounded and a loud thump was heard over the speakers. “Airlock seal is in place, we are moving out.”

Twilight fiddled with her screen until she pulled up the camera from James’ helmet. She now had a first person view of the assault on the cygnul fortress.

James Fletcher followed behind another human marine as the group stormed into the orbital station. He trained a small boxy weapon around while scanning for signs of movement. The dark grey walls and poor lighting helped cast eerie shadows that grabbed at the assault team’s peripheral vision. Even though Twilight watched from the safety of the ship, it was still unnerving. I would hate to be onboard that place.

Breaking the silence, Socket spoke through her com system. “The damage to the station doesn’t extend past the external armor plating. There is still air in here and it’s clean enough to breathe but it will taste pretty stale. I’m picking up no heat signatures nearby, sir, and I also detect no booby-traps, magical or scientific.”

“Keep your suits sealed for now in case they try to vent the atmosphere.” James replied. “Let’s move out.”

The assault team eventually reached a hub where several corridors split off in different directions. The marines checked down each one to make sure no surprises awaited them. After making sure the area was clear, James turned to address the team. “Socket, take Konk, Firestorm, and Glock. Capture the reactor room and rig it to self-destruct.”

“Yes, sir.” The pegasus nodded, gave a salute, and left down one of the passageways, followed by a human and two earth ponies.

James then turned to the team’s battle mage in her custom painted armor. Deep blue lightning bolts covered her entire suit, which also lacked a weapon mount. However, she did use her telekinesis to hold a large human pistol. “Azure, you take Hack, Zero, and Gauge. Go to weapons control and see if you can permanently shut down their anti-ship missiles. The silos are too well protected and numerous for Dash to destroy them without taking all day and wasting all of our ammo.”

“Got it.” Azure said nonchalantly as she trotted down another hallway, followed by a unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony.

She is very rude. Twilight thought.

James shook his head after her and then turned to the remaining six marines. “We are going to the bridge to see if any useful data still resides in their computers. Dmitri, take point.”

“Da, Captain.” The large earth pony trotted down the remaining passageway. He kept his head low as the large weapon on his flank swiveled to aim wherever he looked.

James’ squad moved unhindered throughout the space station. The dark passageways and unnatural lighting didn’t do much to calm the marines’ nerves, but the trip was largely uneventful. Eventually, the group came to a large metal door labeled as the navigation room on their heads-up-displays.

Over the radio, Alice began speaking. “Behind that door is where the navigation instruments are. On the other side of the room is the entrance to the bridge. I can’t penetrate the thick walls with my sensors, but I can detect minute vibrations in the metal. There are at least a dozen cygnul inside and they must know you’re here by now. As you enter further in the room, I will lose the ability to communicate with you over your helmet. Be careful, Captain.”

“I always am.” James then turned to his squad which had taken up breaching positions along the wall. “We have twelve, maybe thirteen cyg soldiers inside this room which has excellent cover and good firing positions. They know we are here and they know that this is the only way in. So that means we are fighting an entrenched enemy, twice our number, who has us in a chokepoint. Any questions?”

The marines snickered to each other before Dmitri spoke up. “Nyet, Captain. How rude they don’t invite us in. When can we join the festivities?”

James smiled through his face plate before taking up a spot right next to the door. He checked his weapon before pulling a large tubular shaped grenade out of his belt. “Dmitri, breach the door and I will toss a flash grenade. Once it goes off, get to cover fast. We will leapfrog up until every cyg is down.”

The human and pony marines nodded and lined up against the wall. James pulled the pin on the grenade and gave Dmitri a quick nod. The earth pony turned to face away from the door and took a deep breath. He then leaned forward, balancing on his front hooves, and gave the door a mighty kick that Twilight thought would have made Applejack proud.

His suit amplified the strength of his already powerful legs and sent the steel door flying into the room. An unfortunate cyg soldier had been listening through the door when it blew off its hinges, killing it instantly. Dmitri quickly moved to the side as the doorway lit up with interlocking streams of cyan-colored beams fired from the remaining cyg soldiers.

In their haste to exterminate the invaders, they failed to notice the small black object that rolled underneath their weapons’ fire. Dmitri screamed, “Happy birthday, you ugly bastards!” right as the flash bang went off, filling the room with a blinding white light and a resounding boom. The cygs cowered behind instrument consoles while they waited for their eyes to recover. Some of them fired blindly in the direction of the door.

The marines made their move while their enemy was reeling from the grenade. James shouted “Go! Go! Go!” as he sprinted in the navigation room while laying down covering fire with his gun. The small boxy weapon spat out a continuous stream of slugs with a sound similar to ripping a canvas sheet. The rest of the marines followed suit, running for cover while returning fire with various types of weaponry. By now, the cygs regained the use of their eyes and the firefight began in earnest.

James peaked over the console he was using for cover just in time to see a cygnul soldier pop up in the back of the room with a large tubular weapon containing a glowing crystal at its end. “Shit!” He yelled as it fired a large sphere of energy across the intervening distance, blowing the console apart and tossing him like a ragdoll.

Oh Celestia! I hope he’s okay! Twilight covered her mouth with a forehoof, but luckily she watched him push himself up with one arm and stagger up to hide behind a nearby column while he recovered. Her view from James’ helmet began to stutter and break up and a static sound buzzed over the radio before everything winked out completely. James and his team were now on their own.

Twilight Sparkle realized she had been holding her breath while watching the gun battle from the human’s helmet camera. The fire fight had been so intense that she lost track of anything else. “What happened?” She asked after the video feed cut out.

Isamu looked back over his shoulder at her. “They’re in the heart of the fortress where the walls are too heavily shielded to allow wireless means of communication. We can’t reach them until they download the station’s mainframe and exit the room.”

Twilight nodded, but she pressed her lips together in frustration. To distract herself, she fiddled with her computer until she managed to switch over to Socket Wrench’s camera. The pegasus was currently trotting down a passageway following an earth pony, while a human and another earth pony took up the rear. All four swiveled their weapons across the hallway, looking for any movement.

The group turned down a wide corridor that ended at a large metal door a hundred feet away, with another passageway intersecting halfway down. As the group cautiously moved towards the metal door, Socket spoke over the radio. “We found the entrance to the engineering compartments. So far we haven’t seen or heard anything.”

At that moment, two cygnul soldiers leaned around the corner of the intersecting passageway, each holding the same weapon Twilight saw used against James and his team. Socket screamed “Incoming!” as the malicious creatures fired.

The four scattered instantly as their training took over, but they weren’t fast enough. The first glowing sphere slammed into the lead earth pony head-on and detonated, filling the hallway with brilliant blue-white light. His heartrate indicator on Twilight’s computer spiked only an instant before flat-lining. The explosion threw his body into Socket Wrench and smashed her hard against the rear wall.

The second cygnul’s weapon fired high and went off when it hit the ceiling above the remaining members of their group. Even though it missed hitting anyone directly, the armored ceiling did nothing to absorb any of the exploding sphere’s energy. Instead, the blast rebounded downwards and engulfed the second earth pony and the human, killing both before they could even scream.

At the end of the corridor, Socket writhed in agony against the bulkhead. The first blast had ripped her weapon off and cracked open her suit. Back on the ship, Twilight Sparkle panicked from the rapidly escalating situation on the fortress. The cygnul had just murdered two ponies and a human, and the only remaining survivor lay helpless on the ground.

“Isamu, she needs help!”

“Yes, I know, Twilight!” He quickly hailed Azure on his computer.

The unicorn’s annoyed face appeared on his screen. “What, Zhang? We haven’t reached the weapons control room yet.” The daggers from her eyes traveled through the camera feed into the Dash’s bridge.

“Socket’s team just got hit by an ambush. Konk, Firestorm, and Glock are all down. Socket is wounded badly and two cygs are moving up to her.”

Azure stared at Isamu for a moment, gaging him to see if this was a joke. When she spoke, her demeanor remained unchanged. “You have got to be kidding me.” Then her face disappeared.

Twilight felt confused by the pony’s reply. “Is… she going to help?”

Zhang sighed as he glanced backwards. “Yes, she will.”

Afraid of the answer to her next question, Twilight nearly remained quiet, but she couldn’t help herself. “Will she make it in time?”

Isamu Zhang met her gaze with fear in his eyes. “No.”

Twilight watched on her screen as Socket wheezed in pain and waited for her inevitable end. No, this isn’t right. Twilight stepped out of her chair and stood up. “I’m going to help her, Isamu.”

Shock filled his face. “What? That’s suicide. You have no armor or weapons! They will tear you apart! I won’t let you die too, you are my responsibility!”

Doubt crept in her mind but she steeled herself. “I’m not going to stand here and watch her die!” Twilight then thought of the hallway that Socket was dying in. She pictured every detail she could and poured her will in that image. Her horn began to glow as Zhang jumped up and rushed to tackle her. Right before he could hit her and disrupt the spell, a flash of pinkish-purplish light filled the room and Twilight disappeared. Zhang flew through the empty space and crashed ungracefully into her empty chair.

Twilight appeared in the dark hallway. The air tasted strange but it was breathable. She quickly noticed the wounded pegasus right next to her and the sight of her injuries caused her to gulp. Judging by the angle of her rear leg, it had most likely been broken. Her right wing twitched uselessly, as most of its feathers had been burned away.

“Socket! Can you hear me?” Twilight placed a hoof on the pony’s neck when she heard a reptilian scream behind her. The unicorn turned to see the two cygnul staring at her.

“Twi…Twilight?” coughed the butterscotch pegasus pony. Blood trickled down the side of her mouth as she looked at the unarmored mare. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t be here.” Socket’s eyes trailed to oncoming cygnul and pushed away at the unicorn. “Go. Run. Leave me.”

“No, I won’t leave you!” Twilight Sparkle spun around to face the two cygs. Terror stabbed her insides but she screwed her eyes tightly closed and gritted her teeth. The click of claws on the metal floor nearly broke her concentration as she took a fighting stance with her head lowered, horn pointed at the monsters who hurt her friend.

The cygnul slowed and stopped as they pondered the unarmored unicorn in front of them. Twilight’s horn glowed purple and she sent a blast of energy that slammed into the right cygnul. It only stumbled backwards a few feet before catching its balance. The cyg first looked at its unharmed chest before grinning at its companion. Both of them resumed their slow pace towards the two ponies.

Uh oh… thought Twilight. From behind, Socket mumbled something to her, so she turned her head. “What was that, Socket?”

The injured pegasus had pushed herself up so now she leaned against the wall. She spat out some blood before speaking again in ragged bursts. “Hotter…. More energy…. Make it hotter…. They have natural body… armor.”

Twilight nodded and faced forward. Legs shaking, she powered up her magic again and readied another blast. This time she poured more and more energy into her horn until she thought her head might explode. She hadn’t used this much power since the incident with the Ursa Minor. Then, Twilight leaned forward and released the spell towards the right cygnul, aiming straight for its ugly, grinning face. Eat this.

The smiling cygnul never knew what hit it. A purple beam of searing energy lit up the hallway, instantly vaporizing the creature. The blast continued on and burned through the metal doorway at the end of the hall and kept going, only partially melting the back wall in the engineering compartment.

Twilight shook her head before looking at her hoofwork. Where the cyg had stood, nothing remained, not even a pile of ash. The metal door in the back was marred by a large hole, and its edges glowed bright yellow. Further back, a slump of molten steel lay at the foot of the back wall in the engineering compartment. Wow! I didn’t think I had it in me.

From behind, Socket managed to mumble. “Holy manure.”

Twilight’s satisfaction was short-lived as the second cygnul screamed and broke out in a sprint down the hall. Running at an unnatural speed, the creature covered the intervening distance too fast for her to power up another energy blast. Flustered, she scoured her mind for a spell or an idea. Another scream broke her concentration as the cygnul leapt in the air and dived towards her, claws extended. The lavender unicorn panicked and grabbed the cygnul with her telekinesis, halting its killing lunge. It may have been heavy, but she had carried much more weight before.

Encased in her violet aura, Twilight Sparkle slammed the cygnul into the left side wall, before smashing it back into the other. All the while, she shouted. “This… is… for… hurting… Socket… Wrench!” She then launched it into the ceiling and into the floor, pin-balling the cyg around. Finally she gave it three powerful slams into the ground. Each time it shrieked out until a sickening crunch accompanied the last impact. Letting the broken cygnul drop to the ground, it lay unmoving, except for one sharp claw twitching in a post-mortem reflex.

Breathing hard from the short battle, Twilight stared at the dead cygnul when somepony yelled out from behind her. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Thinking it was another cyg, she spun around while charging her horn. Just before she attacked, Twilight realized it was Azure standing behind her. Through the battle mage’s faceplate, she could see two yellow eyes filled with fury, and the blue unicorn powered up her magic in response to Twilight’s reaction. The situation was one second away from another blood bath, but Twilight calmly released the hold on her magic, letting her body relax. Still breathing heavily, her legs trembled. “I was saving Socket.”

Azure strode up to Twilight as her squad attended to Socket and checked to see if anyone else was alive. She raised a hoof and knocked the lavender pony back “I told you to stay out of my way! You almost got both of you killed! What were you thinking?” Her glaring eyes never wavered.

Taken aback by the fury radiating from the battle mage, Twilight decided to tread carefully. Azure seemed ready to attack at the slightest provocation. She slowly backed up to create space between the two as she tried to diffuse the situation. “But… I was just trying to help. I’m sorry!” Twilight explained. “You wouldn’t have reached Socket in time.”

“Yes I would have!” She screamed. “I would not have failed again!” Azure’s eyes twitched in rage.

Twilight froze in fear, afraid to do anything that could set off the mage in front of her. One of Azure’s squad mates came to the rescue though. “Azure! We need to get Socket back now!”

Reminding her of the wounded pony shook Azure out of her rage. “How are the other casualties?” She asked when the pegasus in her squad looked over at the pair and shook his head.

Azure silently glanced away for a second before a rumbling sound began emitting from deeper in the fortress. The group of ponies looked around for a second before Alice spoke up from all of their com systems. “Get out of there now! The cygnul are fully powering up the fortress! We need to leave before they can…” She cut out as static overpowered the A.I.’s voice.

“Shit,” Azure stamped her hoof. “If they have their jammers on already, then the Dash doesn’t have much time.” She turned to her squad. “Pick up the fallen and get Socket back to the ship. Twilight, teleport back before you get somepony killed.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded and tried to charge up her spell but the battle had sapped most of her energy. “I can’t. I don’t have the power after that fight.”

“Weak,” Azure mumbled before looking over at her team’s pegasus. “Zero, take her with you. I will continue into the engineering compartments and try to buy you enough time.”

Twilight called out to the other unicorn “Wait, how are you going to get back then?”

Azure slowed but didn’t turn around. “I have a plan. Tell James to remember the Samar. He will understand and know what to do. I don’t want to say any more in case the cygs are listening.” She paused for a second as she made up her mind about something. Then she turned around and, with her magic, she lifted her shoulder holster and placed it on Twilight, clicking into place. “Take my pistol. It’s a human-made, high-caliber hand cannon, so keep a steady hold on it with your magic when you use it. Don’t scratch it or I will kick your flank.” She then grabbed a rifle from her squad’s unicorn. “Hack, you won’t be able to carry Socket and shoot, so I’m taking this.”

Mouth open in shock, Twilight fought to form words. “Are… are you sure you want me to have this? My firearm training is rather limited. In my time, our weapons were rather… simple.”

The battle-mage rolled her eyes. “Firing guns hasn’t changed much over the years. Just point and shoot. Oh, and don’t shoot anypony on my team.” She cantered down the hallway towards the engineering compartment door. When she reached the end, she stopped and turned to glance back. Azure gave Twilight a haunting stare for a short moment before vanishing around the corner.