Friendship for a Soldier

Chapters

A Life Saved, a New World
Meetings
A Party of Seven, A Tale Told
Life in Ponyville
Thoughts from the Past
In the Dark
At the Gala
Secrets Revealed
Such a Small Thing
New Powers, Old Secrets
Twin Winds, Sairugi and Kazerugi
Training Day
Feelings
First Contact
A Reason to Kill
Stolen Heart
Never Again
Torn Innocence
Heated Words
Relative Calm
Bad News
From the Heart
Fanning the Flames
Begining the Fire
Heat of the Blaze
Aftermath
Storm
Heavy Price Paid
Dam Breaks
Battle Begins
Battle Rages
A Brief Respite
Shattered Skies
Kidnapped
To The Rescue
Best Laid Plans
From Bad to Worse Part 1
From Bad to Worse Part 2
Revelations
For the Fallen
Preparations
Under the Gun
From Yesterday
Ambition's Limit
Light in the Tunnel
Bright New Day
Farewell...
... Is the Begining of Hello

A Life Saved, a New World

The young man resting on the hospital bed attempted to open his eyes. He found this oddly impossible, and it took him several minutes to find out why. Bandages were wrapped around his head; from the top of it to just below his eyes. The young man’s head was all foggy, not unlike the morning after a drinking session with friends, or maybe it was more like getting hit in the head really, really hard. Whatever the cause of the discomfort, the young man knew that he couldn’t remember much beyond waking up moments before. A voice at the back of his head told him that he would remember soon, and that he wouldn’t like it at all.

He was a tall young man, with black hair longer in front than in back. His eyes, if you could have seen them, were a dull brown. The only mar on his otherwise handsome features was a diagonal scar on his right cheek.

After a while the young man decided to take stock of his body, and then try to say something. He slowly moved his toes, which seemed fine; but when he tried to lift his legs he found them bound firmly to the bed he was resting on. Same with his arms, he noticed. He began to notice bandages covering wounds he could not remember getting. When he noticed the wounds, the pain hit him, but not as hard as he seemed to expect. The voice in the back of his mind laughed at him tantalizing him with his memories then snatching them back before he could really grasp them.

He decided it was time to try talking. What to say, though? Something nonthreatening and functional would probably be best, he decided. Hello, he thought, hello should work nicely. He took a deep breath and tried to speak.

“He- hello?” He croaked, his voice was raspy and confused, and it took real effort to force his lips to form words. That is when he finally realized his throat was dry. Damn boy, you’re really out of it, the voice mocked.

“Hey, I think it’s awake! And it can speak!” Said a feminine voice from the man’s right. “Hurry up and get the doctor and some guards, just in case it’s dangerous.”

“Oh get real, it’s tied to the bed and probably weak from its injuries. How much trouble could it make?” Another female voice, this one from near his head.

“Hey, remember where it’s from? We don’t know anything about it! And things from there are well known for causing mayhem. So just bring some muscle, okay?” At this point the young man cleared his throat to speak.

“Oh gods, did it just growl at us?” Said the voice to his right.

“No, I didn’t. And besides, wouldn’t you growl a little when somebody is talking about you like you aren’t there?” The man said in a joking sort of voice. “In all seriousness though, I promise to be good. The guards are unnecessary, alright?”

“Okay… I guess we can trust you; you are, after all, strapped to the bed.” The voice to the man’s right replied.

“Alright then, I’m a just leave to get the doctor now.” The voice by the man’s head said as she walked away.

“So, do you have a name?” The other voice asked.

“I must, but I can’t seem to remember it right now.” The man answered, sounding frustrated.

The man and his unknown companion sat in silence, waiting for the return of the other lady with the man’s doctor. During that time, the man tried to probe his memory and find out who he was, what he had to jump out of the bed and do, something. It was killing him, not remembering who he was. I know that I have an important task, but I can’t think, the man thought to himself. Eventually, the other voice returned with another person. Hmm, the man thought, they must be wearing wooden shoes, because their footsteps almost sound like hooves.

“Let’s see now, the orderly says that it is awake now. Do we know if it is dangerous?” The doctor asked; another female voice, this one more authoritarian than the previous two.

The man frowned; even though he could not remember who he was, did these people have to keep calling him “it”? He felt it was time to shake up the good doctor a little. “No, I’m not dangerous. At least, I don’t think I am. Anyway, do you think you could tell me some things before you continue to insult me by calling me ‘it’?” The man said in a voice like the doctor’s.

“Oh, you can speak!” The shocked doctor gasped.

“Why does everyone sound so incredulous?” The man asked jokingly.

“Well, do you have a name, then?” The doctor asked.

“Yes I’m…” The young man thought hard and, finally, he could remember that basic bit of who he was. “Jaze, my name is Jaze Armand.” He announced triumphantly.

Like a key in a well-oiled lock, his name unlocked his memories; they came first in a trickle, then in a flood that swept him along. He remembered everything, from the hell of his childhood, to the enemy faced by humanity, to his most recent memories, the fight in orbit above a strange new planet and of getting shot down in his fighter, and finally the crash itself. It also explained his sense of urgency. The fog finally lifted from his mind.

“Can you remove the bandages from my eyes? Or are they damaged in some way?” The man asked. His voice had changed; it had stopped sounding like that of the carefree young man that he seemed to be and had taken on the qualities of a man tired of life and all its evils.

“As far as we know your eyes are fine, but the bandages are there because we didn’t know when you would wake up and if you were nocturnal. We did not want to risk burning out your eyes. I’ll remove the bandages, but first you have to promise me something.”

“What’s that?”

“You cannot freak out. Okay?” the doctor said cautiously.

“Why would I freak out? But, I promise.” was Jaze’s response. And with that the doctor started to cut away the bandages over his eyes. When the last of the bandages fell away, Jaze braced himself and opened his eyes.

The doctor and the two orderlies were ponies. To be technical; the doctor was a unicorn, while the other two appeared to be run of the mill Earth-like ponies, with the obvious exception that they could talk. Now the sound of hooves makes sense, thought Jaze, immediately followed by the thought of; wait, sense? This doesn’t make much sense at all! Upon closer inspection, he could see that the ponies were not quite the same as the Earth variety. Their faces were not as long and were a little rounder, and they had proportions closer to that of a normal horse, just smaller. They looked like their shoulder would be about as high as his hip, or about three feet tall.

When Jaze got himself calm enough to speak he said, “Well, this is not what I expected.”

The doctor, a white pony with a light blue mane, looked at Jaze with a quizzical expression, “What, that’s it?”

“I promised not to freak out, didn’t I?”

“Yes well, I expected some kind of reaction.”

“Trust me; I have seen far more disturbing things in my life. Besides, I did have a little bit of a fit in my mind, but I thought that you would not want to see that.” Jaze said with a smile, trying to keep up the pretense that he was still confused about who he was. He did not want to upset these ponies with the knowledge of who he was, or what he was.

“Right, so where are you from?”

“That is a question I would rather answer to your leader or leaders. Would it be possible to meet them?”

“I would think that is indeed possible.” said a regal voice from behind Jaze. The doctor and the two orderlies dropped into a pony version of a bow. Jaze twisted as much as the restraints would allow to see who was speaking, but he could not quite manage it. The voice continued, “Hello. I am Princess Celestia, and welcome to Equestria. Who are you?”

“My name is Jaze Armand. I would bow to you but, well,” he pulled at the restraints, “do you think I could have these taken off now? I promise to be good.”

The Princess finally walked into Jaze’s field of view. She was taller than the other ponies, about five feet at the shoulder. Her mane and tail were muted shades of blue, green, purple, and pink while her coat was of the purist white. She had both a horn like a unicorn and wings, which made her an alicorn. She gave Jaze a gentle and caring smile. “Yes, since you seem to be a… Thing of your word; we will remove the bandages.” Princess Celestia nodded to the orderlies. One, a maroon pony with purple mane and tail, started unbuckling the restraints around Jaze’s ankles while the other, this one a very light green with a cyan mane, undid the restraints around Jaze’s wrists.

When they were done, Jaze stood up. Every joint in his body gave a loud pop as he stretched. When he finished, he fell to one knee in front of Princess Celestia and bowed his head. “Greetings, your Majesty; as you may have gathered my name is Jaze Armand. I must speak with you in private; do you share power with anyone?” Jaze stood back to his full height.

“Yes, I rule with my younger sister, Princess Luna.”

“Can you have someone get her and bring her here?”

“Certainly, I can do that.” With that, Princess Celestia nodded to a guard by the door, who left to get Princess Luna and motioned for the rest of the ponies to leave the room. When they had, Celestia turned to Jaze and said “So, who are you really?”

“I would prefer to wait on your sister to arrive before answering any questions.”

In short order Princess Luna arrived in the hospital wing, appearing slightly messy like she had just woken, yet she was just as regal as her sister, an alicorn with a space blue coat and mane that looked for all the world like a starry night sky. She was a little shorter than Celestia; hitting roughly four feet at the shoulder.

“The guards said that the creature was awake, and wished to speak with us.” The Princess yawned and stretched.

“I’m sorry Luna; I forgot that you would be asleep.” Celestia said with chagrin.

“It’s alright Tia; this is more important than a nap.” Luna said with a smile. She then turned to Jaze, “So, you are the one who wishes an audience. Who are you? What are you?” she asked, curiosity creeping into her voice.

“Allow me to properly introduce myself.” Jaze snapped to attention and gave a smart salute. Jaze had dropped his pretense of being a carefree youth and had assumed his real identity. “I’m Major Jaze Armand, fighter pilot and general warfighter for the StarSide Marine Corps, and a member of the Earth Coalition Special Forces. When you found me I had been shot down during an orbital battle above this planet.” he relaxed his stance a little, “Somehow I survived the crash and walked through the forest that I crashed into. I presume when I broke free from that forest, I was found by someone who brought me here for treatment. For that I am grateful.” He paused to let all this soak in for the poor alicorns.

“Oh, now it makes sense.” Celestia muttered. At Jaze’s confused look she explained. “A student of mine was watching the sky and noticed several ‘stars’ that were moving around. This must have been your battle.” Jaze nodded, it was in all too likely.

“So you are from beyond this world, and the heavenly spheres?”Luna asked.

“Affirmative, Princess Luna. I am from a planet that is completely different from your own. Though, the home planet for my species is very similar. Right down to much of the flora and fauna.” He paused with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Battle implies multiple participants. Who were you fighting?” Celestia asked, looking worried.

“That is what I really needed to talk to you about. My enemies, and the enemies of my people, humans, are called the Cye, which stands for Cybernetic Entity. They are race of semi-sentient machines and their one discernible goal is to exterminate anything that breathes.”

“Are they here, in Equestria?” Luna asked with the same worried expression as Celestia.

“No, I am almost positive that my crew and I destroyed them all before they could land anything on this world.” At the mention of his crew, Jaze remembered that he had lost most of the brave pilots under his command.

Celestia saw Jaze’s pained expression at the mention of his crew and decided to change the subject, “Do you think they could find us again?”

Jaze pulled his head from the past, “It’s possible, and presents a problem. If the Cye were able to radio in that they found a planet ripe for destruction, they could be on their way. I could contact the Earth Coalition and ask for reinforcements, but if the Cye don’t know you’re here and I radio in they will find you, no question.” He looked around the room, “Judging from what I see here, you do not have the tech to fight a war with a space-faring race. Did I have anything with me when I was found? ”

“Yes, we had it stowed under your bed for you.” Celestia said, motioning with a hoof to the bed behind him. Jaze dropped to his knees and grabbed the things that he had with him after his trip through the forest. One was a curved sword and the other appeared to be some kind of pack “Can I ask what that is?” Celestia questioned as she pointed to the pack-like thing.

For the first time, Jaze looked a little awkward, “Well, we call them Mule Packs. They allow you to store a lot of objects in a small space. The problem is that they do not cancel any weight, so you feel what you carry, but it allows us to carry objects that are too large for a normal pack.” He gave the two alicorns an embarrassed smile, “I apologize if the name is offensive.”

“Not at all, mules are known for their ability to carry large burdens.” Luna said as she gave him a small smile.

With a sigh of relief, Jaze touched a button on the Mule and out popped a small FTL radio. Acting like a serious soldier once again he looked at the two princesses and said “Now, we must decide, do you want me to radio for help or do you think that it would be safer to try and stay anonymous?”

The sisters looked at each other and Luna asked “What do you think would be best? Do you think they know we are here?”

Jaze took a deep breath, “If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that you are safe. The battle was fast and as far as I know, no Cye survived it. I think that it would be safer to try to stay hidden. I have no idea where in space this planet is, so I can give no estimate times for arrival of the nearest Cye or human forces would arrive. We could be just outside the sphere of influence of one or the other, or we could be well away from the conflict.” He looked the princesses straight in the eye, “If I had a choice, I would try to hide for now.”

“And then what would happen to you?” Celestia asked.

“I would be stuck here, plain and simple,” was his detached response.

“We could not keep you from your people, your friends and family!” Luna exclaimed, “I know what separation from those you care for is like.”

“I have no family, and for all I know my friends are all dead. I could not allow you to endanger your people on my account.” Jaze immediately retorted, with the same detached voice as before; the voice of a man resigned to his fate.

“We shall go with your plan then, Jaze.” Celestia said in the same detached manner.

“I see that it would serve no purpose to call for your people, if you truly feel that all your loved ones are gone.” Luna agreed with a sad expression on her face.

“Thank you for listening to me.” Jaze said, snapping another smart salute.

Celestia looked at Jaze and smiled. “Well, that solves one predicament, but raises another.”

“And what is that, Princess?” Jaze asked cautiously.

“What are we going to do with a being from another world, and a soldier at that?”

Luna jumped in with, “And more problems, like what do you eat?”

Jaze raised an eyebrow, “It matters not what you do with me, so long as I am treated fairly and not punished for something beyond my control. As for food, I am omnivorous and can probably eat most of what you can.” He looked embarrassed again, “I will have to eat meat from time to time, but I do have a large store of food in my Mule, which I can use to supplement what I get from you. It will eventually run out, and I will be forced to hunt. Will that be a problem?”

“We understand, we do have carnivores on this planet. Just keep your hunting in the Everfree Forest and don’t eat anything with hooves and it should not be a problem.” Celestia assured him.

“Everfree Forest?”

“The forest that you landed in.”

“I see. Thank for your understanding, I know that this must be awkward.”

“Now, where should he live?” Luna pondered, “Obviously close to the Everfree Forest, so he can’t live here in the castle…” She trailed off, lost in thought.

Celestia flashed her smile again, “Oh, I think I know the perfect place.”

Meetings

Jaze stood in the bright sunlight outside of Canterlot Castle. He had on a set of green fatigues to replace the tattered flight suit he had been wearing when he was brought in. He had found several changes of clothes in his Mule, along with a month's supply of food, a full load of combat gear, and a few other pieces of tech. He also had his sword riding his left hip. There could be worse ways to start a new life, Jaze thought, at least you're not naked and helpless.

Jaze had spent the past several days being healed by the ponies' magic and learning all he could about the land of Equestria. He learned of the types of ponies and the various other creatures in the land. He also learned about the magic of the land itself and how it affected everything. Most of his lessons had taken place in the large guest room that the Princesses had loaned to him while he healed, and Princess Luna herself conducted most of his lessons. She taught Jaze a lot of the recent history of Equestria; including her own story, that of Nightmare Moon. She told him of her banishment, return, and subsequent defeat at the hands of six ponies wielding something she had called the Elements of Harmony. She did not seem to bear any ill will towards anypony who had taken part in her defeat, and only regretted that she had to be defeated in the first place.

"We are not sure why we did as we did," Luna had confided in Jaze, slipping into the royal pronoun usage without realizing it, "just that we were so jealous of Tia, and once we started, we couldn't stop."

Jaze realized how hard it must have been to tell someone who was mostly a stranger something so personal and he admired her for being able to speak so calmly about the incident. He knew that he could not so readily share his past. His past was something he wished to bury in a deep hole and never allow to see the light of day again. During these lessons he did let something slip and that was his guard. He found himself genuinely laughing for the first time in years. He knew that, against his better judgment, he had made a friend in Luna.

Two royal guard pegasi pulling a chariot landed in front of Jaze, jostling him from his thoughts of the past few days. He lifted his Mule on to his back with one hand, astounded once again by how light it felt. The doctors had warned him that the magic might have curious side effects on him, as the spells were designed to work on creatures that had lived under the influence of magic their whole lives. So far, Jaze had noticed that the side effects had all been positive; increasing his strength, reflexes, and his already keen senses. A part of him, a part he did not like to admit existed, welcomed these increased abilities. As he climbed into the carriage, Luna walked out of the Castle behind him.

"So, today's the day you get to leave here." She said, her face a blank mask.

Jaze offered her a small smile, "Yeah, now you don't have to spend your days teaching this idiot about everything."

This elicited a small laugh and a smile from Luna, "Yes, I suppose there is a bright side to everything, isn't there?" The smile fell from her face, "I just wanted to say good-bye before you left, and to tell you that you need to lighten up a little. You're not being punished for being here; we just don't want these Cye things to know where we are."

"I know that."

"Just try to be friendlier, and less formal with everypony. Remember that most of them have never met a soldier, and acting like one will only make your life here more difficult."

"I'll try to remember that."

"When you get to where you're going, a student of Celestia will show to your house and around town" Jaze gave Luna a nod. "And one more thing, and this is from Celestia, try to make some friends. There is more power in friendship than you know."

"All I can do is to try."

"Remember, you will always be welcome here." Luna said as the guards took off for the small town of Ponyville.

xxx

The carriage landed smoothly in front of a purple unicorn, with a pink stripe running down her purple mane. She looked somewhat familiar to Jaze, he had seen her somewhere before but he could not remember where. She bowed her head slightly as Jaze stepped from the carriage. She did not seem to have noticed what Jaze was yet.

"Hello and welcome to Ponyville." She said as she brought her eyes up to Jaze for the first time. Her mouth fell open in shock at the strange creature standing before her. She only heard of a few bipedal creatures before, and most of them were monsters in the Everfree Forest. The figure before her matched none of the descriptions she had heard and at a little over six feet he towered over her, but Celestia had trusted him so he could not be too dangerous, could he?

"Hello, my name is Jaze Armand. What is yours?" The figure asked in a friendly, if somewhat stiff, voice.

"I- I'm Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's student."

The two pegasi pulling the carriage could not help but chuckle at the look of shock on Twilight's face, as they knew that they had worn similar expressions at their first meeting with the stranger. They took off, leaving Twilight and Jaze to work through their awkward situation alone. Jaze stood there, Mule on his right shoulder, left hand resting on the hilt of his katana as Twilight tried to find her voice.

"So, uh, Jaze," Twilight began haltingly, "would you like to go to your house now?"

"I would like that very much, thank you." Jaze responded politely. In truth, he could not wait to set his pack down. Even with his suddenly enhanced strength, the Mule was starting to cut into his shoulders and become uncomfortable.

"Well then, please follow me." Twilight guided Jaze through Ponyville. The ponies on the streets were staring at this new thing in their town. Several dashed into the closest building they could find. The rest noted that it was Twilight in front of him and just stared.

Jaze had begun to feel a little unsettled at all the stares directed at him. While none showed any hostility, he did begin to feel as though he was a freak on display. If I had known that I was gonna be such hit, I would've charged admission, Jaze thought with a nervous sort of chuckle. He noticed then that his left hand was resting on his sword, a nervous habit of his from long ago. He let his hand fall down past the sword and forced the tension in his body to leave.

Twilight, seeing Jaze's unease, picked up the pace and soon the pair left Ponyville for a small path leading towards a strange forest. Jaze assumed this to be the Everfree Forest that he had heard so much about. He could feel the strangeness of the forest just by looking at it. Wow, I ran through that; bleeding and almost unconscious? Jaze thought in wonder, I have the devil's luck. Jaze shuddered at the thought of being lost in that forest and resolved to never let that happen to him. The duo walked along the path until it came to a small split, and they took the less travelled path on the right.

Twilight indicated the other path, "My friend Fluttershy lives down that way, and a kinder soul you'll never find anywhere. Later I'll take you to meet her. She'll be your closest neighbor, so she will be there if you need any help. Your house is this way."

"So did you all build this house for me?" Jaze asked, more than a little bit impressed.

"No, it used to be the house of a scientist that was studying the Everfree Forest. The house was just left here when she moved back to Canterlot a few years ago; Celestia commandeered it so we could fix it up for you to use." Twilight looked at the looming Everfree Forest nervously "The only other ponies that live this close to the forest are Fluttershy and the Apple family, their oldest daughter is one of my friends. Her name is Applejack and you'll get to meet her as well, along with my other friends: Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.

"That's very kind of you all to go through so much trouble for a complete stranger. Thank you."

"Everypony's a stranger at first, but they can all become friends, right?"

"That's a noble sentiment, Ms. Sparkle."
"You can just call me Twilight, Mr. Armand."

"Then return the favor by just calling me Jaze," he gave a small smile, "Mr. Armand makes me sound too important."

Twilight smiled for the first time since seeing Jaze, "I guess it does." She looked ahead, "Oh, we're here."

The house was a one story affair with an inviting feel to it. It had a small porch by the front door, and the whole thing was painted a light blue, not unlike the sky. When Jaze opened the front door and stepped inside, he saw that the inside was painted the same beautiful blue. He found himself in a largish, fully-furnished living room. Through an archway on the left wall, Jaze could see a full kitchen, also fully furnished and containing many of the same amenities found in an early 21st century Earth home; the only thing missing was a microwave oven. As he looked around, he was amazed that the Princess and these ponies would go to such lengths for him, a more or less complete stranger. He felt gratitude well up in his heart.

"Do you like it?" Twilight asked somewhat nervously.

"I love it, Twilight. This is one of the nicest things anyone's ever done for me. You have my thanks again." Jaze replied sincerely. Jaze walked around the living room and then explored the kitchen

"I'm glad." Twilight responded with a smile.

"Where is my bedroom?" Jaze called from in the kitchen.

"At the back, just follow the hallway connected to the kitchen." Twilight called back.

"Alright, let me drop my stuff in my room and we can go elsewhere. Weren't you supposed to show me around town?"

"Yes, I was. We can leave when you're ready."

Jaze walked through another arch in the kitchen that opened into a hall way. He walked down it a short way to where the hall turned to the left. On his left there were two doors with another door at the end of the hall. The doors on the left opened to reveal a bathroom and then a small study. The door on the end opened to reveal a large bedroom; fully furnished like the rest of the house. The room contained a bed, large by pony standards, but roughly the size of a full size human mattress. There was a chest of drawers and a small night stand as well. At the back was a door that led to a large walk-in closet. He dropped his pack next to the bed and rejoined Twilight in the living room.

"You ready to go?" Twilight asked Jaze.

"Ready." Jaze replied quickly. He had to admit that he was curious about Twilight's friends; he already found himself liking Twilight, despite having just met her, and he felt that her friends would be just as likable. Plus, he hoped that the other ponies in town could get used to seeing him and stop staring whenever he entered their vision if he appeared in town often; he felt that being in the presence of some of the local ponies would aid in normalizing him to the townsfolk.

"Alright then, let's go." Twilight said with a bright smile as she exited the house with Jaze following.

Twilight had gotten over her initial shock at meeting Jaze and had decided to give him a chance before passing judgment. He was different, but so was Zecora, and she had turned out to be a helpful and caring friend when given the chance. Twilight owed it to all she had learned about friendship to give Jaze the same chance. He already seemed nice enough, if a little stiff. If Twilight was honest with herself, Jaze reminded her a little of the Royal Guards.

"So, where are we going first?" Jaze asked, breaking into Twilight's thoughts.

"Oh, I thought we could go meet Fluttershy, since she's so close by." Twilight said.

"Sounds good to me."

"Just one thing," Twilight looked at Jaze severely and delivered a warning, "Fluttershy is kind of timid, so try not to upset her. We're all kind of protective of her."

"I'll try to be good." Jaze responded. With that warning delivered, the pair set off down the path to Fluttershy's house.

xxx

Twilight raised her hoof and softly knocked on the door of the small cottage. Jaze looked at it in wonder; the cottage had grass growing on the flat surfaces of the roof and vines had climbed some of the walls. The house managed to stand out from its surroundings and to blend in with them at once. Twilight knocked louder when nopony answered her knock.

"W-who is there?" A sweet, quiet voice asked form inside the cottage.

"It's Twilight, and I brought somepony for you to meet."

"Oh, uh, okay," the voice, Jaze assumed it belonged to Fluttershy, answered, "I’m coming out." The door opened to reveal a pegasus pony with a pink mane that flowed across her face, and a soft yellow coat. Like Twilight, this pony looked very familiar; he still could not think of where he knew them from. When the pony looked at Jaze her eyes lit up with wonder.

"Wow, what is this new creature? I've never seen anything like this before. It's as tall as a small bear, but it's mostly hairless…" Fluttershy began pacing around Jaze, looking at him from every angle; even taking off at one point to fly at head level to inspect his face and head. Twilight was biting back a laugh at the look of confusion on Jaze's face. "Do you know if it is a boy or girl, and does it have a name yet, or can I name it?" Fluttershy asked Twilight in a quietly excited voice.

Jaze looked to Twilight, "I thought you said she was timid." Jaze said with a small bemused smile crossing his lips, his first since leaving the Castle. "And I do have a name, it's Jaze." he added

"Oh wow, you can talk! What are you, where are you from, are there more things like you?" Fluttershy asked several more questions like this in rapid succession, but in a voice never louder than a loud whisper, while Jaze did his best to give evasive answers.

"I think we should go, we still have to introduce him to the rest of our friends, Fluttershy." Twilight said in a voice of mock exasperation.

"Uh, may I come with you? If that's okay, I mean." Fluttershy asked Twilight, her timid nature reasserting itself while talking to her friend.

Twilight looked to Jaze in askance, "So sounds fine by me, Fluttershy. I'd be happy for you to accompany us." Jaze replied to Twilight's unasked question. He found he could not help smiling while looking at Fluttershy. Jaze got the impression that she was a lover of animals. She had seemed so hesitant and sweet when talking to Twilight but had been excited at the thought of a new creature to learn about.

"So where are we going now?" Jaze threw the question to Twilight.

Remembering Jaze's unease in town she said, "Let's go to Sweet Apple Acres so you can meet Applejack." Twilight said as she set off on a trot back down the path. Jaze fell into step just behind her, while Fluttershy walked next Jaze so that she could continue to pelt him with all sorts of questions.

After five minutes of questions, Jaze smiled at Fluttershy and said, "I appreciate your interest, but I would like to tell my story as few times as possible. Can you wait to have your questions answered until everypony that wants to hear it is in the same room?"

Fluttershy looked appalled, "I'm sorry, I did not mean to get you mad..." she said trying to hide her face in her mane.

"And you haven't, I just don't want to have to repeat myself to everypony." Jaze quickly replied, worried that he had upset Fluttershy. Twilight's warning aside, she possessed an innocence and he felt a natural urge to protect her.

They had been walking in silence for a while when Jaze heard two loud booms; booms that sounded a lot like a fighter achieving Mach 1 speeds; but it had sounded smaller, like it was made by something a lot smaller than a jet powered fighter. He dove into a ditch by the path and started scanning the skies for the fighters that had made the noise. His diving for cover was not a conscious decision, but an instinct that had been drilled into him while he was fighting in ground battles. Jaze saw what appeared to be two rainbows appear in the sky. That's impossible, he thought with confusion, there's no rain, what could have made the rainbows? And I've not seen planes of any sort so what made the sonic booms?

It was then that Jaze noticed he was not the ditches only occupant. Fluttershy, startled by the sudden noise, had apparently dived into the ditch behind him. At the edge of his vision, Jaze could see a rainbow colored streak leading away from where the rainbows had originated. The streak turned and began heading in their direction.

Jaze stayed in the ditch as a cyan pegasus pony with a rainbow mane quickly approached Twilight. She was trailing a long rainbow streak behind her as she flew at a speed that would make a professional street racer green with envy. The speedy pony was soon right on top of them, and she dropped to the ground for a graceful landing. She looked tired, but immensely pleased with herself.

"Aw yeah, I did it!" the pegasus exclaimed excitedly.

"What did you do, Rainbow?" Twilight asked, still a little in shock from the booms. She cast a look around the area and asked worriedly, "Where are Fluttershy and Jaze?"

"We're down here." Jaze called from the ditch as he stood up. Fluttershy shakily got to her feet as well. Twilight called her "Rainbow", so perhaps this is her friend Rainbow Dash? Jaze thought as the pegasus continued.

"What did I do?" Rainbow Dash said, having not seen Jaze in her enthusiasm, "Only my best trick ever!"

"I thought that was the Sonic Rainboom?" Twilight said, confused.

"It was, but I needed something to top it. The Wonderbolts had already seen the Rainboom, so I needed something better to dazzle 'em with. So what is better than a Rainboom? Nothing, except two Rainbooms at once! Somepony didn’t think I could do it, but I did and now I gotta go settle a bet." Rainbow said smugly, and then she finally caught sight of Jaze, who had now moved closer to the pair of ponies. "Who’re you?" Rainbow asked warily.

"Hi, I'm…" Jaze started, but was interrupted as a pink blur moving almost as fast as Rainbow Dash had crashed into him.

"Ouch!" The blur yelled before springing to its hooves and began hopping around the trio excitedly.

"Ohmygoshdidyouseeit?" The blur, which Jaze could now identify as a pony that was bright pink from head to tail, asked in one quick spurt. "That was amazing Dashie! I thought that the Sonic Rainboom was cool, but Double Sonic Rainboom is so far beyond cool that it's not cool how cool it is. That was the most amazing, wonderful, fantastic…"
She paused in mid-bounce and gave a loud gasp of surprise and excitement when she caught sight of Jaze, who was just getting up from being tackled from the sonic pony. "Ohmygoshwhatisthat?" She started bouncing around Jaze asking many of the same questions that Fluttershy had, without bothering to wait for answers. Jaze, still dazedfrom the impact, was getting dizzy trying to follow her as she appeared first over one shoulder, then the other.

She suddenly stopped again, "You know what this calls for?" The pink pony started to race away, but Twilight stepped on her tail in a move that could only have come from long practice. This caused the pink pony to fall flat at Twilight's hooves.

"Keep it small; nopony else but the six of us and Jaze. Alright?" Twilight ordered.

"Uh-huh!" Was the pony's enthusiastic reply.

"And keep quiet about it." The pink pony mimed zipping her lips shut, then unzipped them to whisper something to Twilight. When she had re-zipped her lips, Twilight removed her hoof from the pink one's tail, and then she was just gone, so fast that Jaze did not see her move.

Twilight looked at the stunned Jaze, "So, what do you think of my friends so far?"

"That pony… She breaks physics. You don't break physics, physics breaks you. I think I need to sit down…" Was Jaze's confused reply, and he promptly sat down on the path.

Silence reigned for a few moments, and then Rainbow began laughing at the dazed look on Jaze's face. Twilight soon joined in the laughter and even Fluttershy could not help but let out a nearly silent giggle. Jaze sat there looking at the laughing ponies, and could not help himself; he began laughing as well. The laughter continued for several minutes, and Jaze enjoyed every second of it. What is it with these ponies, thought Jaze as he fought to get his giggles under control, first Luna, now these girls. I go two years without a chuckle, and in a few hours these ponies have me in stitches. Have I gone mad?

"Okay, okay, I'm better now." Jaze said as he gave his head a shake and wiped the tears of mirth from his face, "I just have two questions: who was that, and what in the heck is a Sonic Rainboom?"

"That was my friend Pinkie Pie," Twilight informed Jaze, a wide smile on her face, "and as for the Rainboom, talk to Rainbow."

Jaze glanced at the cyan pegasus who still had not recovered from the laughing fit, "Maybe later," Jaze said. As he was staring at Rainbow he knew he had seen these three ponies before, but he was having trouble pinning down where he had seen them.

"AHA, now I know!" Jaze suddenly exclaimed.

"What do you know?" Twilight asked.

"I know where I have seen you all from. There is a stained glass scene in Canterlot Castle and you three are in it." Jaze looked in the direction that Pinkie had disappeared in, "Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure she was in it too." He remembered what Luna had told him about the six ponies in the scene. "You all are the Elements of Harmony, aren't you?"

"That's right," Rainbow confirmed with a confident smile "now that you know who we are, mind telling me who you are?"

"My name is Jaze Armand, Ms. Dash"

"Drop the 'miss' stuff. No need to be so formal."

"So, Rainbow, we were heading to Applejack's farm when you showed up. You want to join us?" Twilight asked.

"Sure," the tomboyish pony had on a mischievous grin, "like I said; I need to settle a bet."

xxx

The three ponies and Jaze were walking between the apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres, looking for Applejack. Jaze could hear grunts of effort and what sounded like hooves on wood coming from somewhere up ahead. Then he caught sight of an orange earth pony with a yellow mane. She had two baskets underneath a tree and was kicking the tree to make the apples fall. My guess is that's Applejack, Jaze thought to himself.

"Hey AJ, time to settle up!" Rainbow called as she darted forward.

"What?" Applejack said. She had an accent that reminded Jaze of the American South.

"I did a Double Rainboom!"

"Tha's nice, Rainbow." Looking away from the smug pony.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"I'm waiting,"

Applejack winced "Fine, 'Rainbow Dash is the most talented athlete in all of Equestria'. There, ya happy?"

"Very." Rainbow replied looking even more smug than before, if that is possible.

Applejack gave the tree another hard kick which caused most of the apples to fall down into the baskets. Most, but not all.

"Oh pony-feathers!" Applejack cried in frustration at the apples still cling to the branches.

"Allow me," Jaze said as he reached where Applejack was standing. He leaped, grabbed a branch, and hauled himself into the branches of the tree. He began picking the remaining apples and dropping them into the awaiting baskets while Applejack picked up the apples that had missed the baskets. He jumped down as he dropped the last apple into the basket.

"Why, thank ya kindly Mister…"

"Jaze Armand, but you may call me Jaze."

"Well then, thank ya Jaze." She looked to Twilight, "Ah take it tha' this is the new arrival from Canterlot?"

"Yes he is."

Applejack shook Jaze's hand with her hoof, "Then welcome to Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres. I'm Applejack; ya can call me AJ if ya want."
"Thank you for the welcome, Applejack."

"Ah'ma take these here apples to the barn, and then we can talk if'n ya want to."

"Would you like some help with that?" Jaze asked.

"If ya want to, I would be much obliged." Jaze bent down picked up the baskets and motioned for Applejack to lead the way. She walked him and the other ponies to a large red barn. Applejack had Jaze drop the apples into two large bins that were already quite full of apples.

"Thanks fer carryin' those; ya didn't have ta carry both but I appreciate it."

"You're welcome; besides, I liked getting to use my muscles. It was no problem at all." he assured Applejack. He could hear Twilight whispering something to Rainbow and Fluttershy behind him

"So where ya from Jaze?"

Twilight gave a small cough and stepped up next Applejack to whisper something in her ear. Jaze caught the last part "… that way we can all hear at once." Applejack gave a whispered, "Okay, sounds good".

"What's with the cloak and dagger stuff?" Jaze asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Twilight said, too quickly.

"Sure," Jaze said, not believing her for a second but he decided to let it go.

"Well, Ah would love to stay and chat, but Ah gotta, uh, pick more apples."

A small grin crossed Jaze's face, "Applejack, you're a terrible liar."

"Ah ain't lyin', now get goin'."

"Yes ma'am," Jaze said as he and the other ponies left.

"Uh, we need get going now." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yes, I need to get back to my patients." Fluttershy said in her small voice.

"And I need to keep practicing my flying."

"What is the deal here?" Jaze said to Twilight as the two pegasi left in different directions.

"I don't know."

"Just tell me. I heard you whispering to those two."

"It was something personal."

"Alright then…" Jaze looked her in the eye.

Twilight looked away quickly, "C'mon, you still need to meet Rarity."

A Party of Seven, A Tale Told

A Party of Seven, a Tale Told

Twilight opened the door of Carousel Boutique and stepped inside. Jaze was waiting outside to give Twilight time to have her secret whisperings with Rarity. He was curious about what the purple unicorn was planning, but he felt that it was not his place to pry into these ponies’ lives. If they wanted me to know, they would just tell me. I have no right to intrude for the sake of simple curiosity, Jaze thought as he waited for Twilight to reappear.

Inside the boutique, Twilight had finished talking to Rarity about a surprise for Jaze, “So are you in?” she asked

“I am always ready for that, you know.” the white unicorn replied

“Okay, then are you ready to meet Jaze?”

“Yes, I suppose I am.”

“Just remember, he is, different, to say the least.” Twilight said as the two ponies exited the Boutique.

Jaze was leaning against the Boutique’s wall just outside the door. He had just begun to wonder what was taking so long when the door to the shop opened to reveal Twilight and white unicorn with a stylish purple mane, who Jaze assumed to be Rarity.

He stood up and said, “Hello there, I am Jaze Armand. Are you Miss Rarity?”

Rarity turned in the direction of Jaze’s voice; “Yes I’m…” she trailed off as she took in Jaze’s form.

Uh-oh here it comes, Jaze thought as a look of shock crossed Rarity’s face. He was starting to get a little tired of the shock everypony displayed at seeing him for the first time. At the same time, he could understand it; he was, after all, something that these ponies had never seen.

“You… your…” she stammered, horrified, “your clothes…”

“What?” Jaze said with an incredulous look, his turn to be stunned.

“Your clothes! They are absolutely un-fabulous. Oh, you must let me design new ones for you.” Rarity said as she pulled Jaze into her shop.

“No, it’s okay,” Jaze protested, “really, these clothes are…”

“Nonsense,” Rarity interrupted, “I insist that you let me make you some new ones. We can’t have an important guest walking around in such a dreary outfit.”

“But I…”

“Hush,” Rarity used her magic to float a tailor’s measuring tape around Jaze, taking various measurements, “you know, I don’t usually make colt clothing, but I will try my best.” She looked Jaze up and down, “And you’re so much different than a pony, but I consider this a challenge. I am the best fashion designer in all of Equestria! When I am done, your garments will be the envy of, wherever you’re from.” To silence his further protests she told him to consider the clothes her “welcome to Ponyville” gift.

Twilight had followed the pair inside and was trying to keep from laughing at Jaze’s plight. Jaze looked to Twilight to silently ask for some help. This pushed Twilight over the edge, and she began laughing. She at least had the presence of mind to pull Jaze away from Rarity.

“Maybe you could do this later, Rarity.” Twilight said with pointed look, “There is still somethings that we need to do today, remember?”

“Oh, riiiiiight, I suppose I should get ready. I’ll be there soon.” Rarity said with a wink.

“What is going on here you two?” Jaze asked in mock frustration

“Nothing,” the two ponies said in unison.

Jaze threw them a skeptical look, but let their obvious lie slide. Not my place, he thought; though he still burned to know. Jaze and Twilight left the Carousel Boutique, and a smiling Rarity, and walked towards the center of town. Jaze noticed that the stares from the other ponies had changed from looks of shock to ones of curiosity. The ponies would stop for a moment to watch as he and Twilight walked past them, and then they continued on their way. Wow, thought Jaze, these ponies adapt fast. Jaze was enjoying not seeing ponies run in apparent terror at the sight of him.

“So where are we going now?” Jaze asked Twilight suddenly.

“I thought I could show you around town.” Twilight responded.

“Sounds nice.”

Twilight took Jaze around the small town, showing him all the shops, including Sugar Cube Corner bakery, as well as Ponyville’s best, and only, restaurant. Twilight also brought Jaze to the local school, which was getting ready to let its charges lose on the world. As the pair turned to leave, the final school bell rung and the young fillies and colts were let out to work off the energy they had stored up during the long day of education.

Jaze stopped and watched the foals split off to play. A small, sad smile spread across his face. He had always loved to see children free to play. There had not been much play on the arid planet that he had grown up on. Watching these young foals running about having fun reminded Jaze of the childhood he lost out on. Jaze turned to leave, but three of the young fillies had taken particular interest in the strange creature that was in their town. With a cry of “Cutie Mark Crusader Monster Wranglers!” the three jumped on Jaze from behind and knocked him to the ground. Twilight was horrified at the three’s attack.

“Ah got it!” said one that had wrapped around his arm.

“No, I got it.” said another that had his leg in her grasp.

“Nuh-uh, I got it.” said the last one, who had grabbed him around the waist.

“What is it?” came from the one on his arm

“It’s an ogre!” this from the one around his leg.

“No it’s not, it’s a troll!” the one around his waist added.

“Ah think Sweetie Belle’s right Scootaloo, it’s an ogre!”

“No Applebloom, it’s a troll!”

“Ogre!”

“TROLL!”

“OGRE!”

“It’s neither!” Jaze said as he stood up, “And now it’s got you all!” the next few minutes were a confusion of arms, legs, hands, and hooves as the three fillies wrestled with Jaze. Twilight could only laugh as the three were forced into submission by Jaze. He was kneeling and holding two, a yellow earth filly and an orange pegasus filly, in headlocks while the third, a white unicorn filly, had backed away out of his reach.

“Anythin’?” the one Jaze held under his right arm asked. They all checked their flanks hopefully, which Jaze now noticed to be bereft of Cutie Marks; the symbols on a pony’s flank that showcased their special talents. Their excitement faded when they all saw that no magical symbols had appeared for them.

“Ugh, we’re never gonna get our Cutie Marks at this pace.” the filly under Jaze’s left arm complained.

“Maybe monster wrangling isn’t our special talent.” The one just outside of Jaze’s reach speculated.

“After a performance like that,” Jaze said with a broad grin, “I would think not. What kind of monster wrangler gets wrangled by the monster?” The four of them laughed, and Jaze released the two he had been holding captive.

Twilight, still giggling, said, “I’m sorry to break up your monster hunt girls but we have to go.”

“Alright, Miss Sparkle.” the unicorn said.

“We’ll be coming to settle the score.” the pegasus warned.

“Yeah, ya jus’ wait Mr. Monster!” the earth pony affirmed.

Jaze stood up straight, “Alright girls, Twilight’s right. It’s time for you to go.” He smiled as he called to the retreating fillies, “And I’ll be waiting for your revenge!”

Twilight looked at Jaze with an expression of worry, “Uh, are you mad at those three?”

“No, I’m not mad at all.” Jaze said, confused, “Why, should I be?”

“Well, they did kind of tackle you. Most anypony else would be mad.”

“I can’t get mad at children. They’re the bright hope of the future; the next generation of doctors, artists, scientists, and what have you. I feel that they need to have fun and enjoy being young and carefree while they can.” The smile fell from his face; or else you end up like me, he thought but had the sense not to say out loud.

Twilight picked up on his sudden change of mood and dropped the subject. She suggested that they go visit the library were Twilight lived and worked. Jaze told her that this was a wonderful idea for he loved to read and was curious about what pony fiction was like. Twilight led him to the library and pushed the door open. The lights flicked on and Jaze jumped a little as several voices yelled “SURPRISE!” He looked around to see that Twilight’s friends had decorated the library in record time.

“Heh, heh, you’re really jumpy aren’t you Jaze?” Dash said with a laugh and a smile.

Jaze returned the smile “You would be jumpy too if you had just spent the last five months in the Everfree Forest.”

“No way, you did not.” Dash said, looking impressed, “You gotta tell us about that!”

“I will, but stories like that should not be told before a party.” Jaze looked around at the decorations, “You girls did all this just for me?”

“Well, duh!” said the pink blur from before, “I knew that you were new, because I know everypony in Ponyville, and I don’t know you and you’re not a pony, and I thought you looked sad, which made me sad, so I thought I could throw you a party and you wouldn’t be sad anymore!”

“Why thank you Pinkie Pie,” Jaze said with a smile, “you’re some of the nicest people I’ve met. Even if you are ponies.”

“So, what took y’all so long?” Applejack asked Twilight.

“Well, we, uh, ran into your sister and her friends.”

“What do ya mean?”

“They kind of tackled Jaze.”

“WHAT?” Applejack’s shout attracted the attention of everypony in the room, “Ah’m gonna give that filly a good talkin’ to when I get back to Sweet Apple Acres!”

“It’s alright; I didn’t mind” Jaze told Applejack with a sincere smile, “Besides, if I had been paying attention they wouldn’t have gotten me, would they?”

“But that was rude,” She quickly replied.

“Like I said, it’s okay. Those three are just kids, and I kind of egged it on. I’m just as responsible as they are.”

“Well, when ya put it like that,” Applejack said looking somewhat uncomfortable, “Ah guess Ah can let it slide. But she still needs ta learn when ta stop.”

“What are we still standing around for?” Pinkie broke in, “Let’s party!”

That kicked the party off. Jaze had the most fun he had had in several years. After spending so long smothering himself in his uniform and fighting for the human race, it was nice to just let loose for awhile. The six ponies and the human partied for several hours; the six ponies drew Jaze into playing many different party games like “Pin the Tail on the Pony”, which they told him was a local favorite. Their merry making continued until it started grow dark outside. As the six settled down and looked to Jaze, he realized he would know have to tell the story that he, Celestia, and Luna had worked out together.

“I suppose I should tell you girls how I got here.” the ponies sat a little straighter, “Well, I am from a place beyond the Everfree Forest…”

“But there is nothing beyond Everfree; it’s the end of Equestria.” Rainbow quickly interrupted, but a look from her friends just as quickly silenced her.

“That’s what we thought as well. But a team was put together to go and see if there was actually anything beyond the forest. I was the leader of that team. We traveled for about five months, maybe six. I really not sure about anything from that time.” Jaze looked down, “I remember the day that we all set out from our home town; there were crowds cheering for us, already calling us heroes.”

“How many were on your team?” Twilight asked.

“There were four of us in all. There were four when we set out at least, I got separated from the group by a strange creature deep in the Everfree Forest. It attacked us while we were sleeping and managed to pull me off into the forest. I got away, but I was hurt pretty bad and couldn’t find the group. I wandered around for awhile until I finally broke free of the forest, where I collapsed from exhaustion and my wounds. I guess some of the Princesses guards found me or something because next thing I know, I’m in the castle having my wounds healed by unicorns.”

Jaze fell silent, as did the six ponies. They just looked at him in awe, totally astonished by Jaze’s tale. The silence continued for a few minutes as they attempted to fit what Jaze had told them into their understanding of how the world worked. Good thing I didn’t tell them I was an alien, Jaze thought, somewhat amused, they really wouldn’t know how to deal with that.

“So, there are more things like you?” Dash asked Jaze.

“Yes, quite a few more.” He replied, “And we’re not ‘things’, we are humans.”

“How come nopony else knows about your town?” Rarity asked.

“From what I understand, nopony wants to go into the forest because it is unnatural. Since most everypony wants nothing to do with it, Celestia never ordered an expedition to flush out its secrets.”

“Then why did you?” Twilight asked, looking confused.

“Well, humans have an unfortunate habit of being insanely curious. It has gotten us into trouble in the past, and obviously this time was no different.”

“Do ya know if yer friends made it out of the forest okay?” Applejack asked.

Jaze looked up at the ceiling and said, “I honestly don’t know. They were all strong and the last two members of his fighter group to the back of his mind. He did not know if they were alive or dead. He was truly worried for them as they were his two oldest friends. He wished he could just find out their fate, whether it was good or ill. Pinkie noticed the frown on Jaze’s face and walked over and pressed her hooves into his face to make him smile. When he looked down out her, she simply smiled.

“You look sad. Don’t be. I’m one hundred percent sure your friends are fine.” She told him.

“How do you know?” Jaze asked as he lowered her hooves.

“My Pinkie Sense!” she said as if that was all the answer necessary.

“Your what?”

“Don’t ask, just go with it.” Twilight said with a slight shudder, “Trust me.”

“Okay, I won’t ask.” He looked back to Pinkie and gave her a smile, “If you say so, I guess I can believe it.”

Pinkie’s grin widened, “Okay.”

“I have just one more question,” Rainbow said, “what is that?” she pointed to the sword that was still riding Jaze’s hip.

Jaze looked down, “Oh this is my sword, Sairugi.”

“What in tarnation is a sword? And what does Sairugi mean?” Applejack asked with a confused look.

“Well a sword is kind of a big knife. And Sairugi means ‘Winds of Steel’ in an ancient language used where I’m from.”

‘Well I think it is a beautiful name.” Rarity interjected.

“Thank you, but it is not meant to be beautiful.” Jaze looked out the window to see that it had grown dark. “Well girls, this has been fun but I think we all need to head to bed pretty soon.”

“Yer right, I gotta get up at the crack a’ dawn tomorrow.” Applejack agreed with a slight yawn and the other ponies quickly agreed.

‘I just have one question of my own.” Jaze said, “Where can I get a job?” For some reason this set everypony to laughing. After a few minutes, Jaze calmed down enough to say “No really, I can work and I’ll need to pay for various things while I live here, so…”

“Well, ya could try workin’ with me on the farm.” Applejack told him, “Yer certainly strong enough.”

“Or maybe you could try working with the animals.” Fluttershy suggested.

“Perhaps you could join me in the library?” Twilight asked.

“You can’t fly, so that rules out any jobs with the weather.” Rainbow Dash looked him up and down, “You can’t fly right.”

“Not most of the time.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Nothing,” he responded with a smirk.

“Well, we can find something for you to do in the morning.” Rarity said, then she clapped her hooves, “Oh and you must come over to see what I’ve come up for your new clothes!"

“Er, yeah, right.” Jaze said evasively. He really, really did not want to mess with making new clothes, but he did not want to risk insulting Rarity. He still knew little about the ponies’ customs and in the culture he grew up in, declining a gift could be taken as an insult.

“I suppose it is time that we all head home.” Jaze said with a tired sigh.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Applejack said with another yawn, the party had sapped all their energy, with the small exception of Pinkie who seemed to be a bottomless well of vigor. Jaze wondered how she could stand to sleep at night.

“Uh, okay, but it’s dark out.” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Yeah, so what?” Rainbow questioned

“I’m, afraid of the dark.” She spoke into her mane, which muffled her already quiet voice.

“You’re what?”

“She said she’s afraid of the dark.” Jaze jumped in.

“You could hear that?” Dash asked in awe.

“Uh yeah, I have really good hearing.” He looked to Fluttershy, “Would you like me to walk you home Fluttershy?”

“Oh, don’t trouble yourself on my account; it’s out of your way. I’ll be fine.” She did not look convinced.

“Don’t worry I live right next to you, remember? Besides, I can’t just leave you to walk home in the dark if it obviously scares you.”

“A-alright, I guess.”She said, still trying to hide behind her mane.

“Come on,” Jaze encouraged as he opened the door for the frightened pony and stepped out after her. He stood for a moment and stared up at the stars. Despite what he had said to Pinkie, he still worried for his friends. He offered a silent prayer to no particular god for their safe return. Humanity needs those two, he thought, somewhat sullen, they still have so much to do. He shook his head slightly to dislodge these negative thoughts from his mind. The Cye were not his problem anymore, and dwelling on things outside his control would only lead him to madness. He breathed in deep through his nose and slowly exhaled from his mouth.

Fluttershy stood watching Jaze as he wrestled his thoughts. She was ready to go home, but did not want to interrupt whatever strange custom he was completing. She could not help but feel sad for Jaze. He was stuck in a strange land for who knew how long, with strange new beings, and nopony like him around. Looking at him, she could see the worry on his face. She wanted to let him know that everything would work out for the best but she found it hard to speak to the near stranger. When he gave his head a shake, looked to her, and smiled; Fluttershy found herself wishing she was a little more confident so that she had the courage to make him feel better.

“Let’s get going shall we?” he said with a small smile.

“O-okay,” she said in her small voice, obviously still scared. For some reason this made Jaze’s smile just a little bigger.

“Don’t worry, the darkness itself can’t hurt you, and nothing’s going to want to mess with you while I’m around.”

“I know that it’s silly, I just can’t help it.”

“Hey, everypony has their irrational fears.”

“Then what’s yours.” She asked curiously, and then blushed when she realized she had asked something so personal.

His expression briefly darkened, “Failure, failure is my biggest fear.” He turned away and looked to the sky again.

“Failure?”

“A lot of people have counted on me, and I fear letting them down.” He looked down with pained expression “Can we drop this?”

“I’m sorry that I upset you.” Fluttershy looked almost ready to cry.

“Now I’ve upset you.” Jaze heaved a sigh, “Look, I’m not upset; this is just not something I can talk about right now. Okay?”

This seemed to calm her a little, “Okay, let’s go.”

They walked towards the path to Fluttershy’s house in silence. During this quiet time, Jaze enjoyed the cool night air and to assess his actions today. I had fun today, I haven’t done that since, well, two years ago or more, he thought with wonder, why, why have I let myself go? When they reached Fluttershy’s door, he bade her goodnight and turned to walk back to his house but Fluttershy called out to him.

“Jaze, remember, everything works out for the best.” His response was a smile and wave as he disappeared into the darkness.

He continued to ponder his behavior until he reached the door of his house. As he opened it, the reasons for today struck him. I finally have peace, he thought with amazement, no more fighting, no more death, I can finally let go of the fear I held of each new day. As he crawled into his bed, his last conscious thought was, I could get used to this.

Life in Ponyville

The birds woke to find Jaze already up and about. As was his practice, he woke up before the sun had risen to perform his morning training, then he showered and made himself breakfast using the food from his Mule. He had just finished pulling on a fresh set of fatigues when heard a thud from in front of his house and a knock came at the door. Jaze opened it to reveal a clay-red earth stallion with a gray-white mane standing on the threshold.

“Hello, I assume you are Mister Armand?” the dignified pony asked.

“Yes,” Jaze looked beyond him to see a royal carriage pulled by pegasi, “I am.”

“A message for you from the Princesses,” He handed Jaze a small satchel with a scroll tied to it, “good day, sir.”

“Thank you and good day as well.” Jaze responded as the pony left in his carriage.

Jaze set the satchel down on the table in the living room and opened the scroll

Dear Jaze,

We realize that it may be hard for you to find work so Luna suggested that we supply you with a monthly stipend. It is not much but you have no real expenses beyond anything want to buy in town. All we ask is that you help where you are able. I feel that working will help the ponies learn trust you, and will keep you from getting bored. And remember, try to be happy.

Your friends,

Celestia and Luna

Jaze opened the satchel to reveal a large number of bits, the currency of Equestria. He smiled, well that takes care of that, he though with pleasant surprise, those two think of everything, don’t they? He took the satchel back to his room where he tossed it on the bed. He decided to go see Applejack about working on her farm; he was told to help, and he thought that the physically taxing job of working the earth would be the best use of his new-found strength. He looked to Sairugi, leaning against the nightstand where it would have been easily reachable, and decided to leave it behind. He was safe in Equestria, if nowhere else in the universe. Going around armed would only cause unease on this peaceful planet.

Jaze left his house for Sweet Apple Acres just as the sun crested the horizon. It only took him a few minutes to follow the path he and Twilight had taken the day before. When he arrived he could see Applejack already hard at work kicking apples from trees.

Jaze offered a friendly wave, “Good morning, Applejack.”

She looked up and waved back, “Howdy Jaze. Yer up early.”

“I could say the same of you.” Jaze said amusedly as he reached her, “Do you need any help around here?”

“Uh, help would be nice but,” she looked at the ground, “Ah don’t think Ah can afford ta pay ya though.”

“Not a problem,” Jaze smiled as Applejack looked up at him, “Celestia has seen fit to pay me to help around Ponyville as much as I can. So you don’t have to pay anything.”

“Well, that’s right kind a’ ya. In that case Big Macintosh could use yer help over in the fields.”

“Big Macintosh? Who’s that?”

“He’s ma older brother.” She picked up a basketful of apples, “C’mon, Ah’ll introduce ya.”

She took him back to the barn and dropped her load of apples off in the bin from yesterday. She then guided him behind the house to a several large plots of land set off by a fence, about half of which were still unplanted while the rest had various crops growing. Jaze could see everything from flowers to bean stalks in their early development stages. Working in the fields, pulling a plow, was a taller red earth stallion. Jaze assumed this was Big Macintosh and was not disappointed.

“Hey, Big Macintosh! C’mere!”

Big Macintosh shook the plow’s lines off and made his way over to Jaze and Applejack. As he got closer, Jaze could see the strength and gentleness contained in this pony, and he was impressed by how he seemed completely in control. Big Macintosh stopped at the fence and looked directly into Jaze’s eyes. He had a piece of hay in his mouth that he was chewing on, he truly looked like a good ole’ farm boy from the American South

“So, yer this Jaze that Applejack and Applebloom were talking about.” He shared Applejack’s accent and Jaze could tell right away that he was a calm and laid-back type.

‘Indeed I am.” Jaze offered his hand, which Big Macintosh promptly set his hoof into for a passable shake, “Applejack tells me you could use some help?”

“Eeyup,” he replied, “but we can’t…”

“Don’t worry about payment. That’s already taken care of.”

“Really?” Jaze nodded, “Well then Ah’m much obliged.”

‘Ah’ll leave you two ta git ta work.” Applejack said as she went back to the apple trees.

“So, what do you need from me?” Jaze asked Big Macintosh.

“Ya ever worked on a farm?” Big Macintosh

“Not really.”

“Well, Ah’ll teach ya.”

Jaze helped Big Macintosh finish plowing the fields to start with. Big Macintosh was impressed by Jaze’s strength and how well he followed instructions. Jaze found the work to be oddly satisfying and thought it was odd that he enjoyed it so much. After they had all the fields plowed, Jaze and Big Macintosh sowed the seeds of the next harvest.

“About how long will these plants take to grow?” Jaze asked Big Macintosh

“’Bout three months, they’ll be ready fer harvest.” He said casually.

“Only three months?”

“Yeah, why?” Big Macintosh looked confused

“It’s just that crops take much longer to grow where I’m from. Sometimes, it can take up to a year for a harvest.”

‘That’s quite a long time. How do you feed all your people?”

“Very carefully, and we have to farm larger areas.” Jaze couldn’t tell him that many humans on the backwater planets were starving. With Equestria serving as a bread basket, Jaze contemplated, humanity could be free of hunger. No, too many people would abuse this pristine land. With that realization, Jaze wished that humans could learn to respect their homes and each other like these ponies seemed to. From what he had seen, there was no real war or cause for weapons or soldiers like himself.

In short order, Jaze and Big Macintosh had all the fields planted. Jaze stretched his pleasantly sore muscles as they admired their handiwork.

“Well, that was fun.” Jaze said with a satisfied smile.

“It sure was a lot faster havin’ two ponies workin’.” Big Macintosh flinched, “Ah mean, uh…”

“It’s okay, I understand.”

Big Macintosh checked the position of the sun, “It’s still kinda early, Applejack might not be done harvesting today’s apples. Think yer up for a little more work?”

Jaze gave a two-fingered salute, “You bet.”

The pair walked into the orchard and found Applejack hard at work collecting and storing apples. The two pitched in, with Big Macintosh and Applejack kicking the trees to make the apples fall while Jaze collected the apples that missed the baskets and occasionally climbing a tree to retrieve a few stubborn apples. When all their baskets were full, all three helped carry them back to the barn. It did not take long to finish cleaning the orchard of its treasures.

“Land sakes, we’re already done!” Applejack exclaimed as the last of the baskets was dumped into a bin. It was barely noon.

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh agreed and looked to Jaze, “Ya sure did make everything go faster.”

“Yeah, usually it takes most of the day to plant and harvest.” Applejack gave Jaze a playful punch on the arm, “Thanks a might, Jaze.”

“Hey, no problem, I enjoyed getting to work with you two, and I think I like farming.”

“Well good. Than can we expect yer help more often?” Applejack asked hopefully.

“Count on it.” Jaze said with a smile. “Perhaps I should go see Fluttershy now. She said something about working with animals last night.”

“If ya want to, go right ahead.” Applejack smiled at big Macintosh as Jaze left, “So whatcha gonna do now that you have a whole day ahead of you?”

Jaze did not catch Big Macintosh’s answer as he was already on his way to Fluttershy’s house. On the way he looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying high, doing loops and turns, flips and barrel rolls. Standing on the ground, Jaze found that he was slightly jealous. I’m going to miss flying, he thought sadly. The thought struck him that his fighter was still somewhere in the forest, and he hoped that it was far enough in that nopony would find it.

While Jaze was absorbed with his morose thoughts, Rainbow Dash had spotted him standing on the road, watching her. Never one to turn down an audience, she began doing more and more complicated tricks, getting closer and closer, until she eventually buzzed past just a few inches over Jaze’s head. Jaze did not flinch, or react at all, except to turn and continue watching her with a small smile on his face.

“Ah, that was no fun!” Dash complained, “I thought you would freak out again.”

Jaze fixed her with a good-humored gaze, “Sorry, but I was ready for you this time. If you want, we can try it again. I promise to freak out a little bit.”

“Ah, it wouldn’t be the same.” She looked at his dirty clothes and hands, and sweaty brow, “What have you been up to already.”

“Just helping Applejack on her farm, I was actually heading over to see Fluttershy.”

“That’s cool, mind if I tag along?” she asked as she landed in front of him.

“No, but why do you want to?”

“Oh, no reason,” She gave him a mischievous, “why, do you need a reason to hang with the coolest pony Ponyville?”

Jaze gave a small laugh, “I guess not, but why does the ‘coolest pony in Ponyville’ want to hang with the new guy in town.”

“Well,” she looked confused by his question, “you’re different. That makes you interesting, which makes you cool.” A large smile broke out across her face, “Besides, anypony that can live in the Everfree Forest for almost half a year is awesome in my book.”

Jaze gave a slight bow, “Why thank you, Dash. You are pretty awesome yourself.” Jaze continued his walk.

She wore a smug grin as she fell into step next to him, “Don’t I know it?”

The pair continued down the path to Fluttershy’s cottage. On the way, Jaze asked why Rainbow Dash had been flying earlier. She told him that she was practicing for the Wonderbolts auditions that were going to be held in Canterlot next year.

“Who are the Wonderbolts?” Jaze asked with curiosity.

“Who are the Wonderbolts?” She looked shocked, “Were you born under a rock?” Jaze gave her raised eyebrow look until she remembered, “Oh right, you’re not from around here.”

“So who are they?”

“Only the greatest fliers in all of Equestria! It has been my dream to fly with them since I first saw them in Canterlot…” for the rest of the walk Rainbow Dash described, in great detail, The Wonderbolts; their accomplishments, the number of members, and even her plans for after she was a Wonderbolt. Seeing her high spirits, and high hopes, Jaze was forced to smile once again. He believed that living in this place, with such good people, or ponies as the case may be, was going to be paradise. He was still going to miss his friends and worry for their safety, but he hoped that here he could heal the wounds on his heart. He absently brushed his scar and forced aside the memory of what caused it. One day I can deal with that, Jaze thought, long suppressed grief showing on his face, but not now, not today.

Dash noticed the sorrow in his eyes, “Uh, Jaze, you okay?”

“Yeah,” Jaze let his hand fall to his side and plastered a smile on his face, “I’m fine.”

“I don’t buy it.” She stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks, “Are you still worried about your friends?”

“A little, yes.”

“Don’t worry,” she gave Jaze a brave smile, “Pinkie said they were okay, so I believe her.”

“How can you?”

“She maybe a little odd, but she’s never been wrong before. There’s no reason to doubt her now.”

“I have trouble believing in this ‘Pinkie Sense’, it just seems so impossible.”

“Hey, it works. Like Twilight said, just go with it.” Jaze merely, “Say it with me ‘my friends are fine’. Go on, say it.”

“My friends are fine.”

“Alright then, let’s get on over to Fluttershy’s.”

The rest of the walk was quiet, and they arrived at their destination in a few minutes. Jaze knocked on the door and waited for Fluttershy to answer. It took awhile, and she only opened the door wide enough to peek out.

“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash, Jaze,” she said in her quiet, charming voice, “I can’t come away I have a rather troublesome patient that needs me right now.”

“Really, do you need any help?” Jaze asked worriedly.

“No, I mean, yes.” she looked to the ground, “But you don’t have to, if you don’t want to. I can manage on my own.” She looked fairly worried for saying she could handle everything.

“No problem, I have nothing better to do.” Jaze assured her

“Yeah, I wanna see what could give you trouble.” Dash said, curiosity seeping into her voice.

“O-okay” Fluttershy opened the door to reveal…

“A mountain lion? Fluttershy are you crazy?” Dash asked as look of disbelief crossed her face.

“I’m kind of forced to agree with Dash on this one.” Jaze said with a raised eyebrow, “These animals are quite dangerous.” The big cat was lying on its side, and multiple lacerations were all over its body. It seemed to be unconscious.
Fluttershy wore a pleading look, “I know, but it was hurt and needed me. Please help me; I’m not sure I can handle this on my own.”

“Calm down, I said I would help so I will.” Jaze knelt next to the wounded predator, “These wounds look like they came from another large creature.” He looked to Fluttershy, “When and where did you find it?”

“Just a little while ago, by the forest.”

“Any ideas on what caused this?”

“No,” Fluttershy scuffed the ground with a hoof, “Um, can we, uh, proceed…”

“Sure, what do you need me to do?”

“Hold him down so I can clean and stitch the cuts. We’ll what I need from there.”

Jaze placed himself by the cat’s head and held the large beast down while Fluttershy treated the wounds as quickly as she could do it right. It took nearly an hour to treat the numerous cuts that adorned the cat. Rainbow Dash mostly sat and watched Fluttershy work, though she did help by passing bandages, needles and other medical supplies to the hardworking pegasus. A few times the lion seemed ready to wake up, at which point Jaze would speak to it softly in order to keep asleep.

Jaze leaned back as the last of the gashes was cleaned, sewn, and bandaged, “Well that was fun.”

“Thank you to so much, I don’t know what I would have done without you.” Fluttershy gushed her appreciation.

‘Oh you would’ve figured something out.” Dash gave the timid pony an encouraging nudge, “You’re a lot braver than you let on you know.”

“How so?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not many would have tried to help such a dangerous creature like you did.” Jaze offered the yellow pony a large smile, “That was very brave of you.”

“If you say so.” Fluttershy stared at the ground.

“So you have no idea what caused this?” Jaze asked Fluttershy, a thoughtful look on his face.

“No, but has to be something big.”

“You think Twilight may be able to dig up something in her library?”

Rainbow nodded, “Yeah, if anypony could find this beastie out, it would be Twilight.”

Jaze nodded, “Maybe she’ll have bestiary or something.” Jaze looked to the two ponies, “Either of you want to join me?”

“Yes, may I come?” Fluttershy asked.

“Of course.” Jaze glanced to Dash, “How about you.”

“No, I think I’m gonna get back to practicing. You to have fun on your monster hunt.” With that parting shot, Dash flew out the door.

Fluttershy looked to Jaze apprehensively, “We’re not going to go looking for the monster, are we?”

“Most certainly not,” Jaze uttered with a reassuring smile, “that would be dangerous and foolish to the extreme. I just want to know what could have caused this,” he gestured to the lion on the floor.

“O-okay, then let’s get going.” Fluttershy started to leave.

“Um, do you think it’ll be alright to leave him here alone? He is a predator.” Jaze stated.

“I think it’ll be okay, it looks like he’s going to be out for a while.”

“If you say so,” Jaze said skeptically as he followed Fluttershy out the door.

The pair started off for Ponyville, Jaze setting a quick pace. He wanted to be back long before a hungry mountain lion woke up in his friend’s house. Whoa wait, Jaze thought with surprise, am I already willing to call her “friend”? And not just Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, all of them. This is unlike me. Or maybe it means that I am finally letting old wounds heal.

“Uh, Jaze?” came a mummer from his side.

“Yes Fluttershy?”

“Um, never mind,” Fluttershy looked away him.

“Go ahead. If you have question, feel free to ask. I promise I won’t get.”

“What you said, last night, about your fear?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

“Yes?” Jaze answered, caution in his voice.

“What did you mean? Why do fear failure?”

Jaze winced, “I was afraid you were gonna ask that.” he gave a sigh “I fear failure because every time I fail, someone else has to pay for it. Usually it is someone very dear to me.”

Fluttershy could hear the pain in his voice, “I didn’t mean…”

“Don’t apologize.” Jaze quickly interrupted, “I’m a strange new being, it is natural that you would want to know more about me. If I didn’t want you to know, I would not have answered.”

“I…” she stopped and took a breath, “alright then.”

“That’s better.” Jaze said with a lopsided grin and a wink, “Don’t be ashamed of your curiosity, it is part of what lets you know you’re alive.”

“Thanks, Jaze.” Fluttershy said with a demure smile.

When she turned from Jaze, however, his smile fell from his face and shame colored his cheeks. For all his bravado, Jaze was still uncomfortable with his past. Something from times gone had obviously left a wound on his heart. Fluttershy’s questions had been like sandpaper to this wound, but he was afraid to upset her and so hid his feelings. He was saddened by the fact that this had become so easy for him. One day, he thought, one day I can face these scars and be me. One day…

The pair made it to Twilight’s library in record time and with a lack of awkward questions. Jaze believed that Fluttershy had picked up on his torment and did not want push him further. He was silently grateful for her understanding, and amazed that she could pick up his feelings so easily when even his closest friends had trouble seeing them, and most other people thought he was utterly emotionless.

xxx

The door to the library was open and Twilight could be found inside; hard at work on some project or another. She seemed a little tense, and kept darting from book shelf to book shelf, pulling books out seemingly at random, and then tossing them aside when they turned out to be the wrong book.

“Spike!” she yelled up the stairs, “Did you find it?”

“Not yet!” a young male voice called back.

“Who is Spike?” Jaze asked from the door.

“AHHHHHH!” Twilight yelled at the unexpected voice and dropped the books that she had been floating in front of her, “Geez, Jaze, you startled me.” She took a moment to slow her breathing, “Spike is my assistant, by the way.”

“Your number one assistant.” Spike said as he emerged from the upstairs area.

He was a baby dragon who roughly came up to Jaze’s knee. The scales across most of his body were purple, but those that ran from his throat, across his belly, and under his tail were a gray color. He also had a trail of green spikes on top of his head that continued down his back to terminate at the tip of his tail. He was carrying a large book under one arm.

He looked up at Jaze, “So, is this the new guy?” he asked Twilight, “And here is your book.”

“Oh thank you so much Spike!” Twilight cried out as she took the proffered book and started flipping through the pages.

Jaze looked to Spike, “To answer your question, yes, I’m the new guy.”

“Kinda figured that out.” He looked to Fluttershy and back to Jaze, “What did you two need?”

“We were wondering, if it’s not too much trouble, if we could find a book, if that’s okay I mean.”

Jaze rolled his eyes good-naturedly, “We wanted to know if you guys had something on beasts that reside in the Everfree Forest.”

“I think so,” said the young dragon suspiciously, “why do you need it?”

“Curiosity, one of Fluttershy’s patients was attacked in there and I would like to know what could have done it.”

Spike looked into Jaze’s eyes, who stared back unflinchingly, “Okay let me get it.” Spike ran back up the stairs to the upper floor of the library. Jaze walked up behind Twilight, who was still absorbed in the book Spike had found.

“What are you reading?”

“Huh?” Twilight started as she came out of her book-induced trance.

“What are you reading?” Jaze inquired again, a little slower.

“Oh, it’s an astrological text. Pretty boring to most everypony.” she replied distractedly.

“Well, I find the study of stars to be utterly fascinating.” Jaze said with an ironic smirk, “What are you looking for?”

“About a week ago there appeared to be moving stars in the sky. I’ve hunted through every text I can find and have still not figured out what they could be.”

The smirk fell from Jaze’s face, “Ah, I see. Princess Celestia didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“Not to worry about it too much. It was just her and Luna practicing celestial movements.” the lie flew easily from his mouth.

“I didn’t know they had that much power!” Twilight exclaimed, amazement in her voice.

“Tell me about it.” Jaze muttered as Twilight set the book aside. I wish I could stop lying, Jaze thought frustrated with himself, but I can’t let them find out where I’m really from. He made a mental note to tell the princesses his lie.

Luckily, Spike returned in time to halt further questions “Here ya go; one big book of monsters.” The book he offered to Jaze was large red-bound number that had a picture of cockatrice on the front.

“Thanks a bundle, little man.” Jaze said as he relieved the dragon of his burden, and sitting down next to the door to read.

Fluttershy looked over his shoulder as he turned the pages of the book. The pair looked through, searching for an animal big enough to take on a mountain lion. They had narrowed it down to a few animals when Jaze flipped to the “m” section and was faced with a manticore. Jaze was putting his money on this being the creature that had been the culprit. It had the claws to get the job done and looked large enough to stand well over his head, judging by the drawn to scale pony next the monster. When he told Fluttershy his assessment she nodded her agreement. Jaze felt apprehension at the sight of the beast. He didn’t know that creatures like that existed and would make a trip into the Everfree Forest that much more dangerous. He vowed that he would be careful, and if he saw a creature like any in this book, he would turn tail and run. He was brave, not stupid and something like that could tear him to shreds.

Jaze left the book on a stack and bid Twilight goodbye. He and Fluttershy left to return Fluttershy’s house. They were almost out of the town when Jaze heard somepony shouting his name. He turned to see Rarity trotting over to him. It was then he remembered she had wanted to see him today.

He grimaced, “Hello Rarity,”

“Oh why are you making a face, darling?” Rarity asked with a hurt expression.

“I just…” Jaze searched awkwardly for a way out of his predicament.

Rarity smiled, “Don’t worry about dear. I understand perfectly.”

“You do?” Jaze asked incredulously.

“You’re worried that I didn’t make an outfit that you’ll like, right.”

“No it’s just…” he stopped.

“It’s just what?”

“I don’t know how to repay you.”

Rarity giggled, “I told you not to worry about it.”

“I know but I still feel that I owe you…”

“I said to quit that.” Rarity continued to smile, “I’m not doing anything that I don’t want to”

“Fine, I’ll stop.” Jaze laughed and looked to Fluttershy, “I have no idea how long this will take so feel free to go; you should probably check on your patient.”

“That I should,” Fluttershy said and quickly left for home.

Rarity guided him back to Carousel Boutique where she showed him the plans for what she was working on. She warned him that it was only in its beginning stages and that she still had much work to do before it was ready. When she unveiled it, Jaze was struck dumb. The outfit was a doublet and a loose fitting pair of pants, both made of a slightly shiny black fabric that absorbed the light around it, almost like satin but stronger. The doublet had designs hoof stitched in gold thread around the collar and down either side of the column of buttons. It also had the beginnings of a cape of the same material that would drape over his right shoulder. To wear under the doublet, Rarity had fashioned him a very loose white shirt that stopped just short of the bottom of the vest, with sleeves that went to his wrists. He stood staring at the garments, believing them fit for a king.

“So, do you like them so far?” Rarity asked nervously, anxious to please.

“Like them?” Jaze looked to her with gratitude glowing on his face, “They are the nicest clothes I have ever seen!” He turned back to the garments, “I just feel that I will look silly wearing them.”

“Nonsense, you’ll be the talk of the town at the Grand Galloping Gala.” Rarity said with poise.

“Yeah, wait, what?” Jaze stared at Rarity.

“You mean Twilight did not tell you?” Rarity sounded surprised.

“Apparently not,” Jaze answered sarcastically.

“Well, Princess Celestia ‘invited’ us to the Gala this morning.”

Jaze gave her a look of hesitation, “And by ‘invited’ you mean…”

“That she all but ordered us to come. It didn’t sound like you had to go, but Princess Celestia asked that you did. So I had hoped that you would join us.” At the last, she gave him a big, pleading smile.

“Oh no, I’m not going to the Gala, I will make an utter fool of myself.” Jaze said, waving his hands in front of himself for emphasis.

“Please?” she asked again, her smile growing a little more.

“No.”

“Pretty please?”

“No.”

“Pleeeeeease?” she begged him, pouting.

“UGH, okay fine, I’ll go, but I won’t be happy about it.” He gave her a look of humorous displeasure.

Rarity threw her forelegs around his waist, “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome.” He rolled his eyes. Truly, he did not mind going to the Gala, he just knew that the party was likely to be boring, and that he would make an idiot of himself. Still, it would be nice to see Luna again, and at least Rarity seemed like she wanted him there, so it couldn’t be all bad, could it?

“Don’t worry, you have a few months to prepare for the Gala, and your outfit will be ready long before then.”

“No amount of preparation will get me ready for this.” Jaze muttered knowingly. He had been to many parties like this before, and had always had trouble rubbing elbows with the high society folks. Their pompous attitudes had always rubbed him exactly the wrong way. He would try his best though, as he always had. Who knows, maybe the elite of Equestria would not be so terrible. Somehow, he doubted that.

Rarity shooed him graciously from her store, claiming that she had a lot of work to do. That suited him just fine; it was a beautiful day that he planned to enjoy to its full potential. He decided to head home to shower off the grime of the day and make himself some lunch. With that plan in mind he set off for home.

xxx

So the day passed for Jaze. Early every morning, he climbed out of bed, ate breakfast and left for Applejack’s farm to help with the picking and planting of the various crops that Sweet Apple Acres grew for the ponies of Ponyville. He usually helped Big Macintosh in the fields until everything that needed picked or planted was tended to, and then the two of them would help Applejack tend to the trees. During this time Jaze found another unexpected friend in Big Macintosh. Though he was very quiet, he was not shy; merely the type of pony that only spoke when necessary. These instances did not happen very often between the two of them, for they understood each other at a glance. Often times you would find the two of them laid back in a field, staring at the sky, hardly a word passing between them.

For the hard work he put into their farm, the Apple family supplied him with some seeds to plant his own little garden in front of his house. Jaze would spend the time he did not spend with his friends or working tending the little plot he had cultivated. He was quite pleased when the plants burst forth from the ground, and it helped to keep him in vegetables though he would still have to by occasional vegetables. And he would always buy a bushel of apples from the farm every week, refusing to take them for free as Applejack kept insisting

Then he was off to assist Fluttershy if she needed it, which was rare. Mostly, he just helped to feed the animals and sometimes help move a sick or injured animal. The most exciting thing that occurred during his times helping Fluttershy was when they released the mountain lion back where Fluttershy had found him.

As Jaze watched the creature disappear into the forest, he found himself actually proud of his work for once in his life. His profession had long been to take life; even if he did it to help others, that simple fact had always bothered him. Now, he was doing work solely to help others, with no need to harm others to accomplish his goals.

He looked to Fluttershy, who was standing next him, a small tear in her eye as the lion left. He had originally planned to tell everypony that he ate meat, but after meeting Fluttershy and helping her with the creatures around Ponyville, he felt compelled to keep it hidden from her. He enjoyed her company and did not want to strain their relationship; he felt she might be disgusted by an intelligent creature that ate other beings. So he never allowed anypony into his house if he could avoid it. And he never took meals with the girls when he could manage it. It might be hard to explain why he didn’t eat daisies or grass, among other things. So he mostly tried to keep his eating habits in his house.

Rainbow Dash had also began to take up a lot of his time. Since the first day they had met, she had pegged him as the perfect target for her and Pinkie’s numerous practical jokes. Often times he would fall victim to their attacks, but in a show of good humor he never got mad, he got even. The two ponies and the human were constantly on their toes, or hooves depending, waiting for the next prank. On the other hand, she also came to him for help performing new tricks and to critique her performances. Jaze was always honest with her in attempts to help her improve her abilities. Without letting her know who he was, Jaze began to impart the knowledge he had gained in his years as a fighter pilot. His honesty and unexpected expertise surprised and delighted Dash, for she finally had somepony to really talk with. She slowly began to open up to Jaze, more so than she had with anypony else.

For the most part, Pinkie just enlisted his help at the bakery. Many times he would go to Sugar Cube Corner and help move the heavy bags of flour around for Pinkie and the bakery’s owners, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. He also helped make deliveries with Pinkie. The bakers also had him fetch the various supplies they needed to make their delicious goods. In return for his hard work, they taught him to bake a large variety of the things they sold. He never thought that he would be a master baker, but at least now he could make cookies, not charcoal.

The ponies of Ponyville also kept him in things to do. Almost every day somepony would ask for him to help with a multitude of tasks. Helping mend roofs, general repair work, cleaning up before and after storms; Jaze did it all with a smile on his face and kind words to those around him. As Celestia had predicted, the ponies soon grew to trust Jaze and now he could walk into town without eliciting much more than a smile and a wave from anypony in the vicinity. He had become a common sight and was known for being friends with the Elements of Harmony. All in all, Jaze had no complaints about his life in Ponyville.

One day, he realized that he was going through his food faster than he had anticipated. So he made a bow and several arrows from suitable branches he had secretly collected from the forest. He kept them, along with all the technology that would be difficult to explain, in his closet, which he kept locked at all times. Even when he was ready to go hunting for the first time, he hesitated. The forest still caused him great anxiety and he was loath to enter its trees.

On his first trip in to the dark forest, he found himself constantly looking over his shoulder. The forest was too quiet for his taste. He searched for some game near the outskirts of the forest, but failed to find any. He had his homemade bow slung across his back, as well as five arrows and the combat knife he had found in his pack. Taking a deep breath, he moved deeper into the forest. He did not want to go too deep into the forest, not because he was afraid of getting lost, but because he was worried about running into one of the more troublesome denizens of the forest. Lucky for him, he was able to find game just a little bit further in.

After his first trip into the forest, Jaze was more confident in navigating its reaches. Only a few times did he see anything that may have given him trouble, and he just hid in a tree as they passed. Even if he was confident in his abilities to defeat anything that wished him harm, with only a shoddily made bow and a knife, he felt it was wise to not push his luck too much. Discretion is the better part valor and all that. He was always respectful of the animals he hunted, and endeavored to make their ends painless. Causing pain to those undeserving had forever sickened Jaze.

As the days passed, Jaze found that he was growing more and more content with his life. He had friends that he cherished, and who cherished him in turn, no need to fight any more, and best of all, a place he could truly call home. Some days he wondered how the war against the Cye was progressing, what planets had fallen, which had been retaken and who had become heroes. He forced himself to believe that his friends were alive and well, and hoped only that they could find happiness. Most days he just forced these thoughts from his mind because he knew he could not do anything to help and worrying about something that he could not fix would only drive him to depression.

Thoughts from the Past

Jaze was crouched in the trench. The Cye had been advancing all day. His shoulder was sore from firing his gun for the better part of the day and his eyes were starting to droop on him. He looked down the line to his left to see two of his friends, Shelby and Vincent, crouched as he was, standing every now and again to let of a burst from their assault rifles then dropping back down as the bullets flew through the area they had just occupied. To his right, Evelyn was staring at him, grim determination shining in her eyes. The line that they had held all day was threatening to fold, and they were the cause. They, the invincible Angel team, were going to lose this battle. Jaze and Evelyn looked to each other. Not on their watch would they lose this world to these Cye bastards. He reached down and touched Sairugi, heaved a deep breath, and nodded to Evelyn. As one, they stood and began firing their assault rifles in staggered bursts. Shelby and Vincent followed suit and soon the four of them could see gaps in the Cye ranks. They were pushing them back.
As Jaze looked behind the Cye line to see what appeared to be a sniper, a human sniper. He looked to where the sniper appeared to be looking to see Evelyn. She had moved a few feet away so that a single burst would not take both of them out. Jaze knew the sniper was aiming at her. He took off running, knowing that he would be too late.

He reached her just in time for the sniper to fire. The bullet passed through Evelyn’s heart, a mortal wound. Jaze’s vision went white and his last conscious thought was to kill that evil bastard.

Jaze felt searing pain on his right cheek. His vision came back in a rush. A Cye trooper was impaled on Sairugi, which could not remember drawing. The trooper had lost its hands which created a sharp edge that it used to cut Jaze’s cheek. He was standing were the sniper had been and was surrounded by Cye that had been hacked to pieces.

“Evelyn,” Jaze whispered, and then he turned and sprinted for the human lines.

Jaze found her lying on her back, her arms crossed across her breast in a peaceful pose. Shelby and Vincent were standing next to her crying in each other’s arms. They turned to Jaze with tear stained faces. Jaze merely stood looking at… he could not think of her as Evelyn, not his Evelyn. He knew he should be screaming at the sky, tearing at his hair, or at least crying. He just could not find it in himself to show emotion. He just felt cold and dead. That was it, Jaze was dead and this was his hell, his atonement for past sins. He slowly bent down, scooped the body from the hard earth, and then began to walk back to base…

xxx

“NOOOOOOOO!” Jaze screamed as he bolted upright in bed. He looked outside to see the sun had not yet risen.

Jaze stared at his hands, a dream like that had not visited him for two years, not since the day Evelyn had died. Why now? Jaze thought, Why is it rearing its head now that I’ve found peace?

Jaze went about his day as normal, deeply absorbed in his thoughts. While he was helping out at the farm, Applejack and Big Macintosh noticed his taciturn demeanor. They did not want to risk upsetting him, so they did not ask what was wrong. They still worried for their friend, however. After he was done with the work on the farm, he slowly walked back to his house.

“Today is the day,” Jaze thought aloud, “today I have to face that memory.”

Jaze walked in to his kitchen and grabbed an apple cider from the fridge. He sat down in the living room and stared off into space for awhile. Despite his belief that he was ready, he did not want to visit that time again. He felt that he had to come to terms with this pain if he wanted to live in peace in his new life. Jaze took a deep breath and lost himself in the past…

xxx

(Two years ago, on the planet Vaseti)

Jaze stood at the edge of the grave. As hard as it was he forced himself to read the inscription on the headstone.

Here lies Lieutenant Evelyn Rae

An Angel who is now amongst angels

Know that she will always fly with

those who loved her.

Jaze refused to believe it. Evelyn wasn’t dead, and if she was it was his fault. He could not live with that. Face it Jaze, she’s gone, Jaze thought bitterly, you failed again and the ones you love had to pay. The depressed soldier continued to stand staring at the grave thinking such harsh thoughts about himself.

He heard three people come up behind him. When he turned to look he saw Shelby and Vincent standing beside Jaze’s oldest friend, Admiral Gaston. It was Gaston that had pulled him from the waterless, crime ridden planet that had been his home since birth and had given him a purpose. Really, Gaston had been more of a father to him than anything; the first adult to really show a young boy any respect.

The four stood in silence for several long minutes. Shelby and Vincent still had tears in their eyes from the earlier service. Gaston was staring at Jaze waiting for him to make the first move. None of the four were sure of Jaze’s mental state, Jaze wondering why he wasn’t crying, Shelby and Vincent wondering when he would break down, and Gaston just watching them all. The awkward silence was finally broken by Shelby.

“Jaze, would you like to hear Evelyn’s last words?” she asked cautiously.

“No.” was Jaze’s deadpan reply. They waited for him to say something else. The wait was quite long until Jaze finally said in the same emotionless voice, “I don’t want to hear them until this war is over or I’m dying myself.”

Gaston spoke up, “Jaze, can I talk to you alone?”

Jaze snapped a smart salute, “Yes sir.” The two walked a few feet away from Shelby and Vincent. Gaston turned and handed Jaze a small black box. Jaze opened it to reveal a major’s pin.

“Congratulations Jaze, they promoted you for your outstanding service in the battle.” He said as they stood shoulder to shoulder.

Jaze looked to the Admiral and back to the box, “I see,” he said dispassionately, “I don’t deserve this.”

“Jaze…”

“No, don’t say it wasn’t my fault. I know it was. If I had been paying attention, Evelyn wouldn’t be…” Jaze could not bring himself to say it, for that would make it true. Gaston glanced over to see silent tears flowing down Jaze’s face, the most emotion he had shown in days. Gaston looked away, but was suddenly yanked around to face the heart-broken soldier.

“Jaze, is there something you need to say.” Gaston could see the anger and hate in Jaze’s eyes.

“The sniper, he was human.” Gaston stood in shock; he was the first person Jaze had told, “Sir, I’d like to ask dispensation to search for this man.”

“For what purpose?” Gaston asked flatly.

“To find out why he is working with the Cye.” Jaze’s expression darkened, “And then to kill that bastard for what he’s done.”

Gaston sighed, switching from friend to superior officer, “Permission denied Major Armand.”

“Sir yes sir.” Jaze said stiffly as he gave another salute.

“Jaze,” making the switch from officer to friend again, “You’re needed here. You, Shelby, Vincent, you’re all heroes in the eyes of every soldier in the Coalition, and indeed, in the eyes of every human man, woman, and child. I can’t risk losing you, any of you, on a fool’s errand.” He looked into Jaze’s eyes, “I’m sorry.”

“I understand.” He drew Sairugi and held it out to the admiral, “But I’m telling you now, if I find him, I will do what I must to kill him. This sword will not be drawn again, not until the day I can sheathe it in his heart.”

xxx

Jaze shook himself from the past. He had not forgotten his promise to Gaston. Jaze had just slowly pushed it further and further into the back of his mind until it had all but passed from his thoughts. But he had never stopped looking for the mysterious sniper. He was always watching for man that had stolen so much from him. Screw this; Jaze thought suddenly, I’m going to go hunting. It was still earlier in the day but nopony had needed him for anything specific.

Jaze grabbed his bow and knife from his closet, and set out the door for the Everfree. He had not gotten far when he heard somepony calling his name. He looked around to see Dash calling from a tree. He walked over and pulled himself into the tree next to her. They sat in silence for a moment as Dash appeared together her thoughts.

“Sooooo, AJ said that you were acting kinda funny. What’s up?” She asked as she rubbed the back of her head.

Jaze stared at the ground, “I thought she’d notice.”

When he failed to continue, Dash prodded him along, “What’s wrong Jaze?”

“Nothing is wrong.”

“You realize you can trust us, right? What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t something I can talk about.”

“Why not?”

“Because,”

“Because…?”

“Just drop it please.”

Dash pulled Jaze around to face her, “Stop avoiding us, we’re your friends, you can tell us anything.” She seemed to be getting frustrated.

“Not this, okay.” Jaze snapped. Dash sat staring at him; she had never seen him angry before.

“If that’s how you feel…” She started to fly away.

Jaze grabbed her, “Wait,” when she turned to look at him he continued, “one day, I can tell you everything. But not now, it’s too painful and you wouldn’t understand.”

She gave a small smile, “If you say so.” She flew away, leaving Jaze feeling worse than he had felt in several weeks.

He jumped down from the tree and walked into the forest. He started out fairly close to the edge but he slowly moved deeper and deeper. Soon he was deeper than he had ever been before. As the forest closed in around him, Jaze wondered why he was really here. He did not need food or anything, so why was he taking this risk?

After a few hours, he found why he was here. It took the form of a large trench dug into the ground. The bottom was littered with pieces of something, a something Jaze recognized. They were pieces of his ship. He had found where he hit the ground so many weeks before. He cast a glance around to find the rest of his fighter, but it was nowhere in sight. He followed the trench for several hundred yards before he found it.

It was a mangled wreck. The only thing left mostly intact was the cockpit. Jaze stood next to the plane wondering at the miracle of his survival. On a whim he checked to see if it still had some semblance of power in its systems.

When he looked in the seat, his heart nearly stopped. “Oh my god…” he whispered as he picked up a small velvet box. Inside was a small ring, a ring Jaze had carried for two years.

“I thought I’d lost you.” His voice was barely audible as he cradled the box in his hands.

Jaze decided to finish checking the fighter over. “If the ring survived then maybe…” He reached his arm under the console and felt around until he pulled out an old photograph. The picture showed Jaze, Evelyn, Vincent and Shelby, all looking relaxed and happy surrounding the very fighter that now lay destroyed at Jaze’s feet. At the top was a small hand written note that said “We are the Angels; we bring hope to those who face the howling dark.” A small wet splatter hit the photo. Jaze looked up, expecting rain, but noticed that his cheek was wet. Jaze rubbed the unexpected tear off his face and stood up straight.

“I should go back and tell everypony I’m sorry.” Jaze spoke softly, “Maybe I can ask Princess Celestia at the Gala next week if I can disclose to my friends just who I am. I’m sick of lying to everyone that cares for me.”

It was then that Jaze heard a sound. The slightly nervous soldier checked the tree line around him, but saw nothing. It had sounded far away anyway, but caution had always saved his life.

“Maybe I imagined it?” Jaze said with confusion. The sound was repeated, “No there it is again, sounds like,” he strained his hearing and his features took on a worried cast as he finally placed the sound, “screaming.”

Jaze took off at a dead sprint in the direction that the screams were coming from. He could not hear words, only the terror in the feminine voice. He would run, and then stop to listen and make sure he was still heading in the right direction. Even moving in such a manner it did not take too long to find the source of the screams.

Jaze came up behind a large manticore viciously tearing at a small thicket, from where the screams were emanating. Jaze could not tell who, or what, was the target of the manticore at first. Soon, he saw a figure pushing herself deeper and deeper into the thicket were the monster could not get her.

Jaze made a split second decision, “This is so stupid!” He yelled as he drew his knife and gave the manticore a light slash on the hindquarters. It roared as it turned and swung one of its large lion paws at his head.

Jaze rolled to his side, avoiding the potentially fatal blow from its inches-long claws. It took another swing which Jaze ducked. Then its tail whipped over its head as the manticore tried to stab Jaze with the toxin-laced stinger. Jaze jumped away from the tail, but was intercepted in mid air by one of the things paws. The swipe threw him into a tree and landed him amongst a patch of pretty blue flowers.

Jaze stood, his back and shoulders severely bruised and a few shallow gashes on his chest, holding his knife before him like a sword. The six inch blade was woefully inadequate against the rampaging beast, but it was the only option left to him. He tried to draw the manticore away from the thicket in hopes that the trapped soul could escape, but the scorpion tailed monster would not buy it. It kept taking swipes at Jaze as he tried to get closer, and occasionally it would strike with its tail. Jaze, on the other hand, was staying back for the most part. He would strike with his knife when the beast’s paws were in reach, then nimbly dance away from the manticore’s retaliatory swipes.

It was beginning to look hopeless, Jaze was already wounded and the beast would not follow him so he could lead it on a merry chase, ending with him in a tree till the beastie moved on. Just when Jaze was going to try and get close and try to deal it a fatal wound, and probably receive one in the process, a small thunderhead formed just over the creature’s head, giving it a nasty shock. The manticore had had enough, and it took off into the forest to treat its many cuts.

Jaze collapsed with relief, breathing heavily. He began to slowly check himself for broken bones and other serious injuries. The most problematic wounds were the cuts on his chest; Jaze had no idea if its claws were venomous, and the only way to find out may have been time. As he collected his thoughts after the encounter, he remembered why he was here. The weary soldier went to check on the pony he had saved.

She was a dusky blue unicorn pony with a white mane. She too was puffing as she tried to catch her breath. Jaze waited for his heart to slow down, then waited longer still for his as-yet-unnamed companion to finish recovering.

“Thank you,” she said between breaths, “your arrival could not have had better timing.” She looked to Jaze with gratitude filled eyes, “You saved my life, why did you do that?”

Jaze smiled, “Well, I thought that you might like to keep your life and I was in the neighborhood so,” he shrugged, “it was no big deal.”

“It was to me.” she retorted.

“Hey, you saved me with that raincloud; I was on the verge of doing something stupid.” Jaze shot back.

She gave a small life as she raised an eyebrow, “More stupid than trying to take on a manticore?”

Jaze laughed as well, “Yeah, probably.”

The two were reduced to fits of relieved giggles as they came down from the high of survival. As they calmed down, Jaze realized he had not caught the pony’s name.

The pony seemed to realize this as well, “So, may I know the name of my rescuer?”

“Indeed, my name is Jaze. And you are…?”

She stood a little straighter, “I am the Great and Powerful Trixie.” Her posture slowly changed into one of defeat, “Or at least I was.”

“You were? What do you mean?”

“That was my stage name; I traveled all over Equestria performing amazing feats of magic. Eventually, I got popular and I loved the attention. But it wasn’t enough for me, and like a fool, I began to make up stories. I wanted ponies everywhere to adore me, not just enjoy watching the show.” She turned away from Jaze.

“So what happened next?” Jaze prompted.

“Like all lies, it got out of hand. I had started small, saying things like I had single hoofedly pushed back an invasion of parasprites in some made up town. But as I got more and more into the lies, they grew bigger. Not too long ago, a unicorn more powerful than I exposed me for the fraud I was. I have been shunned by everypony since. I had been chased into the forest by some younglings today. I had walked far into the forest before I realized it, and I suddenly found myself attacked by that horrid monster.”

As she concluded her tale, Jaze sat in stunned silence. “It was wrong of you to lie just to make yourself look better,”

“I know.” She sounded on the verge of tears.

He walked over and gave her a hug, “But it was also wrong of them to treat you so poorly for it. Don’t worry; you have a friend in me.”

This was the final straw, and she broke down and cried in Jaze’s arms. He let her have her release and thought of how badly she needed had needed it, to cry on the first offered shoulder. He was pained to see somepony so badly in need of a friend. Her fit of tears lasted a solid half hour. As Trixie quieted her sobs, she pulled away from Jaze’s embrace.

“I’m so sorry for that.” Trixie said as she wiped the tears from eyes.

“Don’t worry; it’s one of the duties of a friend.” Jaze offered a reassuring smile.

This managed to bring a smile to Trixie’s face, “If you say so.”

“Haven’t you ever had a friend?” She shook her head, “Well you have one now, so deal with it.”

Tears welled in her eyes again, “Th-thank you, that’s the nicest thing anypony’s said to me in a long time.”

Jaze looked to the sky, “It’s going to be dark soon, too soon to risk walking back to town. We should find a cave or something to spend the night in.”

“Here, in the forest?” Jaze could hear the fear in Trixie’s voice.

“Would you rather walk through the forest at night?” He raised an eyebrow, “With an angry manticore that may still want us for dinner?”

In the Dark

Jaze woke up and stretched. The cave was still pitch dark, and he could not see anything. He listened to Trixie’s calm breathing; they had found this cave just before nightfall. It was a lucky break; Jaze could not have imagined what sleeping in the open forest would have been like. He picked up the remains of his bow, broken when the manticore had thrown him into a tree. It was beyond repair, Jaze would have to make a new one.

He slowly stood, trying to avoid upsetting his injuries. His shoulders were intensely sore from the fight but that would not kill him. What he was worried about were the gashes on his chest; he had no bandages or really anything to cover the gashes, they could easily get infected. Trixie also had a few cuts on her sides and chest from forcing her way into the thicket to escape. She had boiled some water using her magic, which Jaze used to clean their lacerations. He just hoped that would be enough until he could return to Ponyville to see an actual doctor.

Jaze heard his newest friend begin to stir. He had stayed up to watch the mouth of the cave to ensure that no strange beasties wanted a midnight snack. Trixie’s sleep had been fitful for much of the night; he guessed she had been reliving her recent past in her dreams. He just sat and listened to her quiet whimpering; he wished he had a way to alleviate her suffering. The only way he knew how was to be the best friend he could and hope to make up for the evil way she had been treated. Seeing her crying in her sleep pulled on his heart, and reminded Jaze of himself before he had met his friends; never truly happy, even in the one place where anything is possible.

“Good morning, Jaze.” Trixie yawned.

“And a good morning to you.” He replied with a small smile.

“So, what are we going to do?”

“I think we are going to try to walk back to the town I’m staying at. The ponies there are among the nicest beings I’ve met, they can help us tend our cuts and bruises. And maybe you could stay in town with us.”

He could hear the tears in her voice, “They will probably just hate me like everyone else.”

“No, you’ll see, they will like you. You just have to be yourself, like you have been with me.” He gave another small smile, “Just wait, as soon as it’s light enough, we’ll go to my home and meet my friends.”

“What do you mean?” Trixie said with confusion in her voice.

“It’s so dark I can’t see my hand in front of my face.”

“Jaze, the sun is shining strong. The cave is pretty bright.”

“…what?”

“There are only shadows at the back of the cave.” Her voice was worried, “But you can see that, right?”

Jaze’s face registered shock. He waved a hand in front of his face, “You’re messing with me. You have to be.”

“Jaze, have you gone blind?”

He sat in shock, “It would seem so.”

“How?”

“I don’t really know. Maybe the manticore’s claws were venomous after all and these are their effects.”

“What do we do now?” Trixie asked, her voice slowly turning to panic.

Jaze took a deep breath, “Simple, we leave the forest.”

“You think it’ll be that easy?” she asked in a slightly mocking tone.

“No, it won’t be easy, but what choice do we have?”

“Fine,” she huffed, “but you can’t see and I have no idea where I am.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.” He gave a smile, “Trust me.”

Jaze felt around for the wall of the cave and used it to guide himself outside. He heard Trixie walking next to him. He was already missing the use of his eyes; it would have been nice to see the sun. Funny, he laughed internally, you never appreciate something until it’s gone. He had to hope that Twilight had something in the library on manticore venom cures. He could not live the rest of his life blind; he would find it far too boring. Jaze stood in the sunlight for a moment, letting it warm his cool skin.

“Is that the direction of the sun?” Jaze asked as he pointed.

“Yes, why?” Trixie asked in confusion.

“Then we need to go that way he said as he pointed in another direction.

“How do you know?”

“Everfree forest is due east of town. So if we go west, it stands to reason that we will break out of here sooner or later.” He gave a confident smirk, “Preferably sooner than later.”

“Now we can set off in the right direction, but you still can’t see.”

“That is an easy enough fix; you just got to guide us both.”

xxx

Back in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were desperately searching for their missing friend. When he had not shown up to help on the farm that morning, Applejack had gone to his house to see if he was okay. There, she found both Fluttershy and Dash looking for Jaze. They both said that they had not seen him and he did not appear to be home. They confirmed this by letting themselves in. His bed had not been slept in, nor did there appear to be any sign of somepony having taken a meal there. The three asked around town, but nopony had seen Jaze since he had passed through town a few days ago. Fluttershy had gone back to tend to her animals while Dash and Applejack searched the area around Ponyville.

It was now well past noon, and still nopony had found Jaze. The six friends prepared to go into the forest, for it was the one place they had not looked. They readied themselves as best they could. Pinkie Pie and Rarity volunteered to stay behind at the library in case Jaze made it back before the rest of the group, while Fluttershy was going to stay at her house with her animals in case he came there.

As the three started to enter the forest, they could see something walking toward them.

xxx

“Jaze, I think I found the path out!” Trixie exclaimed happily.

“Thank god, you have no idea how unnerving this forest is ‘til you can only hear it.” Jaze whispered.

He had kept his eyes closed for the entire trip, that way he did not have to think on his sudden blindness too much. It still galled him to have to rely on someone else for something as simple as not walking into a tree. When he had apologized to Trixie, she merely said, “Isn’t that what friends are for?” It warmed Jaze’s heart to see that she had already taken to being someone’s friend and was so willing to help. I can’t wait to introduce her to Twilight, he thought warmly, they have so much in common. Trixie had led the blind man through the forest as best she could. There were still falls as she could not tell him where everything was, but the managed to fight the path without any more painful adventures.

The pair walked for a few hours, following the path, until finally Jaze heard the sound of wind in an open area. They had broken free of the forest at last. Jaze had never been happier to feel the wind on his skin or to feel the direct sunlight. Jaze walked ahead of Trixie a little, reveling in the sensations.

“Look everypony, there he is!” he heard Twilight call. Jaze felt something hit him in the stomach, a something that had its hooves wrapped around his waist.

“Pinkie Pie, is that you?” Jaze asked the pony that had wrapped around his waist.

“No you dork, it’s me.”

“Rainbow Dash?”

“Uh, yeah,” she said in puzzlement, “why do you ask? And why don’t you open your eyes?” she looked behind Jaze, “And what is she doing here?”

“It’s a long story, but first let me introduce…” Jaze started.

“Oh, we’ve met.” Applejack growled.

“Huh?” Jaze was utterly confused.

“Hello, Ms. Sparkle.” Trixie said stiffly, “You remember how I told you a unicorn ruined me, Jaze?”

“Yes…” Jaze affirmed slowly.

“That is her.”

“WHAT?” Jaze sightlessly searched around for Twilight, “you, you were the one…?”

“Yeah, Twilight exposed this fraud for the fool she is.” Dash took an aggressive step toward Trixie, “What did you do to our friend?”

“I didn’t do…” she tried to reply.

“Didja blind him? Didja hurt him practicing some new spell to try and bedazzle everypony?” Applejack looked furious as she saw the cuts on Jaze’s chest, “And how the hay did he get those cuts?”

“I…” Trixie tried to explain, tears of sadness and anger beginning to flood her eyes.

“What have you done?” The two angry ponies asked in unison.

“ENOUGH!” Jaze shouted in anger, “I‘m surprised by you two. She made a mistake, everypony does it! You can’t judge her only by her past.”

“Why are you defending this phony?” Dash asked.

“If you two would stop for a moment and listen, you would find out that Trixie saved my life!” The two athletic ponies stared at Jaze, then Trixie, then back to Jaze.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked in astonishment.

“Yeah, ya wanna explain that ta us?”

“I was fighting a manticore when Trixie summoned a thundercloud to scare it off.”

“Uh-uh!” the cyan pegasus said as her wonder grew.

“She only did it ta make you trust her, she had ta’ve done that.”

“That’s not true!” Trixie called out, “First off Jaze, don’t lie for me. You saved me. And secondly, I helped because he needed it and I could.”

“Then why is he blind?” Applejack asked, some of the hostility gone from her voice.

“I’m blind because the manticore sliced my chest and poisoned me.” He walked to where he had heard Trixie’s voice, “If she had not guided me out, there’s every chance I would be something’s breakfast right now.”

“But, manticore claws aren’t venomous.” Twilight spoke up for the first time, "Nor is there a spell that causes blindness.” She walked over to Trixie, “You say that you didn’t do this?”

Trixie shook her head, “No, never!”

Twilight nodded, “I believe you.” Those three words stunned Rainbow Dash and Applejack and made Trixie tear up with gratitude.

“But Twi’…” Applejack began.

“No buts. I said I believe her story,” Twilight looked sternly at Trixie, “But that does not mean I have forgotten what you did, the ideas that you put in two young colts minds.”

“About that,” Trixie looked ashamed, “I’m sorry for I acted. I was foolish and irresponsible. Can you ever forgive me?”

“Tell you what, you show us that you are different and I will forgive you. Is that agreeable to you?”

Trixie nodded, “Yes, I can prove I’m different.”

“But…” the two doubtful athletes started.

“No buts,” Jaze interrupted, “if nothing else, I owe her my life.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Dash said as she swallowed her pride, “Thank you for helping Jaze get back safely. It means a lot to us all of us.”

“Thank you for allowing me a second chance.”

A smile flashed on Jaze’s face, “You know, I think you have something to write Celestia about, don’t you?”

The smile repeated itself on Twilight’s face, “Yes I think a letter to Princess Celestia is in order, but perhaps you should write it, Jaze.”

“Me, why me?”

“You taught us something today. I think you could condense the lesson the best for Princess Celestia.”

“I’ll tell you what, you help me find out what’s wrong with my eyes, and I’ll write the letter.”

“Deal!”

xxx

The five gathered Fluttershy and went back to the library where Jaze and Trixie filled the others in on their story. The six were staggered by the two’s courage and showed genuine concern for Trixie’s injuries.

“Lucky I did not break anything when I hit the tree. I landed in some blue flowers that broke my fall a little and kept my front from getting busted up as well.”

“Wait, blue flowers?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, they were at the base of the tree when I landed.”

“I wonder,” she said thoughtfully, “Jaze could you open your eyes for me?”

“Sure, but I don’t see why.” Jaze opened his eyes and was momentarily dumbfounded by the fact that he could not see.

Twilight looked into Jaze brown eyes. All over the whites were many little blue spots. Spots that the astute magician recognized. The other ponies recognized them as soon as they saw them, too. They had dealt with an affliction like this before. The smile of a puzzle solved spread across Twilight’s lips.

“Hey Pinkie, could you grab me that copy of Super Naturals?”

“Sure thing,” the party pony replied as she tossed a book to the unicorn.

“What’s up? Did you figure out how to fix this?” said Jaze as he pointed to his eyes.

“I’m pretty sure, I just need to find…ah-ha! Remedy for….” Twilight became absorbed in what she was reading.

“Uh, yeah, so, what is wrong with my eyes?”

“The blue flowers you landed in must have been Poison Joke. They took your eyesight away because they thought it would be funny.” She left out the part about how the Joke only messed with something their victim took pride in, and she wondered why he prized his eyesight above much else.

“So you can fix this, yes?” Trixie asked worriedly.

“Don’t y’all fret none. Twi’ could whip up the cure for this in ‘er sleep.” Applejack had kept her tone civil; not trusting but not unfriendly either. It’s a start, Jaze thought with a sigh.

Twilight snapped the book shut, “Don’t worry Jaze. As soon as I can find all the ingredients for the herbal bath, you’ll have your eyes back, good as new.”

“Great, maybe this won’t be the worst birthday ever.” muttered Jaze quietly. Unfortunately, he was too loud, for the ponies had heard him.

“You didn’t tell us it was your birthday!” called and excited Pinkie.

“Yeah, why didn’tja tell us?” Applejack asked.

“I didn’t want you all to make a big deal of it. It’s just another year I survived.” stated Jaze.

“You still should’ve told us man,” said Dash eagerly, “Pinkie Pie can throw you the most awesome birthday bash of all time. Of all time!”

“No, that’s not necessary. Honestly, if all my friends could get along, that would be enough for me.”

“I didn’t realize that she meant that much to you already.” Rarity said as she indicated Trixie.

“It’s just that I know what it’s like to not have anypony who loves and respects you.”

Applejack looked to Trixie, “Is that true, ya really have nopony?” Trixie nodded, “What about yer family?” the unicorn shook her head, tears once again coming to her eyes, “Well, I’m right sorry fer the way I acted, we all are.”

“I understand, I was a fool and gave you all ample reason to hate me.” Trixie looked downcast.

“Hey, don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash assured her, “it’s like Jaze said, everypony makes mistakes. Yours was lying; ours was in mistreating you for your past. Can you forgive us?”

“If you can forgive me.” Trixie said.

Hearing his friends getting along put a grin on Jaze’s face, “Well, what say you that we get my eyes fixed?”

“No sweat; let me gather the ingredients and you’ll be fine soon.” Twilight responded happily as she walked out the door to the library

xxx

Jaze stood outside the library over a bucket filled with aromatic water, “You’re telling me that I just have to dunk my head in this a few times to wash out my eyes and then I can see?”

“Yeah, that should work,” Twilight answered, “just remember to keep your eyes open.”

Without further question, Jaze dunked his head into the water, holding it under as long as he could before coming up for air. He repeated this process several times, until he could begin to make at hazy shapes, then he could see details, and finally he had regained all of his vision. Never, the relieved solider thought, will I forget this experience. That was truly terrifying.

Apparently, Twilight had gone into the library at some point while he had been washing his eyes. Jaze looked up to the sky to see the sun for the first time that day. He was ecstatic at finding he could see again and the whole world had taken on a much brighter tone for him. As he turned to go back into the library, Rainbow Dash walked out. She flew up into a nearby tree and beckoned to Jaze for him to join her.

When he had climbed into the tree next to her, she said “I’m glad you’re okay. You had us all worried for a while.”

Jaze gave her a confident smirk, “What, didn’t think I could handle myself in the forest?”

“No, it’s just…” she sighed, “we did not know where you were, and we thought you might have been hurt.” She lightly touched his recently bandaged chest, “Turns out we were right to worry, weren’t we?”

The smile fell from the soldier’s face, “Yeah, I guess so. I’m sorry I worried you all.”

“Hey, you’re back safe and sound right?” The cyan pegasus looked Jaze in the eye, “What were you doing in the forest anyway?”

“Nothing,” Jaze said as he turned away.

His friend pulled his head back around, “Don’t lie to me, Jaze.”

“I was looking for something.”

“Your friends?” Jaze nodded, “And did you find anything?”

Jaze nodded as he pulled the picture from his pocket, “I found this.”

He held the picture out to her. Dash studied the picture; it was of Jaze and three other humans, another male and two females, if she was judging right. The female closest to Jaze had dark brown hair with stunning green eyes, while the other two were both raven-haired and they both had blue eyes, though the females were much lighter. Dash had not seen Jaze look so at ease and happy before.

“Are these your friends, the ones who went into the forest with you?” asked Dash quietly.

“Yes, they are.” Jaze answered in a whisper, “At least, those two are,” he indicated the green eyed woman, “she died not too long after this was taken.” When Dash looked up from the photo, she saw his eyes brimming with tears.

“I’m sorry, I did not mean to bring up such a painful memory.” the worried pegasus quickly apologized.

“No it’s okay; I think I needed to talk to someone about it.” He dried his eyes on his shirt. “I think I need to go home and change, these clothes aren’t exactly in good shape.”

Dash accepted the change of subject, “Yeah you do look pretty ragged. You should go home and shower as well.”

“Yeah, a hot shower sounds nice.”

“Mind if I walk with you?” Dash asked

“Why not? I could use the company.”

The pair slowly walked back to Jaze’s house in silence. When they arrived, Jaze invited Dash into his house while he tidied himself up a little. She mostly stayed in the living room while the scarred soldier showered and got dressed. When Jaze returned to the living room, he found his friend sitting on the couch with a question in his friend’s eyes. A question she did not want to ask.

“Something on your mind?” Jaze asked innocently.

“No, nothing.” The pegasus replied.

“Don’t lie to me, Dash. I can tell you want to ask me something, so just ask.”

“Okay, but don’t get mad at me.”

“I promise I won’t get mad.”

“Alright,” she took a deep breath, “that woman in the picture, was she something special to you?”

Jaze winced, “Now I see why you didn’t want to ask.” He sat down next to her on the couch, “Yes, yes she was. I had planned to ask her to marry me,” he retrieved the ring box from the pants he had been wearing and handed it to Dash, “this was going to be hers.”

“It’s beautiful,” Dash breathed as she opened the box, “I wish that you didn’t have to deal with something like this.” She handed the box back.

“I’m used to dealing with it now, that was about two years ago now.” he whispered.

Dash stood up, “I think we should go back to the library now, we don’t want to make everypony think you disappeared again.”

Jaze was happy for the topic change, “Yeah I guess so.”

xxx

“SURPRISE!” For the second time, Jaze had been caught off guard entering the library. And once again the place had been decorated for a party. There were streamers everywhere and a large cake with the words “Happy Birthday Jaze” carefully written across it. The surprised young man looked to Dash who; was wearing a smug smile. His look asked the question for him.

“They wanted to throw this party for you, so I volunteered to distract you while they set it up.” She looked at the ground, “I had wanted to talk to you anyway so it all worked out.”

“Well, Pinkie was the one who had the idea; we all just helped put up the decorations. She even got the cake for you and did the message herself.” Twilight smiled at Jaze.

“Thank you all, you have no idea how much I need this.” Jaze’s eyes shined with appreciation.

“Well duh!” Pinkie said as she bounced around the room happily, “everypony needs a party on their birthday. And it’s also a ‘Welcome Trixie to Ponyville’ party.”

“No, it should all be about Jaze,” said an embarrassed Trixie, “It’s his birthday.”

“Hey you’re a friend, I don’t mind sharing.” Jaze said cheerfully.

“Uh, Jaze?” Twilight asked from her seat.

“Yes?”

“Are you forgetting something?” She floated a quill and paper over to him.

The guest of honor grimaced comically, “Darn, I hoped you would forget that. Oh well,” he said as he sat down, “let me write this, then we can get to the party.”

Dear Princess Celestia,

This is your friend Jaze, who was asked by your faithful student Twilight to tell you the lessons we all learned about friendship, so here goes. Today, Twilight and the others learned that you cannot judge somepony solely by their best mistakes. Everypony makes a mistake and learning is merely finding these mistakes and how to avoid them. If everypony was only seen by their mistakes, nopony could ever be trusted. I have learned that everypony deserves love and tolerance; you never know what hardships they have faced.

Sincerely yours,

Jaze Armand

P.S. I also learned that picking a fight with a manticore is an extremely foolish idea, I wouldn’t suggest it.

At the Gala

Jaze woke to the sound of somepony pounding on his bedroom door. He groaned groggily as he rolled into a sitting position. Looking out the window, he saw that the sun had not even broken the horizon yet. Not as used to such an early morning as he was as a soldier, he had to fight for a moment to keep from yelling at whoever was on the other side of the door.

“Alright, I’m up! What’s wrong?” the grumpy young man called.

“Applejack’s here!” Trixie called back, “She wants you to come by soon to help her and Big Macintosh get all the chores done.”

“The sun isn’t even up yet! What’s the rush?” He called in confusion.

“The Gala’s tonight, so they want to get done as early as possible!”

“Darn it, I thought that was tomorrow.”

“Come on you’ve only know the date for months.”

“I’m coming, tell AJ that I’ll be over as soon as I have breakfast.”

“Okay then, just hurry up! We still have to go to Carousel Boutique and pick up our outfits for tonight!” Jaze could hear Trixie humming as she walked away. The ticket sent to him by the Princesses had permitted him to bring one guest and he had chosen Trixie as his. He felt she needed a little bit of “fun”. Especially after the bombshell he had dropped on her when she moved in with him a week ago. Jaze shuddered as that memory forced itself into his mind…

xxx

Jaze sat on the couch next to Trixie, watching her as he tried to broach a difficult subject. He had offered to allow the homeless unicorn to live with him, and had even offered her his room. At least until they could either find a permanent home somewhere or until they could build another room on to Jaze’s existing residence. Trixie had accepted his kind offer to a place to stay, but had flat refused to take his room for she did not want to burden her first friend.

Jaze took a deep breath, “Trixie, there’s something I need to tell you, but it’s going to be really awkward.”

“What’s on your mind?” she asked innocently.

“Well, the thing is that I am not like you or other ponies.”

“If you’re only now figuring that out, you need to get yourself checked out. You may have hit your head a little too hard at some point.”

“Ha ha, but seriously; what I mean is that I am not an herbivore. I eat other creatures on a regular basis.”

Trixie sat in shock at Jaze’s revelation, and Jaze could not bring himself to look her in the eyes. It was the first time he had ever truly felt ashamed of his eating menu choices, even since coming to Equestria. Silence reigned in the room for several minutes as each tried to find the proper thing to say to the other. Jaze felt he needed to apologize for himself and his race for acting like animals, unable to curb such a barbaric hunger.

“Trixie, I’m sorry if this comes as a shock and that I am carnivorous.” Jaze said ashamedly.

“Don’t apologize for who you are, you’re you and I’m your friend.” Trixie stated as a smile slowly spread across her face, “That means I accept you; the good, the bad, and the ugly. Right?”

“Thank you for understanding.” was his gratitude laden response.

A thought passed across Trixie’s face, “So, when we first met, where you, you know?”

The uncomfortable soldier gave a nod, “Yeah, I was hunting when I heard your cries.”

“Well then,” she grinned, “if you had not been hunting then, I would be sitting in a manticore’s belly right now.”

“You know, I hadn’t thought of it that way before.” He said thoughtfully.

“Everything happens for a reason; you just have to assume that it will work out for the best.”

“Yeah I guess you’re right.”

xxx

A pounding on the door brought Jaze out of his reverie, “I’m up and on my way!” he called.

“Well come on! We don’t have all day.”

Jaze quickly got dressed and headed for the kitchen. He made himself a quick breakfast and ate as fast as he could. He gave a quick good bye to Trixie and headed for the farm. Even though it was spring, the morning air was unpleasantly cold and Jaze could see his breath form clouds in front of his face. I hope that there is not too much to do today, Jaze thought as he yawned. He walked quickly to keep his body a little warmer; he had no jackets as of yet and would be relying on the work to keep him warm until the sun rose to knock off the chill.

It did not take Jaze long to reach Sweet Apple Acres and he found Applejack already hard at work bucking apples from the trees. He assumed that Big Mac was back in the fields and the frozen pilot went to join his friend.

Coming into view of the fields, Jaze let out a groan. As he had feared, today the he and Big Macintosh were supposed to plow and plant all the fields; a task that would take several hours, if they were lucky and the ground was not frozen solid. If it was, then it would be an all day task. He bent with trepidation to check the ground, and to his relief found it thawed, if a little over cold. Jaze caught sight of the large stallion bringing his harness out to the fields.

“Hey,” he called, “I’ll go grab the plow and give it a good sharpening.” Big Mac just nodded and began to shrug on the harness as Jaze trotted to the barn. Dragging the heavy plow outside, he turned it over and began to run a file across the blade to give it a proper edge. That little bit of maintenance complete, Jaze quickly brought the plow to Big Mac and hooked it up to the harness. They brought the plow to the edge of the field and threw their weight into making it bite the hard earth. It was a slow start, but the two began to gather momentum quickly.

The work was not as bad as Jaze had feared and soon they had plowed all the fields. At that point the sun had been up for awhile, and the two took a short break to grab a drink of sweet apple cider and some of Big Mac’s “special” pieces of hay. These were soaked in a special blend of herbs and spices that gave the hay a pleasant flavor and, when chewed, released large amounts of energy. Big Mac had made the recipe himself and had not shared it with anypony, but whatever was in it had more kick than a pot of coffee. The hay did not appear to have any effects beyond those intended and were not addicting like many human vices, so Jaze did not feel that it was like a drug. Regardless, the hay and cider gave the pair the will to continue their arduous task of planting.

It was around midday when Jaze straightened up from the earth and stretched his muscles, sore from the already long day’s work. He walked to a nearby hill and lay down on his back, chewing a piece of hay. It felt good to be done and Jaze allowed his thoughts to drift to tonight’s festivities. He had tried to put thoughts of the Gala out of his mind; he just knew he was going to mortify himself and his friends. He was a frontline soldier and felt he had no time for the niceties that upper-class society demanded.

“Hey Jaze,” Big Macintosh interrupted the soldier’s brooding, “can I ask ya a question?”

“You just did,” Jaze grinned, “but feel free to ask another.”

“Well, it’s about tanight.”

“I’m listening,”

Big Macintosh looked more nervous than Jaze had ever seen him, “Do ya know if Fluttershy already has a guest for the gala?”

“I don’t think so, why?” Jaze asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I was wonderin’ if she would want ta go with me?” the stallion asked awkwardly.

Jaze was fighting, and losing, to keep a straight face, “I don’t know, partner.”

Big Mac looked at the ground, “Yer right to laugh, I guess.”

“No, I shouldn’t laugh, but if you could see what I see…” Jaze let an amused snigger pass his lips.

“Well then serious up a little. I really like her ya know.”

“I understand, but I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Why would she want to go with a country bumpkin anyways? She could have any stallion she wanted go with her.”

“Don’t sell yourself short guy. From what I hear, you’re quite popular with the mares around here.

“Maybe so, but Fluttershy is so…” The next few minutes were spent listening to Big Mac go on about how beautiful and charming and graceful Fluttershy was. As he listened, Jaze could not stop a small smile from spreading across his face. He had seen this from young soldiers before; the first love always affects one the hardest.

“You’re really smitten with her, aren’t you?” the soldier asked, the smile still firmly in place.

“Eeyup.”

“Tell you what,” Jaze said as he put a hand on Mac’s shoulder, “I am going over to her house after I leave here. I can ask her for you if you want.”

“Now don’t do that! She’ll think I’m pathetic!”

“Fluttershy? Please, she wouldn’t think you’re pathetic.”

“Jus’ promise me you won’t say a word.”

“I promise Big Macintosh, I won’t say a word about this to anypony.” Big Mac then spit on his hoof and held it out to Jaze. The red stallion was waiting for his friend to repeat the action and shake his hoof. For him, there was no more binding a contract and Jaze knew it. He spit in his hand and shook with all the respect as if he were shaking hands with a leader of the Earth Coalition. He knew that if he breathed a word of this talk to anypony, he would break his friends trust in him permanently.

“I’m going to leave now; I still have a lot to get done before tonight.”

“Remember. Not. A. Word.” Big Mac said sternly.

Jaze nodded as he set off towards Fluttershy’s cottage. He could not help but have a smile on his face at how infatuated his friend was with the shy pegasus. The smile stayed where it was until he came upon Fluttershy’s place, where he saw all the animals running wild. They appeared to have picked up on Fluttershy’s excitement and were becoming uncontrollable. Fluttershy was running around after them, trying to get them to settle down again. Jaze helped as best he could; picking up the smaller animals to them down, herding the chickens into their coop and much more. It took the pair about an hour to get the creatures all settled down.

“What the hay happened here?” Jaze asked exhaustedly.

“Nothing, I just wasn’t paying attention.” Fluttershy responded. Looking her over, Jaze noticed she did look distracted.

“What is on your mind?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Hey now, I’ve answered your uncomfortable questions, now return the favor. What’s wrong?”

“It’s about tonight…”

“Yes, what about it? You’re still going right?”

“Yes, but there’s somepony I want to bring.”

“Who?”

“I want to take Big Macintosh.”

A slow grin split Jaze’s face, “Oh do you now?” Fluttershy nodded, “Have you asked him yet?”

“No, I can’t.” she said as she scuffed the ground with a hoof.

“Why not?”

“He would not want to go with me.”

That’s what you think, Jaze thought but said, “You won’t know unless you ask.”

“He would not want me.” Fluttershy sighed.

“Look Fluttershy,” Jaze put a hand under her chin and lifted her head to meet his gaze, “you should ask him to go with you. The worst that can happen is he says no, and at least then you’ll know for sure. The worst feeling in the world is never knowing the answer to a question you should have asked.”

“Okay Jaze, I’ll try to ask him.”

“Don’t try, just do it.” He let her look to the ground again, “I’m going to go start getting everything ready for tonight; I expect you to have asked him long before we are ready to go.” He gave her a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, I bet that things will go better than you expect.”

xxx

“Alright Rarity, bring them out.” Jaze said as he and Trixie stood in Carousel Boutique.

“Here they are!” the excited unicorn exclaimed as she wheeled two mannequins out. One had on Trixie’s new dress while the other was wearing Jaze’s outfit. The pair sat stunned as they took in their new garments. Jaze’s outfit had been completed; the same black doublet and simple pants, and the completed cape ran from his shoulder to just above his knee and covered the right half of his chest and Rarity had fashioned black, cloth boots that came up to Jaze’s calf.

More impressive was Trixie’s dress. It was in two layers; the bottom layer was a dark black with small golden stars on it, while the top layer was a beautiful fuchsia. A deep purple scarf would wrap around Trixie’s neck and attach to the cloth saddle rimmed with a small amount of lace. There were two muted pink ribbons that wrapped around her waist and streamed off her back to follow the dress to the floor. Rarity had made white boots to slip on over Trixie’s forelegs.

“Whoa Rarity, these are amazing. Thank you so much!” Jaze said as he stepped up to his new attire, “I have just one question. Why did you leave it unbalanced to the right?”

“Oh please.” Rarity said with a satisfied grin and a quiet laugh, “I know what I’m doing. That’s what that is for.” She pointed to Jaze’s right hand.

He looked down to see Sairugi, all but forgotten when Rarity had brought out her gifts. “I see, but I cannot wear this at the Gala.”

“And why not?”

“Because of what it represents.” Jaze did not want to bring an implement of war to a party. Especially one in honor of the Princesses, it just seemed like he was mocking the peace that they had in this world.

“What do you mean by that darling?”

“Nothing,” Jaze sighed, “I guess I will wear this thing again, since you out so much work into making the outfit to go with the sword.” Jaze walked over and tied Sairugi to the almost invisible black belt. Jaze had to admit, it looked quite dashing.

“Good,” Rarity said with satisfaction, then turned to Trixie, “and how do you like yours?”

“It’s beautiful,” the unicorn breathed, “It’s the nicest thing anypony’s done for me in a long time.”

Rarity glanced at Jaze, “I seem to be getting that a lot lately.”

“Thank you Rarity, thank you so much.” Trixie said gleefully.

“Indeed, at least I won’t look out of place when I make a fool of myself.” Jaze said cynically.

“Would you stop that.” Rarity gave him a stern glare, “You couldn’t possibly make more of a fool of yourself than we already did.”

“Why, what did you do?”

“We promised never to speak of that night again. We all have parts of our past we don’t like.”

“True enough,” Jaze said as his own history passed through his mind.

Jaze and Trixie left the boutique with their outfits sealed in bags to keep them clean until that night. Jaze had them both carefully hung from his shoulders so as to not wrinkle them or let them drag the ground. Absorbed as he was, the soldier did not notice Fluttershy until he had walked into her. He caught the garments before they hit the dirt and cursed himself for not paying attention as he bent to help his yellow friend to her feet. Trixie was having a good laugh at the two of them and Jaze threw her a glare, offset by the smile that was creeping across his face. He thought it was funny as well, but his pride demanded he looked a little mad. Looking behind Fluttershy, Jaze could see Big Macintosh.

“Jaze, I have great news!” Fluttershy was uncharacteristically enthusiastic and excited. Big Macintosh looked pretty pleased as well

“What happened?” He asked politely, though he could already guess the answer.

“You were right.” The two called in unison; they looked at each other, and finally back to the grinning human. The confused looks on their faces were priceless as they slowly drug the whole story from Jaze.

“So you knew all along that he liked me?” Fluttershy asked.

“Only since this morning; that’s why I thought you should ask him, I knew he’d say yes.” the still grinning pilot said.

“Ya slick devil,” Big Mac grinned as he shook his head at his friend.

Jaze patted Big Mac on the shoulder as he passed by, “Have a good time tonight guy.” Jaze and Trixie started off for home again, and this time Jaze was careful to watch where he was going. The trip home was uneventful, and it did not take long for them to reach the house. Jaze looked at the beginning of the new room that was being added to his house for Trixie. It had only been a week and it was already almost finished. The soldier marveled at how quickly the carpenter ponies had put it together, and they were saying it would only be another week before Trixie could move in.

Jaze looked to Trixie, “So have you given any thought to what I said?”

“Of course I have,” she responded quickly, “the extension is almost done. So I guess I am moving in here permanently.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“About you and Twilight,”

“Oh, that. I don’t know, I don’t think she would go for it.”

“You haven’t even asked, have you?”

“No,”

“You won’t know till you try. And I know you would enjoy it.”

“But, I don’t want to ask her for help. She ruined my life!” Trixie snapped.

“Oh come on, we’ve been through this.” Jaze said exasperatedly, “You won’t get any better at magic if you don’t have a teacher, and Twilight’s the most qualified pony around.”

“I know but, it hurts my pride.”

“Listen to me,” he brought Trixie closer, “we are all your friends and helping is part of the job. Nopony will look down on you for asking for help.”

“I know, I know. I have just never had to ask for help before.”

“It’s hard at first, but you’ll get used to receiving help.” He raised a warning finger, “But remember, it’s your job to help your friends as well. You should always do everything you can to help them, for that is the mark of a true friend.”

“I know.” The chastised unicorn whispered.

“Good, now let’s get ready for tonight.”

xxx

Jaze and his eight friends were sitting in a reserved car in the express train from Ponyville to Canterlot. There was an air of nervous tension among the ponies as they thought about the night to come. The human was trying to remember everything he had learned for dealing with upper class people, and hoping that the same rules would apply for upper class ponies. Fluttershy and Big Macintosh, who was wearing a rented tux much to Rarity’s displeasure, were sitting in a corner quietly talking to each other. It made Jaze a little jealous that those two had found each other while his love was gone from the world.

He forced such morbid thoughts out of his mind; they would do him no good tonight. It would be the first time he had seen either of the princesses since he left the castle and he did not want to worry them or make them think he was unhappy in Ponyville. Truth be told, he was happier now than he had been in a long time; he no longer worried what each new day would bring.

The young soldier looked to another part of the car to see Trixie and Twilight in a deep conversation about the nuances of magic. It brought a smile to his face to see Trixie settling in so well. While Jaze and Trixie waited for everypony else to complete their preparations, the dusky blue unicorn had asked Twilight if she would begin teaching her more magic. Twilight had immediately agreed and seemed thrilled to share her knowledge with somepony who understood. They may have forgotten about the Gala entirely is Rarity had not interrupted their spell talk to force Twilight into her dress. Now they were at it again, and Jaze hoped that they could keep this level of camaraderie going in the days to come.

Applejack was sitting by her portable fruit stand. She had said that if she had to go, she was going to try to and make some money for the Apple family again. Everypony had had a good laugh at this, including Applejack. Now, she sat eyeing Fluttershy and Big Macintosh, and Jaze couldn’t discern if it was happiness or anger that powered her stare. For everypony’s sake, he hoped it was happiness.

It was not long before the train pulled into Canterlot Station and the eight disembarked to make the long walk to the castle. On the way Jaze kept sweeping his eyes around the capital city. Like many human merchants, the store owners had decorated their businesses to entice those here for the Gala to part with their bits. It seemed that humans and ponies shared many of the same attitudes and beliefs. Looking at Applejack pulling her cart gave Jaze an idea.

The nine companions reached the palace to find a long line had already formed of ponies trying to be the first at the Gala. Jaze started to get in line behind everypony else, until a royal guard pegasus walked over and pulled him aside.

“I assume you’re Mr. Armand.” Jaze answered with a nod, “If you and your friends will follow me, I have been asked to bring you in before the Gala starts.”

“Thank ya kindly sir, but who told ya to do that.” Applejack asked from the queue.

“Why, the Princesses of course they would like a word with you all before the party starts.” The gray pegasus answered. Another guard came forward and relived Applejack of her cart of Apple products.

“Alright then, we’ll follow you.” The guard brought them around to a side entrance guarded by two pegasi. Jaze got the sense that these were not ponies to tangle with, which was confirmed by the fact that all the other ponies gave them a wide birth. Without a word, the two guards stood aside to allow the friends and their escort to pass, which caused many of the ponies to shoot angry glares their way. Jaze wondered why they were getting such special treatment. He hoped that the Princesses knew that they were going to anger many of the party goers with this act.

On the other side of the door stood Princess Luna, she dismissed their escort, the guard carrying the apples left the cart by the door, and guided them to another room where Princess Celestia was waiting. As one, the nine friends fell into bows before the Princesses.

“Please, do not bow before us. Not for now at least.” Princess Luna pleaded.

“Yes, you are all our honored guests and we would like you here as friends.” Princess Celestia gave a small smile to the still bowing ponies and human until they straightened.

“That’s mighty kind a’ ya, Yer Highness.” Applejack said deferentially. The rest of them added their own thanks as well.

It was still an hour before the guards would let anypony enter for the Gala and the Princesses spent that time making small talk with the Ponyville group, asking Jaze how he was settling into living there, how Applejack’s farm was doing, how many dresses Rarity had sold for the Gala, and so on. Jaze could feel a nervous tension in the royal sisters, something was going on. Something that they did not want everypony to know. A few minutes before the start of the Gala, Princess Celestia asked Jaze to accompany her to another room along with Princess Luna.

“What’s wrong Your Highness?” Jaze asked as he leaned against a wall. On a table in the center of the room was a small file of papers. The soldier guessed that they contained the real reason that they had been admitted early.

Sure enough, Celestia floated the file over to him and said, “A few days ago, one of our astrologists in an observatory spotted and sketched this.” Jaze opened the file to reveal a hasty drawing of a cylindrical object with four fins spaced evenly apart. He had seen many objects like this before during the war with the Cye. “We were hoping you might be able to tell us what it is.”

“It is a Cye deep-space, hostile-environment probe.” Jaze said slowly, “They use these to scout out planets for humans.”

“So they know we are here?” Luna asked as worry crept into her voice.

“I highly doubt it.”

“How do you know?” Celestia asked as she stared at the soldier.

“I’ve dealt with these beings for six years, since I was eighteen. I know their limits and capabilities. These probes are very basic and cannot detect organic life.”

“Then how do they use them to find humans?”

“Well, they detect things that humans build. Large power grids, things like that.”

“But what about our power systems?” Luna asked.

“You use solar energy to power your lights and such right?” He got a nod from the Princesses, “That is a passive form of energy. The probes detect things like fossil fuel plants or nuclear energy reactors. I haven’t seen anything like that on this planet so I think your safe…” The penny dropped for Jaze and he slapped a hand to his forehead, “Oh dammit, how could I be so stupid!”

“What is wrong Jaze?” Celestia asked calmly.

“I’ve been a real idiot, that’s what’s wrong.” He replied as he began pacing

“Why, what do you mean?”

“A week ago I found my fighter in the Everfree Forest. Between my own discoveries there and helping Trixie, I forgot to see if its nuclear reactor was still functioning. That thing would show up like a beacon to this probe if it was active.” He sat in a chair and cradled his head in his hands, “How could I be so freaking stupid!”

Celestia tried to comfort Jaze with words, “Jaze, you were the one who told us that everypony makes mistakes.”

“But this is different; this could cost ponies their lives! I do not want to be the cause of that!”

“Jaze…” Luna tried to break into his rant, but her voice fell on deaf ears.

“I got to go to the fighter and put it in melt down. If they did see it, then maybe they’ll think it’s a fluke…” Jaze continued to mutter to himself as he made for the door.

A magical grip took hold of his cape, “Jaze stop for a moment.” Celestia had a hold of him and was trying to talk sense into him, “Think Jaze, if the Cye saw the ship there is not anything you can do now. If they did not see the ship then there is no point to going now, when it is dark and you cannot see what else is out there.” She raised an eyebrow, “Need I remind you of the manticore?”

“Every second I wait is another second that the Cye can use to find this place! I have to leave now.” Jaze fought to leave the room, but Celestia’s magical grip was far too powerful for him to break. “And I don’t care if I get hurt so long as my friends are able to keep living their peaceful existence!”

“If you will not think of yourself, think of them.” Jaze stopped struggling and turned to face the Princess, “If you leave now, they will follow you. You would have to make them unconscious to stop them. If all of you go in, somepony will get hurt. Or worse.”

Jaze slowly sank back into his chair and stared at the ground, “Dammit, I screwed up again.” Celestia and Luna could just see the tears slowly winding down his face.

“Jaze, it’s not that bad.” Luna condoled as she draped her wings around her human friend.

“I just don’t know why I keep mucking things up.”

“Everypony makes mistakes Jaze you’ll just have to live with yours and move on.”

“Yes, everyone makes mistakes, but mine always lead to the people I care about most being killed.”

Luna looked at Jaze in surprise; she had not heard him say such a thing before. To answer the Princesses’ questions, he told them of the battle on Vaseti and how he had gotten his love killed. The alicorns were shocked, for they had not heard tales of bloodshed since their lessons on the ancient past.

“Jaze,” Luna asked quietly, “is there any way to tell if the Cye are coming?”

“Maybe,” the pilot responded thoughtfully, “did your astrologist say if this object was moving or stationary?”

“She said that it was moving so fast she did not get a good look at it.” Celestia answered hopefully.

“Good,” Jaze sighed in relief, “that means that the Cye were just doing a routine scan for human settlements. With luck, my fighter could be running red hot and they might still miss it. Even so, I will be slipping away at first light tomorrow to put the reactor in meltdown. If they did notice it, they will hopefully think it was a natural reactor or something.” He slowly calmed himself down, “I think we can still escape notice.”

“Okay, it seems that we will not be able to dissuade you from going to the forest, but thank you for waiting until tomorrow at least.”

Jaze sighed and nodded. He was still feeling terrible about messing up something simple. The Princesses could not drag anymore out of him, nor could they cheer him up at all. The three of them rejoined the others in the adjoining room. Everypony noticed his downtrodden appearance but was reluctant to ask him what had transpired. They all got ready to go mingle with the upper class crowd. Jaze noticed that Celestia seemed as uninterested in the upcoming party as he was.

“What is wrong, Princess?” he asked.

“I was just thinking of the boredom that is about to ensue.” Celestia sighed, “I love to meet our subjects, but I hate that I cannot actually speak with them. I am stuck greeting them at the door.”

“Hmmm, I have an idea.” Jaze said thoughtfully, “Why don’t Princess Luna and I handle greeting for a while. That way, you could go mingle with the crowd for a little bit.”

“I could not ask you two to do that for me. It is my job to greet the guests. They expect it of me.”

“No Jaze is right; we can do this for you.” Luna piped in, “Think of this as a gift from us.”

“But the ponies…”Celestia started.

“Look, Luna is your sister and I am a freak,” Jaze gave a small smile, “I think that they will be happy with meeting us.”

“It’s all settled, Jaze and I will greet the guests, for a little while at least.”

Celestia gave a soft, warm smile “Thank you both for this.”

“Not a problem, but you do owe me.” Jaze said with a light hearted wink. He fought to keep his spirits up and his emotions from showing. He did not want to worry his friends over much. One way or another, this incident would be sorted out tomorrow.

xxx

Jaze stood on the balcony overlooking the castle gardens. He had been greeting party going ponies for the last hour and a half, and he had shaken so many hooves that his arm as still trying to make the motions. It had been worth it to see the look of gratitude on Celestia’s face. He felt sad for her; he got the sense that nopony ever did anything nice for her, just because it was nice. A small smile spread across Jaze’s lips. Doing something nice for the one who had done so much for him had been satisfying to the extreme, and the looks of shock and a little fear on the faces of the stuck up demi-royalty that was in attendance was a bonus.

Jaze had forever hated those who thought that the state of their birth made them better than anyone else. Only a few truly seemed to be honored by their invitation to the party, such as an older stallion by the name of Fancy Pants; while the rest had acted as if it were their right to attend. Jaze let off a quiet laugh as he wondered at the looks of shock that would be stuck on some of their faces if they learned that he and his friends did not wish to be here. Absorbed in his thoughts as he was, he did not hear somepony slip up behind him.

“So,” Trixie asked, “are you done with the guests for tonight?”

Jaze spun around, “Yeah, I guess so. Celestia said her and Twilight would greet the rest, and that I should enjoy what’s left of the party.”

“That’s good; I’ve been a little lonely.”

“Why? You have friends here, and it is not too hard to make new ones.”

“Well, everypony seemed busy, so I didn’t want to bother them.”

Jaze smiled and shook his head, “You can’t bother your friends. We just move our less important business to the side. Something has to be pretty important before a friend will ignore you for it.”

“Besides that,” Trixie moved a little closer, “everypony here knows who I am. They all think I am a fool, or worse.”

“Don’t think about what others think about you, they don’t matter at all.” Jaze knelt and placed his arm around Trixie’s shoulders, “The only ones who matter are those you care about and who care about you.”

Jaze stayed where he was for several minutes, still staring off into space. Trixie watched him for a while. Despite his words and smiles, she could see in his eyes that something was bothering him.

“What is the matter Jaze?”She asked worriedly.

“It’s nothing important.” the soldier evaded.

“You shouldn’t lie to friends Jaze. I can see that something is bothering you.”

“I said it’s not important.”

“You can tell me, I am your friend.” Trixie looked up into Jaze’s eyes, “Is it about your friends that you lost in the forest?”

“How did you…”

“Rarity told me your story while she was fitting me for this dress. But don’t evade the question.”

Jaze gave a slight nod, “Yeah, it does have something to do with my time in the forest. But it doesn’t matter.” A thought crossed Jaze’s eyes, “Would you like to see my friends?”

Trixie nodded and Jaze pulled his picture from under his coat, his fingers briefly brushing Evelyn’s ring. Even though he had never given it to her, Jaze still thought of it as hers. He presented the picture to Trixie, who began to study the four humans frozen together in a moment of happiness. She liked the genuine smile and happiness on Jaze’s face. She could see why he was having such trouble staying in Ponyville. She may not have had friends long, but they were already the most important part of her life. She felt that it must be killing him to know that his friends might need him. Jaze explained the three people standing around him in turn pausing only when he reached Evelyn. He had to his face to stay even as he looked at his love; he could still feel the remnants of the anger and hatred that had burned the day she had been killed even though it had slowly burned itself out.

“Why don’t you look for your friends?”Trixie asked unknowingly.

“Because I probably wouldn’t find them.” Jaze stared up at the stars, wondering once again which ones held humanity’s enemy.

“Do you think they’re, well…”

“No,” Jaze said firmly, “I have to believe they’re okay. Otherwise, I don’t know what I would do.” The young man moved away from his unicorn friend and leaned against the balcony again. He could just see Applejack’s fruit stand; he had almost forgotten the plan he had formed on the train. “Hey Trixie we’re going to help a friend.”

xxx

Jaze led Trixie and Luna over to the fruit farmer’s stand. A small group of upper-crust ponies was following the Princess around watching her every move and trying to keep up with her opinions. Jaze gave a wink to Applejack and pulled some bits he had brought, just in case, and bought all thereof them apple fritters. As they ate their treats, Jaze watched the ponies that had been trying to follow them around without being obvious about it. He could see that they were still watching the Princess and taking note that she seemed to be enjoying the simple farm mare’s wares. It wasn’t long before the ponies flocked in droves to sample Applejack’s goods. Jaze stayed around long enough to ensure that Applejack would leave with an empty wagon and a full coin purse, then he left with a cheery wave.

“Thank you for that delicious morsel.” Luna said as they left the stand, “We do not have anything like that in the castle.”

“No, thank you,” Jaze replied with a crafty grin, “You just helped ensure that a friend sold all her merchandise.”

“I beg your pardon, but what do you mean?”

“Well, I knew that if everypony saw you buying and enjoying Apple family products they would probably buy them as well.” The soldier shrugged, “Besides, I thought you could use a treat after dealing with some many guests.”

“How did you know your plan would work?” Trixie asked.

“Simple, I know people, and I hoped that ponies acted the same.” Jaze explained, “People will do anything if someone they respect does it. I figured that these ponies would at least think about buying something if they saw you do it.” A grin broke across his face, “Humans call it ‘monkey see, monkey do’.”

Luna mirrored Jaze’s smile, “I never took you for the devious type.”

“We all have our moments.”

“There is still a party to be had, shall we?” Trixie said as she bowed towards the door to dancehall.”

“Sounds wonderful, lead the way Princess.”

“Please Jaze; ‘Luna’ will do fine.”

“If you say so,” Jaze said as he bowed. The bow had the desired effect as Luna blushed and motioned for him to straighten. As Luna and Jaze started for the door, Trixie saw a look of worry cross his face. Whatever he and the Princesses had talked about was still bothering him, though he was doing a good job hiding it. Not good enough to hide from Trixie, who had quickly learned how to read her friend’s moods.

The party passed slowly for Jaze. He had trouble focusing on the here and now; while talking to the party goers he was all smiles and cheer, but the moment no one was looking he back to brooding. Again, he thought bitterly, I failed again. C’mon, stop this, it will solve nothing. Just wait until tomorrow, then you can fix this. By the time the party was winding to a close, he was ready just to crawl into bed and await the dawn. He was already planning his trip into the forest in the morning, and he was terrified of what he would find. By the time he and his friends made it back to Ponyville he was dead tired. Jaze thought that he would have trouble falling asleep tonight, but he was out the moment his body met the bed.

Secrets Revealed

Jaze woke up in a stupor; he could not remember what had him in such a state the night before. He sat up and cradled his head in his hands trying to recall what had been bothering him. It did not take long to force the memories back into his brain. The young soldier checked out the window to see the sun just peeking over the horizon. He jumped out of bed and rushed to get dressed as quietly as he could. He did not want to risk waking Trixie. He grabbed his knife from the closet, along with the bow he made to replace the one he broke the day he met Trixie. He briefly considered grabbing a gun from his closet, but he felt that would be overkill. He doubted there would be any call for such heavy firepower, at least he hoped so.

He quietly snuck through the living room, careful as he could so as to not wake his blissfully dreaming friend. Her sleep was more peaceful now than it had been when she first arrived, no longer plagued by dreams of her past mistakes. Jaze knew how terrible that felt; he had long been reliving his past during the night. It was only then that he realized that his own nightmares had subsided these past months. Equestria seemed able to do what no other place in the universe had been able to, heal his broken heart. As he watched Trixie dream her happy dreams, he knew that his friends were the cause. He had never let anyone get close, in fear that he may get hurt. But now he had those who loved him and that he loved in turn. It was a wonderful feeling. Yeah, said the pessimistic part of his mind, but you’ll soon lose all this if you don’t go check out that wreck. Nopony else can do this but you.

With a sigh, Jaze continued his silent journey to the door. He had just reached for the knob when he heard a rustling of blankets and a confused voice whisper “Jaze?”

Jaze stopped as he squeezed his eyes shut, “Good morning Trixie.”

“Morning,” she replied as she yawned, “what are you up to?”

“I just need to go into the forest for something.”

She saw the bow and knife slung across his back, “I see.”

“It’s not that, but it is important. I’m just… wary, of going into the forest unarmed.”

“Well if it’s not that,” She looked at him hopefully, “can I accompany you?”

“No.”Jaze said firmly, “This is a bit of a private matter. I don’t want to mix you up in it.”

“This is about what the Princesses talked to you about last night isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Jaze, what are you hiding from us?”

“Nothing important.”

“It sure seemed important last night.”

“All bad things seem terribly important at first.”

“So it’s a bad kind of important.”

“Kind of, yes.”

“Then let me help you. That’s what friends do right?”

Jaze offered a small smile, “Yes, but friends also don’t let their friends get into danger for nothing. I can handle this on my own, just trust me on this.”

“Fine, but remember who saved you when you were blinded by those flowers.” Trixie glowered at the soldier as he left out the door. He felt terrible about how he treated a friend who just wanted to help, but he could not let her know about the ship in the woods. She might find out that it could fly; she was a sharp young mare. He set off for the woods at a fast pace, trying to complete his task long before anypony missed him. The fighter was deep in the woods and it might take him a while to pry the access panel to the reactor core by hand. He cursed his luck at not crashing on a more developed planet, but quickly decided that there was nowhere else in the universe he would rather be, except, perhaps, back in bed not having to worry about something like this.

He had been running at a good pace for almost an hour by the time he arrived at the fighter. He had almost missed it; the forest had been slowly reclaiming the trench over the past week and the fighter had been covered in forest refuse. He jumped into the cockpit and tried to power it up. Much to the young man’s dismay, the fighter slowly came to life; red lights alerting him to an emergency several months in the past. Crap, he thought savagely, this may have given away my position. Gotta get that panel off and blow this rig.

He climbed out and jumped on top of the wreck. Luckily, the crash had knocked the panel open a little, but it was still going to be a pain to get into the core area. He hooked his fingers around the lip and gave a testing pull. The door moved a miniscule amount. Jaze threw everything he had into his next pull and the door gave a metallic snap as it broke off, sending the surprised soldier tumbling to the ground. He landed with a hard thud on his back and rolled to his feet. The warrior stared at the large piece of metal in his hands before tossing it away. He had not realized just how strong the constant farm work had made him. He heard a twig snap behind him and quickly drew an arrow and pulled his bow to full as he turned to face the source of the noise. Standing there, looking shocked, was Trixie.

“What the hay are you doing here?” Jaze looked furious, “I told you to stay at the house!”

“I was worried about you, so I followed to make sure you were okay.” Trixie looked at the broken fighter, “That looks like the thing from that picture of you and your friends.”

Jaze fought to keep himself from yelling at her, “That’s because it is.”

“What are you doing to it?”

“I’m going to destroy it.” He quickly climbed back on top of the aircraft and was soon elbows deep in wires. He quickly set the core to over load as he had been taught during his training. “Alright then, we need to get as far away as fast as we can.”

“Why is that?”

Jaze jumped down again and hit the ground running, “Because this thing’s going to blow and I’m not sure how big it will be.” That was more than enough for Trixie as she took off after her friend. They ran for a few minutes before Jaze slid to a stop, only slightly out of breath.

“This should be far enough.” he said as his companion hung her head to gulp down air.

“How…long…until…explosion?” she asked between breaths.

“A few minutes, but we should be far enough away that nothing will happen to us.”

“Good,” the unicorn sat back and started fanning her face with a hoof. “I feel there are some things we should discuss before our return to Ponyville.”

“There are a few, yes. But nothing leaves this forest, is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.” She said as she gave a smile.

“This is utterly serious Trixie. Things are going on that you don’t know about.” Jaze was debating on exactly how much to tell her. He knew he couldn’t tell her that he was from another world, she would be terrified. But he could let her know some things.

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked warily.

“For starters, I’m not an explorer. I’m a soldier.” The reactor picked that moment to finally explode. The pair stood and watched in awe as a small cloud of dust arose from where the fighter had come to rest. Jaze could not help but feel a twinge of sadness as the final piece of his previous life left this world.

“What is a soldier?” Trixie asked, breaking into Jaze’s thoughts.

“It’s kind of like a royal guard. A soldier’s job is to protect those who can’t protect themselves, and to follow the orders of whoever is leading their country.”

“What do you mean ‘protect’? Like from animals in the forest”

Jaze sat on a log, “Trixie, there’s something you’ve got to understand. Where I’m from is… different. Humans are vastly different than ponies. Most people don’t get along with each other very well. Most of the protection is from other people.”

“So why did you destroy that thing?”

“Princess Celestia has reason to believe that some of our enemies may be looking for my friends and I. That thing would have been a dead giveaway.”

“So your enemies might come to Ponyville?”

“I doubt it. They only want to destroy humans and now they don’t know I’m here.” Jaze looked at Trixie sternly, “You can’t breathe a word of this to anypony; it would cause a panic. Not a word, okay?”

“Alright Jaze, I won’t tell anypony. But you should have told us, we are your friends.”

“I couldn’t, look at you. As soon as I told you, you started to worry. If word of a warlike race got out to the general public it would cause mass panic.”

“How do you know? Ponies are smart; they should know.”

“No, they wouldn’t know what to do. Your race is naïve, and I believe that is why I love living here so much. But it also means that they wouldn’t know what to do if they found out about this.” He gestured towards the now-gone fighter.

“I guess that makes sense. It also explains what you’ve been hiding.”

Not all of it, he thought but said, “That’s all I needed from the forest today, so let’s head back and grab some breakfast.”

“You know, this makes your eating habits seem trivial. Perhaps you should share that with the everypony. It might make you feel better”

“I couldn’t. They would think I was a freak.”

Trixie walked over and hit him on the knee, “Jaze you’re acting like a fool and I’m going to start thumping you every time you doubt your friends. Just like I have a lot to learn about friendship, so do you.” She offered a kind smile, “You told me and I’m still your friend, and they will be too.”

Jaze heaved a sigh and stood, “Alright I’ll invite them to dinner tonight and tell them then. Are you happy now?”

“Yes, quite.”

xxx

Applejack had decided to take the day off to let everypony recuperate from the Gala. She had sold all her stock and the fields had already been planted so she had seen no reason for Jaze to come over today. He was grateful for the day off and planned to spend it working on the room addition for his house. He gathered up the ponies that were going to help him and set to work. The work went smoothly and, slowly at first, the room began to take shape. The work was hard but many ponies turned out to help. At first it was just his friends, Applejack and her family, then Dash and Fluttershy, but soon many ponies he had helped were turning out to return the kindness. Pinkie and the Cakes catered what had become a little party of sorts. It didn’t take nearly as long as Jaze had feared it would.

After the long day’s work that passed too swiftly for Jaze, the addition was completed. By the end of the day half the town had filtered in and out to help, at least for a little while. Jaze shook his head in amazement at just how much these ponies cared for him Trixie. If only humans could care like this, he thought sadly, war would be a thing of the past not a living hell. He wished that the work had not ended so quickly and yet he was glad that Trixie would not have to sleep on the couch anymore. They all finished an hour before sunset and congratulated each other on a job well done. As the other ponies filed to rest tired muscles, Jaze invited his friends to dinner to thank them for their help. They accepted, as it was the first time he had invited everypony to his house. When they left, Jaze and Trixie went into town to buy a bed to put in her room. Jaze insisted on paying for it, saying that he had not given her a welcome to Ponyville present.

When they returned home, the young man turned his attention to the night ahead. He was a decent cook so he did not worry about the taste too much, but he needed to prepare his and his friends’ meals separately, he didn’t want to appall them but he did actually want to cook for them. He decided to do a simple vegetable stir fry because he doubted that anypony had had something like that before. He would just separate his portion and add some of the meat from his freezer after it was done. I can’t believe I let her talk me into this, he thought as he took the first harvest from his garden and began slicing the delicious looking veggies into a skillet. He had about an hour before everypony would start arriving and he wanted everything to be ready before then.

As soon as he had finished setting the table, Fluttershy and Applejack arrived. It was not long before Rainbow Dash and Twilight made their appearance. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were the last to arrive. Jaze sat them all down in the living room to warn them about tonight’s meal.

“Hey everypony, I have a bit of a confession to make. I am not an herbivore, I am an omnivore.” Looks of shock crossed all the ponies’ faces. All, that is, except Fluttershy. She was looking more self-conscious than usual. “What’s wrong Fluttershy?”

“I… knew.” She said as she flapped her wings awkwardly.

“Ya knew, and jus’ didn’t tell nopony?” Applejack asked incredulously.

“Yes.” Her eyes winced shut.

“How long have you known?” Jaze asked quietly.

“Since you first smiled; I saw your well developed canines and knew that you ate at least some meat.”

“And that didn’t bother you?”

“You seemed nice, so I didn’t want to offend you.”

“Jaze, I’m hurt that you felt you had to hide this from us.” Twilight said in a stern, lecturing voice.

“Yeah, you coulda just told us.” Dash said with a confident smile.

“Jaze, yer our friend. We ain’t gonna judge ya for something like that.”

“Yes darling, Applejack’s right.” Rarity cut in, “If that’s the way you are, so be it. You’re still a good pony, person, whatever!”

“Thank you all for not hating me.”

“We couldn’t hate you, silly.” Pinkie said as she gave the largest grin Jaze had ever seen on anyone, pony or human. “That just wouldn’t be any fun, you make the

Applejack’s stomach gave an audible growl, ‘While Ah’m glad we had this talk, could we eat? Ah’m starvin’.”

“Sure thing Applejack.” Jaze brought the pan of stir fry and set it on the living room table. The assembled ponies were delighted by the new dish. Rarity even asked how he had made it. Maybe one day, he thought as he sat down to eat, I can tell them everything. Even the things I’ve kept hidden from everyone.

xxx

Jaze was laid on the roof of his house and staring at the stars. He was so deep in thought that he failed to hear the door open below him and Trixie come out. He started as she called his name. “I’m up here.” He said softly.

“Oh, there you are.” The unicorn said as she looked up at him, “What are you doing up there?”

“Just watching the night. Would you like to join me?”

“But how can I get up there?” In answer, Jaze laid flat on his stomach and reached for her. She gave him her hoof and he easily lifted her on to the roof next to him. His own strength still caught him by surprise sometimes. Jaze couldn’t be sure in the starlight, but Trixie appeared to be blushing ever so slightly.

“It’s a beautiful sight isn’t it?” Jaze asked as he laid back and put his arms behind his head.

“What is?”

“The stars,”

“Yes, I suppose they are,” the young mare looked over at Jaze to see him deep in thought once more, “what’s on your mind?”

“I was just thinking that, of all the suns with all those planets, by what chance did I end up here, on this one.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“Well, there are millions of stars in this galaxy alone. If each one was a sun and had several planets near it, then I could have just as easily never been here, now.” He gave Trixie a gentle smile, “A pretty eloquent argument for intelligent design isn’t?”

“Intelligent design?”

“There are two basic human ways of explaining the universe. The first is called ‘intelligent design’ while the second is called ‘random chance’. Intelligent design means that someone is moving the universe according to their will. Random chance is what it sounds like; every single thing that happens is utterly at random.”

“I think I like the idea of random chance.” Trixie said as she watched Jaze.

The young soldier nodded, “Yes, that’s what I like to believe too. It makes me feel like my choices actually mean something as opposed to me just being a player in some cosmic chess game.” A laugh escaped Jaze’s lips.

“What is so funny?”

“Just that I realized I’ve answered one of the longest standing questions for humanity.”

“Which is…?”

“‘Are we alone? Is there other intelligent life out there?’ Long have humans looked to the stars and asked that question. I find it funny that a lowly soldier is the one to finally answer that question.”

“I guess you never thought the answer would be so close to home did you?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I guess not.” He had forgotten for a moment that she still thought that his real home was beyond the Everfree Forest, not amongst the very stars that they were watching. Trixie shivered and moved a little closer to Jaze. It was only then that he realized how cold the night had gotten. He threw his arm around her to help keep her a little warmer and she snuggled a little closer against the cold. It reminded the young man of his conversations and nights with Evelyn. Maybe that was why he felt a stirring in his chest as the unicorn lay against his side.

Trixie could just see a small bulge on Jaze’s chest, “What is that?” she asked as she pointed with her horn.

“This?” he pulled the ring and the chain it was hanging on from beneath his shirt, “It was supposed to be for the one I loved.”

“That lady in the picture?” The soldier nodded, “What happened?”

“She was killed,”

“Was she a soldier as well?”

“Yes, and that’s what happens in a fight and why I hate war.”

“War, what is that?”

“It’s a fight between two nations. It is the main reason that soldiers really exist. We are there just to fight for our leaders when we would all be better off if the leaders fought themselves.” Trixie could hear that he was fighting back tears

“I’m sorry to drudge up such a terrible memory.”

“No, I need to stop bottling these things up,” he gave her a watery smile, “scientists say that it’s bad for the psyche.”

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, just huddling close and watching the stars wheel above them. Do you have feelings for her? A voice in Jaze’s head asked. No, she’s just a friend. Really? Yes. His thoughts were all confused. He was human, she was a pony. How could he like her? The attraction wasn’t physical, it was something else. He would have continued to have spiraled in confusion if Trixie had not begun to hum a familiar tune.

“That song…”

“It’s an old lullaby in Equestria.” Jaze nodded and softly began to sing…

Hush now, quiet now

It’s time to lay your sleepy head

Hush now, quiet now

It’s time to go to bed

Drifting off to sleep

An exciting day behind you

Drifting off to sleep

Let the joy of dreamland find you

“How did you know that song?” Trixie asked in quiet amazement.

“My mother sung it to me when I was little. I’ve never forgotten that song or its tune.” He whispered back.

“Maybe our two races are not as different as you think.” Trixie said as she started to stand.

“Maybe so,” Jaze stood as well. They pair of them looked once more to the star studded sky.

“Oh look Jaze! A shooting star! Make a wish!” Trixie squeezed her eyes shut.

I’ve already got my wish, thought joyously, I have peace…

[A/N] Hey there everypony, this is just to wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and any other holidays you may celebrate this holiday season. Have a good one, from me, Jaze and the Ponyville gang. Tell someone important to you just how special they are. To those who can donate at broniesforgood.org, every little bit helps. Have a pleasant night, day or whatever where ever you are.

Such a Small Thing

Jaze had his arms around Evelyn again. The two were sharing a deep passionate kiss. His whole body wasting tingling like it was asleep, but there was no loss of sensation. He at once wanted to pull away to see the love of his life and never move again. After a short eternity, Jaze could feel her begin to pull away. He looked into her beautiful green eyes until they began to change; taking on a purple hue. Slowly, Evelyn changed into Trixie before his eyes. Jaze’s mind was swirling in as many directions as it could and him have the ability to keep breathing. His heart was beating so hard that it hurt. Slowly did Trixie start to lean forward into Jaze’s arms. She looked up into his eyes and…

xxx

Jaze opened his eyes to the sound of birds brightly singing, roughly pulled from his dreams by a conscious that did want to believe what his subconscious was telling him. He sat up and cradled his head in his hands, trying to force the image of the dream from his mind. He got up, got dressed, and opened the door to his room. The soldier was momentarily thrown off by the door at the end of the hall; it had been a week since the room had been completed and that door added.

Jaze considered waking Trixie, but decided to let her sleep for a while longer. It was his turn to cook breakfast anyways. His sprits high, he bounced into the kitchen. He had been cooking for several minutes, delicious smells wafting through the house, when he heard the click of a doorknob. The soldier looked behind him to see Trixie walk into the kitchen, her mane mussed up from the night’s sleep.

“Morning, Trix,” Jaze said with a smile, “How are you this fine day?”

“I’ll be better once I shower and get some of that exquisite smelling food.” She answered as she yawned.

“Well, feel free to take a shower. The food won’t be done for a few minutes more.” Trixie nodded and left to take her shower. Jaze continued cooking, making a veritable feast for the two. He felt that any leftovers they had could be frozen for later. Today was going to be a good day, he could feel it. Trixie soon returned from her shower and the pair sat down to enjoy the spread.

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Trixie asked between bites.

“Applejack doesn’t need me today, but Ditzy’s asked me to help her deliver packages today. There are a lot of large, heavy things she has to deliver to Canterlot today so she enlisted me.” He set his fork down and looked to the dusky blue unicorn, “Do you to go to Canterlot later today?”

“Why, what’s up?”

“Oh I just thought that you might enjoy a day on the town. Besides, we can get more of the decorations for your room there, if you wish.”

“That sounds wonderful. It’s a date.” Jaze looked down to hide his suddenly burning face. He was still confused about his own feelings; he had been since that night on the roof. He hoped that he got his head on straight soon, he did not like feeling like a pubescent kid again.

“Okay then, I’ll swing by after I’m done and we can set off.”

“I’ll see you then.”

Jaze quickly finished his breakfast and helped clean the dishes. With a jaunty wave and a smile to his housemate, Jaze set off towards Ditzy’s place on the other side of Ponyville. There seemed to be more ponies in town today than usual, all talking in excited whispers. He might have stopped to learn what all the fuss was about if he had the time, but he was already running a little behind and had to run. He hoped that Ditzy’s sweet nature extended into work hours.

When he arrived at her gate, he saw her adopted daughter Sparkler working in the fruit garden. “Hey Sparkler, is your mom still here?” He called out to the young unicorn.

“Yes Mr. Armand,” she called back “she’s inside waiting for you. The gate’s open, just go on in.”

“Thank you,” the young man said as he pushed open. When he stepped inside the house, he was greeted by the amazing smell of fresh blueberry muffins. “Hello, Ms. Doo?” he called, “Are you here?”

“Yes, in kitchen here.” Jaze could not help but smile hearing the mare’s speech. When he had first arrived he had had trouble understanding her. He could tell she was intelligent; the cross-eyed mail mare just seemed to find it difficult to get words to come out in the proper order. But in the months he had been here, the soldier noticed that her speech had been improving. Ditzy had an iron will and Jaze could not help but admire her for her dedication to her fillies and the fact that she never gave up on anything she tried. It was only recently that he had learned her story and it made him admire her more.

“So, how many parcels do you need help with?” It was not the first time that Jaze had helped Ditzy before and he was a little worried about how long it would take.

“Not many, few must be delivering.”

“Awesome, that means we’ll probably get done in a few hours.” Ditzy nodded an affirmative and led the young soldier around to where she had stored the parcels before she could deliver them. The pair loaded the parcels into a wagon and Jaze set off with Ditzy for the train station, the young man pulling the wagon behind him. It was slow going, pulling such heavy cart, but the soldier would not have had it any other way. He had taken to challenging his strength, trying to find its limits. No matter how tough the ordeal, he never backed away. Even so, he was glad that he did not have to pull the cart all the way to Canterlot and gladly took the rest offered by the train ride.

xxx

Ditzy knocked on the door of one of their last stops in the capital for the day. Jaze was covered in a sheen of sweat from lugging the cart around behind him. They had dropped off all kinds items, from Octavia’s freshly tuned piano to a new anvil for the local blacksmith. He would merely smile and ask where the next house was. Several times the gray pegasus had offered to take a turn pulling the wagon but Jaze would not allow it. The young soldier had not realized until now just how hard the mail mare had to work and made a silent vow to assist her in any way he could.

“Hello, special deliverings!” Ditzy called through the door.

“Hello, there you are Ditzy. I have been waiting forever for that sculpting block!” a mare’s voice called back, “Hurry, my customer has paid good money for this and he wants it by week’s end!” Jaze locked the brake so the wagon wouldn’t roll on the slight incline as he unloaded a stone block almost the same size as a small pony and carried it into the workshop. Straining a little under the weight, he carefully set it down under the watchful eye of the proprietor. As soon as it touched the floor Jaze heard a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry for being so waspish; it’s just that this is a very important client and I need the reputation.”

“No worries ma’am,” the soldier-turned-mailman replied with a sincere smile, “everypony’s allowed to get a little agitated then and again.”

“Still, let me make it up to you both,” she tossed two small bags of bits to Jaze, “here, a tip for being so understanding.”

“Thank you ma’am but…”

“No buts; now go. I need to get to work.” With that, the sculptor shoved him out the door and pushed it shut firmly. The young man simply laughed and handed the bits to Ditzy. She looked at the bags then back to Jaze.

“One bag is being yours; I can’t be taking your monies.” She said with a questioning look.

“You need that more than I; you have two young fillies to support.” He offered a kind smile, “Don’t worry, this is what I want. I really don’t need the money.” It was true, the generous monthly allowance given to him by the Princesses sat mostly untouched in a drawer in his room. This small bit of money would serve him no purpose but to collect dust, but for the single mother it would be a great boon.

A tear of gratitude welled in the gray pegasus’ eye, “Thanking you muches, Jaze.” He gave a smile and a nod as he turned to the cart once more. He was just in time to see a young foal pulling at the brake. The child’s parents did not seem to be anywhere around and he was soon to be flattened by the cart, which had begun to slowly inch forward as the brake was released.

Jaze leapt over Ditzy, startling her into flaring her wings, and landed next to the foal. He grabbed the youngling and pulled him back just as the wagon began to roll. The quick soldier dove in front of the wagon to try and stop it before it could gather any momentum. It would have worked if he had not twisted his ankle on the landing and began to fall, hitting his head on the corner of the wagon on the way down. He blinked to clear his suddenly blurry vision, and fighting to stay conscious. He did, however, manage to stop the cart; by that time Ditzy had realized what happened and rushed to put the brake on for the dizzy young man. A young couple came rushing out of a nearby house, eyes searching for their missing foal.

“There he is!” the mother cried when she spotted her child and rushed to gather the confused foal in her hooves.

The father walked over to Jaze, who was slumped over on the ground trying to make his head stop spinning, “I’m sorry for the trouble my colt caused. Are you going to be okay there son?”

“Yeah, I think so,” He pressed a hand to where his head had struck, it came away bloody, “that is going to leave a mark.”

“We only took our eyes off him for a second!” the young mare cradling her foal cried.

“I understand, that is all the time they need,” he slowly climbed to his feet, “I have cared for youngsters before.”

“But you’re hurt…”the father said.

“It’s nothing, I’ve had worse.”

“I’ll bet you have, hooligan.” a superior, politely-insulting voice said from behind. Jaze turned to see an upper crust stallion staring at him, “That is why we should not allow aberrations like you into the city.”

“I apologize good sir,” Jaze replied respectfully as he gave a slight bow of his head, “we shall be leaving the city as soon as our business is finished.”

“Good, be on your way quickly then,” Ditzy chose that moment to come around the wagon to check on Jaze, “Oh look, another aberration, the town idiot. It’s probably her fault that the wagon almost went down the hill. Will you all just leave this fair city and stop causing trouble?” Ditzy cast her eyes to the ground, ashamed in front of the high society pony.

Jaze fixed the snobbish pony with glare known to make battle hardened soldiers go weak in the knees. All pretense of politeness dropped from the soldier’s voice, “I’ll not have you insulting a friend of mine like that. She is at least as intelligent as you, probably more so.”

“Jaze, don’t be fighting.” Ditzy said quietly.

“Okay, I’ll let it slide,” the soldier’s gaze slid from the snob’s, who let out a sigh of relief. For just a moment, the pony had seen Jaze for what he was. There had been no mercy in that glare and everypony who had seen it was glad it had not been directed at them.

“Let’s going now.” Ditzy moved to take the cart, but Jaze took it up without a word. Even with his forehead pouring blood, he refused to make her pull the cart. The stunned mail mare could only shake her head at the stubborn human.

As they continued to deliver the parcels, Jaze noted that Ditzy seemed to be a little downtrodden. “What’s the matter?” he asked worriedly.

“Does it hurted bad?” Ditzy asked as she looked at the wound on Jaze’s head.

“It hurts a little, but not too much.” He gave a reassuring smile, “Like I said, I’ve had worse. Much worse.”

“It being my fault. Sorry.”

“Don’t let that pompous idiot get to you.” Jaze said fiercely, “You’re better than him and shouldn’t have to put up with rot like that.”

“I be knowings that. But I’m blaming for not watch cart.”

“Not true, I could have watched the cart better. Or that couple could have watched their foal better. Everypony was to blame for that almost accident, so really nopony was to blame.” Ditzy looked up to Jaze’s smiling face, “Now stop worrying about something that isn’t your fault and let’s finish these deliveries.” Maybe, a voice in the soldier’s mind scolded, it’s time you took you own advice.

xxx

Jaze parked the cart next to Ditzy’s little house. She walked inside and returned with a small bag of her freshly baked muffins, “For you, for helpings me.”

“Thanks a lot, but you didn’t have to do anything for me.”

“Be stubborn not.” She gave him a thankful grin, “Now goings home and get clean up.”

“I think I will.” Jaze waved his good bye and set off for home. As he passed through town, he noticed that the activity from earlier had not settled down. Again, he would have liked to know what was going on, but he just wanted to get home and clean himself up before going back to Canterlot. His head was still pretty sore from the blow but he saw no reason to call off the trip. Besides, Trixie had seemed excited to go into the city and Jaze did not want to deny her that just because of a small bump on the head.

The soldier picked up his pace; he was anxious to get home and back to Canterlot. That was what his mind was saying, but that was not why his heart was singing. As he neared the house, he could smell something amazing in the air. Trixie had obviously decided to make them lunch before they left on their little trip. He started walking faster; he had only just realized how hungry he was. I wonder, he thought with slight amusement, what she’ll think of this nice little cut. As he pushed the door open, he knew it wouldn’t take long to find out.

“Hello Jaze, welcome…” Trixie’s voice puttered out as she took in the wound on his head, “What the hay happened to you?”

Jaze told her all that had happened in town that day, “And that’s about it.”

“That’s terrible! Are you okay, though?”

“Oh sure, did you forget I’m a soldier?” Jaze said with a cheery wink. He pulled the sleeve of his shirt p and pointed to a long scar on his shoulder, “Look at this, got that during a battle not too long ago. Bullet grazed me while I was being an idiot and standing still. That hurt far worse than a little bump on the head.”

“Really, that hurt worse?” A confused look crossed her face, “Jaze, what’s a bullet?”

“That’s a small piece of metal moving very fast. It is part of the main way humans wage war.”

“I see,” her expression was one of pity, “I’m sorry that you had to go through with something so painful.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it. It’s a small price for me to pay to keep my people safe. It’s just part of being a soldier. One day, I may have to die for them and I’m okay with that. If by my death I can save even one person, it was worth it.”

“Don’t say things like that!” Trixie admonished, “You’re life is worth just as much as anypony else’s. Think how sad your friends would be if you let yourself die.”

“I don’t plan to throw my life away. But I understand what is expected of me, and I have come to terms with the potential that I may have to lose my life to save something more valuable.”

“Can we just change topics? I don’t want to think about you dying right now.”

“Sure. Why don’t I get cleaned up, then we’ll eat and you can tell me what kind of magic you’ve learned from Twilight.”

Jaze went into the bathroom to shower off the sweat of the day and to tend to the cut on his head. Freshly showered and bandaged, he and Trixie sat down to a hearty lunch. The excited unicorn told him all she had learned from Twilight, including Twilight’s special teleportation spell. After much coaxing from the interested soldier, she demonstrated her new found talent; teleporting across the room and back. Jaze wore a small smile at seeing his friend so excited about what she was learning.

Jaze leaned back in his chair, “I think we should get going; we have a lot we need to do.”

“Sounds good,” Trixie replied eagerly, “Let’s go then.” The pair left the house in short order, ready for a day on the town. But as they were passing through Ponyville to catch the next train, two young colts stopped them.

“Look! It’s the ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie.” They turned to see Snips and Snails sauntering over to them.

“Yeah, Trixie.” Snails said, following the smaller unicorn’s lead.

“What are you doing back in town? You got us in a lot of trouble!”

“Yeah, trouble,”

“You should just leave now! We don’t need you making trouble today, or any other day.” Snips continued to throw insults and accusations at Trixie, and tears had begun to well in her eyes as the insults piled on.

“But I…” the dusky blue unicorn tried to defend herself from the onslaught of insults.

“No, don’t start trying to sweet talk us. Just go home and leave us alone!”

“Yeah, leave us alone.” The pair wore satisfied smiles as Trixie’s eyes welled with tears and she bolted out of town.

Jaze fixed the two with a steely glare, causing the smiles to be replaced with worried frowns, “You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves! There was no call for being so heartless! No get out of here before I drag you back to your parents for a solid beating.” Jaze left the two stunned unicorn colts and ran after Trixie.

He had been searching around Ponyville for a few minutes before he found her, quietly sobbing behind a large tree. “Hey, Trixie, there’s no need to cry.”

“Yes there is, everypony thinks that but only the children don’t have the decency not to say it to my face.” The unicorn said fiercely, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“No they don’t, look at Twilight and Rainbow Dash and the others. They’re your friends, they want you here.” He reached down and gave her a comforting hug. “I want you here, too. Those two are just foolish kids, don’t let them get to you.”

“But they’re right! I am nothing but trouble. You’ve had to go out of your way to help me, and so has everypony else. I’ve made terrible mistakes and now they are coming back to haunt me.”

“Forget about your past mistakes. Today is today and dwelling in the past will get you nowhere fast.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” Trixie said, a sarcastic sneer on her face, “You’re Mr. Perfect. You always know what to say, and what to do. You don’t have to deal with things like I have to.” By the end of her little speech, her voice had morphed from one of sorrow to one of anger.

“Is that what you think?” Jaze said as his own blood started to boil, “Do you really think there are no mistakes in my past that aren’t just as bad as yours?”

“I doubt it, you never mention any. You hardly talk about yourself at all. You’ve probably never done a thing wrong in your life.”

“I’ve let the ones I love die right before my eyes.” The soldier’s voice was like ice, cold and unforgiving. “And I thank you for drudging up such painful memories.”

Sorrow, and shame, shone on Trixie’s face, “Jaze, I’m…”

“No, don’t you dare say you’re sorry!” Jaze yelled at her in a voice of white hot anger, “You don’t know what sorry is! Every day, every damn day, I have to get out of bed and face the fact that I let those I loved die. Me! No one else but me! And you have the nerve to tell me that you’ve got it bad! Well wake up honey, someone else always has it worse than you!” His voice took on that coldly angry tone again, “Good day Ms. Trixie, I’m going home.”

Jaze spun on his heel and left the teary eyed unicorn beneath the tree. His heart was pounding in barely contained rage. For a moment, he wished that Equestria had more crime so someone might try to mug him. He hated himself for think that but he could not help it. He was just so angry! How dare she, he thought in ire, how dare she say something like that. She doesn’t know the meaning of the word “mistake”.

He continued to fume all the way back to the house he shared with “that unicorn”, as he was currently thinking of Trixie. He was still agitated as he threw himself on his bed to stare at the ceiling. Try as he might, he could not get himself to calm down enough to think logically. He stayed on his bed, silently raging at Trixie for an hour. Slowly, he finally managed to start calming down. And as he did, he realized what he had done.

“Oh god, can she ever forgive me?” He asked himself quietly, “Why did I have to say those things to her? What the hell was I thinking? I am so freaking stupid!” He shouted the last at the ceiling. As he lay there, he tried to find some way he could make it right again. While he was still trying to collect his thoughts, a knock came at his door. “It’s open,” he called, knowing who was on the other side of the portal.

Sure enough, the door opened to reveal Trixie. Her face was still streaked with tears. Without a word, she walked over and sat next to Jaze, who kept his eyes riveted to the ceiling. He did not want to look at her; to see what he had so callously done. For her part, Trixie had trouble looking into the soldier’s eyes; never before realizing how much he had had to deal with in his past life. The minutes passed in awkward silence as each fumbled for a way to speak with more harsh words.

“Jaze,” Trixie started, he could still hear the tears in her voice, “I just want to apologize for how I acted. It was thoughtless of me to assume that nothing bad ever happened to you.”

“Don’t apologize,” said, almost in tears himself, “I should be the one to say I’m sorry. I knew you were just angry and lashing out. I shouldn’t have let my anger get the best of me like that. Can you forgive me?”

“If you can me.” She held out her hoof, “Friends?”

Jaze gathered her in a hug, which she was quick to return, “Friends.”

“I’m glad that you don’t hate me.” Trixie muttered in Jaze’s arms.

“I could not hate you, no matter what you did.”

“In that case, there’s something I want to get off my chest.” She said in a bashful voice

“And that is?” the soldier asked.

“I think…” They were interrupted by somepony pounding on the front door, “Oh, now who could that be?”

“Let’s go find out.” Jaze said as he broke their hug. They walked into the living room where they could hear Twilight yelling through the door.

“Jaze, Trixie! You have to come outside and see this! It is so amazing!” She was yelling at the door.

“Alright, don’t get your tail in a wad. We’re coming out.” Jaze called as he opened the door.

“Look up there, in the sky!” the excited purple unicorn exclaimed. Jaze looked over to see a slightly worried cyan pegasus standing beside Twilight.

“Hey Dash, what’s up?”

“That is,” she said with a worried glance to the sky.

As one, Jaze and Trixie looked to the sky. It took him a few seconds of searching to find what had his friends all bothered. When he did find it, it was so obvious that he wanted to slap himself for not finding it earlier. It was a meteor, falling from the heavens that looked like it would land somewhere in the expanse of the Everfree.

“Isn’t strange? It should have burned up already because it’s so small but it appears to be slowing down.” A confused look interrupted Twilight’s rant, “Why would it be slowing down? That doesn’t make sense.”

“It’s slowing down because it isn’t natural.” Jaze said; a dark look on his face. He had seen sights like this many times during his time with the StarSide Marines, and he rarely liked them. “‘Don’t jump to conclusions marine.’” He closed his eyes as he quoted Admiral Gaston quietly to himself, “Find out exactly what you know before you take action. Binoculars, I need binoculars.” The terrified soldier dashed back into the house, his mind wanting proof of what his heart already knew.

While he was inside, the rest of his friends showed up outside to talk about the strange object in the sky. Nopony seemed to have noticed Jaze’s reaction to the anomaly, except for Trixie. Warning bells were going off in her mind, could this have something to do with Jaze’s life as a soldier?

Jaze was soon back outside, a pair of high-tech binoculars in his hands. He quickly pushed the specs to his face and zoomed in on the mystery in the sky. The binoculars scrubbed the image clean and gave his mind the proof his heart didn’t need. “No,” he whispered as fell to his knees. For in the glasses he had seen something he had feared since he had arrived on the planet: a Cye troopship, ready to disgorge a load of deadly androids on to the planet with one goal, to kill anything that breathed.

New Powers, Old Secrets

“So what is that thing?” Dash asked no one in particular.

“Death,” Jaze whispered from his knees, so quietly that nopony could hear him.

“How’d ya find this again?” Applejack asked Twilight quietly.

“Like I said,” Twilight replied, “Dash and I were in the library and I was looking through my telescope and I happened to notice that the comet that we heard about today had changed course and was coming right at us.”

“Wait, why was Dash in the library?”

“That’s none of your business.” The cyan pegasus answered harshly.

“Why so defensive RD?” the farmer mocked.

“Fine, I’ll tell you! If you must know, I was trying to find a book a flying.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I came in to the library and saw Twilight looking through her telescope. We left to come over here shortly after I got there.”

Fluttershy was the first to notice Jaze’s position, “Jaze, are you okay?” she whispered in askance, breaking up what threatened to be an argument. Everypony turned their eyes from the sky to their friend in worry.

Fluttershy’s question brought the scarred soldier from his reverie, “Damn it,” he said as he ran back into the house for a second time.

“What’s eating him?” Dash said as she pointed to the departed soldier. Everypony, save Trixie, was baffled by his actions. Trixie had her suspicions that it might be the enemies that he had talked about, but why would a meteor cause him this much worry? It’s not like his enemies were from off this world.

Jaze was trying to unlock his closet door, but his shaking hands refused to work right at the moment. So he did the only logical thing, he lowered his shoulder and broke down the door. Inside was a small arsenal of all the weapons that had been stored in his Mule when he arrived. Working quickly, he geared himself for combat, grabbing all he would soon need to face the threat from another world. The first thing he donned was his light body armor, followed by the combat webbing needed to hold his weapons and ammo, and finally he attached a large assault rifle to the webbing. Jaze rolled his shoulders; he had forgotten how constricting the gear was. As he walked pass Sairugi, the soldier grabbed it and tied it to his belt. He had never failed to carry the sword into battle, and he had never failed to survive. He did not want to mess with a winning formula.

He knew that his mind was just throwing these factoids up in order to distract him from more pressing matters. The Cye were here, in Equestria. He did not want to believe it, but believe it or not it was happening and all he could do was try and stop them before they caused too much damage. There was, after all, only one ship and he doubted they had a troop carrier in orbit to provide reinforcements. He tore out of the house as fast as he could without running into the walls. He almost barreled into Trixie, who was coming in to check on him.

“Are you okay Jaze?” she asked worriedly, “What is all that? “What’s going on?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything.” He said as he brushed past, “And don’t follow me this time. You’ll only get hurt.” His mind was focused on what he had to. He had become cold and seemingly unfeeling. Trixie stared after her friend as he ran into the forest, moving so fast his feet never appeared to touch the ground. Everypony watched his mad dash into the forbidding trees.

“What is going on?” Rarity asked Trixie.

“Why ask me?” she quickly responded.

“‘Cause ya look like ya know sumthin’.” Applejack answered suspiciously.

“Well I…” Trixie sighed, “I do know something but I don’t want to say more in case I upset Jaze. I’m going to go after him. Please don’t follow me; it will only make him more upset.” The blue unicorn took off as fast as she could into the forest after Jaze, desperately hoping that she was wrong about the cause of his agitation.

xxx

Jaze was running through the forest; heedless of the branches slapping his face and arms. He had lost sight of the troopship when he entered the forest, though he knew exactly where the Cye soldiers would go first. He raced to beat them to it, the downed fighter. Or at least, the crater that it left over after it exploded. He arrived at the hole in the ground in record time and took up position underneath a bush that would hide him from anything approaching. He focused his attention in the direction of a clearing in the forest, counting on the ship setting down there to unleash the troops.

He had been waiting several minutes before the first of the Cye showed up. First one, then two, until a total of ten of the androids were grouped around the lip of the crater. The Cye were humanoid, with two arms and legs a piece with a head about where it was supposed to be. Jaze took a steadying breath and clicked the safety off his rifle. As he was about to squeeze a burst into their formation, a twig snapped on a path perpendicular to him and the Cye. The concealed soldier twisted as quietly as he could to see what was there as the Cye spun and raised their weapons.

Standing there, a horrified look on her face, was Trixie. Jaze’s breath stuck in his chest and his heart skipped several beats. What is she doing here?, he asked himself silently, she was supposed to stay in Ponyville! He wanted to shout out, tell her to run. But he knew that would probably only get her and himself killed. He had to rely on the fact that the typical Cye soldier was stupid and that they did not know that she was intelligent.

The lead machine suddenly spoke in a synthesized voice, “Quadruped creature had contact with target. Quadruped reclassified as ‘target’. Mission directive zero-zero-one, ‘terminate all targets’.” That little speech over, they all leveled their weapons at the terrified blue unicorn.

In the moments before Jaze knew that they would open fire, his memories of Trixie flooded his mind. He saw her laughter, her tears, her fears, her hopes and dreams. He saw her smile and he knew. He knew that somehow, he had fallen for this little pony.

His mind balked at what his heart was telling him, he refused to believe it. Believe it or not, the feelings were there and they were real. “Dammit all,” he whispered as he broke from cover to throw himself in front of Trixie. As he looked into the “eyes” of the androids, he knew he was moments from death. “Run Trixie! Get the hell away from here!” He shouted as he closed his eyes and spread his arms; trying to cover as wide an area as he could. All his anger, his sorrow would soon be over. Just let me be a shield for her, he thought desperately, “Tell Celestia…”

“Primary target identified. Mission directive zero-zero-one, ‘terminate all targets’. Open fire on primary target.” Jaze heard the click of several rifles going to metallic shoulders as the trained their guns on him. Trixie had not moved, her terror had her riveted in place.

“Run, damn you, run.” He yelled as the deafening roar of gunfire filled the forest. For several seconds Jaze thought that they were toying with him as no bullet had so much as grazed him. But the Cye didn’t play, they just killed. And after half a minute of bullets failing to hit him, Jaze opened his eyes.

He figured he must have already been hit and his mind was trying to comfort him. Before him, shimmering in the light filtering down through the trees, was a magical shield of bright blue-silver. He was dumbfounded by the sight and twisted to look at his unicorn friend.

“Are you doing this?!” He screamed over the sound of weapons fire. Trixie only shook her head and pointed to his hands. They were glowing the same blue-silver color as the shield, “I’m doing this? How, I don’t have magic?” Jaze looked through the translucent shield to see the Cye still firing the weapons ineffectually at him and Trixie. He did not know how long he could sustain his new magical talent. Who was he kidding; he didn’t know anything about it. He also didn’t care, he was just thankful that it had showed up when it did.

A small plume of dirt was kicked up next to his foot. The shield was breaking down, “Trixie, when I say ‘now’ dive behind a tree and stay there until this is over. Can you do that?” She gave a shaky nod, “Don’t worry I’ve done this kind of thing before.” He gave a sudden feral growl of pain as bullet slammed into his hip.

It was now or never, “NOW!” the soldier shouted as his shield fizzled out and Trixie jumped behind a tree to the best of her abilities while Jaze dove the other way, spraying his rifle on full auto at the Cye to draw their attention to him. He landed behind a tree and could hear the bullets crashing into the tree as he checked the wound on his hip. Deeming it non-life threatening, he decided to mop up the machines trying to kill him before fully tending to himself. He came around the tree and fired a tight burst into the “chest” of one of the Cye troopers. It fell with a thud that put a smile of satisfaction on the soldier’s face. Despite not holding a rifle for several months he was still a crack shot. Old habits really do die hard, he thought, glad that he did not have to teach himself to shoot again in the middle of a battle.

Jaze had to make a dash for another tree; the one he was hiding behind was starting to look a little to ragged to continue protecting him for much longer. He sprinted from cover to cover; firing the last rounds from his clip in one long spray to cut down three more of the robots. As the Cye soldiers reacquired his location and began pounding his tree with more fire, Jaze slapped his last magazine into the receiver in the butt of his gun.

He stepped out from cover and fired three short bursts, killing two more and knocking a third down, which he put another burst into to finish it off before dropping back into cover. That makes three left, he thought determinedly, steeling himself for the last push, let’s do this. He jumped out and used the spray and pray method of target acquisition, counting on the fact that they were still grouped out in the open.

Two more fell, with the third taking a few minor hits to non-vital areas. It was drawing a bead on Jaze even as the soldier brought his gun up to deliver a killing shot. He squeezed the trigger, but was only greeted with a muted click as the pin dropped on an empty chamber. With a curse, he dove behind a fallen log. The air was filled with slugs zooming over the log and drilling into it. Jaze knew he could not stay where he was for long; the log was already beginning to break apart. From where he was, the soldier could just see Trixie’s hiding place. He watched in horror as she stepped out and started yelling at the android, trying to call it off her soldier friend.

As it spun and peppered her area with rounds, Jaze vaulted over the log and made for the Cye trooper in a rush. It spun back to him just in time to get a shoulder in its chest. The enraged soldier’s momentum carried them both in to a tree. Jaze felt a ripping pain in his shoulder as the robot’s chest was crushed around it. Heedless of the pain, he drew back his left hand and delivered a literally crushing blow to the thing’s head. Head in tatters, the final Cye trooper fell to the forest floor and twitched a little as it shut down. Jaze looked at his left hand; it had been severely injured by the blow he delivered. His shoulder was also bleeding profusely; some stray piece of metal had apparently cut him when he had rammed that last machine. He did not care; all his opponents were dead and he was alive. He could worry about healing later.

Jaze stood next to the crater, panting and feeling a flushed excitement flowing throughout his body. He had forgotten the rush he got from combat. He hated that he had actually enjoyed the fight on any level but he could not help but glare with satisfaction at the Cye bodies littering the ground around him. Suddenly remembering that he was not alone, the soldier rushed over to where Trixie had been hiding from her first taste of war. He came around the tree to find Trixie lying on the ground, shaking violently with a glazed look in her eyes.

“Are you alright? Are you hit?” asked the soldier as he gave her a quick check over. He could not see anything physically wrong with her so he just held the shaking unicorn in his arms to try and calm her down. Slowly she stopped shaking and her eyes cleared.

“WHAT WAS THAT?” she suddenly yelled at Jaze.

Still holding her he replied, “That is why I did not want anypony to know about war. About me.”

“And what the hay were those things?”

“I’ll explain when we get back to Ponyville.” he assured her.

“For real? No lies?” she asked with suspicion creeping into her voice.

“Yes, I’ll tell you and the others everything. I’m tired of lying. But first I have to tell Princess Celestia and Princess Luna what happened.”

“Leaving so soon, boy?” A cold, deadly voice asked from the trees above.

Jaze looked up to see an older man with light brown hair that was just beginning to turn gray and eyes so dark they were almost black sitting in the branches of a nearby tree. The young soldier could not tell why, but he immediately felt an intense dislike for this man. Everything about him seemed wrong, from his cold smile to the look in his eyes as he surveyed the scene before him.

“Who are you?” Jaze asked cautiously.

“I thought you might have recognized me. No?” He sighed, “Oh well, I know who you are and that’s all that matters.”

“What do you mean that I should recognize you? And what do you mean you know who I am?” Jaze was well and truly confused.

“I mean I know what you were before, back when you still lived in the shadows.” The man wore a smile of contempt, “You are the ‘Twin Winds’, you and that sword of yours.”

“How do you know that name?!” Jaze yelled as he stood to face the man in the tree.

He dropped down to the forest floor, “Simple, I saw you eight years ago on one of your ‘jobs’. That execution was simply beautiful. That was some wonderful swordsmanship, simply wonderful.”

A look of understanding crossed Jaze’s face, “You know that I was…”

“An assassin? Yes I know very well.” He gave another cold smile, “In fact you could say you even inspired me to take up the sword myself. I could not believe that a child could be so powerful.”

“That is how you know me, but how do I know you?”

He merely smiled, “The name is Carn, by the way. Where are your manners?”

“Yeah, my name’s Jaze. Now answer the damn question.”

Carn’s smile only grew wider; he seemed to enjoy tugging the young man around, “After I saw you kill that man, I wanted to share that kind of power. So I quit my job as a merchant and began traveling the galaxy as a sword for hire. It was fun and I gained a taste of the power I wanted. But it wasn’t enough, I wanted, no I needed more. I did not want to be your equal; I wanted to be your better. So looked for a way to gain the kind of power you didn’t have. It did not take me long to find these pitiful machines on a backwater planet. I gave them a purpose and they gave me power.” He held his arms out wide, “I am like a god to these machines. I lifted them from obscurity and made them the fear of an entire race. Pretty good, isn’t it?”

“So you just unleashed these robots on humanity? For no reason?”

“No, not for no reason. The reason was simple: I was passing judgment on humanity. All humans are foul little monsters; they don’t deserve to continue their existence. So I started Armageddon.”

“You’re sick!” Trixie called as she climbed to her feet, “How can you pass judgment on everypony? What gives you that right?”

“That’s simple, my furry friend. I have the power, so I can make the rules. That is just how the universe works.” Carn said with a malicious grin to the disgusted unicorn.

Jaze unconsciously stepped between Carn and Trixie, “You still have not answered my question. How do I know you?”

“You know, I never made the connection between the young sword wielding soldier on Vaseti and the boy that inspired me to become what I am today. At least not until some months later. I’ve been looking for you since then and now I’ve finally found you. Nice moves there, by the way; you destroyed a lot of my Cye with that sword to get to me.”

Jaze finally understood, and his voice became as cold as Carn’s “You; you were the one that killed Evelyn, aren’t you?”

“If Evelyn was that pretty young woman who I put a bullet in her heart, then yes. Congrats boy, you win the grand prize.”

“I’M GOING TO KILLYOU!” Jaze roared as he lunged at Carn and drew Sairugi in one motion. Carn nimbly sidestepped, avoiding the killing blow by millimeters. Jaze was quick to recover and launched another assault on the older man.

Trixie watched in awe as Jaze tried to land a blow with his sword on the insane leader of the Cye. It seemed a losing battle, as the older human was able to avoid every blow with relative ease. The unicorn had never seen her friend like this; his eyes shone in unbridled fury as he tried with all his being to kill another being. For the first time since she first laid eyes on him, Trixie was afraid of Jaze.

“Enough.” said Carn calmly. As Jaze came in close for another swing, the older man stepped in under the sword and delivered a powerful blow to Jaze’s face. It sent him stumbling into a tree, where he fell down into a sitting position. Before he could regain his feet, a boot planted itself on his injured shoulder; causing him to cry out in pain.

“Move and I kill the pony.” Carn said as he pointed a pistol at Trixie. Jaze froze afraid to let someone else die because of him. “That’s better,” Carn said; then he saw the blood all over the man under his boot, “you fought me that well in that rough a shape. That’s pretty impressive, youngling. Tell you what, I’m going to leave this planet and let you get all better. Then I’m going to come back with all the Cye I can muster. You have two months to prepare, I suggest that you try to find some help between now and then.” He held up a warning finger, “But if you try to run away, I will kill every pony on this planet.” Jaze was glaring daggers at the man standing on him, “Is that understood?” The young soldier nodded, “Good, now I’m going to leave.” He removed his foot from Jaze’s shoulder, who slumped over in a pose of defeat.

As he was walking away, Carn paused, “Oh this is for you.” He tossed a small tube at Jaze, “It’s how I found you. You should keep it; it makes a pretty sweet picture.” With that parting shot, Carn soon disappeared into the forest.

Jaze did not want to look, but he did anyway. He popped open the tube and pulled out a small roll-able viewing screen. Turning on the power, the screen warmed to display a picture of him and Trixie on the roof of his house, his arm thrown over her to ward off the cold. A small tear rolled down Jaze’s cheek as he realized what he had done.

He had brought War to Equestria.

Twin Winds, Sairugi and Kazerugi

Twilight was pacing the floor of her library in silence. It had been an hour since Jaze and Trixie had disappeared into the forest and she was beginning to get worried for them. Applejack had searched around the outer edge of the forest for a few minutes before returning; offering only a silent shake of her head, she had found nothing. Now the Elements of Harmony were sitting in the library, waiting with bated breath for their friends to return. Some Elements we are, the nervous purple unicorn thought bitterly, can’t even help our friends when they need it most.

Suddenly the door burst open and in stepped Trixie, who was half carrying an injured Jaze. Terror for her friends in her eyes, Twilight stepped up to relieve the burdened unicorn of her charge. While Rainbow Dash left to get Nurse Redheart, Trixie told the rest of them what had happened; leaving out only Carn and the revelations he brought, for Jaze had said he wanted to explain that himself. Shortly after making that request he had fallen into a sort of shock, becoming incoherent and in need of a lot of help to get out of the forest safely. The dusky blue unicorn had been unable to get him to say or respond to anything, though he was not completely unaware of his surroundings as he ducked to avoid branches and such. They lay Jaze on the couch, trying their best not aggravate his injuries.

Trixie sat and watched her friend in worry. She had no idea what was wrong with him; she had no way to know what the weapons those things in the forest were capable of, what they could do to flesh and blood. She felt that she had been lucky to escape without a scratch, but she felt sick that Jaze had nearly killed himself to save her. So that’s what it means to be a soldier, she thought as she watched Jaze watch the ceiling. She could not help but feel sorrow for Jaze, he was no older than she and yet he faced the very real possibility of death on a daily basis.

In short order Dash returned with a puffing Nurse Redheart, who had had to run to keep up with the rainbow-maned sportspony. Seeing the bleeding soldier, the nurse quickly set to work tending his various injuries. This brought Jaze to the present, because he suddenly sat up and pushed her away.

“Not yet, I have to do something first.” His head was a little foggy from Carn’s punch now that the adrenaline had faded, but he refused to let it stop him. He tried to sit up, but numerous hooves forced back down.

“Don’t ya go arguin’ with the nurse, Jaze.” Applejack admonished, “Yer gonna hurt yerself worse if ya keep this up.”

“I’m fine, really.”

“Then why were you all zombie-like, huh?” Dash asked.

“I think I can answer that.” Twilight answered and then looked to Jaze, “You have never been able to use magic before, right?”

“Yes, that was the first time I’ve ever done anything like that.” He replied quietly.

“Then that is why. Your body was not trained to handle the physical strain of using magic. So it felt the need to shut down and run a check to make sure you were okay.”

“So you mean my body was in diagnostic mode.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll explain later.” He sat up, this time unopposed, “Make you all a deal. You let me send a note to Celestia, and then I’ll let the good nurse tend to me while I explain what is going on. Is that agreeable to everypony?” This brought a nod from everypony, “Good. Twilight, I need Celestia to drop whatever she is doing and read this note. Any ideas?”

“If you write it on red paper, then she’ll know that it is urgent.” Twilight fixed Jaze with a stern look, “But it has to be truly important, I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“Trust me when I say that this may well be the most important thing she’ll ever read.” The purple unicorn nodded and brought Jaze a piece of red paper and a quill. He sat down and, with a heavy heart, wrote his letter to the Princesses.

Dear Princesses,

There is not much time, so I’ll be brief. By now you must have heard about the meteor that fell earlier today. In truth it was a Cye drop ship. They landed in the Everfree Forest, where I engaged them in combat. Unfortunately, their leader escaped me and vowed to return with all the Cye he could muster. There is more I wish to tell you, but I shall not do so via a letter. I wish to be there in person as I explain it to you. Please send a carriage for me and my friends as soon as you read this. I will have told them all that I have told you and would like them to be present while I explain the one thing that I have kept hidden from everyone, even you.

Jaze rolled up the paper and offered it to Twilight, “Have Spike send this at once.”

When Twilight returned and assured Jaze that the letter was on its way, he lay back and allowed Redheart to do her job. Keeping his eyes fixed on the ceiling, he told his friends everything. From the fact that he was born on a distant desert planet, to the Cye, and finally of how he came to live in Ponyville. As he fell silent, he found that he could not look anypony in the face. He was ashamed of himself; both for being a soldier and for hiding it. Redheart finished at about the same time he did and excused herself with hardly a word.

“I get it now.” Dash said; a look of understanding on her face.

“Get what?” Jaze asked confusedly.

“How you know so much about flying. I always thought it strange that a land dweller could teach me so much about flying. Now it all makes sense.” She one of her trademark confidant smirks, “Sorta.”

Looking around, Jaze could not find a look of anger on anypony’s face, “You all are not mad?”

“Only that you felt you had to hide this from us, darling.” Rarity smiled.

“”Yeah, we’re yer friends. Yer bein’ a spaceman don’t change that.” Applejack replied.

“Besides, it just makes you even cooler.” Dash winked.

“And you’re now the most unique thing in all of Ponyville. Maybe even in all of Equestria!” Pinkie chimed in.

“I would love to read some of the books your people have written one day.” Twilight said excitedly.

“You’re… nice. That’s all that counts.” Fluttershy said with a demure smile.

Jaze looked to Trixie, “And you?”

She smiled as she hugged him, “You couldn’t shake me off with a stick, my little spaceman.”

The young soldier looked around, only now realizing just how great his friends were, “You girls are the best.” The seven ponies crowded Jaze in a group hug. “I must tell you all though, there is more to my story. I just don’t want to explain it more than once.”

xxx

Admiral Gaston was sitting at his desk, doing the mountains of paper work that seemed to appear by magic when he looked away. He looked at one of the two pictures on his desk. The first was of his late wife, while the second showed him standing next to a young boy with a katana strapped across his back. It was hard to believe that Jaze was really gone. Thinking of the young boy he found on that wasteland of a planet brought a tear to his blue eyes. With a heavy sigh, the admiral went back to his work, cursing the lack of time.

A young soldier’s voice interrupted him as he settled into a groove, “Uh, sir? There’s a man on line one. Says he knows you and that he won’t stop calling you until you, quote, ‘pick up the damn phone bagpipe’.”

“Fine,” the graying soldier growled without looking up, “put him on the tube.” He waited until he heard the beep of a successful transfer rise from the machine in front of him. “Yeah what do you want?” He said in a gruff voice, still not looking up, “It better be pretty fricken’ important to interrupt all this.”

“Don’t worry Gaston, sir; I won’t take up too much of your time.” Gaston froze, he knew that voice.

“Dammit boy,” he looked to the screen to see Jaze wearing a small smile, “how come every time I write ya off as dead, ya come back to pester an old man.”

Jaze smiled a little wider, the admiral’s Irish still came out in times of emotion, “Because your life would be dull and meaningless without me.”

“Well ya can tell me what the hell happen’d to ya.” He looked Jaze over and saw the bandages, “Ya look like ya went through the wringer.”

“Well sir, it’s a long, long story…”

xxx

“Ponies, you say?”

“Yes sir.”

“That’s either the biggest lie you’ve ever told me, you’ve gone insane, or your telling me the truth.”

“Well, I doubt that I’m crazy, and I don’t lie to you. That kinda narrows the field, doesn’t it?”

“I guess…” Gaston could hear the sound of something hard knocking against stone, “What is that noise?”

Suddenly, a pink head with large blue eyes filled the screen, “Who are you talking to?” the head, Gaston assumed this to be one of Jaze’s ponies, gasped, “Ohmygosh! There’s a thing trapped in the box. Quick, grab something to break it open!” The eyes looked directly into Gaston’s, “Hang on mister! We’ll get you out!”

“No Pinkie, he’s not trapped! It’s a… put the chair down! It’s just a radio! It’s just a picture, it’s not really him. He is, uh, well, a very, very long way from here. This thing,” Jaze tapped the screen, “allows us to see and talk to each other instantly.”

Oooooooh, that’s neat!” Pinkie exclaimed from off screen. Gaston could hear a muffled thud as something, presumably the chair, was set down, “Just hurry up Jaze. We’re ready to get this party started.”

“Trust me, it’s no party. You all are not going to like what you hear.” Jaze muttered; then said aloud to Gaston in a dry voice, “Still think I’m crazy?”

The elderly man was having trouble stifling his laughter, “No, I think yar perfectly sane.”

“That does bring me to the reason I called sir.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“It involves codename: Dark Angel.”

“But Jaze, that’s your…”

“I know, someone found out who I was despite our attempts at skullduggery. I am taking it upon myself to declassify everything surrounding Dark Angel.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yessir, there is no reason to hide it any more. I will be giving everypony the short version here. Then I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Alright, but I think there is someone you might want to see first.” Gaston picked up a small phone and quickly dialed a number, “Yeah, it’s me. Get yar rear over here, I’ve got a surprise for ya.” With a small smile he hung up the phone, “Jus’ wait a minute they’re on their way.”

After a few minutes of silence Jaze heard a voice that nearly brought him to his knees, “Yessir? What is it?”

“Shelby, is that you?” Jaze whispered, his voice choked with emotion.

“Jaze?” Shelby stepped into the camera’s viewing area, “Oh my god! It is you! You’re alive.”

“Yeah I’m…”

“Is that Jaze?” Another voice asked. This time Vincent stepped into view, “Damn, I thought you were dead, sir.”

“Drop the sir crap Vin, I haven’t seen you guys in too long.” Jaze’s face hurt from the smile that was gracing it.

“If you say so, welcome back Jaze. It’s good to see you again.” Vincent was wearing a smile to match Jaze’s.

“You know that I’m going to have to kill you for making us think you were dead.” Shelby’s threat was not to be taken lightly. Once she had almost knocked Jaze out for taking too long to respond on a mission.

“So long as you do it in person I don’t care. It’s just so great to hear from you all.”

“Yeah, same here.” Vincent smiled.

“I still owe you a beating.” Shelby warned.

“Love you too, Shell.”

“Jaze, do you want them to stick around for your tale?” Gaston asked.

“They might as well, I’m not hiding it anymore.”

xxx

“Okay, I told you all that I have been a soldier since I was eighteen. What I haven’t told you is that before then, I was working as assassin for the Earth Coalition Government.” Jaze looked around the room at all his friends gathered to hear his explanation. Shelby and Vincent were just staring at him. Everypony else was just looking at him with a blank look. Everypony, except Celestia.

“So you were a murderer?” She asked coldly.

“Yes, I was.”

“Jaze, now don’t take that!” Admiral Gaston fixed Celestia with an angry glare, “You don’t know what he did! Or why!”

I know that he killed others for money.” Her voice was still cold.

“Yar confusing ‘hitman’ with ‘assassin’. A hitman kills fer money, while an assassin kills so that others won’t have to. An’ so they don’t have to die.”

“What do you mean?” Celestia’s voice was starting to lose that frigid quality.

“As the Twin Winds, Jaze’s job was to go into areas with high levels of criminal activity and take out the leaders of the local crime syndicates. He was less of an assassin and more of a janitor, clearing out the filth that regular soldiers couldn’t deal with.”

“And why couldn’t a normal soldier do this? What was s’ special ‘bout Jaze that he was sent in as a foal?” Applejack asked, her own ire raised.

“He was something that it would have taken years to train, a swordsman.”

“I’ve seen the effectiveness of your ‘guns’ first hand,” Trixie said in confusion, “why would you need something that has less power.”

“It’s simple,” Jaze answered softly, “guns are expensive. You have to buy the actual weapon, then you have to purchase ammunition for it. And if it breaks, there are costly time consuming repairs to be made. For the price of one gun on most backwater planets, you could outfit five soldiers with sharp swords and knives. And since no else really has a gun, you’re better off just using a sword yourself.”

“Still, a soldier wouldn’t have to worry about money. So why not send them in and just well, you know.” Rainbow Dash finished awkwardly.

“These criminals constructed their bases to remove the advantage that havin a gun would give,” the admiral explained, “there would be many twists and turns with no straight hallways to provide a chance to keep the swords at bay. The swordsmen would just hide around a corner and wait for you to get close.” He sighed regretfully, “We lost a lot of fine young men and women that way.”

“Hang on a second, back it up here.” Vincent suddenly said, “You called Jaze ‘Twin Winds’. As in Sairugi and Kazerugi, the most feared pair in the galaxy, that Twin Winds?”

“You are correct, Chief Warrant Officer Meadoz. Jaze it Kazerugi, while the sword he carries is Sairugi.”

A thoughtful look crossed Twilight’s face, “If ‘Sairugi’ means ‘wind of steel’ then ‘Kazerugi’ means ‘wind of…’”

“‘Death’, it means ‘wind of death’.”

“How did you come by such a horrid name?” Rarity asked in disgust.

“It was a phrase someone used to describe me after a job. The name just kind of stuck.”

“Come to think of it, I had heard that Kazerugi was very young, a boy even.” Shelby’s face paled, “Wait, you mean that all those times I decked you, I was really hitting…”

“The single most feared man in human space? Looks like it Shell.” Vincent let out a deep booming laugh at the queasy look on his friend’s face.

“Stop it! It’s not funny, he could have decided to kick my rear into next year at any time!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t, did I?” A smile split the scarred soldier’s face.

“I thought of something.” Shelby said quizzically, “I thought that Kazerugi’s eyes were his most distinguishing feature. Your eyes are pretty normal, dull even.”

Jaze nodded and looked to Fluttershy. “You remember the night of the party? The first night I was in Ponyville, and you said you were afraid of the dark? What I didn’t tell you was that I, too, was afraid of the dark. So afraid that I had my eyes altered to allow me to see in the dark.” With that declaration, Jaze held his eyes open and removed two small objects. As the contact lens fell to the floor, Jaze cast his gleaming, blue-silver eyes around the room for everypony to see.

“Oh Jaze, they’re beautiful. Why did you hide them?” Trixie breathed.

“Because they were too noticeable. Most humans don’t have eyes like this and they would have given me away as being Kazerugi. The only problem being that hiding them made them function like any other eye.” He rolled his eyes around, “Feels good to not have those blasted things in anymore.”

“You really are full of surprises.” Dash smirked.

“I’da never figured you’d be hidin’ sumthin’ like this Jaze.” Applejack whispered in astonishment.

“You girls still aren’t mad at me?”

“Tell ya what, ya don’t hide anthin’ like this again, and Ah won’t be mad.” Applejack cast a look around the room, “Kin we all agree t’ that?” Nods were given all around the room.

“Deal.” Jaze said, forcing back a tear of gratitude.

“Now Jaze, what’s this favor you wanted to ask me?” Gaston asked politely.

“Sir, I am requesting reinforcements to this location. I assume that you already ran a trace on my signal?”

“Yeah, and we know right where you’re at. But reinforcements, that’s a tall order Jaze.”

“Why?”

“Things hit the fan not too long after you dropped from existence. We’ve lost several key worlds to the Cye and millions of our troops have perished in the defense of the few that are left. We even lost Zarran and the headquarters located there. I’ve been put in charge of most of what’s left of the Marines. It’s a pretty bleak picture. I just don’t know if I can justify sending human soldiers to fight for a non-human world right now.” He tipped his head to the Princess, “Intelligent life or no,”

“Think of it this way,” Jaze shot back, “Let it be known that humans are not the only intelligent life in the universe. We have allies now that may be able to provide some form of aid. The morale boost is potentially huge for humans to know they are not alone in fighting this menace.” The admiral didn’t look entirely convinced, “Sir, you said after Vaseti that if I ever needed anything to let you know. I need this now, please.”

A grin split the elder soldier’s face, “Good job, ya got it exactly right. I needed to know if you could still see the big picture before I sent you any troops. I needed to know you could still think straight.” He reached to a computer and called up his troop listings, “I can have a thousand troops there in a few days along with a fighter squadron to run interference in space, plus all tech you need to keep that army going. I can send another two thousand plus support in a few weeks.” Quickly running through the logistics in his head, the admiral added, “I can also have a regular supply line set up to let you stock up on food, ammo, etcetera while you wait for the fun to start. Is that enough?”

“More than, sir. Who will be leading the troops then?”

“Like I said, we lost Zarran and most of our officers were there trying to defend her. So I guess that I’ll just have to trust the hero of Vaseti to take care of it for me.”

“Sir?”

“You’re going to have to lead them, acting Colonel.”

“But sir, I don’t have any officer training and…”

“You’ve never let a little thing like lack of training stop you before. Why let it now?”

“I’ll try my best sir.”

Good, that’s all we can do in these dark times. I’ll get right on sending your troops over.”

“Thank you, and sir?”

“Yes?”

Jaze’s face took on a fearsome cast, “Carn is mine; nobody touches him but me. He has a lot to answer for before he dies.”

“That he does, lad. That he does. Oh, and Jaze?”

“Yessir?”

“It’s good to have you back.” Gaston smiled, “The real you, not that shell we had for two years.

xxx

Jaze stood out on a balcony overlooking the castle gardens. He had left his friends for some time alone to think and try to make sense of what was going on. He found himself absently toying Evelyn’s ring while he pondered the mystery that was his current life. He spun when he heard the sound of hoof-steps approaching. Trixie walked out on the balcony with him.

“Mind if I join you?” she asked as she stood next to him.

“Not at all, I think I need somepony right now.” Jaze responded in a whisper.

“What are you thinking?”

He turned to face the unicorn, “I just don’t know what to do anymore, Trixie. Every time I make a decision it always takes the worst possible turn, for me and everyone involved. I’m truly scared for the first time in two years. I just really don’t know what I should do.”

“You had to have faced tougher situations as an assassin.”

“Not really,” he leaned back against the balcony and folded his arms, “It was always so simple then. Kill the target and anyone who tried to stop me. Get out alive so that I can do it all over again. Now, I’ll have three thousand men and women counting on me not to get them killed. Three thousand souls that will be looking to me for direction while the lead is in the air. And three thousand families waiting to have their sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers come home to them again. It’s all so confusing.” He sank into a sitting position, his back to the beautiful vista of the castle grounds and his head on his knees.

“Jaze,” Trixie lifted his gaze to meet hers, “you led your team, what were they, the Angels? This will be no different.”

“I didn’t do it alone,” He pulled out his picture and pointed to Evelyn, “she was with me then. If I was the brains of the outfit, she was the heart. She always knew what to say and when to keep us alive, and to keep us from breaking. The four of us had so much placed on our shoulders, and she was the only thing keeping us together. Without her, without our heart, the Angels are nothing. I’m alone now, and that scares me more than I can say.” Jaze was having trouble holding back his tears. “I miss her so much, it’s killing me. The only reason I’ve kept going is because I couldn’t let her memory down. I had to do as our motto said, ‘bring hope to those who face the howling dark.”

Still holding his head up, Trixie said, “But you’re not alone. You have me.” She blushed lightly, “And Twilight and Applejack and everypony else. We’re all here for you, just like you’ve been there for us when we needed it. You need us now, and I for one will stand by your side, no matter how horrible it gets.”

“You’re not sickened by what I am? A killer?”

“That’s just another part of who you are. Like I said earlier, you could shake me off with a stick.” She offered him a gentle smile, “Besides, it sounds like you had no choice. I can’t blame you for doing something that needed done, even if I don’t understand it.”

Jaze wrapped her in a hug, his tears flowing freely now, “Thank you Trixie, you can’t know how much that means to me.”

Trixie returned the hug and Jaze could feel her own tears soaking into his shirt, “I think I do. You believed in me when nopony else did. It was just my turn to do the same.”

Suddenly Applejack appeared on the balcony, “Hey y’all, we figure it’s time to be…” she stopped and her cheeks turned crimson as she surveyed the scene in front of her, “Ah’ll jus’ go tell ‘em you’ll be a minute.” She walked away to give two privacy once more; ashamed at having witnessed such a tender moment.

Jaze broke the hug and let a watery smile grace his lips, “Thank you, Trixie. I really did need that.”

She looked into his oddly colored eyes, “Jaze, don’t ever hide those eyes again. And don’t hide parts of yourself. No more secrets, okay?”

“Okay,” he whispered, knowing even then that it was a lie. There was one more secret that he had that he could not tell her, or anypony.

Training Day

Jaze rolled out of bed, and quickly got dressed. He had a lot of work to do before the Cye returned and he was anxious to get to it. He knew that he needed to work on his skills with the sword again. Despite being injured, he should have been able to land a blow. He looked at Sairugi, leaned against his night stand. Like when he had been an assassin, he found he could no longer sleep unless the sword was within reach. It disturbed him that he had reverted to his old habits so quickly. He thought long and hard about how he could improve himself in the time given to him. He needed opponents to sharpen his skills, but he did not know where to find them on this peaceful world.

The assassin strapped the sword to his belt and left to make himself a quick breakfast; hoping that a full stomach would help him think. He soon noticed that somepony was already up and cooking. Trixie had taken to getting up early to make breakfast before he could even force himself to rise. He hated that she was doing this for him, but she said that she would not stop. He was grateful, very much so, but he still felt like he was taking advantage of her. When he had said as much, she had merely smiled and said that it was just one way that she could help him. Resigned to his fate of having her do this kindness for him, he had stopped arguing and just let her have this.

He tried to look at things from her perspective; there was nothing she could do to avert the coming storm so she was doing all she could to help him prepare. After think about it that way, he could not help but accept her offer. It did not hurt that she was a much better cook than he was.

“Good morning, Trix.” He got a nose-full of something that set his stomach to growling, “That smells great, is it ready?”

“It will be in a minute.” Trixie looked into his eyes, causing his stomach to do a flip. He wanted so badly to confess his feelings for the purple-eyed unicorn, yet he was afraid to push her away. She would not feel the same, he thought sadly, why would she? I’m not even a pony; she would just think I was sick. These cheery thoughts in his mind, Jaze took his place at the table as Trixie placed the food before him. Before they could start eating, however, a knock came at the door.

“It’s open!” Jaze called out, reluctant to leave his food. He heard the door open and into the kitchen stepped, Dash and Applejack.

“Howdy there, Jaze.” Applejack said as she pulled up a chair.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Dash said as she, too, took a seat and smelled the food, “Smells tasty, can, we?” A glare rose from Applejack, but the growl her stomach produced expressed her own silent wish. She gave a blush at the unexpected noise.

Jaze gave the two a smile, “Help yourselves, we have enough food.” The two eager ponies pulled plates over to themselves and dished themselves so of the meal Trixie had prepared. As they dug in, Jaze watched his two friends. The four ate without a word until Jaze’s stare became too uncomfortable for the orange earth pony.

“What is it, sugar cube?” She asked nervously.

“What did you two need from me?” the soldier replied calmly.

“Who said we need anything?” Rainbow replied defensively, “Can’t we just come over to see our friends?”

“Before the sun is up? And before you ate breakfast? I doubt it.” Trixie had picked up on their lie and her curiosity was piqued.

“Yer righ’, we do need t’ ask ya sumthin,” Applejack sighed remorsefully, “We was wonderin’ if ya could train us to fight.”

Jaze’s eyes narrowed, “What?” His voice had the same icy quality that it had when during his fight with Trixie.

“We want to learn to fight, like you.” Dash responded, failing to pick up on her friend’s mood change.

It was not lost on Applejack however, “What’s wrong, sugar cube?”

Jaze’s mind was struggling against itself. On one hand, they could provide him with the opponents he needed to recover his skills. But on the other, he didn’t want to start them on the path of a warrior. It was a terrible path to walk and he did not want to expose these two, so young and innocent, to the terrors that it involved. The three ponies watched as Jaze grappled with his mental dilemma. His mind would start leaning one way, then quickly make a one-eighty and go the other.

After several minutes he finally said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

“Why not?” Applejack asked him, a look of disappointment.

“Because you are too young, that is why I can’t teach you.”

“You’re no older than us!” Dash said in indignation.

“Only physically,” the scarred assassin sighed, “look, let me put it this way. Why do you to want to learn to fight?”

“To help ya, and everypony else. Yer doing what ya can, an’ we jus’ want t’ do our part.”

“Yeah, not to mention the fact that it is so cool. I mean, you were out there, taking out the bad guys. That is so many levels of cool. Not mention a great cause; we just want to be a part of it.”

“So you want to do good in the universe? You want to be the ones to go out and meet evil head on?”

“Yeah, Ah guess ya could say it like that.” Applejack wore a confident smile.

“Yeah, that’s what we want. We want to be defenders of the innocent, like you.” Dash wore a smile that bespoke her pride at finding such a noble answer.

“Those are childish notions that lead to good people dying foolish deaths.” The ponies all looked at Jaze in shock. Even Trixie could not believe what she had heard.

“What do you mean, childish? Isn’t that exactly what you do?” Dash asked as her anger rose.

“Yes, that is what I fight for. What you don’t seem to get is why you learn to fight.”

“Then tell us, wise old soldier that you are.” Dash sneered, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“One learns to fight with one purpose in mind, to kill. Not for any ideals, not to help the ones you love. Learning to fight is learning to kill. That is what you both are failing to grasp.”

“Ah could kill…” Applejack started, but her face was telling the true story.

“Really?” Jaze asked, scorn creeping into his own voice, “You could look into someone’s eyes and watch their terror as the stroke of your blade extinguishes their life? You could do that?” He drew Sairugi and set the sword in front of the farmer, “Prove it. Take that sword and kill me. If you can show me you are willing to do that, then mayhap you can be taught.” Applejack stared at the sword; then picked it up, holding it awkwardly between her hooves. She looked at Jaze, then back to the sword. She began to shake, and then dropped the gleaming weapon at his feet.

“Ah can’t, Ah jus’ can’t.” Tears were in her eyes as she truly realized the horror of what the assassin had been through.

“I know, Applejack, I know.” He gave her a comforting hug, whispering softly in her ear, “That is what being a warrior is about. What you felt is the greatest danger to a fighter, not the battle and most certainly not the opponent. I just don’t think you two could handle dealing with that on a daily basis. You are both too pure. Please, let these foalish notions pass from your minds.”

“But that’s not fair!” Dash cried out in resentment, “You’re her friend. How could you expect her to kill you?”

“I knew that she wouldn’t, but I needed her to know what it felt like to hold somepony’s life in your hand. Stranger or friend, the feeling is the same. You two cannot handle that.”

“What do you know?!” Dash said in a fury, “I could be twice the fighter you are!” She dove at him, her hoof held high to deliver a blow to his face, wings beating to add force to the punch. She hoped that knocking him cold would make him reconsider his foolish choice; she knew she could do anything she set her mind to.

Jaze raised a hand, pushing her blow away from his body as easily as one would a gnat, grabbing her hoof in the process. Dash suddenly found herself off balance in the air, a position she rarely found herself in. She saw the punch coming in under her foreleg, but in her awkward pose she could do nothing to stop or avoid it. The hit was debilitating; it caused her foreleg to go numb. Jaze used the fist under her leg and the hand on her hoof to pull her from the air and pin her to the ground in one fluid motion. Then next thing Dash knew, Sairugi was pressed to her throat. She looked into Jaze’s merciless eyes and froze.

“Jaze…” Trixie started, but was silenced by a glare from the soldier.

He fixed his eyes to Dash again, “This is why you in particular aren’t ready. You let your feelings interfere far too easily. An enemy will try to goad you into making mistakes, and your pride makes you far too susceptible to their mind games.”

Dash was glaring death at the human holding her, “I could learn not to let them get to me. Besides, didn’t you let the Carn guy get under your saddle?”

Jaze stood up, “And look where it got me. Carn escaped, Equestria is on the verge of invasion, and now I have to try to lead three thousand soldiers in her defense against as many Cye as Carn can bring. By letting emotion rule me, I caused all this. Do you see?” He helped the pegasus to her feet, “Emotion can’t be part of your battle, not until you have won.”

Dash hung her head in defeat, “I get it, but…”

“No buts.” Jaze cut her off sharply, “You both are just not ready.”

“Jaze,” Trixie said in a calm voice, “teach them.”

“Why should I?”

“Because a teacher learns as much from their students as the students learn from the teacher.”

“I know that,” Jaze stared at the ground, “but I’m letting my emotions rule me in this, too. I just don’t want any of you to have to fight; it changes people.”

“We’re going to have to change regardless. The trails ahead need to be met, and these two are willing to meet them. Teach them what you can. You know that they’re going to meet these challenges head on; give them the skills to come out alive.”

Jaze sighed, “I just can’t say no to you, can I?” he looked to the two ponies in front of him, “Fine then, I’ll train you two. But you have to do what I say, when I say it. I’m trying to impart years of hard work and dedication into a few weeks. So no arguing, understood?”

“Yessir!” The two excited ponies said in unison.

“Alright then, let’s get going. I have feeling we have a long day ahead of us.

xxx

“Here, try this.” Jaze tied the piece of rebar to Dash’s hoof, “Is that better.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t feel like it’s gonna fall off anymore.” She replied thoughtfully, “But I can’t put my hoof down comfortably.”

“That’s fine; we need you to toughen up.” He glanced to Applejack, “That knot still holding?”

“Yep, but Ah think that Ah’ll need a break from holdin’ it up soon.”

“C’mon Applejack, you should be used to this kind of thing.” the soldier mocked.

“Ah am, jus’ not used to holding my hoof in the air few awhile.”

They had borrowed the large steel bars from a small stash at the Ponyville Construction Company to approximate swords. They then wrapped them in several layers of padding to hopefully stop them from breaking bones and causing serious injury. But they still hurt enough to make one wary of getting hit, which was exactly what Jaze had wanted. He had not told his apprentices yet, but the rebar was much heavier than an actual sword of equal length

“Well, tough it out. You girls wanted to learn swordsman… uh, swordsponyship, so this will be just another part of the training.” He picked up his own piece of rebar and held it away from himself; showing them that he was going through the training as well, “The first thing I have to teach you is this: ‘there is no honor in a fight’. You are both athletes and so you have ideas about fair play. Drop them, all they will do is get you killed.”

“What do you mean?” Dash asked in confusion.

“Think about this, if learning to fight is learning to kill then it stands to reason that anything that achieves that goal should be used. Don’t withhold a blow from behind because you want to be fair; the only thing you need to worry about is dispatching your opponent.” Jaze cast his eyes to the ground, “This is a bitter lesson to learn on your own, so please take it to heart. I know.” He looked back up at the two, “Besides, it is far easier to kill someone when they aren’t looking at you.” The soldier was impressed; both of them had not reacted to his mention of killing beyond a terse nod. Who knows, he thought with a wry smile, these two may actually make decent fighters.

It was odd for Jaze, trying to teach somepony how to fight. He had to alter a lot of the basic stances to fit their four legged stature, and moving was awkward at first. But the two quickly adjusted to the odd shuffle needed to maintain balance on three hooves. After two hours of learning where and how to strike various parts of the body and how to defend against those strikes Jaze helped them to untie their hooves from their “swords” and gave them a short break. As they stretched their sore arms, the assassin began thinking of ways to give them a weapon that they could store when not in use, but still have it be easily accessible in battle. They can’t just have the blade tied to their hooves, thought Jaze; that would get in the way, a grin passed across his face, unless…

Jaze called them back over to him, “Alright, now were going to work with the other hoof. Balance is essential to swordsmanship; even if you don’t use your other hand often just doing some training will teach you to guard both sides of your body. And that is a mistake a lot of novices make; failing to guard both sides.”

After getting the rebar strapped to the proper hooves, Jaze stood back and held his own before him, “Now come at me!”

“What?” the confused ponies asked in unison.

“I said, come at me. The fastest way to improve is by actually fighting. We won’t be trying to kill each other, but the fighting will help you build your stamina.” He gave them a confident smirk, “C’mon, you know what you’re doing. Just try and land a blow on me. Just don’t aim for the head; that might kill someone. Now come on, and fight me! Dash, you first.”

“Okay…” the nervous pegasus replied. She stepped forward, nervous but determined to prove herself to Jaze. They stood sizing each other up for a moment, before Dash rushed forward with her bar held high to strike. Jaze parried the blow and reached out with his own bar to strike at her exposed ribs. She skipped outside his range and his swing went wide, exposing his side to a vicious counterattack from the cyan blur that rushed forward to take advantage of the opportunity. Jaze jumped back and thought in wonder, damn, already she’s learning to show no remorse. She has the heart of a soldier, no doubt.

As the battle waged between them, Jaze became more and more impressed. Dash was already a skilled fighter, if a little unpolished. He could tell as she managed to land a strike on his knee that she could easily become an excellent swordspony if she kept her head on straight. Her only problem was pride. When she had landed the attack on his knee, she had exclaimed in victory giving Jaze a chance to lash her on the shoulder.

Slowly, the assassin could see that she was getting tired. Sweat poured from her face, and her sides heaved as she fought for breath. Dash’s swings were getting slower and carrying less force. Not to mention she was getting frustrated; she had only managed to land one blow while the human had landed three. Her swings became wild, not particularly aimed at any spot. He needed to boost her confidence but he could not see how.

“Remember, don’t catch a sword with yours. Turn it aside, it will help you stay fresh and give an opportunity to counter.” He instructed, still searching for a way to help her.

“Got it…” she huffed as she swung her bar upwards trying to catch him off guard.

That upwards swing must have been awkward, Jaze thought as he avoided the blow, wait, upward! “C’mon Dash, I am I not good enough for you?”

“What?” she asked as she swung again.

Jaze easily dodged, “You’ve yet to give it your all! You have a big advantage on me and you still haven’t used it. C’mon, show me your best.” He began a savage assault, forcing her to shuffle backwards quickly. She was being overwhelmed and she knew it. What could the advantage that the soldier was talking about be?

Jaze watched as first confusion, then understanding played on her face. She quickly unfurled her wings and took to the air above him. She ascended out of his reach to let herself catch her breath. At least, that was what the assassin thought she was doing. Like a bolt from on high, she came down at him; putting every ounce of force she could muster into her next blow. Jaze was knocked off balance as the cyan juggernaut blew past him. She quickly turned around for another pass. It was Jaze’s turn to be on the defensive as Dash continued to rocket passed him, lashing out with her weapon as she went by. Jaze had no chance to counter as before he could regain his balance she was already gone, turning around for another swing. On her next pass, Jaze stepped in front of her and brought his bar down at her. She managed to block the blow, but unable to continue passed him as she had been.

When she started to fly backwards to escape what she believed a trap, Jaze held up his hand, “That’s enough for now. That was a good idea to do a fly-by like that, but don’t rely on it exclusively. There may be times when you’re too cramped to fly, so you need to develop your abilities on the ground. But never forget that are a flier, and that gives you a huge advantage over any opponent stuck on the ground.”

“Right…” Dash landed, out of breath and exhausted, but pleased by her performance.

“Give me a few minutes to catch my breath then we’ll go a round.” Jaze told Applejack as he set his rebar “sword” aside.

“Not pro’lem,” she said, also out of breath. Jaze saw that she had been practicing while he had fought with Dash. Her dedication made him grin with pride. They really were applying their all into learning to wield a sword.

Grin still in place, Jaze strode over to a nearby stream and splashed his face with water to cool off. He ordered the two ponies to take a drink, and brought the cool liquid to his own lips. His arms and chest were already sore from his mock battle and he was not looking forward to the next. After his hands stopped throbbing from Dash’s final assault, he stood up and beckoned to Applejack.

“Alright then AJ. Round one, fight!” This time Jaze started the fight, coming in with his sword held high to strike down at her shoulder. She dodged to his left and swung at his legs, trying to knock his legs out from under him. The assassin took a chance and jumped over her swing, landing just as her swing passed by. He swung at her foreleg to make her lose control of her weapon, but she danced nimbly out of reach and countered with a strike at his chest. Jaze was forced to catch the bar, causing his already sore hands to cry out in agony. Applejack had the advantage of watching the fight between him and Dash and had learned many of his tricks.

Applejack wore a grin, she had a surprise for the soldier. The orange pony reared up on her hind legs and delivered a powerful downward strike. Again, Jaze was unable to turn it aside and was forced to catch the blow. It caused him to stumble and gave Applejack time to swing toward his stomach in a vicious attack.

The silver-eyed assassin jumped back, well out of reach. His hands were numb from the blow and he was having trouble keeping his hands on his weapon. He had not expected her to have quite that much power already. She took the chance to launch several more blows at him as he struggled to regain his composure. He parried the blows and launched his own attack.

The battle waged back and forth, neither able to gain dominion over the other. Applejack tried to land another staggering blow on the soldier and reared up in preparation. As she brought the bar down, Jaze spun away from the blow. Before she could recover, the soldier had planted his foot on her weapon and his own was at her throat. They stayed locked in that position for a moment until Jaze stepped back and let Applejack lift her weapon from the ground.

“That was a good thought,” the soldier said proudly, “throwing all your weight and strength into one blow. But a trick only works once, then they’ll know to expect it. Don’t rely on your strength alone, you will have to move in battle if you want to stay alive. Flow around your opponent and look for gaps in his guard; that’s how you will beat someone with the least chance of injury to yourself.”

“Ah got it, Jaze.” The orange earth pony answered tiredly.

The worn-out warrior checked the position of the sun, “I think that we can stop for today. But before you go there is something that I need to say.” He plopped down on the grass and beckoned for the two ponies to do the same.

“What’s up, Teach?” Dash asked as she sat across from Jaze.

“Yeah, what ya need t’ tell us?” Applejack took a seat next to her cyan friend.

“What I said before, about foalish notions of justice, don’t ever lose sight of those ideals.” He said softly.

“But Ah thought you said…” Applejack looked confused.

“I said that they were not reasons to learn to fight. The sole purpose of fighting is death, but ideals will make you that much more deadly.”

“What do you mean by that?” Dash now wore a mask of confusion.

“If a soldier is fighting because he is told to, there is every possibility that he make break and run when things get tough. But if his friends, family, or the one he loves is in danger or he truly believes in what he is fighting for, then he will never stop until he is dead, or his foe is. Having an ideal will give you something to cling to in the evil days ahead.”

“Ah’ll ‘member that.”

“But what about what you said about no honor in a fight?” Dash asked.

“There isn’t honor in a fight, but there is honor in what you fight for.” Jaze stared at the ground, “There are also lines that you will find that you can’t cross, and that’s fine. Don’t try to push yourself past what you feel is right. If you do that, you will be no different than Carn.”

“And what lines can’t you cross?”

“Honestly Dash? I don’t really know, I haven’t found them yet. They have to exist; at least I hope they do.” He seemed uncomfortable not knowing how far he could push himself.

“Don’t ya fret none, sugar cube. Yer not evil like that Carn feller. Yer only killin’ t’ help folks, he seems t’ do it ‘cause he likes it.”

“Thanks Applejack, but where do I draw the line? How far can I go before I’m just another killer?” He heaved a heavy sigh, “That question haunts me to this day.”

“Jaze, I have a question, and I want you to answer honestly.” Dash said as she stared at the scarred soldier.

“I’ll try,” He said cautiously, “but there are some things that are too personal.”

“It’s nothing personal; I just want to know if you were taking it easy on us.” Applejack perked up, curious herself.

He gave them a little smirk, “Yes, I was holding back a little bit.”

“Land sakes,” Applejack whispered, “that was you going easy? And that Carn feller still has you worried?”

“He had the advantage on me because I was angry, that won’t happen again.” Even when he said it, he didn’t believe it. He still felt that Carn had too much power on him and he hoped that his training with the girls would be enough to get him into shape to do battle with that fiend once more.

“Anyways,” Jaze said as he clapped his hands together, “it’s getting late and we’ll want to be up bright and early tomorrow so we can do this again. We’ll do what we did today, only in reverse. Just come by my house in the morning; we’ll have breakfast and then get to work. And Dash? I want you to work with Applejack on her farm when you can, it will help you get stronger.”

“Got it.” the two eager ponies responded.

“The next day, we’ll ditch the weapons and do some hand-to-hand, er, hand-to-hoof exercises.”

“What fer?” the apple farmer asked.

“You’ll need to know how to defend yourself if you ever get caught without a weapon.” Jaze explained, “A skill that some ponies,” he looked pointedly at Dash, “lack.”

“Yeah Jaze, about that,” she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof, “I’m sorry, that was stupid.”

“Everypony does stupid things when their scared.”

“I’m not scared!” she protested loudly.

“Really,” Jaze gave her an unconvinced stare, “you’re not scared of the fact that your home is about to be invaded by thousands of machines that feel no remorse and have only one goal, to kill every living thing?”

“No, I’m not.” She could not raise her head to look at the soldier.

“Dash, everypony gets scared. That’s a part of being a soldier, and there is no shame in admitting your fear.”

“I know, but…”

“Don’t worry; the cavalry’s on its way. We humans have a habit of turning bleak situations into a total success.”

“And we’ll be there to help.” Dash said as she finally raised her eyes to meet the assassin’s gaze.

“I don’t know what help you could be. There won’t be much call for swords in days ahead.”

“Why not?” the two ponies asked together.

“This is a modern conflict; guns and bombs and other weapons will be used. Trying to run up on the Cye with a sword will just get you killed.”

“Then why are you bothering with this?” Dash asked, confused by his actions.

“Carn wants to fight me again. And this time, one of us isn’t walking away. I want to ensure that isn’t me.” A look of dark anger adorned his scarred face that sent shivers down Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s spines, “And I plan on making him pay for every ounce of suffering he has put me, my friends, and the rest of the galaxy through.”

“Jaze,” Applejack whispered worriedly, “Don’t ya lose yerself in hate fer that Carn feller.”

“I’ll try not to, but you have no idea how hard it is. Every bad thing that has happened to me in the past six years can be traced back to him.”

“Jus’ think a’ it this way; if he hadn’t started this little scuffle, we never woulda met. For that, at least, ya should be grateful.”

“I never thought that way before. Even so, I won’t fool myself into thinking that makes up for the literally millions of innocent human lives that he has cut short. For that, and more, he will pay.” His anger filled his eyes once more, causing another shiver, “That is a soldier’s promise to you both, he will pay.”

xxx

Jaze was stretched out on the couch, waiting for Trixie to get back from her magic lessons with Twilight. His muscles were throbbing from the hard work out he put them through. Dinner was done, and now he was just waiting for his friend to return so he could eat. Friend, the soldier was not sure if he should call Trixie something as paltry as merely “friend” any more. His feelings for her were so much more than that now.

To make matters worse, he felt like he was being untrue to Evelyn’s memory with his feeling for the blue unicorn. He was so confused, both by his own feelings and what he needed to do about them. He wanted to share his secret with her, but at the same time he was still scared that she would hate him for it. He enjoyed her friendship and did not want to risk losing it. Add that to the fact that the soldier didn’t know what was going to happen in the days to come and he was well and truly confused about his whole situation. He would have continued to stew in his unhappy thoughts, if Trixie had not showed up.

“Hey there spaceman, I’m back.” She called as she walked into the dark room, “How was the training?”

“Tiring and painful.”

“Was it fun?”

“Wasn’t supposed to be fun, but it did serve its purpose. I hope.” He shrugged, “Any way, food’s done now. So let’s eat.” They sat at the table and to make short work of the meal Jaze had prepared. Despite the hard day he had put into training, the soldier had still managed to make a decent meal.

After dinner and clean up, Jaze and Trixie took to the roof of their house to watch the stars. It had become a nightly habit of theirs and the young soldier very much enjoyed the conversations that they had in their own little world on top of the house. As they watched the stars twinkle above them, Jaze thought back on his life. The choices that he had made and how he had become him. As he looked to Trixie, he realized that he had fewer regrets than he thought he should. The only part of his life he wished he could change would be to have saved Evelyn. Ah, a voice in his mind whispered mockingly, but if she was still alive would you have come to Equestria at all? Or perhaps, would you be somewhere else, probably fighting for your life this very instant? To stop the introspection, Jaze looked once again to Trixie.

“What’s on your mind?” He asked, for she had a look of screwing her courage to ask a question.

“I just wanted to know,” she said hesitantly, “what it’s like, up there.” She pointed to the starry sky above.

“You mean in space?” the unicorn nodded, “Well, it’s very cold.” The two shared a long laugh, and Jaze was glad for the break from the constant worry that had been building inside him since yesterday. “Seriously though, it is beautiful. You have no idea, it’s dark and quiet, and then when you look around and see the vast field of stars around you,” he sighed as the memories washed over him, “and then you see a sun rise from behind a planet and it is simply stunning.”

“What is the most beautiful thing you’ve seen in your travels?”

Your eyes, his heart wanted him to scream, but he went with “This may sound morbid, but a Cye ship exploding as seen from the ground.” She fixed him with a stern look, “No, I’m serious. With all the electricity it puts off, followed by the lights of the radiation hitting the atmosphere and the meteor shower of fragments as they burn up. It is beautiful, and it does hurt that it means we won another battle.”

“I hope that I get to see it someday, if it’s as stunning as you say.”

“You will, but we have to go through a lot of ugly first.”

“Oh gods,” she whispered, horrified, “I didn’t mean…”

“I know,” Jaze said with a meaningful smile, “don’t worry, we’ll get through this and you’ll get to see the sight of your life.”

“I believe you.”

“Hey, Trixie? There’s something I want to ask you.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Well, I was wondering if you… no, it’s stupid. Forget it.”

“No, what is it? I promise I won’t laugh or anything; so just tell me.”

“Okay, I was wanting to know…”

“Yes?”

“If you could… teach me magic.”

“Oh, that,” she sounded disappointed for some reason, “is that all?”

“Yeah, I know it’s stupid. But now I have this ability and I don’t understand it. I want you to help me learn to use magic.”

“Twilight’s better with magic than I am. Maybe you could ask her.”

“But I want you to teach me.” Jaze blushed, “I mean… we live together so it would easier for you than Twilight. B-besides, weren’t you the one that said that teachers learn from their students as well?”

“If it’s that important to you, I’ll do it. But don’t expect to learn a lot from me quickly; I’m still a student myself.”

“That’s fine, I’m just happy to have you teach me.” They fell silent as the stars danced above them. Jaze could not help but feel a little sad. Soon there would be soldiers walking around Equestria and he would no longer be able to enjoy his time as he wished. He was soon to be a soldier again. He slid himself a little closer to Trixie, he wanted to enjoy this while it lasted. They sat for what felt like a few minutes, but it was closer to two hours. When Trixie gave a yawn and a stretch, Jaze asked if she wanted head to bed.

“Not as long as you’re awake. I’ll be fine; it’s just that casting magic like we did today really wears me out.”

“You could lean on me for awhile, I don’t mind.”

“Another duty of a friend?” She asked with an amused smile.

“Absolutely,” he said with a grin.

She yawned again, “I think that I’ll take you up on that.” She leaned against him, and a small thrill went through the young man. He had not expected Trixie to actually do this to him. He sat in shock as she snuggled in close. “You’re a lot more comfortable than I thought.”

“Thanks,” he said with a laugh, “I’m glad that I’m comfy.”

“Um-hm.” She muttered.

“You know, what day I would love to take you up to see space. It’s so beautiful and peaceful; I know you would love it.” He looked to the unicorn leaning against him, “Trixie?” She must have been tired; the blue unicorn was fast asleep. The soldier smiled as he watched her softly snore against his shoulder; she seemed so peaceful. He felt his eyes grow heavy and soon he too was asleep, with naught but the stars above them.

Feelings

Sweat was pouring of the young soldier’s face; an immobile piece of paper in front of him. Try as he might, he could not get the thing to budge. Trixie sat next to him offering words of encouragement and advice.

“Don’t force it,” she whispered calmingly into his ear.

“I need to master this, and fast.” Jaze replied tersely, “I’ll need every advantage I can get if I want to beat that freak.”

“No need to get upset.”

“I’m sorry,” the man sighed, “the first batch of soldiers is going to be here today and it has me on edge

“I understand, but you still have to concentrate.”

“Alright, I’ll give it another go.” He screwed his face in concentration and tried once again to use magic to lift the paper. He could reach out and touch it, but trying to lift it was like lifting a boulder from the mud. Sweat once again began rolling down his face as his hands started to glow with the aura of his magic. The same glow formed around the paper and, slowly, the paper rose into the air an inch. Exhausted by his success, he slumped over from the strain of using magic.

“Easy there big boy,” Trixie admonished, “Don’t try too hard, you might hurt yourself.”

“I did it!” he laughed as he straightened himself, “I managed to lift that infuriating piece of paper!”

“Good job, but don’t get over confident.” She lifted the soldier out of his chair, “You’re still barely a novice and you really need to keep practicing. Right now, you are nothing but a foal in the arcane arts. Granted, you’ve taken your first step; but you’ve still got a long way to go.”

“I know, but I still did it.” Jaze laughed.

“That you did.” She gave the excited soldier a small grin, “Applejack and Dash are probably waiting for you, you know.”

“Oh, right. I should get going then. Today is the last full day we’ll be able to put in.”

xxx

The clang and clamor of battle rang through the forest. A rainbow colored blur dodged between the trees, heading for a tall, dark figure. Another clang of metal on metal rang out as the figure, Jaze by name, blocked the rainbow mare’s vicious attack. A twig snapped behind him and an orange earth pony lunged to attack, her cover blown. The three way battle raged; each seeking and exploiting weaknesses in the others’ defense and trying to avoid the blows that rained down at them. For a few minutes that felt like hours, the three pushed each other to the limit and beyond. Eventually, the clash of the mêlée quieted down and the three tired warriors fell to the ground to catch their breath.

“Good use of the trees, Dash.” Jaze said when he finally caught his breath, “It made it really hard to keep up with you. And Applejack, you are a lot stealthier than I gave you credit for.”

“Thank ya, Jaze.” Applejack beamed.

“Yeah, thanks man.” Dash agreed.

“You two have shown that you have mastered the basics of the sword; so I guess that means today is graduation day.”

“Come again?” Applejack asked.

“I can’t teach you anymore. The only thing left to do is for you both to continue training on your own.”

“But how are we supposed to train without you showing us what to do?” Dash sounded worried.

“Simple, you two should just keep knocking sparks off each other.” The two sports-ponies looked at each other, and then back to their teacher, “I can’t help you to develop your skills anymore; I’m in a different league. But you two are roughly equal in skill; you’re the perfect match for one another.”

“But we haven’t learned enough; we still can’t beat you, even two on one you win.” Dash protested.

“You two really are stronger than you were before. Don’t worry; by having matches between yourselves, you will improve much faster than if I kept trying to train you.”

“If we’re so much stronger then before, how come we still can’t beat ya?”

“Because even as you got better, so did I. If you fought yourselves from just a few days ago, you could see it.” Jaze sighed and dropped his piece of rebar, “Don’t need that anymore. Come by my house, I should have something for you two soon.”

And so the three left the confines of the Everfree Forest; all glad to be free of its ever-present darkness. They had gone there for their final day of training to show the two ponies what it was like to fight in a dark, cramped environment. They had done surprisingly well, especially considering their inherent fear of the place. They had been having a mock war for several hours before Jaze had called it quits and the three were dead tired. The two ponies were quiet proud of what they had managed to accomplish in just a few days.

Jaze was watching the skies as they walked; searching for the first signs of atmospheric reentry. He didn’t expect the human ships to arrive until later in the day, but traveling at faster-than-light speed often produced unintended results. He found that he was excited to get to see another human face after so long; he just wished that it had been under peaceful circumstances.

“Hey Jaze,” Dash broke into the soldier’s suddenly homesick thoughts; “I’ve got a question.”

“What do you want to know?” He replied.

“Are the Cye alive?”

The question brought Jaze to a standstill, “Well, that is, uh…” he found that he could not give the simple answer that she so obviously wanted, “That question, that is something that humans have burned to know for since we first encountered the Cye.” A thoughtful look crossed his face, “No, it goes further than that. I guess that kind of question has been around since humans first built computers and started trying to develop true AIs.”

“What in tarnation is a ‘AI’?” Applejack asked in confusion.

“‘AI’ stands for ‘Artificial Intelligence’. Basically, it’s a machine that can think for itself. Humans have wanted to create an AI for hundreds of years. But philosophers have since asked; if something can think, is it alive? Are humans now fighting machines that are just doing as their programming dictates? Or are they thinking beings, beings that have a will and reasons and justifications all their own?” The tired soldier heaved a sigh, “I think it comes down to this: Are they alive like us? No, but they do have some form of life.”

“So ya mean that we will be killin’ these Cye?”

“In a sense, yes, I guess we are.”

“That was way too heavy for this early in the day!” Dash stretched her wings and took to the sky, “They started this fight; now all we’re doing is finishing it.”

“Yeah, Ah guess so…” She did not sound convinced.

“Applejack,” she brought her worried face to meet the soldier’s eyes, “I know that you don’t like the idea, but that is war. It’s the reason that I tried to keep it from this planet, but now that it is here you’ll just have to deal.” He gave her smile of encouragement, “Besides, you’ll not have to any fighting if I have my way.”

“Thanks fer yer concern Jaze.” The orange earth pony still sounded down. It did not take them long to emerge from the forest, and Jaze could see Ditzy walking towards his house; two large packages balanced on her back. He ran to meet her just as she started to knock on the door.

“Special deliverings,” the mail mare said emotionlessly as she handed over the two wrapped bundles.

“Thanks a lot Ditzy.” Jaze said as he started to open the door.

“Why you no telling us?” Ditzy said from behind hi

The accusatory tone pulled him up short, “Because, I hoped that it wouldn’t matter.”

“No lying?”

The assassin from the stars sighed, “I also did not want to make my life here any harder.”

“What mean you?”

“If everypony knew that I was from another planet, I would have had no peace.” Jaze replied as Dash and Applejack joined him. “Are you mad at me?”

“No, just disappointed only.” The gray mare gave him a gentle smile, “Nopony hatings you, soldier boy. Just worried about what mean you for us now.”

“I worried now, but your friends be coming help?”

“Yes, they’ll be here any minute now.” The smile on his face was slightly forced, “Don’t worry, the StarSide Marines will take care of everything. They are the best fighting force in the galaxy.” With a nod of acquiesce, Ditzy left to continue her mail route.

“What ya got there, Jaze?” Applejack asked as he turned back to the two ponies.

“A graduation present for you two.” He opened the door and stepped inside. Trixie was sitting on the couch, Jaze’s radio in front of her. “Hey there, any word?”

“Yes,” the blue unicorn replied, “I was told by a soldier with the ones being sent here that they are only an hour out.”

“Good, thank you for telling me.” He turned to Dash and Applejack, “Sit down, if you please.” He laid the two long, wrapped packages on the table as everyone found seat. “I had these made for you when you came to me for training.”

“What are they?” Applejack asked.

“What kind of swordspony doesn’t have a sword?” He unrolled the two swords from the paper and held one up to show them, “This one is yours, Dash, a katana like mine.” He lifted the other, a broadsword, “And this is yours Applejack.” He set the swords next to their new owners. The hilts were missing from the swords; with only the metal tang protruding from the crossguards.

“Where are the handles?” Dash asked.

“Right here,” Jaze lifted two gauntlets that had fallen out when he unrolled the paper, “you wear this on your foreleg and click the sword in place, like so.” He put one on Dash and slid the katana’s blade into the slot on the right side of the gauntlet. “Then just push the button on the bottom to release the blade.” He pushed the button to show them it worked.

“This is nice,” Applejack commented, “but where’d ya get ‘em?”

“I paid the Canterlot blacksmith to make them for me.” He let out a small laugh, “Turns out being friends with the Princesses and the planet’s first visitor from another world gets you a discount.”

“Thanks so much Jaze. This is so cool.” Dash said in awe.

“Yeah, that’s mighty kind a ya Jaze.” Applejack agreed.

“Keep them handy; if nothing else, being armed will make people take you more seriously. Now we’re just waiting for the Marines to arrive.”

Suddenly, the radio beeped and a soldier appeared on the screen, “Uh, Miss Pony Lady? You there? I have a message for the acting colonel.”

“This is Acting Colonel Jaze Armand. What is the message?” Jaze asked.

“Oh, Colonel Armand, sir,” he gave Jaze a smart salute, “I was told to report that we will be arriving much earlier than expected. ETA is fifteen minutes, sir.”

“Thank for letting me know, marine. Anything else?”

“Sir, no sir,” A look of confusion graced the marine’s face, “Um, sir?”

“What is it?”

“That pony that spoke to me before, are all the aliens like that?”

“Some of them, yes. You’ll see more when you get here.” He gave the soldier a smile, “Don’t worry, they’re quite friendly.”

“Uh, yes sir. This the ECS From Dusk, signing off.”

xxx

Jaze watched as the first of the ships ferrying troops and supplies from the super carrier From Dusk descended from orbit. His palms were sweating as they descended; he had directed them to put down in a large field near Ponyville. He turned to his friends, Trixie and the rest of his friends from town as well as Celestia and Luna; standing beside him and watching as these new things fell from the sky. He could see the worry on their face as these tools of war came to their peaceful home. The soldier had to fight to keep the anger from his face; this was one more thing Carn would pay for.

As with everything the SSM attempted, the off loading was quick and efficient. The soldiers were met by their new commander, in a full dress uniform with Sairugi belted at his left hip, as well as nine of the strange equine aliens. They all waited with bated breath as two, the tallest and most regal of the nine, stepped forward.

With a slight bow of their heads, they said “Welcome humans, to Equestria.”

The first group of soldiers to meet the princesses let out a sigh of relief. They had been, fearing the rulers’ reaction to their appearance since they had set out and were glad to finally have met them and not have that threat over their head.

Suddenly a voice rang out, “Jaze, where in the name of the galaxy are you?” a young lady forced her way through the crowd, “There you are, I think I owe you something.” It was Shelby, and Jaze could guess what she had in mind. As she neared and raised her hand, Jaze’s eyes slid shut in anticipation of the punch. He was pleasantly surprised to find himself in a strong hug instead.

“C’mon Shell,” Vincent laughed, “I know you said you were going to kill him when you saw him, but if you choke him to death now, who’ll lead this fight?”

“Oh, shut up.” Shelby glared daggers at Jaze, “And don’t think you’re getting off this easy. I’m still going to beat you raw later, but,” she hugged him a little tighter as the rest of the soldiers left to set up their base while the princesses followed to oversee the process. Most of the buildings were flown in, premade; now all the soldiers had left to do was fortify and garrison the base.

Some started working digging trenches while others began setting up turret emplacements around the base. More were digging supply bunkers to house the ammunition and weapons. The newly promoted colonel was wandering around; getting a feel for the base and its inhabitants. Jaze could feel the looks that the soldiers were giving him as he passed. They now knew who he was and what he had been. He saw looks ranging from curiosity to respect, but he found no fear in their eyes.

“So Jaze,” Vincent suddenly asked, “have you seen the new fighters?”

“Not yet,” the assassin replied, “where are they?”

“No too far,” Shelby answered quickly, “you want to go see them? You won’t be disappointed.”

“Alright, let’s see this.” Jaze answered enthusiastically. The group picked up the pace, eager to see the new space craft. Dash was particularly interested; she wanted to see what could let the wingless humans fly.

“There they are!” Shelby exclaimed as the fighters came into view, “Those are the RX-80 Thundercats, fastest and most agile fighter craft to be built by human hands.”

“It’s got a reactor that runs twenty percent cooler than the previous model,” an excited Vincent breathed, “while actually boosting power and they managed to solve the VTOL issues. It really is quite the feat of engineering.”

“What’s VTOL?” Twilight asked.

“Vertical Take Off and Landing,” Jaze answered shortly, still enthralled by the sleek new fighters.

“And this one here,” Shelby pointed to the nearest fighter, “is yours, Jaze.” The assassin stared at his new fighter. He could see “Colonel Jaze Armand” painted on the side; he found himself excited by the prospect of taking to the sky again.

“Now I want to take it for a flight.” He looked to Trixie, “You want to join me?”

“S-sure, I guess so.” was the unicorn’s nervous reply.

“Why so nervous?” Shelby asked teasingly, “He’s one of the best pilots around, second only to us.” She indicated to herself and Vincent.

“But, I wasn’t meant to fly.”

“Don’t worry,” Vincent assured her in his deep tones, “once you get up there, you won’t want to leave.”

“Besides, it’s fun to be the fastest thing on the planet.” Shelby added.

“Oh, really?” a certain blue pegasus questioned, “You think that thing is fast? I’ll show you fast! C’mon Jaze, you and me, one race. I’ll leave you in the clouds!”

“Dash, be reasonable.” Jaze appealed, “This fighter is made to break from the atmosphere, there’s no way you could…”

“I’ll show you! C’mon, let’s do this!”

The soldier heaved an amused sigh, “Alright, but no whining when you lose.”

“Now you’re talking!” Dash exclaimed excitedly.

“While I get changed into a flight suit,” Jaze said to Vincent, “could you get Dash a com?”

“Sure thing, top.” He replied with a slightly impish grin, “You want to be able to hear her reaction?”

“Something like that.” Jaze replied, the grin now spreading to his face.

xxx

Jaze tugged at the skin-tight flight suit as he left the changing tent; trying to get it to lie against his skin more comfortably. His heart was beginning to beat faster at the prospect of finally taking to the air in again. To add to his excitement, Trixie decided to try overcoming her fear and fly with him. The soldier was thrilled to get to show her another part of his world. As he walked back to the fighters, Shelby intercepted him.

“Okay,” she whispered, “I just have to tell you not to laugh. Or I’ll beat you raw.”

“Why…” Jaze started, but then he caught sight of Trixie sitting in the copilot’s seat behind his. She, too, was wearing a flight suit, but hers was bunched up at the tops of her legs and someone had to put a belt around her waist to keep the suit from sliding around. Despite Shelby’s warning, he could not help but chuckle at the obviously distressed pony as she tried in vain to get the suit to sit right.

The young warrior felt a sudden slap to the back of his head, “I told you not to laugh, idiot.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it.” he replied as he tried to hold back his mirth, tears forming in his eyes from his mostly unsuccessful efforts.

“Stop it,” Shelby started.

“It’s fine,” Trixie interrupted, “I know I look silly. They told me I have to wear this if I want to fly.”

“You don’t look silly, you look…” Jaze said, a smile still firmly planted on his face, “Okay, you look silly. But everyone does so don’t feel bad.”

“But I look particularly silly.” She grinned back.

“Alright you do.” Jaze agreed as his smile widened, “Are you ready then?”

“Yes,” she replied, nervous tension in her voice.

“How about you Dash, you ready?”

“To kick your tail? You bet!” the cyan pegasus called back.

“Alright then,” Jaze said as he climbed into the cockpit, “let’s see just what this baby can do!”

Dash gave a confidant smirk, “Meet you in the air!” she called into the comm unit Vincent had given her and took off, a rainbow trailing behind her.

“Running preflight system check,” the colonel said to the soldier running ground control, “engines nominal, flaps are good, no problems with comm.” he reported as he checked each system and the fighter came to life with a loud hum, “Any problems on your end?”

“Everything reads green here, sir. You have are cleared for takeoff.”

“Roger that, Control. Colonel Armand in fighter A-1, call sign Angel Lead, preparing for launch.”

“Control copies Angel Lead. Have a good flight, sir.”

Jaze turned to his passenger with a devilish grin, “We will.” The pilot sent power to the fighter’s belly jets to lift it from the ground.

“Oh gods, it’s moving.” Trixie said as the fighter rose into the air.

“Yeah,” Jaze chuckled, “it’ll do that.” The flight controls seemed to jump into his hands as his heart began to pound. This is really happening; he thought ecstatically, I’m actually flying again. He dipped the flaps and gave the thrusters a little power to send the pair of them into the air. Jaze could hear groaning from behind him and he turned to check on his equine passenger.

“I want off this ride,” She groaned, looking decidedly green.

“Wait until we’re finished with the take off,” Jaze said encouragingly, “it will get better. I promise.”

“Okay,” she gulped, “I believe you.”

The pilot wore a boyish grin as he put his spacecraft into a gentle climb, while his passenger hid her eyes behind her hooves. The fighter leveled out at three thousand feet and Jaze encouraged the frightened pony to look out the windshield at the amazing view surrounding them. Her eyes widened as he put the craft into a gentle bank; she could see everything. Everything including a cyan colored blur that was fast approaching from behind them.

“Hey Jaze,” Dash’s voice crackled over the comm, “we gonna do this or what?”

“You count on it; first one to that mountain there is the winner.” Jaze replied as he lined his plane up with the mountain in question, “As soon as you pass me, the race is on.”

“Alright, but get used to looking at my back; cause that’s all you’re gonna see!” The rainbow maned pegasus blew past them a second later; her wings pumping for all they were worth. She was determined to show the human just how fast she could be. Jaze made no move other than to hover his left hand over the accelerator control.

“Come on Jaze,” Trixie pleaded, her natural competitiveness coming out, “she’s going to win if you don’t hurry up.”

“Just hold your, uh, just hang on a minute. I know what I’m doing.” He said calmly, “Alright, now hand on to what’s yours.” He rammed the accelerator forward and the fighter took off at tremendous speed.

xxx

Dash was flying faster than she ever had before. Tears formed in her eyes from the wind; her body was shaking from the adrenaline rush that was overtaking it. This is what she was built for; this was speed. She grinned as she imagined the look of surprise and distress on Jaze’s face as he watched her slowly fading rainbow trail outpace him.

“Hey Dash,” the human soldier’s voice suddenly came in her ear, “heads up.” Just as suddenly, the formerly sluggish aircraft blew past her; spinning her end over end through the air as it passed. She recovered quickly and tried to catch up, but to no avail. The pegasus’ wings were no match for the machine’s reactor-powered thrusters. She could only watch vexation as the blue streaks left behind by the craft flew on towards the mountain.

“Jeez,” she breathed, annoyed enough to forget the mike at her mouth, “didn’t realize that thing was that fast.”

“We did try to warn you, Dash.” The slightly smug pilot responded, “But you wouldn’t listen.”

xxx

Jaze circled around the mountain to give his companion a better view. She had her face pressed to the glass as she looked to the ground, her fear long forgotten. The assassin could not help but grin at her sudden enthusiasm; she reminded him of a little girl with a new toy. He wished that he could preserve that innocence; for it will surely be lost in the fight to come. But, until the war touched off, he did not see why they couldn’t have a little fun.

“Control, this is Angel Lead. I’m going to go for walk above the sky.” Jaze said into his mike.

“Roger that Angel Lead.” Control replied.

“Are you sure that’s wise, Colonel?” Shelby asked.

“Should be no problem. Why, is something wrong?”

“Vincent is having one of his feelings again.” Shelby said in a worn tone of voice.

“Is he now?” Jaze replied in a knowing voice. Vincent had a knack for smelling trouble a light year away, “Copy that Shell, I’ll be careful.”

“If you are sure…” leaving the thought hanging, Shelby signed off.

“What do you mean, ‘a walk above the sky’?” Trixie asked

Jaze gave her a smile over his shoulder, “I’m going to take you to space.” Once more, the soldier dipped the flaps and pointed the nose of his craft away from the ground. He quickly keyed a code in to the computer by the accelerator. The computer displayed the message “prepare for exit burn? Y/N”. Jaze hit yes and the whole craft began to thrum with power. It suddenly let out a roar and the two inside were thrown back into their seats as the fighter rocketed towards the heavens.

They soon were above the pull of gravity and Trixie found herself pushing against her flight harness. Jaze shut the fighter down to rest the engines and spun to his friend.

“So, what do you think of space?” he asked with an excited grin.

“It’s beautiful,” the stunned unicorn managed to say; despite having lost her breath at the sight before her. She had never seen the stars clearly before, and many of the finer details were lost in atmosphere of the planet below. Suddenly remembering where she was, Trixie looked down at the planet. Her home, the only place she had thought had life of any sort at all and now she was floating above it with a creature from another world. It was all just incredible to her, and for once she was glad of everything that had brought her to this moment. The good; and the bad.

“I know how you feel; it was the same for me the first time I came to space years and years ago.” He wore a serene smile, “In fact, I still feel that way every time I see it.”

“Um, Jaze?”

“Yes?”

“Can Control hear what we’re saying?”

“Only what I say, for the most part. Why, do you want me to switch to receive only?” The unicorn gave a nod. He pressed a button on his ear piece, “There, now they can’t hear a peep. But if they need me, I can hear them.” He unclipped his combat harness and turned around as much as he could in the cramped space of the cockpit, “What’s up?”

“There’s something that I’ve been wanting to tell you, but I just don’t know how.”

“The best way is always just to say it dear.”

“You would think that, but that is the hardest thing to do. Isn’t it?” She turned away from the soldier’s gaze, “Besides, I don’t know if you’ll be angry at me.”

“It would be pretty hard for you to get me angry, Trix.”

She gave a hard swallow, “I don’t know about that…”

“What is it you want to tell me? I promise that I won’t get upset.”

“Okay, here goes.” She closed her eyes and said in a voice barely more than a whisper, “Jaze, I thing that I like you.”

“I like you, too.” Jaze said impassively, “I like all my friends.”

Trixie’s cheeks turned crimson, “That’s not what I mean. I mean, I like you. A lot, in fact.”

“I know Trixie; I was just trying to offer you a way out of this if you wanted it.”

“Thank you, but I want to talk about this now.” She stared into his blue-silver eyes, eyes not unlike the stars burning around them. “I don’t know if I will live to…”

“No, don’t even think about saying you might die. I couldn’t let that happen; not to any of you.”

“I know you’ll try, but there is every possibility of that and I want to get this off my chest.” She heaved a sigh, “I’m just so confused; I’ve never had feelings like this for anypony.”

“That’s how it goes.” Jaze muttered, thoughts of his own feelings coming to his mind. He was overjoyed that she felt this way about him, but he did not feel right. They were too different; it just was not reasonable. Then again, a voice in his head mocked, when is love reasonable?

“What did you say?” Trixie asked.

“Nothing,” he replied quickly, “How long have you felt like this?”

“Since that day in the forest, when the Cye first came” Her gaze dropped, “I saw you jump out of the bush to save me, and it just kind of hit me. I feel terrible about that day. It’s my fault you were hurt; if hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t have had to save me.”

“I was happy to do that.” Jaze replied; his own voice no more than a whisper now.

Trixie’s eyes snapped back to the soldier, “Why? You could have died.”

“I told you; if my death saves even one other, it was worth it.” A blush touched his cheeks, “Especially if it’s one I…”

“Angel Lead, this is Control. Do you copy?” a voice came over the comm.

“I copy,” Jaze said as he switched his mike back on, “what’s the problem?”

“Scans indicate several objects closing in on you in FTL flight.”

Jaze spun back around and began hooking himself into his harness, “Can you get a fix on what they are?”

“Too small to be anything other than fighter craft, we suspect a Cye strike force is inbound.”

“Hello again, boy.” A familiar cold voice broke in.

Jaze’s face grew dark, “Carn you bastard, where are you hiding? Are you the one coming to me?” Trixie’s face took on a worried look and she grabbed a spare headset from the console next to her.

“Not me personally, just some of my friends for you to play with.” They could hear the evil smile on his face, “Wouldn’t want you to get bored.”

“You said you would not send forces here for two months!” Jaze yelled heatedly.

“And you said you wouldn’t leave the planet. You broke your end of the agreement, so I can break mine.”

“You son of a…”

“Colonel, multiple contacts are inbound. Fifteen seconds out, roughly twenty in strength. Recommending you head back to base for reinforcements.”

“Is the fighter armed?”

“Yessir, to the teeth sir, but what does that…”

“I’ll hold them in orbit; you get the rest of the fighters launched and ready to meet me here.”

“Yes sir, ETA for the first group is seven minutes.”

“I’ll be pasted before then, get them up here faster.”

“Jaze,” Shelby broke over the radio, “Angels Two and Three are prepped and ready to fly, ETA three minutes. You hold on ‘til then, okay. We just got you back and we aren’t losing you again so soon.”

“Thanks Shell, now you and Vin get you butts in void before the paste me.”

“Roger that,” Vincent said, his voice husky with the promise of combat.

“It’s not nice to ignore someone, boy.” Carn mocked.

“Oh, I’ll show you not nice. Get over here and I’ll show you just how ‘not nice’ I can be.” Jaze growled.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk; temper, temper. You really should get that under control; it will only get you killed.”

“Stop lecturing me, you snake. I’m still going to kill you.”

“You’re going to try,” Jaze saw several flashes of light as the Cye fighters finally arrived and decelerated, “Well; I’d hate to keep you from your date. Those boys have flown an awful long way to see you.” The sneer was back in Carn’s voice, “And don’t worry, the invasion is still going to take place as planned. Think of this as a warm up. Good luck, boy.”

Jaze looked back at Trixie, “Remind me not to hold back when I see that, thing, again.”

“I will,” she assured him, “but now I think you should focus on the task at hand.”

“I think you’re right,” Jaze said as he fixed his eyes forward and accelerated his spacecraft to meet the enemy fighters, “let’s shoot us down some cybernetic fools, shall we?”

First Contact

The fighter’s cockpit was silent as Jaze counted the number of enemy aircraft. One, two… eighteen, he thought bitterly, this is going to be a close thing. Shelby, Vincent, hurry. The craft had two long wings joined by a center ball. Extending from the front of the ball was a long, pointed nose that housed a few small machine guns for use in close range combat. At the back was a large cluster of engines that glowed an angry red. These were fighters designed mostly for space combat, but letting them get into the atmosphere would allow them to cause ungodly amounts of damage.

That thought in mind, the pilot rammed the accelerator forward and plowed into the enemy formation. He circled behind the Cye fighters, the new craft showing just how maneuverable it was. The pilot locked on to one the enemy crafts and sent a missile careening after it. He was rewarded by a brief flash of fire as the enemy fighter broke into pieces.

“Control, we’re splash one bandit up here. That leaves seventeen, repeat seventeen still up.” Jaze called into his mike, his fear making him sound angry.

“Copy that Angel Lead.” the soldier in Control responded, “suggest you make a break for the dark side of the planet at top speed. It will make you harder to spot.”

“Roger control, Angel Lead out.” The pilot twisted to look at his terrified passenger, “Hang on Trixie, I’m going to have to pull out all the stops for this.”

“That’s fine,” she gasped, “just get us out of here.”

“Getting us out then,” Jaze thrust the accelerator to maximum and blew past the still recovering squad of enemy craft; flying at breakneck speeds for the far side of the planet.

“Can you out run them?” Trixie yelled to the sweating soldier.

“No,” he roared back, “they’re too fast! But I can out maneuver them! And so since you’re riding co, why don’t you be my spotter? Tell me if the console in front of you starts flashing red so I know that they have a radar lock on us.”

“Okay, anything else?”

“If you see one getting close, tell me where he is. Twelve o’clock is the front; six is the back, with the rest following the numbers on a clock. Use ‘high’ and ‘low’ if they are above or below us, respectively.”

“Okay then, but you realize that there is no ‘above’ or ‘below’ anymore, right?” the pilot gave her an indignant glare, “Um, I’ll be quiet now.” She glanced behind the fighter, “Jaze, two bad guys are getting close. They have a lock!”

“Damn!” Jaze yelled as he rolled his plane hard right to avoid the missiles. They escaped unharmed, but it was a close shave. “Tell me when they get really close, I’ve got a surprise for them.”

“How close is really close? They’re only a few yards away.”

“Just a little closer,” Jaze switched to holding the stick with his left and had his right on another small lever on the side of the cockpit.

“How about now?” Trixie asked as the two enemy fighters closed the gap by another few feet.

Jaze risked a glance, “Perfect! Hold on to something, the ride’s about to get rough.” The pilot yanked the lever back and the craft suddenly lost all its speed and the two enemy fliers rocketed past them as the pilot and his passenger were slammed into their harnesses. Jaze fired a salvo of missiles at the first and fired his Vulcan machine gun at the second. The small fighter shook as the large gun unleashed a lead storm at the Cye fighter. His reward was another brief flash of fire as the enemy was torn apart by the rapid fire death machine. Jaze then turned to track the other Cye flier as his missiles caught up with it.

The Cye pilot was obviously skilled. It managed to avoid the first two missiles but the third and fourth hit it square and turned it into its own brief, little star system; complete with orbiting debris.

Jaze gave a whoop as he watched the two fighters burn, “And that’s why you don’t muck with an Angel!” he hollered.

“You’ve got no time to celebrate, two more coming in from six o’clock; one low, one high.”

“Thanks for the heads up.” The pilot wore a confidant smile, “What say we take them down too?”

“Uh-oh two more at three and nine.” The unicorn looked above her, “another one directly above us!”

“Damn, one’s at our twelve; they’re trying to box us in. Make it so I can’t dodge their fire.” He gave a derisive snort, “What do you know, they’re getting smarter.”

“Angel Lead, this is Angel Two.” Shelby called over the comm, “We are in the void and ready to render assistance.”

“Great,” he spat into the mike, “then get the fighters off me!”

“Roger that, Lead. Consider them gone.” The two RX-80 combat fliers shot past Jaze’s going the opposite direction; the enemy fighter in front of him and the one on his right simply ceased to exist. The skilled pilot bled off his speed again and took out another of the Cye fighters that had been flying behind him. The last two broke off to return to the rest of their unit as Shelby and Vincent turned to make another pass.

“Let’s show these metal morons how humans fly!” Vincent called excitedly.

“Alright, that’s scratch three more bandits. Still thirteen sharing our space, so what say you we clean up the rest?” Jaze replied, excitement creeping into his own voice. His heart was racing with the thrill of the chase as Vincent and Shelby fell into place to his sides and slightly behind.

“Hey Jaze,” Shelby called; he could hear the smirk on her face, “Lowest kills buys the beer?”

“We’d have to brew it first, Shell.” Vincent laughed.

“Besides, you two have to play catch up.” Jaze chuckled, “I’m already at four.”

“Dad blast it, we only got two between us.” Vincent growled, “Gonna have to pick up the pace.”

“C’mon Jaze, Vincent; let’s teach ‘em why Command always gave us the hard jobs.”

The three pilots turned their craft to face the oncoming enemies. As soon as they were in range, both side opened up with their missiles. The human pilots broke formation as another of the Cye went out with a bang. The ensuing dogfight was pure mayhem as the humans and Cye alike tried with all their being to send the other to an early grave, or scrap heap as the case may be.

“Jaze, bandit on your six; break right, break right!” Shelby yelled. The Cye were getting smarter; they no longer got close enough for Jaze to bleed his speed and get behind them. He followed Shelby’s instructions as she came down from “above” him to destroy the craft trailing him.

“Oh, dammit, I’ve been hit!” Vincent yelled, “I’m still operational; these new birds are tough!”

Jaze closed in on another of the Cye fighters, inching his way into Vulcan range. As soon as the range finder to the side of the front view port lit up green, the assassin thumbed the fire button and the craft rattled as the machine gun pounded out a steady rhythm. The Cye had no chance as its spacecraft was torn apart around it. Jaze watched in awe as Shelby came to Vincent’s aid against the two fighters dogging him. She flew in behind one and took it out using a single missile. The other fighter broke off to follow her.

“Shelby, missile at your six,” Jaze sounded almost bored as he turned to Trixie, “You’re about to get to see Shelby’s special technique. I can’t even begin to imitate this.”

Trixie watched as the missile closed in on Shelby. Suddenly Shelby’s fighter did a full back flip over the missile and the Cye fighter. She and Jaze could just see her giving a very rude hand gesture as she turned over the enemy. She leveled her craft out and annihilated the Cye with her Vulcan gun.

“One day,” Shelby said, confidence oozing from her voice, “this Cye boys’ll learn that you should not mess with me.”

“She’s not human, is she?” Trixie asked in amazement as the fighter passed Shelby’s latest victim.

“Honestly?” Jaze chuckled, “We’re not sure.”

“You realize I can hear you two, right?” Shelby asked as she flew close to their fighter.

“I know, and I know you love it.” Jaze said with a smile.

“Let’s just finish up these metal morons.”

“Yeah,” Vincent broke in, “I got another one why you were gabbing. Means me and Shell are tied.”

“Okay, eight left. I like those odds; so let’s do this thing.” Jaze glanced over his shoulder at his unicorn friend, “How you liking your first combat flight?”

“Nuts,” she laughed, “you’re all nuts!”

“That’s what they pay us for.” Vincent growled good naturedly.

“Vin, let’s go. Lowest kills buys the beer and Jaze is still ahead. We can’t let him win.”

“Alright, I’ll race you for those Cye.” The two eager pilots took off, leaving Jaze behind as he shook his head.

“You’re right,” he said to Trixie with a laugh, “those two are nuts.”

“And you’re the nuttiest of all.” She replied with a smile.

“Let’s finish this up and get the flock home.” Jaze put the accelerator to max and went to join the fray.

xxx

Jaze watched as Shelby took out the last of the Cye fighters. “Control, this is Angel Lead. We’re splash all bandits and are will now RTB.” the assassin said as he turned his plane back toward the planet.

“Roger that, Angel Lead. Brace yourself for when you land, Control out.”

“What’s ‘RTB’ mean?” Trixie asked from behind him.

“‘Return to base’,” he tossed a smile over his shoulder, “I think I’ll have to sit down with you and teach you all these terms.”

A blush crossed her face, “I think I would like that very much.”

Jaze watched her reflection in the view port in front of him. She likes me, he thought as happiness seeped through his body, she said she likes me. But, should I pursue this; here, now? And I’m not sure about how everyone would react to this. Especially Vin and Shell, they know that I liked Evelyn a lot. And Trixie’s an alien. Am I even sure about how I feel?

“Hey Jaze,” Vincent’s voice intruded on Jaze’s thoughts, “this was one small crash for you, one giant mess for the rest of us.”

“Don’t be so cocky Vincent,” Shelby mocked, “you lost the bet so beers are on you tonight.”

“Urk, I’ll, uh, get back to you on that…”

“Hey, why don’t you guys come over to my house for dinner?” Jaze offered, “I still haven’t formally introduced you to my friends here, and you guys get a free meal.”

“Sound’s like a date.” Vincent replied enthusiastically.

“Sure does, but don’t think you’re getting out of buying the beer.”

“Dammit.” Vincent cursed as Jaze and Shelby laughed. The assassin had managed to put how much he had missed his friends from his mind. Now that they were back together, he would try his best to ensure that they weren’t separated again.

“Hey Trixie, you okay with that?” Jaze asked.

“Of course, any friend of yours is a friend of mine.” she replied heartily.

“Alright, see you all then. Just give me a few to get some things done.” Jaze turned to look at his passenger, “Ride will be getting rough again when we enter the atmosphere again.”

“Can’t be worse than what you just put me through.” the unicorn replied.

“No, probably not.” He grinned as they entered the atmosphere. The pair was rattled around in the cockpit as they descended to a smooth landing on the grass next to the other fighters. Shelby and Vincent soon joined them and they opened the canopies of their fighters as one.

They were greeted by a roar of cheers as the ladders were placed next to the space craft to allow the weary soldiers to exit their craft. They did not get the chance as the other pilots and soldiers hauled them out of the fighters and carried them to the ground. Even Trixie, despite the fact that she was not a pilot or even human, was given the same treatment by the ecstatic soldiers. The four of them were carried a good distance before Jaze finally ordered the soldiers to set them down. They were released with great reluctance, and only because Jaze was the Colonel, after all. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the assassin was bombarded by a bevy of backslaps and congratulations.

“Damn fine job up there!” one pilot said as he vigorously shook Vincent’s hand.

“Hell of thing you all did,” came from another soldier as he patted Jaze on the back.

“Yeah, you really took it to those Cye bastards!”

“Hey wait, Colonel. Aren’t you Kazerugi, the Wind of Death?” This question was met with much excitement as the eager soldiers pressed closer.

“Yeah, that’s what I heard. I also heard that you was the one that took out a whole pirate base by yourself.”

“And he is the leader of the Angels. That’s pretty sweet.”

“Not to mention he managed to find out and piss off the Cye leader.” Shelby called out with a wink to her commanding officer. Again, the soldiers pressed closer; begging him for details.

“Enough,” Jaze finally called out, the anger in his voice belied by the smile on his face, “I’ve got to get some things done and I want to rest. I know who I am and what I’ve done; now can we all just get back to our jobs?”

“Is it true?” an emotionlessly calm voice called out over the bedlam.

“Is what true?” the assassin asked as the group fell silent. The soldiers parted to reveal a young pilot with brownish-blonde hair and blue eyes.

“Are you truly Kazerugi?” he asked again in that same emotionless voice.

“I am, why? Do you have a problem with being led by an assassin?”

“No sir,” Despite the mask he tried to hide behind, Jaze could tell the boy was lying.

“You know who I am, who are you?”

“I’m Master Sergeant Dmitri Sands, Colonel sir.”

“Tell what’s really on your mind.”

“No sir, I’ll not risk having others not trust you sir.”

“As your CO, I order you to tell me what is bothering you.”

“Sir, yes sir.” He took a deep breath and was suddenly giving the silver-eyed assassin a look to kill, “My father’s name was Domovo Sands, ring any bells.”

“Yes,” Jaze’s voice suddenly lacked emotion, “yes it does.”

“It should, seeing as you killed him.” There was not a sound to be heard as all eyes focused on Jaze. “That’s right you killed my father. I know that he was an evil man, but you killed my father. He raised me and loved me. I’ve always sworn that I would kill the bastard that took him from me, but come to find out, he’s my CO now.” He adopted a coldly sarcastic tone, “Funny how that works, isn’t it?”

“I can understand wanting revenge for the death of one you love,” Jaze’s eyes slid to the ground, “more than you could ever know.”

“I don’t think so, sir.” Even while Sands’ tone was respectful, he still managed to sound condescending, “You have no idea what it’s like to lose the man that raised you.”

“I lost my parents at the hands of bandits when I was a small child.” His voice lacked emotion, but anyone looking into his eyes would have seen the heartbreak as the memories washed over him.

“Whatever, you ordered me to tell you. So I did.” He turned away, his emotionless stance turned to one of pure anger, “Now if you’ll excuse me,” He started to walk away.

“You truly hate me then?’ the assassin called out before Sands had gone more than a few feet.

“Yes sir.” The young man replied shortly.

“If you want to kill me, now’s your chance.” There was a collective gasp as Sands turned around to face the assassin.

“What?”

“I said, try to do me. Here, now.”

“No sir, you’re a colonel and I’m not stupid.”

Jaze unclipped the colonel’s pin from the collar of his flight suit, “Not for now. This is a personal fight between you and me. There will be no repercussions from the outcome of this fight.” He raised his voice as he handed the pin to Shelby, “Did everyone hear that?”

The young man stood staring at the assassin for a moment, unsure of what he wanted to do. Suddenly, Sands lunged at Jaze and drew his fist back to deliver a powerful right hook. The assassin merely stepped out of the as the punch went wide. The rest of the gathered soldiers drew back, giving the two combatants a large arena. Sands had to take another few steps to regain his balance as Jaze stood still, waiting for the next attack. Every time Sands threw a punch, the assassin stepped out of the way with ease.

“Stand still and fight, coward!” Sands roared as Jaze dodged another swing.

“You don’t want me to. I don’t believe in mercy when it comes to a fight.” The assassin replied in a cold voice that sent a shudder down the spine of all who heard it.

“I thought the great Kazerugi could easily take down little old me.” The young soldier mocked, “So come on, what are you waiting for? Show me why you were so feared!”

“If you wish…” Jaze dropped into a defensive stance as Sands charged in once more. Instead of dodging, this time Jaze caught the punch and delivered a savage blow under the arm. Trixie recognized it as the same punch he had used against Dash, but she saw just how gentle he had been with the cyan mare. Instead of merely numbing the limb, there was a sickening pop as it was dislocated, the young pilot’s face paling with the sudden pain. Jaze wasted no time in planting a swift kick to the young pilot’s knee; not enough to shatter the bone, but more than enough to send the already unbalanced combatant to the ground. As he fell, found his dislocated arm wrapped in the assassin’s, and when he finally came to rest on the ground, Jaze put just enough pressure on the arm to let Sands know he could crush it with ease.

“Remember this next time,” Jaze said, his voice retaining the same deadly quality, “you are nothing compared to what I had to face. I could have killed already, but I won’t.” He stood up, leaving the younger man on the ground, “Get that shoulder set soon, you’re still a soldier for the StarSide Marines and you will do your duty. Feel free to come at me whenever you wish.”

As the assassin walked away he stopped and turned back to say, “I don’t know if it matters, but I am truly sorry that your father had to die. I don’t regret killing him; only that it was necessary.” His voice had become soft and sad, and he walked away without another word.

“What the hell were you thinkin’ Dmitri?” a soldier asked, “He coulda killed you in ten seconds flat.

“I know,” Sands looked utterly confused, “why didn’t he?”

“You obviously don’t know Jaze!” an angry female voice accused. As one, the gathered soldiers looked to see an all but forgotten blue unicorn glaring at the young pilot lying on the ground, “He won’t kill without anypony without good reason!”

“Is that so,” Sands said quietly as the unicorn took off after Jaze, “is that so?”

A Reason to Kill

Trixie was searching for Jaze with an almost frantic passion. She had been trying to find him since the fight ten minutes ago, but he appeared to have vanished from the face of the planet. She needed to find him; needed to know if he was okay. The unicorn had seen something in the assassin’s eyes as he had left Sands, but she could not be sure what it was. Fear? Anger? Hate? A combination of all those and more?

Her search continued until, at last, she spotted the colonel leaving the tent he had changed in before, Sairugi once more at his side and his uniform back in place. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, but Jaze seemed determined to leave her behind.

“Jaze, wait!” she called out, hoping to stall him for a moment. He spun around, hand flying to the hilt of his weapon. He was obviously still tense from the fight, but he relaxed his stance as he saw who was calling for him.

“Oh, hey Trix,” he said in a tired voice, “I’m sorry that you had to see that. Human nature can be ugly at times.”

“He asked for it,” the same haunted look was still fixed on the soldier’s face, “are you okay?”

“No, I’m not.” he confessed, “I always knew that my marks had lives, and families. But to see a target’s son with no other desire than to kill me for killing his parents… it’s a terrible feeling.”

“Your ‘marks’, what’s that?”

“The people I was supposed to kill. I tried to refer to them by anything other than their names. It made it easier to think of them as objects, or by their deeds. But in the back of my mind, I knew that someone would be sad that they wouldn’t come home again.”

“So, were all your marks evil?”

“Pretty much, though there were a few that I wish I had never had to kill.”

“Like?”

“Like, can we talk about something else? I don’t want to talk about this now.”

“Fine, how about we go home and get ready for tonight?”

“But there are things…”

“No buts, we’re going home. I’m getting tired, and you’re exhausted.”

“Okay,” the assassin smiled, “we’ll go home. I can always do what I need to from there.”

“Good,” Trixie sighed in relief, “then let’s get home.”

xxx

Jaze basked in the pleasant smell of cooking that filled the air. The simple act of creating the meal had done much to calm him after the past few adrenaline-soaked hours he had had. It did not hurt to think that this would be the first time in a long time that he had spent any time with Vincent and Shelby when they were not getting shot at.

The food was mostly ready and the only thing left to do was wait for people and ponies to arrive. It felt good to just relax into the couch with nothing pressing him into action. But it did give him time to think about what to do about Trixie. She had said she liked him, so he saw no reason not to confess his feelings. But still he hesitated. He had no desire to take things any farther than they were, and yet a part of him truly wanted things to work out between them.

Jaze suddenly became aware of Trixie staring at him from across the room, “I see that you have a question.”

“Just something that had been bothering me,” the blue unicorn’s face was contorted in a look of confusion, “why did the Cye send so many fighters to kill just you?”

“That is a pretty good question. It’s because they wanted to make sure they got the job done.”

“What?”

“By sending in almost twenty fighters, they could be reasonably sure that I would die.” His tone became lifeless, “And they don’t care how many soldiers they lose.”

“Why wouldn’t they care? I would think that losing a lot of soldiers would equal a loss.”

“For organics, it would. But cybernetic foes are… different” the assassin drew in a deep breath, “For humans and ponies, it takes at the absolute least eighteen years for us to replace one member of our respective races. But, since the Cye can repair, or at least recycle, their ‘dead’ in a matter of hours; they could lose a hundred thousand soldiers taking a world and have them back in the fight in days.”

“Now I can see why humans are having so much difficulty in fighting this war…” Trixie looked downcast; worried about the outcome of a fight that had suddenly come to those she loved.

“Don’t worry; we’ve got the Cye right where we want them.” Jaze said confidently.

“How do you suppose so?” she asked as uncertainty flooded her voice.

“Their leader will be here, and he’s called me out for a personal fight.” The soldier’s face grew suddenly dark, “I’m an assassin, killing those who bring harm to others is what I do.”

“There’s more though, right? Or is the only reason you’re doing this because it is your duty?”

“You know that it’s personal for me. But I have to have an actual reason to risk my life for the brass to accept it if I di…”

“Don’t say those words, Colonel Armand!” Trixie suddenly yelled, “I won’t hear them; you’re not going to die!” Sudden tears stung her eyes as she glared at the young colonel.

“Don’t worry,” the young assassin said as he gave the unicorn a comforting hug, “I have no plans to die.”

“Promise me,” she said resolutely.

“What?” He pulled away from her a little to look her in the eye; taken aback by the force in her voice.

“Promise me that you won’t let yourself die.”

“For you Trix, I’ll be immortal. I promise.”

“Thank you Jaze, I’m just so scared right now”

“I know,” Jaze said with a caring smile, “we all are. It’s part of what lets us know we’re alive.”

The unicorn swallowed as she nodded her head, “Thank you for being so understanding.”

Jaze stood and stretched his back, “I’m going to go ahead and take a shower and get the grime of a fight off me before anyone gets here. Are you okay finishing up on your own?”

“Sure,” she said as she waved a hoof at him, “go get clean. You do have a particular odor about you today.”

“Yeah, it’s called eau de fear and adrenaline.” he said as he walked toward the bathroom, “I didn’t think it would be a popular smell. Let me just get rid of that.” Trixie could not help but notice that he seemed to be happier, and that he seemed to have come to some kind of conclusion.

xxx

Jaze stepped into his room and tossed his dirty uniform and towel into a bin as he searched in his dresser for something to put on. The shower had been exquisite, the pounding water relieving him of the stress of the day. Unfortunately, the stress wanted must have wanted to stick with him; he could not find anything to put on. He was just about to take a peek out the window to see if he had left his clothes on the line, when his door opened. In walked Trixie, with his clothes balanced on her back; to find an oddly naked, and red, Jaze diving for his bed and throwing the covers over himself.

“Trixie! What in the name of the galaxy are you doing?!” His face was getting redder by the minute as she stood there, unable to speak.

“I, that is, uh…” Her own face had begun to color now, “Clothes! I brought your clothes in from the line. I, uh, thought that that you might need them. Yeah…”

“Well thanks,” the embarrassed soldier snapped as she tossed the garments on the bed, “now would you please leave so I can get dressed?”

“You know,” she said with a suddenly mocking voice, “you see me naked all the time. So why is this wrong?”

“Well, um… that is… I… you…” the assassin stammered, “You’re used to being naked for the majority of your day. In human society, it’s not kosher for a man to see a woman naked, or vice versa, unless they’re…” he blushed a deeper red, “well, whatever. Point is that I am not comfortable with you seeing me naked.”

“Oh come on Jaze,” she was now wearing a smile at his discomfort, “maybe I should take a look at you; you know, for science’s sake.”

“Oh ha, ha; really funny. Please leave, this is already embarrassing enough.”

“Have I managed to catch the best assassin in the game off guard?” the honey in her voice utterly failed to hide the friendly sarcasm.

“Yes you did, are you happy now? And would you please just leave?”

“Okay, assassin.” She couldn’t resist one last jibe, “Better hope nopony catches you with your pants down; you would be utterly worthless.” She then left the bright red soldier to get dressed. He wasted no time and soon joined her in the front room; the front of his shirt left unbuttoned for the moment.

“Thank you Trixie,” Jaze said huffily as he returned to the couch, “for bringing me my clothes.”

“Are you still upset?” the dusky-blue unicorn asked worriedly.

“Not upset, just a hell of embarrassed.”

She took in his unbuttoned shirt, “So why is this okay?”

“Because all the important bits are covered, that’s why.”

“Okay then,” she chuckled, “humans are a strange lot.”

“No more strange than ponies, my dear little lady.” He retorted with a bemused smile, “They’ll start arriving any moment, so let’s go ahead and get set up.”

It did not take long for the first guests to arrive. Pinkie Pie, being Pinkie Pie, had somehow known about the party before hand and had taken it upon herself to pass out invitations to everypony. She and Fluttershy were the first to arrive, quickly followed by Dash and Twilight. Applejack arrived soon after, while Rarity was the last to arrive. Despite this being a gathering of friends, Rarity had decided to appear in her Gala best, something that amused the rest of the group. Jaze was pleased to see that Dash and Applejack had their swords belted on like he had told them. Everyone grabbed any seat they could to wait for Shelby and Vincent to arrive.

“Ugh, when do we get to eat?” Dash groaned, “I’m starving!”

“Would you please be patient darling,” Rarity pleaded, “the guests of honor have yet to arrive.”

“I know but… ugh!” the cyan pegasus let her head fall to the table in front of her.

“Now hol’ on a minute sugar cube,” Applejack stated, “they’ll be here any minute. Then we kin eat.”

“In fact, is that them now?” Twilight asked as a knock came at the door. The portal opened to reveal a very impressed Vincent and Shelby.

Vincent gave a low whistle as he looked around at the house and said in awe, “You don’t deserve this, Jaze. Alls you did was crash here.”

“Yeah, if only getting a house was this easy everywhere else.” Shelby added as she fell onto the couch, “Mmm, comfy.”

“Yeah,” Jaze said as Vincent took a seat, “go ahead and make yourselves at home.

“Oh yeah,” Shelby tossed Jaze his colonel pin, “you forgot that.”

“Okay,” Dash groaned, “they’re here. Can we eat now?”

“Yeah why not,” Vincent said as he took a deep sniff of the aromas filling the air, “now I know Jaze didn’t cook. It smells far too good.”

“As a matter of fact,” the assassin replied with a mock-offended tone, “I did cook; at least some of it. And just for that, you can’t have any.”

Everyone laughed at the look of near fear on Vincent’s face, “Aw, c’mon boss. You know I didn’t mean it. Can I please have some, for old times’ sake?”

“I suppose so, if you’re going to whine about it.” Jaze put on a grin, “but I will remember this.”

xxx

“Oh god, I can’t eat any more…” Shelby moaned contentedly as she pushed her nearly full plate away.

“Great, more for us.” Dash said happily as she snatched the plate up and divided its contents between her, Applejack, and Vincent. The rest of the diners watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as the three wolfed down morsel after morsel.

Vincent let out a deep belch and sighed with satisfaction, “Ah, good food.”

“Yes indeed,” Rarity said while she daintily wiped her mouth, “and splendid food deserves proper manners.”

“Don’t mind her none,” Applejack reassured the large soldier, “she’s just a might fussy.”

“I am not!” the white unicorn protested loudly.

“Oh yes you are!”the farm pony countered, “One time, when was supposed to be clearin’ up braches before a storm, she was tryin’ t’ make look all fancy.” Vincent let out a deep laugh as Rarity’s face colored.

“All right,” Jaze cut in, trying not to laugh himself, “that’s enough of that.” He looked over the stack of dishes piled around the three new-found friends, “And since you three dirtied so many of them, you get to help with the clean up.” A unified groan arose from Dash and Vincent while Applejack looked to the dishes with a look of regret on her face.

“Man, I knew there was a catch.” Vincent complained as he began to gather the dishes from the table.

“Oh well,” Dash answered, “it was worth it.” Between the three of them and Jaze the dishes were cleaned and dried in record time, and everyone retired to the living room for conversation. The sky had begun to darken as Luna brought forth another night.

“You know Applejack,” Jaze said when they had all settled in, “Vin and his family are actually farmers on good old Earth.”

“Ah, dang it Jaze,” Vincent quickly called out, “you said that you wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“You,” the assassin smiled, “have got a lot to learn about Equestria. Around here, farmers are respected.”

“What d’you mean?” Applejack asked while confusion seeped into her voice, “Ain’t they respected everywhere? And what is ‘Earth’?”

“In a way,” Vincent explained, “yes they are. But for many they think farming is a stupid man’s profession. They have no idea just how much work goes into every crop that gets planted; rotations, knowing when to plant and water, it’s a lot of thought.”

“Okay, but what is Earth?” Twilight asked; her hunger for knowledge ever present.

“Earth is the human home world.” Jaze told her, “It was where humans first came into being, and from where we spread all over the galaxy.”

“Oh,” Pinkie Pie suddenly chimed in, “I thought you meant dirt!”

“Is she always this, well…” Shelby looked to Twilight.

“You get used to it.” the purple unicorn assured.

“And while we’re talking about pasts,” Vincent said in a serious tone, “why did you never tell us you lost your parents?”

All mirth left the room as everyone in the room looked to the assassin for answers, “Well, it didn’t seem that important. Most of the kids on my home planet ended up orphaned. It was a recruitment strategy for the gangs of that world.” His voice had become apathetic, as if he were commenting on the weather, “Kill a child’s parents and then raise them as a member of the gang family; then look, you’ve got another dedicated soldier for your cause.”

“That’s terrible!” Twilight whispered in a sickened voice.

“At least what happened to a lot of children did not happen to me. The planet was very poor in general, but the gangs always managed to make money. It was not uncommon for parents to sell their children to the gangs just to make it through another year.”

“What about the law enforcement?” Shelby asked, her voice mirroring Twilight’s, “Why didn’t they stop it?”

“The gangs were the law.” Jaze countered, “Sure, there were police officers here and there. But they mostly left the gangs alone. The police did not have the power to stop them, so it was in their best interest to just leave them alone.” He let out a short, unamused laugh, “Sometimes the gangs helped fund the police forces; with the tidbit that they leave the gangs to their own devices. Mostly they were just cleanup crews.”

“That is the worst possible thing I can imagine for a child.” Rarity’s voice was quiet and disheartened.

“I don’t regret it.” Everyone in the room looked to him in shock, “If not for that, I would not be here; with you all.”

“That’s sweet sugar cube,” Applejack replied, “but Ah still wish that ya didn’t have to go through that.”

“Yes, quite agree.” Rarity added.

“Thanks girls, but it’s okay.” The assassin wore a serene smile, “I am well past everything that happened then. It’s all in the past, so I can’t change it.” Despite his brave words, Trixie could see that something from then still haunted him; something that he wished not to speak of. She only hoped that one day he could share it with them all, whatever it was.

“It’s getting late,” Shelby said as she glanced at the now starry sky, “perhaps we should get back to camp.”

“Ah could let ya stay with me at the farm.” Applejack offered the two soldiers from the stars.

“No,” Vincent graciously declined, “We have a small tent and bunks waiting for us back at camp.”

Pinkie suddenly gave a whole body shudder, “Twitcha-twitch, something’s coming.”

“What is that about?” Vincent asked Jaze.

“Like Twilight said, just go with it.” he replied as he stood from his chair. He cautiously started for the door, when it suddenly burst open to reveal Master Sergeant Sands; his arm in a sling and a pronounced limp in his leg. In his good hand, he held a small pistol.

Shelby and Vincent’s hands dipped for side arms they had left behind in their tent. Jaze unconsciously stepped in front of Trixie; shielding her from Sands’ view and gun. Dash and Applejack came to their feet in a rush, drawing their swords as they did.

The blonde haired youth ignored all the aggression aimed at him as he addressed Jaze calmly, “I just want to talk.”

“If that’s all you want,” the assassin asked, his heart racing, “why did you bring the gun?”

Sands looked down at the weapon, “Call it insurance. I just need some answers.”

“Okay,” Shelby sneered, “Yes, no, maybe, forty two, two miles, up yours. Was one of those the answer you were looking for? ‘Cause I’ve got more.”

“Don’t get smart.” the young pilot cautioned, “I am the one with a gun.”

“You should know,” Jaze retorted, “that means nothing.”

“Whatever, just tell me what I need to know and I’ll go.” He holstered the handgun, “See? Everything’s cool in here.”

“What is your question?”

“I want to know why you killed my father.” Jaze cocked his head in confusion it was not the question he had expected. Sands pointed to the blue unicorn peeking out from behind Jaze, “She said you wouldn’t kill without a reason. I want, no, need to know why. So tell me, please.”

“I won’t lie to you to protect your father’s image.” The assassin warned.

“I’m prepared for that. But I can’t live in ignorance anymore.” He replied resolutely.

“Okay then,” Jaze shrugged, “do you remember the Alumi Incident? Your father bank rolled that incident.”

“Alumi Incident?” Vincent questioned, “Why does that sound familiar?”

“It was a takeover by pirates of the colony on Alumi.” Shelby answered, anger coloring her voice, “I lost my brother when they killed all the soldiers there. That’s what made me a join up.” She took an aggressive step towards Sands, “You’re telling me that whelp’s father paid for that muck-up?”

“Stand down, Lieutenant.” Jaze ordered. Shelby stepped back away from the blonde pilot, but only reluctantly. The assassin turned back to Sands, “Is that all? If so, leave.”

“Was that all my father did?”

“No, he also killed several colonists that tried to move onto a planet he claimed as his and more in his rise to power as a gang lord. But Alumi bumped him up to a tier one hit. Before, there were bigger fish to fry, so to speak.”

“I never knew…” The young man’s eyes fell to the ground as he turned to leave, “This isn’t over yet. You still have to pay for taking my father from me.” He quickly left the house, slamming the door behind him.

“I’m glad you killed that bastard.” Shelby’s eyes fixed the scarred soldier with a glare, “I just wish I could have seen justice done.” She followed after Sands out the door.

“Hey Jaze,” Vincent placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, “if he gives you more trouble, I’ve got your back.”

“Same here,” Dash added, “that guy’s a jerk.”

“He’s just confused.” Twilight countered, “He’s learning things that contradict what he held to be true. That will make anypony a little mean.”

“Ah think it’s time we all got some shut eye. Been a long day for everypony.” Applejack yawned.

“Indeed, it is getting late.” Rarity agreed, “See you again soon, everypony.”

“Yeah, this was fun!” Pinkie Pie agreed as she bounded out the door, “Except when it wasn’t.”

“See you all tomorrow.”Jaze waved to his friends as they left his house. Soon, it was just him and Trixie; alone in the house. Should I… he started second guessing himself, I need to. I can’t wait until it’s too late anymore. I need to say it, tonight, now. The scarred soldier switched off the lights, leaving only the small lamp next to the couch on.

“I’m sorry that you had all this happen on top of what happened earlier.” Trixie gave him an apology.

“It’s not your fault.” Jaze assured as he took a seat next to her on the couch, “And don’t worry about it.”

“But I do.”

“I know.” He turned on the couch until he was staring into her beautiful purple eyes, “There’s something that I need to say.” He took a deep breath, “In orbit, just before the Cye came, you remember how I said that I liked you and all my friends?”

“Yes,” she said while her eyebrow went up, “what about it.”

“I also meant that I liked you, too. I only realized it when I saw the Cye about to hurt you.” He took another steadying breath, “But I think it might be more than just like, I think I might lo…”

She pressed her hooves to his lips, “Don’t say that yet.” She curled up against him again, “You know, you’re still really comfortable.”

“Thanks,” he said as their eyes grew heavy. He had just enough time to switch off the lamp before the excitement of the day caught up with him and he fell into a deep slumber.

xxx

Outside the living room window, a pair of eyes watched as the assassin fell asleep. A grin broke across the face containing the eyes as he found out Jaze’s one weakness. “I’ve got you now, fool. I will kill you, soon. You should not have let your guard down.” The figure made a hasty retreat, quietly stealing away into the dark of the night with his new found knowledge.

Stolen Heart

The house was silent, save for the gentle snores of a blue unicorn sleeping next an assassin with her head on his lap. He was already awake, and was gently brushing her mane away from her face as she slept. He was gladdened beyond words to have finally admitted his feelings for her. On the other hand, he feared that anyone looking at him would instantly know as well; he was not ready to let everyone in on the secret just yet. His face was set in a peaceful smile while he watched her sleep.

Despite all that had happened the day before, his sleep had been sound and he knew who he could thank for it. Trixie had become a talisman against the horrors he faced. She and his other friends helped keep his head on straight in these dark times. He only hoped that he could protect them all from what was to come. Especially the ponies, he knew that they weren’t ready for the ravages of a war with beings they did not understand. His one wish was that war had never come here, to this last bastion of peace in the galaxy.

While Jaze was absorbed in thought, Trixie had begun to stir. The first thing she was aware of was his hand running through her mane in a calming way. It threatened to put her back under, but she fought to come fully awake. Today was an important day, she felt, and she did not want to miss anymore of it.

The unicorn forced her eyes open to see Jaze deeply absorbed in thought, but still wearing a smile. She was glad to see the ugliness of the day before had not dampened his spirits much. Trixie found herself unable, or perhaps just unwilling, to move from her comfortable position. She felt she could lay there forever and let the world would take care of itself. That is until her stomach gave a rumble that startled the soldier from his revere.

He looked down at her, still wearing a small smile, “Morning. Hungry much?”

“I guess so.” she replied as she stretched, “Shall we make breakfast?”

“I’m going to get breakfast at the human camp. It would be a good idea for me to stay around there a lot so the soldiers can get used to me.

“Okay, I’ll just cook for myself.” She fixed the scarred assassin with a penetrating stare, “You be careful, okay? I’m still a little worried that Sands creep will try something.”

“I can handle anything that kid tries to throw at me. Besides,” he gave the worried unicorn a wink, “I promised you that I’d be immortal. I’m not one to go back on a promise.” He stood to exit their little cottage and grabbed Sairugi from where he had set it, just within arms reach.

“Good, and don’t you forget it!” Trixie called out as he left. He threw a nod and a wave over his shoulder as he started for the camp.

The walk was short, and it didn’t take him long to find the mess hall. He was one of the last to join the queue and refused the offers to be bumped up in line. Even so, it was not too long before he had his food and was finding a place among the soldiers. At first they were stand-offish, thinking of him like they did most other officers. When one finally asked why he was not at the officers’ table, the Colonel told them that he wanted to know the men and women that would be trying to keep him alive, and that he would be trying to keep alive in return.

This warmed them up to him and soon they were laughing and sharing stories with him. Some of the soldiers were veterans of Vaseti and many thanked him for his and the Angel’s work in holding the line.

“Is it true,” one soldier asked curiously, “that you charged into the Cye and killed thousands with only your sword?”

“That,” the assassin replied bemusedly, “is a load of bull. I only killed less than a hundred with Sairugi.”

“Is that the sword?” another asked excitedly, point to the blade on Jaze’s hip.

“Yes it is.” He drew Sairugi to show it to the impressed soldiers.

“What are the Angels, exactly?” the first soldier asked.

“That’s a stupid question, Corrion.” A soldier teased.

“No, it’s not.” Jaze looked to the soldier, Corrion, “The Angels are a special task force. Most of the time, we’re just regular soldiers. But if Command has a job that is too delicate for normal troops, they call us in.” The Colonel smiled, “Basically, it means that we got the worst jobs in the worst places in the galaxy.” The room shook as the soldiers laughed, recognizing the complaints as the ones they themselves made on a regular basis. This, more than anything, made the soldiers trust Jaze. They knew he was one of them, not just some upper-crust fool whose father paid for officer training.

“It’s been fun guys,” Jaze said when he stood to leave, “but there are some things I need to take care of. You know how it is, a war must be won on paper before it can be one on the ground.” The soldiers grinned as they said goodbye, and at that moment, they gained a healthy respect for just how hard it must be to run an army.

The Colonel exited the mess hall as soon as he had dropped off his tray to be cleaned. He paused a moment to take in where he was; he was still learning the exact layout of the camp. He turned towards where he thought the command center would be and set off at a brisk pace. Thankfully, he was able to get directions from a soldier when he got a little lost.

When he walked in, the young man running Control that day bolted out of his seat, knocking his chair over in the process. “Colonel, sir!” He snapped a smart salute.

“As you were, soldier.” Jaze glided over to his desk, “There are a few things that I need to happen now, if not sooner.”

“Sir, yes sir.” The Control operator grabbed a pen and note pad, “Ready, sir.”

“First things first, I want a four pilot team in the void at all times.” the soldier behind the desk started writing quickly, “We never know when the enemy will appear and I want someone to be up there to stall them while we scramble our own fighters. If we can keep them pinned in space, that is a victory in and of itself.”

“Yes sir,” the young soldier replied, “anything else?”

“I also want Lieutenant Wagner, Chief Warrant Officer Meadoz, and my own fighter prepped and ready at all times. We will be the quick reaction force if something hostile does enter the system. I will also have my mike on me at all times,” Jaze leaned down to the soldier and looked directly into his eyes, “if anything at all happens, I want to know first. If there are any problems, and I mean any, I want to be told. It doesn’t matter what time of the day or night. Clear?”

“Crystal, sir.”

“Good,” the assassin straightened up, “I also need one more pilot to be put at the ready with Shelby, Vincent, and I. Any suggestions?”

“Yes sir,” he brought up the files of the pilots currently on the planet, “there’s a couple that you could look at.” The young soldier quickly downloaded the files to a data pad and handed it to Jaze, “They are in order from most to least skilled.”

“Thanks,” the assassin turned to leave.

“Um sir,” he twisted back around to look at the operator, “it’s an honor serving with a hero.”

“Hero is something others call you to justify stupidity. It’s severely overrated.” Jaze quickly exited the command center, pouring over the list that the soldier had prepared for him. Third from the top was Sands. Jaze was rather impressed as he looked over the boy’s record. It gave him quite a few honors as well as a single reprimand. The file said that he had abandoned his post in order to save a family under Cye attack. Officially he had been reprimanded, but the assassin knew that was a mere formality. Maybe, Jaze thought with a smile, the kid isn’t so bad.

He set off for the personal quarters, hoping to find Shelby and Vincent. On the way, he could hear an angry voice yelling, but he could not tell what the voice was saying. As he got closer, he could begin to make out just what the voice was saying.

“I don’t care how innocent they seem!” the voice shouted, “They could become enemies at any moment! You will not give them a firsthand knowledge of our weapons!”

“Sir yes sir.” a meeker voice replied. Jaze finally found the source of the disturbance; a Sergeant in his mid thirties had a group of soldiers standing at attention in front of him. Jaze was not sure what the dressing down was about, but he decided to let the Sergeant do his job and started to leave. Until he saw a purple tail flick in annoyance from behind the soldiers and a familiar angry voice preparing for a lecture, that is.

“I’m not your enemy! I am just trying to learn as much as I can about this war thing!” Twilight retorted angrily.

“For now you’re not, but there are no guarantees for the future; now is there?”

Jaze stepped up to the older man, “What is the problem, Sergeant?”

The Sergeant looked down at the assassin, “And who the hell you think you are?”

“The guy running this circus.” Jaze pointed to his Colonel’s pin, “Now tell me what is happening.”

“Sir,” the Sergeant’s tone became respectful and he snapped a salute, “these soldiers were teaching the alien…”

“She has a name. It’s Twilight; you’d do well to use it.”

“Yes sir,” he sighed, “they were teaching Twilight about our weapons and tools.”

“Twilight is a close personal friend of mine.” The Sergeant paled, “She has my absolute trust, as do the Princesses and their people. From now on I expect you to show respect for these ponies, especially Twilight and her friends. They are very important ponies.”

“Yes sir!” He gave another salute, spun on his heel, and walked away with a stunned look on his face.

“Sorry about that boys and girls.” Jaze smiled to the group of soldiers the Sergeant had been yelling at, “Don’t worry, these ponies are our allies. If they have any questions, feel free to answer to the best of your abilities. We’re all in this mess together, and the more we trust each other, the better.”

“Sir, yes sir.” The soldiers replied in unison and they, too, quickly left; glad to have escaped without getting a punishment.

“Are humans always this mean?” Twilight asked the assassin in a huff.

“Not usually, and not all the time. He was just trying to do what he thought best for humanity.” Jaze laid his hand on her shoulder, “Don’t worry about him, and those like him. They’ll come around sooner or later.”

“Okay then,” she sighed. “By way, I’ve been looking for you. Princess Celestia wrote to tell me she would be here to speak with you. I think she said she would be here around noon.”

“Thanks, I’ll search her out. Someone will have seen her.”

xxx

Jaze sat across the table from the Princess, a dark look set on his face, “What did you say?”

“I said,” Celestia repeated, “that you should allow some of the Canterlot doctors to augment your current medical staff.”

“I can’t do that, Princess.”

“Why not, pray tell?” she replied, anger beginning to creep into her voice.

“Your doctors may be great, but they are unprepared for the horrors of being frontline personnel. The wounds that get inflicted during conflict can be terrible, and there is more they are not ready for.”

“Like what? Tell me, if you would.”

“Could they let someone die?” His question stunned Celestia, she could not believe he had asked it.

“Why do you ask such a terrible question?” she replied, her horror evident in her voice.

“In war, there will be time that some soldiers can’t be saved. The only thing that you are able to do is ease their passing and move on.” He pointed a finger at the Princess, “Your people aren’t ready for that. They’ll try to save everyone who is brought in, and in the end lose more lives than they save.” He let his arm and eyes drop, “I know that is hard to hear, but it is the truth. I know that it is hard to take, but please listen to me.”

“Jaze,” He brought his eyes up to meet hers, “you realize that I can order you to accept the help? Besides, if you have more doctors to help you, you can save more lives when the fighting starts.”

Jaze stood up, “If that is truly your wish, then I will accept the help. But I want you to know, war is utter hell. Even those that come back alive will not be the same.” He leaned back down and planted his hands on the table, “You are damning somepony to see things that no living beings should ever see. They will never be the same. Do you understand?”

“I do.” she replied firmly, “What else can I do? I have to try and help in any way I can.”

“I know Celestia,” he gave a wan smile, “you’re doing what you think is best. That’s all anypony can do right now.”

He started to leave, but Celestia called him back. “So, are you glad to see your friends again?” She asked with a caring smile.

A wide smile crossed the assassin’s face, “You have no idea how glad I am to see them. I feel a lot better knowing that they’re safe.”

“Maybe you should take the day off and visit with them today.”

“You read my mind, but I’ll still be available for official business.”

“Have fun today Jaze.”

“I’ll try.” He gave Celestia a wave and entered back into the bright sunlight. The day was still young and he wished to spend as much time as he could with his friends now, while all was quiet.

The assassin’s happy thoughts were interrupted by a sudden cold realization. I’m being watched, he thought as he cast his eyes around for the perpetrator. Whoever it or whatever was watching him was well hidden; he could not find them among the jumble of soldiers and equipment surrounding him. He still felt the presence of eyes on him though and he set off at a brisk pace. The assassin wanted to escape the prying eyes, as well as get to his friends as quickly as possible.

xxx

It took him a moment to find Shelby and Vincent’s tent, but he figured it was the best place to start his search. Pushing aside the flap covering the entrance, he entered the cool darkness within. He was greeted by the sight of Vincent and Shelby locked in a deep kiss. He stood in shock as the embarrassed couple broke apart and turned so red they glowed.

“I’m going to leave now,” Jaze said as he pointed out of the tent, turning a little red himself.

“Jaze wait,” Vincent crossed the distance to his friend, “I’m sorry that you found out like this.”

“I apologize as well,” Shelby threw her hand on the assassin’s shoulder.

“Why are you apologizing?” The pair looked at him in surprise, “What you two do is your business; I have no need to know what goes on behind closed doors.” His tone put the lie to his calm words

“Jaze, I can see you’re upset.” Vincent looked the assassin in the eye, “We didn’t tell you because we did not want to upset you more.”

“How long have you two been, you know… an item?”

“We have been more serious since Vaseti.” Shelby answered quietly, her hand falling from Jaze’s shoulder and her eyes went to the floor, “That’s why we didn’t say anything. We knew you were upset about Evelyn and didn’t want to hurt you anymore.”

“I understand,” he put a hand on each of their shoulders, “you guys were just looking out for me, and I am grateful that you two thought of me as well as yourselves. I’m only upset because you did not tell me. I would have been happy for you both; it probably would have done me a world of good.

“So you’re not mad?” The couple asked in unison.

“Hell no,” he pulled the pair in for a hug, “you guys are my best friends. All I feel is happiness for you two.”

“In that case,” Shelby reached under her shirt and pulled out a small ring on a chain and placed it on her finger, “I guess we don’t have to hide it anymore. Vincent asked me to marry him.”

Jaze gave the pair a foolishly happy grin, “Since when?”

“I asked her when you disappeared,” the couple drew closer together.

“Well, congrats!” He started to leave, “I’ll just let you two love birds alone. Come by my house later if you want; I don’t plan on doing anything productive today. Maybe we can go fishing or something.”

“That sounds fun.” Shelby replied with a smile.

“See you then Jaze.” Vincent agreed.

Jaze set off for his house, a smile on his face. I’m so happy for those two, he thought happily, they deserve each other! I hope for nothing but happiness between them. The assassin noticed that he no longer felt watched, and wondered where the person watching him had gone. He caught sight of Twilight walking with a strange look on her face.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked as he drew near.

“I’m a little worried.” the purple unicorn replied, “Dash went to your house, and she hasn’t come back. That was almost an hour ago.”

“I’m heading home now, I’ll look for her on the way there.” He stopped, a thoughtful look on his face, “Did she say why she was going to my house?”

“She said that she saw somepony suspicious heading there and she thought that it might be Sands again.”

“You’re worried he might have done something?”

“Yes,” she looked up at him, the fear clear in her eyes, “I don’t trust him, Jaze. There’s just something off about him.”

“I doubt he would do something so foolish. But don’t worry, I’ll look for Dash. She probably just stopped off for a nap or something.”

“Okay, thank you Jaze.” Twilight walked away; the tension still obvious in her shoulders.

Jaze started for home; his feet moving a little faster than before. The more he thought about it, the more worried he became. It did not make sense, Dash would not leave her friends to worry about her. He was soon almost running, now decidedly worried.

When his house came into view, he could tell something was wrong. The front door was hanging off its hinges and he could see a cyan object curled up next to the door. His feet hardly touched the ground as he flew down the road to reach what he saw was Dash, who was obviously hurt.

He fell to his knees when he reached her and lifted her head into his lap. She had a nasty gash surrounded by an ugly black and purple bruise. She was still breathing, Jaze noted with relief. But she was on the verge of unconsciousness.

“Hey, Dash!” the fear-filled assassin called, “Open your eyes! Tell me what happened!” He could see that her sword was still in its sheathe; whatever had happened had been quick.

“She…” the pegasus murmured, “taken… help…” with that, she lapsed into unconsciousness. Jaze carried her inside and set her on the couch. On the table, he found a note.

Come to the other side of Sweet Apple Acres. I have your precious Trixie and I well kill her if you do not appear soon. Come alone and tell no one where you are going. This is for all the pain you have caused me. I will have my vengeance. Remember, I am not afraid to use my power over you. You cannot escape.

Dmitri Sands

Never Again

Jaze came tearing out of his house; his vision blurred by the rage pounding through his veins. He had been wrong about Sands, and once again some else was going to pay for his mistake. If he had his way, the only one to pay would be Sands. He had gone too far this time and the assassin planned to show him just why he had been feared the galaxy over. No more games, Jaze thought furiously, I will kill him this time. On the way to Sweet Apple Acres, he nearly ran over Applejack. He just managed to stop his headlong rush just short of crashing into her.

“Whoa,” the apple farmer called out, “what’s the rush sugar cube?” Jaze debated on whether or not to tell her what was going on. The image of Dash, bleeding and unconscious, on his couch finally decided him.

“Trixie has been filly-napped.” Applejack’s eyes snapped up to the assassin’s, “That rat bastard Sands took her to your farm and wants me to go there so he can kill me. I have to go there alone.”

“What do ya need from me?” She asked quickly, her hoof slowly moving going to her sword.

“I need you to go get Vincent, Shelby and a battle medic. Dash is laying hurt on my couch. Once she is taken care of, you three get over to Sweet Apple Acres.” After delivering his instructions, Jaze prepared for another run.

“How will we find you?” the orange farmer called as he sprinted away.

“Just follow the screams.” Jaze yelled back as he pulled further away. He did not stop to hear her response. His mind was utterly focused on what he was running towards. Visions of bloodlust and rage flooded his thoughts as he ran faster than a river. A few times, fear for Trixie tried to intrude in his mind, but his rage quickly drowned it out. The fear only managed to add to his anger.

His breath was coming in sharp pants, while his vision was beginning to white out as he neared his destination. The apple trees that normally brought him peace were now changed into just something for his foe to hide behind. He soon entered the groove of apple trees and did not slow down in the slightest. The assassin dodged between the trees; fully aware that running into one could injure him gravely and ruin his chance of saving Trixie. That was one of two thoughts running circles in his mind. Save Trixie, and kill Sands.

Jaze broke through the trees to see Sands sitting on the ground a few feet away. Trixie was nowhere to be seen. The assassin continued his dead sprint for the young fool on the grass. He saw the soldier running for him and quickly stood to meet him.

“Colonel…” he started, but he was interrupted by Jaze’s fist smashing into his face. Sands stumbled away and tried to regain his balance; he might have succeeded if the silver-eyed assassin had not yanked him back to deliver another brutal blow to the stomach. While the young pilot doubled over in pain, Jaze lifted him and threw him the few feet into an apple tree. Sands’ was unsure if he had broken anything; his whole body was wracked with pain. Jaze lifted him by his from where he had fallen and slammed him into the tree.

“Where is she, boy?” He asked in a voice only a few decibels short of a yell.

“I don’t know…” Jaze slammed him into the tree again.

“Don’t play stupid; your note said that you had her. So where is she?” He slammed the young man into the tree once more and roared, “WHERE THE HELL IS TRIXIE?” Jaze threw him again and rushed to where the youth landed, pinning him to the ground with a boot on the chest. He leaned very close to Sands’ face, and said in a deadly cold whisper, “Tell me, or I start tearing of pieces.”

Jaze suddenly felt a cold, sharp object at his throat. The assassin did not know where Sands had pulled the knife from, but he froze nonetheless. Dying now would only let Sands keep Trixie, and Jaze could not stand that thought. They stayed locked as they were for a few moments as Sands looked into Jaze’s hate filled eyes.

“I don’t have anyone Colonel.” The pilot stated simply.

“What, but the note said…” the assassin’s voice trailed off as he heard the muted click of an assault rifle’s bolt being pulled back and released. The noise was repeated a couple times.

Jaze knew what it felt like to be set up, but it did not make dealing with it any easier. He looked up to see a group of soldiers leering and point their guns at him. They must have been hiding in the orchard he had run through. A quick count showed eight of seven of them. One had a bound and gagged Trixie held close to him, a glittering knife at her throat. The assassin’s gaze narrowed in on the soldier holding the blue unicorn. Even though he knew that the assassin could do nothing, the traitorous soldier still felt a cold chill run down his spine as those hate-filled eyes watched him. The assassin noted that they were all standing close together; if he could over to them without getting shot or them slitting Trixie’s throat, he was confident that he could kill them all.

One of the soldiers, probably the ring leader, motioned the Colonel away from the downed Sands. When Jaze had moved a few feet away and put his hands out to his sides, the soldier spoke.

“I can’t believe just how easily you fell for that!” he sneered, lowering his rifle, but not enough that it was not still pointed vaguely in the assassin’s direction.

“Yeah,” replied the soldier holding Trixie hostage, giving her a shake, “having this chick made him putty, just like you thought.”

“Yeah,” he shrugged, “too bad that Sands fool just couldn’t die like he was supposed to.”

“What?” the two pilots asked in unison.

“Well,” he turned his grin to Sands, “when you found out our little operation, I thought that I could use your history to my advantage.” He walked over to a nearby tree and leaned against it, “I knew that you had tried to kill the good Colonel once, and had vowed revenge. So when you overheard our plans this morning, I just forged a note from you telling the Colonel that you had Trixie.”

“So was it you that hurt Dash?” Jaze asked, oddly emotionlessly.

“That cyan colored flying type?” he sneered again, “Yeah, gave her a good bash from my rifle. Tell me, did she die? I hope so.” His gaze passed between his two human captives, “Of course, Sandy there had to get you to stop long enough to listen. Messed the whole thing up, that did.”

“What does that mean?” Sands asked as he managed to get to his knees, still a little wobbly from the pounding Jaze had given him.

“It means that, you were supposed to die. The Colonel here was supposed to kill you, then we kill him claiming that he killed you in cold blood. Then when Carn gets here, we sabotage the defense efforts. Now you both know.”

“Why would you do something like this?” the young pilot asked incredulously.

“So that way when the Cye rule the universe, we are allowed to live.”

“As traitors.”

“Carn would not have been happy had you killed me.” Jaze said calmly, “He wants that honor to himself.”

“That is not what he told us.” the soldier holding Trixie retorted, “He said that if we killed you and helped him take this planet, he would let us live and have any planet of our choosing.”

“Fools, do you really think that he will keep that promise.” Sands replied quickly. Jaze could see the boy was stalling; giving him time to think. He’s sharp, Jaze thought, I can use that.

“No, he’ll reward us for getting you out of his hair.” the knife wielding soldier replied. Jaze knew that he somehow had to kill or disable him if he wanted any chance of him and Trixie getting out of this alive. The assassin slid a couple more feet from Sands; he did not want the young man to get caught in the cross fire when he did make a move. The enemy’s guns came up in a blink and were pointed at Jaze.

“That’s enough movement out of you,” the soldier holding Trixie gave her another shake, “unless you want to see me slit this pretty neck.”

“Do it,” Jaze cautioned, “and you will know what hell is like before you die.” The man tried to ignore the threat, but something about the way the Colonel had said it made that impossible.

“So,” the leader thought aloud, “this is what I think we’re going to do. We’re going to shoot the Colonel as planned. Then we’ll break Sands’ neck and say that we found the Colonel doing it and we killed him.”

“And what about this?” the soldier shook Trixie once more.

“Slit her throat,” Jaze felt himself flinch at those words, “Say that Sands did that to piss the Colonel off. No one won’t believe that.”

“I just have one thing to say,” Jaze said as he looked into Trixie’s eyes. He found no fear in her gaze, only determination. He took a deep breath and gave her a nod, “You should not have brought Trixie here. You’ve given me a chance to kill you all and end the threat that you’ll hurt her.”

“What can you do from ten feet away with only a sword?” the leader sneered once more.

“This,” Jaze said as he held up his hand. He could feel a pressure inside him; a pressure that had been building since they had brought Trixie out. His hand glowed with the aura of his magic, and a similar glow appeared around the knife at the unicorn’s throat. With a mental yank, the assassin pulled the knife from the soldier’s hands. He screamed as his fingers were broken while the weapon landed in Jaze’s hand.

The assassin took two quick steps and threw the knife with all his might at its owner; he followed the blade as it spun toward its target. The blade buried itself in the hollow at the base of the soldier’s throat. The rest of the group was too stunned to do anything; giving Jaze the time he needed to close the gap between them. The assassin reached the soldier as he started to fall and pulled the knife out from his target, whipping it through the throat of another as he spun. The first two dead, he jammed the blade into the side of another’s head. He lost his grip on the weapon as the traitorous soldier fell, however, and still had four more to kill.

The fourth soldier had recovered his wits enough to start to raise his rifle, but the enraged assassin was far too close. He reached out and grabbed the traitor by the hair and pulled him close. With a quick yank and a sickening crack, Jaze broke his neck and lifted the traitor to use as a shield between him and the other three. Two rifles fired started firing into the body, hoping for a lucky shot. The assassin threw the body in the direction that the shots were coming from. He managed to hit and pin one of the soldiers and he put his shoulder down and tackled the other, smashing his head into the ground until the enemy moved no more. The one laying under his dead friend panicked as Jaze strode over to him and drew his sword. Jaze plunged his sword into the downed enemy’s breast to finish him off. Where’s the leader, Jaze thought as he cast his eyes about and pulled up Sairugi. He found the traitorous leader holding a gun to Trixie’s head and giving the assassin a mad grin.

“That’s quite enough.” he said fearfully, “one more move and I’ll turn her head into fertilizer.”

“Let her go, and I’ll let you live.” Jaze promised.

“Yeah right,” the traitor laughed, “I let her go and you run me through with that sword.” He was panicking, the assassin could see that he was close to snapping. Losing all of your men can do that.

“I won’t, if you let her go right now.” Jaze took a cautious step towards the pair.

“Stop there, I’ll do it!”

Jaze fixed him with a glare and put his hands up, “You really shouldn’t. The only thing that would do is make your death a slow, painful affair.”

“I’m warning you…”he was cut off as two shots rang out. The bullets passed through his head from the side, he never stood a chance. Jaze turned to see Sands kneeling, his sidearm smoking from the kill-shots.

“Thank you, Sands.”Jaze said as he walked over to Trixie to begin undoing her bonds. There was a loud crack, the sound of a powerful rifle. Sands fell to the ground as the bullet slammed into his chest. “Sniper!” Jaze called out as he threw himself over Trixie, “Stay down, Sands.” The assassin could not tell if Sands was alive or dead, until he moved weakly.

Another bullet passed over the Colonel’s head, far too close. He knew that if they stayed where they were, the hidden sniper would pick them off in no time. The assassin looked up into the trees to see the sniper drawing a bead on him, grinning as he prepared to fire.

“You won’t hurt my friends!” Dash called out as she suddenly fell from the sky. She had her sword drawn and she brought it down on the sniper’s neck, blade angled to pass through his heart. The sword stuck as the sniper fell, pulling the cyan savior from the air.

With that threat gone, Jaze bolted over to Sands, leaving Trixie on the ground. He feared the worst for the boy, but was surprised to see that he was sitting up. The assassin could see no blood and gave the pilot a questioning look. In response, he ripped open the front of his uniform to reveal an armored vest.

“The plates stopped the round, but it still hurts like hell.” A grin split the young soldier’s face, “I always wear one on deployment if I’m not behind the stick of my bird. Looks like it saved my life.”

“That it does. Could you check on Dash for me?”

Yes sir, Colonel.” Sands could see that Jaze wanted to be alone with the unicorn they had saved. He took the hint and went to check on the pegasus lying next to the body of the sniper. Jaze quickly ran back to Trixie and pulled the knife from the traitor leader’s belt and cut the bonds holding her forelegs in place. He removed the gag from her mouth and then hugged her close.

“I’m so sorry Trixie.” the assassin said as the fear finally set in, “I didn’t know this would happen. I never wanted you to get dragged into this mess.” He started shaking; realizing just how close Trixie had come to death.

The blue unicorn brought her foreleg up to return the Colonel’s hug, “It’s okay Jaze, I’m fine. Thanks to you.”

“No, it’s not okay.” he said as he pulled away a little, “This could happen again, and next time I might not be so lucky. If Sands had not have made that shot…” He let the thought hang, too afraid to continue.

“If this happens again, I’ll be ready.”

“What actually happened?”

“They burst in and pointed those guns at me. They said that they would kill you if I didn’t cooperate. I had no idea what they wanted to use me for at the time. If anything, I should be the one apologizing.”

“How could you have known what was going to happen? You’re not to blame at all.” Jaze fixed her with a look of absolute determination, “But I promise you this, I won’t let this happen again. Never again will I let them try get to me through you. I won’t let anyone try this again.”

“Don’t worry, they’re gone. They’re all dead.”

Jaze gave a short nod, “Let’s check on Dash.”

xxx

Dash gave a yank on the sword trying to pull it from the body of the dead man. Every detail about him stuck in her mind. He was young, younger than most of the soldiers around the camp. His hair was a light red, and he had a scar on his chin; probably from a childhood accident. The more she looked, the more she saw. His eyes were a muted blue, and they now stared accusingly at her. She pulled harder at the blade, trying desperately to remove it so she could leave the body. She began to panic when the sword refused to move, pulling as hard as she could to try and release the body’s grip on her sword. The red blood pooling around the body and running down the blade made her feel sick.

While she fought to keep her lunch down and remove the blade, a hand fell on her shoulder. She looked up with wide, wet eyes; hoping to see Jaze standing there with a smile on his face and words of comfort on his lips. Instead, it was Sands; who planted his foot on the body and helped her remove the blade. The cyan pegasus stared at him, confused by his presence. She wanted a friend, not an enemy.

Sands knelt next to her and gave her a wan smile, “Are you okay soldier?”

“Y-yeah,” she stammered shakily, “but I’m no soldier. I can’t even look this without…” she suddenly lost control of her stomach and turned to wretch. She felt a comforting hand rubbing her back as she purged everything in her stomach, until she had nothing left and just gave dry heaves. Her eyes watered from the pain of her fit and the realization of what she had done. She had taken life; she had become a killer. It had happened in a moment, in one stupid moment she had taken somepony else’s life.

“I know how you feel,” Sands comforted her, “the first time is always the hardest. I was laid up in my bunk for three days after I killed someone for the first time.”

“Does it ever stop hurting?” Dash asked, tears welling in her eyes.

“Never,” the pilot replied, leading her a few feet away from the body, “not if you’re a good person. But you can move past it if you’re reasons are sound.”

“What do you mean?”

“You killed to help someone else, right? There is no more noble a reason to kill. If you can keep that in mind, then you will one day be able to accept it.” His eyes fell to the ground, “Something that I seem to have forgotten recently.” He shook his head to dislodge the thoughts that tried to intrude on his mind, “Let’s go check on the Colonel.”

“About Jaze,” Dash asked slowly, “are you still going to try to kill him.”

“I don’t know any more…” With that, he stood and walked back towards his commanding officer.

Dash watched him walk away with a thoughtful look on his face. She truly hoped that he would drop that notion. She could see the goodness in his heart plastered all over his face and she would hate for him to push Jaze too far and get hurt. She took a few shaky steps toward Sands before looking back to the first death that could be laid at her hooves.

“I won’t let this stop me,” she whispered, “if I have to kill to help my friends; I will.”She swallowed and called out to Sands, “Hey, wait up!”

Jaze was still holding Trixie in his arms, and she in hers, when Dash and Sands joined them. The assassin quickly stood to face the younger pilot. They stood looking at each other for a few minutes, each looking to say what they felt in a way that did not seem foolish or false.

“Hey,” the four heard Vincent yell, “are you okay Jaze.” Dash left to explain the events of the past few minutes to him and Shelby and Applejack, who had just arrived in full battle gear.

“Colonel Armand sir…” Sands started, but stopped when Jaze held up a hand.

“Before you say anything, I want to say… thank you.” The assassin stared into Sand’s eyes, “If not for you, Trixie and I would be dead. This is a debt that I cannot repay, made worse by the fact that I thought that you committed this heinous act.” He held out his hand for a shake, “So thank you.”

The young man looked between the hand and the face of its owner. He suddenly threw his all into a strong uppercut that connected with Jaze’s chin, sending him sprawling. The assassin looked up from the ground in confusion when Sands offered his own hand.

“That,” Sands grinned, “is for everything you have put me through. I always thought that you were some evil monster that stole my father from me. Now I see that you are the one who killed the evil monster.” He helped the Colonel to his feet and gave his hand a friendly squeeze and a smile, “But you and I still have a score to settle, so you can’t die anytime soon. Are we even?”

Jaze returned the smile, “Not quite,” the assassin took a small comm unit from his pocket and stuck it in his ear, “Control, add Master Sergeant Dmitri Sands into the QRF with me.” He looked back to Sands, “As of this moment, you’re now an Angel, Sands.”

“Please, Dmitri is okay.”

“Yeah, and I am just Jaze.” The two of them shook, and Dash breathed a silent sigh of relief, glad that the crisis was over, for now. Her relief was dashed as Jaze’s face suddenly became set in a snarl. He pressed the communicator into his ear with a finger.

“Carn,” the assassin said simply; managing to convey all his hate and anger in that one word. Vincent pulled his own comm from his ear and knelt next to Dash so she could hear. Sands did the same for Trixie while Shelby shared with Applejack. They were just in time to hear the Cye leader’s next words.

“Yes, it’s me again.” The sneer in his voice was like a smack in the face, “How did you like my gift?”

“You set them up, didn’t you?” the Colonel’s voice was shaking in barely controlled rage, “Why?”

“Call it a lesson in human nature.” Carn responded laughingly.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Those fools represented humanity. They chose the easiest path; the path that had the best outcome for them, and forget everyone else. All humans are like that. They only look out for themselves and everyone else is just in the way. Given the choice, a human will go with the easiest way out, every time. And for that they must die.”

“What gives you the right to judge humanity?”

“I am a god now.” The older man laughed, “I can pass judgment on whomever I wish. All humans take the low road; they are not fit to live in a universe as beautiful as this.”

“I can give four good examples of when that doesn’t happen.” Jaze growled.

“There are exceptions to every law.” Carn dismissed the assassin’s argument, “Take you for example. The easiest thing for you to do would have been to let those men kill that pony and then kill them one by one. But instead, you decided to risk yourself to save her. Same with that other boy. Who is he, your apprentice?”

“There are more besides. Many of the brave men and women on this planet have given this fight everything they had just to slow your Cye down. Many thousands have died to stem the tide. You say that you’re passing judgment? I say that too much power has gone to your head, snake. I say that these men and women will choose what is right, because they know that it is right.”

“I can give eight good examples of when that didn’t happen.”

A crafty smile spread across Jaze’s face, “There’re exceptions to every law.”

“Fine then, you bring your best and I’ll bring mine. The victor writes the history, so if I win I fought for truth and justice etcetera. If I lose, then I was a homicidal manic that wanted to take over the galaxy for my own selfish reasons. That’s how history works.” Jaze could almost hear the mocking grin spread on Carn’s face, “And by the way, I love the new powers. Now I want that planet more than ever. And remember, I’m always watching.” The connection was suddenly lost.

Sands looked to Jaze, disgust written all over his face, “Is this the guy that started all this?” Jaze gave him a nod. “And will being an Angel let me take it to him, hard?” another nod, “Then count me in for sure.” Sands proceeded to gather the traitors’ weapons and stack them in a pile. He then started dragging the bodies into a neat row, arms crossed over their breast. Jaze caught on, and began helping. Soon they had all the bodies laying in a peaceful position. Sands had even removed the knife jutting from ones head and fixed the other’s broken neck as best he could. The pair straightened to admire their work.

Sands put his hands together in prayer “Divine father who art in heaven, take these souls warmly into your house. They were used by evil at no fault of their own; they were but mortal men. Please look upon them kindly.”

Jaze glanced to the young pilot, “Didn’t know you were religious.”

“I need it to get through the day.” he replied as his he closed his eyes for a silent prayer.

“That was too good for them.” Shelby said as she glared at the bodies.

“When we are dead,” said Dmitri, “we are just a body. There is no friend or foe in the dead. If it had fallen another way, I could be laying there. And I would like to think that someone would pray for me.”

“Still too good for them.” Vincent backed Shelby up.

“No, he’s right.” Jaze jumped in, “We could all die just as easily. No matter you’re stature, you are no more invulnerable than anyone else. A wise man once said to me, ‘When the game is over, the King and the Pawn go in the same box’. Showing respect for the dead separates us from people like them and Carn.”

“Not you too, Jaze.” Shelby complained, “Did you forget what they did to you? To Trixie?”

“No, and I can’t. But they are still human beings and deserve some respect.” The assassin drew in a deep breath, “Let’s get someone to clean up these bodies. I’m sorry that this happened on your farm, Applejack.

“It’s no problem, sugar cube.” The orange pony responded quickly, “Ya didn’t pick the place. Ya just did what ya had t’. Ah’m just glad nopony got hurt.”

“But someone did.” Jaze looked regretfully to the young men he had killed. Not one looked over twenty five. “I’m sorry…” the assassin whispered.

Torn Innocence

Jaze sat in at his desk in his office at the command center, staring at the blank pages in front of him. Each represented a letter that needed to be written; a letter to the loved ones of the deceased. The assassin did not know what to write; what could he say to explain the actions taken by panicked young men offered a way out?

He would have stayed locked in that position until he died if Trixie and Dash had not stepped inside his small office, the latter’s head wrapped in bandages to protect the ugly wound. The pair shared a knowing look when they saw what the Colonel had been doing in here since the fight two hours ago. Jaze leaned back in his chair and waited for one of the two ponies to say something, anything.

“You don’t look so good.” Dash said slowly, “You’re kind pale.”

“It’s just using magic, I’ll be fine.” the Colonel assured the worried pegasus.

“Jaze,” Trixie asked quietly, “how many letters have you written?”

“None, I don’t know what to say.”

“Maybe,” suggested Dash, “you should take a break, let your head clear a little.”

“No, this needs to be done now.” Jaze leaned over the paper once more, determined to write something, anything. And still the pages stayed blank. “Maybe you’re right, I should take a break.”

The cyan gave a short nod, “I knew that you needed one.”

Jaze stood from his and stretched his cramped muscles, “Alright, let’s get out of here for a while. How are you, Dash?”

“Sore, but I’ll be fine.” the flier responded.

“You know what I meant.”

“Oh, about that.” She gave a sniff, “I said I’ll be fine.”

“I know that it it’s a hard thing, but that is the path of a soldier. Are you sure you still want to follow this path?”

“Yes.” Dash’s eyes were shining with determination and resolve.

“I must warn you that killing is the easy part.” The two ponies looked to the assassin in shock, “It takes little effort to kill someone. Far and away the hardest part is dealing with the aftermath; knowing that you are the reason they will not be going home tonight. Are you sure you can handle that?”

The pegasus was suddenly pale and she looked to the floor, “When you put it like that…”

“Dash,” she looked back up to his eyes, “you must not forget these feelings. It is what separates you from those of kill for amusement.”

“I know.” She took a deep breath, “And I also know why you wanted to keep us from fighting.”

“Tell me what you think.”

She gave nod and began in a quiet voice, “Killing is something that you can’t take back. Angry words and even some deeds can be forgotten. But you can’t bring somepony back from the dead; once it’s done, it’s done forever. I don’t know about everyone else, but that leaves me feeling sick inside.”

“It only leaves those who would wish it had happened otherwise sick. And Dash?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t let these feelings stop you from helping others. Don’t kill indiscriminately, but don’t avoid killing when it is necessary.” The Colonel’s face darkened, “Trust me, it will lead to less heartache in the future.”

“I’ll promise you that, if you promise me this: don’t let Applejack kill if she doesn’t have to. She’s one of my best friends and I never want her to feel like this.”

“I promise Dash. If I have my way, none of you will even get close to the fighting.”

Dash gave him a little nod, “Thanks. I’m going to find Twilight and let her know I’m okay. She’s probably worried sick.” The shaky pegasus left the tent, leaving Trixie and Jaze alone. The assassin found it hard to look into his companion’s eyes; he felt that he had failed her. The unicorn made her way around the desk to stand at his side, waiting for him to speak again.

He finally brought his eyes to meet hers, “I just want to apologize again.”

“For what?” she asked in confusion.

“For letting them get you. I should have been more careful. I…”

“Don’t start this again Jaze.” She heaved a sigh, “How could you have known? I told you that it wasn’t your fault. If I had fought back…”

“They would have killed you.”

“Not if they wanted to use me against you.”

“Maybe, but desperate men will do anything they think might help them.” He picked up some files that had been lying next to his desk and tossed them onto its surface, “Look at these. These are the files of all those men that turned traitor. All of them had families except one; wives, children, mothers, fathers, and so on.” The assassin glared at the roof of his tent, “Carn might have offered them safety for their families in exchange for betrayal. They just wanted what is best for their loved ones, same as me.”

The blue unicorn came a little closer and smacked the back of the assassin’s head, “I will keep doing that until you stop tormenting yourself over this.” She gave him a smile, “They made a choice, and they had to pay for it. You can’t say that you are happy it happened like this, but you can say that you had no choice. Stop being so hard on yourself; now take a break, that’s an order.”

This finally brought a smile to Jaze’s face. “Yes ma’am!” he laughed as he turned towards her in his chair, “What would you like to do? Today is your day.”

“I don’t know, what do you think we should do?”

“We never did get to go on our date to Canterlot, would you like to now?”

“But don’t you need to stay near the camp in case something goes wrong?”

“Not really,” he pulled his comm out of his pocket, “I’ll have this on me so Control can reach me if they need to.”

“Oh. Do we have to? I just want to relax.”

“That is more than fine by me, Trixie.” He placed his hand on her shoulder in a gentle and caring way. He could understand wanting to laze around a little after the day’s events.

Trixie looked at the hand on her shoulder and followed it to its owner’s eyes. Jaze was suddenly aware of how close they really were, and with that realization his heart began to pound. In his sitting position, the dusky blue unicorn’s face was nearly level with his. He turned in his seat a little more; their faces were even closer now. He could see a slight blush coloring her face, and he could feel his own face beginning to turn red as well. Just do it, a persistent voice whispered in his mind, just reach out and do it. Slowly, ever so slowly, the assassin brought his face closer to hers.

A knock came at the door, which opened to reveal Sands. “Hey Colonel?” Jaze and Trixie had recoiled from each other at the sound of the opening door, and now the pair was looking away from one another and blushing furiously. Sands, however, was completely oblivious as to what he had walked in on. “I had a question for you. What does being an Angel mean?”

The Colonel tried in vain for several moments to find his voice. “Wh-what do you mean?” he was finally able to stammer.

“I mean,” the young pilot explained, still unaware of his commander’s discomfort, “what do I need to do? How are we different than any other unit?”

“Well, there isn’t much difference I guess. Mostly you will be doing the same things that you did before, now more people will be watching you. Oh, and you will be called on for the most difficult and dangerous jobs around. Can you handle that?”

Dmitri gave a short nod, “Yes sir, I can.” He turned to leave, but stopped and twisted back to look at the still blushing pair, “Did I interrupt something?”

“No!” they replied firmly, in unison.

“Okay, well I’m just going to go now…” he left, shaking his head while trying to figure out what he had missed.

“So, um…” Jaze leaned back in his chair awkwardly, “We never did figure out what we were going to do today.”

“Hey!” Trixie suddenly exclaimed, “Why don’t you tell me more about humanity as a whole?”

“What, like a history lesson?” She gave a nod, “I guess so, but wouldn’t you find that boring?”

“Not at all. Knowledge is power, plus I like to learn.” She pulled a chair over to the assassin’s desk and sat in it as best she could, “Why don’t you start by telling me about this ‘Earth’?”

A slow smile broke across his face, “Why don’t I show you Earth?”

xxx

Jaze touched a control on a panel in the center of a dark room. The room was suddenly filled with swirling galaxies. Trixie craned her neck to try and see all the wondrous things the hologram had to offer. The Colonel stood with his arms crossed, watching the child-like glee of discovery on her face, and silently laughing to himself in delight. The stars slowly rotated around the pair, casting their light in all directions at once.

“Is this all the stars?” Trixie asked, still in awe.

“Probably not, most of this is just for show anyway.” He walked over to a dual armed galaxy and reached out to touch it. The stars swirled around them, and suddenly they found themselves in inside the selected galaxy.

“How did you do that?”

“The console there reads where I point and then brings this up for wherever I want.”

“What is this?” the unicorn asked as she slowly walked around the room.

“We call it a star chart; it should be used for navigation, but most of the time it is just used as a really nice light show.” He pointed to a particular star by Trixie’s head, “Poke that one.” When she did, the hologram swirled again to reveal a geocentric solar system. “This is where we are on now.”

He walked near the planet and slowly brought his hands together slowly. The star chart zoomed out to the show all the stars of the Milky Way. He searched through the stars, finally touching one. The chart zoomed in to reveal a solar system with nine planets orbiting a bright white star. He double tapped the third planet from the sun, causing the chart to zoom in on the green and blue planet.

“Is that Earth?” Trixie asked as the planet rotated between them.

“That it is. This planet is where humanity began, and where our heart still lies.” He brought the rotation to a halt and zoomed in a little more. “This planet is our greatest success and our greatest shame. It stands as a monument to just what humans are capable of; both good and bad.”

“What do you mean?”

“This planet gave birth to us, and we nearly destroyed her. Through centuries of the misuse of toxic chemicals, we put holes in the protective layer around the planet. Follow that up with a hundred years of war that changed the face of the planet and we humans found ourselves in a bad situation. The very air had become poisonous and most of humanity was dead or dying. Over the course of the next few hundred years, the brightest human minds tried to develop ways to combat the environmental issues plaguing the planet. And for those few hundred years, humans knew peace, of a sort. Humanity managed to get the air breathable again and the planet slowly began to recover and become green again.” A grin touched his lips, “And then something amazing happened.”

“What happened?”

“Humanity took to space. We established a colony on Mars, the fourth planet in our solar system. From there, we began to try to jump out into space. A way was finally found to make faster than light travel possible and human colonization of space began to take off. No longer would it take several generations to make it to a new planet, just a few short weeks. The next fifteen hundred years were spent with humans grabbing up any land we could.” His face suddenly darkened, “But war is part of human nature and soon we were at each other’s throats again. We should have learned from the past, but humans are too stubborn. When the wars got too violent and threatened to engulf the whole human race again, the Earth Coalition and the StarSide Marines were formed. They were to keep the peace and quell any fighting where they found it. Soon, the Coalition took over most of the governing and we have the government we know today. Earth holds a place in the heart of almost every human alive; she is testament to the fact that the mistakes of the past can be overcome with a lot of hard work.” Jaze finally fell silent, staring at the beautiful planet before him.

“That is quiet the story.”

“I know; I only learned it about ten years ago.”

“What? But shouldn’t this be the first thing they teach in schools?”

“Never been to school, actually. All of my knowledge comes from reading and listening to others. There was not much use for schools where I am from.”

“Can you show me your home planet?” she asked innocently. The assassin gave a nod and zoomed back out to the Milky Way map. He selected another star system; quickly bring up a depressing brown planet. There was only one spot of green and one small ocean on the whole of the planet.

“Here’s the mud ball.” Jaze remarked grimly as he sat down, “Don’t know if it has an official name, but the inhabitants call it ‘Darum’.”

“Why, does that mean something?”

“Yeah, it literally means ‘dry’. There was only about one rainstorm that lasted about a week to a month in an Earth Standard Year. The days were hot and the nights frigid.”

“Did you live in the green area?”

“The plants’ pollen was poisonous to humans. Stay there for more than a minute and your lungs began to hemorrhage. Not a pleasant way to go. But the rains that came out of there let a small band of habitable land grow around it. That is where I grew up, until Admiral Gaston pulled me into space to be an assassin.”

“Can I ask about that, again?”

“What do you want to know?”

“I was just wondering how many people knew about you. You know, that you were an assassin.”

“There were only two people, besides me, who knew. One was Gaston, obviously,” Jaze’s hand went to the necklace hanging around his neck, “the other was Evelyn. She figured out who I was not long after she, Vincent, Shelby, and I were put in a squad together.”

“You didn’t tell her?”

“No, she remembered me from a job I did at one point. Her father led a StarSide Marine unit to quell a rebellion on some backwater. He and the unit were called heroes for their actions. But the rebel group was more widespread than Command had realized; they decided to send a message in the form of a kidnapping. Figured they could get a large ransom to fund themselves or something equally foolish. I was asked to keep Evelyn safe.”

Trixie gave him a sarcastic smile, “So you went from assassin to bodyguard?”

The Colonel’s face was blank, “Not really. The Coalition doesn’t take kindly to threats and wanted to send a counter message. I was ordered to find and kill all those that were connected to the threat.” His hand reached up to his shoulder, “It was… bad. We barely got out with our lives. If Evelyn hadn’t been so tough, I don’t think I would have lived to talk about it.” He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

“What happened?”

The assassin gave a shudder, “I can’t talk about that now. I nearly did something regrettable that I am still not comfortable with. Maybe one day…” he turned his head away as the memories washed over him.

“Jaze,” a hoof under his chin brought his face back to hers, “you can tell me. I won’t think of you any worse.”

He took her hoof in his hand, “Thank you, but this is something that will take time. Since Evelyn died, I am the only one that knows what happened that day. I never even told Gaston. One day, I might be able to tell you everything. But not today, okay?”

“Okay,” Her face broke into a gentle smile, “but I will hold you to that promise.”

“Deal.” the assassin said with a smile, “When I can, I’ll tell you everything.” Jaze reset the hologram to show the entire galaxy. They sat watching the stars wheel around them for Jaze could not tell how long. His gazed switched between the hologram and the unicorn sitting next to him. Occasionally she would ask a question about a star, and he would try to answer. He looked around, realizing just how many worlds were still out there waiting to be explored. After meeting the inhabitants of Equestria, he wondered how many other races awaited humanity.

Their nice quiet star gazing session was interrupted by the buzzing of Jaze’s comm unit. He took it from his pocket and placed it in his ear, “Control to Colonel Armand, please respond. There is an urgent matter that requires your immediate attention.”

“Colonel Armand to Control, what is wrong?” His voice was nearly a growl; he had hoped that the rest of the day would be less busy.

“Sir, there is an irate Princess here who wishes to speak with you. She says that she has looked everywhere and that you haven’t been seen in two hours.”

“Two hours? That long?” The shocked assassin apologized “Sorry. We lost track of time. Tell the Princess that I’ll meet her at the CC in five.”

“Yes sir.” The Control operator paused, “‘We’, sir? Are you with someone right now?”

“I am, a friend. I was giving her a history lesson and didn’t realize how long it’s been. I’ll be there shortly.”

“Roger that, Control out.” The line went dead as the operator signed off.

Jaze cast a worried look to Trixie, “Let’s go see what the Princess wants; I get the feeling I’m in trouble.” The look of utter terror on his face made the unicorn giggle nervously.

Heated Words

The Colonel stood outside the Command building, stalling. Anything he could do to postpone his meeting with the Princess for just a few more moments. He made doubly sure that his uniform was straight, and that there was not dust or mess left on it from earlier. After he had stalled as long as he could, he turned and gave a nervous smile to the dusky blue unicorn standing next to him. Without further pause, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

A soldier pointed towards a door at the back of the building and gave him an apologetic look. Following the soldier’s directions, the assassin quickly made his way to the door with his companion still striding next to him. He pushed open the door at a nod from the unicorn and stepped into the room where awaited him the Princess. The pair who had just entered bowed in respect.

Jaze was waiting for Celestia to tell them to stand up, yet she never did. He could feel her eyes boring into the back of his head. He shifted his weight to make himself a little more comfortable, which utterly failed. He heard the hollow sound of her hoof-steps as she walked towards him.

“Look at me, Colonel.” The cold anger in her voice made a shiver run down the assassin’s spine as he brought his eyes to meet hers, “What happened today?”

“No more than what I said in the after action report.” Jaze said quickly, “A few of the soldiers defected…”

“I thought that humans hated the Cye.” It wasn’t a question, just a cold statement of fact. Jaze had never truly seen anypony this angry with him before.

“We do, but Carn apparently offered them sanctuary if they killed me; for them and their families.”

“I want you to tell me everything that happened today, exactly as you remember it.”

“Ma’am, I already put everything in my report to you…”

“I want to hear this from your mouth!” the Princess suddenly yelled, her wings flared angrily. “One of my little ponies was gravely wounded, another could have been killed, and blood has been spilt. Tell me what happened!” The Colonel realized that it was not anger that made her treat him like this, but fear. Fear for her subjects, and of a foe that she did not understand; a foe that could seemingly turn allies against each other with ease.

Jaze could understand her fear and told her, without sugarcoating anything, all that had happened that morning, leaving off only what happened between him and Trixie. He watched as first shock, then horror, and finally hatred played across her face. Her eyes continued to bore into him as he finished his tale. The assassin could not bring himself to look up from the floor, to meet the Princess’s eyes.

“That is everything I can tell you ma’am.” He finally said when the alicorn’s gaze had become unbearable.

“Why?” she said in angry disbelief, “Why do humans behave like this?” Her voice was shaking in anger now, “What could drive you to do something so horrible!”

“Have you ever feared for something more than you do for yourself?” Jaze asked quietly, his own anger suddenly awakened, his hands balling into fists. He did not know why he was defending these men; he just knew that he had to protect them from the wrath of the Princess.

“Of course, I do all the time!”

“But have you ever had to sit and wonder when they are going to die, and know that there is nothing you can do to stop it?”

“I fear that right now! Ever since humanity’s enemy invaded my home!”

“Now try living with that fear for six goddamn years!” The unbridled fury in his voice, as well as the thought itself, gave the irate Princess pause, “These men and women may not have seen the ones they love for six years! Six years, six years of never knowing if you will live or die! Six years of not knowing when your CO will take you aside with a somber look on his face! And six years of being told to save other people’s families when your own may be getting killed at that very moment!” Their furious gazes were locked onto each other; neither wishing to continue to continue the fight, but neither willing to concede defeat.

“Can you understand what it is like trying to keep thousands of scared ponies calm after suddenly being brought into a war between creatures they do not understand?” Celestia asked slowly, trying to keep from yelling again.

“I can,” Jaze left the room, nearly but not quite slamming the door behind him. He came back holding a data pad which he tossed on a table near the Princess, “Look at that. That is a list of all the men and women that are here to defend you and you and your ponies from an enemy that you could not hope to best. Every one of them relies on me to see them through this; every decision that I make could send them to their deaths. And the worst part is that I know that some of them will die, and there is nothing that I can do to stop that.”

“And your point?”

“They are here because you cannot defend yourselves. You have no soldiers of your own, no way to strike back against the Cye; their technology would tear you apart. You owe these soldiers nothing but respect.”

“We have the Royal Guards!” She yelled, angry that the human would insult ponies who dedicated their lives to defending Equestria from all who would attack her.

“Please, I could kill the whole lot of them by myself with no problems. They are untried and have never had to deal with the hell and chaos that is war.” He pointed an accusatory finger at the Princess, “Your guards may be scary in Equestria, but they have no way to defend against the weapons of a space-faring race. With the thousand soldiers I have now, I could sweep aside any defenses that you could try to put in place and take over Equestria in a matter of days.”

Her eyes narrowed, “Is that a threat?”Jaze was stunned speechless; he tried several times to say something but no words would come forth. He stood opening and closing his mouth like a fish on a bank as he tried to force his tongue to work.

“I… you… how… I would never!” He finally roared, “How could you say something like that? I love this land more than I have any other! I only want to save it and its people, or ponies as is the case. They are innocent and have had the good fortune to have never been exposed to something as evil as war. Now you think that I would bring war to them? Ponies that I have lived and worked with?” Jaze spun on his heel and made for the door, “This meeting is over, Your Majesty.”

He tore open the door and slammed it shut when he passed through, leaving behind an angry silence. Trixie had been too stunned to say or do anything since the argument had started and was now watching the Princess with bated breath. The pure white alicorn was shaking with anger at first, but as the seconds turned into minutes she slowly began to calm down and finally noticed that she was not alone.

“I am sorry that you had to witness that, my little pony.” Celestia said quietly.

“That is fine, Princess.” She answered awkwardly, “But please do not be mad at Jaze. He has been more torn up about this than I think even he realizes.”

“How do you come to that conclusion?”

“Well,” she turned her head towards the door the angry soldier had departed from, “these soldiers are supposed to be the ones he could count on to help him in his time of need. But now he is unsure of everypony; he is scared and he doesn’t know who to turn to.” She paused, a thought entering her mind.

“Go on.” The alicorn encouraged when the silence had continued for several minutes.

“Please do not be mad, Princess.” Trixie took a deep steadying breath, “Jaze has nothing but respect for you; so when you started pointing out the thoughts he himself has been having I think that he was more scared then angry. Unlike you, he has not had many years of experience to draw on to help see him through this. He is scared that he will fail with everypony counting on him.”

The Princess turned her eyes to the ceiling, “Could it be that I have made a mistake? I believe I have.” She sighed and turned her eyes back to the blue unicorn before her, “Please find Jaze and offer him my sincerest apologies. I am more afraid now than I have been since Discord escaped. I acted out of fear, and I was wrong to turn that fear towards him. I know that he is doing his best.”

“I’ll try to find him.” She started for the door, but Celestia called out her before she could reach it.

“Trixie, I can see that you care for him.” This brought the blushing unicorn around to face the Princess again.

“I don’t…” She heaved a defeated sigh, “Is it that obvious?”

“Only if one knows what to look for.” the Sun Princess said with a smile, “Remember that he cares for you too; it was not a coincidence that those men took you instead of somepony else. He will need you before the end of this; I know that.”

“I plan to be there for him, no matter what. So do Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Vincent, Shelby, and all of his friends. I hope that you will be there for all of us.”

“You could not make me stay away, this fight has become personal.” A shiver ran through the blue unicorn after seeing the look of cold determination; the same look that had been on Jaze’s face when he slaughtered her captors. She left as quickly as she could; anxious to escape the smoldering anger burning in the ancient alicorns eyes.

xxx

Twilight walked the path through the White Tail Woods. A soldier had told her that the missing Colonel had been heading this way about an hour ago. She had seen hide nor hair of the elusive human since she entered the forest, until she happened upon a set of booted foot prints that stopped at a tree. Her purple head lifted to see first a foot, then a leg, and finally the rest of the human warrior sitting on a tree a branch with his back resting on the tree. His gaze fell from the sky to the unicorn below him.

“Hello Twilight.” he sighed.

“Jaze, what are you doing up there! Come back, everypony’s worried about you.” she lectured, “Trixie and Vincent even went into the Everfree to find you.”

“Please don’t start, I just need to be alone and think.” was his disheartened reply.

“I know what happened, between you and the Princess. You need to come back Jaze… oh! Come down out of that tree so I can talk to you face to face.”

“I’m already comfortable up here.”

“Ugh, get over here!” she grunted, her horn beginning to glow. The treed assassin suddenly found himself lifted off his branch and brought to the ground, stopping just a few inches from hitting it. He struggled momentarily to free himself from the magical cocoon surrounding him, but quickly gave up when he ended upside down, floating above the ground.

He crossed his arms, “Okay, you’ve made your point. You can put me down now.” Twilight cut the flow of magic keeping the soldier aloft and he fell with a loud thud. He climbed slowly to his feet and gave the unicorn sidelong glare before leaning against the tree he had occupied.

“Now listen to me Jaze.” She planted herself in front of his gaze and stared into his eyes, “You are being foalish. It is time that you head back.”

“I need to be alone right now, Twilight. I just don’t know what is going on anymore.”

“What does that mean?”

“These men, I don’t know who they are. Any one of them could decide that I need to die and follow in the footsteps of those before them. Not to mention the fact that they have no real reason to risk their lives for a bunch of aliens they didn’t even know existed until now. Can I really trust these soldiers to do what I need?”

“Most of them are good people; they will do what you say because it is right. And those that could not care one way or another will do what you say because you are their leader.”

“I know that in my head, but your gut is a hard thing to ignore.” He pushed away from the tree and walked past his friend, “I don’t want to believe that any one of my soldiers could even think of doing anything as evil as what happened today. But I know better than that. If you are afraid of something, there is two ways to deal with it. You can seek to destroy the object you fear, or you can join forces with the feared thing in hopes it will leave you alone. That is what those men did; they joined that which they feared.”

“Jaze, if anymore of the soldiers try to defect, you are surrounded by skilled friends to help keep you safe. There is no need for you to worry about them getting you.”

The assassin gave a derisive laugh, “You think that is what I worry about? I’m scared that they will try to get to me through my friends. That is how these cowards have always operated.”

“Come on, let’s go back.” She began to leave, but turned back and fixed the soldier with look, “Just so you know, I plan on learning to use a gun. I am sick of being useless, I could have lost three of my friends today and I want to be able to help if it is needed.”

Jaze’s eyes narrowed, “No, you will not learn to use a fire arm!”

“You have no say on what I do with my time.”

“As the resident CO, I think that I can ban you from using any of the Marines’ weapons, civvie.”

“Civvie? What is that?”

“Short for civilian, some one that is not part of the military. But don’t change the subject; I won’t let you train with weapons.”

“Why not? You will need all the help you can get, and I can use a gun with my magic. It makes perfect sense.”

“It does, but rarely does sense have any say on desire. Why do you want to learn to shoot a weapon?”

“Because, I want to have a chance to live. The Cye won’t care that I don’t have a weapon; they’ll kill me anyway, right? So I want to be able to defend myself, somehow.”

“Fine then, if that is what you really want. But,” He held up a cautionary finger, “you will be going through the whole basic training. We’re not just going to turn you lose with a gun. If you can tough it through boot, I’ll let you learn marksmanship.”

“Okay, but what is basic training?”

“It is a program designed to make you tougher in every way possible. It is supposed to be hell so that you don’t seize up on the battlefield and cost people their lives. Do you think you can handle that?”

“I can try…” Her face took on a worried cast, a look worn by many a new recruit.

“Then you have three days to get ready. After that you belong to the drill Sergeants until they say you can handle a weapon. Is that clear, Recruit?”

“Yes Jaze.”

“And there’s one thing to work on. When a CO, commanding officer, asks you a question; you answer with a ‘sir’. So try it again; is that clear, Recruit?”

“Yes sir.”

“Much better, but I won’t pull rank on you often; so for the most part Jaze will be fine.”

“How will I know when to do what?”

“If it is an order, or I call you by rank, then I am not your friend; I am your CO and you will obey the order.” A thought struck the Colonel suddenly, “Have you talked to Celestia about this?”

“Oh gods,” horror played across Twilight’s face, “I never even thought… Oh no, she is gonna be so mad at me, she might even banish me or…”

Jaze pressed his hand to her mouth, “I’ll talk to her; she is already mad at me so this won’t make it worse.” He took his hand away, “Let’s get back, I believe you said that everypony was worried?”

“Oh, yeah, hang on.” Her horn glowed and a small ball of light shot into the air before exploding, “Now they know that I found you and to meet up at our starting point.”

“Have I been gone that long?”

“Not really, but after today everypony’s on edge. We had no clue where you were and Shelby thought there could have been more soldiers in on the plot to kill you.”

“If there are, they will think twice before messing with my friends again.”

xxx

Twilight led Jaze to what appeared to be a bar that the soldiers had set up to deal their meager supply of beer. He could see Vincent, Applejack, Trixie, Shelby, Sands, and Rainbow Dash milling around; waiting on him and Twilight to arrive. Shelby spotted them first and made a beeline for the assassin. She pulled her fist back to her ear and delivered a powerful blow to his shoulder.

“You jerk! We have been looking everywhere for you. What did you do, learn to become invisible?”

“Sort of, I suppose.” Jaze laughed as he rubbed his shoulder, feeling a bruise already forming.

“Well, stop it! Every time we let you out of our sight you get in trouble.”

“But at least I can usually get myself out of the trouble.”

“Okay we found Jaze.” Vincent said happily, “Let’s grab a beer, I’m buying.”

“I think I could use a beer after today, let’s do it.” Jaze said as he grinned.

“Am I invited?” Sands asked

“Of course,” Vincent assured, “You’re an Angel now, ain’t you?”

“Damn straight you’re buying! You lost the bet so you still owe us.” Shelby said smugly.

“Oh right…” he turned to the ponies, “You ladies coming too?”

“Ah’ll give it a try, sure.” Applejack answered.

“I might as well, too.” Dash shrugged, glancing at the humans.

“I am just going to go home.” Twilight yawned.

“I’ll go, but I don’t want any of this ‘beer’.” Trixie said.

“Alright that’s…” Vincent took a quick count, “six.” He shook his head and muttered darkly, “Glad I know the bar keep.”

The group enter the packed bar, Vincent breaking away to get the drinks while the rest went to find a table. A group of soldiers saw the Colonel, downed their drinks, and left with a respectful nod. Jaze could hear the talk turn to what happened earlier today. The group of friends took the vacated table and waited for Vincent to return; who placed a glass of frothy, dark beer before everyone at the table.

“Cheers, friends.” he said as he raised his glass and brought it to his lips. Jaze savored the first beer he had had in months as he watched the two ponies investigate the strange liquid. Applejack was the first to cautiously bring the glass to her lips and take a sip, a sip that she barely managed to swallow. She stuck her tongue out at the glass and shoved it away.

“Ya guys actually drink that?” she asked incredulously.

“Yep, but it is not for everyone.” Vincent swept the glass away from Applejack, “I’ll take that.” A sudden burst of laughter brought Jaze’s head around to see Sands laughing at Dash.

“This isn’t bad. Hey, what’s so funny?” she asked in confusion. Jaze had trouble keeping a straight face; some of the foam had stuck to her upper lip, giving her the look of having an old man’s mustache. Shelby had to duck below the table to hide the tears of laughter in her eyes while Vincent pressed his eyes into his hand. Trixie was, like Jaze, trying and failing to keep a straight face.

“Here, I’ll help.” Sands laughed as he picked up a napkin and wiped the foam from her lip.

“Whatever.” The cyan pegasus shrugged and began sipping her drink. Jaze scanned the room, his eyes landing on each of his friends in turn. I, he thought as Vincent told a bawdy joke, getting a laugh from everyone and a thump from Shelby; must be the luckiest man in the galaxy to have these nuts as my friends.

The assassin became aware of eyes watching him once again. He stealthily searched around the room, looking for the offender. He saw someone staring at him from a dark corner. It was a woman wearing a flight uniform, she must have been a pilot. She downed her drink and climbed unsteadily to her feet. Unsteady steps carried her to the Colonel’s table, causing everyone at the table to fall silent.

She gave a shaky salute and said in a slightly slurred voice, “Sir, I am Senior Airman Karen Shar. I jus’ wanted to tell you sumthin’.”

“What is it, Airman?”

“I wanted to say that Corporal Jenkins, one of them traitors, was a friend of mine. Known him for near ten years; we joined the service together.”

Jaze sized her up in case she decided to attack him, “I am sorry for your loss.”

“I’m not. That bastard was get me killed and hand this planet over to the Cye. I am glad that you took him down and I wanted to tell you that I got your back, sir.”

“Same here, Colonel.” A soldier said as he raised his glass in salute.

“Too right mate,” agreed another, raising her glass as well; “you done good by gettin’ rid of those fools. So I say good on ya.” Several more soldiers raised their glasses as well.

“Gimme that,” said Shar as she took Applejack’s nearly full glass from next to Vincent and raised it, “I purpose a toast, to the Colonel!”

“To the Colonel!” echoed across the room as every soldier raised his or her glass.

“I purpose a counter toast,” Jaze said as he brought his glass up, “To us, friends, brothers and sisters in arms. Nunquam intereo.”

“Nunquam intereo.” rang out solemnly as all the glasses in the room were drained. Shar nodded to the Colonel and left through the front door, her step even more unstable now.

“What is ‘nunquam intereo’?” Trixie asked when the room regained its usual noise level.

“It is the motto of the StarSide Marines; it means ‘never to perish’ in a dead Earth language.” Shelby answered with a smile, “It means that our resolve will never die, no matter what.”

Vincent had a confused look on his face, prompting Sands to ask, “What is wrong there, Vincent?”

“She… she stole my beer.” Stunned silence struck the table, “What? I was gonna drink that!” This released everyone from their stupefied state and set them all roaring with laughter.

xxx

Jaze sat once more before the blank pieces of paper that were to be the letters he sent to the families of the men who had died. Outside it was already well past dark. Trixie knocked on his office door and pushed it open. She walked over and stood beside him as he took up his pen.

“I thought that you weren’t writing those now.” she reminded him quietly.

“It’s okay now; I think I finally figured out what I needed to write.” He placed his pen on the paper and began to write furiously.

To whom it may concern,

My name is Colonel Jaze Armand with the StarSide Marine Corps. I regret to inform you that your loved one_____ has passed in the line of duty. He died fighting for what he believed to be right, and, I believe, for you and the rest of his family. I wish that I had the power to turn back time and stop what cost them their life, but I can swear that the madman that caused them to die will be brought justice if that brings you some small comfort. Consider that a personal promise from me to you.
Colonel Jaze Armand
First Equestrian Defense Force

Trixie read the letters over his shoulder, “You are not going to tell them that their young men were traitors?”

“What good would it do?” he replied honestly, “At least this way they can mourn their loss in peace. Besides, every word in there is technically true.”

She gave him a wry smile, “Lies of omission are still lies, Colonel.”

“I know, but I can’t bring myself to give those poor people anymore pain.” He put each letter into an individual envelop, sealed, and addressed it himself. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, “Let’s go home, it’s getting late.”

Relative Calm

Twilight was pressed into the mud, razor wire and gunfire keeping her down. It had only been a few days since she had begun going through basic and already she was regretting the decision. The mud was cold and clinging to her coat; sapping her warmth in the early morning air. She wanted nothing more than to stop dragging herself through the sludge and stand up, but the drill instructor was watching and had told her she would be shot if her head came above a certain level. So she had no choice but to continue to pull herself forward and hope for the cold to go away soon.

The purple unicorn suddenly found herself in the mire up to her chin. She stood without thinking and felt a sharp, stinging pain attack her shoulder. The rubber bullet rolled down her foreleg into the mud where it quickly vanished beneath the surface. Twilight looked up to see a grinning soldier with a smoking assault rifle held in his hands lining up for another shot. She dropped back down just as the soldier fired again, narrowly avoiding another painful hit.

“I told you,” yelled the instructor, “to keep your candy rear on the ground! The enemy won’t be using rubber rounds and I ain’t gonna drag your sorry backside to the infirmary for a stupid mistake!”

“Do you really think that little pony is going to be able to do this?” one soldier questioned as he fired a burst above the trench’s occupant.

“I bet she could,” his partner replied as she took her turn to fire, “You heard that one pony killed one of the traitors by herself? Saved the Colonel’s life apparently.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, there is more to these ponies than we thought.”

“No kidding, they could be…”

“You two!” the instructor roared, “Can the chatter, this is not gab session!”

“Sir, yes sir!” the two soldiers cried back in unison as they returned to the onerous job of keeping the unicorn down.

For her part, Twilight was now able to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. The mud was becoming more solid and no longer pulled her back a foot for every two she advanced. She saw the DI standing with his arms crossed and his feet spread apart, waiting on her. The unicorn hauled herself the last few feet out of the mud-drenched hell that she had inhabited for what felt like an eternity.

She wore a slightly proud smile as she stood before the human; a smile that was mirrored on the faces of a few soldiers that had been silently cheering the unicorn on. The drill instructor, however, merely looked down his nose in disdain at the small quadruped before him.

“That was terrible!” he hollered, “I’ve seen old folks do better dragging their walkers behind them!”

“But…” Twilight began.

“BUT?!” the instructor roared, “You were not about to back talk me, were you?”

“No.”

“‘No’ what?”

“No sir.”

“Dammit,” the human muttered darkly, just loud enough for everyone to hear, “I am supposed to turn this into a member of the deadliest fighting force in the galaxy?”

“What does that mean, sir?”

“It means that you’re worthless! Woefully outta shape, and can barely follow even the simplest protocols without being reminded half a dozen times.” He let loose a defeated sigh, “Just get outta here; you ain’t ready for this. And I don’t wanna be the one who has to scrape you offa the battlefield.”

“I can do this, sir!” Twilight remarked, confidence flowing through her voice.

“I doubt it.” the instructor replied as he turned away.

“Let me try again. Sir.” She ran back to the beginning of the mile long obstacle course and waited for the soldier acting as the time keeper to give her the go-ahead.

The drill instructor wore a self-satisfied smirk, “Works every time, we might make this one a soldier yet.”

Twilight took off as fast as she could at the soldiers signal; refusing to use her magic for anything that she could do another way, the DI had already yelled at her for that. The first obstacle looked simple enough, a ramp with some bumps and dips adorning its surface. It was easy to get your hoof caught and fall as Twilight learned to her chagrin her first time through. She made her way up the ramp quickly, but carefully.

Once she had conquered the ramp, the next challenge presented itself in the form of a large gap that needed to be jumped. She had used her magic to teleport across before, and this time she wanted to show the DI that she could complete this without cheating. She took a running leap and cleared the gap with room to spare, never slowing. She was determined to show them that she could handle anything.

She fixed an image of all her friends in her mind and used that to motivate herself. She would not let them down; they had all done their best and now it was her turn to step up to the plate. She could do this, for them and for herself.

The purple-coated unicorn pushed herself even harder. The next challenge was a wall with small ledges jutting out to use to climb the wall. She had fallen and bruised her side the last time and was determined to avoid the same mistake again. She took her time to ensure that she made it over the wall on her first try, letting out a small cry of triumph as she slid down the rope on the far side.

The next part she had breezed through before; it was a set of large, heavy bags filled with sand swinging from chains. Even though she had no trouble before, she wanted to run through the course flawlessly and so kept her eyes open. The unicorn dodged around the bags swinging every which way until she could finally dive past the last one.

Twilight looked with dread to her least favorite part of the course, the muddy trench. Once she stepped beyond the line in the dirt, she was fair game to the soldiers whose job was to shoot over the top of the trench, and shoot its occupants if they came off the ground too high. Her shoulder was still sore from the rubber bullet; which gave her even more reason to pause before diving back into the morass in the trench. She stayed as low as she could while keeping her mouth out of the black mud and crawled like her life depended on it.

She reached the end in record time and without once getting hit. The unicorn fixed the DI with a glare of grim determination as she pulled herself from the mire once more, sweat pouring from her body. The instructor’s face broke into a slow smile.

“Much better, you might be worth it all in the end.” he said, causing Twilight to grin, “But you disobeyed a direct order from a superior officer.” Her face fell as she was ordered to do fifty push-ups as punishment. She was panting; her chest and forearms burning from the sudden increase in physical activity. She was, as Rainbow Dash says, an egghead; she was not used to working her body so hard for so long. But she gritted her teeth and pushed herself as hard as she could, keeping thoughts of her friends in her mind.

When Twilight had finally finished with her pushups, the DIs had her run laps with the few soldiers that had volunteered to accompany her. One female DI tossed a large bag at her feet and told her to put it on. She lifted it with magic and got the bag situated across her back in a somewhat comfortable manner. When the magical lift was removed from the bag and its full weight hit her, she was nearly driven to her knees; it weighed nearly about eighty pounds.

The DI grinned as she watched the unicorn struggled to keep on her feet, “You’ll be jogging with that on your back for now.”

“Why? This is a lot to carry!” Twilight grunted.

“Because that is about the weight of standard combat gear before a rifle. Later you will be training with something that is a hundred and sixty pounds.” The DI laughed at the look of shock on Twilight’s face, “Get you used to that much, and this will be utter bliss. Now get running, Recruit!”

xxx

Twilight’s entire body was throbbing from the day’s hard work. She had spent the morning in all kinds of physical training, followed by hours of learning how to the instructors wanted her to walk, talk, and even think. Now she was dead tired and wanted nothing more than to return to her library and curl up with a good book. But the drill instructors had ordered her to get in touch with a local tailor who had been modifying a standard uniform to fit her. She could only think of one pony in the clothing business and so set off to Carousel Boutique.

As she made her way through the human camp, she began to notice that several ponies from Ponyville had made their way over and were mingling with the Marines that had been stationed here. The ponies were helping the soldiers to make their fortifications, and some had even begun to frequent the bar to laugh and drink with the aliens. Many of the Marines had taken to going to some of their pony friends’ houses for meals, getting a good home-cooked meal in exchange for helping out with the basic chores. Friendships had fast been formed between the two races despite the true reason for the humans’ presence. The purple unicorn’s face split in a tired smile as she saw a group mixed humans and ponies playing a human game called “football”, or “soccer”, in one of the open recreation areas the humans had set up.

She stopped and sat down to watch the game unfold. Twilight’s eyes followed the black and white ball back and forth until it was sent flying towards one of the sets of posts designated as goals. She finally noticed who was defending the goal; it was Sergeant Sands. He reached out and caught the speeding ball with ease, tossing it to a cyan blur that sped by. Rainbow Dash took the ball up the field and managed to get it past the pony defender, proving once more that she was one of Ponyville’s star athletes. She took a brief victory flight around the field before dropping back down to the field to continue the game.

Twilight decided that it was time for her to go home and stood back on her tired hooves and started making her way away from the camp, taking her time. She plodded along, trying to avoid making her legs any sorer than they already were, but she found the simple act of walking nearly unbearable. Still, she managed to make it to the Boutique without falling over. She could her angry voices coming from within the dress shop.

“But they’re ECC! Everyone takes ECC!” A man called out.

“Well, not this pony! It’s bits or nothing!” Rarity said in a politely angry voice, “Now if you would let me jazz it up a little…”

“And have the DIs take a bite out of me? Oh no, no way in sin am I going to let that happen.” Twilight nosed open the door, causing the bell to ring and the occupants of the store to round on her.

“Twilight, darling.” Rarity breathed in relief at the sight of her friend, “Help me convince this… man, that you need something fabulous to show who you are.” Between them floated a pony-shaped, olive drab StarSide Marine uniform; devoid of the various adornments to signify rank and specialties. Several more of the uniforms were folded neatly on a table near the arguing pair.

“Ma’am,” the exasperated soldier finally snapped, “she’s going to rolling in the mud and worse with these on. I see your work, are you sure you want that to be what people think of your clothes? At least this way they won’t recognize it as yours.”

“Mud?” Sheer horror played across the white unicorn as she looked to Twilight with wide eyes, “You’re going to be in the mud? Whatever for?”

“I have to do this if I want to be able to learn to use a gun.” the studious unicorn explained, “Besides, it is not that bad.”

The soldier looked Twilight up and down, “Huh, you must be superhuman… er, super-pony. Or whatever.” He turned back to Rarity, “Look, if you have a problem; take it up with the Colonel. He would know more than I do.”

“The Colonel..? Oh, you mean Jaze.” Rarity let loose a sigh, “I guess I can just stick to these… blagh, plain designs. Since you are supplying all the fabric, but I’ll only do it this once.”

Relief danced on the soldier’s features, “Thank you kindly ma’am.” He turned and left the store, shaking his head all the way.

Rarity turned to Twilight with a pout, “They really should let me design their outfits. They may be soldiers, but that is no reason to let themselves be un-fabulous.”

The look on the white unicorn’s face caused the bookworm to laugh, “Thank you Rarity. I needed that.”

“Needed what?” she asked in confusion, “Was it something I said?’

“Forget it.” the purple unicorn said as she scooped up the uniforms with magic and turned to leave.

“Twilight,” Rarity called out worriedly, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, what do you mean? Of course I’m fine.”

“I mean about Rainbow Dash. She is one of your best friends and she was hurt very badly. I know that you worry for her.”

Twilight’s eyes fell to the floor, “I was so worried, what if she… No, I’m not going to think of that. We’ve been friends for years now and I couldn’t bear to lose any of you. Especially like that.”

“We’ll all be fine.” Rarity gave a reassuring smile, “You can count on it.”

“But I want to make sure we’re fine. I guess I understand Dash and Applejack’s decision to learn to fight. They didn’t need somepony to get hurt to make this real to them.”

“Be careful, dear.” Rarity’s eyes were full of anxious thoughts as her studious friend left to go home. She passed a few humans heading the other direction, and among them was Jaze. He saw Twilight and took on a knowing grin. He waved the rest of the soldiers on and stayed behind to speak with the exhausted unicorn.

“So, how is it going?” He asked, the grin turning into an almost mocking one.

“It is tough,” Twilight replied tiredly, “I had to do fifty pushups on top of everything else as punishment.”

“What did you do?”

“I disobeyed an order.”

“And you got fifty pushups?”

“Yes.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes… why?”

A dark look took over the assassin’s features, “Could you follow me, please.” He set off at a brisk pace with the fatigued unicorn trailing behind. She found it difficult to keep pace with the human’s stride and groaned as aching legs worked hard again.

Jaze passed through the camp as quickly as he could, skirting the field where the soccer game was still in progress. His pace had been increasing as he went, and Twilight guessed he was upset about something, but she could not put her hoof on what the cause may have been.

The assassin burst into the command building and ordered the drill instructors to be brought in. He waited in his office for the men and women to assemble, pacing like an annoyed predator. Twilight was sitting next to his desk, watching and wondering where the problem lay. She found the silence nearly unbearable, the only sound the steady thump of the Colonel’s feet on the floor. Luckily she did not have to wait long; the DIs did not want to keep their CO waiting. Several looked in states of varying dishevel.

Jaze fixed the assembled soldiers with a death glare, “This recruit informed me that you are taking it easy on her.”

“Easy?” Twilight asked

“We believed that…” an instructor explained at the same time.

“Don’t start. I told you to put her through basic. She wants to join the StarSide Marine Corps and that means she needs to be combat trained. Do you want an under trained recruit at your side in battle?”

“Sir, no sir!” the DIs called in unison.

“Good, then starting tomorrow I want to see her pushed as hard as any human recruit. Maybe even harder, we don’t have much time.”

One of the DIs nodded and looked to Twilight with a wicked grin, “Hear that, Buttercup? No more easy days.”

“What do you mean ‘easy’?” Twilight asked in a near panic.

“You’ll see tomorrow.” Jaze laughed, “And remember, you can back out at any time. That is a courtesy not given to most recruits.”

“What do you mean?”

“Once someone volunteers for the StarSide Marines, we own them until they complete their service term, are too injured for active duty, or die. You don’t have to die to opt out. This is just for you to get ready to face actual war, but you will be treated like any raw recruit. No special favors for you because you happen to know the CO; that might actually make it worse for you.”

“Right,” she replied shakily, “then I am going to head home and get some sleep.”

“About that,” Jaze’s stare rooted the purple unicorn in place, “from now on, you will be living at the camp. Go home, pack whatever you may think you need, and then report to the barracks.”

“O-okay.”

“And Twilight?”

“What is it?”

“Remember that you brought this on yourself.”

Bad News

Dash had taken the ball from someone headed to her goal. She had not had this much fun on the ground in forever. This game, this "football", was amazing. And she was good, better than most everypony else; as was usual. She passed the ball to another human on her team, who reversed it back to her almost immediately, tripping up the pony between them. The cyan pegasus was little more than a blur as she dodged around the opposing team, securing another goal for her team.

She whooped in elation as the goalie picked up the ball and heaved across the field to keep her away from it. One of the opponents, a smaller, quick pony, took the ball and ran it towards Dmitri. She reared up and kicked the ball as hard as she could toward the young pilot, who knocked the ball back with ease. The pony then jumped and delivered a mighty kick in mid air before Dash could so much as blink. Sands was forced to dive out of the way to avoid the high powered ball as it passed through the space he had so recently occupied. But his dive put him underneath the falling pony, whose hoof landed on his left hand with an audible crunch. The game came to a screeching halt as the pilot climbed to his feet, gripping his twitching hand at the wrist.

"Go ahead and keep playing you guys." He said with a small smile, "I'll be back soon, just gotta take care of this." He took off at a jog, showing no signs of having any pain from having his hand crushed. Dash excused herself from the game to follow the pilot and make sure he was actually okay and not just playing tough. He was not paying attention to the pegasus following him, paying head only to where he was going. He made his way to his tent and quickly stepped inside. The cyan pegasus stopped for a moment outside the tent, wondering if she should go in. Buck it, she decided, what is the worst that can happen? She pushed open the tent's door flap and made her way into the cool dark of the tent.

Sands was sitting on his bed, and quickly made a sweeping motion over his arm, "Dash! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same." Dash retorted quickly, "Why aren't you in the medical area?"

"Well," He glanced at his arm, "it's not that bad."

"Everypony could hear the crunch. You need to see a doctor."

"More like a mechanic."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" The cyan pegasus brought herself a little close to the young man.

Dmitri let out a short huff of breath, "Guess I can show you, but don't freak out okay? That is the reaction of most of the ladies when they find out." He picked up a small tool that looked like a screwdriver without the head and pressed it into the underside of his arm. A small patch of skin opened up to reveal the mechanical parts of the limb.

"What is that." Dash whispered, peering at the workings below the skin.

"I lost my arm below the elbow in an explosion during a fight with the Cye. I had enough money from my father to afford this mecha-limb, but it does make life… different."

"I didn't no, I'm so…"

"Hey," he cut the pony off with a smug grin, "I saved my unit and a bunch of civvies, and all that was lost was a piece of an arm. Plus it is a fun party trick." He grabbed a small tool bag from underneath his bed and removed a hammer. He placed his hand on the bed rails of his bunk and smashed the hammer into it repeatedly. "I've made hundred credits a bet letting people try to hurt my hand, and I can't feel a thing." His grin grew wider at the thought.

"You really don't mind this?"

"Oh hell no, mecha-limbs are way cooler than flesh and blood. Course," he added thoughtfully, "they don't fix themselves. I've gotten pretty good at minor repairs, but I still have to let the local mechanics know of my condition."

"So… about that… can you… you know…"

"Do anything cool? A little, wanna see?"

"Yeah, let's see what it can do." Sands removed a tiny screwdriver from the bag of tools and reached into the works of his arm. Dash had to admit that it was creepy to see a metal object that looked like a normal arm unless the access panel was open. But Sands did not seem to care as he carefully turned a few screws and tested his hand by opening and closing it. Finally satisfied, he went and retrieved a rock from outside his tent. With a wink, he crushed the rock into a fine powder.

"Whoa, that is so cool!" Dash exclaimed excitedly.

"I know, right?" He smiled, "But unfortunately, I can't control how hard I squeeze so I can't just leave my hand with the ability to crush anything I want. But I did hear that the new feedback sensor-package would allow for very fine control of your mecha-limb. I think I may go in for an upgrade."

"Are there any other nifty little gadgets hiding inside you?"

He gave a quick nod and a laugh, "Check this out." He leaned forward and scraped his fingers across the back of his neck, just at the hairline. A small piece of flesh colored rubber fell away to reveal a small slot in the back of his neck, "Dad got this for me for my birthday, it allows you to plug into a computer and access it using your mind. Think, and it is so. Anything you can actually imagine will come true in the virtual world. Good way to get away from a boring class or something."

"That is kinda cool, how much would one of those be?" Dash questioned excitedly.

"Uh," he rubbed his neck worriedly, "I don't think the procedure would work on a pony."

"Aw man, that's no fair!"

"Hey, maybe one day soon they will develop a way to use these techniques on ponies."

"Augh." replied the frustrated pegasus, "I hate waiting."

"Don't feel so bad, girl. It will happen, soon. Humans can't help but tinker with anything that comes their way, it's a bad habit."

"So long as I get some cool stuff, I'll be a test subject."

"Don't sound so eager about it," He pointed to the slot in his neck, "this hurts like hell if you get too near a magnet." The pair shared a laugh while Sands tuned his hand back to a normal level.

"So are there other, what did you call them, mecha-limbs?"

"Oh sure, the docs can replace your whole body with mechanics if you wanted, and had the money."

"That sounds like it would be fun. Nopony could hurt you, ever!"

"That is why some people undergo the surgeries. Others have no choice, they have to have much of their bodies replaced after accidents or such."

"Why don't more people do this? These mecha-limbs seem so much better than normal ones."

"Many people distrust those with mecha-limbs, something about being less than human. It's the worst for the ones with whole body replacements; no one will have anything to do with them. That's the reason that I hide mine, I don't need any trouble for something that is not… entirely my fault."

"That is not fair! Just because those with the fake parts…"

Dmitri held up a hand and gave a knowing nod, "It's not fair, but that is humanity for you. I trust that you will not let anyone else know about this?"

"My lips are sealed, you can count on that." The pair left the tent to continue their game; a bond of trust was forming between them, forged in battle and tempered by understanding.

xxx

Twilight lay in her bunk, the hard bed aggravating her already sore body. Even so, she had had no trouble falling asleep after the long day she had went through. Her sleep was dreamless and deep as death. She had walked in, picked one the empty bunks in the communal tent, and fell into it, dead to the world before she hit the bed covers.

All too soon, she heard the banging of pots and a drill instructor yelling at her to wake up. She groaned and rolled over, trying to ignore the intruder into her blissful slumber. Big mistake, the DI walked over, grabbed the bed in a hand, and flipped it and its occupant to the floor. The unicorn screamed at the unanticipated fall and landed on her side with a dull thud, bruising her flank.

"Rise n' shine, maggot." the instructor yelled, Celestia had not yet even raised the sun, "You got ten minutes to get your bunk made, get showered or whatever you ponies do, and get your sorry ass to the parade grounds; now MOVE!"

"Ten minutes?" Twilight questioned as she yawned, "That is not enough time."

The DI, who had been leaving the tent, turned around, "Oh really?" He proceeded to kick over the rest of the bunks and looked to her with an evil smile, "Now look what you did! Get this mess cleaned up, and report to the parade grounds. Is that a problem?"

"No."

"No, what?" the DI asked dangerously.

"No, sir."

"What do you know; you are smart enough to learn." He said with the evil smile still firmly in place as he left the tent. Twilight began righting the bunks and replacing the bedcovers, tears beginning to sting her eyes. She could not believe the change in the DIs from yesterday; they had been mean, not evil. She finished fixing the beds, but had no time left to take a shower and had to run to make the ten minute deadline. She just barely made it, by her calculations. The DIs, however, thought differently.

"You're late, maggot!"

"But I…" she stopped herself argument, "Yes sir."

"Get down, a hundred pushups. NOW!"

Twilight dropped into the ready position and began doing the pushups, until a boot descended on her back and forced her to the ground. She was held there for several seconds; she nearly collapsed from the pressure applied by the human's heavy frame.

"That ain't pushups, start over!"

The unicorn had begun to wonder if the DIs were capable of any volume below a shout while the instructor counted off the pushups for her. She would dip down, be expected to hold that position for a few seconds, then she would rise to the resting position, just to repeat the sequence again. Every so often, the instructor would say she had messed up and add ten more to the pile. The words turned to mush in her mind while her body slowly turned to jelly. Finally, she heard the instructor begin to count off the final set. But instead of letting her finish, the DI had her hold the downward pose for what felt like eternity.

"What a useless sack of crap you are." an instructor commented as he circled Twilight, "You think that you could actually do this? What the hell makes you think that you could join the ranks of the galaxy's strongest fighting force?" He gave the struggling unicorn a kick to the hind leg, making her fall over, "Look at that, you can't even stay on your feet! Jesus, I'm supposed to make you into a soldier? I'm an instructor, not damn miracle worker!"

Twilight's eyes shined with hate and anger at the man while he continued to circle her, delivering blow after verbal blow to her. He insulted everything from her parents, upbringing, and even going so far as to insult the Princess for not preparing the ponies for war, calling her, among other things, "coward". If nothing else had worked before, this brought Twilight to her hooves in anger.

"Oh look, she can still stand!" the DI sneered, "If you can do that, then you can run."

"What did you say?" Twilight asked, her voice shaking in anger.

"You heard me, or do you need to get your ears cleaned? I said that frilly Princess of yours must be a coward to make humans fight for her."

"Don't talk about Princess Celestia like that!" Twilight nearly screamed at the human.

He brought his face close to the unicorn's, "Or what?"

Twilight had never before swung her hoof in anger, but now she wanted to make this smug human feel her anger in his broken jaw. She put all the force she could muster behind the hoof that looked like it was going to connect with his face. But the DI merely swept aside the blow with a wave of his hand and brought his knee into her chin. Stars burst in her eyes as the taste of blood filled her mouth for the first time, its metallic tang making her want to vomit. She fell to the ground, cradling her face in her hooves.

The DI stood over her, shaking his head, "Pathetic, but if you can attack me; you can still work." He made the injured pony do hundreds of sit-ups to his specifications. Once that was over; she was made to do everything from squats and even pull-ups. Any time she failed a task, or if they just felt like it, one of the instructors would make her do some arduous task as punishment.

After a short break for breakfast, the female DI who had been so nice yesterday once more tossed the heavy bag to the exhausted unicorn; ordering her to put it on. She had changed her entire demeanor from the day before; going from a strict but caring mother-figure to a fire breathing demon from the depths. They had her run at top speed carrying the heavy bag for about two miles.

Twilight was not feeling well, her stomach churned and her head was swimming. Despite the shouts from the DIs, she stopped and lost what little food she had been able to stomach. Her eyes watered and slowly she began to lose consciousness. She was not awake to feel an instructor catch her before she hit the ground.

xxx

Jaze sat at his desk, working in vain to get through all the paper work that had been building up in the last few days. It was a frighteningly dull task, but a necessary one. There were requisition forms, orders, and lists of supplies that all clamored for his attention with their differently colored ink. He had been working nonstop since that morning and had had enough to last him a life time.

"Seriously," he said out loud to the air, "why do armies need so much paperwork? Next there will be a written request form to use the toilet." He stood and shook his head, "I need a break, maybe I can check to see how the 'recruit' is doing. By now she must be ready to quit."

As if that was the signal, an aide came in and gave a hesitant salute, "Um, sir?"

"What is it?" the annoyed Colonel asked.

"Admiral Gaston is calling for you."

Jaze rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger while he squeezed his eyes shut, "Okay, put him on the view screen." He stood before the screen and waited for Gaston's face to appear. Thankfully the wait was short, in no time the Admiral's tired features appeared before the assassin.

Jaze snapped a salute, "Admiral."

"At ease." His voice was more tired than his face.

"Sir, you look like a demon dragged you backwards through hell."

"Ya could say that." He sighed, "A lot has happened recently. First off, I have some bad news for ya."

"What, what's wrong?" Worry saturated Jaze's voice.

"The Cye have been launching massive offensives all across human territory. I won't be send able to the rest of the troops there for some time to come."

"I understand." The Colonel's tone was understanding, but his mind was churning. Damn, he thought, that'll make this holding action so much harder. Hopefully the reinforcements can get here before the Cye.

"Wait Jaze, there's more."

"What else happened?"

"We lost Vaseti." Those three words struck Jaze to the core. So much had ended, and began, on that planet. And now it was in the hands of his enemy. He had a feeling that Carn was doing this just to get into his head; which, if true, seemed to be quite effective.

"Bastard." the assassin whispered vehemently.

"I do have some good news for you though. I got a resupply coming to you, lots of food and ammo, along with a few Valkyrie dropships."

"Thanks, if nothing else the will be useful as air support."

"Be careful, the Cye are behaving… differently. They're more focused and seem like they've been bypassing some key worlds while they will spend days annihilating the forces stationed on others."

"Thank you sir." a thought struck the assassin, "Could you show me the planets they attacked, and at what dates."

"No problem." The Admiral's face was replaced by a star chart with all the attacked systems highlighted. Gaston's thoughtful tone filtered through the speakers, "Stranger still, they have somehow made off world communication impossible on the worlds they attacked.

Jaze stared at the chart; something was nudging at his brain, mocking him for something he should see. Come on, it whispered, it's right there. There seemed to be no pattern, but there had to be a reason.

"Wait a second…" Jaze touched a button on the com screen and a holo keyboard appeared. After typing a few quick commands, a line connected all the systems together. They formed a perfectly straight line, with the exception of Vaseti. The assassin quickly extended the line to confirm what he already knew. Sure enough, the line passed right through a certain geo-centric system. "Gaston, take a look at this!"

"What have you got?"

"I think that the Cye are building a supply line. This line leads from deep in Cye space, right through everything, to land here, in this system. They are setting themselves up for a siege."

"Bloody hell, you're right! We've been too busy cleaning up the mess to realize what was going on." The star chart closed to reveal a smiling Admiral, "You just save a heap of lives, Jaze."

Jaze crossed his arms and smiled, "You're slipping, old man. Two years ago you would have spotted that days ago. Do I need to call the nursing home?"

"Tell ya what," he replied with a raised eyebrow and a smile, "you don't call them, and I won't get a babysitter."

"Okay, fair is fair." Jaze laughed, then became serious, "I wonder how big the fleet they are moving is."

"Jaze!" the Admiral called excitedly, "we can use this to find the Cye home world."

"What?"

"Look," the star chart reappeared on the screen, "all we would have to do is follow this line back to their home world. We could take the fight to these bastards!"

Jaze suddenly shared in the Gaston's excitement, "Yeah, we could go find where they live and breed, so to speak. Rip out their heart. We could slow them down, or even halt them entirely." Visions of something that had been eluding the galaxy for six years danced in the assassin's eyes; visions of peace, a life without constant fear of attack.

"First things first," the Admiral said as he closed the star chart again, "you can't let them have that planet. It has become a rallying force for the whole human race. We're not alone anymore, and that gives people hope. And right now, hope is more helpful than a thousand starships, a million soldiers, and even more important than our lives."

"Don't worry sir. I never planned to abandon this planet. But, we could end the war! It could all be over!"

"It is something to hope for, but back to the task at hand. We have to get the planets in the path of the fleet evaced. Maybe some of the neighboring systems will be able to take 'em in for now."

"You're going to send our findings to the politicians?"

"Obviously; they need to spread this info around, it will be another boost for morale. Imagine it, the war, over." The thought of finally having peace brought a smile of true happiness to the old soldier's face.

"Yeah, but the government or some researcher will get the credit for figuring it out."

"Yeah, but we still get the pleasure of hitting 'em hard."

"You bet," Jaze pounded his fist into the opposite hand, "these bastards got six years of payback coming. I look forward to this."

A knock came at the door and another aide poked his head in, "Uh, sir?"

"Yes, what is it?" Jaze asked, unable to keep the smile from his face.

"It's about the new recruit sir. She, uh… collapsed, and was taken to the infirmary."

The smile slid from the assassin's face like oil on water, "When?

"About two minutes ago, sir."

"What's this I hear about a recruit?" Gaston asked confusedly.

"Sir, I have to go. A friend of mine is hurt." Jaze said quickly.

"Go on, I have said all I need to anyway." The assassin was gone before the Admiral had finished his statement, running at top speed for the infirmary.

xxx

Twilight slowly became aware of her surroundings again. At first, she felt something beneath her back, something soft a comfortable. She was then aware that she was covered by something, perhaps a blanket. The unicorn's head was swimming; she was having trouble focusing. After much concentration, she was able to discern a sound, voices. There was two of them, both male, and they sounded familiar, but she could not focus her mind to remembering right then. They seemed to be having a quiet argument. It was sometime before she could actually understand what the pair was saying

"Sir, I knew that we were pushing her too hard." One of the male voices whispered.

"I told you to treat her like a normal recruit, this is not your fault." the other answered. That's Jaze, Twilight finally gathered, and the other is one of the instructors. Where am I?

"It damn well is, I should have stopped; let her rest."

"Would you let a human recruit rest?"

"… No, I wouldn't. But this is different, sir."

"How so? She wants to be a soldier, and your job is to get her ready for something one cannot possibly prepare for."

"I understand, sir, but this just feels… wrong. She's not ready."

"We agree on that; don't worry, she is done now." Twilight could hear the sound of footsteps leaving and felt a presence nearby. She slowly forced her eyes open to see Jaze standing over her with a worried expression.

"What happened?" she asked, trying to sit up but stopping when the room swirled around her.

Relief was written all over the Colonel's face, "Oh thank heaven you're awake!" He pulled a chair over and sat down, "You passed out in training, the instructor who just left brought you in here."

"Where is here?" The unicorn cast her eyes around the room. She saw many beds and a mess of medical equipment. She guessed she was in a hospital, but it was not Ponyville General.

"This is the infirmary, where wounded soldiers are brought for treatment."

"Oh, I…" she was interrupted when a white alicorn burst into the room, worry etched deeply into her features.

"Twilight, are you okay?" Celestia asked as she closed the distance between her and the bed.

"I'm fine." the unicorn assured, but she fell back onto the bed as the world spun around her.

"No you're not." She turned to Jaze, worry replaced by anger, "This it twice you've hurt one of my ponies."

The assassin stiffed and prepared to deliver a scathing reply, but Twilight cut him off, "Princess, it's not his fault."

"How so?"

"I made him let me go through with this. I want to help."

The Princess's expression softened, "I see, but this is not the place for you."

"Why not? I can help, so I should."

"Are you truly set on this?" The purple unicorn nodded, "And I believe that I cannot say anything to dissuade you?" She shook her head this time, and Celestia turned back to Jaze, "Please then, continue this training. If she wants this, I cannot stop her."

"But I can!" Jaze said passionately, "She is not cut out for this; she could get hurt much worse next time! Trainees have died in basic before; I won't let her join them!"

"Jaze, stop being selfish." The Princess's words brought him up short, "This is her wish, give this to her."

He took a deep steadying breath, "Okay then, but if it ever gets too tough…"

"I'll tough it out. Just because I can't use a gun doesn't mean that I can't die from one."

"Fine then," Jaze, "I won't stop you. But you have to promise me that you will not make this any harder on yourself."

"I promise." Twilight replied, a fire of hard determination in her eyes. She did not know what the future held, but she knew that she would be ready to meet it. She let her eyes slide closed and fell into a natural slumber.

From the Heart

Jaze had not been this happy in months. Despite the massive amounts of paperwork he was failing to catch up on, and the fact that reinforcements were not going to arrive anytime soon, he could not be more excited. Humanity was no longer waiting for the next attack, they were preparing for an attack of their own. The troops had been told hours after the Colonel had been informed of the foray deep into Cye space in order to find their home world. Celebrations of the highest order had been held; everyone, human and pony, had been invited.

Nothing stopped the celebrations for several days. Pinkie Pie had setup the parties for the troops and ponies, and had been the life of the party. Her skills did wonders for the troop morale, the only disappointing part being that the soldiers could not share their happiness with their families. So instead, they poured the joy out to the local inhabitants; sweeping the ponies up and carrying them along on a wave sheer elation.

There was something else that had the soldiers riled up. The assassin’s internal clock tried to tell him what it was, but his mind was too busy trying to process all the implications of the potential attack.

He was sitting in his office, still trying to catch up on the mountains of paperwork. If Jaze did not know better, he would guess that he had two unicorn assistants whose talent in magic was summoning endless forms for him to initial, reports to read, and various other papers from the bowels of the military bureaucracy. After hours spent trying to focus enough to actually get some work done, Jaze decided to call it an afternoon. Until, that is, he heard worried, hushed whispers outside his door.

“You ask him, Vin.”

“Oh no, he’s scared of you. You ask him.”

“Ask me what?” Jaze called out with a grin. He could hear Shelby and Vincent jump. They opened the door and came into the office, slightly red in the face.

“How you doing Jaze?” Vincent asked, trying to avoid eye contact.

“Quite well, even though this job wants to kick me around.” Jaze’s grin grew a little wider and he crossed his arms, “But you’re not here to inquire as to my health, are you?”

“No, we, uh…” Shelby took in a deep breath, “Can we have a dance tomorrow?”

“Huh, what?”

“We wanted to hold a dance, in honor of what tomorrow is.” Vincent explained unhelpfully

The assassin’s face contorted in confusion, “What day? What did I miss?”

“You don’t know?” Shelby’s voice was incredulous, “If you don’t know, then I ain’t gonna tell you.

“Come on, tell me.”

“Jaze,” Vincent asked, laughing, “you really don’t know?”

“No! That’s what I’m trying to tell you!”

“So, can we have a dance?” Shelby asked again.

“Not unless you tell me what I missed.”

Vincent wore a wicked grin, “Let us have a dance and you’ll find out.”

“Fine, you two plan it and you can have it. But you two really should let me know.”

“Nope.” the grinning couple called in unison as they left to begin the planning of this mysterious dance. Jaze leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. What, he thought amusedly, are those two hiding?

Jaze stood up, frustrated with work, and decided to hunt the two Angels down and get them to tell him what he missed. He dodged around his desk; throwing one last look to the mountainous piles adorning it, which seemed to grow as he watched, before leaving. He glanced to the aide outside his office.

“Before you ask, sir.” He said with a smile, “Those two ordered me not to say a word. Then they asked me politely.”

“So you’re not going to tell me either?”

“No, sir. Not unless you order me to.”

“I won’t put you in a spot like that. But will find out, one way or another.” Jaze said with passion, drawing a short chuckle from the tired aide. The Colonel set out on his quest to figure out what day he had forgotten, and why his friends had thought it so important.

xxx

Jaze had been all over the camp, and not one soldier seemed willing to remind him what was coming. They all just gave him incredulous looks and shook their heads; one even going so far as to burst out laughing in his face. The assassin had no problem being the butt of jokes, but more than anything he felt that tomorrow was important, but what could it be? He wished he had a calendar, but had found his to be strangely missing. No doubt the work of his friends.

The Colonel finally decided to find Shelby and Vincent and force them to tell him what was going on. The question would gnaw at his mind for the rest of the day unless he learned this secret. If need be, he thought with a smile, I’ll order them to tell me. He searched the camp high and low, trying to find the couple. But they continued to elude him for the better part of two hours.

Until, at last, he caught sight of Vincent’s large frame disappearing between two prefab buildings, Shelby by his side. Jaze snuck up on the pair, all his skills as a silent killer now used to stalk his friends to find out what they were hiding. They had stopped and were discussing in low whispers what the Colonel believed to be plans for the dance.

“Okay,” Shelby said excitedly, “I can get ahold of heart shaped confetti, no sweat.”

Vincent smiled and nodded, “Pinkie already told me that she would get us several large, red-velvet, heart-shaped cakes. So long as she was invited, that is.” Hearts, was Jaze’s confused thought, what do they want with all this heart shaped mess? The assassin carefully pasted himself to the wall and peeked around the corner. The couple was lovingly holding each other as they whispered their plans back and forth. Seeing the two act so close brought a broad smile to Jaze’s face. He was truly happy that the pair had found love, even if he was a little jealous. Not of their love, but of their freedom to express it openly. Come on, a voice in his head chided, you don’t love her, just like her a lot. Right?

“Do you think we could get Applejack to supply some cider, Vin?” Shelby asked, breaking the assassin’s foolish line of thought.

“Prolly,” the large man replied, “and I’ll bet that Pinkie could get some food coloring to make it pink and red for us to.”

“That would be so corny, let’s do it.”

“Uh, Shelby…”Vincent looked disturbed, “do you think that we should have told Jaze?”

“What, about what tomorrow is?”

“Yeah, I feel bad keeping it from him.”

“If he ain’t gonna keep up with what the date is, that’s his fault.”

“Yeah but, what if he has a special someone that he wanted to do something for?”

“Did you forget? About him and Evelyn? Honestly, I think that it’s better that he doesn’t know, it would make those memories fresh again.”

“Yeah, but he could have found…”

“He has only recently been in any position to start trying to find love again. I doubt he has made good with any of the ladies on base this quickly.”

“Well, what about some of the locals?”

“What, this again?” Shelby let out a deep sigh, “I highly doubt that.”

“Hey, don’t say you haven’t seen the looks that pass between him and that blue one. Trixie, right?”

“C’mon, they’re too different. Love starts with a physical attraction, and there is no reason for those two to be attracted.”

“Love has this way of not behaving like you think it should.” With that statement, Vincent leaned down and gave Shelby a deep, passionate kiss. Out of respect, Jaze dropped back behind the wall to give the two the privacy he would desire in an intimate moment. He finally heard the two break the kiss.

“Hmmm,” Shelby hummed contentedly, “I guess you do have a point there.”

“So, should we tell him that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t want to risk him shutting down again. That was too sad to watch.” She let out a brief smile, “Besides, he’ll find out soon enough.”

“I guess so…”

“So, what else do we need?” Jaze noiselessly crept away to allow the couple to continue planning. When he was finally far enough away so they could not hear him, the assassin slapped his forehead in stupidity.

“How,” he asked the air, “in the name of all that is good did I forget that tomorrow was Valentine’s Day?”

In fairness, the voice from before answered, you have been away from humanity for these last few months.

“Oh, shut up.” Jaze growled, trying to ignore his own thoughts. A few sudden realizations hit the assassin. First, he had the most caring friends in the universe. They wanted to avoid giving him any pain. The second, and far more pressing matter, what was he going to do for Valentine’s Day?

xxx

Jaze walked the streets of Ponyville, wondering at his predicament. On the one hand, he felt he should do something for Trixie, but would she even understand the gesture? And, more importantly, what should he do? He wanted to get her something nice, but he could not think of anything that she would like, and that would be a meaningful gift from the heart. He passed by all the shops, glancing at their wares before passing on. Nothing was jumping out at him, everything seemed trivial and hollow in his eyes.

“Anyone can buy something,” he thought aloud, “so maybe I could make something? No, I don’t have the skill. But maybe I could pay to have something made. No, that wouldn’t have the same meaning…”

“Whatcha doing, frowny-frowning-Mcfrowny Pants?” Pinkie suddenly asked from the assassin’s elbow.

The mighty Colonel jumped like he had been touched by a live wire, “P-Pinkie! What are you doing here?”

She gave him a snorting laugh, “I’m always at Sugar Cube Corner this time of day, silly.” Jaze looked around, suddenly realizing that he had been walking and talking to himself and he had ended up outside the bakery. The pink pony gave him a wide smile as she bounced around him, “Isn’t this party gonna be fun? At first I didn’t know what a Valendine’s or whatever’s Day was, but then Shelby told me and I was all,” she gave a deep gasp, “and now I’m going to help make the cakes and treats and I even heard they wanted to invite the Princesses and…”

“Whoa, whoa,” Jaze pressed his hand to the excited pony’s mouth, “did you say the Princesses?”

“Mm-hm,” Pinkie mumbled around the hand trying to silence her and nodding enthusiastically.

“They really are pulling out all the stops on this, aren’t they?” he laughed.

Pinkie pulled away, “Yeah, we’re gonna have so much fun!”

“Don’t you have cakes to make?”

Pinkie’s eyes went wide in panic, “Ohmygoshyou’rerightgottago,bye.” She took off into the bakery, a pink blur tearing off to begin the preparations for the party.

Jaze could not force the smile from his face after seeing the party pony. He slowly managed to force his mind back to his original direction: what to do about Trixie and Valentine’s Day. He had decided that making or buying something was out of the question. He needed something that he could give her; something that held meaning for both of them. Something from the heart. As he walked, the answer finally struck him. A slow smile spread across his face as he left for home to get everything ready for the next day.

xxx

Trixie was beginning to get a little worried. Jaze had been avoiding her since the day before, only stopping to tell her that Shelby and Vincent were holding a dance in honor of some human holiday. With an almost stupidly large grin, the assassin had asked her to go. He had insisted, to the point of almost begging her. The blue unicorn had finally agreed, much to the happiness of the silver-eyed human. Since then, he had stayed away from her, and the few times she had caught sight of the Colonel he had been wearing that same, dopey grin. Now it was nearing dark, and he was still nowhere.

The party was set to begin in less than an hour, and she had seen Jaze since that morning. He had left early after cooking a big breakfast, saying something about piles of paperwork at the office. She had stopped by around midday to drop off some lunch for him, yet he had been oddly absent. The aides had been smiling, and absolutely refused to help her in any way. So she had prepared for the dance as best she could and hoped that he found her. She would have hated to be stuck there, with nopony, or human, that she really knew.

“Oh you idiot,” unicorn whispered loudly, “where the hay are you?” The dance was drawing to an opening, and still she had not seen hide or hair of the assassin. With a heavy sigh, she resigned herself to an awkward night and made her way to the field that had been cleared to give the dancers plenty of room and a chance to watch the beautiful night sky as the sun gave way and disappeared beyond the horizon. Trixie could see several long tents housing tables laden with all kinds of foods. From human favorites to pony-friendly dishes, anything imaginable was served on those tables, such as a bright red and pink cake almost as big as a pony in the shape of a heart in the center of one of the tables. There were also several smaller cakes of similar shape and numerous heart-shaped cupcakes

“Would you like to join me, my dear lady?” a long awaited voice asked from behind.

A smile graced the unicorn’s face as she turned, “Jaze where have you…” She was stunned speechless as she saw him for the second time that day. He had managed to sneak home to get his full dress uniform complete with the several medals and campaign ribbons polished to catch and reflect the dying sunlight, and the shoulder cape that Rarity had made for the Gala. Sairugi graced his hip once more, and Jaze looked every inch of what he was; the most powerful human on the planet.

“Do I look as foolish as I feel?” Jaze asked quietly.

“I think you look quite dashing, for a human.” Trixie responded with a wink.

“What’s that mean, ‘for a human’?”

“Oh, nothing…” she giggled at the confused look that had been grafted to the Colonel’s face.

“Whatever, the dance is going to start soon. Shall we go?”

“I suppose, good sir.”

The Colonel strolled to the front of the field and stepped onto a small stage on which several ponies and soldiers with instruments had gathered and shouted over the soldiers, “Good evening everyone, ladies and gentlemen, fillies and gentlecolts. Put your hands, hooves and what have you for, all the way from Canterlot, the Royal Ensemble featuring cellist Octavia; as well as several players from right here in the camp.” The musicians raised their hands in greeting to much cheering from the crowds. “It is my great pleasure to announce this Valentine’s dance as open.” The soldiers roared their elation to the skies, “Have a great time everyone, that’s an order!” Jaze hopped off the stage and made his way through the crowds back to Trixie as the artists began to play, the first song something fast-paced and up lifting.

“So Jaze,” she asked as he joined her, “what is Valentine’s Day?”

“It’s, well, you see,” his face had turned as crimson as the cakes, “it’s a day to celebrate those special to you. Usually a person gives another a gift of some kind.”

“Oh, so you mean it’s a day to celebrate friends.”

“Well, really,” he somehow managed to get even redder, “it’s really for those who are more than friends.”

Understanding crossed her face, and the realization had her turning red as well, “Oh, I see.”

“Um, so, would you like to dance?” The assassin had not felt so awkward in years, and he could tell that the unicorn was feeling the same way.

“I, uh, don’t like to dance so much. Four left hooves, as it were.”

Relief washed over his face, “I’m glad that you said that, I am a terrible dancer myself.”

“Hey there,” The pair looked up to see Shelby waving enthusiastically, Vincent by her side, “Jaze, glad you figured it out in time.”

Vincent tossed Shelby a knowing glance, “Is this Trixie your partner for the dance?”

“Well,” the blue unicorn interrupted, “we aren’t going to dance.”

“What?!” the female pilot yelled, “You have to dance, it’s traditional!”

“Yeah, Jaze,” Vincent mocked, “if the Colonel doesn’t dance then everyone will think that he is not enjoying himself.”

The assassin turned to Trixie with an almost pleading look, “Trixie?”

“If those two,” she indicated the other Angels, “say it’s tradition I guess we don’t have a choice.”

“Fine, but don’t get mad if I step on you your feet, er… hooves.”

“Don’t worry,” Vincent winked, “the next one is a slow dance. One and you two can be done.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll do it, but,” he pointed at the already grinning couple, “I am going to hate you two for the rest of the night.”

“We can live with that.” The pair said in unison as they left. Trixie guessed that they were going to find a spot that they could watch her and Jaze make fools of themselves.

“Damn those two,” the assassin laughed, “they drive me to dance.”

“Yes, well,” the unicorn glanced worriedly to the band when they began to play, “should we dance?”

“I guess. But if we’re going to do this we’re going to do this right.” He dropped into a deep bow, “May I have this dance?”

“Yes you may.”She, too, gave a bow, and then looked up, “How are we going to do this?”

“Let’s try this.” He bent down and took her fore-hooves in his hands and lifted her until she was standing on her back legs. She was now almost as tall as he, although unstable.

“I’m going to fall!” Trixie said in a near panic.

“Don’t worry,” Jaze assured, placing a hoof on his shoulder and gripping the other tightly, “I won’t let you fall, I promise.”

The pair slowly started moving across the dance floor. The Colonel could see humans and the few ponies who had attended throwing stares their way, but he utterly failed to give a care. He was beginning to have fun, and could see his partner was relaxing enough to enjoy the dance as well. They continued their dance, until another couple smacked into them; knocking Trixie from her hooves. Jaze managed to catch her in his arms before she hit the ground, and gave her a wide smile.

“Told you that I wouldn’t let you fall.”

“But you did.” She said with a flushed grin.

“At least I didn’t let you hit the ground.”

“I still think that you owe me; for breaking your promise, I mean.”

“Oh really?” Jaze asked as he slowly leaned in, heedless of the others around them. Suddenly there was a snorting laugh that brought the pair back to what was going on around them.

“This is a great party!” It was Pinkie, standing next to them with a plate of cake that she was tearing into. “Thus ish really ‘ood.” she said through a mouthful of cake, “You should try shome!”

Jaze set his dance partner back on her hooves, said “I think that I will.” And quickly

“Dang it Pinkie,” Trixie whispered as the party pony danced away, “why did you scare him away like that. She stayed where she was, waiting for Jaze to return and hoping that nopony thought her awkward for standing around at a dance.

Suddenly, she heard the party-goers behind her part, and the sound of hoofsteps. She turned slowly to see Princess Celestia striding towards her from between rows of humans and ponies. Trixie bowed low as the Princess of the Sun joined her. The partiers continued to dance around them, but gave the pair a wide, respectful birth

“And how are you, my little pony?” Celestia asked with a graceful nod.

“I am very well, Your Majesty.” The smaller unicorn assured.

“I hope you’re night is progressing well.”

“Very well, Princess.” She brought her eyes up to meet Celestia’s, “May I ask why you’re here?”

“Of course you may.”

Several seconds passed before Trixie finally asked, “Are you going to tell me, Your Majesty.”

“I will.”

The blue unicorn waited a full minute before asking, “Then why have you not told me?”

“I have not said anything, because you have not asked.” The Sun Princess answered with a smile to Trixie’s confused stare, “You asked if you could ask, you asked if I would tell you, and you asked why I had not told you yet. You never actually asked me your question.”

Trixie smiled in spite of herself, “Then I shall ask; why are you here, Your Majesty?”

“Luna and I are here to foster relations between the diarchy and the human soldiers.” Her smile grew a little bigger, “And, of course, to attend a party that is not utterly dull.”

This managed to draw a life out of the unicorn, “I see, that makes sense. How do you find the party.”

“I like the humans that do not know who we are. They treat us like anypony else, until somepony tells them.” Her face fell, “Then they shy away, like everypony else.”

“I… am sorry, Princess.”

“It’s part of the burden of ruling; you are treated as different no matter what you do.” Celestia let out a tired sigh, “I have come to accept it, but I worry for Luna.”

“Why do you worry for Princess Luna?”

“She is much younger than I and wants nothing more than to have close friends. She has lost a thousand years of learning to handle the pressures of being alone.”

“Princess, you are not alone.” The Princess cocked her head at the smiling unicorn, “Everypony loves and respects you both, they only shy away from you out of respect.”

“Maybe so,” the Princess said as she turned to leave, “but it still hurts Luna more than anypony knows.”

xxx

Jaze stood at the food tables, trying to calm his shaking body. I almost did that, he thought nervously, I almost kissed her in front of everyone. What the hell was I thinking. He grabbed two plates of cake and turned to leave, but was brought up short by Airman Shar; this time minus the smell of the bar.

“Hello sir.” She gave him a crisp salute.

“Hello Shar.” The Colonel said as he waved his hand, “You can cut the saluting for tonight; this is a social gathering and I’m just another party goer.”

“I just wanted to let you see that you caught me at a bad time. I don’t generally get drunk, and I am more than capable behind the stick of my bird.”

“You flying one of the Thundercats?”

“Nope, I fly a Valkyrie.”

“What were you doing here before your bird?”

The Airman rolled her eyes, “Typical screw-up; they sent me orders to come here, then tell me that I won’t have naught to fly but paper airplanes for a while.”

“I know that one, actually.”

“Yeah, but at least I had some time to catch up on the sleep I’ve been missing. And to think about where everything is going.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” She shifted her feet nervously, “I, you said that your just another party goer, right?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Then, do you have a partner for the dance?”

Jaze put on a sad smile, “Sorry, I already gave the one dance I had in me to someone.”

“You mean that pony girl?” A nod from the assassin, “I see, guess I can’t win ‘em all.” She pointed to the cake in his hand, “That’s a little greedy, isn’t it?”

“One is for a friend.”

“Well, tell her I said hi. And good luck.” She walked away, hiding her rejection well. Jaze shook his head, trying to figure out what she had meant by “good luck”. With a shrug, he set out to return to the unicorn he had left so abruptly.

He followed his path from the table back to where he had left Trixie. His cheeks slowly colored at the sight of her; at the memory of what had just happened. She sauntered over to him; appearing unfazed, or at least uncaring.

“Is that for me?” she asked at the sight of the cake.

“Yes ma’am.” The pair walked away from the dancers and into the cool dark of the night. They found a convenient hill overlooking the festivities and sat to watch and enjoy Pinkie’s delicious baking.

The minutes slowly ticked by in silence, Jaze trying to bring up the courage to give her the box. What if she doesn’t like it? he thought fretfully, What if she doesn’t like what it represents? And what if she gets angry? No, don’t back out now; you did this before and you’re not going to do it again. Just give it to her!

“Um, Trixie.” He slowly pulled the box from his pocket again, “I have a little something for you.”

“What, why?”

“It’s another part of the Valentine’s holiday; you’re supposed to give things to those who mean something to you.” He placed the box at her feet, “It’s not much, but it means a lot to me for you to have it.” Trixie picked the box up with magic and carefully unwrapped and opened it. Inside was a familiar ring on a chain.

“Jaze,” she breathed, “isn’t this…”

“Yes,” he nodded, “that was the ring meant for Evelyn.”

“I can’t take this, it means too much for you.”

“Please, take it.” He put the chain around her neck, “It means more to me to see it on you than to see it dangling on this sorry hide.”

“Okay Jaze, I’ll wear it if you want.” She floated the object in front of her eyes, “It really is a beautiful ring.”

“Thank you for taking it, this means more to me than you could ever know.”

[A/N] I would like to take a moment to do some thanking to the various people that have been helping with this fic. First off, I want you all to thank Dark Datum for pre-reading this fic and ferreting out my missteps. Secondly, I want to thank Doc Delray for helping to turn this fic into what it is today. Show your love this Valentine’s Day by giving his story a read; it is one of the most well written and funniest stories I’ve read in a long time. And finally, I would like to thank all those who have reviewed, favorited, et cetera my story. Seeing the reviews always makes my day. Have a good one, everypony.
Fenrir928

Fanning the Flames

The young Colonel stretched his incredibly sore back, glad to finally be done with all the paper work. It had taken the better part of the morning, but now he had the rest of the day to allow it to pile up again. He pulled his list of obligations from a drawer in the desk and gave it a once over.

“Okay,” he said to his desk, “I’ll go to the armory and get outfitted. After that I’ll go to my training session with Dash and AJ, but before all that; I’m going to grab lunch with Trixie.” At the thought of the blue unicorn, Jaze’s hand went to his neck and failed to find the ring for the thousandth time in the week since the dance. He was more than happy to see the lovely piece of jewelry hanging around her neck, but a part of him still felt it odd that it was no longer his.

The assassin’s head snapped to the door at the sound of angry voices and heavy hoofsteps outside his door, “Let me through! I need to see Jaze, right now!”

“I’m sorry but…”

Despite the aide’s protests, the door was suddenly flung wide and an irate purple unicorn stepped into the office; a datapad floating next to her. This she tossed onto the Colonel’s desk, scattering the valuable papers all over the ground. He breathed in deeply through his nose, trying to keep calm. He had just gotten everything in order. Then he realized that Twilight was not just angry; she was disgusted, confused, and were those tears?

“You better have good reason,” the assassin said calmly, “for mucking up all that work.”

“Why?” the unicorn asked, bitter tears of pain now flowing down her face.

“Why what?” In answer, she flipped on the datapad and turned it to a page; then pressed her hoof into the words. Although she seemed to upset to speak, the command to read was not lost on him, and so he started scanning the page. It was something about one of the many battles in human history, and a journal entry from a citizen caught his eye:

“We civilians are dying by the hundreds, mostly the children, the sick, and the elderly. I’ve been asked to ‘help’ those who can no longer be saved. The first one was a small girl, so thin you would think she’s a skeleton.”

Thinking that this is what had his friend and recruit so upset, he read on:

“Food’s gone, mostly. We even ate all the animals in the city, lowest the rat population’s been since this hole was founded. We had to kill and eat my work ponies, they were good friends and I am sad to see them go. Every so often something turns up and everyone fights for it. Some have began to turn cannibal, eating the dead and rotting bodies that are piling up between the constant attacks, starvation, the disease and the general killings. More likely to die from a neighbor than from any enemy…”

Jaze looked to Twilight in askance, “What is the problem?”

“How could humans so causally kill and eat a pony?” the unicorn sobbed, “Why? It’s like she didn’t matter at all!” A flash of understanding lit the assassin’s face, and he soon had the sobbing pony wrapped in a warm hug. She beat his chest with her hooves as he ran his hands through her mane to quiet her.

“Listen,” he whispered, “those ponies were not like you. And bad things happen in wartimes. This is why I wanted you to stay far away from this; I knew you’d be hurt.”

“How could humans be so horrible?!” she yelled at him.

“I know, I know,” He wished that he could reach into her mind and scrub these terrible images from her mind, “but you have to understand; ponies on Earth are much different and when it comes down to it, human life is more valuable to us than any animal.”

“It’s still terrible!”

“Twilight, I have seen potted plants around. Could a pony physically eat them?”

“Yes,” she managed to answer through her hurt.

“And why don’t you?”

“Because, they are like pets.”

“Now, if you were faced with starvation, would you eat them?”

Sickening understanding appeared in her eyes, “Yes, I would. Anypony would.”

“Same thing on Earth.” he explained, “The ponies he is talking about is not intelligent, they couldn’t think like you and I.”

“But, he said he would miss them!”

“When faced with death, most will do anything to survive. Those who don’t are labeled as heroes at their funerals.”

“I…”

“Twilight, I don’t claim that this was right, but that is the past and we can’t change it. The only things we can do are look to the future and make the best of the present.”

“I guess so.”

A smile curled across Jaze’s face, “And from now on, Recruit, don’t just come barging into my office.”

She managed to give a watery smile and a salute, “Yes sir.” She spun and left, tears still in her eyes. Jaze sighed, he wished that she had not seen the ugliest parts of human wars. But this was the world she dragged herself into the moment she decided to become a soldier. He made his way to the door and followed the unicorn through it.

“Hey, Recruit Twilight!” he called to the shaken unicorn, who turned to see what was wrong, “Tell your instructors to meet me by the armory in a couple hours. I need to talk to them, and you.” She gave a solemn nod and left out the front of the command building.

XXX

Jaze stepped into his house to the smell of something delicious cooking. He caught sight of Trixie in the kitchen, already hard at work making lunch. She popped her head into the living room and threw the Colonel a smile. His stomach lurched at the sight of the ring hanging from her neck, he still found it strange.

“Hello there,” the unicorn chirped, “the food will be ready in a minute.”

He broke into a wide smile, “How’d you know that I was going to come home for lunch?”

“Because,” she laughed, “I know that you have been eating that terrible camp food and your taste buds desired something a little better.”

“You have no idea how right you are, but I was gonna suggest going out to eat.”

“I am just as happy staying here today.”

“Whatever you want is more than good with me.” He fell on to the couch, surprisingly tired considering that he had only spent the day sitting behind a day. As soon as this is over, he thought with an inward laugh, I want to go back to being a Major. His thoughts soon turned back to the conversation he had just had with Twilight; that was probably what had him so strung out. He tried to bring his thoughts to something happier, but failed. All he could see was the purple unicorn’s tear streaked face. Trixie looked into the soldier’s eyes, and saw that something was bothering him.

“What is wrong, Jaze?” she asked quietly

“It’s something that happened earlier.” He said, his head and arms on the back of the couch.

The blue unicorn placed a hoof on either side of his head from behind and looked down at him, “Tell me, it might make you feel better.”

A grim smile flew across his face before disappearing, “What can I refuse you?” he told her in hushed tones everything that had passed between him and Twilight. As he had expected, fear and disgust were burned into her features. He kept his gaze on anything but her, trying desperately to avoid the heartbreak that would be on her face.

“I understand, Jaze.” Trixie said quietly.

That simple statement caught the assassin by surprise, “You do?”

“Yes. I know that desperation will make somepony do things that they would be loath to do normally. And everypony makes mistakes; I won’t blame you for something you can’t control. Twilight wouldn’t either; it was just that she was surprised.”

“Thank you Trixie, I know that humans must seem evil to you. We’ve brought so much into your life that you should not have to deal with.”

“And a few things I would not want to live without.” She was still looking down at him, the Colonel realized suddenly.

And then a smell hit his nostrils, “Is something burning?”

“Oh, buck!” The unicorn tore off into the kitchen to make sure that the food was still edible. Jaze had his first good laugh that day at the sounds of frantic frustration coming from the kitchen. “Shut up!” the unicorn called, beginning to laugh herself, “It’s not funny!”

“Sure is from this angle!”

“Well, the only thing that got a little burnt was your, um, ‘special’ part.”

“You didn’t have to cook anything special for me.” The Colonel said as he made his way into the kitchen, “I know that it bothers you.”

“Not really,” she assured, “it’s just a part of who you are. I told you that, remember?”

“Yes, but that was before you had to cook it.”

“I am well over that; so long as you never let me know what it used to be.”

“I can live with that, you cook so much better than me.”

“Enough gabbing, you look hungry.”

“Famished.” Jaze assured as his stomach rumbled audibly.

XXX

The armory was the last place that the Colonel wanted to see any of his friends. And yet here he was, about to give Twilight the news that she had been waiting for almost two weeks to hear. The purple unicorn in question stood at attention, waiting for Jaze to say something.

“Recruit Twilight, I believe that you have proven yourself capable of handling a fire arm.”

Her eyes lit up with excitement, “Sir?”

“Report to the Gunnery Sergeant and get fitted for a load-out.”

“Sir, yes sir!” She walked in as calm and soldierly as she could manage, but the anticipation still put a bounce in her step.

When Twilight was safely out of earshot, Jaze turned to the DIs, “What are your assessments of the recruit’s skills?”

“Sir, she seems quiet adept at code cracking and information warfare, sir.” the lead DI told said quickly.

“How do you figure so?”

“She broke into an encrypted file, a tester file that usually takes forever to crack; even after someone is taught how to do it.”

“She cracked the code,” another DI jumped in, “in less than two minutes. And she did it on her first try, sir.”

Jaze stared after the vanished unicorn, “Isn’t that something?”

“Sir, it defiantly is sir.”

“I would suggest,” an older DI said quietly, “that you put her in to information warfare, she is more valuable there than on the front lines.”

“I never had any intention of letting her in the frontline. Although she is technically a Marine now, if only an honorary one, so I can’t not let her help. I will consider using her for war-tech, but it will be her call. It’s the least that I can do for her after all this.” The Colonel gave a quick wave, “Dismissed.” He entered the armory just in time to see Twilight picking up a rifle with her magic.

The Gunnery Sergeant looked up to see the Colonel and smiled, “Ah, I was wondering when you would come to see me.”

“What made you so sure that I would visit?” Jaze asked.

“Because, you haven’t gotten a kit yet.”

“I already have my kit; I’ve had it since I fell to this planet.”

“Ahhh, but do you have these?” He picked up an assault rifle that looked almost exactly like the one the assassin had stored in his house; the only difference was that this rifle was slightly smaller.

“I am going to guess that there is something special about this gun.”

“It is the G-8 Tactical Assault Rifle. Or TAR for short.” The Sergeant explained excitedly, “It’s got a sixty round clip, twice the size of the old G-7, with the same bull-pup design, and a lot more reliable to boot. It’s more accurate, and it can be registered to its owner via DNA signatures, so only you can use this gun once it’s yours.”

“Doesn’t that mean that I can’t pick up and use a fallen soldier’s weapon?”

“That’s half the beauty, if the weapon registers its owner’s death, it disables the DNA coding!”

“That’s a little gruesome, don’t you think?” Twilight asked, nervously eyeing the gun before her.

“It’s a lot better than someone being able to take your gun and shoot you with it.” the Sergeant assured, “Plus you can manually turn it off, but only if the registered owner is holding the rifle.”

“Okay, that’s nifty,” Jaze said slowly, “But hardly worth jumping to reissue myself a weapon over.”

The Sergeant’s smile grew wider, “Then check this out!” He retrieved a few ammunition boxes and set them on a table for the Colonel’s approval. Inside the first was what appeared to be regular bullets, except that they had cracks running along the surface. The second contained bullets that were slightly bulged at the top, like a mushroom. And the final one appeared to be normal bullets, just heavier.

“I give,” the assassin finally admitted, “what are they for?’

“These babies,” the Sergeant smirked, “are where the TAR gets the ‘Tactical’ part of its name.” He picked out one of the heavy rounds, “This is a specially hardened round, designed to tear through Cye armor plate. Penetrates up to three-quarters of an inch of the stuff.” He next grabbed one of the mushroom headed ones, “This thing has a small amount of explosive in the head of the bullet. One shot from one of these will turn the average Cye weapons platform into a memory.” Lastly, he grabbed the fractured bullet, “A personal favorite, these are shredder rounds. The rounds break up and stay in a tight pattern until they hit something. Great for the softer targets, still does alright against a basic trooper. And they can obviously still use the old ammo.”

“Still not jumping for joy here.” the assassin laughed.

“Then if this doesn’t sell you, nothing will.” The master of the armory thumbed the release for the magazine, “What is the one of the biggest limiters for a gun’s effectiveness?”

“The availability of ammo,” Twilight answered, catching Jaze off guard.

“How did you know that?” the Colonel and the Sergeant asked simultaneously.

“I had to take lessons on war theory,” she replied with a wink, “I know more than you think.”

“Right,” the Sergeant coughed, “So, it doesn’t matter if you have a gun if you have no ammo. The TAR solves that by having the ability to use virtually any type of small arms ammo.”

“No. Way.” Jaze’s voice was stunned and his eyes were widening in excitement, “How does that work?”

“I’ve got you now, boyo.” The smirk was firmly in place on the Sergeant’s face now, “The receiver and barrel are made of a special, reactive plastic that forms around the magazine and bullets you put in there. Within reason, of course.”

“Fine, you sold me.” The Colonel picked up the rifle and brought it to his shoulder, checking the sights, “Does it do anything else? Like turn into a robot sentry or aim for me?”

“I think not,” the Sergeant replied with laugh, “but do you need more?”

“No, I think this will do.” He turned to Twilight; who was turning over her gun, looking at it from every angle, “I want you to report to the firing range and begin learning to use that rifle. I expect you to be up to scratch before the end of the day.”

“Yes sir!” The unicorn saluted, but in her mind she was panicking. She had not held a rifle before today, and now she was expected to hit a target with it. She left the tent quickly, wanting as much time as she could get to work on her marksponyship.

“I can’t wait to use these babies on some Cye.” The Sergeant said as he lovingly cradled one of the rifles.

“Don’t worry,” Jaze began collecting magazines, “that will happen all too soon.”

XXX

Twilight took a deep breath and, her gun floating before her. She peered down the sights and lined up on a target. With a magical squeeze of the trigger, the rifle barked and sent several rounds screaming down range. The bullets slammed into the target and the unicorn’s breath came out all at once.

“That’s five for five!” the soldier teaching her to shoot yelled in surprise, “You sure you haven’t done this before?”

“Yes sir, I haven’t done this before!”

“You can drop that sir load with me, recruit.” He smiled, “I ain’t no DI, I’m just a guy that knows how to put lead on target.” He was a shorter man; his hair closely shaven to his scalp to the point that you could not tell what color it was. The left side of his face was scarred from a severe burn, but he did not let that dampen his bright spirit.

“Then what do I call you?”

“I told you before, Lance Corporal Yatran. Or Stacks, that’s what everyone calls me.”

“Stacks?” the unicorn laughed, “Why do they call that?”

“Cause we had to stack the bodies of the Cye that were storming the facility I was tasked to guard. And I was the one that had to do the stacking.”

“Okay then… Stacks. Then you don’t have to call me recruit, you can just call me Twilight.”

“Much better, I hate to think that you think that I am like those DI demons.”

“Oh you’re much nicer.” The two shared a laugh at the expense of the DIs.

“But seriously, you know the DIs are only evil because they care, right?”

She remembered the conversation that she had overheard between Jaze and one of the instructors, “Yes, I know.”

“If there is a more thankless job, I’ve yet to see it. Next to combat medic, that is the last job I want in this outfit.” His eyes were briefly dark, but soon returned to their previous enthusiasm, “Enough of that though, I know that I won’t be taken off my sniper team for while.”

“You’re a sniper?”

“Yep,” He held up his right index finger, “this is the Finger O’ God, right here.” He looked around to make sure no superiors were around before whispering conspiratorially, “You wanna shoot a real rifle?”

Twilight bit her lower lip, thinking of the alternatives, “Couldn’t we get in trouble for that?”

“Yes, but that’s half the fun!”

“Maybe we shouldn’t…”

“Aw, c’mon! Trust me, you’ll love it.”

“Hey Stacks,” a female voice called, “Are you trying something with the recruit?” Twilight turned to see a woman jogging over to them. Her face looked a lot like Stacks’, but she had let her hair, which was a dirty blonde, grow to where it touched her ears.

“What? No!” he yelled back, embarrassment coloring his face.

“Watch out, rookie.” she said with a wink, “Even with that scar he’s still a player.”

“That’s no fair, Sis.” he said, false hurt dripping from his words.

“What’s a ‘player’?” the purple unicorn asked, her head cocked in confusion.

The woman let out a loud laugh and slapped Twilight on the back, “You’re so innocent, I love it! I think you can hang with us, but you gotta ditch ‘Twilight’ and get a good nickname.”

“Yours is Sis?”

“Yep,” she grabbed Stacks in a headlock, “got it from this idiot here. If you can’t tell, we’re twins and he kept calling me Sis and it stuck. Your friends call you anything?”

“My friend Applejack calls me Twi.” the unicorn confessed.

“It’ll do for now.” Sis turned to her brother, “Now what were you trying to pressure Twi into doing?”

“I just wanted her to shoot my rifle.”

“I’ll bet.”

“No! I meant my sniper’s rifle!”

“Sure, playa.”

“Would you cut that out, I got a rep to protect!”

“You still haven’t told me what a ‘player’ is.”

“Maybe when you’re older, Twi.” Sis said as she ruffled the unicorn’s mane.

“So, what are you doing here Sis?” Stacks asked.

“The Colonel and those two ponies are at it again. I thought you might want to watch.” She gave the sniper a wink, “And perhaps to bet?”

“Oh no,” he said with a laugh, “you’ve already cleaned me out. No way am I betting against you again.”

“Fine, I’ll let you keep your money. How bout you Twi, you in?”

“I’ll watch, but I don’t have any money.”

“Dammit! That’s my luck!” the woman said with a laugh, “Oh well, we can still watch. I bet the Colonel’s gonna get himself beaten.”

“No way! Those ponies are toast.” The pair bickered all the way to the recreation fields.

XXX

The Colonel had always tried to hide the training bouts he had with Dash and Applejack before, and yet the soldiers always managed to find the three of them. So the Colonel had decided to have the matches at a set time and place for the past week. The fights were a big hit with the soldiers; everyone placing friendly bets on the matches. The two brightly colored ponies soon came to enjoy the attention, and the industrious farm-pony had soon brought Big Macintosh into the camp to sell refreshments to the screaming soldiers. Celestia and Jaze had come to the agreement that one Earth Coalition Credit was equal to one Bit for the time being. At least this way the humans and ponies could trade.

As Twilight neared the field where the match was being held, she could hear the sound of steel crashing into steel over the cheers of the crowd and knew that the fight was under way. She managed to push her way to the front of the ring of people to catch sight of the three fighters. Jaze and Dash were trading blows, the pegasus having taken to the air to increase her mobility. Their blades came together time and again, each strike letting out a bell-like peal that did not have time to fade away before the blades crashed together again.

The weather pony turned warrior brought her single-edged sword down to strike the top of the Colonel’s shoulder. He swept his sword across his front, catching the pony’s blade in mid strike and pushing it away and putting his sword between hers and her body. Jaze swung his sword at the pony’s face, catching her off guard. Twilight was stunned that he would swing a sharpened blade at a friend so casually, like he did not care if he hurt her. When Dash stopped beating her wings and fell to the ground to avoid the blow, the studious unicorn saw that the blades were blocked by a hard plastic coating. The blades were only slightly more dangerous than a butter knife, if a butter knife could break bones. Upon the realization that her friends were not trying to kill each other, Twilight sat down to enjoy the show.

The rainbow-maned pony launched herself from the ground, putting all her force behind the tip of her blade. Jaze was forced to roll away, giving Dash the time she needed to get back in the air and begin circling her grounded opponent. Suddenly, Applejack came out of nowhere and tried to land a blow on the human who was climbing to his feet. He spun away and made to bring Sairugi down on top of the farmpony’s skull. Dash forced him to back off his assault by charging him from the air.

The two ponies made a perfect team, each playing off the other’s strengths and covering their weaknesses. Whenever the human would try to outmaneuver his ground-based opponent, he would find himself blocked by the pegasus’ blade before he could finish his steps. And any time he tried to swat the nimble aerial pony down, the stronger earth pony was there to redirect his attack. The pair of ponies managed to give as much punishment as they were taking, and the three seemed to tiring at the same rate.

“Go Dash, go Applejack!” Twilight called out to her pony friends. Of course, when they turned to smile at her; Jaze stepped between them, used the flat of his blade to knock the pegasus from the air and kicked the earth pony in the foreleg to send her sprawling to the ground. He placed his blade on the orange pony’s throat and lightly set his foot on the other’s neck.

“Don’t let yourselves get distracted.” the assassin huffed, out of breath from the hard fight. He stepped back to let them up and readied himself for another skirmish.

“Oh Jaze.” A certain blue unicorn called out from the crowd. The Colonel’s head snapped in her direction, and the two ponies launched a quick attack. Applejack swept his leg out from underneath him while Dash’s hoof connected with the side of his head. He managed to twist himself in the air to land on his back, but he felt two swords cross over his neck, pinning him to the ground.

“Don’t let yourself get distracted.” The two ponies said in unison.

Jaze smiled from his defeated position, “I guess that I deserved that, didn’t I?” The host of humans roared with laughter, and soon the three in the ring were caught up in it as well. “Sorry folks, that’s all for today!” A collective groan could be heard as the humans departed in twos and threes while the scarred soldier made his way to the one who had distracted him.

“Did I make the master swordsman lose?” Trixie asked sweetly.

“I guess you did, but I let it happen so I won’t hold it against you.” the Colonel laughed.

“I was actually here to tell you that some Royal Guards are at the house to pick you up. They said that the Princesses had an urgent message for you.”

“We better see what the fuss is about then. Wonder what I messed up now.”

XXX

Jaze sat across a table from the Princesses in a room just off the throne room. So far neither had made any effort to talk about why he was here, a fact that did not fill the young man with confidence. They had asked how the logistics of the army were, if they had enough food, that sort of thing.

Finally frustrated, he leaned onto the table, “Alright, Princesses. I think that we are close enough to cut the diplomacy and talk about why I am really here.”

A look passed between the sisters as Celestia began to explain, “We have decided that we would like you to take the Royal Guardsponies into the human army, as well as the Wonderbolts.”

“That’s great, every little bit of battle strength we can muster will do worlds of good later.”

“There is, however,” Luna cautioned, “a problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“Only another Royal Guard can lead the Guards, that or a Celestial Sister.” Celestia explain almost nervously.

“And that means?”

“That, to lead them, you would have to be a Royal Guard yourself.”

“We would like to ask you to join the Guardsponies, the first non-pony member since times immemorial.” Luna said formally.

The human’s mouth hung open, he had no idea what to say. On the one hand, this was a huge honor and would help him to gain standing with the ponies and other races that inhabited the land. He would be a messenger from the Princesses, trusted by most; as opposed to some thing from beyond the stars who nopony had heard of before now. On the other hand, would that make him subject to the Princesses will? And if so, could he afford to allow them to exercise their control in a battle?

His thoughts were interrupted by a beep from his ever present communicator. He placed it in his ear and finally found his voice, “Colonel Armand here, what is the problem.”

“Reaper 1, the Colonel is listening. Repeat what you just said to me.” the Control operator said quickly.

“Sir, we have multiple contacts at extreme scanner range. Profiles suggest Cye ships.”

Begining the Fire

Beginning the Fire

In a dark room, two alicorn Princesses and a human Colonel gathered around a view screen to watch as a pair of starships rolled into view. All manner of technology adorned the Control room, but all of it was ignored by the three figures. The alicorns’ faces were contorted in a mixture of fear and anger at the invading androids. They did not know how they could fight the two ships from the ground, although the human did not seem worried.

On table next to the three, a radio buzzed to life, “This is Reaper One, do you see it Command?”

“We are receiving your feed, Reaper One.” the Colonel said tiredly, “That looks like two Cye heavy cruisers.”

“What are your orders, sir? Shall we attempt to hold them in orbit?”

“Negative, pull back into the atmosphere; I repeat, pull back. I won’t let you guys get burned out of the air trying to stop the inevitable.”

“Yes sir; damn, I was itching for a fight.”

“You’ll get one soon enough. What is the enemy’s ETA?”

“At present speed, I would guesstimate forty-five minutes. This is Reaper One, out.”

“Forty-five minutes?” The Solar Princess said worriedly, “That is not much time.”

“That’s more time than we usually get.” The human rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “The Cye usually try to go in for a lightning quick strike, that way the Marines have no time to organize a defense. Why would they change now?”

“Fear.” Luna said simply.

“What do you mean by ‘fear’, Princess?”

“I mean that the Cye know that you already have defenses in place. So my guess is that they may be trying to cause a panic by letting you know that they are coming, making you disorganized and make mistakes.”

“Or maybe they have some huge gun pointed at us and don’t want to be too close when it goes off.”

“See? It’s working already.” Luna asserted.

“I see your point, but why change their entire strategy now? In six years they have used the same tactics against us.”

“Perhaps Carn is trying to gall you specifically.” Celestia interjected, “He may be showing you just how little respect he has for the human Marines.”

“What do you propose we do, Colonel?” Luna asked, a glare of fierce determination overtaking her features.

“We do the only thing we can.” Jaze threw a confidant grin to the Princesses as he moved to an intercom station, “We give the bastards a warm reception, StarSide Marines style!”

XXX

A siren went off in the heart of the camp, startling a certain golden pegasus into falling to the ground and making the four other ponies jump. The horn continued to blow for several minutes, until Jaze’s voice boomed across the camp. “All combat personnel, report to your defense stations. We are at level alpha alert, the Cye have been spotted in system and are expected to arrive within the hour. Repeat, the Cye are on their way. This is not a drill; all combat teams prepare for imminent attack.”

The next sound that ponies heard was soldiers running hither and yon, looking for all the world like an over turned anthill. Dash and Applejack tried to pull their terrified friend to her feet, Pinkie began to imitate the siren, its significance lost on her, and Twilight watched the commotion with a knot in her gut. It was not long before they were approached by two armed and fully-armored soldiers.

“Ladies,” one said as he stopped before the worried ponies, “I am afraid that you will have to leave the camp.”

“Why?” Dash grunted as she heaved on her fallen friend.

“You heard the Colonel, the Cye are on their way. All the civilians are being escorted off base. It’s going to be, too dangerous here for you to stay.”

“We ain’t leavin’ yet misters.” Applejack said forcefully, “We got friends in this here camp, and ya can’t make us leave.”

“Ma’am,” the soldier said coldly, “if you refuse to leave you will be considered an enemy and be dealt with.” He then caught sight of Twilight, “What are you doing here? You should be getting to your post.”

“What? What do you mean?” the confused unicorn asked.

“We are about to be attacked recruit, why are you lollygagging around?”

“But, I’m not a soldier!”

“You have been training for the last few days, you’ve been issued kit, and you are apparently a crack shot. That makes you a soldier in my book. Now report to your defense post!”

“Is there a problem?” a certain assassin’s voice rang out. He had a TAR slung across his back, a new suit of matte black combat armor, and a helmet the covered all of his head except for his face clipped to his belt.

“Sir, these civilians refuse to leave the base and Private Sparkle will not report to her post, sir!” the soldier said stiffly, snapping a salute.

“First off, these civilians are my friends and have gone through far worse things than a little skirmish with a few moronic androids.”

“Really?” The soldier pointed to Fluttershy, who had just regained her feet, “That one looks like she couldn’t stand up to a cold breeze, much less a Cye trooper.”

“Tell me, have you ever seen a dragon?”

“What?” the soldier scoffed, “They don’t exist.”

“On this world they do; Private Sparkle’s assistant at the library is a dragon. And Fluttershy there stared a dragon down and made him do as she wanted.”

“Oh, really… I didn’t do…” the yellow pegasus tried to hide behind her mane from the stares of admiration pointed towards her.

“And Dash here,” Jaze stood beside the cyan pegasus and placed his hand on her shoulder, “can fly at speeds exceeding Mach One. That makes her faster than any living thing else in the whole galaxy.”

“I’ve seen Applejack stop a speeding cart with a single kick!” Dash added.

“Well, Twi’s been known to cook up a brilliant spell storm or two.” Applejack tossed out.

“And you haven’t met her, but Rarity has made nasty creatures bend to her will with ease.” Twilight mentioned.

“That reminds me,” the Colonel wondered as he cast his gaze around, “where is Rarity?”

“She said sumthin’ ‘bout havin’ sumthin’ to do fer the Princesses.” Applejack explained thoughtfully, “Ah ain’t seen her since.”

“I see sir,” the soldier held his hands up, then pointed to Pinkie “But someone suffering from seizures has no place in a warzone.” Jaze twisted around to see Pinkie having a full body spasm.

“Pinkie Sense?” he asked tiredly.

“Yessire,” the party pony responded, still bubbly with enthusiasm despite the impending attack.

“Any ideas?”

“Nope!”

“Well that’s swell. Like I need more on my mind.”

“Sir,” the soldier asked confusedly, “what in the name of the galaxy is ‘Pinkie Sense’?”

“Just roll with it.” Shelby, who had just joined the group, said as she turned to the assassin, “Jaze, Reaper flight just made it back, but the Cye cruisers have picked up speed and are expected to arrive within a few minutes.”

“Why do they have to speed up?” A grin graced the Colonel’s face as he shoved a clip into his rifle and racked a round into the chamber, “Let’s do this people, the Cye aren’t going to defeat themselves!

“What do you want me to do, Jaze?” Twilight asked when the two soldiers and Shelby had left.

“What do you want to do?” he shot back.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re about to pick a path, and there can be no turning back. Are you ready to fight?”

The unicorn’s gaze rested on each of her friends in turn. Fluttershy was still hiding behind her mane, but managed to give her friend an encouraging smile. Applejack gave a grim nod, while Dash just threw her a worried shrug. Pinkie promised her a huge party after everything was over. The unicorn took a deep breath to steady herself, “I’ll do it, Jaze; I will fight.”

“From now on, you are a soldier in the Marines. Can handle that?”

“Yes I can.”

“From what I heard, you are a great shot. So I think that you should be with the marksmen. For now, you will just be spotting and covering but we may end up giving you a sniper’s rifle before the end of this.”

“Yes sir.”

“Fine then, report to the armory and get your rifle. They’ll tell you where to go.”

“Yes sir!” The two set off to their respective destinations, Jaze pulling on his helmet as he went. The ponies left behind looked at each other in confusion, wondering what they should do.

“Ah don’t know ‘bout ya’ll, but Ah’m stayin’.” Applejack told the others, the determination to help blazing in her eyes.

“What else am I going to do?” Dash mocked, “Read while everypony else is in trouble? Heck no, I am here to help.”

“I’m…” Fluttershy hesitated, “I’ll help.”

“What do you plan to do, sugarcube?”

“I… don’t know.”

“Maybe you can help with the docs.” The weather pony interjected, “You’re so good with animals that humans can’t be too hard, right?”

“I… guess so.”

“How’re ya gonna help Dash?” The farmpony smiled, “Ya gonna flap the Cye t’ death?”

“No!” the cyan pegasus retorted, “I’m going to try and do… something. I don’t know what.”

“Ah don’t either RD, but we’re gonna do sumthin’.”

XXX

Jaze stood on a small rise left over from digging the trenches, staring through his binoculars and trying to find evidence of an impending attack. The soldiers had been in the trenches for just over an hour, the Cye on the planet for almost as long, and their robotic foe had yet to launch any offensive. He had seen a number of Cye dropships landing beyond a small hill, but he could not see what they were doing.

“Any new developments?” a royal voice to his side asked.

He turned to briefly look at the Solar Princess, then went back to scanning the area in front of him, “Nothing new, and I am beginning to wonder what is going on.”

“Is this not how these fights always are?”

“Not by a long shot, by now we should have been chewing on enemy fire. Or at least seen an aircraft do a flyby. But nothing is happening!” The frustrated solider threw his binoculars away and began to pace, glaring angrily towards the hill the Cye had claimed.

“Are they making a base?” the Princess offered.

“They could be,” the Colonel shook his head, “Or Carn could be planning to march over here and demand that I surrender.”

“That does not make sense, why would he do that?” Jaze suddenly started laughing, catching the Princess by surprise. “What is so funny?”

“I have been living with quadruped aliens that look a lot like a type of animal from the birth place of my race.” He floated a stick up to eye level, “Magic is real and I find that I can use it, albeit very weakly. You move a star around in space to cause night and day. All sorts of mythical creatures that humans long ago stopped believing in can be found here, and we are supposed to protect all this from a group of homicidal androids led by an insane human that thinks he is a god.” He raised an eyebrow as he smiled at the Princess, “And you think that qualifies as nonsensical. I think we crossed that line months ago, my fair lady.”

Celestia chuckled deep in her throat, “I suppose that you have a point there, Colonel.”

“Still leaves me wondering: what are you up to you crafty devil?”

“Are you sure that Carn is actually here?” Celestia’s voice was low, making sure that it did not carry on the wind.

“Yeah, I can smell that rat.” Jaze affirmed, “He’s here, and I think that he is just yanking our collective chain to watch us dance.”

“He is a sick, sadistic…”

“Please, Celestia. Don’t let hate color your heart as well. Stay pure, for Equestria’s sake.”

“I feel that is no longer possible.” Her eyes clouded over with a mixture of fear, anger, and sadness, “This man has brought war to my home. He has already caused pain for my ponies, and my friends.”

Jaze turned his head away in shame, “You shouldn’t let anger cloud your vision. If had not come here…”

“That was outside your control.” Celestia interrupted

“I could have left, the chances that the Cye would have been watching for a signal like that were microscopic, not to mention that they would had to have known almost exactly where to look. I could have slipped away before they ever knew that I was here. I could have avoided this whole mess.”

“But there was a chance they could find the signal, and you did not make the decision; I did.”

“But I still could have left. I had no reason to follow your command other than you having saved me.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Because of a selfish desire to not have to fight again.” The soldier sighed, “I’m tired of war, Princess. All my life has been about the fight, and I am sick of it.”

“That is not selfish. Nopony pure wants to fight, they do so for a reason.”

“And it was selfish of me to stop fighting for those who needed me.”

“You know Jaze,” Celestia said with a crafty smile, “a human I know once said that everypony makes mistakes, and that learning was finding out how to avoid the same mistakes. Do you remember who said that?”

He could not help but smile, “I think it was some fool glad to be alive,” He stretched his arms above his head before letting them fall back to his side, “You’re right, the past is the past. Time to go forward, no more regrets!”

“Glad to see that you can still listen.”

“Thank you very much Celestia. The waiting is beginning to get to me.”

“Do you think that we should tell the Marines to stand down?”

Jaze shook his head, “Not all of them, but we can have them fall out in groups to get some rest. That way we are still ready for the attack, when it comes.” He cast around for a topic, trying to keep the friendly conversation alive, “So how is Luna?”

“She is trying to learn as much as she can about the workings of an army. Given her past, I think that she is well suited for it. She has already begun to try and teach her Guards to be a fighting force. Which reminds me, I believe that I have not gotten an answer from you yet.”

“About…?” The Princess stared at him until he remembered, “Oh… right, the Royal Guard thing.” He turned his eyes to the sky, “I don’t know Princess. I feel myself being pulled in every direction; I know that your Guards could help, but being a Guard would put me directly under your control.”

“And you are afraid of that, yes?” the Solar Princess asked quietly

“Not so much afraid as trying to see how it would affect everything. A few of the soldiers fail to respect you because you don’t seem to have any way to fight. I can’t lose their trust; we’ll need it to win this war.”

“But you would gain the trust of everypony as one of my vassals.”

“I know, I just wish that there was an easy answer sometimes.”

“Easy answers are usually wrong.”

“That would be why I am taking my time with this.” The pair lapsed into silence as the assassin pondered the offer. He turned and twisted it every way he could, but the one thing that kept coming back to him was: what would Celestia get out of it? He did not believe that she was doing this for no reason; he just had to find out what that reason was. But no matter how he looked at it, all he could see was her having control of the human and pony forces. He knew that she would not abuse her new-found control, but something still galled him about the whole mess. They would have continued to sit in silence, had Celestia not pointed with her horn to something flying through the air.

“Something is coming.” Her voice was tight with tension as Jaze retrieved his binoculars and pressed them to his eyes, “What do you see?” Without a word, he passed her the binoculars. Peering through them, the Princess of the Day could see a pink-tinged pegasus pony flying as fast as she could; making a beeline for the bright spot of white that was Celestia. The pony’s wing-beats seemed labored, as though she were hurt.

“What do you figure?” the human asked while Celestia continued to track the pony.

“She is in trouble.” was the Princess’s response when she handed the binoculars back.

“What do you think happened?”

“It must have been bad.” The pony’s struggles became weaker and weaker the closer she got to the pair. Until, at last, she could fly no more and began to fall from the air. Jaze rushed to catch her before she hit the ground, Celestia used her magic to halt the pony’s fall and lower her gently into the human’s waiting hands. The Colonel gently set her on the ground, his hands came away red with blood from her many wounds. He called for a medic over his radio before looking to Celestia with a somber shake of his head; the pony had lost too much blood and was not long for the land of the living.

“Please…” the pony managed, “Princess… here… listen…”

“I’m here, dear one.” Celestia knelt next to the stricken pony, “What happened to you?”

“Can’t… speak… dark… hurts…” the pony whined pitifully.

“Somepony is coming to help you, but you need to tell us what happened.”

“Closer…” The strain was evident in her voice as Jaze and Celestia leaned in close to hear what the pegasus had died to deliver. Shock and horror were plastered on their faces as the brave pegasus finally shut her eyes for the final time.

“Celestia,” Jaze said as he stood, “you need to get back to Canterlot and raise a general alarm. I’m going to rally some men and get over there as quickly as possible.”

The Princess looked up at him, tears shining in her eyes, “Jaze this is…”

“There isn’t time for that now. You need to get going.”

Her eye slid shut, trying to block the image of the fallen pony from her mind, “I know but… gods, why?” The Princess broke down for the first time in over a thousand years, since she had been forced to banish her only sister to the moon. She was surprised to find herself wrapped caringly in a pair of arms, a gesture that had never been extended to her before.

“I know it hurts, but right now we have to focus on saving those we can. We can cry later.”

“I have never felt true hatred before now,” Celestia pulled away and looked at Jaze with eyes burning with pure loathing, though her voice still carried a weight of sadness “I feel sick with the desire to hurt him.”

“I know, I know,” he whispered, “but you have to bury that for now. We have to move. More lives a still depending on us.”

“I know.” The Princess of the Day spread her wings wide in preparation for takeoff, “Please hurry, my little ponies need help.”

“Already on it.” the assassin replied, taking off at a dead sprint down the line of trenches, issuing orders into his comm as he ran.

XXX

Twilight stood peering over the trench’s lip, waiting for the fight to start. She shifted in her newly tailored set of Marine armor, trying to get the seams to sit more or less comfortably. Sis and Stacks were on her left, while the last member of the fireteam, a larger, older man with a peppered head of hair and eyes that he had hidden behind sports shades that the twins had called Doc, was reclining in the bottom of the trench. The three had their helmets off and had tossed them to roll around in the trench. The twins were passing time by playing cards, which made Twilight cringe.

“You want in?” Sis asked for the third time since she had broken out the deck.

“No,” the unicorn replied hotly, “and I don’t see how you can be playing a game when we could be attacked at any moment!”

“Damn,” Stacks laughed, “didn’t know that you were gonna be so preachy Twi’.”

“Tha’s just how she’s copin’.” Doc said sagely, “Better’n you Stacks, tryin’ t’ bed every woman willin’.”

“And what’s yours, old man?” the burnt soldier asked, “Sleeping?”

“Can’t ever have too much sleep, you know. But one day something’s gonna happen that you regret.”

“Ah, you’re just jealous ‘cause the ladies like me.”

“I don’t see why,” Sis poked her brother in the ribs, “You is an ugly little monster.”

“Must be my per-son-nality.” he responded with a smirk.

“Why are you also calm?” the exasperated unicorn asked.

“Cause we know that those robots aren’t attacking yet.” Sis explained.

“But they could at any moment!”

“Yeah,” Stacks said as he began dealing the cards again, “and we’ll know when they decided to pull their head out and come at us. You can hear those metal feet miles away.”

“I still feel that I should be doing something constructive.” Twilight said nervously.

“You will be, it’s called staying calm.” Sis said as she patted the unicorn on the head. “Get too wound up and you will go crazy before the spit hits the air circulator.”

“Yes but…”

“Hey,” Stacks interrupted the unicorn, “is that Colonel Armand? Why’s he in such a big hurry?”

Twilight spun to see that he was right; Jaze was running down the line of the trench, peering in at each knot of soldiers he passed. Their eyes locked and the scarred soldier ran even faster, trying to reach her. Twilight was worried that she had done something wrong and began racking her brain to try and find the error. The Colonel slid to a panting stop before the group and jumped into the trench.

“Twilight…” he said between gulps of air, “need… cloud-walking… spell… bad things…”

“Here sir,” Doc said, offering a canteen to the tired man, “take a drink.”

“Thanks,” Jaze grabbed the proffered canteen and drained its contents; the cool water soothing his throat, raw from his headlong dash.

“What’s going on Jaze?” Twilight asked as the assassin wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

“I remember that Trixie told me you knew a spell to allow earth-bound creatures to walk on clouds, like the pegasi. Do you still remember it?”

“Yes of course, why?”

“I need you to come with me and cast that spell on some troops and myself.”

“Why, what happened sir?” Stacks asked quickly.

“We just received word that Cloudsdale, a city of clouds and home to the pegasi, is under heavy Cye attack.”

[A/N] I just wanted to warn you all that my fic will be upgraded from a T to an M rating. I can’t keep the following chapters in a T rating without lying. You have been warned.

Heat of the Blaze

Jaze stood before the Valkyrie dropship, more or less a box with two stubby wings loaded with thrusters, the front of which was wedge shaped to accommodate a cockpit. The back wall of the box was dropped to make a ramp for the soldiers to enter and exit quickly; there was a door on each side to allow soldiers to fire from the ship without exposing everyone inside to the return fire. He watched as his soldiers removed all of the seats to make more room. Normally it could seat twenty troopers more or less comfortably, but they needed room for hundreds of ponies.

The Colonel knew that they could not hope to fit all the pegasi in Cloudsdale into the armored transports, but he knew that between the ten of them he could move a large portion. The rest would have to try and fly within the formation of dropships to survive. The assassin pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes; it was going to be a painful ordeal.

“Jaze!” The scarred soldier turned to see Trixie making her way towards him, “What is going on?”

“Cloudsdale is being attacked.” he said in a dead-pan voice, “We are about to try and evac the citizens back to here and Canterlot.”

“Oh gods…” The azure unicorn’s eyes began to well with tears before they were lost in an inferno of determination, “How can I help?”

The assassin sighed, “I want to tell you nothing, but I need all the help I can get.” He knelt in front of her and took her face in his hands, “Can you help separate the wounded refugees into groups? The medics will show you how.”

“I will try my best.”

“Thank you. Now get going, my little Trixie.” She hesitated for a moment before planting a light kiss on the soldier’s scar and then disappearing into the mass of soldiers. Jaze could not help but smile, regardless of the current crisis. As he sat in wonder at all that was happening, he felt a hoof tap his shoulder.

“Colonel, sir” Twilight stated, her voice strained from the spell casting, “we are ready to go.”

“Alright,” he stood and turned to his troops, fifty or so in all, “we are just going to grab the civilians and run. Our birds will try and alleviate the attacks from Cye fighters, but there is no cover to be had. The whole city is made of clouds, nothing solid at all. So you get in, load the civilians, and get the hell out. Trying to be a hero will get you killed. Do you understand?”

“Sir yes sir!”the assembled soldiers yelled.

“Then mount up, five in each. Move!” Jaze pointed to his friends, “You guys with me in the lead ship.” He, the rest of Angel team and Twilight ran up the ramp into the now cavernous troop bay. All of them were wearing their lightly armored flight suits and helmets, ditching the groundside armor to save space.

“Sir,” Sands called out as they made their way into the ship, “Do the Princesses know of the current situation?”

“Yes, Princess Celestia was with me when I got the word. She’s on her way to prepare Canterlot for refugees.” Jaze stopped dead in his tracks, “Oh dammit!”

“What, what happened?” Shelby asked as she pressed her hand to the integrated helmet comm to see if she missed something over the net.

“Celestia is flying back to Canterlot mostly alone, if the Cye find out and attack…”

“That would drive the ponies into a frenzy,” Vincent whispered.

“Jaze, we’ve got to keep Celestia safe!” Twilight called worriedly.

“I know,” he let out and angry huff, “All right, Shelby and Dmitri, you guys go fly escort for the Princess. If the Cye get to her, it had better be over your smoldering corpses.”

“Yes sir.” The two pilots started to run for their fighters.

“Hey, wait!” Jaze called out. When they turned to look back, the assassin threw the comm unit that was in his pocket to the female pilot, “Give that to her so we can keep in touch.”

She gave him a thumbs up, “Got it.” They took off, rudely shoving anyone who got in their way.

Once the three were inside the ship, Jaze pounded his fist on the cockpit door, “We’re in! Get it moving pilot!”

“Yes sir, Colonel.” A familiar voice called out.

“Airman Shar?” the assassin slid the door open to reveal the smiling woman sitting in the pilot’s swiveling chair.

“Looks like I get to be your limo driver today, sir.”

“Well we have no time, so don’t go easy on the old girl.”

“Sir yes sir!”He slid the door shut as Shar started to power up the engines.

“WAIT!” a panic stricken cyan pegasus screamed, her voice barely audible over the engines. The ship stopped, hovering a few feet over the ground.

The Colonel slid open a side door to yell at Dash, “What do you want? I don’t have time to mess around!”

“I’m coming with you!”

“Like hell you are!” he yelled angrily, “I have too much to look after already!”

“Cloudsdale is my home; it needs me!”

“Cloudsdale is gone!” The pegasus fell to her rump, stunned. “We are just trying to save everypony we can!”

“I’m still coming with you!”

“No you aren’t!” He called out to two passing soldiers, “Detain Rainbow Dash, don’t let her leave the base!”

“Yes sir!” they yelled back, grabbing the weather pony under the forelegs and pulling her away. She fought with all her might to break way, but the pair was too strong.

“You bastard!” she yelled to the ship as it disappeared into the sky, “Come back!” She stopped fighting, defeated tears running from her eyes, “Come back…”

XXX

The two humans sat with their legs crossed, while the purple unicorn preferred to try and stand for the flight. The humans’ skin was itching, a side effect of the unfamiliar texture of the spell cast on them. Jaze was wrapped up in his thoughts, trying to find a way to save everypony. The worst feeling he could imagine at that point was knowing that no matter how hard he tried, there were going to be casualties. His only hope was that the Cye would switch focus to the humans once they arrived.

He suddenly noticed that Twilight was standing before him. “What is it, Private?” he asked without looking up.

“That was cruel!” she said angrily, “Why didn’t you let Dash come with us?”

He slowly brought his eyes up to meet hers. The burning rage in them made the unicorn shiver, “Are you questioning my orders?”

“Yes I am.”

“That’s not…” Vincent started, but the Colonel silenced him with a raised hand.

“You seem to not understand something. As of now, I am not your friend. I am your superior and I expect you to remember that.”

“But Jaze, I still don’t see…”

“Let me show you why you should not question an order.” He suddenly yelled, “JUMP!”

“What…” The unicorn slammed into the deck as her forelegs were swept from under her by the assassin’s foot. She lay, wheezing, trying to draw air back into her lungs.

Jaze knelt and lifted her head to meet his gaze, “There is always a reason for every order.” He lifted her to her feet and pointed at the cockpit door, “Now get in there and guide Airman Shar to Cloudsdale.”

“Yes sir.” The cold anger in the unicorn’s voice made the Colonel want to apologize, but he resisted the urge. He looked to Vincent, who gave him and encouraging smile.

“You did the right thing, Jaze.” he reassured his superior, “She’ll understand later.”

“I hope so…”

The comm in his ear suddenly came to life, “Colonel Armand, this is Princess Celestia. Can you hear me?”

“I read you loud and clear, Princess.”

“How goes the defense of Cloudsdale?”

“We have yet to arrive, though we will soon.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “You realize that we can’t hold Cloudsdale, right?”

“What do you mean, Colonel?”

“There is no way we could defend the city, it’s a death trap.”

“But we need Cloudsdale!”

“And I need to keep my men alive. If we try to hold that area, we would get ripped apart.”

“But we will lose control of the weather factories!”

“I can’t help that. You are going to have to be at the mercy of nature until this is over.”

“But we will lose crops! And it may cause panic”

“I know, but better that then losing the war.”

The door to the cockpit slid open and Karen called out, “The city is in sight. ETA is two minutes.”

“Thank you, Airman.” He called back, “Celestia I have to get ready…” The comm gave a loud screech and a mess of static, until a new voice could be heard over the air.

“Hello again boy.” came the last voice Jaze wanted to hear.

“Who is that, Colonel?” Celestia asked, the tension in her voice evident.

“Yes, I feel I should know with whom I share your conversation, boy.”

“Princess,” the assassin said with hatred rolling from his voice, “this is the man responsible for the attack on Cloudsdale.”

“Oh, now that is a mean way to introduce me to royalty.” Carn laughed, “It is an honor to meet you, Princess.”

“You foul beast, why did you attack Cloudsdale?” Celestia screamed into her mike.

“What is Cloudsdale?” the old warrior asked politely, “Oh you must mean that funny little city of clouds.” His voice took on an almost singsong tone, “That strange city just didn’t quite fit with my vision for this planet. So I decided to get rid of it.”

“You twisted, sick, son of a bitch!” The assassin’s voice dripped with anger and hatred, “You better hide in a galaxy far, far away, because when I find you I’m going to tear you apart!”

“Oh, so now you are the avenging wind of justice?”

“Not justice. Justice would be bringing you in for a trial. I am going to make you suffer for this!”

“Come now, it’s hard to tell who the villain is when you say things like that, boy.”

“Who said I was a hero?” Jaze asked scornfully, “Whoever told you I was some great purveyor of goodness is lying through their teeth. I am a killer, and you have made the list.”

“Sir,” Shar called weakly from the cockpit, “take a look. It’s… horrible.” The ship spun around and the Colonel reached to slid open the side door with a trembling hand.

He was greeted by the sounds of gunfire, and the desperate cries of the dying and fleeing. The first thing he saw was that many of the white clouds had turned to a far more sickening color; the bright crimson of the pegasi’s blood, which still retained the ability to rest on clouds after being lost from the body. It did not take long to spot the multitudes of dead and dying ponies, many of whom were torn to pieces by heavy weapons. His stomach threatened to jump into his mouth at seeing the defenseless ponies laying dead amongst their beautiful cloud homes.

“Oh, how I wish you could see the way their entrails paint the sky!” Carn breathed contentedly over the comm, “It is simply magnificent!” Jaze could hear the vile monster taking a sip of something; he seemed to be having lunch and was watching the pony slaughter as a show.

“How could I not see it?” Jaze asked quietly, falling to his knees before the horrible sight.

“Oh, has the Marine corps finally adopted helmet cams?”

“No, I am flying right next to the city.”The sound of a gasp followed by coughing could be heard over the radio as the older man tried to expel whatever liquid he had been drinking from his lungs.

“You’re WHAT?” he sputtered into the comm, the first time Jaze had heard real anger in his voice.

“I am in Cloudsdale,” he replied in horror at the site before him.

“What are you doing there?” the insane man yelled back, “You are supposed to stay at your base!”

“What,” the Colonel scoffed angrily, “did you think that I would let you attack Cloudsdale and get away with it?”

“No, but you were supposed to stay safely tucked away behind your defenses! You’ll ruin everything!”

“That is the general idea, snake” Celestia sneered.

“Be quiet, ‘Princess’,” the madman shot back, “I have something special planned for you!”

“If you dare,” Jaze whispered venomously, “lay so much as a finger on Celestia; I swear that you will lose that finger, the hand, and most of the attached arm.”

“Mighty defensive,” Carn’s voice managed to regain its mocking tone, “about this dear Princess Celestia, aren’t we boy?”

“I owe her my life, and I intend to repay that debt in full.”

“Jaze…” the Solar Princess started.

“Whatever,” the Cye leader retorted quickly, cutting Celestia off, “ I know your weakness. But I fear I must go. Enjoy playing the hero and then die in a most humiliating way, boy.” The line became full of static, and then a loud pop sounded and Carn was gone.

“Colonel,” Shar yelled from the cockpit, “enemy fire, incoming!” Jaze slammed the door shut as bullets peppered the hull of the dropship where his body had been moments before.

“What the hell, sir?!” Vincent called out, sounding almost angry, “That sounded like small arms fire!”

“It was, but how?” the Colonel went to the other side of the dropship and slid open the door, “Can you take us down, Airman?”

“Yes sir!” The ship lowered until it was only a few meters away from the clouds, “That’s as close as she gets; any closer and I will disturb the cloud bank.”

“Three meters,” Jaze pondered before giving a shrug, “I’ve fallen father.”

“Jaze,” Vincent asked incredulously, “you’re not going to…” Before he could finish, the assassin leapt from the relative safety of the troop bay to the clouds below, rifle securely fastened to his back. His stomach was tight with anxiety, not entirely believing that he would fight the clouds to be solid. He did not have to wait long to find out; he hit the clouds with a solid thump, rolling to break his fall.

He came out of his roll, rifle in hand, and began scanning for targets. He was in a small clearing with tall buildings made of clouds all around him. Finding the area clear, save for the bodies, he stood up and stomped his foot on the clouds below. They were springy, like a soft mattress and he decided to perform a quick experiment. He took his boot knife out and held it away from his body, before dropping it to the clouds. The knife passed through and continued its descent to the ground below. He looked above him to see the ten dropships arrayed in a semicircle, awaiting his word.

“It’s perfectly safe,” the Colonel said into his mike on an open channel, “the spell works. But you drop any equipment and it’s gone. I want everyone to unload, any medics we have I want left in the ships to treat the wounded.” He switched over to his squad comm, “Vincent, join me on the clouds.

“On it.” the farmboy called, dropping a rope to the clouds below. Ropes began dropping from the other ships as well, and soon forty well armed Marines were fanned out on the clouds, ready and willing to fight.

Vincent trotted up to Jaze, an amused smile on his face, “Why did you jump? We have ropes you know.”

The Colonel flashed a grim smile, “Guess I couldn’t wait to get into the fight.” He turned his head back towards his dropship, “Twilight, is there any way you can use magic to dissipate the wind from the thrusters?” Jaze asked quickly, “If our ships can’t get closer we won’t be able to load the wounded.”

“I can try.” the unicorn responded, her voice choked with sickness at the sight that meet her eyes. A purple glow appeared around the thrusters of the dropship, “Alright Karen, take the ship down please.” The ship lowered until it was skimming the clouds, and only a slight ripple could be seen in protest from the fluffy, pink-tinged vapor.

“Good job,” the assassin admired, “now cast that spell on the rest of the flock so we can begin.”

“Yes sir!” Soon all the ships had touched down and lowered their ramps, ready to take on the refugees.

“Sir!” A Marine called out, “We got contacts, at our six!” Jaze spun, his rifle coming to his shoulder in one swift motion. He could see shadows through the cloud buildings. Pony shaped shadows.

“Hold fire, they’re civilians!” the Colonel called out to the soldiers before yelling to the frightened pegasi, “Come on out, we’re here to help!”

First one, then four pegasi came into view around the corner of a building. The medics waiting in the ships waved to the beleaguered ponies, who rushed to the protection of the solid ships. The lead pegasus, a teal mare with a yellow mane, stopped to speak with Jaze.

“Thank Celestia you all showed up when did.” she breathed, “We have been running forever, trying to escape those metal monsters.”

“How are the Cye up here, they can’t walk on clouds.”

“No but…” Jaze jumped as a burst of gunfire tore into the Marine formation, striking the pegasus in front of him, spattering him with her blood. The pony fell in a heap; while two humans were also hit and fell to the clouds, one falling through the clouds as his life stopped feeding the spell holding him aloft.

The Colonel grabbed the pegasus and dragged her limp body over to a ship. The waiting medic pulled her on board and looked to Jaze critically, “How the hell am I supposed to treat a pony?”

“I don’t know!” Jaze yelled as he spun to search for the shooter, “Try and stop the bleeding until we can get back to base!”

“Contacts, contacts!” a Marine yelled out, her voice tight with fear.

“We’re surrounded!” another called out in panic. The assassin looked up to see what was running through the streets of Cloudsdale and killing her inhabitants. Its upper body looked more or less like a normal Cye soldier, but the legs had been replaced by what looked to be thrusters. On its back was a small thruster back, which it used in conjunction with its “legs” to stay a foot or so above the clouds.

“Open fire,” the Colonel roared into his comm, “but stay focused. You miss and the bullets won’t stop until they hit something, so wait for a clear shot.” He dropped into a crouch, brought the sights up to his eyes and fired a quick burst into the chest of the android in front of him.

The rest of the Marine contingent let loose a storm of controlled hell into the Cye surrounding them. The robotic nemesis of all life fell in twos and threes, their bodies passing through the clouds to smash into the hard earth below. The forty Marine regulars pulled into a loose circle around the landing zone and began methodically destroying the androids as they appeared. It was going well, until the Cye troopers began firing back. Caught out in the open with no protection, the Marine rescue team began to take casualties. Many fell to the ground, clutching the wounds that appeared on their bodies; while a few fell through the clouds, no longer alive to stay on the clouds.

Jaze looked up to see two of the floating monstrosities lining up on him. He brought his rifle to bear and squeezed the trigger, receiving only the soft click of an empty chamber. He let loose a foul curse as the androids carefully aimed for the human leader. He heard two cracks and saw the heads of the robots snap back before they passed through the clouds. When the assassin looked behind him, he saw Twilight had taken up position inside a dropship and was using single shots to cover the rest of the group. He tossed a grim nod of thanks toward the unicorn before slapping a fresh clip into his TAR and helping with the rest of the mop-up.

“Enemy air support inbound!” a dropship pilot yelled into his comm. The Colonel cast his eyes skyward to see a Cye fighter bearing toward them, more than likely planning to kill all the humans with its heavy guns.

“Everyone, back in the boats!” Jaze screamed as he grabbed two wounded Marines, dragging them toward the safety of the armor-plated transports. He heard the throaty roar of a heavy rotary canon and watched as the fighter went up in a ball of flame. As the local firefight quieted, the groans of the wounded added to the sounds of chaos permeating the city.

A group of five Thundercats screamed over the Marines and a voice crackled over the comm, “This is Reaper One to ground team. We got your back up here, you get the civvies evaced.”

Jaze waved up at the fighters as they circled overhead, “This is Colonel Armand to Reaper One, much obliged. What is the situation from up there?”

“It’s FUBAR sir. The rest of the fighter squadron is engaging the Cye on the other side of the city; that is where the rest of the civilians are hold up.” The pilot gave a sigh over the comm, a rush of static, “We’ve managed to keep the Cye at bay, but I recommend moving your men up to start moving them back here.”

“I copy, thanks for the sit-rep.”

“Right sir, we’re going to go join Cerberus and Banshee wings in that furball. I’ll leave Reaper Five to cover your top.”

“Once again, much appreciative. This is Colonel Armand, out.” All the fighters took off at incredible speed; with the exception of Reaper Five, who remained hovering over the ground party. The Colonel turned to his troops, now only twenty-four fully operational in strength, “You heard the man, we gotta hoof it over to the other side of the city. Get the wounded loaded in the birds and make ready to move, we’re going to sprint this.”

“Jaze,” Twilight called from the ship, “I have an idea.”

“Speak quickly,” he replied tersely, “we have to be quick if we want to help.”

“There may be pegasi still hiding throughout the city. I can use magic to make my voice loud enough to hear across the city.”

“Do it.” Jaze said turning to leave.

“But,” the unicorn cautioned, “it may draw the Cye here.”

“Okay.” He called out to the troops, “Half of you stay here to defend the LZ. The rest of us are going to make a dash for the fight on the other side of the city.”

“Sir,” one of the wounded Marines called out, her voice forced through her pain, “we can’t move, but we can hold. Take everyone you can, you’ll need them more.”

“Whatever, let’s just move!” He touched a button on his helmet and a piece of glass slid down and connected to the bottom of the helmet, sealing with a pneumatic hiss, “Seal those buckets folks, there isn’t enough air to keep running for long.”

XXX

Jaze set Vincent down inside the dropship, carrying the larger man despite his protests. The assassin turned and brought his rifle to his shoulder, aiming for the pursing Cye over the heads of the pegasi refugees. He fired of a few bursts to try and make them regret attacking the fleeing group.

The run through the city had been uneventful, Reaper Five plowing the way ahead of them with her chin-gun. The human soldiers had passed groups of pegasi with the occasional unicorn running for the sound of Twilight’s voice, booming from the humans’ landing zone. The panic stricken ponies ran in terror from the robots spreading through their city. The Marines had stopped to help where they could, and had suffered for it. Jaze had only fifteen of the twenty-four soldiers who had set out with him left.

When they reached the site of the battle, the Marines had wasted no time in trying to clear out the Cye, opting to let the fighters clean the area as much as possible while they moved the ponies to the evac point. The robots were not too impressed with this plan and had harried the fleeing allies all the way back to their ships.

“Dammit,” Vincent growled, waving away a medic, “It’s just the leg, it’ll heal.” The large soldier had taken a shot the leg for stepping between a pegasus mare and the Cye trooper intent on killing her. He had used the new explosive rounds and was gratified to watch the trooper cease to be, a burning wreck falling to the ground below. He had tried to hobble along, but the Colonel was forced to grab him and throw the wounded man over his shoulder to keep moving towards the extraction.

Now, the soldiers were waiting for all the pegasi to get loaded on the dropships. The Marines tried to hold the Cye away from the clearing, but it was a losing battle. The robots were slowly closing in, focusing on the armed humans now.

“Come on.” Twilight yelled, taking up a position beside Jaze, “get your flanks moving.” The purple unicorn’s gun barked, each round spelling death for another Cye trooper.

As the last of the pegasi made their way into the ships, Shar yelled from the cockpit, “That’s it! We’re outta here!” The ramp slowly closed, bullets pinging off the armor from the robotic attackers. The ship lifted off, making for the open air. The Cye troopers stood at the edge of the cloud bank, firing at the retreating transports. The human fighters lined up and made pass on the bank, destroying the much of rest of the attackers. A cheer went up from the assembled humans and ponies, glad to watch the horrid machines get their due.

“Hang on,” a fighter pilot hollered into the comm, “I see three more civvies on the way.”

“Colonel,” Shar yelled from the cockpit, “we still got room for them!”

“Bring her back around,” Jaze ordered, “they can fly right into the troop bay!” The human made his way through the mass of multi colored ponies to the side door and threw it open. Hooking a safety line between him and the ship, he lined out and held up his hand to the fleeing pegasi; a red stallion, a white mare, and their little gray filly balanced on the mare’s back, “Come on. We need to go!”

“Run, run!” the stallion screamed, “They’re right behind us!” No sooner had the statement left his lips than did more Cye appear from among the buildings, firing on the fleeing family. The stallion went down in a hail gunfire, his chest and head torn to pieces. The mare stopped to grab his body, but the cries of her baby drove her to turn and run.

“Twilight, Vincent. Covering fire, NOW!” Jaze screamed as he reached out, urging the mother to run faster. The pair leaned out of the doorway, firing their rifles into the Cye to stop them from returning fire. The white mare took off, flying for the safe haven provided by the dropship. She looked like she would make it, until a stray bullet shredded her wings. Tears flooded her eyes as she began to fall, her white crippled wings beating the sky, and her sorrow for her child destroying her from the inside out.

“She’s not going to make it!” Twilight said, turning to Jaze as if he could fix it.

“Like hell she isn’t!” the assassin yelled, taking a running leap out of the door.

The wind caught him and threatened to spin him like a top, but the stubborn human refused to let it happen. He stretched his entire being, willing himself to make contact with the mare’s outstretched hoof. He fell a few centimeters short, more than enough to ensure the death of those he was trying to save. The mare’s eye lit with determination; she took her baby in her mouth and threw the filly to the human’s waiting arms. She fell without a word, content in the knowledge that her only child would live.

“NO!” the Colonel screamed, holding the filly tightly in one arm and stretching the other for the falling mare, “NO, GOD DAMMIT, NO!” The line snapped taunt, jerking the human and filly around and nearly breaking his hold.

“Pull him up!” someone above the pair yelled, and Jaze felt himself being lifted back into the Valkyrie. He found himself unable to move, and just lay on the deck of the ship, tightly clutching the crying filly to his chest.

“Close that door.” Vincent said, “We are leaving.”

“Gah, dammit!” one of the dropship pilots yelled into the comm, “This is Dropbox Two-Four, we are getting pounded by those fighters! Can anyone assist… oh shi…” the line turned to static in the Colonel’s ear. He stood and peeked through a crack in the door to see one of the dropships going down in flames.

“You metal freaks,” the assassin whispered dangerously, “you will pay for that.” He grabbed a rifle and loaded it with the armor-piercing rounds. He threw open the door once more and lined up on the Cye fighter responsible for downing the ship. The silver eyed man screamed out his heartache and rage as he emptied the clip into the aircraft, turning it into a ball of flaming rubble.

“Oh damn… AAAH!” Airman screamed in pain as the ship jerked and began to fall. When it jerked, Jaze was nearly thrown out the open door, and would have fallen had not Twilight grabbed his suit with her magic and pulled him back in. He gave her nod of thanks before going to check on the pilot.

Jaze slid open the cockpit door, “Airman Shar, are you…” He did not feel he needed to finish the question. The front viewports and the instrument console were smeared with blood. Shar had a hand pressed to her abdomen, more blood seeping from between her fingers to pool on the deck below.

“Hey,” she asked weakly, “how’s it going.” Her face was pale and drawn from the pain, though she still managed to keep her craft on course.

“You’re hurt.” the Colonel said simply.

“It’s just a flesh wound.” the cocky pilot assured.

“You’re going to bleed to death, let me take over.”

“Sir, you ever flown one of these?”

“No…”

“It’s like trying to fly a drunken brick. I don’t think you could do it.”

“I have to try, you are in no condition to pilot.”

“Sure I am, I just gotta pay attention. A little boo-boo ain’t gonna stop me from doing my job, Colonel.

“If you’re sure, then take us home.”

Aftermath

The dropships touched down inside the human camp, let down their ramps, and released the stunned pegasi from their holds. The ponies stumbled around, shell-shocked from the attack; many of them were crying for the loss of their homes and loved ones. Of the ten dropships that left, only nine returned; the last one lost with no survivors as they fled. The wounded ponies were escorted to the medical tents for treatment, while the rest were told to try and rest.

From one of the dropships came a desperate cry of “Medic!” This ships opened and, like the rest, several pegasi spilled out, but a silver-eyed human walked out; a limp form in his arms. The form was a young woman in a flight uniform, her abdomen torn to shreds, and her face pale and drawn.

“Someone get a medic over here!” the man carrying her called once more. A pair of unicorn doctors rushed over to relieve the man of his burden; floating the pilot towards the medical tents. The man grabbed a larger injured human, whose leg was wrapped on bandages, and followed after the unicorns. Unbeknownst to anyone, a small gray pegasus filly slipped away from the group to follow the precession to the medical tents.

XXX

Jaze threw open the flap to the medical tents, holding it aside for the unicorns carrying Airman Shar. Her wound was still bleeding profusely and showed no signs of slowing down. The ponies set her down on a table and began to go to work. Her breathing was becoming irregular and she did not seem to notice where she was. She kept mumbling something about flying while the doctors worked to stem the flow of her life. Vincent had been taken elsewhere, his injuries less serious and in need of only minor medical treatment.

The assassin reached out and took one of her hands in his, “Hey you, we’re back. You can stop trying to fly now.”

Shar seemed able to focus for the first time in a while, “Colonel, that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Listen, you’re going to pull through this.”

“You think so, huh?” she asked weakly, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“Sure I do, I’ve seen these doc’s fix much worse, and the ponies have magic.” He caught a shaken head from one of the human medics, and the assembled personnel moved away. Jaze was left standing next to the medical table her hand clasped in his as she shuddered from the cold feeling of death.

“I think…” her voice dropped even lower, every word a struggle, “I think that means I’m gone…”

“No soldier. You will pull through; that’s an order!”

“Sorry sir,” she smiled, “that’s an order I don’t think that I can follow.” Her eyes slid shut, though she still managed to force air into her lungs. Jaze continued to hold her hand; telling her, and himself, lies to try and make it easier. The pilot’s breathing slowed as her life continued to flow out of her body, albeit at a much slower pace. Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes, “Colonel, I don’t wanna die.”

“I know, but you’ll be fine. You have to be, maybe…”

“No, I’m done. Just, please don’t leave. I don’t want to die alone.”

“I’m here, for as longs as it takes.”

She lay in silence for a little while, before she finally forced her bleary eyes open to look at her commanding officer one last time, “Hey Colonel, did I do good?”

“No, you did great.” He tried and failed to put on a reassuring smile, “You were the one to save us all.”

With an inhuman amount of strength given her state, Shar pulled the assassin in close enough to whisper, “Please, Jaze. Kill that bastard, for me, for Jenkins, and for those ponies.”

“I swear, he will pay for everything.” She gave a weak nod and finally gave up, her face peaceful. Jaze placed her hands on her chest and stood to leave, tears flowing freely down his face. He suddenly noticed a soft beam of sunlight was piercing the darkness of the tent and looked behind him to see the little filly he had saved holding open the flap, watching him. She hesitated before slowly walking up to the strange creature before her.

“Why you cwying?” she asked in a sweet voice, “Is nice wady hurt?”

Jaze picked up the filly and carried her away from the body, trying not to let her see the horrors of war any more than she already had. He carried her away from the tent, and away from the wounded that would soon be arriving there for treatment. The young man found it nearly impossible to talk past the lump in his throat, “Yeah, she’s hurt. But she’s sleeping now so we have to be quiet.” He pressed a finger to his lips, “Shhhh.”

The pegasus mimicked his motion “Okay, shush.” Her innocence, coupled with the loss of so many innocent lives brought more tears to his eyes, and the filly reached up to brush them away with her tiny hoof, “Why is you still cwying?”

“Because a lot of ponies and people are hurt.” He forced a smile on to his face for her, “My name is Jaze, what is yours little one?”

“I Zeppher!” she called happily.

“Zephyr?” The little filly nodded her agreement, “What a pretty name for a pretty filly.”

Zephyr let out a small giggle and buried her face in his chest, “Jazer’s a funny name!” She soon brought her face away from him, her nose wrinkled in disgust, “You got a stinky.”

To his horror, the Colonel found that he was still covered in sweat and blood from the battle. Zephyr was splattered as well, though not nearly as much as the human. The thought of this little child wearing her parent’s blood in her coat made him sick, even though she did not know what it meant. He tried not to let his unease show; he did not want to scare the little pony.

He gave her a playful poke in the ribs to make her giggle again, “I guess that we should take baths, huh.”

“Yes, it bath time!” she cried excitedly. The smile on the soldier’s face was no longer forced as he carried her through the camp towards the communal showers; one side for men the other for women. Several soldiers he passed gave him confused looks, while the pegasi merely gave nods of gratitude. The Colonel ignored them all, preferring instead just to hold the bundle of innocence that was Zephyr and smile.

When he had finally made his way to the showers, he grabbed one of the pegasus mares who was about to walk in, “Excuse me,” he held Zephyr out, “would it trouble you too much to give her a bath?”

The pegasus gave a gentle smile, “Sure, everypony needs a bath after that.” She took the little filly into her forelegs, “Besides, giving your filly a bath is the least I could do for you, you and your friends saved our lives. Let me be the first to say; thank you, from everypony.”

A slight blush touched his cheeks, “She is not mine.”

“I see.” the mare replied with a wink.

“And I didn’t do nearly enough,” Jaze said softly, entering the shower room, “not by a long shot.”

XXX

The shower felt amazing, the water running a light red from the blood coating the young Colonel. He tried to let the water wash his mind as well as his body, but the mind is not so easily cleaned of the things that plague it. His mind did nothing but replay Zephyr’s mother’s death. She fell, just out of reach, over and over again and every time the soldier tried to think of a way to save her.

“Stop it!” he growled to himself, “She’s gone and there’s nothing left you can do for her.” The soldier’s mind slowly wandered to thoughts of Zephyr, which at least managed to put a wan smile on his face. “She is so innocent, how can I ever explain…” Jaze shook his head to turn his thoughts from that road and shut off the water. He quickly dried off with the towel he had grabbed and wrapped it around himself. His war messed clothes had been exchanged for something clean, and the assassin wondered how they had avoided his attention. With a mental shrug, he dressed and got ready to leave the shower, until he heard the sound of little hooves.

“Jazer!” a certain little gray filly called, “Where is you Jazer?” the door, which Jaze had left slightly ajar in his rush to get clean, was pushed open. The gray filly, her mane and coat fluffed up from the bath, jumped into the assassin’s arms; her wings fluttering happily.

“No Zephyr!” the mare who had taken the filly called out, rushing in after the child “That is for colts only!”

“It’s okay,” Jaze laughed, “She doesn’t know any better and I am already dressed.”

“I am sorry for that, mister…?”

“Just call me Jaze.”

“Okay then, Jaze, I’m going to go and help the rest of the Cloudsdale ponies. I just needed to wash away all the… filth.”

“I know; so did we.” The mare left quickly with a thankful nod, and the Colonel gave his attention to the light brown maned filly in his arms, “You feel better, little one?”

She wiggled into a more comfortable position, “I not little, I three years old!”

The soldier let out a light laugh, “I’m sorry, you are not little any more. Then do you feel better Zephyr?”

“Yes!” she said happily, then a sudden thought struck her, “Jazer, where Momma and Daddy?”

Jaze bit his lip in a vain attempt to keep the tears from his eyes. What do I say?, he thought desperately, I can’t tell her the truth, she wouldn’t understand. “Well,” he let out a heavy sigh, “sometimes mommies and daddies have to go away and leave their little fillies and colts behind. They never want to, but sometimes it has to happen that way.”

“Why?”

“Because, sometimes in life things happen and the mommies and daddies have to leave.” He said as he pressed his back to the wall and slid down it.

“Will Momma and Daddy come back?”

This pushed Jaze over the edge, he hugged her tightly so she could not see his tears, “One day you will get to see them again. But not now, for now it is up to those that your Momma and Daddy left you with to take care of you.”

“But I want my Momma!” Zephyr began to cry, her tears soaking the soldier’s shoulder.

“I know, baby. I know. And they want you, but it is not possible right now. You just have to remember them and love them. And know that they loved you very much.” Enough, he thought tiredly, to die to let you live.

“But… I want… Momma…” the exhausted filly mumbled as she fell into a deep sleep in the assassin’s arms.

“That’s right little one,” he whispered to the sleeping child, “sleep, and dream of happier times.” The door creaked open again to admit Trixie. Jaze looked up to throw her a smile before dropping his arms to the tiny pony in his arms.

“Somepony told me I could find you here.” she said, giving the filly a questioning glance.

Trixie stood over him, not wishing to wake the child but wondering where she had come from. The silver-eyed human kept his voice low as he explained everything that had happened, from the time he left until Shar’s passing. He found himself in tears once more, thinking about how Zephyr would not be able to see her parents again.

“Jaze.” the unicorn said, brushing a tear away with her hoof. He looked up to see that she, too, was in tears, “I am so sorry for everything. You cared for her, didn’t you?”

“The same way that I care for all of my soldiers.” He shook his head to chase away the tears, “They are all too young. Hell, I’m too young. I just don’t know what to do anymore. I can’t bear to face the truth; I that I may not be good enough.”

Trixie moved next him; making herself comfortable on the floor and pressing up to the man’s side, “I wish that this was over. That we didn’t have to worry about anything anymore.”

“Trixie,” Jaze found he had to force himself to say the words, “you know that when this is over that Marine Command will have me moved somewhere else, right? Much as I don’t want to sometimes, I am still a soldier and have to follow orders.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe they will…”

“No, I won’t let you get your hopes up. Command doesn’t care about the personal feelings of the soldiers. We have an important job, and that is to keep everyone safe. Command can’t let something like feelings get between us and that job.”

“But that is not fair!” she nearly yelled, dropping her voice again when Zephyr stirred, “Why would they do that; haven’t you done enough?”

“I am lucky that they let me stay here long enough to help in the defense of Equestria. I technically should have been tried for desertion.” He stared at the wall, thinking for the first time of what would happen after the war was over.

“Instead, you got a promotion.” The azure unicorn forced his face around to meet hers and wrapped him in a loving hug, “Everything will work out for the best, you’ll see.”

He returned the hug with one arm, the other holding the sleeping filly, “Thank you Trixie. The fight never seems to end, and I can’t face the dark without you.”

Zephyr stirred in her sleep, mumbling, “Jazer, no be sad, Jazer.” before drifting back off to her dreams.

“You should listen to her, Jazer.” The unicorn smiled, “You should not be sad.”

“I can try.” He suddenly pulled away enough to look the unicorn in her warm, purple eyes, “Trixie, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it, Jaze?”

“I… well I… Trixie, I lo…”

‘Sir?” a soldier called from outside the shower house.

Jaze heaved another sigh at the interruption, “What is it soldier?”

“Princess Luna is here to see you. She is waiting in the Command building.”

“Okay, I am on my way.” He disentangled himself from the unicorn and shifted the sleeping filly into a more comfortable position, “Will you come with me?”

“Always.” She lifted herself from the floor and followed the human out the door.

XXX

Luna waited patiently for Jaze to appear. Dmitri and Shelby were on either side of the alicorn, Shelby leaning against the wall while Sands absently rubbed his left hand. It did not take long from the time she arrived until the time the Colonel appear, carrying a young filly and with Trixie in tow. He nodded his greetings to the two other humans in the room before sitting across the table from her.

“You wished to see me, Princess.” he said, sliding the gently snoring filly to his other shoulder.

“Please Jaze, this is a personal visit.” Luna pointed towards the young filly, “And who is the little one?”

“Her mother gave her to me before she died.” Jaze whispered in explanation, “Her name is Zephyr.”

“She is adorable.” Sands whispered, drawing an incredulous look from Shelby, “What? She is cute.”

“Yeah,” the female replied with a coy grin, “but I did not expect you to say so.”

“And why the hell not?” the newest Angel asked defensively.

“You just don’t seem the type.” Shelby teased.

“Be nice to the rookie, Shell.” Jaze laughed softly.

“Shush,” Trixie hissed sternly, “you’re going to wake Zephyr.”

“Sorry,” the assembled humans whispered in unison.

“What I wanted to ask you Jaze,” Luna whispered quietly, “is how everything is.”

“Well Luna,” the Colonel began, “we got our butts handed to us on a gilded silver platter. I lost most of the men and women that went with me. And of the fifteen hundred pegasi that made Cloudsdale their home, only five hundred made it out at all.”

“Why did he do this?” Shelby asked, unable to contain her horror.

“My guess?” Jaze’s eyes clouded over with hate, “He did it to make us angry, and make mistakes.”

“He more than managed it with Tia.” Luna gave a short girlish giggle.

“I meant to ask about that,” Jaze said suddenly, “what happened to Celestia? She stopped talking after Carn did.”

“Well…” Another giggle escaped the Lunar Princess’s lips despite her best efforts, “I know that I shouldn’t be laughing at a time like this but I can’t help it.”

“We have a saying in the SSM.” Sands told her, a small smile crossing his face, “Take laughs where you can, they will keep you sane. And I think that those two could do with a laugh.”

“Why, what happened?” Trixie asked; curiosity coloring her voice.

“You see, when this Carn man spoke to Celestia, she got so mad that she accidently made the little communicator explode. She was so surprised she squeaked!”

“Celestia… squeaked?” Jaze asked, tears of laughter forming in his eyes.

“Yes, like a mouse!” the black alicorn affirmed.

“Funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.” Sands laughed at the memory.

“I never would have thought,” Shelby was holding her sides, “that a being as powerful as her would be able to make a noise like that!” The group tried to keep their laughter down, but it slowly grew in volume. It was not until Zephyr stirred once more that Jaze finally got them to quiet down.

“Luna,” he whispered, “I think that I need to take Zephyr home and let her sleep. She has had one hell of a day.”

“Okay,” Luna said as she made for the door, “I will find you if something happens.” She pulled open the door with magic and left, softly closing the door so as to not wake the filly.

The Colonel pointed to Sands, “Would you tell the Marines to stand down? But I want a token force of two hundred and fifty soldiers manning the defenses at all times.”

“Yes sir.” He gave a salute and left to start issuing orders on Jaze’s behalf.

“Shell, you may want to go see Vincent. He got hurt and could use some ‘cheering up’.”

“Will do, sir.” she replied with a knowing wink. “You should get some sleep sir; you look like hell.”

The assassin let out a yawn, “Sleep sounds wonderful.”

“Jaze,” Trixie pointed to the still snoring filly as Shelby left for the medical tents, “what are we going to do about her?”

“I was going to give her my bed and sleep on the couch.”

“Or I could give her mine and we could share yours.” Her face burned a bright crimson, “I mean it’s just till she finds a home right?”

“Yeah,” the human said as he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, “I guess my bed is more than big enough for two.”

“Then let’s get home, I am tired as well.”

XXX

Jaze tucked the sleeping filly into her temporary bed, and her to have sweet dreams. He made his way down the hall, past the bathroom where he could hear the water for a shower running, and into his room where he donned a pair of sleep pants. The tired soldier crawled into his warm and comfortable bed. He found it hard to keep his eyes open. Trixie pushed open the door and stepped inside, her eyes betraying her weariness. She slipped under the covers next to the exhausted assassin, flicked off the light with her magic, and shut the blinds to block out the last of the dying sunlight.

The only sound was the pair’s gentle breathing as they tried to find sleep. The dark room was slightly cold, and the pair found themselves huddled together to stay warm. Jaze listened to the unicorn’s breathing, the soft steady sound slowly lulling him to sleep. Soon, they were both out; neither knowing or caring what tomorrow would bring.

Storm

Jaze was young, running through the dusty, crowded streets of the dry city with a loaf of warm sweet-bread clutched in his hands. He had managed to snag the delicious treat when the baker had been distracted, but the guards had seen him and were racing to catch him. The baker, knowing the penalty for stealing from a gang owned business, had stalled the guards to allow the young boy a chance to slip away. Now he was running flat out, dodging through the crowds and trying to stay several steps ahead of his pursuers.

His chest burned and his legs ached for rest, but he could not stop. He needed a place to hide, a place to wait for the search to die out and move away. The boy slipped into an alleyway, and had to stifle a laugh as the stupid guards ran past. He started to walk down the alley, away from the heated search. A shadow detached itself and sauntered over to the now terrified child. He was wrapped in shadows, shadows of the evil this man had and had yet to commit. The man’s hand reached out and took the youngster’s chin between his thumb and forefinger, squeezing until it hurt.

“I could use you…”

XXX

Boom!

The sudden noise tore the assassin from his dream-filled slumber. He heard a sound that he had not heard without warning for several months; the pounding fury of a thunderstorm. The wind tore at the house, the rain beat the roof, and the lightning cracked the skies. For some reason he found the noise pleasing on a subconscious level and started drifting off to sleep. Until a small gray blur tore into the room and leapt, shivering with fright, between him and the bed’s other occupant.

“Jazer, what happening?” Zephyr asked with a squeak at the newest crack of thunder.

Trixie rolled over blearily to give them both a smile, “Don’t worry baby, it’s just a storm. But I didn’t know we were scheduled for one.”

“We weren’t, not until next week.” Jaze mumbled through his sleep numbed mouth, “But it is nothing to worry about, just a storm.”

Something about that word stuck in his mind and refused to go away. Storm, storm, storm, his tired mind ran the word around to make it latch on to something, storm, wait a storm? A storm! He jumped from the bed, the fog of sleep suddenly gone in his excitement, and threw open the window. The rain moistened wind blew across his face; he stuck his arm out and let the water run down his arm. A smile of relief crossed his face as he watched the trees of the Everfree Forest bend and whip in the strong gusts.

“Jaze,” Trixie asked, sat up and pushed her mane out of her eyes, “what is wrong?

“Absolutely nothing!” he whispered happily, “This is the greatest thing to happen all week!”

“What, what is it?”

“The storm! The Cye will short out if they go outside right now!” He let out a short, quiet laugh, “Even nature wants to help us, it would seem.”

“So we are safe from attack as long as this storm lasts?”

“Yes, we are safe.” The thunder cracked again, making Zephyr squeak frightfully again. “Do you want to sleep with us tonight, Zephyr?” the human asked as he lay back down next to her.

“Yes pwease.” the filly said as she snuggled in between Jaze and Trixie, “Dat noise is scary.”

“It is nothing to be afraid of,” the azure unicorn assured, “it is just a lot of noise.”

“Yeah,” he tickled the filly’s side to make her giggle, “and we’re here for you. So you just get to sleep.” Zephyr’s mouth curled in a wide smile as she cuddled up next to the soldier, quickly falling back asleep.

XXX

The rain was slowly turning the bottom of the trenches into a sucking pit of mud. The older soldier had his back pressed to the wall of the trench, his suit and helmet hiding his dark skin from the pounding rain and howling wind. The day was quickly turning horrible, but the old soldier was not here under orders, he was here on his own. He felt that it was sheer stupidity not to have a few men in the trenches to keep watch. Of course, he had been fighting wars since before most of these kids were done suckling at their mothers, as he had often said; most of them against people who weren’t afraid to get wet.

And so the rain pounded around him, flowing across his armor and streaking his visor. The soldier looked up and down the line of the deserted trench, and he had to admit that being in bed was sound more and more appealing. His boots kept sinking into the mud, and his calves ached from pulling the mud-laden boots back out.

“Goddamn planet,” he grumbled, “goddamn trench, goddamn rain.” He knew that it was only the rain stopping the Cye from attacking, but it didn’t stop him from hating every moment of it. He had been on the verge of retirement when the Cye had attacked six years ago. “And now,” he grouched again, “I am stuck on this backwards planet with these goddamn ponies and they’re always goddamn happy ways.” He heard the sound of splashing footsteps, or rather hoofsteps, as one of the brightly colored inhabitants of this world approached from the camp.

It was one of the horned ones, a female with a silver coat and a light gray mane. The unicorn had an umbrella held above her head, the orange glow of magic holding it aloft doubling as a flashlight in this dark, rainy day. The unicorn dropped into the trench next the soldier, holding her umbrella high to shield the older man from the fury of the storm. The simple gesture brought a warm smile to his hidden face, it was probably the nicest thing anyone had done for him in a long while.

“Alright,” he asked in a gruff but friendly voice, “what does the pony want with old me?”

She smiled, “The pony has a name you know, it’s Starlight.”

“You can call me Jerom, nice t’ meetcha.” The pair lapsed into silence, listening to the spatter of rain hitting the umbrella around. The soldier, Jerom, could not stop glancing at the pony next to him. Her long mane covered one side of her neck, and she was wearing a small smile.

“So what are you doing here?” she asked demurely.

“Waiting to get shot, same as always.”

“That is an… interesting view on your situation.” Starlight remarked.

“Interestingly true.” Jerom replied sarcastically, “That is all guard duty is, waiting to get shot. God knows I have always managed to find some way to nearly get killed.”

“Does that worry you?”

“Does what?”

“You know, does the thought of dying scare you?”

“Nope, I got no reason to hang around.” The older man snickered, “Except for pissing off the young morons that are supposed to replace me.” They lapsed into silence once more; the soldier suddenly wishing that the war was over, and the unicorn wishing that this human could be home and not thinking about dying.

“Uh, miss,” the soldier’s voice was low and regretful, and he looked away from his companion, “I don’t know if it helps at all, but I am sorry for that city.”

He glanced over to see her quietly crying, “Th-thank you, I-I h-had f-f-friends in Cl-Cloudsdale and they, they…” She finally fully broke down, sobbing into her hooves.

“Hey,” he condoled, awkwardly patting her on the back, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry!”

“I-it’s not y-your f-fault, how c-could you have kn-known?”

“Don’t change the fact that I feel like an ass.”

“Wh-what can I do?” she begged of the soldier, “Why sh-should I live when m-most of my f-friends didn’t?” He finally saw why this pony was able to get into his head so quickly; she reminded him of the child he had lost two years ago, his daughter Marin. Tears slowly seeped into his eyes, and he had to fight to keep memories of his little girl from entering his mind.

“Little lady,” his hand went to her shoulder in a fatherly manner, “The only thing we can do is live for those we lost along the way. They don’t want us to be sad, or worry for them. They want us to be happy. Try and do that for them.”

“Okay, I’ll try…”

For the better part of the next hour they sat together, swapping friendly banter and soon the soldier felt a warmth that had nothing to do with his controlled climate suit. He could see why several people thought the ponies were the most amazing creatures in the universe. This pony was so caring, and willing to share what she had with a complete stranger of another species.

During their conversation, the old soldier saw a few shapes moving in the rain. It could not be the Cye; they could not stand up to the rain. Of course, it had been assumed that they could not fly either and look how that turned out. So Jerom grabbed his rifle from next to him and brought it to his shoulder, training it on the figures.

“Who goes there?” he called out, silently vowing to unload on them if they did not answer quickly. One of the figures waved to him and began walking purposefully towards the pair in the trench. The older soldier slung his weapon; the Cye did not wave, after all. There were two figures, and one of them with graying light brown hair and nearly black eyes jumped into the trench.

“How’s it going soldier?” the man asked in a warm voice as the other man, a dark haired man wearing sunglasses despite the darkness, jumped in as well and stood near Starlight. Both of them were wearing lightly armored, skin-tight black suits which merged with the darkness of the day well.

“Not too bad, guy.” Jerom reached out and shook hands with the other old soldier, “So what brings another old fart out here in this kind of weather?”

“Oh just testing the enemy, seeing what they are up to, that kind of thing.” The graying man replied with a smirk.

“So is that why you came from over there?” Starlight asked, pointing to where the Cye had landed.

“Yes, that is it.” the newcomer replied quickly; the second stranger had yet to say a word.

“Find anything interesting?” Jerom asked curiously.

“Not much, but I would like to know where Colonel Armand is. Any idea as to where I could find him?

“Nope, I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

The newcomer let out an apologetic sigh, his dropping the warm, friendly tone “Then I fear I have no use for you.” Instantly, the older soldier felt the atmosphere change from rosy and friendly to cold and threatening.

“I’m sorry,” Jerom said quietly, “but I don’t think I caught your name.”

An evil smile curled across the man’s face, “It is a name you should be familiar with. My name is Carn.” Jerom reacted quickly, spinning and lunging towards the man near Starlight. He hoped to keep them busy a while so she could run away. But it was not meant to be, for Carn was slightly faster. He jammed a knife into the soldier’s back, slipping it between the vertebrae and taking the man’s legs out from under him.

Jerom fell in a heap, a mere few feet away that may as well been the universe’s largest desert for all his inability to cross the distance. He could only watch, helpless, as the silent man in sunglasses lifted the terrified unicorn by her mane and horn, making her scream in pain.

“Now, I know you know what I want to know.” Carn said happily as he squatted next to the soldier’s head, “So if you tell me what I want to know, I will let the pony live.”

Jerom felt like his helmet was closing in around his head; he tore the thing off and exposed himself to the cold rain. Soon the water had plastered his black and gray hair to his skull, and chilled him to the bone. The soldier tried to move his legs, but he got no response. There was little pain, but a burning rage at how he had been taken for a fool ignited within the soldier as he struggled to rise.

Starlight was struggling hard against her captor, and every pull of her mane and horn made her scream anew. She tried to kick the human holding her but she could not get the leverage to do any damage. As she continued her struggles, a fist came out of nowhere and struck her in the stomach, forcing the air from her lungs.

“Quiet pony.” the silent captor finally spoke. His voice was like that of a machine, flat and lifeless.

Carn lifted the prone soldier to his knees and held him there with one hand, “Now listen, I am not a patient man. Tell me what I want to know, or she dies.”

“I’ll tell you what I know.” His voice was strained, the pain was starting to filter up his body, “And that is nothing. There are a hundred and one places that the Colonel could be.”

“Wrong answer.” Carn produced a knife from his belt and jammed it into the soldier’s chest, just below the sternum. Jerom curled around the invading object, coughing up the blood that had made its way into his lungs. The Cye ruler snapped his fingers and the other human pulled a knife faster than the kneeling human could follow, pressing the sharp blade to the dangling pony’s throat. “Let’s try this again.” He lifted the dying soldier’s head, “Tell me.”

“I told you everything I know.” Jerom pleaded, “Let her go, please.”

“Well, I am a man of my word. And if you really don’t know…”

“I don’t know where Colonel Armand is, I swear. Just let her go, I beg you.”

“Well, since you have asked so nicely.” A sigh of relief crossed the kneeling soldier’s lips. “But I think that you are lying.” The back of his hand connected with Jerom’s head, sending him sprawling, face down in the mud. The prone man looked up just in time to see Carn make a quick slashing motion across his throat. The man holding Starlight let an evil grin curl across his face and in one quick pull cut the unicorn’s throat.

Blood erupted from the horrid wound to splatter the man’s face. Her legs kicked and jerked, while her eyes watered in pain and fear. The unicorn’s mouth opened and closed; trying to breathe but unable to draw any air past the cut. With a flick of his powerful arm, the killer tossed the broken body next to the prone soldier.

Jerome reached out with a shaking hand, “I am so sorry.” Starlight’s eyes closed from the pain, tears still seeping out from under them. She could not speak, but the soldier could see her pain clear as the falling rain. She began to twitch violently, before finally lying still. Carn stepped, hard, on the man’s outstretched arm at the elbow, snapping the joint and making the man scream in pain.

“Now look what you did,” the Cye leader mocked, “you made us kill an unarmed civilian just because you were too stubborn.” He lifted Jerome to his knees again by the back of his suit and leaned in close, “You going to tell me now?”

The injured soldier managed to spit in the other’s eye, “Fuck you!” He pulled his belt knife from behind his back and raised it to thrust into the evil man’s neck. Carn calmly stepped on the knife still protruding from his chest, laying the man open from breast to groin and spilling his viscera across the muddy earth.

The dying man was kicked on his back, and his killer stood over him, “Before you think you died heroically, know that we already know exactly where to find your Colonel. We just wanted to test your loyalty.” The world slowly went dark for Jerome, and the last thing he heard was, “Congratulations, you passed.”

XXX

Jaze awoke, his eyes still closed, sore from the trials of war and less than willing to face the day. Then the sound of rain filtered into his mind and a smile bloomed across his face. Great, no need to get up, he thought tiredly, until his stomach growled, I guess I should get up and eat.

He forced his tired eyes open to see he was alone, though the bed was still warm from the two other bodies that had occupied it. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and grabbed the nearest clothes he could find and quickly got dressed. He stood, every joint and muscle aching, and made his way into the kitchen where Trixie and Zephyr were already making breakfast. Meaning, Trixie was cooking pancakes while Zephyr sat at the table and talked.

“Morning, you two.” Jaze yawned, scratching the back of his head.

“Good morning Jaze.” Trixie smiled from next to the stove, “How do pancakes sound?”

“Morning Jazer!” Zephyr called out excitedly, “Twixie is makin’ panny cakes!”

“I see, and would Twixie like any help?” Jaze asked in his best impersonation of the little filly.

“No,” Trixie gave him a slight glare from the stove, “I think that I can handle this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes!” she suddenly snapped, “Now sit down and get ready to eat.”

Jaze took his place at the table next to an oblivious Zephyr, “Trixie, what is wrong? You are not usually so… waspish.”

The unicorn heaved a sigh, “I don’t know. I have been agitated since I woke up.”

“Is it the storm?”

“No.” She stood still for a moment, “I just feel like something terrible is coming.”

“We’ll have to be careful, but I doubt anything bad is going to happen with this storm.” For the last several minutes, Zephyr had been glancing between the two of them; an idea taking shape in her head.

“Jazer,” she finally asked, “is Twixie your fiwy friend?” Trixie had to turn away from the look of confusion on the assassin’s face to keep from laughing herself into a coma. For his part, the Colonel tried to find an answer, but had no clue how to answer.

“No,” he finally answered, “we are just friends, I guess.”

“You should be Jazer’s fiwy friend.” the filly said to Trixie, “You weawy nice.”

“Well,” the unicorn put her foreleg around the filly’s shoulders, “sometimes it is not just how nice a pony is that determines who their filly friend is.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, little one.” Jaze said quietly, “But that is just how it is.”

“Well it shouldn’t be.” the filly said in a huff.

“Maybe one day it won’t be.” Trixie said, her fuchsia eyes fixing on Jaze with a meaningful stare.

“Yeah, maybe one day.”

XXX

“But why do you have to go?” Trixie asked sadly. The almost an argument had been going on for nearly half an hour, ever since breakfast. Zephyr was sitting on the couch, bored stiff by the lack of fun things to do while the adults talked. The adults in question were standing in the kitchen, trying to avoid upsetting their small house guest.

“Because,” Jaze replied quickly as he pulled on his uniform and belting on Sairugi, “a lot of people and ponies are hurt. It is only right of me to show them that I care by at least showing up.”

“Then let me come with you, maybe I can help.”

“Please,” he whispered, pointing meaningfully to Zephyr, “we can’t just leave her here alone, and she does not need to see this. She has seen enough.”

“She won’t see anything; most of the wounds will be covered by now.”

“Alright,” the exasperated soldier finally growled, “you two can come, if you answer one question for me.”

‘What is it? Name it.”

“Do you just want to come with me because of your premonition?”

The unicorn turned her head away, embarrassed, “A little bit, yes.”

“Alright, you two can join me. Besides, little Zephyr there would be a nice bit of brightness for the wounded.”

“Thank you,” Trixie called out to the little filly, “Zephyr, you want to go with us to see somepony?”

“Yes,” the gray filly answered quickly, “who we meet?”

“Some of Jaze’s friends.”

“Okay, let’s go!” Jaze pulled open the door to watch the rain fall while Trixie threw Zephyr across her back for the dash to the human camp. Before they left, the human and the unicorn drew magical shields over their heads to block most of the rain, but they still managed to get soaked on the way over.

The first thing they did was to run into the medical tents, where they were greeted by a humbling sight. Celestia was moving amongst the wounded ponies and humans, offering kind words and as much comfort as she could. Dash was there as well, passing out food to all the injured. When the cyan pegasus saw Jaze enter the tent, she dropped her empty tray and ran from the room.

“Dammit Dash,” Jaze called as he ran after her, “wait!”

Trixie left set Zephyr down, who immediately started going around to all the occupied beds and talking to all the patients. Her sweetness brought smiles to everyone’s face, human and pony alike. Celestia picked her way through the beds over to the unicorn, who bowed her head in the presence of the Solar Princess.

“Hello Princess,” Trixie said respectfully, “I did not know you were here.”

“I only just arrived.” the white alicorn explained, “Luna is in another tent to see the rest of the wounded.”

“How are they doing?”

“Well enough, we have brought more doctors from Canterlot to help deal with the number of hurt.” For a moment, the Princess watched the little filly move around the room to talk to everypony. “That is not the only reason I am here, however.”

“What is wrong?”

“Luna and I felt something was wrong here, we brought a small contingent of Royal Guards with us to help find out what is going on.”

“Have you turned anything up?”

“Not yet; this storm is dampening our efforts. We cannot see more than a few feet, and we don’t know what we are looking for. The only thing we have to go on is a mutual feeling between Luna and I.”

Trixie’s eyes were drawn to the door Jaze had left through, “I think that I need to talk to Jaze.”

“Yes, please bring him back. I need to speak with him on this.” Trixie ran from the room, Zephyr close in tow.

XXX

Jaze ran after the cyan blur in the rain, the cold water making his hair run into his eyes. Dash was flying, trying to get away from the soldier, but the rain was slowing her down. “Dash please,” the assassin called out, “wait!”

The pony stopped and turned back to the human following, “What do you want?” She was hovering above the ground at just around waist level.

“I want to talk.” He finally caught up with the pegasus, who immediately reached out and punched Jaze on the chin. The assassin calmly wiped the blood pouring from his lips away, letting it wash off in the rain. “I guess I deserved that.”

“You know you did.” Dash replied angrily, “Why did you leave me here? Cloudsdale is my home! I could have helped.”

“No,” he said quietly, “you could have died.”

“I wouldn’t have died! I would have helped save Cloudsdale!”

“And that is why you would have died. We couldn’t have saved the city, we were lucky we saved what we did.”

“Lucky?” Dash yelled, “Almost everypony I know is dead! And you didn’t let me help! You took Twilight but not me!”

“Is that what you are mad about?” the assassin asked, his own blood boiling, “That I took your friend and not you?”

“Well, yes! Twilight is an egghead, and I am a…”

“A civilian. Twilight joined the Marines; that is the only reason she went with me.”

“Then let me join as well! I can fight too!”

“You can’t hold a gun.” Jaze stated harshly, “And this is not going to be a battle of swordplay. This is war, and…” He hesitated, unsure of how to say what he felt.

“And what?” the angry pegasus prompted.

“And I don’t want you to get too far into the fighting.” He whispered quietly, “I want as many of you to stay away from this hell as possible. You are all too innocent for this, and I don’t want to see any of you hurt more than you have been.”

The anger slowly left her magenta eyes and she settled down to the slippery ground, “Why can’t I stay mad?” The assassin realized that she was softly crying for the home she had lost.

“Because you are loyal to your friends, and I seem to fall under that category.”

“Well,” she said with a teary smile, “I guess there is that. And I suppose that you are right.” She hung her head, fighting to get her rebellious eyes under control, “I’m sorry Jaze, but I need time to think this over.”

“I understand,” she started walking away, but Jaze had one final thing to tell her, “And Dash? You and Twilight are honorary Angels. You have done so much for me and this fight that I feel you deserve it.”

Her eyes lit up, “What about Applejack?”

“Her too, if feel she will help a lot before the end.”

“Well that is cool,” Dash replied as she made her way toward the medical tent, “but you are not off the hook with me!”

Jaze shook his head as the pegasus disappeared into the rain. He no longer cared about how wet he was getting, in fact the cool rain felt soothing at the moment. He stared into the rain, and could just begin to see a figure striding toward him. The figure turned into a man dressed all in black, sunglasses covering his eyes despite the darkness.

Heavy Price Paid

The man in sunglasses stopped in the rain to stare at Jaze, a small bag thrown over his shoulder. The assassin’s eyes cut through the darkness to glimpse a long knife belted to the small of his back. The other man started making his way towards the human commander; not hurrying, but still moving faster than was normal. Something about the man set the Colonel off wrong; his bearing had all the indicators of a seasoned fighter, but the way he moved seemed… odd.

Jaze speculated at the man as he got closer, until he heard the soft splash of hooves behind him. Trixie, with Zephyr close on her heels, had come to find the assassin. His face broke into a worried smile; glad as he was to see the two of them, he wished that they were far from this spot. The Colonel knew that this man meant trouble, and that he knew he was more than willing to face the threat.

“Are you Colonel Jaze Armand?” the man asked in a lifeless voice.

“Yes,” the assassin responded, his hand instinctually resting on the hilt of his sword, “who are you?”

“You may call me Daren.” he replied with a slight bow, “I have a message for you, from Master Carn.” He tossed the bag under-hand to the Colonel. When Jaze pulled open the sack and peered inside, he felt his stomach churn.

He tied the bag shut and gingerly set it next to him, “Where are the bodies?”

“What does it matter?” Darren sneered, his first sign of being alive, “They were weaker beings, they can die.”

“They weren’t weak. You sick freaks killed them.” Trixie burned to know what the bag contained, and so she used her magic to bring it over, opened it, and peered inside. The sack contained two heads, a dark-skinned human and a silvery unicorn.

“Starlight…” she breathed, dropping the bag. Her stomach began to roil and she could feel her breakfast trying to make its way back up into her mouth. She looked to Jaze, only to realize he was utterly focused on the man before him.

“Carn killed these two, didn’t he?” The assassin’s voice had dropped into its dangerous tone; his eyes flashed with anger as the man shook his head.

“He killed the human,” the man said slowly, “I did the pony.” Trixie could see the hand not on Sairugi’s hilt clench in rage. She felt her own heart beating faster with anger, and for the first time she wanted to see somepony die.

“Why did you kill them?” Jaze asked as he took a small step towards the killer, “What point did it serve?”

“Why do you kill an enemy?” the other mocked, “We are at war. But I guess you could say that we wanted to show you how easily we can mess with you.”

“So that was all this was? Messing with me?”

“I guess so.” Daren said with a shrug. With one quick pull and the sound of rasping metal, Sairugi was unleashed from its sheathe and the silver-eyed assassin jumped at the killer, sword held high to strike down at his head.

Jaze was quick, but Daren was just slightly quicker. With a bare millimeter to spare he slipped out from under the blade as it descended to end his life, dodging to the enraged assassin’s side. When the blade started to swing around the nimble killer ducked under it to swing his fist at Jaze’s exposed ribs. The assassin jumped back, softening the force of the punch. But it still managed to leave him surprisingly sore; obviously this man was more than he seemed. He pressed a hand to his bruised ribs

Daren straightened, running his hair through his short hair and drawing his long knife, pointing it at Jaze, “I can see why Master Carn wanted to kill you. You can be dangerous.” He spun the knife in his hand and beckoned to the assassin, “Come on, let’s see what you can do for real.”

A grim smile crossed Jaze’s face, “I will enjoy taking you apart.”

“Jaze,” Trixie yelled from behind him, “kill him for Starlight!”

He half turned to look at her, “Trixie, get Zephyr out of here. She does not need to see this.”

“Every time I take my eyes off you, you get in trouble.” the fiery unicorn responded, “We’re staying here!”

“Oh!” the sunglass wearing human exclaimed in sudden realization, “You must be… Glad that you are here as well, because I wonder if you will scream like that other horned one did.”

“Shut the hell up!” Jaze roared, taking another lunging slash at the man in shades. He rolled away, coming to his feet several feet away from the sword-wielding Colonel.

“Yes, her screams were delicious.” Daren licked his lips at the memory, “Yes, and the way her blood sprayed from her neck, it was divine.”

Trixie had her hooves pressed into Zephyr’s ears when she called out to the Colonel, “You are right Jaze. Zephyr should not see this, I’m going to take her back, but I will return soon.” She scooped the gray filly onto her back and tore off into the storm, leaving Jaze and Daren to face one another alone.

“Ah,” Daren said with a nod toward the vanished unicorn, “alone at last. May I have this dance?”

Jaze’s response came in the form of him dropping into a slight crouch; ready to attack or defend as needed. A light smile touched the lips of the sadistic killer as he, too, fell into a crouch. The pair slowly circled, each seeking to find a way to end the fight quickly. With barely more than a twitch of warning, Daren flew across the short distance between them; his knife held low and across his body to deliver a quick blow to the Colonel’s stomach.

Before he got close, Jaze brought the sword from underneath, aiming for the chin of the other man, hoping to split his head in one quick shot. The man in black was forced to roll across the muddy ground again to avoid the wicked edge of the sword, lunging to swipe at the silver-eyed human’s legs to hamstring him. He suddenly found his target over him as Jaze dove through the air above the strike. The assassin rolled and spun in one fluid movement, catching the other man in a glancing blow across the cheek, just below his eye. Blood, hot and crimson, ran from the wound to mix with the rain water flowing down his face.

Daren’s free hand came up to wipe at the cut, and a sadistic smile spread across his face, “So you get first blood, I hope to see far more before this is through.”

“Don’t worry,” Jaze replied, taking a tighter, two-handed grip on his rain-soaked blade, “I intend to have you splattered all over the place!”

XXX

Trixie splashed through the camp, making a mad dash for the house she shared with Jaze. She had dropped her magical shield so she could run faster, but now she and Zephyr were getting soaked by the cold rain. The azure unicorn considered stopping to tell somepony what was happening, but she wanted to get the innocent gray filly back home before anything happened to her. So the unicorn kept running as fast as her legs could carry her, trying to get back in time to help, a desperate race she was determined to win.

From the darkness of the rain laden day, a tall Marine in full black combat gear appeared. He stood in front of her, blocking her path. The unicorn slid to a stop in the mud to stare up at the Marine. His face was shrouded by his sealed helmet, so it was impossible to see who it was stopping her. But she knew that the Marine would know where she lived, every one of the soldiers had been told where Colonel Armand lived in case he was needed.

“Is something wrong miss?” the tall human asked worriedly. Trixie recognized the voice from somewhere, but at the moment all she could think of was getting back to help Jaze.

“Yes there is.” The unicorn belted out the entire situation in one breath, “And so I need you to take this little filly to Colonel Armand’s house and then tell somepony at command that Carn and one of his lackeys is here. Please hurry!” She handed Zephyr over to the Marine and took off back into the rain towards where Jaze and the strange man were dueling to the death.

Beneath his stolen helmet, Carn broke into a broad grin. The foolish unicorn had delivered another of his foe’s weaknesses right into his arms. He looked at the young pony in his arms. It was one of those flying ones that lived in that floating city. Remembering that city made the Cye leader’s blood boil; his plan for that city had been foiled by that meddlesome boy. He knew he had been right to wish to kill the assassin, yet he had no clue how troublesome the boy would prove.

Now he had the perfect means to destroy the interfering lad, and all thanks to the unicorn. As Carn followed her progress through the rain, he could see why the boy was attracted to her. She had a certain… fire about her. Few would willingly run towards a man who had so brutally murdered someone, and yet she was rushing to her probable death with no hesitation. He could even see a spot of physical attraction in her eyes, eyes that reflected her determination and intelligence. He had to wonder if she could be… convinced, to work for him.

The furry bundle in his arms stirred and nuzzled in closer to the warmth of the body holding her, trying to escape the rain. He gave the filly a wicked smile, a smile lost in the shadows of his helmet, “Let’s go see how Jaze is doing against Daren.”

“What’s your name, miser?” Zephyr asked with wide, sweet eyes.

“That is not important my dear. You will learn soon enough.”

XXX

Jaze and Daren had began circling once more. By now, the assassin had realized that this was no ordinary man. The man in sunglasses seemed highly skilled, and more than a little lucky. The Colonel was having a hard time seeing through the man; when he first arrived he had seemed so cold and lifeless, but since the start of the fight he had become more and more animated. The two combatants came together in a brief clash of steel on steel, long knife on katana, neither able to land a blow. Jaze was impressed that the other was able to turn aside his larger sword with such a small blade. He did not want to risk matching this man blow by blow, they were too closely matched. The assassin started looking for a way to at least disarm his opponent, but he could not risk letting the man’s smaller blade too close or he would not be able to get away unhurt.

Daren took the opportunity of seeing his opponent distracted to lunge the short distance between them, aiming a blow for his enemy’s neck. The Colonel leaned out of the way of the sideways swipe, delivering a savage punch to his foe’s stomach and sending him stumbling backwards. The assassin followed with a downward slash at Daren’s head, aiming to crease his skull and end the fight. But with strength disproportional to his size, he caught the sword with his knife and delivered a powerful uppercut to its owner. Before the blow sent him sprawling, Jaze managed to deliver a solid blow to the bridge of the man’s nose with the hilt of his sword, snapping the shades he was wearing in half.

Jaze hit the ground with a splash; he rolled to his feet in a flash and readied himself for a blow that never arrived. The man was holding his nose, broken and pouring blood. Daren’s eyes were cinched shut, although they still managed to water in sympathy for his crushed nose. The assassin took the opportunity to bring his sword around in a wide powerful arc, a swing that would separate the man’s torso from his legs. The monetarily blinded man dove backwards to avoid the swing and give himself time to recover from the blow.

“Is this all you are?” Jaze taunted, his blade held in preparation to attack his opponents knees, “You are nothing; tell me where Carn is and I let you live, minus some pieces.” The other man began laughing, a low, maniac laughter that made chills run up the assassin’s spine.

“You think that I’ve been serious?” the wounded man laughed manically. He slowly opened his eyes to reveal their blue-silver color, the same eyes as the Colonel’s, “You see? I am much more than you think.”

“I will say it again, you are nothing!” The assassin made a fake slash at his enemy’s head, instead delivering a crushing kick to Daren’s knee. The man fell, clutching his knee, and Jaze gave a powerful knee to the other man’s jaw, send him sprawling and his knife flying. The Colonel brought his sword above his head to split his downed foe in two. The doomed man’s eyes followed the path of the glittering steel as it descended to end his life. Jaze noticed smirk on his adversary’s face as he threw right arm up to ward off the blow.

The blade connected with the arm, and Jaze thought it would pass right through to continue its deadly mission. He surprised when the sword not only stopped, but bounced off with no obvious effect on his target. The Colonel felt a pair of feet connect with his stomach, which sent him flying backwards away from the downed man. The confused assassin scrambled to his feet in time to watch his opponent rip his shirt away to reveal robotic arms, unsheathed of the flesh-like material most used to cover the prosthetics. Jaze made a quick step forward and swung his blade at the right side of the cyborg’s neck.

The enhanced man calmly grabbed the sword before it struck and stepped in closer to slam his metal fist into his attacker’s jaw. The Colonel was laid out flat on his back; he tried to rise but only managed to raise himself up on one arm before a boot in his chest forced him back down. The assassin’s head was spinning from the blow, and he could little but attempt to glare at the cyborg as he stomped on the fallen soldier’s wrist, kicking away his sword.

Daren pressed his knee into Jaze’s throat, and a long curved knife slid out of his robotic wrist, “Carn told me to wait for him before killing you, but if I make you scream I think I will be forgiven.” The Colonel could only watch in helpless frustration as the blade descended towards his eye. Before it could reach its target, there was a loud crash of thunder, as if a bolt of lightning had struck next to the battling pair. The pressure on the pinned man’s throat suddenly vanished as a bolt of lightning struck the cyborg in the chest and sent him rolling along the muddy ground. The Colonel looked up to see Trixie, the rain cloud she had summoned hovering next to her. He rolled to his feet and found that Daren was having trouble regaining his feet, dizzy from the electric current that had coursed through him.

“You bitch!” he yelled as he tried to get back up, even though his body was shaking from the bolt “I swear I’m going to kill you!”

“You’ll do no such thing.” The cyborg looked up to see Jaze standing over him, a dark look on his face. The soldier lashed out with his foot, slamming the man’s head to the ground. The Colonel knelt next to the fallen man, took a fistful of hair, tilted back Daren’s head and smashed his fist repeatedly into his face until he was just barely awake. The cyborg tried to deliver several punches to his adversary’s head, but the weak blows were turned aside with ease.

Laying in the mire just a few inches away was the killer’s knife, which Jaze grabbed and pressed to his foe’s throat, “Now where is Carn?”

“I’m right here, boy.” came the Cye leader’s voice from behind the kneeling man. The Colonel dropped the cybernetic soldier back into the mud and stood to face his nemesis. In Carn’s arms was nestled Zephyr. The assassin’s eyes widened in terror upon seeing the small filly in the insane human’s arms. Carn smiled when he saw where Jaze was looking, “Yes, I have the child. Now why don’t you be a good boy and finish off my young apprentice, he served his purpose.”

The cyborg managed to crawl to his knees before his master, “But, Master Carn! I have served loyally for two years! Please don’t…”

“Actually,” Carn pulled what appeared to be a small pistol with a wider and longer barrel from his waistband and pointed it at Daren’s head, “I wanted to test this thing out anyway. It fires a projectile propelled by magnets that penetrates a target before it explodes. What better way to find out how effective it is than to test it out on a failure?” The insane man squeezed the trigger, and Jaze was splattered with the vaporized remains of the cyborg’s head. The Colonel could only thank his lucky star that Zephyr had had her face buried in Carn’s chest and had not seen what happened to the fallen man.

“Was that necessary?” the assassin asked angrily.

“No,” Carn admitted, replacing the weapon in his waist band, “but at least I know this works.” He held out the young filly to the stunned assassin, “Now I assume you want this back?”

“How did you get Zephyr?”

The Cye leader motioned towards Trixie, who had been frozen in horror since his sudden arrival, “She handed the little dear right over to me. I guess she was more worried about helping you than keeping this little darling safe.”

“Jaze, I swear that I…” Trixie began.

“I know, he tricked you.” Jaze assured, before addressing his rival, “If you harm so much as one hair in her mane, I swear I’ll break both your legs and throw you in a lake.”

“Strong words coming from a boy who…” the Cye leader’s words were cut off when he felt a long knife pierce his shoulder, the assassin having flung it as he made a mad dash for the man holding the small filly. The enraged assassin slammed his fist into Carn’s face and yanked tiny Zephyr away with his other hand.

“Don’t mess with me!” he yelled at the stumbling man, “And don’t you ever mess with my friends!”

“Well boy,” the Cye’s leader said, wiping the blood from his lip off his chin, “That was not something I was expecting.”

Jaze gently set the tiny filly on the muddy earth, keeping himself between her and the body of the killer, “Zephyr, I want you to go and stand with Trixie.” When she started walking over to the unicorn, he called out, “And don’t watch!”

“Yes I would hate for you to see what I…” Once more the Cye leader was interrupted by a fist connecting with his mouth. The assassin had lunged the distance and put as much weight and power as possible behind his punch. The older man brought his hands up to defend himself, but to no avail. The younger man let loose with a flurry of blows aimed at his nemesis’s face and neck. He connected with a strong upper cut to his foe’s chin, bending his attack into an elbow to the face from the opposite arm.

When Carn finally managed to catch the pummeling fists in his hand, Jaze lashed out his head in a ferocious headbutt, knocking the older man flat on his back and dragging the Colonel with him. The assassin wrenched his hands away to continue his barrage of punches while perched on top of his enemy. He felt the top of a fist slam into his left side, followed by a large dose of pain as he was thrown away. When the Colonel glanced down, he saw a round spike protruding from his side, blood running from the wound to stain his uniform.

He climb shakily to his feet in time to hear Trixie yell, “Jaze, catch!” before tossing him Sairugi. He snagged the blade from the air and spun to swipe at his foe with a one-handed blow. The spike in his side slowed him down and allowed his prey to duck under the blow before stepping in closer to snap a kick to the inside of the Colonel’s knee. As he was falling, Carn grabbed the falling man and spun him around to face the unicorn. Jaze could see the horror on her face as the lightning bolt she released from her rain cloud arced into the spike planted in his side, causing the afflicted soldier to spasm uncontrollably.

The madman allowed his foe to slide to the ground, “And so I best you again.” Carn smiled as he pulled the pistol-like weapon from his waist again, “Now watch as I take what you love while all you can do is convulse.” He trained the weapon on Zephyr, until Trixie stepped between them blocking the filly with her body. Time seemed to slow for Jaze as he watched Carn pull the trigger. The assassin knew what he needed to do, but was unsure if he could manage it. Adrenaline coursed through his body, giving him the strength to jump up and make a grab for the other’s hands. His left hand was able to grab onto the front of the gun, in front of the muzzle.

When the weapon ignited, the young man’s hand was reduced to wet scraps flying away from the blast point. His world erupted into blinding pain; he was only dimly aware of Trixie and Zephyr screaming at the sight. He realized he was on his knees, his forehead pressed into the cold mud, clutching his ruined hand to his chest. He could see bleeding wounds covering his arms and chest from the shrapnel, but all his pain was focused on his arm. A foot appeared at the edge of his vision and the wounded man looked up to see Carn stumbling around with his hands pressed to his eyes, blood seeping out from under them; some of the shrapnel had flew into his eyes, destroying the soft organs. The Colonel could just make out the form of his sword lying in front of him, and he somehow found the will to snatch the sword from the ground and stab the blinded man just above the navel and angled up towards his heart. The older man was able to pull himself off the sword and stumble away into the darkness of the rain.

“Stop him…” Jaze begged weakly, fast losing consciousness, “Don’t let him get a…away…” The assassin fell forward into the mud with a splash, unable to stay on his knees any longer. The last thing he felt before passing out was the sensation of being lifted on to somepony’s back, then his world went black.

XXX

The first thing Jaze was aware of was a dull ache in his side. He slowly woke up, but was unable to force his eyes open. His whole body felt weak, and he could not feel left hand or his right leg. Minutes passed, and slowly the soldier felt life returning to his body. As he became aware of each injury and the pain registered, he started becoming aware faster, the pain helping him focus. He was suddenly aware that there was something beeping in a steady rhythm next to his head, a beep he knew but could not place. It’s a… he thought slowly, it’s… one of those machines that watches heart beats. Am I in a hospital?

The young man could still not move, but he was finally able to force his eyes open. At first he was blinded by the low lights of wherever he was, but after a few minutes he was able to begin making out different blurs until he was finally able to see individual shapes and objects. It was several minutes more before he could finally lift his head and take in his surroundings.

As he thought, he was laying in a hospital of some type. Through a window to his right, he could see that the sun was shining brightly. He wanted to move, but a voice in the back of his head told him that would be a very bad idea. He felt he should at least see why he could not feel his leg. The young assassin realized that an azure unicorn had fallen asleep while laying on his leg. Trixie must have been there for ages, waiting for him to awaken, before finally passing out. Seeing her put a smile on his face, and he reached out with his numb left hand to touch her. As it entered the man’s field of vision, he realized his hand was no longer made of flesh and blood, just metal. Seeing the new appendage brought the memories back into his mind, of the fight, of losing his hand, and of Carn.

The assassin brought his new hand close to his face, examining every detail. It was made of some type of steel, the joints of the fingers exposed to view. This was not a high end replacement, but he could use this new hand almost as well as his old. He felt a growing sadness as he clenched and unclenched his hand; it was a piece of himself that he could not get back. He felt like he was less him without the hand, like he was not the same person he had been before. On his leg, Trixie began to stir. She let out a tired groan and stretched; she looked up to see an aware soldier watching her.

“Good morning sleeping beauty.” Jaze said with a half smile.

The unicorn threw her arms around the soldier’s neck, her tears of relief soaking the shoulder of his hospital gown, “Jaze, you’re awake! I hit you with that lightning and I thought that I might have killed you and then your hand and I just…”

“Hey, hey, there’s no need for that,” the soldier wrapped the unicorn in a tender embrace, “I am safe and sound. And the hand is just a hand, right?” He ran the robotic appendage through her disheveled mane, making her jerk involuntary away from the cold, metallic fingers. He let his hand fall to the bed sheets, a darkness crossing his face.

Trixie could see the obvious pain in the soldier’s eyes, “Jaze, I am sorry. I did not mean to…”

“No, no, I understand.” He clenched his metal fist and looked away, “I am a freak.”

The unicorn put a hoof on either side of his face and forced him to look at her, “You are not a freak. You lost your hand defending everypony from that… fiend. You should wear that hand with pride,” She took the metal limb in her hooves and pressed it to the side of her face, “And it does not make me care for you any less.”

She started to lean in closer, until a small voice yelled from the door, “Jazer! You awake!” A tiny gray blur dashed across the room and jumped on to the bed with the soldier, hugging him with strength disproportional to her size. She buried her head in his chest, nuzzling as close to him as she could get.

“Hey there Zephyr, how are you?” the assassin asked brightly.

She looked up at him with a tear stained face, “Jazer got hurted. I sawded the red an’ wast time I saw that you said mommy and daddy had to go away. I don’t want Jazer to go away ‘cuz he’s weally nice and him and Twixie have been so nice to me, and, and…” the little filly was reduced to tears in the stunned soldier’s arms, burying her face in his chest once more.

“I’m fine.” he said, squeezing her in a tight hug, “I’ve never felt better, so you’re going to be stuck with me for a long time.”

“Jazer’s no gonna go away?” the filly asked.

“No sweetie.” Trixie threw her foreleg around the pegasus filly’s shoulders, “He is not going away.”

“Nope, I’m staying right here.” A thoughtful look crossed the soldier’s face, “And where exactly is here? And how long have I been out?”

“Oh, right. You are in Canterlot Intensive Care, they brought you here two days ago after they got you stable enough to move.” Despite his obvious recovery, the unicorn still looked worried, “You had lost so much blood, everypony was worried that you might not make it.”

“Yes,” said a regal voice from the door, “you did give everypony a scare.” Jaze and Trixie looked to see Princess Luna standing in the door to the hospital room, a relieved smile gracing her face.

“Princess,” the human said respectfully, bowing as much as he could while sitting on the bed, “I am sorry to have worried you.”

“That is unimportant now,” The black alicorn made her way to stand beside his bed, “how do you fare, Jaze?”

“I believe that I am fine, though I want to know where this hand came from.”

“The human doctors salvaged it from that cyborg you fought.” Trixie explained, then turned to the Princess to hurriedly apologize, “I am sorry, I did not mean to interrupt.”

“I understand.” Luna replied with a small smile before her face darkened once more, “Now Jaze, Trixie has told us several times over, but we would like to hear the tale from you.” The Colonel nodded and began telling the Princess everything that had occurred, from Carn’s “gift” up to the point that Jaze had ran his blade into the wicked man’s abdomen. “Now answer this question with absolute honesty: could Carn have survived? We were unable to find his body.”

The human replayed the last several moments of the fight in his mind, sifting through every detail, “I don’t see how. Sairugi came very close to his heart, I amazed that he was able to run away. But he would have to be immortal to have survived.”

“Jaze,” Trixie whispered, “please say it. Say he is dead, and this is all over.”

“Carn is dead.” the soldier pronounced, “But this is far from over. If you could not find his body, it means someone moved it. He obviously had human allies, one of them may have taken over.” His face to on a darker expression, “Carn may have been insane, but he was not stupid. He knew he was mortal and probably groomed someone to take over for him in case he was killed.”

“That is something we needed to tell you,” Luna whispered sadly, “When we began cleaning up Cloudsdale, Twilight Sparkle found numerous human remains piloting the Cye’s fighters.” She stared pointedly at Jaze’s prosthetic, “Most of them had replacement parts of one kind or another.”

“In other words, cyborgs are defecting to Carn’s cause.” Suddenly, the rest of that statement hit him, “Wait, you said Twilight? Why is she helping with clean up? She’s not ready for that.”

“She chose to go,” the Princess responded softly, “we could not persuade her otherwise.”

“How is she doing?” Trixie asked quietly.

“She does not seem well; we believe that she may be suffering from humans call shellshock.”

“I can understand that, this is her home.” the assassin replied, his heart aching for his friend, “And now war is being brought here.”

“If there is nothing else, we shall take our leave.” Luna started for the door.

“Wait,” Jaze called out quickly, “there is one more thing.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“I have been thinking a lot about it, and I think that I will join the Royal Guard. There is just too much at risk to allow any asset to go to waste.”

“This is wonderful news!” the Princess exclaimed happily, “We shall tell Celestia at once!”

“There are a few conditions, however.”

“Such as?”

“First, you will both defer to me on all matters related to war. You may be wiser, but I have been fighting this war for far longer, and I can’t have anyone contradicting me when it could cost lives.”

The alicorn nodded. “I believe that a reasonable request. As long as you do not disregard what Celestia or I have to say.”

“Never planned on it.” the Colonel smiled, “And secondly, I would like to ask that the rest of the Angels be made Guards as well. I need lieutenants I can trust, and having more than one human in the Guard will show the human soldiers that we are all in this together.”

“Sound reasoning, we must talk to Princess Celestia before hand, but we see no problem.”

“Okay, and thank you for being so understanding.”

“Yes, now get some rest. As soon as you are able, we shall begin the ceremony to induct you into the Royal Guards.”

“Yes, Princess.” He nodded his head in a bow as the Princess left.

“Jazer,” Zephyr suddenly spoke up, “who’s dat?”

“That was Princess Luna,” Jaze explained, “she rules with her sister over all of ponydom.”

“Pincess Woona seems kina nice.” The tiny filly let out a head splitting yawn, “I sweepy, can I sweep wif you?”

“Sure,” the soldier replied, yawning himself, “As long as Trixie doesn’t mind me passing out.” The gray pegasus, nuzzled in close and was soon out like a light.

“Go ahead and sleep.” The unicorn made her way to the door, “I am going to find a shower and a bed, I think that I can sleep now.”

“Great…” Jaze whispered, nearly asleep already, “I’ll see you later…” He drifted off into a natural slumber, exhausted from the small acts of sitting up and talking.

Dam Breaks

The halls of the hospital were silent, ponies moving quietly about as they tended to the many wounded from the recent battle at Cloudsdale. Some of the injuries were physical, many more were mental. Every doctor, nurse, and janitor was needed to deal with the influx of patients. One earth pony nurse was on her way to check on a special patient, the human who was leading the soon to be combined forces of the human Marines and the pony Royal Guards. The young mare was astounded by his determination, for it had only been two days since he had awakened and yet he was already out of his bed. Now the mare could hear the sound of a crash and low cursing coming from his room. She pushed open the door to see him on his knees carefully picking up a set of dishes that had fallen to the floor.

“Still trying to get used to that hand?” she called out with a smile.

“Yeah,” the tall biped replied tiredly, “I still have trouble keeping up with where it is.”

“Don’t worry; you’ll get the hang of it.” She gave the soldier a smile and bent to help him pick up the tray and dishes, but was quickly waved away.

“I’ve got this; I need this kind of practice to get back my fine motor skills.” He started picking up the dishes, stacking them gently on his natural hand. It took him several minutes to accomplish a task that would have only taken seconds normally. Yet he still accomplished it, and this fact brought a hope to his face. I can get over this, he thought with grim determination, I can still be me.

“You’ve made good progress, Colonel Armand.” the nurse remarked. He smiled happily for the first time since he had awoken and handed her the stack of dishes. She promised to send his midday meal soon and left for the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, the smile slid from his face and the frustration returned. He flexed his robotic hand, watching how it moved. He no longer cared so much that he had lost the hand; his only worry was how it would affect his abilities. There were too many people that were counting on him to allow something as small as losing a hand to slow him down.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed when the door rattled and in stepped Trixie, Zephyr in tow and her saddle bags thrown across her back. Jaze rushed over to relieve the unicorn of her burden, and received a thankful nod while she stretched her back. She nosed open the bags and used her hooves to remove several of what appeared to be juice boxes, setting them on the table next to the bed. The Colonel thought they must be liquid vitamin supplements, or at least something very similar.

Trixie seemed tired, worn thin by days of worrying. She had obvious shadows under her eyes and her mane was not as neatly brushed as usual. The unicorn gave the assassin an exhausted smile and pulled one of the visitor’s chairs over to him. Zephyr, on the other hand, displayed the resilience of youth and seemed no worse off than before.

The pegasus filly jumped into his lap and threw her forelegs around his neck happily, “Hi Jazer! You feewing better?”

The soldier threw his arms around the tiny pony, “I always feel better when I see you.” He threw a smile to Trixie, “And how is my favorite little magic user?”

Jaze could just see the flinch in her eyes, “I have been better. I will be glad when you are out of here.” She pointed towards the boxes, “The human doctors said that you should drink one of those once a day. They said something about rejecting the hand. I can’t remember.” She turned her face away and looked out the window, avoiding his gaze.

“Trixie,” She turned back to him, “What’s wrong? It isn’t like you to forget things like this.”

The unicorn yawned and stretched in her chair, “I am fine; I just have not been sleeping too well.”

“Why not?”

“I have just been worried about you. It has been hard to sleep knowing that you were up here, in pain.” She gave him a stern glare, “Now I think you should stop worrying about me and drink your juice. I don’t want… whatever the doctor said could happen to happen to you.”

“Nerve/cybernetic rejection.” the soldier explained, “It can happen when the flesh does not want to mate with the cybernetic nerves that allow someone to control their robotic limb like a natural one.” Without looking, Jaze reached out with his left to grab one of the boxes and in the process he knocked several to the floor. An exasperated sigh crossed his lips and he set Zephyr aside to start to pick them up, muttering darkly under his breath.

“Here, let me help.” Trixie started picking up the boxes with her hooves and setting them back on their table.

A hand grabbed one of her hooves and she looked up to see Jaze with a worried look in his eyes, “Trixie, why didn’t you use your magic?”

“I just did not feel like it, that is all.” the unicorn responded defensively.

“Don’t you shut me out like that.” the soldier warned, “Something is wrong with you; you’ve been telling me to open up, so don’t you close up and start lying to me now. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to talk about…”

“I haven’t wanted to talk about a lot of things, but I did. I’m your friend, and friends help friends with their problems.”

“But that is just it!” the azure unicorn cried, tears forming in her eyes, “You are the problem!”

“How am I the problem?” asked the stunned Colonel.

“It is not so much you,” she explained, “it is just what I did to you.”

“Uh, I’m lost. What did you do to me?”

“I nearly got you killed. I nearly killed you myself.”

“You know,” the assassin said thoughtfully, “I don’t remember you trying to kill me. All I remember is you saving my life from Daren. I can’t seem to remember any time that you hurt me.”

“Stop it Jaze,” she whispered bitterly, tears flowing freely now. “You know that it was me and my magic that nearly got you killed. Maybe if I had not hit you with that lightning you would not have lost your hand. Magic has caused me nothing but trouble, I am done with it.”

“That is not true!” Jaze exclaimed, “If not for your magic, we would never have met.”

“And you would not be sitting in a hospital with a fake hand.”

“You’re right; I would be lying in a grave several times over by now. And I what about your other friends? Without magic, you wouldn’t have met them either.”

“It still would have been better if I never had magic.” She tried to leave, but the grip on her hoof was too strong. Instead, she contented herself with staring at the floor.

“Look Trixie, I have been looking at me crashing on this planet as a good thing. Despite all the pain it has caused. You should try to do the same.”

“But I hurt you; if not for me and my accursed magic you would still have all your original parts.” A cold metal hand reached up to gently brush the tears from her eyes. She nearly jumped at its cold touch, but she forced herself to remain still.

“Trixie,” The catch in his voice made her look up to see tears in his eyes now, “if you think that I blame you, or that anyone else does, you are sorely mistaken. I could not blame you for what happened; if I had not grabbed the barrel of the gun I would have been fine. This is as much my fault as yours, probably more so.” He forced a smile to his lips, “Besides, I think this hand will be better than the old one. Maybe I should put some racing stripes on it, make it a little sportier.”

“No Jaze, I won’t let you think that you got yourself hurt. I am solely responsible for that hand. And I am done with magic for good.”

“Look,” the soldier said, his worry making him seem angry, “magic is part of who you are. Denying your magic is denying who you are. I care for you as you are, that includes your magic.” He sighed and wrapped the crying unicorn in a tight hug, “If you really are done with magic, then I won’t push you. But just like I can’t deny that I am a soldier, a killer, you can’t deny your magic forever.”

“Thank you Jaze; I know you do not like it, but I do not think I can use magic right now. Every time I try, I see you lying on the ground after I hit you with that bolt.” Trixie looked over the soldier’s shoulder to see Zephyr on the bed, her hooves pressed to her cheeks and her tongue sticking out at the unicorn.

“You gotta stop cwying.” the tiny filly ordered, “You a big filly, big fillies don’t cwy.” She may not have understood what was being said, but the pegasus knew when she was crying her mom and dad had always made funny faces to cheer her up, so that is what she did for Trixie. A laugh was forced past her lips at the tiny pony’s antics, which made Jaze turn to see what was happening. Zephyr had started pulling her face into an exaggerated frown, mocking the tears in the adults’ eyes. “No more tears, no sad face. Smile is the on’y thing that should be on you face.”

“Okay then Zephyr,” Trixie said, a smile plastered to her face, “I won’t cry again. Don’t you worry about that.”

“And Jazer!” the filly glared sternly at the soldier, “The docor said you gotta dwink you juice, so you dwink the juice and wike it!”

Jaze could not bite back a laugh, “Yes ma’am, I promise.” He carefully grabbed one of the supplement cartons, “Why don’t I drink one right now?” The young soldier cautiously stabbed the attached straw into the box and sipped the liquid; it tasted far better than he had come to expect from medicine.

Zephyr watched him drink the box down to the last drops before turning to Trixie, “Twixie, I thirsy.”

“We can go get you something from the cafeteria, little one.” the unicorn said.

“Here,” Jaze handed over a box of the medicine, “she can drink this.”

“Won’t that hurt her?” Trixie asked, giving the box a distrustful look.

“Not at all. In fact, the vitamins and nutrients in it will be good for her.”

“But that’s Jazer’s medicine,” the filly pulled a face, “it gonna taste bad.”

“No, it’s good.” The assassin poked the straw into the box and offered it to the small pegasus, “Trust me, you’ll like it.” Zephyr took the box in her hooves and gave it a cautious sip. Her eyes flew wide and she greedily drank the whole box in a few sips.

“That’s good, I can have more?” the filly asked quickly while she licked her lips.

“I think that you should leave the rest for Jaze.” Trixie gave the gray filly a quick hug, “You don’t want Jaze to get sick again because you drank all his medicine, do you?”

The pegasus’s already large eyes opened even wider in her terror, “Oh no, I don’t want Jazer to get sick anymore! I won’t dwink his medicine!”

“Well this is a good thing to see.” Sands suddenly laughed from the door. Jaze looked up to see Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Dmitri standing in the doorway to his room. Applejack was wearing a bright smile while Dash seemed distant, as if her mind was on another planet.

“Ya doin’ alright Jaze?” the farmpony asked enthusiastically.

“I feel like I’ve been beaten and kind of like I lost a hand, but it could be worse.” the assassin said with a grin.

“Hey, I know how you feel.” Dmitri smacked his left arm, “I have a fake arm too.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” the Colonel asked with a slightly hurt tone.

“I didn’t want to give you a reason not to trust me.”

“So yer a cyberg too?” Applejack looked at the arm in question curiously, “It don’t look no different.”

“That is because I have it covered in synth-flesh.” the young pilot explained with a childish grin.

“I guess that makes us brothers in arms?” Jaze joked, waving his metal hand.

“I think you’re right sir.”

“You bet I am.” The assassin’s eyes fixed on Rainbow Dash. The mare’s eyes were staring off into space, she had been through a lot in the recent days and it was catching up with her. “Is something wrong Dash?”

“Huh?” the weather pony shook her head, “Nothing… Actually…” She glanced around the room, “Can I talk to you alone?”

“Of course.” He looked to his friends, “Do you guys mind leaving for a few minutes?”

“Sure thing sir.” Sands quickly left, muttering something about getting food. Trixie excused herself with a silent nod and took Zephyr with her. Jaze took a seat on the bed and offered the rainbow mare the chair next to him. She sunk into the chair with grateful sigh, her eyes roaming anywhere but the soldier and his fake hand.

“What’s wrong?” the soldier asked quietly.

“First off, I just wanted to say that I wish you didn’t lose your hand.” The pegasus finally let her regretful eyes land on him and the hand, “You could have died, and the last things that were between us were angry words. I didn’t want you to think that I hated you.”

“I know you don’t hate me,” the soldier assured, “fear and anger can make someone do stupid things.”

“I wanted to tell you that I’ve been to Cloudsdale.” Jaze was stunned into silence at this admission, he had not expected anyone, pony or human, to go anywhere near the destroyed city so soon. Least of all the stricken pegasus before him. He could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes from the memories of her home, “That was Zephyr, right?” She got a nod from the soldier, “What happened to her mother, Cumulus? She’s a white pegasus.”

The assassin shook his head sadly, “I tried, god did I try.” The tears that had been forming in the athlete’s eyes finally overflowed, and she began to quietly sob. The soldier could only gently place his hand on her shoulder and offer quiet words of comfort.

“She was a good friend, why did she have to die?” the cyan pony’s tears refused to quit, “It’s all so unfair! She didn’t even do anything, none of them did! They weren’t part of this war!”

“They didn’t have to be, Dash.” the weary assassin explained, “Carn just wanted to cause pain. But he is gone now, he can’t do this to anypony else.”

“It doesn’t matter; Cloudsdale is still gone. I couldn’t help any pony; two of my friends are hurting and I can’t help either of ‘em! I feel so worthless!”

“I know… wait, two?” Jaze held the pegasus out at arm’s length, “If I’m one, who’s the other?”

“Twilight.” Rainbow sobbed even harder at the thought of her stricken friend, “She went with us to help clean up Cloudsdale, and she just went weird. She won’t so much as talk to most everypony, and all I can get her to say is nonsense.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me she was hurt!” the soldier yelled as he sprang from his bed, “Do you know where Twilight is?” Dash nodded, “Then take me.”

XXX

Jaze followed closely behind Rainbow Dash as she led him deeper into the hospital. He felt the walls closing in around him; the whole place had an atmosphere of unpleasantness clinging to its every surface. He could hear the horrid sounds of the ponies in this wing; they seemed to be in the part for long term mental patients. The soldier’s eyes grew worried and he wondered why Twilight would be in a place like this. He urged his cyan guide to move faster, he wanted to be away from this place as soon as possible. Dash nodded and broke into a near gallop, the assassin close at her hooves.

They stopped next to a door with a small plaque next to it that read “T. Sparkle”. Jaze assumed this was their destination and slowly pushed open the door. Inside, the room was far nicer than he had anticipated. It had a window overlooking a beautiful garden path, with a wash basin set up next to the window. A couple chairs occupied the wall next to the door, while the room’s single occupant lay in a bed opposite the chairs.

Twilight was dressed in a hospital gown, her eyes utterly devoid of any emotion. She sat staring at nothing, eyes unfocused and glazed over, a gaze Jaze had only seen on the dead. If not for her gentle breathing and the occasional twitch, the Colonel would have assumed that she had passed on. As it was, her mind was obviously gone, having retreated to try and spare her the horrors that she had witnessed.

“See,” Dash whispered, “she’s been like this since we went to Cloudsdale.” She looked to her human friend with wide, pleading eyes, “Do you know how to help her?”

“I don’t know, Dash.” he said despondently, “I can treat fractures and cuts, sometimes even small bullet wounds. But injuries of the mind… they’re different. Most often, the only thing to do is let the problem run its course.” The soldier reached out to the stricken unicorn, his metal hand catching and throwing the light back into the room. Twilight’s eyes locked on the metal limb and she began to thrash in her bed from fear, her legs lashing out at invisible enemies.

“What did you do?” Dash whispered softly.

“I didn’t do anything!” the assassin defended, “I just reached out.”

“Quick, grab her forelegs! She’s going to hurt herself!” Jaze jumped for the bed and grabbed the flailing unicorn’s limbs, while Dash held down her legs.

The sick mare thrashed harder, trying to pull away from the cold, metal hand that had a grip on her. She was whimpering in fear; her hoof broke free of his grasp for a moment and whipped into his mouth, splitting his lip against his teeth. He heard a sickening crunch and caught the weather pony’s fall from the corner of his eye. She had been kicked in the face by her ill friend, and without a word the cyan mare grabbed her friend’s legs and kept holding them down.

Suddenly, they could hear the ill unicorn speak. “Don’t, no!” she whimpered, “So many… twisted, hurt… can’t help you… Get out of my eyes!” She thrashed even harder against the things holding her, not realizing that they were her friends, “No, no, no, no! Stay away! You’re dead, I can’t help you!”

“Jaze!” a terrified pegasus cried, “Do something!”

“What can I do?” he cried back. He spotted a set of restraints attached to the bed and quickly fixed them around her wrists. He helped Dash secure the restraints around her ankles and then stood back. Twilight continued to thrash for a moment before finally settling down into a crying heap on the bed.

“Please…” she whispered, “leave me alone. I can’t help you…” Twilight did not make a sound for several minutes; it seemed she was too absorbed by the past to be in the present. No amount of caring words or whispered comfort seemed able to reach her. Dash’s eyes were clenched tight against the sight of her friend tied to the bed for her own protection.

“This is so stupid,” the pegasus whispered, “why can’t she hear us?”

“Her ears hear us, but she can’t process what the sounds we make mean.” the assassin explained, “She is wholly in the past, nothing we say can reach her right now.”

“But, why aren’t I shaking and going crazy? I saw the same thing!”

“I think you are so much tougher than Twilight is. And you already had prepared for what you were going to see. You had already dealt with death; Twilight had yet to see it up close. I think that more than anything is why she has lost herself.” The pair of friends fell silent as Twilight began to pull against her restraints again. She was muttering unintelligibly, and the worried human and pony drew close to hear what she was saying.

“No, I don’t want to see that…” she murmured, “Go away, you’re dead… can’t help…” The unicorn’s eyes suddenly focused once more, albeit on the ceiling, “Can’t fall asleep, they’re waiting for me to fall asleep…”

“Twilight?” Jaze‘s voice was barely above a whisper, “It’s Rainbow Dash and Jaze, can you hear me?”

Dash stood next to the unicorn’s head, “Twilight, are you in there? Please come back, everypony needs you.”

Twilight’s head slowly turned to look at the cyan pegasus, “Rainbow Dash, is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” She whispered, “Jaze is here too.”

“Jaze?” The unicorn turned again to look at the Colonel, who quickly hid his hand behind his back. “Jaze, why were there so many bodies? They were all twisted and broken.” Her eyes were filled with confused tears; she looked ready to break down.

“It happens in war,” the human said bitterly, “I wish I could go back and change it. But I can’t. We just have to keep moving for now, for those who lost their lives.”

“I can’t do it Jaze.” Twilight admitted, “Every time I close my eyes I see those poor pegasi and I just…” Her eyes began to glaze over as her mind was drawn back to the terrible things she had seen, “No no no no, don’t look at me. It’s not my fault, I swear!”

“Twilight!” Dash practically screamed, “Don’t leave again! We’re still here, please don’t leave!”

“Twilight,” Jaze somehow managed to sound calm, “nopony is blaming you for what happened. The man who is responsible is dead, and now we need to keep moving forward.”

The soldier’s calm voice managed to bring the unicorn back from the brink, “Is he really dead?”

“I killed him myself. I swear he is gone.” The Colonel released the bonds holding his friend, “Are you going to be okay?”

“I don’t know,” the purple unicorn breathed, “I think I might be.”

“Good, because I need every soldier I can muster right now. With the rain gone, the Cye will be on the move soon.” He gave the stricken pony a quick salute, “Then get up, get back in uniform, and get ready for duty, Private. We’ve got a long road ahead of us before we can rest again.”Twilight managed a shaky salute and a “Yes sir,” as the Colonel left, followed by an irate pegasus.

“How could you order her out of bed so soon?” Dash demanded, “That’s so cruel!”

“Trust me; a purpose is just what she needs now.” Jaze said quietly.

“You’re going to hurt her!”

“Dash, if I had let her stay in that bed for even another minute she would have slipped back into the past and would not have come back. I gave her something to think about, something to fill her mind and distract her from what she saw.”

“How can you be so sure?” asked an incredulous weather pony.

“Because I know what it is like to have your mind shut down.” the assassin explained, “I… when Evelyn died, I shut down. A lot like Twilight did, to be honest. I was able to keep going only because I still had my duties. If I had taken Gaston up on his offer for rest, I would’ve become worthless, would’ve become an empty worthless shell.”

“So this is really the best thing for her?” Rainbow Dash asked almost pleadingly.

“Yeah, at least I think so.” The pair continued to walk in silence for a few minutes. Jaze was retracing their steps back to the entrance to the mental ward of the hospital. He kept throwing glances to the pony walking next to him and praying that she would understand. His thoughts kept turning back to Twilight; he was worried that she would try and drown herself in work to forget the things she had seen. At the entrance to the mental ward, the soldier spied a white unicorn with a voluminous purple mane.

Rarity turned at the sound of the pair’s footfalls and gave them a wide smile, “Well hello darlings!”

“Hello Rarity.” Jaze said with a wave of his metal hand.

“So it is true that you lost your hand.” the fashionista stated sadly.

“Yeah, and to be honest I get sick of people telling me about it.” He gave his friend a false glare, “We have established the fact that I am missing a hand, is there no other juicy gossip to be had? A dancing bear, cake eating princesses, anything?”

“I am sorry, I did not realize it bothered you so.” The unicorn tossed him something “This may make you feel better, at least people will not notice you have a fake hand as soon as you meet them.”

The object was a black glove that slid perfectly over the metal hand, “Thanks Rarity; that was very thoughtful of you.” The soldier flexed his hand inside its new skin; the glove did not seem to hinder the mecha-limb in the slightest.

“Well, I could not have a friend of mine walking around with such a… augh, dreadful hand. Especially if he is going to be a Guard.”

“Well, it will still be nice to have something to cover this up with until I can get some synth skin for it.” He gave a slight bow, “So thanks again.”

“Or you could just let me spruce it up a little.” The dressmaker’s eyes lit up with the thoughts crossing it, “Oh think of it! We could set some gems into it and then…”

“Ah no, this thing is going to be hard to hide already!” Jaze protested, “Nobody would take me seriously if I had a sparkly hand.”

“Aw come on Jaze,” Dash teased, “all you would have to do to convince people you’re still a bad flank is to kick a couple of ‘em around.”

“Yeah, because I really need to worry about soldiers snickering behind my back while we get ready to fight. No thanks, the glove will do nicely.”

“But you could be a soldier of fashion!” Rarity pleaded.

“You should totally let Rarity spice that hand up.” Dash agreed.

“No. Way. Not going to happen.” the Colonel said adamantly.

“Well fine.” the fashion conscious pony huffed, “Honestly, what is it with soldiers and staying bland.”

“We are a bland bunch.” Jaze retorted, “Besides, it doesn’t pay to have a standout outfit in battle, it tends to draw bullets like magnets draw metal.”

“Speaking of battles and soldiery things, I believe that Princess Celestia wished to see you.”

“It must be time for my ceremony to make me a Guard.” Jaze gave the fashionista a friendly nod, “Thanks for the message and the glove Rarity. It means a lot that you would go out of your way for me like this.”

“No problem; that is what friends are for.” Rarity gave a dismissive wave of her hoof, “Now get going, a gentlecolt does not leave a lady waiting. Especially when that lady is a Princess.”

XXX

Jaze stood in the throne room of Canterlot Castle in his full dress uniform. Before him were Princesses Celestia and Luna standing side by side, the former wearing a calmly regal look, while the latter bore an encouraging smile. To Luna’s right stood Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Dmitri, Vincent, and Shelby. To Celestia’s left stood Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Trixie. The soldier could see Celestia throwing furtive glances to her pale and drawn protégé; somehow the unicorn had managed to pull herself from her bed to stand with him for this ceremony.

The Colonel could hear the multitude of Royal Guard ponies arrayed behind him shifting in place as they waited for the ceremony to start. He could feel the hundreds of pairs of eyes focusing on his back, and felt like each one was judging him silently. The entire contingent of Royal Guards, roughly seven hundred strong, had gathered to witness something unseen in a thousand years. A token force of one hundred Marines was present as well, making this the first of hopefully many peaceful human and pony ceremonies.

Knowing all this did nothing to quell the butterflies in the assassin’s stomach. The one thing he had come to fear and hate over the years was a crowd. Now he was standing in front of eight hundred pairs of eyes and he was feeling decidedly nervous. He had to force his eyes to stay on the Princesses and not dart looks over his shoulders. Every small sound the assembled humans and ponies made grated on the scarred Colonel’s ears.

Thankfully, Celestia stepped forth to begin the ceremony, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Fillies and Gentlecolts, on this day the Royal Guards welcome to their ranks a new member. This marks the first non-pony member in over a thousand years. It also marks the first time in a thousand years that somepony was named Knight-General. This honor the royal diarchy bestows upon the being before us.”

Celestia stepped back and allowed Luna to step forward and speak, “Jaze Armand, you have been asked to take up the title of Knight-General of the Royal Guards. This means you have been hoof-chosen as the one being deemed ready, willing, and able to lead the Guards in this time of dire need. Do you accept this auspicious title?”

This was it, his last chance to back out. Jaze looked from the Princesses to each of his friends in turn. Shelby gave him a wink of encouragement, Vincent a grim nod, Sands gave him a furtive thumbs-up, Dash showed a confidant smirk, and Applejack gave an honest smile. Twilight’s face was still drawn, but she managed to give him a tight, encouraging smile. Fluttershy hid behind her mane when he looked into her eyes, while Rarity almost seemed to be ordering him to accept, and Pinkie mouthed “party later”. And finally, his eyes landed on Trixie; she still seemed tired, but she was still able to give him a caring smile and a nod.

His eyes swept across each of his friends one last time before he pronounced in a loud, clear voice, “Knowing my full responsibilities and of my own free will, I accept this title.”

“Good,” Luna spoke loudly once more, “Then by the power vested in us, we bestow unto you the title of Knight-General of the Royal Guards.”

Celestia stepped forward and the Princesses called out in unison, “Then kneel before us, and repeat this oath: On my life and honor I do swear to serve my Princesses in time of need, to lay down my life for those in need, to act with honor and dignity in times of peace, and to do as needed of me in time of strife. The lives of those I protect before my own life.”

Jaze fell to his knee and carefully recited, “On my life and honor I do swear to serve my Princesses in time of need, to lay down my life for those in need, to act with honor and dignity in times of peace, and to do as needed of me in time of strife. The lives of those I protect before my own life.”

“Now rise, and don the armor that is rightfully yours.” From behind the Princesses a pair of Guardsponies wheeled out a mannequin dressed in a highly modified set of Royal armor.

It was made of three layers molded together; the first was a form fitting black suit, the second was a high density crystal lattice designed to absorb the shock from a rifle round, and the final layer was the black and gold armor itself. The metal plate covered his chest and back, his forearms, and his shins and thighs. He removed the armor plate and pulled on the skin tight black suit; the material had the same feel as the material used for space suits and it came up to the top of his neck. Vincent and Shelby stepped forward to help him put the rest of his armor on. The complete set was far lighter than he had expected, nor did it hinder his movement at all.

Until at last, a winged helm was all that was left on the mannequin; the Colonel removed the helm and reverently placed the helm on in his own head. He looked to the Princesses, and a smile graced his lips. He was no longer fighting for an ally and her people; he was fighting for his people now, and that realization made him all the more determined to see this through.

Jaze clapped his fist to his heart, directly of the symbol of the diarchy emblazoned on his chest, “Thank you for this honor, Your Highnesses.”

“You wear that armor well.” Celestia whispered to the kneeling man, “But now I believe your comrades, new and old, wish a speech from you.”

“Whoa wait what?” the confused assassin stammered, “What do you mean a speech? That was not part of the deal!”

“You need not do it, but it is expected.” Luna whispered, “Besides, it is just a little speech. Are you nervous?”

“No! Well maybe a little,” Jaze’s face turned beet red, “What should I say? I’ve never really given a speech before.”

“Just say what you feel,” the Solar Princess encouraged, “it does not have to be long.”

“Well,” the soldier gulped, “here goes nothing.” He stood before the assembled ponies and humans, and was more than a little pleased to see them mixed together. They had already begun treating one another as equals, as if they were not two different species.

The newly knighted Guard cleared his throat and began, “If I could say something please,” the already hushed room fell silent, “I know that you all want something inspiring, something about how we will all win this fight. Maybe you want me to say that it is going to be easy now that we are all acting as one. But I have never been one to lie about something like that. Marines, we have stood as the only force ready, willing, and able to combat the threat the Cye have posed to humanity for six long years. We’ve won, and lost, key battles and have somehow managed to stay one step ahead of destruction at every turn.”

The Colonel could no longer stand still and began to pace, “Guardsponies, never before have you been asked to do something like this before. Since time immemorial, you have stood as this land’s only defense against anything that wished harm on Equestria. But this is a greater threat than you have ever faced; it does not want to rule you, only to destroy all you have worked so long to protect. Today, the StarSide Marines and the Royal Guards have something they have never been given the pleasure of having, an ally against a threat bigger than themselves. For humans, this is more than just a fortuitous turn of events in a nasty war. This is us learning that we are not alone in the universe; there is another race that shares hopes, dreams, and fears. And unlike the many would have us believe, they don’t want to be our betters, or our conquerors, just our equals. They want to welcome us, as friends. I want you all to look to those around you, these men and women, mares and stallions are going to be the ones to pull you through the coming days. Dismissed.”

Princess Celestia smiled to the shaky Colonel as he turned back to her, “You did well enough. Was that so bad?”

“Yes!” Jaze sighed, “That is one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever done!”

“I think you did a smashing good job.” Rarity assured the worried looking human, “And that armor is simply perfect.”

“You designed it, didn’t you?” Vincent asked the white unicorn quietly.

“Yes, I did.” she replied with a haughty air, she turned back to Jaze and began happily talking about the new armor “And this was the first time I have ever worked with metal for an outfit like this. Do you like it? It took forever to get everything just right so that you could wear this at a formal gathering and not look out of place…”

Celestia shook her head with an almost silent laugh and took Jaze aside, “Would you like to know what this armor can do?”

“Very much so,” the assassin replied.

“Very well,” the Princess began, “we designed this with all the abilities of your standard Marine armor in mind, and all the tasks that may be required of you. It is sealed for use in a vacuum, the helmet seals just like Marine helmets. The metal itself it specially enchanted to make it thin and light, while still maintaining its strength and protective capabilities. I would not stand in front of your foes and let them shoot at you, but this armor will offer better protection than either standard armor. The sets of armor for your friends are already being made and they should be ready in a few days.”

“That’s good to hear, but for now we must…”

A sweating Marine pushed her way through the crowds towards where Jaze and Celestia were talking. The pair fell silent as she finally made her way to the stand and called in a fear stricken voice, “Sir, the Cye! They have begun their advance!” before she collapsed in exhaustion at the monarch’s feet.

Battle Begins

Jaze unrolled a map that had been drawn detailing the humans’ defenses. He was standing in the command center with Celestia, Luna, and the various men and women running control for the troops in the field. The Colonel anxiously studied the paper before him while he waited for two more late arrivals. The map showed the trenches and the various defenses placed along the three ditches; each trench was represented by a different color, red, green, and blue.

It was not long before the assassin heard the door open and looked up to see Rainbow Dash and Applejack entering the command center. Both of them were wearing a suit of standard Guard’s armor, their swords carefully strapped to their sides. Dash had chosen to forego the helm, hoping to save a little on the weight of the armor, Even still, she seemed to be uncomfortable with all the extra weight and was constantly rotating her wings to try and make the metal lie more naturally. Applejack seemed much more at home in the metal plate; it was not much heavier than a basket full of apples.

The pegasus’ armor was far lighter than the earth pony equivalent already, and Applejack seemed to have gone for an even heavier version than normal. Her armor had far thicker plates than even the Colonel’s own and covered her chest, back, sides, legs, and head in its protective embrace. Dash’s armor merely covered her chest and sides, trusting the speed and maneuverability of the pegasi to keep them safe.

Jaze gave a quick nod of greeting to the two ponies before addressing everyone in the room, “Alright, I am going to go over the battle plan as quickly as I can.” He placed a finger on the trench furthest from the camp, “This is our first line of defense. This trench, and the next one, I expect the enemy to take within a few hours of fighting.”

“What would ya wanna do that fer?” Applejack puzzled, “Seems like ya wasted a lot a time diggin’ those if ya let the enemy have ‘em.”

“Yeah,” Dash was quick to agree, “you should hold onto them. If we do that, we win. Right?”

“I would absolutely love to keep those trenches.” the Colonel stated, “But I had hoped to have three thousand troops, not seventeen hundred including the Guards. We don’t have the manpower to hold such a large area.” He slowly moved his finger from trench to trench, “See how each trench gets shorter as we fall back? That will make holding each one that much easier. And the Cye will have no real cover to hide behind while we will be almost safe in our little ditches. So we can mow them down in droves with the heavy machine guns placed on the final line.”

“But won’t they have your own trenches?” Luna pointed out.

Jaze’s face split in a confident smirk, “Somepony you all know gave me an idea for that.”

When the human failed to elaborate any further Dash asked, “Well, what is it?”

“I’m not telling.” His grin grew just a hair wider, “Just know that when I say to get down, you need to get down, fast.”

“So why did ya call us here, sugarcube?” asked a confused farmpony.

“I called you two to give you your assignments.” The human pointed to the cyan mare, “You will be leading the pegasi Guards and the Wonderbolts as scouts. I want your eyes in the sky telling me if the Cye decide to deviate from their usual plans. Just let me know if you or one of the others sees something strange, and stay up high; I don’t want you to lose everypony to their guns.”

“You can count on me!” the sportspony said with a quick salute.

“And what’ll Ah do?” asked Applejack.

“You will be in charge of the hundred and fifty earth pony Guard that will be running supplies for the troops fighting.”

“What?!” The earth mare‘s eyes lit up with anger, “But Ah want t’ help! Not jus’ move stuff around!”

“And you will do more good by supplying the troops with ammo than you would be if you tried to fight.”

“But Ah…”

“Applejack,” Celestia’s calm voice drew the angry mare’s eyes towards the tall alicorn, “I think that you are letting your emotions get the better of you. You are stronger than most humans, so you can move more. But the humans have hands and can wield guns, where as you cannot. Do not let your emotions cloud your judgments.”

“Ah know,” the orange pony growled, “it just burns me up tha’ Ah can’t do anythin’.”

“But you will be helping.” Luna assured the flustered mare, “You will be helping to keep a lot of people and ponies alive. We cannot think of a more noble cause.”

“Ah get that, Ah really do. It still makes me feel like Ah am takin’ the easy way out.”

“I don’t like that you’re giving these two control over my guards.” a voice said from the door way. Jaze looked over to see a tall unicorn stallion with a white coat and a blue mane. He was wearing purple armor, much like the assassin’s in basic style. The stallion’s face was set in a scowl of determination, “Those two have not been trained as Guardsponies. Why do you think they can lead?”

The Colonel stood straight and glared down at the unicorn, “These two have proven themselves time and again in service to Equestria. And who, might I ask, are you?”

“I am Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard.” The stallion took a few steps closer, “And I believe that there are several Lieutenants already in place to lead the Guards. If they should be involved in this fight at all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jaze’s voice was layered with confusion and his rising ire.

“I mean that you brought this fight here. Why should my Guards have to fight in a war they have no stake in?” Shocked silence reigned in the room as every eye slowly passed between the irate Captain and the silently fuming assassin.

“Did you happen to miss the part where the Cye destroyed Cloudsdale?” the human yelled, “There’s your stake! How many ponies were lost there? Seven hundred? Even more?”

“And if you had not come here these Cye would never been here either!” the Guard Captain yelled back, “You are the reason Cloudsdale is dead. You are the reason every one of those ponies died! It all comes back on you!”

“You think I don’t know that?” Jaze’s yelled and took a step towards the Guardspony, his hands balled into fists, “I thought about it every single day that I was here! I’d like to see you do better!” He felt a pair of hooves in his stomach and looked down to see Applejack was pushing him back.

“Jaze, don’t do sumthin’ yer gonna regret.” she pleaded.

“And why would I regret clocking that smug…”

“He’s Twi’s brother!” This brought the irate assassin to a standstill. He looked from the earth pony to Shining Armor and noticed for the first time how much fear and sadness was hiding behind the anger.

“That’s what upsets you isn’t it?” Jaze whispered regretfully, “It’s not that I brought war here, it’s that Twilight got hurt that has you so angry.”

“That’s my little sister!” the Guard hissed, tears slowly starting to form, “And now, thanks to you, she’s sick. She’s sick and I can’t help her!” His voice had become more bitter than angry, “Why did she have to get hurt? What has she ever done to deserve this?”

“What does anyone ever do to deserve something like that?” The human’s head fell in shame, “For what it’s worth, I’m…”

“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry.” Shining Armor nearly growled, “I don’t want your pity or sorrow. I just want you to leave Equestria, and to take this war with you!”

“I would love to take this war far away from here, but I can’t.” The Colonel let out a heavy sigh, “The best I can do is to try and keep everypony safe as best I can.”

“A task you have failed at spectacularly.” The unicorn brought his head up tall, tears banished from his eyes, “Since it seems you are now my commander, for better or worse, what orders do you have for me?”

“I want you to take command of the unicorn Guards that will be manning the final trench. You and those unicorns will be joining the final battle. Is that acceptable Captain?”

“I suppose so. If there must be war fought, let’s just make sure to win it.” The Captain fixed Jaze with a stern glare, “And then I want you to leave; I never want to see you again after this is over.” The purple armored unicorn left the building, his gait hiding the burden that had fallen on him.

“Jaze?” Celestia spoke softly, “Don’t listen to him; nopony blames you for what has happened.”

“I bet plenty do.” The soldier turned away from everyone in the room, his face set in a pained grimace, “I am to blame for all this…”

Applejack moved to where she could see the human’s tortured face, “Now that ain’t true! Yer not t’ blame fer this, Carn and them Cye fellers are!”

“Applejack’s right,” Dash nodded, “you didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Yes, Knight-General,” Luna nodded, “it was not your decision alone to stay here. We are as much at fault.”

“Shining Armor is just afraid of a foe he is unprepared to face.” Celestia added, “I doubt he really wants you to leave. Especially since he knows you are a friend of his sister’s.”

“Colonel,” a forgotten aid suddenly spoke up, “the Cye are almost here. If you want to get to the front before them, you better leave.”

The assassin picked up his assault rifle and racked the charging lever, a feral snarl on his face “Alright, I think it’s time to wipe these bastards off the planet!”

XXX

The human defenders crouched in their trenches and watched with determination in their eyes as the metal wave swept towards them. A mere thousand against an untold number and each and every soldier in the line wore a grim smile. They had been here before, and welcomed the chance to finally strike back at the hordes of metal monstrosities. Each of them had heard of the unprovoked attack on the floating city of Cloudsdale and were ready for some pay back. All along the line, every eye was turned to the gold and black armored human standing at the dead center of the line.

“Hold your fire” crackled the Colonel’s voice over the command line, “wait for them to get just a little closer…” The Marines waited with bated breath for the metal tide to sweep closer, fingers straying ever closer to unleashing a storm of lead fury on the invaders. “Alright people, safeties off!” The Colonel’s voice was met with silenced snickers, as if they had not had their guns ready since the moment the Cye had come into view. Now every finger was putting light pressure on their triggers, breaths collectively held while they waited, and kept waiting.

From the Cye line, the crack of a rifle was heard. The bullet screamed across the distance between attacker and defender to bury itself in the ground in front of the gold armored assassin. Close enough, he thought grimly before spitting a command into his mike, “Fire!”

XXX

Twilight was hunkered down on a hastily constructed rise with Stacks, Sis, and Doc just behind the second line. Stacks was cooing to a long rifle with telescopic sights he was cradling lovingly in his arms while the unicorn scanned the front through a pair of electronic binoculars. The field glasses took in the raw images and gave back various, useful information, such as distance and even wind speed. She jumped when all of the Marine defenders’ rifles began screaming at once; she pressed the glasses to her eyes to watch with a strange satisfaction as the lead androids seemed to crumble and fall apart under the withering hail of lead being flung at them. But there were many more, so many that they kicked up a sizeable cloud of dust from their march.

Sis reached forward and smacked her brother on the back of the head, “Hey moron, stop making love to your damn rifle and start fighting!”

“Don’t talk about Artemis like that.” the sniper growled when he laid flat on his stomach and sighted down his scope, “She deserves better than that!”

“It’s just a gun, kid.” Doc replied in a nearly bored voice, “Don’t hafta get all misty eyed over a piece of hardware.” He hefted what looked like a bulkier assault rifle, “Even this thing is expendable.”

“You’re gonna hurt her feelings!”

“Boy,” the heavy weapons specialist admonished, “it don’t have no feelings.”

“Overwatch!” called Jaze’s voice over their comms, “Where is that cover?”

“Coming right up, Top.” Stacks called happily, “We are setting up shop now, and business looks like it’s gonna be good!”

“Yeah, too good, Armand out.”

Twilight looked away from the battle to the man lying down next to her, “What exactly are we doing?”

Sis answered first, “The Colonel wants us to pick off any humans in the Cye ranks. They don’t want the defenders to see the traitors and get discouraged.”

The unicorn forced herself to swallow the bile that a forced itself into her throat, “Oh.”

“And I,” Stacks added, “am making it my mission to get rid of any Cye with heavy weapons. Now,” A charming smile at odds with the grim task at hand graced the sniper’s face, “let’s play. Wanna be my spotter Twi?”

“What’s that?” the unicorn asked, her natural curiosity getting the better of her.

“Spotters point out where the targets are,” explained Stacks, “and help the shooter, which would be me, to adjust their aim if they miss. Things like that. In a frenzy like this, you are mostly just another set of eyes.”

“I can try.” the librarian turned soldier responded hesitantly.

“There’s no ‘try’, kid.” Doc mused, “There’s only ‘do’ and ‘do not’.”

“Oh stop with the sage advice, old man.” retorted the sniper before he tossed a soft smile to Twilight, “Just do your best.”

“Okay,” The unicorn began scanning the mass of metal before her looking for any signs of organic life amongst the enemy troops. A minute passed, then two, and still she couldn’t pick out any humans amid the androids.

From next to her, a shot rang out, quickly followed by two more. She looked down to see the Lance Corporal staring up at her with a pained smile on his face, “Maybe spotting isn’t your thing.”

“Oh, I’m sorry…” The librarian hung her head dejectedly and held the glasses out for someone else to take.

“Maybe,” Stacks said thoughtfully, “spotting isn’t your thing. But maybe shooting is; here, take Artemis and I’ll take the peepers.” The Corporal held out his rifle, nudging her with the stock to take it.

“But I haven’t shot something like this before!” she protested.

“Ain’t that hard,” Doc shot back, “that idiot does it.”

“O-okay…” The unicorn gently encased the weapon in a field of magic and lay down next to Stacks, “What do I do?”

“First, your gonna wanna look through the scope. See the two lines?”

Twilight put her eye to the rifle’s sight, “Yes,”

“Where they cross is where your bullet is gonna hit. Or close to it at any rate. Now let’s find you a target.” The sniper quickly scanned the enemy lines looking for a soft target, “Okay, got one. See where the Colonel is? Look about five meters to the left and back a few rows. There’s a traitor for you.”

Twilight spent a few seconds searching the general area the sniper had designated before she finally got the human in her sights. He was using his allies as cover and taking potshots at the human defenders who stuck their heads up to take a shot at him.

“Now, I want you to take the shot.” The unicorn threw an uneasy glance towards her teacher, “I know, it’s hard. But you gotta do it; a lot of people are counting on you. Just center the crosshairs on his chest and squeeze the trigger. Treat the trigger like it is made of glass; don’t jerk it or you will miss. Now take the shot.”

She did as she was told and placed the crosshairs on the human’s chest. She could clearly see every detail of her target’s features; the way his dark hair fell more to the left of his round face than to the right, the fact that his armor seemed to be mismatched pieces from various sets, and the vicious snarl he wore as he fought for his life. She was ready to throw down the rifle and run as far from the battle as she could, when the sights from Cloudsdale entered her mind.

First the fight in the clouds, watching ponies running in terror just to be gunned down mercilessly, and then the cleanup efforts. Gingerly moving the bodies of the slain through the rain and placing them in mass graves, the sheer numbers preventing individual graves. And finally, her discovery of the traitorous humans and pulling one of their bodies from a wrecked fighter.

The realization that the man in her sights, and many more like him, were so willing to kill helpless victims coupled with the memories from the ruined city made the young mare begin to shake again. She bit her lip and tried to force the memories back behind the wall she had built, but they refused to go quietly. The smell of death and rain, the sight of hundreds of broken bodies, and the tears of one of her best friends as Dash pulled the citizens of her beloved home from the mud, gently whispering to all the ones she knew. For every single one of the slain pegasi, the message was the same.

Now, Twilight whispered those same words to herself, “I’ll get ‘em, I’ll get ‘em for you.” Without another thought, she gave the trigger a magical squeeze.

“Nice shot!” Stacks exclaimed, “A little high, but it got the job done.” He turned to smile at his sniper student to see that tears slowly streaming down her face, “Hey kid, you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” the purple unicorn sniffed.

“Good, cause I got some more targets for you.”

XXX

Jaze thumbed the magazine release to drop the empty magazine from his weapon and slam a fresh one home. He looked to the piled up bodies of the Cye with a slight smirk of satisfaction. He had had every Marine load their assault weapons with the armor piercing rounds and fire a full-auto fusillade into the enemy with terrifying results. The first few waves of the robots had quickly fallen beneath the hail of gunfire, and now the defenders were taking their time and picking their targets carefully. Several of the soldiers had stayed with the AP rounds and were taking the time to line up several of the metal troopers before taking them down with a quick burst.

The assassin brought his rifle to his shoulder and began firing bursts into the horde in front of him. He was less selective of his targets, preferring to let his bullets find their own targets. There was certainly no lack of enemies, and the few heavy machine guns place on this line were taking advantage of the density and were spraying bullets into the Cye ranks.

“Come on you metal bastards!” Vincent hollered from the Colonel’s left, “I have a nice, big stack of ammo for you!”

“Oh yeah!” Shelby answered from Vincent’s other side, “Take it all! It’s free today!”

The assassin felt an elbow nudge his ribs and turned to see Dmitri watching the pair of Angels nervously, “Are they always like that?”

A laugh forced itself past Jaze’s lips, “More or less. Don’t worry, you get used to it. And they are actually quite lovable outside of a fight.”

“Maybe like a pair of badgers.” the young pilot muttered before returning his attention to the advancing Cye.

Jaze reached for a fresh magazine to find that his belt was empty. “Ammo!” he called, and saw Applejack come running down the trench, several bulging packs hanging from her frame.

“Here ya go,” The farm pony nosed open one of the packs, grabbed some ammunition in her mouth, and tossed the magazines to the Colonel.

The grateful human slapped one into his rifle and gave the armored mare a nod of thanks before she was soon called away. He took a moment to look up and down the defense line. Although the fight was going far better than he had hoped, it was far from one-sided. The Cye were firing back in earnest now, and the humans were taking loses. Any time a soldier fell, he was quickly pulled away by a medic to be taken to the triage stations. A few with minor injuries were sent back almost immediately, bandages protecting the fresh wounds. Other were not seen again, as the medics worked to spare him. A few were left were they had fallen, already beyond the help of all the human technology and pony magic.

Every now and then, Jaze caught sight of a yellow flank here, a pink tail there, a splotch of color against an otherwise dark sight. Fluttershy was moving down the line, handing out water to those that seemed like they needed it. Her presence brought a slight smile to the face every soldier she neared, and the way she started every time shots slammed into the trench above her had several Marines laughing silently as they returned the shots in kind. The quiet pony was a moving morale boost, but the Colonel was loath to allow her to stay so near the fighting. He did not want the sensitive pony to be exposed to the massive amounts of death.

The assassin’s thoughts were brought back to the battle when a bullet smacked into the trench next to his head. His helmeted head turned to see that the Cye looked oddly thinned out. Not the impenetrable wall of cybernetics that it had been, but with large gaps between each android. The gun in his hand began to roar with its brethren once more while its owner pondered what was happening. No way is this it, he thought disquietly, they haven’t put up near enough of a fight...

But the evidence of the battle’s end was becoming plainer to see. There were now more smoking wrecks than robots, and for some reason this discovery made a feeling of dread sweep through the human commander. What the hell? Jaze searched for some sign to dispel his discomfort, Why are they giving up?

When the last of the androids fell and the dust began to settle, confused Marines looked to him for an answer to their unasked question. A few short lived cheers went up from some of the defenders before Jaze finally switched his mike channel to the pegasi’s above him, “Dash, what’s going on? Is that all of them?”

“No…” replied a stunned voice, “It’s not…” As if on cue, a gust of wind blew the last remaining vestiges of the dust cloud and smoke from in front of the humans and gave them an unobstructed view of what lay ahead of them.

“Oh god…” a Marine yelled in near panic, “There must be millions of them!” The Colonel had to admit that guess might not have been far off. He could not begin to count just how many Cye troopers were boiling towards him, a metal wind that would sweep aside all before it.

For the first time in years, Jaze felt well and truly outmatched as he yelled into his mike over the command channel, “Alright then people, lock and load. It’s time for round two…”

Battle Rages

The tremendous roar of rifles filled air, and slugs whizzed from the defenders to the Cye and back. No matter how many of the androids fell, there seemed to an infinite amount to take its fallen brother’s place. Humans were being felled all along the line, and the medics were having trouble getting to and from the front to pull the wounded to safety. A few brave unicorns were using teleportation spells to get in and out, but they were quickly getting exhausted. The cries of the dying were drowned out by the ever present sound of guns.

Jaze pressed his back to the wall of the trench, narrowly avoiding a rain of bullets filling the air just above him. He clutched his rifle close to his breast and waited for the rounds to move on before jumping up and continuing to pour fire into the enemy before him. Between the hundreds of assault rifles and the large machine guns, the Cye were falling by the hundreds. But there were thousands more to destroy.

Shelby was kneeling next to the Colonel, cursing loudly and trying to remove a shell casing that had gotten lodged in her rifle while Vincent pulled a gray object the size and shape of a small orange from his belt, pressed the button on top, and lobbed it at the advancing androids. There was a brief crackle of electricity and several of the terrible machines fell, the EMP cutting through them and destroying their systems.

“Come on, stay with me dammit!” Jaze looked down to see Sands pressing a battle dressing to the large wound on another Marine’s chest, “You’re gonna be fine. Just don’t close your eyes! Don’t you close those eyes!” The young pilot yelled out, “Where the hell is the medic?!”

“Um, I-I might b-be able to help, if you want me to.” a quiet voice broke through the din of war. Jaze and Dmitri turned to see Fluttershy standing behind them, concern filling her large eyes at the sight of the wounded human.

“If you think you can, do it.” The Master Sergeant stepped away from the wounded Marine to allow the quiet mare closer. She took a small, white bag hanging from her side and knelt next to the Marine. After a minute, the Colonel heard sniffles coming from next to him and looked down to see that the Marine was still, though the yellow mare still worked to save him. The assassin gently pulled the silently crying mare away and shook his head before kneeling and closing the fallen soldier’s eyes.

“He’s gone!” Jaze yelled over the gunfire, “There’s nothing more we can do!”

“But, h-he was ju-just a-alive,” the pegasus mare sobbed, “m-maybe…”

“I’m sorry, but he’s gone! We have to keep moving; we can cry later!”

“Hey Jaze?” crackled the voice of the cyan pegasus watching from the clouds above, “I think we have a problem…”

XXX

“I think we have a problem.” Dash stared down at the mayhem of the battle, and she felt dread clawing at her stomach. How are we supposed to stop this? she wondered.

“What’s going on Dash? How many more are there?” Jaze called back over the radio, and the cyan mare could just hear somepony else sobbing in the background over the sounds of battle.

“They are stretched from where you guys are all the way to the forest. But that’s not what I was talking about.”

“Well, spill it! I don’t have time to talk!”

“Okay, geez.” the athlete huffed, “I can see a bunch of big… things.”

“Things? What kind of things?”

“They look like big spiders, with only four legs and two arms.” Silence greeted the hasty description, a silence that stretched on and on until curiosity got the better of the speedy pony, “Do you know what they are?”

“Heavies.” the Colonel’s voice breathed, a note of despair creeping in.

XXX

Shelby suddenly wrenched herself around to stare at her commanding officer, “Did you say heavies?”

“That’s what it seems like.” Jaze put his finger back to the comm unit in his ear, “How many are there Dash?”

“Bout dozen that I can see. Might be more though.”

“T-two dozen?” the assassin stuttered, his face turning pale with sudden fear. Shelby and Vincent’s faces mirrored their leaders at the bleak news.

“Jaze,” Shelby whispered, “That many heavies… We can’t hold this line.”

The Colonel gave a grim nod, “How long until…” He did not have to finish his question, for the ground began to lightly shake from something large moving closer. The soldiers fighting in the trench searched for the cause of the quakes, and slowly a lumbering figure appeared from the crowds of androids.

The thing’s body looked almost like a human torso without a head perched atop four widely spaced legs. One of it “arms was actually a huge cannon designed to wreak havoc on an entrenched foe while the other was a high caliber rotary gun. The thing bore thick armor plate over its entire body, and it towered over the Cye clustered around it. If anything was unfortunate enough to be under one of its massive footfalls, the behemoth did not slow or change its path, only crushed whatever stood in its way. The technical name for the monster was a heavy weapons platform, but most combat personnel simply called them…

“Heavy!” screamed a panic-stricken Marine, “It’s a fucking heavy!” The large automaton turned to one of the heavy machine guns tearing into its smaller brethren. The beast raised its large cannon and took careful aim at the gun emplacement. With a loud thud, the weapon sent a shell rocketing towards the helpless Marines attempting to run away from the death trap they had found themselves in. When the shell hit, the gun was obliterated along with the soldiers standing too close to the blast. All that was left was a large crater.

“Colonel!” a Marine yelled as she dove for cover, “We gotta fall back!”

“If we try to run, that thing is just going to cut us down to a man!” another called back.

“But we can’t stay here!”

“What’ll we do?”

“We’re all gonna die!” One foolish soldier attempted to break and run only to be nearly torn in half from the number of bullets poured into him. The Marines were threatening to crack with fear from the new threat.

“We can’t run.” Jaze growled, “We try it now and we will end up just like that poor fool.” The Colonel pressed his finger to his ear and spat into his mike, “Everyone, concentrate your fire on the heavy! Maybe we can wear it down!”

“Colonel, this is Overwatch. I have a plan, but you’re prolly not gonna like it…”

XXX

“Twi, give me the rifle.” Stacks’ voice was calm despite the sudden appearance of the hulking death machine.

“What’s this little thing going to do against that!” the unicorn cried, pointing with the gun towards the destructive machine.

“There’s a sweet spot just under its arm.” explained the sniper, “It’s the main vent for reactor that drives that metal monster. One shot in the right spot and pow, no more worries.”

“Well if it’s a big vent, I can hit that.” the librarian proclaimed proudly.

“Didn’t say it was big,” Stacks admonished, “You gotta put the bullet in the slits of the vent cover. Not much leeway to play with.”

“Come on Twi,” Sis nudged the unicorn with her boot, “just give the rifle to my bro. He’s used to putting small things in a hole anyway.”

“Please, let me try at least.” the purple mare begged.

The Lance Corporal let out a heavy sigh, “Fine, but you aren’t going to have much time.” He put a finger to his ear and called out “Colonel, this is Overwatch. I have a plan, but you’re prolly not gonna like it.”

“Well?” the assassin called back, “What is it?”

“I’ma need you to make that thing turn to the side and lift its arm. Then we can take it down.”

Silence, then, “That’s a tall order Overwatch. You know it only lifts its arm when it’s getting ready to shoot right?”

“Yeah, that’s the ‘prolly not gonna like it’ part.” the sniper admitted.

“Are you sure you can take it out?” Stacks looked over at the unicorn lying next to him. She sighted down the scope of the long barreled weapon held magically before her and gave a grim nod.

“Yessir, I’m positive. One hundred percent.”

XXX

“One hundred percent.”

Jaze drew in a deep breath and let it out in a huff, “Guess we don’t have a choice. Which way does it need to turn?”

“Doesn’t matter, but it prolly be best to get it to use its big gun. That takes a little longer to fire.”

“Alright, I’m going to make it turn for you. As soon as you take it out, fall back to the second hill. This line is lost.”

“Roger that sir, Overwatch out.”

“Jaze,” Vincent spoke the name with a rising, questioning tone, “just what the hell do you think you’re going to do?”

“What I always do.” The assassin gave a sideways grin, “Something really stupid.”

“You want some back up?” Sands asked from his position on the trench floor.

“No, this one I’m going to do alone.” The Colonel let out another heavy sigh, Dammit, why do I always pick the crappy jobs?

With that thought in mind, the assassin took off down the trench to where the gun emplacement used to be before the friendly machine remodeled. When he arrived, huffing and out of breath, at the newly formed crater, the silver-eyed man drew his rifle and fired a few quick rounds into the metal horror’s side. As hoped, it turned from firing its cannon into the entrenched humans and readied its rotary gun.

Jaze dove to the bottom of the crater to avoid the stream of projectiles pouring from the large gun, cursing the whole time, “That’s the wrong gun dammit!” When the river of lead ceased, he cautiously poked his head from his makeshift foxhole to see something both gratifying and terrifying; the large gun was raised and pointed right at him.

“Okay Overwatch!” he yelled worriedly to no one in particular, “Now would be a really good time to do some magic!”

XXX

“There it is!” Stack yelled excitedly, “Do you see it?”

Twilight did not bother with a response; she merely stared through the scope atop the rifle. She forced herself to relax and look for the vent. There, just under the metal monster’s raised arm, a small metal grate with tiny slits was just barely visible. It’s all geometry, the unicorn told herself, adjust for wind, gravity, and…

With a magical squeeze of the trigger, the gun sent a piece of lead screaming for its target, and the librarian silently prayed for the bullet to find its mark. The scarred sniper heard the shot and focused his binoculars on the bullet’s intended target. He saw a tiny stream pass between the slits of the vent. The reaction was immediate and violent; the large android’s legs kicked as if in pain and it fell to its side, crushing the other robots unfortunate enough to be near it. The metal behemoth slowly lost power, and its limbs gradually stopped moving.

“Hah!” the young man yelled, jumping wildly “Take that you metal bastard!” He stooped and mussed the monster’s killer’s purple mane, “That was a damn good shot Twi! Now let’s get outta here!”

Twilight stood, her whole body finally feeling the tension of the last few seconds. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her legs nearly buckled from the sudden weakness that hit them. She looked back to the large robot laying on its side and realized that she was the one that had taken it down. Nopony else, just her.

“Did I really do that?” the librarian asked confusedly.

“Yeah, ya did good kid.” Doc assured before slapping her flank, “Now get moving! I don’t want two a’ the best snipers I ever saw getting’ shot up cause they wouldn’t move their asses!”

“Doc’s right,” Sis stated, “time to leave.”

Stacks took the long rifle and slung it over his shoulder while Twilight retrieved her assault rifle from the ground next to her and Sis, already making her way down the hill, waved for them to hurry up. When they reached the bottom of the hill, Doc started running towards the second defense line.

“Where are you going?” asked the scarred sniper.

“I’m sick of babysittin’.” the older man yelled while he ran, “Gonna go get me a piece a the fight! Don’t worry ‘bout me, I’ll be just fine!” He disappeared around the hill, making a beeline for the trench.

“Is he going to be okay?” Twilight asked apprehensively.

Sis waved a hand dismissively, “Oh that ole fart’ll be fine. But we’re not gonna be if we stand here till the Cye come asking for a date.”

“Right, let’s get set up at the next post.” Stack’s started jogging away from the fight, “Com’on Twi, let’s go!”

XXX

Shelby stared at the fallen behemoth and gave a low whistle, “They did good, you have to admit.”

“Yeah,” Jaze breathed, winded from his most recent dash through the trenches, “but now it is time to fall back.” He tuned his comm into the pegasi flying above and spoke quickly, “Dash, what are the rest of the heavies doing?”

“They seem to be falling back,” the cyan speedster replied, “and forming into a line.”

“Alright, that’s good to know.” He switched his comm back to the command frequency, “Alright everyone, we have got to leave while we can. All support personnel, fall back to the second line. We’ll keep you covered.”

The Colonel took up his weapon once more and started firing at the advancing Cye troopers. Soon, all of the Marines were up and firing, while every equine climbed out and started running for their lives towards the second trench. Their hooves ate up the short distance, and they were soon safe from the rounds buzzing through the air.

“Okay group one, it’s your turn. Get the hell out of here!” Roughly one third of the remaining humans turned and climbed out from their protective trench and made a mad dash for the next. The humans ran bent over to try and avoid being shot in the back, but even so many of the retreating Marines were brought down when their robotic enemies began raking them with gunfire. Most of the first group managed to make it to the second trench and joined the ponies in preparing for the onslaught of androids.

“They’re good!” Shelby yelled from behind the Colonel.

“Second group, go!” Jaze yelled into his mike. Another third, made to leave the trench, but most of the Marines were laden with their wounded comrades. The assassin slammed a fresh magazine into the receiver in his rifle, knowing full well there would be no more ammunition until he made it to the safety of the second line.

“Clear!” Shelby yelled.

“Alright people, time for the rest of us to run!” The silver-eyed human turned and jumped from the trench, running as fast as he could while bent double to make a smaller target. This was the most dangerous run, for the fleeing Marines no longer had the heavy machine guns to distract and pin the enemy. The Colonel kept his eyes fixed on the trench ahead and tried not to think about the hundreds of thousands of guns pointed at his back.

There was only about twenty yards between the trenches, but it felt like a mile. The Colonel’s heels dug into dirt and propelled him towards safety. He could feel bullets kicking up dirt next to his legs, but he pushed the thoughts from his mind. Behind, the sound of the androids firing at the running humans filled the air. The Marines already ahead in the ditch fired over their comrades’ heads to try and stop them from being mowed down.

Just as the enemy was beginning to dial in on the fleeing Colonel, he dove into the safety of the second defense line. This trench was much more heavily defended, with far more heavy turret emplacements and a series of passage ways leading back to the final trench. The assassin’s breath came in short gasps from the run through a killing field and he put his hands on his knees to steady himself. A water bottle entered his field of view; he looked up to see Fluttershy offering the liquid with a smile still managing to cling to her face.

The young man took the water with a grateful nod and turned to look back at the lost ground. It pained him to watch the Cye storm over the bodies of the slain in pursuit of their prey, but it pained him more to see just how many lives had been lost, a number on the order of two hundred souls either dead or too wounded to continue the fight. He took some fresh magazines offered by a passing supply pony and took up a firing position. This next fight, he thought resentfully, is going to be much bloodier.

XXX

The fighting at the second line was heating up; it had been nearly an hour since the humans had retreated and everyone was beginning to tire. Jaze longed for nothing more than to put down his gun and sleep, but it was not meant to be. Instead, the human warrior knew that he had to keep going, and that he could never back down from this fight. Everyone in the trench was determined to hold this line as long as possible, and were willing to give all they could for it.

Despite the countless casualties, the metal wall of the Cye continued to throw themselves against the humans’ guns, just waiting for them to run out of ammunition. No matter how many fell, the androids just kept pushing. Despair was beginning to set in on the weary human defenders as they realized that the vast number of foes was soon to overwhelm them. If something didn’t break soon, they would be over run.

A Marine next to Jaze stood up and immediately caught a bullet in the throat and splattering the assassin’s face with a crimson spray. The middle-aged soldier fell, clutching his throat in a reflex response, dead before he hit the ground. The Colonel brought his gun to his shoulder once more and fired a wild spray into the oncoming horde. Again, the only thing keeping the androids from steam-rolling over them was the heavy machine guns placed all along the trench. The heavy guns continuously chewed through the ranks, a hot lead wind that only paused long enough to refresh the ammunition in the weapons. But it they may as well have been draining a lake with a bucket, for their foes simply stepped over their allies to be shot down themselves.

Jaze fell back into the trench, and took a moment to wipe his gritty eyes. He snagged a few magazines of armor piercing rounds from a supply pony making her rounds and shoved one into his gun. He swept his gun back and forth along the front of the enemy, cutting down several androids with each pass and dropping back into cover before they could land a shot. He thumbed the release on his gun and let the nearly empty magazine fall. Another supply pony was making rounds and collecting the spent magazines to take back and have refilled and stored for the final line. The soldiers were slowly beginning to wear down, and the Cye troopers were creeping closer.

“Jaze,” Dash’s voice suddenly sounded in the Colonel’s ear, “it looks like those big guys are moving up again. They will get there very soon.”

“Good to know, it means we can take them all out at once!” the silver-eyed human called back.

“How are you going to do that?”

“You’ll see, Armand out.” The human leader once more switched his mike over to the command frequency, “Alright people, it’s time to fall back!” As before, the supply troops fell back first, followed by two thirds of defenders and the wounded. It took much longer, however, because the Marines were moving back through the connecting trenches and not able to run. The Colonel spent several minutes searching through the defenders still holding the line before he finally gathered Shelby, Vincent, and Dmitri together

“Jaze, do the heavies mean what I think they mean?” Vincent yelled over the bark of his rifle.

“If you’re thinking they mean there is a manu-plant somewhere nearby, then yeah!” the assassin yelled back, once again changing magazines.

“Any guesses?” Shelby called.

“I would bet it is in one of those ships,” Sands hollered and pointed to the sky, “I don’t think they’ve had enough time to build one planet side!”

“You might be right!” Jaze shouted, “But all we can do for now is keep fighting and see if they will show us where their plant is.” The ground began to quake again, and the four conversing humans peeked over the rim of the trench to see a long line of the metal heavy weapons platforms slowly moving towards them.

“Aw crap!” Sands cried and pointed to the metal beasts, “More heavies! We stay in this trench and we’re screwed!”

“Jaze! We’ll be faster if everyone goes over the top and makes a run for it!” suggested Vincent, “We won’t be so bunched up either!”

Shelby snickered “Oh hell! Sounds dangerous, it’s got my vote!”

“We stay here and we’re dead sir! So let’s do it!”

Jaze took one more quick peek at the advancing metal wall, “Fine, let’s go.” He pressed his finger to the comm in his ear, “All personnel left in the second trench, we’re going to go up and over before the heavies get too close. Just jump out and run as quickly as you can, you’ll be fine! Now move!”

Without further hesitation, the Colonel put his hands on the chest high lip of the trench and scrambled out. He felt his rifle banging against his back as he ran for the last defense line in a dead sprint. Just ahead of him, he could see Shining Armor and the three hundred unicorn soldiers frantically waving the retreating Marines on. The Guard Captain’s face registered shock and horror at a sight from the second line. The silver-eyed human threw a glance over his shoulder and forgot to keep running. For there, exposed to the enemy fire, was Fluttershy dragging a weakly struggling Marine by the collar of his uniform.

Jaze risked a glance back towards the trench before turning around and running as fast as his terrified legs would carry him to the yellow pegasus mare. He felt bullets hiss through the air around him and even felt a few graze the golden armor, but the only thing on the human’s mind was getting to his friend and getting her away from the Cye.

As he neared, he heard a gruff voice ordering the shy mare away, “Dammit! Leave me and git the hell outta here! Should’a stayed with the damn snipers, but I’m too much a’ stubborn old goat! Now leave me and git the hell away! I ain’t no good now anyhow!” When the Colonel drew level with the yelling Marine, he took one look at the standing man and scoffed, “What the hell?! Why is the goddamn COLONEL trying to save my sorry ass?!”

Ignoring the man’s continued protests, Jaze looked down to see that the older man had taken several bullets to his legs and was unable to run. The assassin grabbed the man under the arm with one hand and unceremoniously threw him across the pegasus’ back, who gave a quick look of relief and gratitude before turning and running back towards the final line.

The Colonel made to follow, but turned in time to see a horrid sight; the heavies had made their way to the front. The human quickly turned and bolted, screaming curses as he desperately ran for the safety of the trench. There was a loud explosion nearby, and suddenly the dark-haired man found himself looking up at the sky with no recollection of how he got there.

He could not make himself get up and was only able to flop over onto his stomach and rise to his hands and knees before dizziness set in and he collapsed again. No matter how much he tried, he could not make it to his feet. Blackness began to edge into the assassin’s vision, and he could hear bullets hitting the ground all around him. The scarred man let his eyes slide shut, waiting for a round to find and end him.

Suddenly, he felt himself leave the ground and his stomach land on something hard. His silver-eyes edged open to see the ground flashing past, driven along by black hooves attached to long white legs. The young assassin looked to see what was supporting him and saw purple armor. It took several seconds for the stunned man to realize who had come to his rescue.

“Shining…” he started, then yelped when he was suddenly bucked off the stallion. The hard landing in the bottom of the ditch managed to bring the assassin to his senses.

Shining Armor jumped into the trench next to the taken aback Colonel and looked at the human, “If you have some plan, now would be a very good time for it!”

“I… Thanks, I didn’t think you cared.” Jaze stammered.

“Don’t think too much of it; I just thought you might still be useful! Now do you have a plan?”

“Yes, it just happens that I do.”

“Well? What are you waiting for?”

“We have to let them get closer!”

The Cye troopers rolled over the recently vacated trench and continued after their human prey. The horde of androids, the large heavies at the front, marched for the final line and the weary Marines defending it; the resounding sound of their metal feet filling the air. Shining Armor’s gaze switched between the advancing foe and the madly grinning human next to him. The Guard had seen how frighteningly destructive the large robots were, and could not see why the foolish human was letting them get closer.

Just when the large ones were level with the trench and the Captain thought all was lost, Jaze yelled into his mike, “Alright, everyone get down! Control, roll out the welcome mat!” Shining Armor was about to ask what the human meant by “welcome mat”, when the world before the trench exploded in front of his eyes.

A Brief Respite

“Control, roll out the welcome mat!”

The young woman working Control started at the sudden command. The fight was progressing far faster than he had anticipated if the Colonel was already issuing that order. The soldier looked at the plastic covered button and wondered what she should say. I mean, went her confused thoughts, they always say something in the movies, right? She stared at the button for a second longer before saying, “Screw it, someone’s going to have to push it,” flipping the cover and jamming her thumb to the black button.

XXX

Underneath the battlefield, a linked network of high explosive, shaped charges received the order to detonate, and each one exploded starting from just in front of the final line and spreading outward to encompass the entire field. Each charge was shaped to send all the shrapnel away from the defenders, though being buried meant the bombs sent up a huge cloud of dust when they unleashed their fury. And their fury obliterated everything in front of the defenders; not a single android was left until well past where the first trench had been lost.

At the final line, a very shocked and confused Royal Guard Captain stared up while on his back at the bottom of the trench at a madly cackling human dressed in black and gold armor. Several times the unicorn tried to open his mouth to say something, but was unable to find his voice. And neither could the Colonel stop laughing long enough to offer any words of his own. Instead, he merely held out a hand, still shaking from his laughter, and more or less silently offered the pony a hand up.

Shining Armor finally found his voice, though it was a little shakier than normal, “What the hoof was that?!”

Jaze covered his mouth with a hand, tears of mirth flowing from his eyes, “I warned you to get down. Maybe you should have listened.”

The Guardspony took the offered hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, “I will ask again, what was that?”

“That,” the human grinned, “was the plan that little pink ball of energy sparked in your sister’s head.”

“What? Twilee did this?” The Captain stared out across the ruined field, amazed that his little sister had planned so much destruction.

“Yeah,” the assassin nodded, “it surprised me too. But Pinkie mentioned giving the Cye a firework show and Twilight came up with the idea.” He gestured towards the devastated landscape, “It worked beautifully.”

The pony shook his blue-maned head sadly, “I don’t know what you did to my sister, but this isn’t her.”

The human placed a friendly hand on the stricken Guardspony’s shoulder, “Hey, she is still the same Twilight. She’s now just…”

The Captain shrugged the hand away, “Stop, just stop.” The unicorn let out a weary sigh, “I just don’t want Twilee to change; she was perfect before.”

“She had to change, or this would have killed her.”

The stallion spun and jammed his hoof into the dark-haired human’s chest, “And she would not had to have changed if you had not brought this cursed war here.”

Without a word, Jaze tore the gauntlet from his hand and removed the black glove hiding his false hand from view. He slowly turned it before the angry stallion’s eyes, letting the sunlight catch on its metal surface.

“I had no choice.” the Colonel stated, “I was shot down and crashed on this planet. The Cye were here before humans, and they would have utterly destroyed your forces in a matter of minutes.” The metal hand clenched into a tight fist, “I have given up more than you know to this war.”

“So you lost a hand, what do you have that can compare to what happened to my sister?” asked the proud Captain venomously.

The human’s natural hand suddenly flew around the pony’s throat and lifted his front legs of the ground, “How about the death of the one I loved?! What happened to Twilight is tragic, but have you had to watch the one you loved die?” Jaze let his hand drop from the Guardspony’s throat and turned his back on the Captain, a small tear rolling down the human’s face.

“I’m… I’m sorry…” Shining Armor moved up behind the human commander, “I, I didn’t know…”

“Yeah, and the worst part is that my story is not even the most terrible. At least I still have my friends; there are people who have lost their whole families and everyone they know. Sometimes entire planets are destroyed before we can do anything.” He suddenly spun back towards the pony, “I am truly sorry about what happened to Twilight, but at least she can heal. Before this started, the human population was at nearly forty billion; do you know what it is now?”

“No…” Shining feared to know the answer, but he knew that he needed to know.

“It is just less than ten billion.” The unicorn’s jaw dropped from the sheer number of casualties, “Only one in four humans have survived the last six years; so don’t talk to me about suffering. You have a long way to go before you can know what humanity has gone through.”

“I, I can’t,” the stallion stammered, “I don’t know what to say.”

The Colonel held out his hand, his face set in a blank mask, “Just say that you will fight. I don’t need you to like me, or even respect me. All I need is for you to trust me, and to believe that I am trying to do the right thing.”

The Captain placed his hoof in the outstretched hand, a slight grin touching his lips, “Alright, I will. If you will trust me, and believe that I only want what is best, for everypony.”

“Deal.” Jaze shook the pony’s hoof and let a smile play across his face, “Well, I think we don’t have time to waste gabbing. Let’s show these metal freaks who they are messing with.”

“I believe you are right.”

The human took up his rifle once more and stepped to the lip of the trench, unicorn at his side, and waited for the dust to settle. He strained his hearing to the limit, trying to get as early a warning as possible of incoming enemies. But there was nothing, the entire field was silent save for the sounds of the defenders.

As the seconds ticked by, the pair of Guards got more and more anxious. Shining Armor began tapping his hoof against the side of the protective ditch while Jaze scanned the field with a furrowed brow.

After a few minutes when the dust had finally begun to settle, the Captain turned with a confused look, “What’s going on? Did you take them all out?”

“Not a chance, Dash said that they…” The assassin paused and put a finger to his ear, the look of confusion slowly becoming more pronounced. “What? That can’t be. Are you sure?” He paused while the person on the other end of the line spoke, “This isn’t right, they’re up to something. Thanks for the heads up Dash. Keep a watch out, I want to know what they are planning. Armand out.”

“What is the problem, Knight-General?” asked the purple armored stallion when Jaze took his finger away from his ear.

“It’s the Cye,” the assassin explained slowly, “They’re pulling back.”

“Did your trick scare them away?”

The Colonel gave his head a little shake, “I don’t see why it would.” He started to climb out of the trench, “Come on, I think we need to talk to Celestia and Luna about this.”

Shining Armor slapped a hoof to his forehead in frustration, “Oh yeah, that’s right! I got so distracted that I forgot to tell you! Maybe you can talk some sense into them.” The purple armored unicorn started running down the line of the trench, a very confused human following behind him.

XXX

“What the HELL do you think you two are doing here?!” Jaze yelled when he finally was able to speak. Before him, dressed in sets of matching gold and black armor, stood Princesses Celestia and Luna; looking at the agitated human and hoping for him to calm down.

“We are here to take part in the defense of our homeland.” stated the princess of the night as if there were no more natural a thing in the world.

The Colonel rounded on the lunar alicorn, “Like hell you are!”

“I feel compelled to agree with the Knight-General in this case, Your Majesties.” Shining Armor spoke up from beside the furious human, “This is far too dangerous to allow. You may both get hurt, or worse.”

“We are more than capable of handling ourselves, Captain.” Celestia assured calmly.

Jaze turned back to the solar princess, “That doesn’t matter Princess! What matters is that you are in too much danger on the front!”

“And what would you have us do Knight-General?” asked the white unicorn with narrowed eyes, “Hide while others fought for us?”

“Well, yes!”

“Jaze,” Luna kept her voice friendly, “we could not stand to sit back with the knowledge that we are letting somepony else do our fighting for us.”

“But you two are far too valuable to lose!” the human explained, “I won’t risk that.”

“What about you?” Celestia retorted, “You have been fighting on the front lines right beside your troops from the beginning.”

“Maybe so, but I am expendable. If I died, command would move to the one most qualified to handle it and the Marines would fight on.”

“Yes” Shining Armor jumped in, “it is the same for me and the Royal Guards. But if you were to die, the Guard would crumble.”

Black wings spread angrily as Luna dropped her voice into a dangerous tone, “You are both Guards, you have been sworn to obey the commands of your Princesses.”

“Yes,” interrupted the Colonel, “and we are also sworn to protect you. We cannot do that if you insist on putting yourselves in danger! Furthermore, you promised that you would follow my lead in matters of war.”

“Colonel,” Celestia held her regal head high and looked down to the human, “these creatures have invaded our home, destroyed one of our most important cities, and slaughtered defenseless ponies. Luna and I merely wish to strike back at these fiends for causing so much pain.”

“But…” the assassin started.

“Besides,” the smaller alicorn smirked, “We wager that you will be surprised at what my sister and I can do.”

“Yes, Luna and I shall partake in this battle. Whether or not you wish it, Knight-General.”

Jaze took a deep, steadying breath, “Fine, if you wish to enter the fray, I have no power to stop you.”

“Knight-General, I believe there was something you wished to tell the Princesses.” reminded the white stallion quietly.

“Oh, right. Seems like the Cye are falling back.” the human said offhandedly, his mind still stuck on the Princesses choice.

“Is this not a good thing?” asked Luna, “It means that you have scared them away and have won the battle.”

“There is something you all don’t seem to get about the Cye.” The human began to pace, “The Cye don’t feel fear, they don’t feel anger or sadness or pain. They don’t feel at all. They may think on some level, but they have no emotions.” He stared toward where his enemies had retreated, “They aren’t running away, they are planning something. And I don’t like it.”

Whether it was the smell of death in the air or if the human’s paranoia was catching on, the three ponies suddenly felt almost as nervous. They watched the battlefield and waited for something to confirm their fears.

“Maybe, they realized they couldn’t take this line and want to wait for some more troops.” offered the Guard Captain hopefully.

“That seems possible, maybe.” the Colonel agreed, “But it still feels off.” He let out short huff through his nose, “I think the best thing we can do is take advantage of this break and start tending to the wounded. Maybe move them back to Ponyville for treatment.”

“That may be a wise decision,” Celestia agreed, “Let us try and save some lives before we lose anymore.”

XXX

The groans of the wounded and dying filled the medical tents and created a backdrop for the human medics and pony physicians working to heal the afflicted. There seemed to be no end to the amounts of wounded, and almost every bed had a human or equine occupant. Humans dressed in stark white coats moved from bed to bed to see what could be done while ponies moved through and tried to help where they could.

Among these doctors moved one azure unicorn. Even though she was not trained in any form of medicine, she had picked up a few tricks and helped with the less involved tasks, such as putting pressure on wounds to stop the bleeding and fetching supplies for the doctors or anything else they needed from her.

One task the unicorn had that she loathed was comforting those that could not be saved. She could see in their eyes that they knew they were beyond help, and each and every one wore the same look of terror and confusion. Several times the young mare had nearly ran screaming from some poor soul has they let out their last breath. But no matter what she felt inside, the azure pony always kept a smile on her face and let only kind words escape her lips.

Now she was helping a human doctor tend to an older Marine with a severe wound on his side. The unicorn was pressing her hooves into the soldier’s side to stem the flow of blood while the doctor worked, and she could see every gory detail of the effects of war on the poor human on the table. She tried to avert her purple eyes from the ugly wound, but every time she looked away she was inevitably drawn back to peer at the soldier’s bloody side until she finally just shut her eyes entirely.

This soldier was one of the lucky ones, he would probably live. The azure mare spared a brief glance to the back of the tents, where stood a long, tall stack of long black bags. Each nondescript bag held the body of another brave soul that had fallen in the battle raging for the unicorn’s homeland. If I could have one wish, the mare thought tiredly, it would be that these stallions and mares didn’t have to die.

“Hm, looks like something happened.” The doctor pointed with one gloved hand towards the door and the unicorn turned to see Jaze, looking battered and covered in filth, walk in helping someone else carry in a stretcher with another wounded human. She turned back to the physician with a slightly pleading look in her eyes. He let smile touch his lips, “You go to your friend, I think that we can handle things without you for awhile.”

The azure mare nodded enthusiastically and made a beeline for the human commander, pausing only to grab a wash basin and rag. The Colonel glanced up to see the beaming unicorn and passed his burden on to a pony nurse. The pair left the tents and made for the command center. They passed through quickly and went into the commander’s office, making sure to close the door securely behind them. Neither bothered with a chair, preferring to just sit against a wall.

Trixie took the rag from basin of water and used it to gently wash the blood and muck from the human’s face. He simply closed his eyes and let the unicorn work, still as stone. Water rolled down his neck onto his armor, just as muddy as his face. The blood from the assassin’s fellow soldiers failed to add any color to the browning water in the basin.

When the soldier was finally clean, the mare tossed the rag back into the water and tucked her legs beneath her, settling against the human’s side. She felt a heavy arm slip around her, and she wished that he was not wearing his armor. The hard metal plate was uncomfortable, but she did not want to be anywhere else at that moment. She felt him shift a little and could feel silver eyes looking at her.

“Where’s Zephyr?” asked the human quietly.

“She is safe, in Ponyville,” the mare replied, whispering as well.

“I saw you working with the wounded, are you okay?”

“Yes,” she tried to push herself closer to his side, “I am now that I know you are safe.”

His arm pulled her in a little tighter, “I told you, I will be immortal. Nothing can touch me. But I’m worried; we only have about six hundred combat ready Marines left.”

“You should not worry so much. You do still have the Royal Guards, they will help. You will see.”

“Maybe. But will it be enough?”

“If nothing else, you will have me.” Trixie turned her head up to meet his gaze, and she saw that he was wearing a soft smile. His other hand came around his body to brush a stray strand from her mane back into place. He gently ran his hand through the soft locks, enjoying the simple act of touching her. A single azure hoof came up to follow the line of the human’s jaw, stopping just under his chin. The hand running through her mane stopped at the base of her head and a he gently pulled her head closer. She let her eyes close and continued to lean towards the human, reaching up to met him.

They were so close Trixie could hear the comm in his ear begin buzzing, “Hey Jaze, can you hear me?” She stopped and opened her eyes; the Colonel looked for a moment like he was going to ignore the voice in his ear.

But with a glare, he put his finger to his ear and answered, “Yes Dash, I can hear you. What is happening?”

“The Cye are coming back.” the speedster responded quickly, “Whatever they were doing, they’re done now.”

“Dammit,” the assassin sighed, “Alright, I’ll have everyone get back to the front. Armand out.” He quickly stood and helped the unicorn to her feet, “I wish I could stay, but I have to go.”

“I understand.” The unicorn brought a hoof to her forehead in a quick salute, “Go get ‘em soldier boy.”

The small act brought a smile to his face, “I will, and I will be back soon.” The human swiftly left the room, afraid that if he delayed any longer he would never leave.

As the door closed, a few tears rolled down the unicorn’s cheeks, “When will this be over and we can have a moment together in peace?”

XXX

Jaze stood in the trench with the unicorn Captain standing beside him. The pair watched the metal tide sweep towards them, though the human kept glancing to a small stack of spears next to him. He had noticed piles of the ancient weapons next to every group of Guardsponies and wondered what they were for. But when he had asked Shining Armor, the stallion had merely smiled and said, “You’ll see.” Resigned to waiting to see what the ponies had up their sleeves, the Colonel continued to wait for them enemy to get a little closer.

The human heard the spears shift and glanced over to see that the unicorn was levitating one in a magical field. With a confident smirk, the Captain magically cast the spear towards the advancing androids. The missile flew as accurately as any rifle, and struck one of the Cye troopers square in the chest, and kept going. Though the human soon lost sight of the spear, but he was sure it continued to punch through the machines for a good while.

Having seen the first spear thrown, soon all the unicorn Guardsponies were casting their missiles at the enemy, each one as deadly as the first. The machines were falling by the hundreds to the magically thrown lances, though the ponies were going to run out soon.

“For Cloudsdale!” screamed the Captain as he threw another spear.

“That’s a neat trick,” The human leader smirked, “Now here’s mine.” He spoke clearly into his comm, “Marines, open up on them, let them have it!” As one, every assault rifle and machine gun began spitting lead at the metal horde. Scores of the robots fell in the first seconds of fire, and as the lead wind continued to blow the front rows of machines ceased to be and built a small wall for their fellows to cross.

Jaze paused to put a fresh magazine into his rifle and felt something nudging his elbow. When he looked, he saw that the last spear in Shining Armor’s little stack was floating next to him. The unicorn smiled and yelled over the guns, “I heard that you can use magic, want to give it a try?”

The human set down his rifle and took the offered weapon. It was much heavier than he had expected, though he guessed it needed to be in order to be so lethal. The human’s hand glowed with a silver aura and the wood and metal spear floated next to him. He tried to cast it at the enemy, and watched as it arced into the ground well in front of the android army.

“Hah!” guffawed the white stallion, “A novice could have thrown better!”

“Well,” muttered the bright red human as he watched the unicorn’s horn glow and the spear return to them, “I never said I was good with magic.”

“All you have to do,” lectured the pony, “is think of your magic like a bow. You’re not throwing the spear, you’re using magic to push the spear ahead of you.” He quickly cast the spear at the enemy with no apparent effort, “See?”

“Yeah, well you wouldn’t be so good if someone else just gave you a weapon and said ‘do it’.” The human held out his rifle, “Try hitting something with this!”

“If a monkey can do it…” Shining Armor gingerly took the weapon in a magical grasp and pointed it towards the enemy. He had seen how the Colonel was moving the small piece of metal on the bottom of the gun and used his magic to push it to the back of the weapon. The recoil of the rifle soon had it firing wildly into the air while the unicorn fought to control the wily firearm. When he finally got the gun to stop shooting and settle down, he looked to see the human holding his sides and laughing.

“Your sister did better!” the assassin chuckled, “You couldn’t even keep the gun pointed at them!”

It was the stallion’s turn to blush, “Well, I didn’t know it would kick like an apple-bucker!”

“How about this,” Jaze took the rifle, “I stick to what I know and you stick to your weapons.” He cast a quick glance around to see that the pony had no more spears anywhere close, “Of course, it looks like you are out.”

A smile touched white lips, “Don’t be so sure.” His horn glowed again, and the spent shell casings from the human’s assault rifle floated in a cloud around him, “I can use these just like the spears, just not quite as effective. And if I must, I could just make a solid beam of magic. That takes a lot of effort though, so I want to avoid it.”

From a little way down the line, a golden stream shot from the human lines and neatly bisected scores of the androids. The dark-haired assassin followed the beam back to its source and saw none other than Princess Celestia, her horn beginning to glow for another attack.

“You can do that?” the stunned human cried, “Why are you wasting time with spears and shell casings?”

Shining Armor laughed while he sent casing flying into the enemy, “Oh that is well beyond my range. Best I can do is take one or if I’m lucky two out.”

Suddenly, several blurs detached from the now stalled Cye lines and came rocketing towards the defenders with unnatural speed. Though he could not tell what they were, the Colonel felt uneasy about them. He pointed out the speedy objects to the stallion next to him and they concentrated on taking one out. No matter how hard they tried, the thing just dodged everything thrown at it and made a beeline for the pair.

When it reached the line a metal arm shot out and caught Jaze on the chin, stunning him and sending him to the ground. Then it turned and grabbed Shining Armor by the throat and lifted the struggling pony into the air with ease. Now that it had stopped moving the pair could finally get a good look at it. The thing was a machine that looked somewhat like a stretched human. Its arms were much longer, as were its reverse-jointed legs ending in a three toed “foot”.

From the thing’s head stared lighted, red eyes, emotionlessly regarding the pony suffocating in its strong grip. The other metal arm came up and a blade several feet long extended from the wrist. The slender machine drew its arm back and prepared to plunge the attached blade into the Captain’s chest.

A gleaming streak flew towards the thing’s side only to be blocked when the thing dropped its forearm down and caught the sword with its wrist blade. Jaze gritted his teeth and brought his katana back to his hip to launch another powerful strike, but the thing quickly turned and threw Shining Armor bodily into the human and sent them both rolling to the ground in a tangle of arms and legs.

The swordsman looked up to see the android standing over them with its blade held high to deliver a killing blow. With a quick shove, the human threw the Guardspony off of him and rolled backwards to his feet to avoid the plunging strike. The sharp metal sank into the ground and stuck; the human’s sword came down in a quick, two-handed, powerful strike towards its long head only to have the blow stopped by another blade that erupted from the thing’s free hand.

It suddenly pulled the buried blade free in a spray of earth and swung for the soldier’s unprotected side. Without thinking, the assassin let go of his sword with his left and dropped down to catch the blade. With a bright ring of metal on metal, the prosthetic hand enfolded the blade in a vice grip and locked it in place. The victory was short lived, for the metallic foe planted both its feet in the human’s chest and kicked him away, wrenching the blade free from his grasp.

When the slender machine made to follow the human to finish him, it was tackled by a white unicorn from behind. Shining Armor had circled around it and now had both his hooves planted on the things back. Horn glowing, the stallion prepared to deliver a final, magical attack, but was interrupted by a metal elbow crashing into the side of his head. The machine rolled over on top of the thrashing Captain and pinned the pony to the ground with a heavy metal foot. Wide blue eyes looked up to see one of the wrist blades held high for the final strike.

Just as the blade started to come down, a flash of steel passed through the thing’s elbow and the wrist blade with the arm attached fell to the ground. Before it could turn to face the new threat a foot of sharp, curved steel erupted from its chest, stopping a mere inch before hitting the pinned stallion. The blade was quickly wrenched free to allow the machine to fall forward, its eyes now black and dead.

Shining Armor shoved the dead, if it could be called that, machine off and climbed to his feet, “What the hoof was that Knight-General?”

Jaze spun his sword around and quickly sheathed it, “I don’t know, never seen a Cye like that before.” The human kicked the fallen machine over to look at its face, “But if I had to guess, I would say it is an assassin or something like that.”

“An assassin?” the unicorn replied thoughtfully, “Does that mean that it and the rest were sent to kill us?”

“Probably, and more than likely anyone else that would sow confusion.”

“Jaze! That means…”

Sudden understanding lit the human’s eyes, “The Princesses!”

XXX

Celestia’s glowed as she prepared to let loose another magical blast, but stopped when she saw the several blurs leave the Cye lines and made a run for the defenders. The tall alicorn turned to one of the Marines that had been tasked to keep her safe and pointed to one of the speedy blurs, “Soldier, what is that?”

“Trouble, if I had to guess.” the Marine replied quickly and ordered his squad to take the blurs down. The humans sent lead screaming towards the blurs, only to watch in confusion as they dodged the bursts. One that was ahead of the others managed to make it into the trench, about where the soldiers guessed the Colonel the pony Captain were trying to destroy the blurs.

“Allow me,” Luna said from beside her sister. Her horn glowed a deep blue and a beam much like the white alicorn’s shot out and caught two of the speedy objects in its path. The rest of the objects turned towards the pair of sisters and moved even faster, trying to make it to the trench. The sisters and their Marine and Royal Guard escorts worked to take down the things speeding towards them, but one still managed to jump into the trench before it could be killed.

The slender machine extended two blades from its wrists and moved to attack the Lunar Princess, only to be blocked by a Marine and a Guardspony. The machine lashed out with one of its blades and slashed the human soldier across the chest before. The grizzled Guardspony stepped over the fallen Marine and his horn began to glow with an attack he would never launch. The mechanical beast quickly stabbed the pony in his chest, and the Guard felt his hooves leave the ground as the mechanical demon lifted him into the air. The gray stallion stared into cold, red eyes; the thing cocked its head quizzically at the dying Guard, as if confused at how easily the pony had fallen. With one quick stroke, the machine’s wrist blade removed the soldier’s head and tossed the limp body away.

Luna backed away as the thing turned back to her and slowly started moving towards her. Its red eyes fixed on the black alicorn, and it raised its arms in preparation to strike. The lunar princess kept backing away from the metal fiend, stunned by the ferocity it had shown. When the thing lunged at her, she fell in heap and closed her eyes, waiting for the pain from the machine’s blades. But the pain never arrived, and Luna slowly opened her eyes to see it floating in front of her encased in a field of golden magic.

Celestia glared at the struggling machine suspended in her magical grip, “Nopony touches my sister.” The magic surrounding it slowly constricted around the thing, crushing it. It fought to free itself from the crushing force, but its struggles became weaker and weaker as the magic closed tighter and tighter. With one last kick, the android became still and the solar princess tossed it away.

“Princess!” a voice called out in near panic. Luna and Celestia turned to see Jaze and Shining Armor running down the trench towards them. They arrived, panting, and saw the slain human and pony as well as their killer, “Are you both alright?”

“We are fine, Colonel.” assured Luna, “Do you know what these, things are?”

“We believe that they are assassins” explained the purple armored unicorn, “Furthermore, they were sent here to destroy our will to fight.”

“Why didn’t you respond when I called to you on the radio?” asked an angry Colonel of the white alicorn.

“I never heard you,” Celestia replied, “I believe your communication gadget is broken.”

“Let me see it.” The tall pony dipped her head forward and allowed the human to remove the small device from her ear. He took a quick look at, turning it over in his hands, before his face contorted and he whispered something lost to the gunfire.

“What did you say?” the solar princess yelled.

“I said that you didn’t turn it on.”

The group fell quiet. Luna slowly started began laughing, a small giggle that turned into great belly guffaws that shook her frame. Celestia’s face slowly turned a bright crimson when she realized her mistake. Both Shining and Jaze tried and failed to keep smiles of mirth from their faces, though they did manage to stay more in control than the princess of the night.

“I… Uh… confound you humans and you technology!” the white alicorn exclaimed, “How was I supposed to know that it needed turned on?”

“Here,” The human gave the Princess back the comm, still trying to hold back a laugh, “it should be on now, all you have to do is talk into it and I can hear you.”

“Thank you, Knight-General.” The white alicorn was still blushing deeply, “Now we will not need run for each other.”

“Yes that will help…” Jaze started to speak, but was interrupted by a voice in his ear.

“Colonel, this is Control, and we have a problem sir.”

The human leader put a finger to the comm, “What is it?”

“First things first, we have another ship inbound to this system; we can’t tell what it is but it will be here in an hour or so. Secondly, the two ships already in orbit have launched a wave of fighters. They are moving quickly and appear to be heading right for us.”

“Damn,” the gold and black armored soldier muttered before speaking clearly, “Have the Thundercats get ready to take off, we can’t let the enemy fighters get close.”

Shattered Skies

The human Marines rushed to launch their fighter craft from their landing area, and every pilot waited with nervous anticipation for authorization to launch. The group of aircraft slowly made its way into the air to meet the incoming enemy craft. The fighters already in the air hovered a safe distance away from the launch site to wait for the rest of the craft to follow them into the air.

Jaze and the rest of the Angel squad came running through the camp, making a dead sprint for their respective aircraft. Their planes were sitting near the edge of the formation still on the ground, and the Colonel was grateful to see that they looked ready to launch at a moment’s notice. All the four pilots had to do was get behind the controls and fly. The friends made a beeline for their grounded craft, but a figure detached itself from the chaos of the launches and made a run for the group. As she neared, the assassin could see that she was wearing the uniform of a maintenance tech and had a look of a person ready to face down a ferocious animal.

“Uh, Colonel, sir?” the tech called when she drew level with Jaze and his friends, “Before you see your fighter, I just wanted to say that it was a joke the other pilots played. We never intended to leave it there, but then we got attacked and…”

The silver-eyed human’s face set in a frown, “We don’t have time for this soldier, what happened? Can our fighters still fly?”

“Yes sir! They will fly just fine, but…”

“Then what is the problem?” Sands asked irritably.

“You’ll just have to look for yourself.” the flustered tech answered quickly.

Jaze took a deep breath and climbed the ladder to see what damage had been done to his precious machine. The cockpit looked fine, just as he had left it last time he had flown it, and all the indicators shone a bright, reassuring green. Try as he might, he could not find what had the tech below him so worried, until he looked up at the canopy and saw a reflection of a drawing on the wing of his craft.

The Colonel hung his head out of the cockpit to get a clear view of the design carefully painted onto his fighter. On each wing someone had drawn a stylized white angel wing that stretched from the wingtip to where it connected to the fuselage, each and every pearl-white feather carefully crafted with unerring precision. The white paint stood out nicely from the gunmetal gray of the aircraft, and the dark-haired pilot had to admit that he liked the way it looked. He glanced around to see that each of his friends had the wings painted on their fighters as well, and each looked to have been drawn with the utmost care and attention to detail.

“The men were asking,” the tech called from below, “what kind of angel doesn’t have beautiful wings?”

“They may not be regulation,” Jaze grinned, “but I happen to know the local commander, so I think they can stay.”

“C’mon Jaze!” Shelby yelled, “I want to go play with those Cye fly-boys!”

“Right,” the assassin dropped back into his seat and quickly donned his flight harness, “let’s get up there. We need to keep the Cye air support well away from our troops on the ground.”

Jaze jammed a small black button on the side of the cockpit and the canopy dropped down on the fighter to seal with a hiss. The experienced pilot’s hands flew across the console before him and quickly brought the aircraft to life; the whole vessel hummed with power, and it rose into the air, closely followed by three more of the sleek fighters. They turned the noses of the Thundercats in the direction of the battlefield and pushed the craft to maximum speed; each of the forty pilots rocketed towards where the enemy would break into the atmosphere, several of them whispering silent prayers for victory.

XXX

The Cye and human fighters finally came into view of each other, and Jaze could feel his stomach knotting with anticipation of the chaotic battle that was about to ensue. He was at the front of a diamond composed of his fighter; Shelby’s and Vincent’s to his left and right, with Dmitri bring up the rear. The rest of the human craft followed a similar pattern and the whole group composed one giant diamond, with the Angels group leading the attack.

The Colonel looked to the enemy aircraft, noticing that they were not arranged nearly as neatly, preferring instead to be spread loosely across the sky and have more room to maneuver their relatively unwieldy fighters. He knew the android pilots had the ability to communicate at the speed of light with one another which made for almost instantaneous sharing of information, a distinct advantage against an opponent that had to rely on the much slower spoken word.

The human commander pushed those thoughts from his mind and sealed the helmet of his new armor before addressing the assembled Marine pilots, “This is Angel Lead to all fighter flights, break formation and move to engage the enemy at twelve o’clock. Good luck and Godspeed, Angel Lead out.”

“Hey Jaze,” Shelby’s voice came over the assassin’s comm, “Wanna make another bet of it?”

“Sure, why not?” he called back, “What did you have in mind?”

“Lowest bandits splashed buys all the booze we can drink at the celebration party. You in?”

“I can go in for that, what about you Vincent?” Jaze asked the large pilot.

“Sure, why not?” His tone took on a sarcastic air, “I can’t lose twice, can I?”

“Do I still have to pay if I lose?” Sands asked hopefully, “Seeing as how I am the new guy and all?”

“Yes, and you have no right not to participate!” Shelby cried happily while her fighter accelerated, “I’m gonna get first kill!”

“Like hell you are!” Vincent yelled as he followed close behind his eager fiancée, Sands moving after the pair.

For a moment, Jaze hovered back away from the fray and watched as the human pilots engaged the invading androids. He began noticing that there were a few fighters that had strangely grouped closely together, as if they were protecting something, or someone. As the soldier studied the clumps of android fighters, he noticed that at the heart of each was a single aircraft.

The fighters in the center of the groups seemed like every other craft, except that they were being treated as if they were hiding something precious. The human commander pushed his jet towards the nearest clump of the androids air force, dodging between the many dog fights that were breaking out to close in on his chosen target. As his plane edged closer to the formation, he saw the enemy alter its path and begin flying away from the human, but they were moving far slower than they could and the RX-80 was easily gaining on the retreating formation.

Just as the human pilot’s craft closed in on the Cye fighters, they broke formation and began to try and harry the assassin’s plane towards the ground. A grim look took hold of his face as he blasted out of the trap he suddenly found himself in, the planet’s atmosphere dragging at the plane as the pilot banked away and made it feel sluggish compared to the fight in space. Fortunately, the enemy were under the same constraints and the dark-haired human was able to circle around to come in behind one of the enemy fighters.

The clumsy android pilot’s craft was torn out from under him when Jaze triggered the Thundercat’s machinegun and poured lead into the enemy fighter, the cannon’s roar dampened only slightly by the cockpit’s walls. The human watched his foe turn into a flaming smear of wreckage before he turned to engage the rest of the group. There were about six enemy flyers left now, including the one that had been guarded which seemed to be letting its escorts handle the fight and as hovering well away from the pitched battle. The assassin tried to keep that one in the corner of his eye, but the rest of the group was making it impossible.

Jaze turned his full attention to the fight at hand in time to hear a warning sound from the console behind him, one of the androids had sent a missile his way. The human craft rolled upside down and flew through a tight flip before ending up behind an enemy pilot trying to take advantage of the human’s distraction to finish him off. The assassin rewarded the eager pilot by sending a pair of missiles to remove the back end of its plane and sending it spiraling to the ground, trailing smoke. A blur of motion caught the human’s eye, and he turned his head to see another fighter had closed in behind him.

“Alright,” he growled, “you want it, you got it!” He yanked back on the stick to send his fighter into a steep climb and saw his foe follow. He climbed several hundred feet before he rolled his plane to the right and let its speed drop off to get behind the Cye aircraft and pepper it with machinegun fire. The rounds must have hit something vital, because the smoking craft lost power and began falling towards the amassed android army below.

The Colonel looked up to see two more enemy flyers closing in from the front. They each fired several missiles, and the human was forced to dive towards the ground a let some flares loose to avoid the volley. His heart pounded in his throat as the two androids slotted in behind him, one above and one below, and he pushed the RX-80 as fast as it would go while turning to try and break away from the pursuing robots. The enemy flyers refused to give up and stuck right on his tail.

Another fighter banked around until it was pointed directly at the nose of the Colonel’s craft, and it gave the human an idea. He squeezed every ounce of speed he could from the Thundercat and shot toward the android powering for his nose. Now that he was not turning at every moment, the pursuers were gaining on him, and the soldier silently egged them on. The assassin watched and held his breath while the four aircraft slowly converged.

Just as the fighter in front was about to hit, the human quickly rolled his craft over and pulled back on the stick, hoping that to the Cye he had seemed to vanish. The ploy worked better than he could have hoped; two enemy fighter-craft became smoky smears across the sky when they slammed into one another and tore themselves apart, though the third escaped no worse for wear. The Colonel circled back until he was underneath the now retreating android and destroyed the craft with a missile and a sustained burst from his rotary cannon, passing through the debris to look for another target.

The last two fighters from the formation decided to attack as one and flew in from either side. Jaze was forced to push the accelerator to the maximum to avoid the androids’ assault, and they were behind him before he could do anything. They followed close behind and raked his plane with their machineguns, peppering the hull with several small holes.

The pilot cursed and twisted his fighter away, only to find himself face to face with a missile. He yelped in terror and pulled hard on the stick to rocket his plane higher into the air and out of the path of the rocket, merely to be forced to roll to the side to avoid another burst from one of the Cye planes’ machineguns. The enemy craft were forcing the assassin to stay in turn almost constantly to avoid hails of bullets and swarms of missiles, and he was unable to get off a shot in retaliation. It was only a matter of time before one of them made a clean hit and sent him toward the ground in a flaming wreck. From above, the Colonel caught a flash of fire and looked up to see one of the robot’s craft burning and falling from the sky.

His savior flew next to him and triggered her comm, “This is callsign Banshee Four, Airman Marin, at your service sir. One of your friends saw you was in a bit of trouble, asked me to come bail you out.”

Jaze breathed a short sigh of relief before responding, “Thanks for that. You want to help me take out the last couple of fighters?”

“Sure, let’s toast us some robo-freaks!”

The pair of pilots turned towards the last pursing fighter, the Colonel’s aircraft coming in from below while Marin drove the android downwards with bursts from her machinegun, herding the robot into the assassin’s sights. The silver-eyed man waited for the enemy flyer to drop neatly into range, and his thumb hovered over the missile’s launch button as the RX-80’s computer locked on to the enemy’s craft. When the console gave a loud beep to indicate a solid lock, he sent the rocket screaming towards his target and turned the enemy fighter into a greasy smear across the sky.

The assassin’s face broke into a smirk with the thrill of combat pounding through him. He fell in behind Airman Marin and triggered his comm, “Thanks again for the assistance, let’s get that last one and get back to that furball.” The pair circled around until they were lined up with the still unmoving craft that had been in the center of the formation a few minutes ago.

“Don’t you even worry about that one Colonel, sir.” The cocky pilot replied, “He ain’t even moving, I can take that one by myself.”

“Wait, don’t…!” the human commander started, but it was too late. The confident Airman tore towards the stationary fighter and sent several missiles toward it followed by a burst from her rotary cannon. To the Colonel’s eye, it looked like he was worried for nothing, and that the enemy plane was just going to sit there and be destroyed. Until it suddenly danced away from the death flung at it, and slotted in behind Marin as she blew through where the enemy fighter had been before.

“What the fu…” the unlucky Airman started, but she never got the chance to finish, and her plane was torn asunder from the combined effects of a small volley of missiles and a sustained burst from a machinegun. The assassin prayed to see a stark white splash through the smoke of her Thundercat, but his hopes were dashed as the fighter slowly arced towards the ground below to plow a small trench into the dirt below.

Jaze closed his eyes briefly and spat into his comm, “Control, Banshee Four is down; repeat, Banshee Four is down.” He paused before saying quietly, “No chute.”

“Thank you sir,” a man’s voice replied, “we’ll send S and R as soon as we can.”

The Colonel dropped lower to stare at the smoking wreckage before answering, “I don’t think it’s necessary. Armand out.” He switched comm channels and growled, “All pilots listen up! The groups of fighters have an ace in the middle, take him out first. How copy?”

After the dark-haired human received confirmation of his orders from every pilot still in the air, he began searching the skies for Airman Marin’s killer. He soon found the enemy circling high above his kill, awaiting the next challenge, and Jaze was more than happy to oblige. He put the RX-80 into a steep climb and pushed the throttle to the max, becoming a streak trailing long, white contrails as he powered toward the ace. The enemy fighter must have seen him, because it dipped its nose and began flying straight at him.

The assassin and the enemy ace tore through the sky at one another, and the Colonel’s hand hovered over the air brake. He saw his foe edging to one side to shoot past him and watched the enemy fighter roll over so that its wing was pointed at the ground. The human commander copied the maneuver so the two aircraft could brush past each other. Time seemed to slow to a crawl for the assassin as the planes passed mere inches from crashing, and he looked through the cockpit’s canopy to see his foe.

Jaze’s face went slack with shock as he looked at a blank faced cyborg at the helm of the fighter. Most of the right side of the ace’s face had been replaced with a bare-metal cybernetic replacement, enough that it was impossible to tell if the cyborg was male or female. Its hair was completely gone, and any other discerning features were hidden beneath the cyborg’s flight suit. The Colonel looked into his foe’s eyes, one an unnatural completely black replacement and the other the cyborg’s natural brown.

The enemy ace shot past the assassin’s aircraft and pulled out of its dive to aim for a large storm cloud. The human shook away his shock and yanked on the air brake to set his fighter after the cyborg’s and follow it up into the cloud bank. Condensation and small droplets of rain smeared the cockpit’s canopy and the light from the sun dimmed. Sight was nearly useless as he could only see a few feet before everything was obscured by the rolling gray mass. Something about the dark cloud he was in set off alarm bells in the silver-eyed man’s head, and it took several minutes for him to realize why.

The human commander thought out loud while trying to peer through the thick vapors filling the air, “This cloud is moving against the wind, how?” He was flying blind, and could not see or hear anything that hinted at his elusive foe. The assassin backed off on his craft’s speed and kept scanning around him for the enemy ace. In front of and above him, the cloud was beginning to thin and he could just make out a shape through the wet air. Jaze hit the thrusters on the plane and jumped toward the shape to burst out from the cloud in bright sunlight with the star behind him. The shape suddenly became clear as he shot out of the cloud and saw he was barreling down on a surprised, light gray pegasus mare.

Jaze let out a loud grunt of surprise and yanked on the flight stick to jerk his plane away before he ran over the startled pony. He looked back to see her shaking a hoof at him before she went back to pushing the cloud along. As the human scanned the large storm front, he began to pick out more and more pegasi straining their wings to move the lumbering mass of vapor into place.

What the hell are they doing with a rain cloud? The Colonel thought as he flew over the heads of the laboring ponies before a thought struck him, Wait, rain cloud? Rain cloud! A grin of amusement slowly spread across the assassin’s face and he silently began rooting the pegasi on, You guys are brilliant, the rain will… The silver-eyed human would not get to finish his thought, as a dark shadow suddenly fell across the cock pit of his fighter. He looked up to see the cyborg ace had finally risen above the clouds and was directly behind, and all the Colonel had time for was one brief curse before the enemy craft let loose a barrage of missiles.

XXX

In the trenches, Shining Armor stood to Celestia’s right and cast the spent casings from the rifle of the Marine standing next to him into the hordes of androids. This marked the first time he had ever disobeyed a command from his Princess, as she had long since ordered him to leave her side and move to another spot. The purple armored unicorn could feel the Princess’ anger fuming next to him, but he refused to allow another of those robotic assassins a chance to get close. From what he had gathered, a small number of the fiends had made it into the trenches and killed over a hundred people and ponies before being taken down by the beleaguered defenders.

Even as he thought of the metal monstrosities, the unicorn watched another one break from the Cye line and dart towards the trench, bent over double and moving quickly. It seemed to be heading straight at the Guard Captain, zigzagging to avoid the deadly rain of gunfire directed from the Marine assault rifles as well as numerous magically guided projectiles from the unicorns manning the line. The android assassin dodged everything thrown at it and raced towards the purple armored Captain, who placed his hooves on the lip of the trench and let out a short huff. His back legs coiled under him, and he readied to spring from the trench into the beast’s path.

A mere second before Shining Armor jumped into the android’s path, it jerked from a bullet slamming dead center into its chest, a large hole forming where the bullet hit. The impact made it stand straight up, though it kept going forward, and the shooter took the chance to put two more rounds into the thing for good measure. The android fell into the trench next to Shining Armor and he cast his eyes around for its killer. The unicorn turned and looked behind him, where he could just see the glint from some lens sparkling in the sun on top of a hill of excess dirt from the building of the trenches. A purple hoof and a hand waved at him from the hilltop, and a bemused grin fell on the Captain’s face.

“Even now you’re watching out for me Twilee. Thanks.” The unicorn turned back to the fight and picked up the fallen robot and yelled, “I think you dropped this!” before throwing the thing with all the magical force he could muster at the mass of metal enemies before him.

The sound of whimpering cut through the din of gunfire, and the stallion looked down the trench to see a dark gray unicorn stallion in the black armor of the Night Guard lying on the floor of the ditch with his hooves over his head. His eyes were tightly clenched, and he seemed to be muttering under his breath. The Captain moved closer to make out what the pony was saying.

“Why?” the terrified pony muttered, “I didn’t sign up for this! Never told me that I would be fighting metal demons straight from the maw of Tartarus!” A Marine standing next to the stallion suddenly fell to the ground, screaming and holding the hand that was now missing several fingers.

The gray unicorn took one look at the screaming human and bolted upright, “Forget this, I’m outta here!” The terrified stallion made to jump from the trench, only to be tackled by a purple armored blur of fur and fury. The Night Guard stared up at the scowl of his Captain, and a knot that had formed in his stomach suddenly gained a ton of weight.

“Where did you think you were going?” Shining Armor asked with cold anger filling his eyes and voice.

“I, I can’t do this Captain,” the pinned stallion screamed, “let me go, please! I have a wife!” He tried to shove the stronger stallion away, only to have a hoof shoved into his black armored chest and be forced to the ground again.

“What’s your name?” asked the white stallion in a calm voice.

“Gr-Graphite sir!” the unicorn yelled.

“Well Graphite, if you want to live you stay right here.” explained the Captain, “You can leave this trench if you really want,” he removed his hoof from the fallen stallion and stepped away, “but if you leave they will tear you apart.”

Graphite stared up at the white stallion with fear filled eyes, “We’re all gonna die here, aren’t we Captain?”

“Not if you get your rump to that line and do your duty.” Shining Armor pointed down the line to where Celestia and Luna were firing powerful magical blasts into the stalled army of androids, “You took an oath to protect your Princesses, your people, and your home. All of that is in danger now. This is what you signed up for; this is what the Guards are sworn to fight. Now are you going to do your duty?”

“Y-yessir!” The unicorn rolled to his feet and moved towards trench wall and began casting casings, rocks, and anything else in his reach at the Cye troops once more.

Shining Armor grinned at the soldier and moved to take his place back among the line. Suddenly, a dark shadow passed over the trenches. The unicorn looked up to see a dark storm cloud passing over the sun, and watched two fighter craft disappear into the mass of vapor from below. The cloud flew quickly towards the clashing armies, seemingly changing directions to position itself over the Cye army. The Captain noticed several shapes darting out from the cloud before shooting back up above the vapor.

The stallion heard Celestia take a breath from next to him, “Captain, is that what I think it is?” She pointed with a hoof towards a group of enemy fighter craft moving slowly towards the line.

“I think so Your Majesty.” Shining Armor looked up toward the alicorn with a worried look, “I think you should call the Knight-General.”

XXX

“Dammit all to hell!” Jaze screamed and he yanked on the flight stick to pull away from the cyborg’s attack. The most of the missiles shot past him harmlessly, but one got close enough to donate, the blast rocking the Colonel’s plane and sending it spiraling towards the ground far below.

Warning sirens shrieked and panels turned red to tell the human what he already knew, he was going down. The plane twisted through the air and fell into the cloud below, and the assassin tried in vain to get the fighter steady, but a light on the console next to him warned him that the craft had lost power. The human’s heart was pounding as he reset the system, his finger hovering over the start switch a moment before he flicked it down and back up.

Nothing, the engine seemed completely gone. He let out a curse and flicked the switch again. Again, he failed to hear the reassuring sound of the gentle hum from the engine. “Come on baby,” the Colonel whispered lovingly to the craft, “third time’s the charm…” He flipped the switch again and was greeted by silence. He had fallen beneath the cloud and into the darkness below, and the ground suddenly looked a lot closer whenever his plane turned over and showed terra firma below.

Vincent’s voice suddenly came over the assassin’s comm, “Jaze, she’s gone! Time to eject!”

“No,” the silver-eyed man replied far more coolly than he felt, “if I do now I might get trapped under the fighter. I can still save her.” He flicked the switch down, waited a second, and flipped it again. Still nothing. The panicking human slammed his fist into the console before him and screamed, “Work damn you!” before he flicked the switch one more time.

Finally, the sweet sound of the reactor happily humming away filled the cockpit, and the human commander let out a sigh of relief. But he was not safe yet, as he was still spiraling out of control to a sudden stop. I crashed a plane here once, I’m not doing it again. Jaze thought and he fought with the flight stick to level the plane out before he smashed into the ground below.

The silver-eyed man gritted his teeth and wrestled with the fighter to level it out and begin climbing back into the sky. The Colonel glanced at his altimeter and suddenly felt sick, he managed to level his plane a mere five hundred feet from the hard earth below. He was looking down at the army of androids below, stalled before the ragged defenders. As he flew over the Cye troopers, he began to notice small gaps in the previously impenetrable wall of metal they had been before. The assassin glanced towards the forest and noticed that the flood of Cye seemed to be slowing to the point of stopping.

The comm in his ear buzzed and Celestia voice came through, “Colonel, we have a problem. Some of the flying machines seem to be getting very close to the soldiers in this ditch, and we would very much like you to send some of your flyers to remove them.”

“Not a problem Princess,” Jaze called enthusiastically, “I can send a couple fighters to wipe them out immediately.”

The Solar Princess’s sigh of relief came through as a rush of static, “Thank you. Is your own aircraft still functional?”

The Colonel cast his eyes around the cockpit, checking various readouts from and looking out of the canopy to see how the fighter seemed to be holding up from the rough ride, “Got a little smoke, but I doubt that is anything to worry about. Lost a hint of power, but I can adjust for that.”

“Good, I would hate to lose a…” she paused before finishing lamely, “a, uh, capable soldier.”

“Trust me, I would hate to be lost.” The dark-haired soldier put his craft into a steep climb and powered toward the cloud bank once more, “Hey, got some good news for you folks on the ground. I can see what looks like the end of their troops; this is almost over, just hang on for a little longer.”

“This, this is wonderful news!” Celestia crowed excitedly. Realizing how relieved she sounded, the Princess buried her happiness and continued, “I shall start spreading the news, this will be a huge boost for the troops.”

“Yeah,” Jaze agreed, “and now we have a secret weapon. Armand out.” He switched comm channels and spoke quickly, “Dash, you still there?”

“Yeah Jaze,” the rainbow-maned pegasus replied immediately, “what’s up?”

“That big rain cloud that is moving over us is being guided by pegasi,” explained the assassin, “probably from Cloudsdale. I want you to send some pegasi from the Guard and Wonderbolts to help them move it faster, but you and some of the Guards need to stay behind to keep watch, that clear?”

“Rodger that chief, I’m on it.” The speedster cackled and said proudly, “Time for some payback, you metal morons!”

The Colonel smiled and switched channels once more, “To all fighters, is there any one not engaged with the enemy right now?”

“This is Banshee One; me and Banshee Three are clear.” a gruff male voice answered, “What ya need?”

“Got a group of bandits closing in on the front, more than likely setting up for a bombing run. I want you to provide support and draw off those fighters. Remember, there is an ace in the center, take that one out first. Everyone else, as soon as you take down your targets I want you on top of that cloud providing cover for the pegasi moving it. That goes for you too, Banshee One.”

“Yes sir, will do. Banshee One moving to engage, out.”

The Colonel watched as the two aircraft flew towards the enemy formation, and saw a RX-80 with angel wings sidle up next to him and Vincent’s worried voice come over the comm, “Jaze, I got a bad feeling about those bandits.”

“Think I should send more to deal with them?” the assassin asked quickly.

“Naw, I think they will be fine.” The large Angel paused, “I think.”

“They are trained pilots, they can handle themselves.”

Jaze and Vincent flew quickly through the cloud to emerge into the sunlight beyond. They were just in time to see an enemy fighter line up on one of the pegasi furiously beating her wings to push the cloud along. Seeing the enemy’s plan, along with a few pegasi already laying, bleeding, among the dark gray vapors, the assassin sent a burst after the enemy flyer to force it off the attack.

“Ya want me to handle this one Jaze?” Vincent asked.

“No, that one is mine. He’s the one that just tried to kill me.” the Colonel growled viscously, “You make sure no more pegasi are killed.”

“Rodger that, I’ll let you take him.” The large soldier peeled off to fly over the heads of the other ponies, waiting for another enemy to contest his position.

Jaze smiled at the eager pilot, a brief flash of teeth before scowled at the enemy fighter, “Okay you, time for a little payback.” He quickly came up behind the cyborg’s craft and fired another burst from his rotary cannon. “That’s right, I’m back. And I think that I have something to give you.”

The Colonel released a barrage of missiles at the cyborg ace, only to curse when it dodged them with ease. The enemy flyer banked hard to try and shake the human, but the RX-80 showed its maneuverability and he was able to close the gap between them by a few more precious feet. The assassin opened up with his machinegun, pouring fire into the fighter in front of him, scoring a few hits along the fuselage but nothing vital. The assassin’s foe suddenly killed his speed and went over the human’s head to get behind him.

“Two can play that game friend. You can’t take the sky from me!” Jaze shouted and threw the fighter’s throttle to full, shooting well ahead of the enemy and banking around to face his startled opponent. The Colonel sent several missiles at the cyborg, forcing it to turn sharply and allow the human to get back on his tail. The traitor tried to weave around and trick the assassin into shooting past him, but the Thundercat stayed locked onto its prey, the pilot waiting for his computer to have a lock.

As soon as he heard a beep, the assassin grinned and thumbed the missile release. The cyborg tried to turn away, but the missile arced perfectly into its tail and removed the back half of its plane.

The Colonel watched as his foe went into a death spiral towards the ground far below, and gave a one fingered salute, “You were one tough SOB. Rest in peace.” He circled once above his kill before turning to take down another fighter as it came over the top of the clouds, “I guess you want some too; well come on then, show me what you got!”

XXX

Twilight stared through a pair of binoculars at the front line, calling out targets to Stacks laying next her with the long rifle. They had been trading off shooting and spotting since they had taken up this position and the purple unicorn was glad for the break; her shoulder was aching from the rifle’s recoil.

The librarian carefully watched the Cye ranks for any more of the vicious assassin types that had nearly destroyed the defenders before, but they seemed to have disappeared for the time being. So they were focusing on taking down as many human traitors and any Cye troopers they could before they made it to the line. And anyone with a weapon different than the rest of the group. Despite the seriousness of her task, the young mare could not help but keep flicking glances to the incoming enemy flyers. Seeing the air forces sent a shiver down her back and set her on edge, but Celestia had just said that the end was near, that the androids were running out of troops. So the purple pony gritted her teeth and tried to focus on her task, even though she continued to look toward the enemy aircraft every few minutes.

The Lance Corporal dispatched all of his marks with silent efficiency. Gone was the joking, loud mouthed, young letch, and in his place was a quite killer. He had not missed a single shot, and many of his rounds passed through the first target and took down another. The sniper dropped the magazine from the long rifle and continued plugging away, waiting for the unicorn next to him to bring a worthy target under his scope. Twilight was simply amazed at the scarred young man’s skill, and was glad that she was working with him.

The unicorn turned her attention back to the front line, and a purple armored pony jumped out of the crowd for her. Seeing her brother, the pony she loved more than almost any other, fighting and killing made everything seem surreal. He was usually so kind and gentle, but now Shining Armor had become a death slinging machine; every time his horn glowed a slight purplish-pink another android fell dead with something lodged in its chest. Come to think of it, the horrified pony suddenly thought, how is he, or I, any different than them?

Once more, the sights beneath the shattered city of Cloudsdale came to mind. Ponies, from the very old to the very young, had been spread across the ground, and every now and then the search party would pull a broken human body from the rain muddied ground. Whenever a particularly strong wind blew the party would get the stench of death filling their nostrils, and more than a few people and ponies making up the search party would suddenly find their stomach in their mouth. By some stroke of luck, they would find a few ponies who managed to survive their trip to the ground; discoveries that only drove the team to keep looking, and hoping.

Twilight began to shiver again, and the memories were flooding into her mind no matter how hard she tried to force them back into a deep part of her mind. She felt the memories beginning to take on a life of their own, consuming her and pulling her in. The young bookworm wanted to scream, but her jaw was locked tight. Her eyes glazed over and she felt her legs crumple beneath her, the memories over powering her.

She was once more stepping over the broken bodies of her friends, but now she was alone. Alone with the smell of death all around her. Nopony was nearby, nopony alive at any rate. There seemed to be more bodies than there were ponies in Cloudsdale, but what did she know; how could she argue with what was right in front of her?

The purple mare stepped over the body of yet another pegasus, this one a young mare, with a bright pink coat and a yellow mane, still clutching her child. She stopped to look at the mother, the look of anguish frozen on the pony’s face drawing her took closer. She wished she could have saved the pair, or at least the child. Tears began to spill from the unicorn’s eyes and she started to leave, but then the fallen pegasus moved. Her eyes, glazed and white from death, fluttered open to stare and her head twisted up to look at the terrified mare.

“Why couldn’t it be you?” the pink mare accused, “Why did my baby die and you live?”

Twilight backed away from the specter, her eyes wide with fright and her mouth suddenly dry, “I… I don’t, we couldn’t…”

The dead mare stood up, revealing ghastly wounds on her chest. “You didn’t try to save us!” she screamed, “You didn’t try to save my baby!”

“I tried, I really did.” the librarian cried, “I wish you were still alive, I do!”

“It’s all you fault! It’s your fault we died, you killed us!” The pegasus mare jumped and grabbed the crying unicorn in a powerful hold, “Now you will stay with us forever!”

“NOOOOOOO!” Twilight screamed. She gave a powerful kick to dislodge the vengeful pony and bolted away, jumping over the bodies of the dead to get away. Another body suddenly jumped up, this one a human Marine missing part of her face, and grabbed her ankles, pulling her down to the blood and rain soaked earth.

“I died, why didn’t you?” the Marine begged, “Why did I have to die? It hurt so bad, let me share…”

“Let me go, get away!” the mare screamed over and over, kicking with her hind legs to free them from the things grip. Its hold finally broke, and she jumped to her hooves to find herself surrounded by the walking dead each one reaching out to her with hands and accusations.

The rain suddenly became much warmer; Twilight was horrified to see it had become blood, and the clouds above had all taken on a scarlet hue. The pony’s legs would no longer support her, and she fell to the ground. Soon, the dead began piling in on top of her, suffocating her, crushing her and begging her to join them. The unicorn tried to push them away, but there were too many, and the beings were too strong.

“Join us, join us, join us.” The chant pushed at her ears, and her struggles became weaker and weaker, “Join us, join us, join us join us join us JOIN US!”

Sis grabbed the screaming unicorn and dragged her off the hilltop and shouted to her brother, “Keep ‘em busy bro, I’ma try and get this poor girl back!”

“Do it,” the sniper responded quietly, “I don’t need a spotter anymore.”

The female Marine nodded and turned her attention to the shaking pony. “Hey Twi? Can you hear me girl? Don’t shut down on me now, we have a problem. C’mon wake up!”

“No,” the mare whimpered, her eyes tightly closed, “go away, I did what I could. Leave me alone!”

“Twilight, I know they look real. But they aren’t, you just gotta see that.” The blonde haired soldier hugged the stricken pony tight, “C’mon, you can do it. Just come back, c’mon kid.”

“Sis,” the Lance Corporal yelled, “I’m running low on ammo here. We have to move, get her up!”

“I’m trying!” she yelled back before returning her attention to Twilight, “Kid, I really didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice.” The woman raised her hand and delivered a hard slap on the pony’s face. As she hoped, the unicorn suddenly opened her eyes and focused them on the human holding her.

Purple eyes filled with tears, and the bookworm buried her face in the Marine’s chest, “I… I can’t do this…”

“Do you need another slap?” the woman growled, surprising the young mare enough that she pulled away, “Because I know you are tougher than that! You didn’t even bat an eye when I pegged you with a rubber round during your training! Now you’re gonna let some stupid thought slow you down?”

“I… I don’t…” Twilight swallowed and set her face in a determined grimace, “No, I won’t!”

“Damn right you won’t!” Sis stood the pony on her feet, “Now we gotta move.”

The unicorn nodded and looked out over the battlefield and noticed something strange, “Where are the enemy flyers and what in the hoof is that?” She pointed with a hoof towards a small aircraft hovering over the Cye lines that looked like a squat pyramid turned upside down with another, small pyramid on top.

“It’s a collection unit.” Stacks grunted. On the ship’s side two ports opened briefly to let out a few floating drones that looked like a cross between a flying spider and a basket, but nearly eight feet across. The drones began grabbing fallen androids and tossing them into the basket at its center, completely ignoring the rounds that pinged off its armor.

“What’s it doing here?” Twilight breathed, almost afraid it could hear her. “Where did it come from?”

“Those drones pick up the dead Cye and put them in that ship, which takes them back to one of the ships in orbit to be repaired or recycled. Then dropships will bring them back to keep fighting.” the sniper explained, “And those fighters we saw before were a complex hologram, just so it could sneak close and start its job. Those two poor Thundercats pilots didn’t know and accidently rammed into it.”

“Can’t we stop it?”

“No,” Sis said bitterly, “its armor is way too thick. It would take a railgun to get through it, and guess what we don’t have. They’re slow, but almost impossible to kill.”

“Is there no other way?” the purple mare asked. She grabbed the binoculars from where she had dropped them and pressed them to her face, studying the craft for anything to bring it down.

“Not that we know of,” the Lance Corporal assured as he stood, “It is not like those heavies.”

“Uh, huh.” Twilight responded thoughtfully. She watched a drone disappear quickly into the port that flashed open and closed in an instant, and again when the drone left. An idea started to form in her head. “Stacks, I think I know how we can take it down.”

“Wha…?” the startled sniper asked, “How?

“I think if you could get a round in one of the ports as it opened, you can hit it where it doesn’t have any armor: on the inside. All you need to do is wait for one of the drones to go in.”

“Twilight, that’s…” Sis started.

“That’s bloody brilliant!” Stacks finished, “I think I can put the round in there, you just have to tell me when one of drone is coming in for docking.” The sniper went prone again and stared through his scope at the biggest target in his life, “Not got enough ammo for much, this is my last mag. Ten shots, that’s it and we’re done.”

“Okay, group of drones coming in.”

The dirty blonde woman laughed and stared at her brother and the unicorn, “You two are crazy!”

“No, it’ll work.” the Lance Corporal assured, “It’s all about timing.” He saw the drones enter the side of his scope, and he took a breath to steady himself. When the port flashed open, he fired a single round, only to have it slam uselessly against the armored door when it slammed shut.

“You need to shoot just before it opens, but that was close.” Twilight lectured.

The ship was moving now, as if the sniper needed the shot to be any more impossible. He steady himself and tracked the craft, waiting for the next drone to get close. When he guessed everything was right, he fired a trio of shots.

“Darn,” the unicorn spotter cursed, “those shots caught the lip of the door as it opened.”

“Alright then.” Stacks laughed, “I guess it is time to use the shotgun method.”

When the third drone in line moved toward the door, the sniper squeezed of the last six rounds as fast as the weapon would cycle them. Time slowed as unicorn and human alike watched with bated breath for the rounds to find their target. As the bullets reached the door, it flickered open to admit the deadly projectiles. Two of the rounds hit the rim of the door, but the rest of the rounds passed through to hit in the unprotected guts of the ship.

“Come on babies,” the sniper cooed lovingly, “hit something important, make daddy proud.” At first, it seemed like it had all been wasted effort, until the aircraft started to list. The ship slowly turned over and plowed into the ground, crushing a huge chunk of the androids below as it dug a shallow grave for itself.

“It, it worked.” Sis stated in wide eyed shock, “I can’t believe that worked.”

“Damn right it did!” the Lance Corporal crowed happily. He grabbed Twilight in a sudden hug and planted an unexpected kiss on her check before smiling, “You’re a beautiful person, pony, thing, whatever!” The mad sniper jumped up and started dancing and singing, “We killed it, we killed it, it’s dead and we killed it!”

To put an exclamation point on their victory, the cloud had finally gotten settled over the Cye army. After a short pause, rain began to fall on the unprotected androids below. The effects were not immediate, but as the water worked through their bodies the robot began falling over in groups; their bodies twitching as their programming pushed them to get back up. Twilight thought it was at once beautiful and terrible to watch the robots die, because it meant this fight was finally over.

The few human traitors left among the Cye ranks either threw down their weapons in surrender or turned to run, only to be shot from behind by the now victorious defenders. Cries of elation came from the trench, and many of the Marines and Guards started dancing in the rain.

Tears filled Twilight’s eyes as the realization hit her. “That’s it.” she whispered, “It’s over. It’s all over.”

“No kid, not quite.” Stacks whispered back.

“Why not?” the distraught unicorn asked.

“There are still two ships in orbit above the planet, we gotta get them down.” Sis jumped in, “But that can wait for a little while. We still kicked some android ass here, and we can take a breather.” A mad grin lit the woman’s face, “Then we get to finish the fight for this planet for good.”

“I’m glad that at least we are done for now.” A sudden grin flew across the young mare’s face, “I can’t wait to tell Shining Armor what we did!”

XXX

Rainbow Dash had been watching the battle for her home unfold from a cloud above and behind the trench line, and her thoughts were torn between joy and disappointment. Joy that the fighting was over, but disappointment that she had not had a chance to do anything other than watch. Even so, the speedster knew her job was important.

“At least some pegasi got to help.” she reassured herself, “That one’s for Cloudsdale.” She decided that she would have her small team of pegasi check in one more time before she left to find her friends, so she called into her comm, “Hey everypony, what’s goin’ on around here. Anything that seems weird?”

All of the assembled Royal Guard pegasi responded with a negative over comm, all but one; the one that was stationed on the far side of Ponyville. The rainbow-maned athlete growled, of course somepony would not respond for the last call. She swore that if the pony in question had lost his comm, she was going to play soccer with his head. So she left her cloud and stretched out her wings, making a beeline for the other Guard’s roost.

As the cyan pony neared another puff of cloud, she caught sight of a dark green hoof sticking out from one side. Of course, Dash thought venomously, he fell asleep! And the lazy soldier was about to get a very rude awakening, from a very annoyed mare.

“Hey Helios!” the pony yelled, “Wake up you idiot! We just won, and you are sleepin?” When the hoof failed to move or its owner to respond, the mare flew a little closer, “Hey, you okay?”

She landed on the cloud and looked at the sleeping stallion. Except that the two holes in his neck meant he was not asleep, but dead. His eyes bulged with anger and pain, and one hoof was frozen next the comm in his ear, a vain attempt to warn the rest of the lookout group.

Dash dropped to hug the cloud with her belly and began scanning for what could have killed the pegasus. “It couldn’t be an airplane, we would have seen that. But what else could it have been?” The speedy pony looked down and realized she was very close to the ground, an easy shot for a skilled marksman.

“Could it have…” she wondered aloud before searching the ground and town below. Next to Ponyville Town Hall, she saw several humans holding weapons that did not look like Marine assault rifles on a large group ponies consisting mostly of fillies and colts with a few older ponies mixed in. The humans were gesturing with their rifles and separating the young from their chaperones. When one pony moved to stop them, a human viciously clubbed the pony to the ground, adding a kick to make sure the point was made.

The humans took their prize of fillies and colts and led them away from the town, skirting the human camp and trench by a wide margin. They were headed for the forest from where the androids had been pouring from for the last few hours. Dash had seen more than enough, and she fumbled with the comm to make it connect, “Jaze, we need help! There are some bad lookin guys stealin kids from town and takin to the forest! We gotta stop ‘em!”

Silence for a moment, and then the assassin’s angered voice came back over the earpiece, “Dammit all! We’ve been played! I’ll have a group of Marines and Guards go save them. You sit tight Dash. Don’t do anything, copy?”

The cyan pegasus gritted her teeth and stared at the quickly moving humans. She did a quick count, there was only eight of them and she had the element of surprise. She glanced to the sword at her hip, and the gauntlet on her hoof, “I’m sorry Jaze, I can’t wait. Those poor kids are gonna get hurt if I don’t do sumthin’ now!”

“Dash, don’t do anything!” Jaze yelled in fear, his voice showing that he knew it was futile, “You can’t help them, you’ll just get hurt. Stay there, we’re coming!”

“Sorry, but I just can’t sit here.” The rainbow mare shoved aside the human’s angry curses and stretched her wings. With a quick snort, the pegasus dove from the cloud, tucking her wings and hooves as close to her body as she could. Like a cyan missile from on high, she became a deadly blur aimed at the traitorous humans’ backs.

A small scowl split her face as she closed in, now she could begin to pick out individuals from the mass of fur that was the stolen children. She saw several fillies and colts, including Scootaloo and her friends, along with several others. And there, near the back of the back, was Zephyr. Seeing the small filly drove a roar of rage from the speedster’s lips, the little pegasus was the only thing left of one of her friends and the last piece of innocence from Cloudsdale.

Unfortunately, someone below must have heard her yell because the humans stopped and drew a bead on the charging pegasus. It was far too late to back out now, and Dash’s wings flared open to push herself faster towards the humans. She dropped her right hoof down and locked the sword’s blade into the gauntlet and drew the weapon, planning to take down as many as she could in one pass. But her foes had other plans, and one fired a few quick bursts from his weapon at her.

The cyan mare tried to pull up and away, but only managed to give them a bigger target and she felt a few rounds hit her chest, knocking the air from her lungs and wings and sending her crashing to the ground below.

She heaved at the air, trying to coax some back into her lungs while she tried to stand. A sudden kick to the side of her head sent the pony back down to the ground and made black spots swim before her vision. She tried to claw her way back to her hooves, but the muzzle of a rifle halted her progress. She followed the gun up to its owner’s leering face and decided that she would at least take that one with her.

A hand appeared on the human’s shoulder and a calm female voice spoke up, “Hang on, that one’s a friend of the Colonel. We should take her with us.”

The man with a gun to Dash’s head nodded and offered a wicked grin to the kneeling pony, “Good night then sweetie.” The butt of his rifle snapped into the side of her head and bounced it off the ground.

Blackness ate at the pegasus’s vision, and she finally focused on Jaze’s voice for the first time since she started her ill-fated dive, “Dash, what’s going on? Talk to me. Dash? Dash? Daaaaaassssh?!” She tried to respond, but all she could do was fall over and let the darkness claim her.

Kidnapped

The medical tents were filled well beyond their capacity with wounded Marines and ponies. Medical staff rushed from one patient to another to treat the patients suffering from various battle wounds. Even most of the people and ponies carrying the injured in had cuts and bruises on every bit of exposed skin. The smells of blood, death, and sweat filled the air, and soon there would not be enough space for new arrivals.

Trixie watched a pair of Royal Guard unicorns being brought in on stretchers by a group of Marines. The azure unicorn pulled beds up for the injured ponies and helped set the groaning bodies on the mattresses to await treatment. With barely a nod of thanks, the two Marines nearly ran out of the tent to bring in more of the wounded. The magician set to work on removing the armor from the Guards and cleaning their wounds as best she could so a doctor could set straight to work.

The young mare could still hear the sounds of battle in the distance, and she silently prayed that the fighting would end soon. She wanted, needed, to rest, but she could not as long as somepony else needed help. So the pony gritted her teeth and moved on to the next patient, helping with whatever she could. From behind her at the entrance to the tent the white-maned unicorn heard the sounds of hushed voices. When the magician turned to look, she saw Rarity, wearing a pink and white scarf, standing in the doorway whispering to one of the unicorn doctors, a light pink mare in a stark white coat.

“I can help make these poor soldiers more comfortable.” the fashionista breathed, “If you think that would help.”

“That would help a lot!” the medical pony whispered back excitedly, “Even if all you did was pass out medicine that would take some of the pressure off of the rest of the staff.”

“Good, I want to help.” the white unicorn said eagerly.

“Okay, we will get you started right away.” The light pink mare turned and waved to Trixie, “Hey, get over here and show our newest recruit what to do.”

“Yes ma’am.” The azure mare trotted over to her friend and the doctor rushed off to help with another patient.

“Hello dear,” Rarity said quietly, “what shall we do first?”

“I was about to help change the IV bags for some of the more injured soldiers.” Trixie quickly walked the other unicorn through the easiest way to change the IVs. The magician watched her friend out of the corner of her eye as they moved through the wounded, waiting for the white mare to ask for help.

It did not take long for the pair to finish, and soon they set to work making the injured soldiers comfortable. They fluffed pillows, brought water, and administered pre-dosed painkillers to those who needed it.

Rarity was all smiles, a bright ray of light in the darkness of pain. Her white form moved among the groaning bodies; offering a kind word here, a simple touch of the shoulder there, and a happy grin for everyone, regardless of whether they were a pony or a human. One soldier, a middle-aged male Marine missing his right leg below the knee and half the fingers on the hand on the same side, was shivering in his bed when the unicorn mare passed by. The purple-maned pony stopped to speak softly with the man before she pulled off her scarf and carefully wrapped it around his neck.

The young white mare then pulled the sheet up to the Marine’s chin and moved to the bed next to his, this one housing a unicorn with a shattered horn. Trixie watched in silent amazement as her friend moved around, chatting with anyone who wanted to have her ear for a moment. No one was turned away. The magician pony could catch snippets of what was being said, and most seemed to be asking to have a message delivered to relatives. Rarity dutifully listened to each one and made sure she had it right.

The pair of ponies continued to make rounds of their tent for over an hour, helping when they could and staying out of the way when they could not. Trixie was quick to pull her friend away whenever she recognized the signs of a soldier’s last breaths. The azure unicorn wished to spare at least one pony the horror of watching the life drain from another being’s eyes. Thankfully, more unicorn healers from Canterlot had arrived and were helping to treat some of the more seriously wounded warriors and deaths were slowing down.

When the two unicorns had sat down for a short rest, an older man came in strapped to stretcher carried between two earth pony nurses, one stallion and one mare. The Marine struggled against the bindings, yelling for nurses to let go of him. No matter what the two earth ponies tried they could not make the soldier be quiet. The patients who could manage raised themselves up to see what was causing the commotion. His shouting even woke some of the sleeping patients.

Rarity, her face set in a harsh scowl, tromped over to the wounded man with Trixie following close behind. When the fashionista got close, she could see that his legs had been torn up by bullets and required immediate attention if the human wanted to keep the limbs. Upon seeing the two mares not in some type of medical dress, the Marine turned to them with a snarl.

“Now dammit, I don’t need no help from no one!” the older man yelled when the two friends drew level with him, “If ya could jus’ let me stick a band-aid on it I could get back to the fighting and you could treat someone who really needs it!”

The stallion nurse gulped and started hesitantly, “If we don’t tend the wounds you will…”

“Listen here, pony boy,” the Marine growled, “I can tell better than you what is goin’ on in my own body. So if you know what’s good fer you, you’ll jus’ back off!”

Finally, Rarity had heard enough. “How rude!” she chastised the soldier, “These ponies are trying to help you, and you are being nothing short of monstrous!”

“That’s because I don’t need no help!” the man shouted, turning red in the face with anger.

The fashionista bravely held her ground, “I would think that trained medical professionals know more about who needs help than you, Mister…?”

“Just call me Doc.” the older soldier said with a dismissive wave of his hand, “Everyone does. But don’t change the…”

“Well, Doc.” the white mare spoke over him, “Your rude behavior is causing an undue disturbance and is interrupting the other doctors while they try to save lives. I will not stand idly by while you exercise such atrocious manners!”

“Look missy,” Doc started again, “I’ve said it once, and I will say it again. I don’t need help!”

“You listen here,” the purple-maned pony jabbed one manicured hoof on the bound man’s chest threateningly, “you will allow these kind doctors to do their job and put your body right. I do not want to hear another complaint out of you; you are acting like a foal!”

“Wh-what! A, a foal!” the human sputtered.

“Yes, a foal.” Rarity continued, “And your foalishness is hurting others around you.”

“I… I, uh…”

“Now I am going to make you a deal,” the dress-maker removed her hoof and fixed the soldier with a stern glare, “you promise to be quiet and let these ponies do their jobs, and I will undo the restraints. I know you can’t be comfortable; so do we have a deal?”

The fight finally left the Marine and he sighed, “Yes ma’am.”

“Good.” The white mare’s horn glowed a light blue and the bindings fell off from around the human’s wrists and ankles. The pony gave a demure smile and sauntered away, and Trixie could not help but detect a hint of smugness in her friend’s step.

The azure unicorn shook her head as the quarrelsome human was escorted into the tent before he could stop being quiet. The young mare stepped out of the tent and felt a cool breeze ruffle her coat. A shadow fell across the magician, and she looked skyward to see a single, large storm cloud blotting out the sun. Confused, the pony searched for any other signs of a brewing storm but could find none.

The azure mare watched as the cloud settled over the battlefield and unleashed a torrent of rain. After several minutes of hard rain, the sounds of gunfire started to slow and eventually stopped. For the first time in hours, there was complete silence. The unicorn waited with bated breath to her another gunshot, and the longer she went without hearing one made the smile on her grow wider.

“Thank heavens,” she whispered, “it is finally over.” The sound of an aircraft’s engines over head brought her purple eyes to the sky. She watched as one of the human fighters shot by, heading towards Ponyville. The craft soon backed away and turned towards the Everfree Forest, almost like it was following something.

The white-maned pony watched RX-80 made a quick turn and flew towards the landing area in the camp, not too far from where she was standing. Her heart skipped a beat when Jaze came barreling past her a few moments later, his legs and arms pumping as he ran and shouted orders into the communication device in his ear. A mixture of rage and fear filled his blue-silver eyes, and the unicorn mare felt worry grow in her chest.

She just managed to catch the last of the Colonel’s orders before he was finished, “… And I want the rest to position themselves in a ring around Ponyville. Not even a bug is to get by without you running a check, clear? Good.” The assassin’s hand reached up and quickly switched the comm over to another channel, “Princesses, are you still there?” The flustered human paused for a moment, listening for a response, “Good, meet me at town hall, I want to get to the bottom of this. They had to have inside help with this; I don’t think I killed all the traitors before. So don’t let anyone else know, except Twilight, Applejack, Vincent, Shelby, and Dmitri. Oh, and Shining Armor too. Get everyone to town hall, we’ll talk there. Over and out.”

Trixie ran beside the hurried soldier and called out, “What happened?”

Jaze barely spared a glance to the mare, “Ponyville got attacked, and they made off with most of the fillies and colts, and Rainbow Dash too.”

Horror made the unicorn stop for a moment, and she had to work hard to catch back up, “This is terrible!” Her blue chest heaved as she tried to draw enough air into her lungs to run and talk and she was gasping for breath, “Why would they do that, and what do you mean that this was an ‘inside job’?”

“Just come with me,” the assassin replied harshly, “I’d like to explain everything to everyone once.”

XXX

The sounds of desperate sobs filled the air outside of Ponyville Town Hall, and ponies watched in shock as a pair of Marine medics loaded two black body bags, one with the pegasus who died above the town and the other housing an earth pony killed by the attackers, onto a gurney to take back to take the bodies to be stored before burial.

An earth mare, bright pink from head to tail, watched the two lifeless bodies being taken away in utter silence, an unnerving sight for those who knew her. Though she could normally not be seen to be in the same place for longer than it took to smile at a friend, she was now sitting next to where the other earth pony had died with a look of stunned horror on her face. She knew everypony in Ponyville, and the loss of one of her friends in such a ruthless fashion made her mind shut down.

The party pony could still see the look on the soldier’s face. He was a man just a little older than Jaze, his face lined with hardship. As hard as she looked the pink mare could see no trace of anger, or hate in the enemy soldier’s eyes. He was completely emotionless as he put a trio of bullets into his victim. More than anything else, it was the lack of hatred or any emotion at all that could drive somepony to hurt that made her want to cry.

The sound of sniffles nearby made her head rise to see a purple-maned, white unicorn sobbing uncontrollably into her hooves. The party mare hauled herself to her hooves and made her way to the stricken fashionista to enfold her in a loving hug. Immediately the unicorn’s head was on a shoulder, tears dampening the pink fur. Hard as she tried, the pink pony could not bring herself to say a word to a friend who desperately needed it, nor could she not help at all. All she could do was embrace her suffering friend and hope it was enough.

“Why, Pinkie?” Rarity cried in anguish, “How could somepony do this? Why would they take my Sweetie Bell?” Pinkie could not answer, could not force a word past her usually smiling lips. So she just hugged her friend a little tighter and let the fashionable pony expend her grief.

Finally, the pink mare could make herself speak, her voice devoid of its usual happy, carefree manner, “Don’t worry, somepony’s going to go after them. Nothing bad’s gonna happen; I know.”

“How?”

The party pony smiled, “I just do.” Rarity nodded and took a deep breath, letting out slowly to try and calm down.

When she was finally under control again, the white unicorn fixed her friend with a watery gaze, “Let us go see what the Princesses and Jaze are planning for this. Maybe we can help, somehow.”

The pair picked their way through the crowd of grieving ponies to the tall Town Hall building. They took heart in the fact that at least their town looked the same, and that at least they had not seen the same destruction as Cloudsdale. The only difference now was the wailing and the pair of haggard, bloodstained Royal Guard unicorns standing watch outside the door for the group inside. And, if the friends strained their vision to the limit, they could just pick out the Marines and Guardsponies standing sentry duty around the edge of town.

The unicorn Guards moved to block the Ponyville locals from entering the Town Hall. One, a teal, younger stallion haltingly called, “Stop. No one is to enter under order of the Princesses and the Knight-General.”

Rarity gave her friend a brief wink and moved a little closer to the unicorn who had spoken and fixed him with her most alluring stare before speaking, “Look darling, I need to speak to the ones in there, and I am a friend of both the Princesses and your Knight-General.”

The teal stallion gulped, looking to his friend with a pleading look before answering, “Even if that is true, I can’t let you in.”

The white unicorn pouted her lip and fixed the nervous Guard with her puppy-dog eyes, “Please let us in; we won’t be any trouble.”

“But I can’t…”

“Surely you can, all you need to do is step aside.” The fashionista put her hoof under the stallion’s chin and looked straight into his eyes, “Please let us in, just this once?

The flustered Guard blushed from the mare’s touch and stammered “I don’t… I guess; if it really is only once.”

“Oh thank you mister…?”

“Gallant. My name’s Gallant.”

“Thank you ever so much Gallant. You truly are a real gentlecolt.” Rarity beamed as she brushed past the pair of Guards and stepped into the Town Hall with Pinkie close behind.

With the two mares safely out of earshot, Gallant turned to his chuckling friend and whispered with a glare, “Why didn’t you help me?”

The other stallion, an older silver pony, managed to get out through his fits of laughter, “It was way too amusing to watch you fumble with a pretty mare to stop it.”

XXX

“It has to be a trap.” Sands cried passionately, his hands slapping the table in front of him, “Why else would they take a bunch of kids?”

Jaze nodded from his place next to Luna, and his eyes turned to the ceiling in thought. On Luna’s other side stood a highly agitated Celestia, and across the table stood Applejack, Twilight, and Trixie. The side of the table next to the Solar Princess stood Vincent and Shelby, and across from them Sands stood with his hands spread wide across his side of the table.

Luna cocked her head and asked, “What would it be a trap for?”

“Anyone that was sent to help.” Vincent offered, “What I don’t get is why they did not take the chance to kill more villagers.”

“From what I gathered from the townsponies,” Celestia stated, “the attackers came in and threatened to kill everypony, starting with the foals, if the children were not handed over.”

Jaze leaned forward and put his hands on the table, his gaze now burning a hole in the wood, “I have to agree with Dmitri on this one. This stinks of trap, and anyone who goes in to rescue those kids and Dash will get caught in it.”

“But we can’t just let them beat us like that!” Twilight yelled out. When the Colonel’s eyes fell all her, she turned a bright red and added, “I mean, that would not be the right thing to do, right?”

“Ah’m with Twi on this’un.” Applejack glared towards her human friend, who was now regarding her with a cool gaze, “Them varmits have one a my bes’ friends, an’ my little sis to boot. We have to do sumthin’, an’ Ah will even if Ah have t’ go by myself.”

The assassin gave a wicked grin, “You’re absolutely right. We can’t just let this go; which is why we are sending our best into their little trap.” He turned to Vincent and Shelby and asked, “Do you know if there are any submachine guns in the armory?”

Shelby’s face screwed up with thought while she ran through a checklist of supplies. “There are a few.” the Lieutenant finally replied, “but what do you need them for?”

“The assault rifles are too noisy for a covert op, and our submachine guns are at least suppressed.” the silver-eyed soldier explained quickly, “The less attention we draw while trying to rescue the foals, the better.”

“Then you are going?” a refined voice asked from behind the group at the table, near the door. As one, their eyes flicked to the door to see Rarity and Pinkie staring at them. The normally perfectly groomed unicorn’s eyes were red, and her impeccable make-up had been ruined by tears that had now stopped. Pinkie’s tears on the other hand had only just started. Her blue eyes brimmed and began to send tears streaming down her face to drip to the floor beneath.

The party mare looked to the group near the table and sobbed, “Th-they took Dashie? Is, is she h-hurt?”

Applejack’s face fell when she saw the happiest pony in Ponyville bawling, “Yeah, they took ‘er. But we’re gonna git ‘er back, safe and sound! Don’t ya fret none ‘bout that.” Despite the encouragement, the premier party pony’s wails only became louder. Rarity pulled her distraught friend aside, whispering encouragement into her ears to try and calm her.

“We need to move soon.” Celestia whispered, trying not to upset the crying mare any more, “How many Royal Guards will you be taking, Knight-General?”

“None.” the assassin replied quickly, “I won’t be taking any Marines either.”

Luna’s face contorted with confusion, “Why not? Wouldn’t more soldiers make the fight easier?”

“A little.” Vincent agreed, “But it would also draw more attention to us.”

The orange farmpony’s chest puffed up intimidatingly, “Say what ya want, but RD’s one a my best friends and they got Applebloom, and Ah’m going with y’all whether ya like it er not!”

Jaze fixed his friend with a bemused grin, his voice dripping amusement, “You make it sound like you had a choice in the matter. Of course you’re going with me; I said I was taking the best. Besides, I need someone, or somepony, to make sure that we have everyone.”

The earth mare let the swagger go from her stance to reply, “Well alright then, when do we leave?”

“Soon as we get our things ready, we leave.” The assassin pointed to Twilight, who had been looking more than a little distraught over the whole ordeal, and ordered, “That includes you, Private. Grab an SMG from the armory and get ready to leave!

Sudden resolve lit the young unicorn’s eyes as she saluted and managed to force out, “Yes sir!”

Same for you,” the Colonel pointed to the other humans in the room, “get your guns and mine, then bring them back here. We need to move fast, before they know we’re on our way. So go!”

When everyone save the Princesses, Trixie and the Colonel had left, Celestia nodded her regal head towards the human and whispered, “Why do you really not want to take any other soldiers?”

The dark-haired assassin rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled, “Am I that transparent?”

“Only to somepony with a lot of experience.” the Solar Sister laughed in return.

“But you did not answer the question.” Luna added.

All traces of laughter left the human’s face as he leaned closer to the alicorns to whisper, “Truth is, I don’t trust the Marines right now. Someone gave the enemy intel on where the pony’s were gathering to wait out the fight. There’s a traitor in our midst, and I want him to make a mistake.”

“Are you sure there is a double agent?” the black alicorn whispered, “Maybe the just got lucky.”

“No, dear sister,” replied the taller Princess, “it makes too much sense to not be true.” Celestia’s eyes fixed the Colonel in a steely gaze, and her voice lowered dangerously, “What would you like us to do if your traitor does make a mistake?”

Jaze’s gaze fell on Rarity and Pinkie, both now softly sniffling with the terror set upon them, “Detain him, but don’t kill him. I want to be there when he’s made to pay.”

“Just be careful not to lose yourself in hate, Knight-General.” Celestia cautioned as she and her sister left, leaving Trixie and Jaze alone with the still crying pair of mares in their little corner.

The azure unicorn moved around the table to stand by the human, who was now leaning against the table with a disturbed look on his face, his silver eyes boring into the table. She stood on her hind legs to rub his back with a hoof and laid her head on his shoulder. He glanced to her before wrapping his arm around the middle of her back in a loose hug.

“Jaze,” the unicorn whispered softly, “I am coming with you.”

His head snapped around to fix her with a surprised glare before he answered forcefully, “I don’t think so!”

“Listen to me, you are going to need me.” the young mare retorted, “If you are caught in the fighting, who will watch the foals? I can help with that.”

“But you won’t use your magic.” the soldier protested quietly, “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I won’t with you by my side. But ask yourself this; are you willing to lock me up? Because that is the only way I won’t follow you.”

The assassin heaved a defeated sigh and spoke slowly, “Okay, you win. You can come, but you will do what I say. And you will be wearing some kind of armor at least.”

Trixie beamed, “Deal.”

“Get your stuff ready, we don’t have much time.”

To The Rescue

Dash groaned as she slowly returned to consciousness. She could not tell where she was, or how she had gotten there. She was lying on her back with her wings uncomfortably pinned beneath her; her body felt sore, like she had crashed into the ground, hard. Her chest in an exceeding amount of pain, but she could not remember why it hurt so badly. The aching mare focused on her tender breast, forcing the memories into her mind.

Slowly, the memories trickled into her mind. First there was a battle, Dash thought as calmly as she could manage, then I found Helios, and then… Ponyville! I got shot, and then somepony hit me in the head and… The memories brought the strength of anger to her limbs, and she tried to roll to her side and stand. It was then she suddenly realized that thick, heavy chains were holding her limbs to whatever she was on top of, stretching her legs out from her body and making her aches even worse than they should have been. No amount of pulling loosened the tight grip on her limbs, and she became resigned to lay still and wait. For what, she hadn’t the slightest.

The speedster cracked open one eye to take a quick peek at where she was, but almost immediately regretted it. A bright bulb burned in her face and washed out her vision, making everything a blur and driving a spike of pain through her mind. Even though her sight was gone, she could still hear and began to pick out the sounds of someone else in the room with her. She could hear soft foot falls moving unhurriedly around her, the other being not saying a word.

Dash tried to keep her breathing even, willing herself not to panic. She refused to give whoever it was that had chained her up the satisfaction of seeing her distress. However, she could feel her fear growing while she pondered what her captors had planned. Stories of what various nations had done to prisoners of war flooded her mind, and were making it nearly impossible for the athlete to stay calm. Sweat beaded on her face while she waited for the other to make a move for her or say to something; her breathing started to quicken despite her best efforts as the other in the room remained silent.

After several minutes of silence, the footsteps stopped next to her head and a deep, male voice hissed in her ear, “Why don’t you stop pretending so we can get on with it?” The voice seemed dead and uncaring, the voice of someone that enjoyed hurting innocents. It made a shiver run down the mare’s spine when she heard it, and she could not stop shaking.

“Wh-what d’you want with me?” Dash asked, hating the quiver in her voice but unable to stop it, “Where am I? Who’re you? What’s goin’ on?”

A fist suddenly slammed into her stomach; the cyan pony curled up around the pain exploding across her abdomen as much as she could in her restraints, her breath leaving her lungs in a single gasp. Tears poured from her tightly clenched eyes, and her chest heaved to try and draw more air in. Her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen, and the only sounds she could make were small gasps.

“I ask, you answer.” the voice barked, “Is that clear?” He waited a moment, but all Dash was able to do was cough and he took that to mean she understood, “Good. Now…” The man began to circle again while the pony recovered from her coughing fit.

“You… jerk…” the pegasus wheezed when she could draw enough air to manage speech.

The voice snickered, “I can tell you’re a tough girl. Good, makes you more fun to break.”

She still hadn’t recovered fully, and rasped, “What… mean… break…?”

She heard the man lean down next to her face and flinched in anticipation of the coming blow, but he only ran a finger firmly around her jaw, “Oh, I can tell you’re going to be a lot of fun.” His hand moved down her neck, pressing firmly to her coat until he reached the joint where her wing connected to her back. She opened her eyes and forced them to stay open and adjust to the bright light in her face.

When she finally was able to see, Dash finally saw the person tormenting her. He was a haggard-looking man in his late forties. Scars covered a face topped with a mat of grayed hair and all the way down the part of his arm she could see. His eyes were covered with glasses that caught and reflected the light from the lamp above, hiding his eyes from sight. He was wearing a cruel smile that sent tremors running down the pegasus’s spine.

He cocked his head at the terrified pony, his chest hitching with his laughter, and whispered almost lovingly, “You could make it easy on yourself, you know. Just answer my questions as I ask them and nothing bad will happen.” His powerful fingers pulled her wing from its safe resting place along her back and extended, making the feathers spread out. His hand traveled along the limb and almost seemed to be massaging it all the way to the end where his fingers wrapped around the last feather. His voice lost its loving tone and became harsh, “Or things like this will happen.”

With a quick yank, he pulled the feather out of her wing before the pegasus could react. Her lungs emptied in a loud scream, and her wing throbbed with pain. Her body instinctively twisted away from the pain; the chains held her in place, however, and did not let her body move much. Sweat slicked her rainbow mane while she silently prayed for the pain to stop. As the pain gradually faded and the pony slowly got her body back under control, her fear turned to rage. She glared up to the grinning human, her nostrils flared and she wanted nothing more than to pummel the cruel being into dust.

The man’s voice took on a mocking tone at the anger in her eyes, “So are you going to be a good girly and answer my questions?”

Dash gave him a defiant stare and panted, “F-fuck you.” She had heard the Marines use the phrase in anger and did not know what it meant, but it seemed to have the desired effect. She could see the man’s forehead furrow in surprise and he drew away a little with shock.

His lips curled in a cruel, thin smile while he mocked, “My word young lady! What language!” He put his elbows into her stomach and leaned over her, robbing her of breath once more while he chuckled, “That was a good answer; for me, not for you.”

The man moved away from her and let her catch her breath while he wheeled a cart laden with instruments of a brutal nature. She could see knives of various sizes and shapes, as well as long spikes, clamps, a long wand with a thick handle with a single red button at its base, and more cold metal instruments she could not even put a name to.

He rummaged through the items on the table, muttering under his breath, “Can’t do any permanent damage, he’ll have my head. So should I use the cattleprod?” He picked up the long rod and touched the button, causing it to crackle with electricity. The man shook his head before setting the wand aside and muttering, “No, save that for later. I know; I’ll use this.” He picked up a scalpel and twirled it around his fingers in an impressive show of dexterity.

The cyan pony’s eyes followed the blade as it moved faster and faster around his tapered fingers. Her breathing and heart rate began to quicken with fear in spite of her best attempts to stay calm. She shook with frightened anticipation; she knew what he planned to do. He smiled wickedly at her obvious dread, and brought the scalpel to brush against her fur while being careful not to cut her.

“From what I understand, you are supposed to be some kind of Element of Loyalty.” the man said, ‘I guess that means you’re supposed to be more loyal than anyone. I wonder how long it will take to break the bonds of allegiance.”

Dash’s eyes widened in shock at hearing him speak of her being one of the Elements, and she whispered, “How did you know I was Loyalty?” A hand, blurred from speed, whipped up towards her face. She tucked her chin to her chest in preparation for the blow, but the hand stopped just short of striking her and instead patted her cheek softly.

“Oh my dear pony, I know much more about you than just that.” He leaned close, and the athlete finally saw his eyes for this first time. They were mechanical, a dull gray with bright red lights in the center for a pupil. More than anything, the lifeless, robotic eyes made her want to scream in horror.

“For instance,” he continued, “I know that your name is Rainbow Dash, you’ve won nearly every flying contest you’ve entered, and that you have been a major player in most of the recent history of this world.” His hand dropped from her cheek down to her chest, right over her pounding heart, “I can also see so much about you. How scared you are, where to make it hurt the worst. Most of all, I know when to stop; it’s what makes me so good at what I do.” He shrugged, beginning to twirl his knife again, and said with a terrifying leer, “But enough chit-chat. Shall we begin?”

XXX

The Everfree Forest was as silent as ever; not a single creature could be seen scurrying through its dank darkness. Sunlight shone weakly through where it could pierce the dense foliage, and the shadows seemed alive. At least, seven particular shadows seemed so. Moving silently through the dim woods, the members of the rescue party tracked their fleeing enemy through the woods; a task made easy by the mass of tiny hoof prints from the foals. Each was clad in a suit of shadowy armor that changed color to match the background it was placed before, though it was imperfect and movement distorted the coloration, making them easier to spot.

Jaze inspected his gauntleted hand, marveling at the magical abilities of the unicorn a few paces behind him. Before they had left, Twilight had cast what she called a chameleon spell on each of them; the spell hid their entire body from view, even if a part was not covered with the armor. Even with his enhanced vision, the rest of his team was hard to pick out, but he could just make out where everyone was. Vincent was at the front, glancing at the trail left by the young ponies, while walking a few paces behind him to his left and right were Applejack and Shelby. Behind and between them walked Trixie, clad in light Guard armor with the same enchantments as the rest of the group and a knife on her shoulder within easy reach. The assassin came next, with Dmitri and Twilight bringing up the rear.

The rescue party stopped when Vincent held up a barely-visible, clenched fist, and Jaze moved up to whisper, “What do you have?”

The large soldier pointed to where bright sunlight could be seen between and whispered back, “Looks like a road of some sort. You’ve been living here, any idea where it leads?”

The assassin shook his head, “No, it wasn’t here before.”

“I think we should follow it, because the tracks lead right into it.”

“Good work.” The Colonel waved the rest of the group closer to whisper, “Shadow the road, but stay hidden in the trees. Don’t take any chances; we need to get there alive and undetected.”

The rescue party turned and slipped through the dense forest next to the clear road, following from a few feet away where they could still hide. Vincent was still on point, every sense on high alert for any sign of an enemy. They had been walking for several more minutes before the farmboy held up his hand again.

Vincent pointed at the top of the trees, or more specifically at the soldier manning an observation platform in the canopy above. The large Marine then pointed out two more soldiers moving around underneath the platform. He gave his commander a questioning look, and the Colonel pointed first to himself, then to the man on the platform above, and made a slashing motion across his throat.

Next, Jaze pointed towards Vincent and Shelby and signed for them to neutralize the two on the ground after the first fell. The two soldiers gave quick nods, and the assassin was moving well to the side of the man above. The rest of the party could just make out his outline as he moved silently through the dense foliage. His shape was soon lost to the forest, and the rescuers waited with bated breath for the first man to fall.

XXX

The view from the top of the observation post was dull as usual. The middle-aged man standing atop the platform gazed out with boredom etched in his gray-green eyes. He pulled his helmet from his shaved dome and rubbed the top of his head with a hand; no matter how unnecessary he felt these posts were, he knew his orders, and the price for disobeying them.

The sentry leaned on a waist-high safety railing and waved down to the soldiers below, getting a quick wave in return. He chuckled quietly to himself, thinking that at least he was up high where the beasts of the forest could not reach him. Thoughts of what some of the things in the woods were capable of sent shivers down his spine, and suddenly the observation post did not seem so bad.

A momentary blur from the forest below caught the middle aged man’s attention. He peered into the darkness of the forest where he saw… nothing. There was absolutely nothing. The soldier shook his head quickly to clear it, deciding that was the last time he refused to sleep before a shift. Once more, he looked around to try to spot whatever it was that caused the blur and hoping it was a trick of the light. The last thing he needed was invisible monsters.

A furtive movement caught his eye. He rubbed his tired eyes and looked again, and suddenly six blurry shapes were revealed in the foliage below. Three appeared to be humanoid, and three looked similar to the quadrupeds that had passed by on the path not an hour before. The shapes were hidden by the brush from the soldiers below, and they seemed to watching him, waiting. The sentry started to bring his gun up to fire a burst into the nearest of the shapes, but a blurry hand that shifted with the background reached out, grabbed his head and forced it back while a knife was quickly drawn across his throat.

A shove in the middle of his back flipped the sentry over the railing while his life poured from the gaping wound in his neck, and was he plummeted to the forest floor below. As he tumbled over and was looking at where he had been standing, he caught sight of a seventh blurry, nearly invisible figure standing in his place holding a bloodstained knife. Just before he hit the ground, the sentry hazily thought, Huh. Looks like even the spirits want us dead.

XXX

The sentry’s body hit the ground with a thump that made the pair of soldiers spin towards the sound. Vincent and Shelby took the opportunity to charge from their hiding place and quietly take their foes down. The large man grabbed his prey from behind and drew his knife in a quick motion across his throat. The woman next to him opted to grab her opponent’s head and give it a quick yank and twist, snapping his neck and sending her quarry to the ground as if his bones were gone.

The skirmish took less than the span of a few heartbeats, and three dead traitors were the only casualties. The farmboy grabbed his victim under the arms and began dragging the corpse into a nearby thicket to keep anyone from finding it. As the large soldier reached the copse of trees, they shook and a blur shot out past him and knocked him to the ground.

The farmboy rolled and realized that a third soldier had been hiding in the undergrowth, and was now making a run for his life. The three humans still standing as well as Twilight pulled up with their SMGs and tried to draw a bead on the running figure, but he was dodging between trees and making it impossible to score a hit. A small, four-legged, nearly invisible blur took off after the fleeing soldier. The pair was soon lost to the woods, and Jaze jumped down from the high platform, breaking his fall with a roll before tearing after the pony and shouting back, “Hide the bodies!”

Vincent nodded and continued dragging the corpse he had been pulling into the thicket. Shelby lifted her fallen foe onto her shoulder and strutted over to where her fiancé was waiting to carefully conceal the body. Twilight and Sands lifted the body of the sentry and carried him over as well. With the three bodies carefully hidden, the farmboy scrubbed the area clean of any blood. With luck, anyone that came across this would not know what happened to the men manning the post.

The large soldier looked to where Jaze and Applejack had disappeared and muttered, “I hope this doesn’t blow our cover.”

XXX

Applejack’s hooves ate up the distance between her fleeing prey and herself. The panicking human tried to dodge between trees to lose his invisible pursuer, but the farmpony found avoiding the trees easier than ducking around the barrels in a rodeo. It did not take long for her to get close enough to hear the panicked breathing of the terrified soldier.

“Stop it!” he screamed at his invisible pursuer while firing a panicked burst from his assault rifle, “Leave me alone!”

The bullets went well above her head, but the orange mare could not help but dip her head a little. Seeing the powerful slugs tear large chunks out of the trees around her made her legs shake with sudden weakness; her efforts to catch to the fleeing man only became more urgent. Her lungs stung from want of air and her breath came in short spurts. The fearful soldier threw his rifle at her legs to try and trip her up, only to catch her leaping over it and continue running.

“Fuck you! What have I done to you?”

“Ya helped them take ma sister!” Applejack bellowed, leaping into the air and drawing her sword in a swift yank. She aimed the blade between his shoulder blades and felt it pass through his body, driven by her weight. The two went down in a heap of legs and fur, rolling several times before they came to a stop with the pony on top.

The farmpony went to pull her sword from the body, but stopped when she saw him shaking. His chest heaved to pull air into his wrecked chest, and blood slowly poured from the wound to pool on the ground below. The fatally wounded man looked to see what was resting on his back.

His eyes widened in shock and his voice came as a harsh rasp, “You, you’re just a pony?” Applejack looked down at her body to see that the spell had faded and she was completely visible. Twilight had warned her that if somepony got too far away she could not keep hiding them.

The orange mare put a hard look on her face and nodded, “Yeah, Ah’m a pony. Whatsit to ya?”

It was her turn to be surprised, as the wounded human began laughing, “I thought you were some kind of spirit or forest creature that would kill me, not just some silly pony with a piece of sharp metal and an attitude.”

The wounded man surprised the pony once again by quickly standing and spinning, tossing her from his back and slamming her into a tree in one motion. She felt her breath explode from her lungs, and they would not fill back up. Tears streamed from her eyes while she worked to breathe again. Her foe stood up, a hole in his chest, and looked at her as if nothing were wrong.

He wore a daunting smirk as he put a foot on the mare’s chest and leaned down to say, “Now I feel stupid, I guess the rest of those things were more of your pony friends. Weren’t they?”

“Not, gonna, say.” she panted. The foot was making catching her breath even more difficult. She looked into the wound in his chest to see how he managed to stay alive. In the man’s body she could see several severed wires and punctured bits of metal mixed in with the flesh and blood of a living being. Her large eyes opened even wider at the sight of the obvious enhancements.

The man must have seen her shock, because his smile grew more twisted and his voice become taunting, “You like it? Sure comes in handy to not have to worry so much about stuff. Like getting impaled by some bitch with a sword, for instance. Still,” He reached down and lifted her by the neck until she was level with his face, “it hurts like hell. I wonder how you would like it?”

His hand squeezed her windpipe until it threatened to swell shut, but she was still able to gather the strength to yell, “Ah don’ wanna find out!”

Applejack’s sword came up and drew across the inside of his arm, making him drop her from the sudden pain. The pony rolled around to his side and drove the blade into his side. It slid between his ribs and bit deeply, but he simply twisted away from the agony and drew a knife from his belt. The man suddenly seemed huge as he barreled in to slash at her neck. He was nowhere near as fast as Rainbow Dash or even Jaze, and she was able duck the wild swing with ease.

She was unprepared, however, for the follow-up kick that caught her square in her already sore chest and sent her stumbling back a few paces. Her cyborg foe was quick to press his advantage, only to find a sword stabbed into his knee. The mare had managed to recover enough to ram her blade into his leg, hoping to bring him down.

To her dismay, he merely stepped back to allow the sword to fall free and lunge forward with another powerful swipe of his knife, this one aimed at her eyes. The pony turned her head and felt the blade bite into her cheek, blood welling in the deep cut to run down her face. She gritted her teeth and spun around to deliver a powerful kick to his stomach.

This seemed to have an effect as he doubled over holding his bruised gut and let his knife slip from his fingers. The farmpony pulled back her sword leg and threw it forward into the spot she had hit with every ounce of force she could muster. Her reward was a grunt of pain and seeing her opponent fall to all fours when the blade nicked his spine.

The mare wrenched the blade from his stomach and watched her foe fall to the ground with a loud thump. When he failed to move for several moments, Applejack let out a breath she did not know she had been holding and turned away. She went to sheathe her blade when a ruckus from the forest made her jump. Her green eyes scanned the foliage for the source of the disturbance.

From the darkness of the forest came Jaze, making a dead sprint for where she and her fallen opponent. His face was set in a worried glare, but he seemed to be looking behind her. Before the mare could utter a word, the assassin yelled out in panic, “He’s not dead! Hit him in the head, he won’t die unless you get his head!”

Confusion had not even begun to register in her face before a powerful hand closed painfully on her leg. She twisted around to see the cyborg glaring death at her while he tried to claw his way up her body to her throat. The farmpony drew back the hoof not held in a death grip and fired a kick powered by fear, anger, and all her years bucking apples on her farm.

The result was immediate and gratifying as his grip fell from her leg and he slumped to the ground once more. The mare kicked the last vestiges of his grip from her leg and turned around, bringing her sword up in one fluid motion before dropping it on the top of his head.

She expected the heavy blade to pass all the way through his skull, and was prepared for the spray of blood that was sure to follow. What she was not prepared for was the broadsword to stop, stuck between his eyes. She looked down at her vanquished opponent, noting how his eyes had dulled and he was absolutely still. The honest mare shook her head sadly and tugged at her sword.

“Here,” Jaze’s voice suddenly sounded from next to her, “let me help you.”

The assassin moved to help, but Applejack shook her head and said, “Naw, don’t ya worry ‘bout it. Ah c’n do it.” She placed a back-hoof on the dead cyborg’s shoulder and yanked, popping the blade free of its gruesome prison. The pony used the corpse’s shirt to clean up the red smear on her sword before returning it to its sheath with a smile, “See? Ah c’n handle m’self.”

His hand went to her shoulder as he asked, “Are you sure you’re okay? I know that’s a hard thing to do.”

The farmpony merely shrugged, “What’s hard ‘bout it? He woulda tried to hurt me, m’ friends, and m’ family if he got the chance. Ah did what Ah had t’ do.” Her hoof wiped away the blood running down her cheek and she pushed past the assassin, “C’mon, we gotta get going and find those foals.”

XXX

“How’d they build something like that so fast?” Dmitri asked as he pointed to a low, sprawling structure hidden underneath OD green camouflage netting. Guards circled the compound at regular intervals, although there was no fence to keep anyone out. It was impossible to see how far back the complex went from where they we hiding in the trees, but they could tell it was massive.

The rest of the trek had been uneventful at first, but they started running in to more patrols the further they moved into the forest. At first they had tried to eliminate the patrolling soldiers, but all too soon they had to stay hidden using Twilight’s spell and let the large groups pass. It had been nerve-wracking and ended with the rescue party hunkered down at the tree line next to a large clearing with the camouflage netting and the enemy base staring them down.

“Robots are hard workers.” Vincent mused, “And they’ve had quite awhile to build. Who knows just how big it is?”

“That has to be where they took those kids.” Shelby added.

Twilight nodded her agreement, “It would make sense that the enemy would have a base. Otherwise where would they house their troops?”

“I would say that is far more than just a base.” Trixie called out quietly, “It is so big that they must have some other purpose for it.”

“But what?” Sands shot back, “And what are we going to do?”

Applejack glared at the building, knowing that her sister was somewhere inside. She fixed her friends with a determined look and said, “We’re gonna do the only thing we can. We’re going to go in there, rescue them fillies and colts, and not gonna let anythin’ git in our way.” She looked to Jaze with passion burning in her eyes, “Ain’t that right Jaze?”

The assassin watched the traitorous soldiers moving around the compound’s perimeter. A quick count showed more than fifty of the defectors, with more probably inside. Too many to kill quietly, he thought, but we can’t let them catch us while we are protecting the foals either. His face steadily grew darker as he surveyed the scene, and his mind boiled with ideas and counter-ideas while he tried to find the best way to get everyone out alive.

“What are we going to do, Colonel?” Vincent asked quietly after several minutes of silence from his friend.

“The only thing we can. Like Applejack said, we are going to save those foals.” The silver-eyed man checked the load of his submachine gun, and made sure Sairugi was clear in its sheath before saying, “But before that, we are going to kill every, last, traitor in that building, and anyone or anything that stands in our way.”

Best Laid Plans

The air was oddly lacking in the cries of birds or insects inside the clear-cut perimeter of the traitor’s base. The soldiers on garrison duty continued to make their rounds unaware of the danger within striking distance of their front door. Instead, they had their eyes to the surrounding forests. If they had looked closely, they could have seen a pair of blurred, indistinct shapes slowly inching towards them across the ground.

Jaze held his breath as one soldier looked right at him before rubbing his eyes and looking away again. The invisible man let out a brief sigh of relief and flicked a glance towards Applejack crawling a foot or so away from him. They had slowly made their way across the open ground on their stomachs to creep up on their foes. The rest of the rescue party was hanging back by the edge of the forest with their submachine guns trained on the humans warding their base.

The assassin threw a look over his shoulder to make sure his companions were ready before shuffling over to the invisible mare next to him and pulling her short. They watched as a patrol of four came closer to them, within moments they would trip over invisible bodies and discover the plan, so he pointed to the advancing group and gave the farmer a quick, throat-slashing motion. She returned a terse nod and drew her sword as quietly as she could in preparation. Then the two stilled themselves and waited for the enemy to walk into the trap. When the group was nearly on top of them the pair jumped to their feet and hooves and flew into their little formation, screaming like tortured souls.

The sudden appearance of the blurry shapes would have been cause enough for confusion, but the shrieks made the quartet of soldiers turn ashen and try to run only to suddenly have blades cut them to ribbons as they fled. The first fell quickly as the dark-haired man lunged forward and quickly drew his sword across the traitor’s back, giving the effect of his back erupting in a crimson fountain for no reason.

The second terrified soldier had a heavy blade slam into the side of his knee as he tried to turn. His leg collapsed and the blurry outline of a pony rose up to drop a large sword onto his neck before giving a solid kick to his chest to dislodge his corpse. A third man thought to raise his assault rifle and aim at the indistinct beings, and for his efforts the strong farmpony turned and kicked his thigh with all her might. A loud snap of bone and a sharp cry of pain followed as he began to fall, a second hoof catching his head out of the air to cut the scream off abruptly. The last man was shocked into stillness until the back, dull edge of a katana slammed into the side of his head and his body slumped fluidly to the ground.

“NOW!” Jaze barked as he and Applejack dove to the ground. The traitorous humans, who had been stunned by the sudden ferocious attack, began falling to the suppressed submachine guns of the rest of the rescue party. They were trapped in the open and defenseless; the rescuers raked from one side of the compound to the other and quickly cut down each and every stunned defector inside the clearing.

The assassin climbed to his feet with a satisfied smile on his face as he viewed the carnage and sheathed Sairugi. He waved a hand towards the rest of the group and bent to help Applejack to her hooves. The look on her face spoke of the heartache she felt at seeing some many gunned down; her eyes turned to the pair she had killed and despite the invisibility spell he could see the feeling of wretchedness in her bearing. As the group joined them, he gave the farmer’s shoulder a reassuring pat before nodding for Twilight to dissolve her spell and let the seven fade into view.

“That worked better than I had hoped,” the dark-haired soldier remarked, “not a bad idea Twilight. Now.” He bent to lift the traitor he had struck with the back of sword up into a sitting position, “Let’s have a chat with our friend here.”

The traitor’s eyes were hazy and unfocused from the powerful blow, but still he managed to find his new captors’ eyes. He turned to each of them in turn, his terror growing with each blank or outright hostile face he saw, until he stammered, “I-I c-can’t tell you nuthin’!”

Vincent placed one large hand on the now shivering traitor’s shoulder, his smile both friendly and terrifying, “Ah, now don’t be like that. We just need to know how to get around inside your nice little base here, and where you’ve taken our friends,” He nodded to the orange pony glaring at the dazed soldier, “and family.”

“I, I don’t know!” the traitor nearly screamed, “I’m just a grunt, I don’t know anythin’!”

“Now looky here mister.” Shelby knelt and drew the knife at her waist, passing between her hands in quick flashes of steel. The defector watched the blade nervously as she continued, “We really don’t have time for the macho ‘this is all you’re getting’ thing.” She placed the sharp point of the knife against his cheek and grinned, “Why don’t you just save yourself a whole mess of pain and answer our questions? I promise you can do it, we’re not monsters after all.”

“Do you know what they would do d’me if I said anythin’?” the still dizzy man stated fearfully, “They wouldn’t just kill me; worse, they wou’ give me to him.”

“See, this is good.” Shelby crooned, “Who’s ‘he’?”

The sitting man gulped, “He’s the interrogator. I’m not sure’uh his name, Victor something, but I do know what he does. He’s an interra-, interro-, uh questioner! He took one of those pony girls and all we could hear was the screams.” The rescuers faces darkened, and the traitor realized he had struck a nerve, “B-but last I knew she was bein’ kept alive! He’s not gonna kill ‘er! I t-think!”

Applejack finally snapped and planted her hooves in the defector’s chest, knocking the kneeling woman away and pinning him to the ground as she shouted, “Ah got a sister in there, and now yer tellin’ me that one’a mah best friends is in the hands a’ some monster. Yer gonna tell us where Ah kin find them, or Ah’ll put a’ world a’ hurt on ya like ya never felt before!”

The pinned man paled beneath the irate pony’s hooves, “I-I can’t…”

Dmitri leaned in close to whisper, “Do you know the name Domovo Sands?”

“W-who doesn’t in the u-underground? That man was l-legendary for his c-cruelness.”

The young pilot winced at hearing his father’s legacy, but continued, “And what d’you think that he taught his only son?”

The sitting man somehow managed to pale even further, and his eyes widened in terror. His voice came out in a harsh whisper tight with fear, “Oh god, you’re the son uh that fiend?”

“I am.” The young man cracked his knuckles, “Now don’t make me put my dad’s lessons to use, I’d like to say I’m better than him.”

The man sighed, defeated, “Okay, I’ll spill. But I want to know that I am gonna be safe!”

“You have my word.” the Colonel replied, “But not if you don’t hurry and tell us what we need to know.”

“Okay, then listen up, ‘cause I’m only gonna say this once…”

XXX

Pain. The one word described Dash’s entire world while she kept her eyes tightly clenched to avoid tears. Her mind and body were consumed with white hot pain, and any time she moved to alleviate one spot of discomfort another would flare up. The worst pain came from her right wing, brutally broken and left pressed into the table. Her ribs also ached, more than likely broken as well.

She finally decided to open her eyes to view the damage to her body but immediately shut them at the view. Her body had deep cuts spaced along it in no seeming order from her captor’s scalpel. Anywhere there were no cuts was a bruise from the interrogator’s fists. A deep ache permeated her being; the man holding her seemed able to bring pain from a simple touch. Even her eyes ached from having the bright light pointed at them for the duration of her stay on the metal table. Despite everything, she had not told him anything he had wanted to hear; although the man seemed to be excited by her resistance rather than infuriated as she had hoped.

She could hear him breathing not too far away while he took a break from torturing her. The thought of her captor made her blood boil with hate, letting her forget her pain for a moment. She wanted nothing more than to be free of her bonds to enact revenge on the cruel man, and he knew it. He no longer had her body stretched tight across the table, but let some slack into the chains so she could writhe in pain and a desperate attempt to escape. Her sword was at the foot of the table; another constant reminder of how helpless she was.

“Now,” the interrogator’s cold voice sounded from outside the bright light, “that’s enough of a break. I think that we got off on the wrong foot here, why don’t we start by introducing ourselves?” She heard a shuffling sound, and assumed that he had bowed, “My name is Doctor Victor Kanan. And you are?”

“S-stop m-messing with me!” the cyan mare yelled, groaning inwardly at the shake in her voice, “You k-know I’m R-Rainbow Dash!” A hand suddenly landed gently on her face and began stroking her jaw in a surprisingly warm gesture. The pony opened her eyes to search for her captor’s face, but it was lost to the brightness assaulting her. But the soft touch was soothing, and she silently prayed for him to keep doing it and not begin to pick up another tool from the surrounding trays.

Victor’s voice became light and sweet, a lie revealed by his bloody hand caressing her face, “Okay, that’s good. See how easy it is just to answer? Now, what is your job?”

“I’ma storm-mover and sky-clearer.”

“Good girl, now we’re communicating. Next question, do you have any purple pony friends that are of the horned variety?”

“Pfft, of course! That’s Twi…” Dash slammed her mouth shut before she could finish the thought. She was afraid of giving the monster next to her anything else to throw at her, regardless of what he did.

The interrogator heaved a heavy sigh and removed his hand, “You’re not gonna tell me are you? C’mon, what’s the harm?”

Though his tone was still light, the pegasus did not say a word. She knew he was trying to find ways to hurt her more, and the coward wanted to get to her through her friends. Her hate burned brighter at the thought of the horrible creature near her even getting close to one of her friends.

As if he had read her mind, Victor continued, “It’s not what you’re probably thinking. You see, we have some unwanted guests in the compound, and I wanted to know if you knew them.” The cyan pony fought to keep the hope that suddenly bloomed in her chest from shining on her face. Her friends were here; they had come to help her and the foals. She could not stop a single, joyful tear from rolling down her cheek when she realized her ordeal was nearly over.

“Who’s here?” Dash asked, “Who came?” A fist suddenly slammed into her jaw, snapping her head to one side and making stars burst in her vision.

As she tried to recover, the interrogator hissed dangerously, “Didn’t we go through this already? I ask, you answer.” He let out a sigh and continued, “But I think I’ll answer you this time, because they’re going to the wrong place and will be dead soon enough.

“There’s Colonel Jaze Armand leading the charge, with that band of so-called band of Angels. The there are three ponies as well; one normal orange one, and two horned ones which are purple and blue.”

The speedster fought to keep her voice steady and even despite his seeming confidence of her friend’s demise, only to still feel a quiver of fear in her voice, “Whadya mean that they’re gonna die?”

“It’s quite simple I would think. They’re walking into a trap and are going to be killed.”

“NO!” the pony cried out in anguish, “You’re lying!”

The interrogator chuckled, a vicious perversion of merriment that set the mare’s fur on end, “What reason do I have to lie? It would serve no purpose to lie to you now. Although,” His voice became thoughtful, “that purple one has the look of someone who is hurting on the inside. I wonder what I could do about that…”

For a moment, she froze at the thought of somepony as twisted as the man next to her getting close to her tormented friend. Despite all she had been through, the unicorn was still an egghead. The pegasus remembered all that had been done to her, and what he would do to the purple mare. There would be no hope for the scholarly pony, she would soon become a gibbering mess.

Dash began twisting and yanking at her bindings, desperately trying to break free. Every wound on her body screamed at her to stop, but a single thought of one of her best friends tied to this table was more than enough to spur her into a blind rage.

“Don’t you dare go near Twilight!” she growled ferociously as she continued to fight against her chains, “As Celestia as my witness, if you put so much as a single hair outta place on her mane, I’ll tear you apart!”

Victor placed his hand on her cheek, “Fear not, I’ll never touch her I’m afraid. She’ll be dead well before we meet.”

The pegasus couldn’t hold back a small smile, “Then you don’t know Twilight very well. Or Jaze, or the rest!” She gave a confident grin, “They’re not gonna lose to you jerks!”

“I can assure you, they’re as good as dead when they reach the end hall 31-D.” She could just make out his shrug from beyond the light, “But enough of that. I think it is time we continued; unless you feel willing to answer my questions?”

The cyan pony, encouraged by how close her friends were, shook her head and steeled herself for whatever was to come next. A sigh sounded from the cyborg man’s lips as he shook his head and went to the tables of equipment. Just as before, he made a big show of going through several instruments and discarding them before finally picking up the electric wand with a hum of satisfaction. He pressed the button at its base and watched it crackle to life before he looked down at the now fearful mare once more.

“Then I guess I should stop toying around.”

XXX

“30…” called out Sands as he passed another hallway leading away from the one he and his friends were sprinting down. The walls inside the base were stark white and surgically clean, almost as if it were a hospital instead of a military installation. But the blankness of the walls somehow made them stand out, and so they had abandoned stealth and were now moving as quickly through the glaring halls as they could manage.

“And, 31!” the young pilot called out triumphantly, “The kids should be at the end of this right?”

“Yeah, but something don’t feel right.” Vincent wondered quietly.

“What’s on your mind Vin?” Jaze asked as he moved up towards his friend.

“I don’t like this,” the big soldier explained nervously, “every sense I got is telling me this is a trap.”

“Maybe you’re just going senile Vinny.” Shelby mocked, but her eyes were serious as the scanned the innocent-seeming white hallway.

“I wish that I was senile, but dammit this feels off.”

“Noted,” the Colonel replied, his voice steady and even, “but this is the only lead we have. We can’t not follow it.”

In spite of his confident sounding words the assassin clutched his submachine gun a little tighter, taking comfort in its weight. With one last nod of his head the rescue party slowly moved down the hallway; carefully checking each offshoot of the hall they passed, they wondered at what lay behind each door. And there were several portals to either side of the hallway, most a single door with no handle. The Colonel saw danger at every turn, and the white walls that had seemed so innocent before had taken on a malicious feeling.

The party could see where the hall ended in another of the single doors, this one with a silver code-lock next to it. Every door they had come to before had flashed open as they neared it, but this one remained stubbornly closed even after they were standing right in front of it. The door’s keypad looked like a standard numbered keypad set flush into the doorframe with a pair of lights above the silvered buttons, one green and one red. At the moment the red light was glowing, a sure sign of a locked door.

The assassin took heart in the locked door; it would not be locked if it was not guarding something. He offered a silent prayer that it was the foals before looking in askance to his team. “Okay, what now?” he asked in a whisper, feeling like the walls were listening.

“Looks like a standard, four key encryption. Hard to guess what the combo is, since it could be any four numbers in any order. But…” remarked Sands thoughtfully, “I wonder…” He knelt next to the keypad and hunted down the nearly invisible screws holding it in place. He reached under his uniform and armored plates to pull out the tiny screwdriver he used to make adjustments to his arm and began carefully removing the screws; listening with his ear pressed to the cool metal the entire time for some kind of trap.

As the last screw fell to the floor, the youngest member of the rescue team worked the screwdriver underneath the shining steel panel and yanked it away to reveal a number of tidy wires that supplied the pad with power and waited for the correct code input. He smiled as he surveyed the wiring, and the rest of the group could feel the youth’s excitement.

“So now you’re just going to cut power to the lock, correct?” Twilight asked the kneeling man as he grinned at the box.

“Nope, that would be stupid. See those?” He pointed to a pair of wires that disappeared into the wall on the side near the door, “Those tell the lock to stay closed, and you would think cutting them would disable the lock right?”

“I would guess so, yes.” Trixie quipped in from the back of the group.

“And it would, but I bet these locks have some kinda sensor to tell them when the power has been cut, and not turned off by the keypad. But,” he pointed to a small, flat piece of metal attached to a spool of wire seemingly unconnected to anything, “that is helpful.” The young pilot brought his hand to the back of his neck and removed the small, flesh-colored rubber piece concealing his implants, “That’s put there so someone can maintain the little computer running this thing, but I can use that little thing to get in there and disable the lock that way.”

“You never told us you were a tech-head.” Vincent nearly growled at the kneeling youth.

“Oh, uh, er, I…” Dmitri gulped as the large Marine glared down at him, “It, uh, it never came up, and I thought it didn’t matter so I never thought to mention…”

Jaze stepped in on the young cyborg’s behalf, “Look Vin, I know you had problems with cyborgs. But Sands here is just doing his best to help, and if this gets us through this door then you are going to love those implants. Got it?”

The former farmer grimaced and quickly replied, “Yes sir,” and moved away from his kneeling companion, a suspicious frown still on his face.

“R-right, I’m just gonna hack this thing so we can get going, shall I?” The red-faced young man unspooled the small connector and guided it into the port at the base of his skull. His blue eyes glassed over as he began sifting through the computer’s memory, looking for the way to shut off the lock.

As the youth worked, Vincent pulled his two human friends away and whispered, “Something’s fishy here. The only locked door and he just happens to have the right hookups? I got some seriously bad ju-ju here. This kid’s not telling us something.”

“Are you saying what I think you are?” Shelby whispered back, shock in her eyes.

“Damn right I am, someone is still leaking info to the enemy, and this kid’s just waltzed into our little group.” The farmboy looked to his commander with a skeptical glare, “Don’t forget he’s got more reason than anyone to want us, or at least you, dead. Plus, he’s a cyborg, a tech-head. They can’t be trusted.”

Without a word, Jaze brought his gauntleted left hand up to his large friend’s view. He turned the limb over several times before softly asking, “How am I different? I’ve got robotic parts as well; I’m almost as much a cyborg as he is now. So what’s the difference?”

Vincent’s face colored with frustration, “But you didn’t get a damn hole drilled into your skull for a computer chip! You got a new hand when that sick bastard took yours off! S’not like you wanted to get it! You didn’t ask for it!”

“You’re right” the Colonel agreed, “I never asked for this, but now that I have it I’ll use it. And that’s what Dmitri’s doing; he’s using everything he’s got to help us.”

“I gotta agree with Jaze here babe,” Shelby added, “I think you’re letting your hate of cyborgs turn you against your friends.”

“But I…” the large soldier started, but snapped him mouth closed when he heard a triumphant crow from the cyborg in question.

“Got it!” Sands cried out as the door slid open. He went to pull the wire connecting him to the keypad, but before he could the door slammed shut. The youth frowned and dove back into the computer world to force it open again, and this time forced it to stay open. “This is odd, I can’t seem to actually disable the lock, just block it for a moment. Everyone get through the door, then I’ll…”

The young pilot trailed off as the clamor of metal feet reached their ears. The three standing humans and the unicorn Marine spun around and raised their SMGs as they watched a throng of Cye troopers fall in behind them. Vincent could not help but smile as he turned to his friends and asked, “So I guess this is a coincidence, huh?”

From Bad to Worse Part 1

Deep inside the stark white base, fillies and colts huddled together under the watchful eyes of several Cye troopers spaced evenly along the walls. Every foal was afraid to move lest the androids decide they were a threat and hurt them. For the most part, the metal troopers seemed to want nothing to do with the young ponies and left them alone, although they seemed to be silently watching each pony. Other than that, the robotic soldiers seemingly ignored their charges.

The room itself was brightly lit and the same stark white as the rest of the building. There was no furniture to speak of, the foals were forced to stand or sit on the floor, and there seemed to be no doors or windows. A few concealed vents brought in fresh air to keep the young ones cool and breathing, but that was the only comfort allowed the ponies in their prison.

As the minutes turned into hours, the young ponies began to whisper amongst themselves about their new situation. One group of three young fillies in particular was excitedly whispering about how they could stage an escape and maybe get their Cutie Marks in the process. The whispers started to get louder as each tried to talk over the others to get her idea heard first, and an argument was threatening to break out.

“Ah’m tellin’ ya, we should jus’ try to find the door!” Applebloom nearly yelled at a purple-maned, orange pegasus blank-flank, “There’s gotta be one, ‘cause we came through it!”

“That’s dumb!” Scootaloo growled back, “We should follow the air to a vent and just crawl out! That’s how the spies do it in the stories!”

“That ain’t gonna work! They ain’t gonna let us crawl through a vent! Besides, there’s gonna be some big fan that kin make us int’ Cutie Mark Crusader salad!”

“We should find a vent!”

“No, a door!”

“Vent!”

“Door!”

“Stop it!” yelled a squeaky voice. The arguing fillies turned to the final member of their group, a white unicorn with a light pink and purple mane, to see her pouting angrily at them. She looked between them before continuing a voice that cracked into a high squeak as she spoke, “We can’t find the door OR a vent,” She pointed towards their robotic guardians, “they’ll stop us before we could touch anything.”

“But Sweetie Belle!” whined the orange pegasus, “If we could get out and find Rainbow Dash she’d help us rescue all the other fillies and colts!”

“An’ if that don’ work,” added the earth filly excitedly, “Ah know ma big sister’s gonna be lookin’ for us. We could find ‘er an’ lead ‘er here!”

“We don’t even know where here is!” insisted the unicorn, “We’d just get ourselves hurt! Besides,” her voice dropped and became fearful, and her eyes brimmed, “we don’t even know if anypony is coming. We could be trapped here forever!”

“We gon’ be here foreber?” asked a small, distraught voice from near the arguing trio. Applebloom turned her head to see a tiny, gray pegasus filly staring at them with wide, tear-filled eyes. Before they could say a word, the little pony burst out in heartbreaking sobs, “I dun wan’ be here! I wan’ go home! I wan’ my momma!”

“Now look whatcha did!” cried the earth filly as she hugged the little one close, “Looky here, wha’s yer name?”

“Z-Zepper.” sobbed the pegasus foal.

“Zephyr, don’ ya worry none ‘bout what Sweetie Belle was saying, she don’ know what’s goin’ on an’ she’s scared cause a’ that.” The young apple-farmer gave her new charge a quick, loving squeeze, “We’re gonna get outta here, don’t you worry ‘bout it. My sister Applejack don’ let me stay out past supper time for nuthin’, so she’ll be here soon.”

“W-wiwl Jazer be here too? An’ Twixie?”

“Sure they will, you’ll see.” Applebloom squeezed the cerulean-eyed pegasus warmly and ruffled her brown mane, “Don’ ya worry one li’l bit. We’re gonna be outta here ‘for ya know it!”

“Pwomise?” sniffled the tiny filly.

“Crusader Contract,” A cream-colored hoof rose into the air as its owner spoke solemnly, “If’n Ah’m lying, let me never find my Cutie Mark and live the rest a my natural born days as a Blank Flank.”

Scootaloo stumbled over her words as she rushed to agree, “Y-yeah! We ain’t gonna let nothing happen to ya, or anypony else!” Her voice strengthened and gained passion while her chest inflated proudly, “We’re gonna bust outta here, rescue everypony, and maybe even get our Cutie Marks!”

“So what are we gonna do?” asked Sweetie Belle, “We still can’t just do whatever we want.” She pointed with a hoof to one of their guards, “Or did you forget about them?”

“Good question.” grumbled the tiny athlete, “The spies in the books always had a distraction or something to get rid of the guards. What we need is…” She cast her lavender eyes about, an idea slowly forming in her young mind. She tapped the shoulder of a nearby forest-green earth colt, who had until now been staring depressed at a wall, and whispered, “Hey Nail, wanna get outta here?”

The green pony glared at her warily, and whispered back in a voice dripping suspicion, “What didja have in mind?”

“Get as many of the other fillies and colts to distract the guards while we sneak outta here.” explained an excited pegasus, “We’re gonna try to find somepony to help us.”

His suspicion quickly turned to fury, and he had trouble keeping his voice low, “Why can’t I be the one to get outta here?!”

“Because we’re smaller than ya.” Applebloom broke in with a matter-of-fact tone, “An’ Ah know yer louder then a’ drum thrown down the stairs, which ain’t gonna work if’n ya gotta crawl through the vents.”

Nail’s anger suddenly boiled over and he shouted, “I’m not…!”

A lifeless, cold, metallic voice cut off the young colt, “Subjects will remain quiet.” The yelling colt’s mouth snapped shut as they all looked around to see where the voice had come from.

One of the Cye guards seemed to be staring at them, its metal face unreadable. Other than slightly turning its head, it had stayed motionless and did not seem to be ready to do more than issue a warning. Still, all whispered conversations stopped as the foals stared wide eyed at their captors. When it was sure its order had been followed, the drone turned it head forward once more and continued ignoring the young ponies.

Once more the room was utterly silent as the foals watched their captors for further signs of being watched in return. And once more, the troopers seemed to completely ignore them. The young ponies sat quietly as they waited for somepony to make the first move. As the minutes slowly passed, one young, pink filly sporting a tiara holding back her lavender and white mane managed to work up the courage to approach one of her guardians with a pout on her upper-crust lips.

“Ex-cuse me,” she griped, her voice a grating whine, “But I have to go to the bathroom, like, now!”

“Subject must remain here.” the Cye soldier responded in its unfeeling, mechanical voice with nary a glance in her direction.

“Uh, do you, like, know who I am?” the whiny pony continued, “My daddy’s Filthy Rich, and he owns most of Ponyville, so you better watch out! He’ll be very angry that you mistreated his daughter.”

The robot completely ignored the threat. Diamond Tiara stomped her hoof in frustration, her voice slipping into an even more grating whine, “Look mister, I gotta go! You can’t keep us in here without a potty!”

“She’s right!” a colt’s voice called out, followed by several more foals agreeing more loudly than the last. Cries of concurrence rose into a loud din; the metallic soldiers around the room looked agitated as they repeatedly ordered for silence and had their orders met with even more resistance. Slowly, the fillies’ and colts’ resistance grew into a near uprising as they clamored for everything from bathroom breaks, to food, to toys.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked to each other with smirks of pleasure. They had their distraction. Under cover of the riotous conditions the impetuous ponies began searching for one of the hidden vents. Scootaloo seemed to have toned everything out, her undersized wings stretched out to feel out the individual air currents wafting around the room. Even for a flightless pegasus, the knowledge of air currents was instinctual and she had soon zeroed in a spot near the floor in one of the corners of the room.

After quickly gathering the other two fillies and the younger pony they had taken under their wing, the four searched for a way to get into the vent itself. It was hard to see with the whiteness of the room making their eyes slip past it, but it was there. The rest of the foals were now making an unholy racket, more than loud enough to mask anything the four in the corner did.

Applebloom used the noise to turn and give the vent a few solid kicks, crumpling the thin metal under her strong hooves to reveal a low, tight space that they could just squeeze into if they stayed on their bellies. Scootaloo crawled in first, followed by Zephyr, then Sweetie Belle. The young apple farmer gave a quick glance around to look for witnesses before crawling in behind her friends. She prayed that the broken vent would be ignored until they were well away from their prison.

Inside the vent shaft was dark and tight. Every few feet there was a vent to let the refreshing air into the sealed building, and these provided the only light for the ponies to see. Condensation collected on the metal walls and made everything slippery and uncomfortably cold and wet for the young children with their bellies pressed into the bottom of the vent shaft. The orange pegasus at the fore moved along the duct carefully; one stretched out before her to warn of any sudden offshoots leading down and the other feeling along the walls for any new directions as she crawled through the darkness.

Despite being extremely uncomfortable, Scootaloo had to admit she was enjoying herself. It was just like the spy books she read for school, only now it was real. At the first turn off to the right, the young pegasus pony turned down it, hope and pride swelling inside her. They had been gone for several minutes and still hadn’t gotten caught. Every second that ticked by made her feel even more hopeful.

As she crawled through the metal duct, her hoof suddenly found empty air as the floor fell away below her in a steep slope. The water-slicked metal acted as a slide, sending the young pegasus and her friends tumbling loudly down the shaft. The lead filly could not tell how far they would fall before hitting the bottom, but all her attempts to stop or even slow down were fouled by the slippery walls of the duct.

Thankfully, the ride only lasted a few moments. At the bottom of the slide, however, was a wall that the ponies crashed into with a thunderous boom that echoed down the ventilation system and surely alerted every bad guy in the whole building where they had hidden. Scootaloo was pressed into the wall by her friends behind and atop her, a hoof digging into her ribs and a somepony’s body laid across her back.

Groans filtered through the air from the fillies at the base of the slide as they tried to untangle themselves from one another. The orange pegasus glanced around to see that the vent shaft split in two and went off to her left and right. Frustration furrowed her brow when she realized just how loud the fall had been, and that even if everypony was okay they would get caught if they did not start moving.

One of the fillies on top of her shifted, and Scootaloo was finally able to move. After making sure her friends were okay, she started to ask which way they should go when the sound of footsteps accompanied by the loud crashing of metal reverberated down the ventilation system. The sounds seemed to stop right next to where they were huddled, and they started to slide back away from what could only be the enemy. So suddenly all four of them jumped, a vent grate fell away, a hand reached into the vent shaft to beckon them towards the open grate, and a calm, friendly male voice said, “Come outta there little ponies, my friends are trigger happy and I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Realizing their stint as spies was at an end, the young pegasus crawled over to the hand without saying a word. To her surprise, instead of yanking her out of her hiding place roughly, another hand joined the first and gripped her tightly but gently under the forelegs, lifting her out and setting her on the white, brightly lit floor. The remaining three fillies were given the same gentle but firm treatment while she inspected the ones who had captured her and her friends.

There were three of them. The first two were basic Cye troopers, each carrying large rifles vaguely pointed towards the foals. The last member of the team was a human, more than likely in his late thirties with graying brown hair, and a smile that matched his warm, friendly tone. The pistol at his hip and the robotic leg made the young athlete wary however. Something about his eyes seemed off, and it took the filly a moment to realize that his bright green eyes had to be fakes that were trying to look real. But he could obviously see, as he looked right into her eyes and let his smile grow a bit wider.

“You four have caused no end of trouble. Nice try on breaking open the vent, but some green colt got stuck trying to follow you and tipped us off.” His smile was still warm, and he sounded like he would start laughing at any time, “Besides, we took a head count as you came in. We woulda caught you sooner or later. Now let’s get you four back with the rest of the group.”

One of the metal troopers turned its face to the young ones and said simply in its deadpan voice, “State your designation.”

Before anypony could say a word, the human glared at his robotic companion, “Oh shut up, they’re kids. You’re just gonna scare them.” He looked back to the children and smiled, “What my friend was trying to say is, what are your names? Mine’s Cameron,” he bent down and ruffled Zephyr’s mane, “Let’s start with you, what’s your name cutie?”

“I…” the tiny pony started, only to have her mouth covered by an orange hoof and be pulled away from the human’s grasp.

“No, don’t tell him your name Zephyr! He’s not a friend!” Scootaloo cried as she glared at the human still smiling at them. Realization slowly dawned on her, and her fur took on a crimson tone as the skin beneath it colored with shame, “Oops…”

Without warning, one of the android soldiers plucked Zephyr from the group and marched off with her in his arms, making Cameron’s face flush with anger as he yelled after it, “Hey! Be gentle you metallic half-wit! She’s just a baby!” The human heaved a sigh as he took a knee in front of the remaining three and gave them another warm smile, though this one seemed strained, and asked, “What about you, what’s your names?”

“Why?” Applebloom asked fearfully, “So’s ya kin take us off somewhere?”

“That girl was, special.” explained graying man, “Top wanted her for some reason, but you three aren’t going to…”

A metal hand shoved him out of the way, and another dead voice droned, “Step aside.”

The Cye soldier began to bring its rifle to bear on the young ponies, only to find the middle-aged man standing between it and them with a scowl on his face, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“The small organics are intruders. They must be eliminated, step aside.” the robot explained.

“Like hell!” shouted the angry human, “You’re going to stand down! I’ve let a lot slide, but you’re not gonna start killing kids in front of me! It’s bad enough that I know it’s happening!”

“Move, or be removed by force.” When Cameron refused to budge, the metal trooper grabbed his shoulder and tossed the human behind itself while it brought its weapon up to the three ponies once more.

Three shots rang out in rapid succession, making the young fillies scream in terror from the noise echoing down the stark white halls as the robotic soldier fell to the ground, twitching and sparking from the trio of holes grouped in the center of its back. Standing over the deactivated trooper with his pistol smoking in his hand was Cameron, his face set in a fearful, worried scowl. As the last echoes faded, the ponies looked up at their savior with wide eyes on the verge of tears.

He gave the unmoving android a kick and muttered to himself, “Dammit, that was stupid! Now they’re gonna think you’re a traitor, way to go Cameron.” He holstered his pistol with a sigh and looked to the ponies, his voice managing to be cheery despite the violence as he said, “Let’s get you three back with the rest of your friends, maybe I can salvage this mess.”

Sweetie Belle stepped forward and looked up at the human. Her face became set in a pout that she had seen Rarity use to turn stallions into butter, and her voice was once more breaking into a squeak, “Can’t you just let us go?”

The man stared at her, a short laugh rising in his throat despite his best efforts to contain it, “Women, no matter the age or the species they’re gonna try and work ya over. I don’t think so, little lady.” He gestured to the scrapped Cye lying on the ground in front of him, “I’m already gonna be in enough trouble, I just didn’t want to see you girls get hurt.”

“But,” Scootaloo begged, “you could help us leave then go to the other humans in town!”

“Look pony, the thing is that I am a traitor to the human race!” Cameron suddenly yelled, “If I go there, I’m going to spend the rest of my life in prison at best!” Seeing the looks of terror on the young ponies’ faces, he took several deep breaths and added, “Besides, I doubt we would get very far.”

“But we could…” Applebloom started, only to catch a glare from the human.

“No, you’re going back, and that’s that.”

Applebloom looked to each of her friends, a wily grin forming on her face that slowly spread to the other two, who nodded at an unspoken question. The young fillies looked to the human, who had suddenly began to get worried, as the red-maned pony yelled, “Yer gonna hafta catch us first!”

With her challenge delivered, the Cutie Mark Crusaders made wild dash past the human, hoping to make a break down the hall and find their way out of the complex. Their escape plan was short lived. A foot slammed down on a red tail, while a pair of hands snagged another two tails and pulled all three to a sudden stop so that they fell to their bellies onto the cold, metal floor. The three ponies looked up to their captor, who was wearing a smug grin as he said, “I don’t think so.”

“Ugh,” Scootaloo groaned, her stomach sore from having slammed to the floor, “I don’t think we’re gonna make very good spies.”

XXX

Cye troopers stood, rank after silent rank, before the rescue party. Dmitri worked furiously in his cybernetic world to unlock the rigged door while the remaining members of the party trained their weapons on their foes. The androids had yet to fire a single round; had they been human, one might assume they were confident their prey was securely caught in a trap. Without the guiding emotion of pride, there was no telling what they were planning.

Jaze glared at the robotic nuisances from behind his submachine gun, his mind racing to find a way out this trap. Nothing seemed to be in their favor; the Cye had filled the hall in front of them and blocked off all the doors that may have led to safety, and the door behind them was looking more and more impassible by the second. With no cover, a firefight would be over before it began. His heart was racing, and everything slowed to a crawl as he tried to get at least some of them out alive.

The door to the rear slide open, and for a second the group felt its spirits lift, only to have them sink lower than ever as it slammed back shut. Sands gave a low, growling curse as he set back to work on the errant program. The scarred Colonel threw a glance to the younger soldier before returning his nervous glare to the androids.

A commotion stirred through the Cye line, and a surprisingly ancient woman dressed in old-style gray combat armor pushed through to the front of the ranks. Her long, white hair was neatly contained in a tight bun, while her gray eyes regarded the rescuers with contempt. Despite her age, her eyes looked clear and she seemed as fit as any other soldier. A cold, heartless voice emanated from her lips, “I’ve been asked by the Commander to bring you all in for questioning, most of you alive would be preferable. Please lay down your weapons and put your hands behind your heads.”

Shelby leered at the elder woman, her voice dripping disdain, “Why don’t you go crawl back into your coffin lady? We don’t do requests.”

“Young lady, you would do well to keep your silence in presence of your betters.” The younger woman’s face flushed in anger, but before she could say anything the white-haired lady fixed her glare on Jaze, “Order your ‘soldiers’ to lay down their weapons or you will be shot.”

The silver-eyed man had to force himself not to look behind him at his kneeling friend, and tried to buy the young man time. “What makes you think we’re so worried about getting shot? I think we’ve got this well under control.”

“And what makes you say that, Colonel? What makes you think you can possibly come out of this alive?”

Applejack’s chest puffed out as she said, “We got too many folks countin’ on us t’ get their fillies an’ colts home to back down here.”

“’Sides,” Vincent added, catching on to his friend’s plan, “It just ain’t my style to give up when the fight looks so fun.”

The older woman sighed, and turned to the troopers behind her, “Let me get out of the way, then kill them all. Do not let even one escape.”

“Affirmative.” a cybernetic soldier droned. The gray-eyed woman forced herself between the Cye warriors, trying to move as quickly as she could through them as she could weave between them. It was only a matter of seconds before the hall was filled with flying lead, and the rescuers were slaughtered before they could fight back.

An idea struck like lightning, and Jaze looked to the still cursing man near the key panel and asked, “Dmitri, you can hold that door open, just not make it stay open right?”

“Yeah, but what does that…?!” the cyborg Marine started, only to be cut off.

“Just hold it open for a second, then yank yourself from that computer!” The Colonel flexed his left hand and felt his stomach flutter with anticipation. This would either work beautifully, or get him killed.

As the door slid open and into the wall, Jaze reached out and locked his robotic hand around the frame where the door had disappeared. Sands yanked the small cord from the back of his neck, grimacing in pain as it came free, and looked to his commander as the door slammed against the robotic limb, the metal grasp keeping the door held firmly open. The black haired man gave a slight smirk, the strain obvious in his face, while he motioned the group towards the now-open door.

Everyone piled through the door, and the older lady’s voice echoed over the metal troopers filling the hall, “What are you waiting for? Shoot them! Do not let them get away!”

“Too late Granny!” laughed Shelby manically, “C’mon Jaze, let’s go.”

When the scarred man just smiled and shook his head, Vincent added in a low voice, “Jaze, the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Someone has to keep these guys here, and I just figured it should be me.” His robotic hand released from the door housing, and the door seemed to slowly begin its journey across the portal. Before it could complete its long trip, Sands and Applejack dove back through the portal. With a thud, it finally slid home, locking three of the rescue team on the wrong side.

“Jaze!” Trixie screamed as she pounded on the now sealed portal. Sounds of gunfire came through the door, and a large hand fell on the azure mare’s shoulder. Her purple eyes followed the arm all the way to Vincent’s face, and saw the blank look in the large soldier’s eyes. Her own eyes filled with tears, and her mouth fumbled her words, “N-no, h-he, they, t-they c-cannot be…”

“I don’t know how they could survive.” Shelby said dispassionately over the gunfire, “But if anyone could find a way outta that mess, it would be Jaze.”

“We should find a way to get back over there and help!” Twilight nearly yelled in a panic, staring wide-eyed at the door.

“We have something very important to do,” the large man whispered, “Or did you forget about the kids?”

“But, he’s right there!” Trixie nearly screamed while she pounded on the door, her tears now making tracks down her face, “We cannot just leave him, or Applejack, or Dmitri! What if it were you?!”

“I’d hope that the rest of the team would try and finish the mission, so at least I died for something.” Vin replied calmly.

“It is almost like you do not care!” cried the sobbing unicorn, “I thought that Jaze was your friend!”

The hand on her shoulder tightened painfully and ire flashed in the big man’s eyes, “Of course he is, but he also knew what he was doing. But I won’t squander what he did just because I want to change it; he’d kill me!”

Trixie took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before she flew into hate. She looked past the human and down the hall they had gained to see that it ended in a single pair of doors. As much as she wanted to hate the human and think him heartless, his pain was evident in his eyes. The same went for his mate, and even Twilight looked determined as opposed to heartbroken. No matter how badly she wanted it, she could not turn away from the foals that needed her help.

Her lungs slowly emptied, and she tried to keep her voice level, “Then let us go, I do not want to be here anymore.” The four remaining members of the rescue party set off down the blank, white hall towards the doors at the end of the hall with heavy hearts, each trying to ignore the soft sniffles coming from the back of the group.

XXX

Everything ached, and Dash could feel the bones in her wings grinding painfully. She must have been in this madman’s care for her whole life to feel as horrible as she did. No matter what she tried she could not make her entire body stop screaming at her. She suddenly realized that her mouth was hanging open, drawing in huge gulps of air. Her eyes were tightly shut against the pain and bright light still aimed at her face, but her ears worked well enough to pick out the sound of voices.

There were two; one seemingly angry with the other, both male. Her ears flicked around to find the source of the disturbance, and slowly she began to make out more of their conversation. They were definitely arguing, but it did not make sense to her at first.

“This wasn’t part of the deal!” an angry, unrecognized voice hissed, “You said you wouldn’t hurt anypony!”

“We had to alter the deal,” Rainbow’s captor replied almost sweetly, “and would you like to alter it further and join your friend?”

A long pause, “She’s no friend of mine. But you’re not going to hurt the foals right?”

“Of course not, they are an important part of the bright future we are going to build.” Dash could hear the sneer in the interrogator’s voice, “But the older ponies will have to be cleared away with the rest of the trash.”

The other, unknown voice sounded unsure, “So long as the young ones aren’t hurt. They don’t deserve that.”

“As fun as our talk has been,” Victor said dismissively, “I think it is time for you to leave.” His hated voice turned hopeful, “Unless you want to see the fruits of your labor?”

“N-no,” the second voice replied quickly, obviously sickened by the thought, “I need to go, I have, stuff.”

“Yes, go. Leave me to my work.”

Dash heard footsteps making their way towards her, and she did her best to act like she had not heard the exchange. A slight touch on her sore ribs made her jerk in her bonds, which in turn cause every other wound to flare up hotly and sear her mind with pain. Teeth clamped around her lower lip, she refused to allow herself to scream or even give the evil creature above her the satisfaction of hearing her gasp. But every muscle clenched, and she nearly gave into the desire to scream.

“It seems, Miss Dash, that we have run out of time to play.” Kanan stated calmly, “Your friends seem to be very close, and so I must put an end to this game.”

The sounds of clinking instruments met her ears once more, and the cyan mare’s breath quickened. She needed more time; there was no way she could take another session so soon. Already she could feel a blackness eating at her, something that offered freedom from her pain. But if she took the easy road out, she could imagine the looks on her friends’ faces. So with a deep sigh she steeled herself and whispered, “Then I guess that means I win, don’t it?”

His laugh was mirthless, and his voice cruel, “So it would seem, but now the gloves are off.”

XXX

Jaze glared at the pair as they stepped back through the door. Applejack wore a determined grimace, while Dmitri looked like he was ready to be sick. They looked to the Colonel with wide eyes, seemingly asking how they were going to get out of this mess, but before anyone could say a word movement caught their eyes. The Cye troopers readied their weapons and fired, rounds buzzing the air as the sound of gunfire filled the hall. On instinct, Jaze’s left hand rose; an aura of magic surrounded his hand and a bluish-silver shield appeared in front of the trio. Some bullets pinged off the slightly curved surface while others simply shattered, but none managed to penetrate the magical barrier.

When he had called up a shield before, the strain had taken nearly everything he had. It was a fight just to keep it in place. Now, it seemed easy, natural even. He silently thanked Trixie for all the hours she had spent with him, teaching him magic and helping him to build up his strength. The immediate threat held off for the moment, he once more turned his attention to the suddenly pale pair watching his shield nervously with a scowl firmly on his face.

“What the hell are you two doing?” he hissed over the din.

“W-we couldn’t jus’ leave ya alone t’ fight these guys.” Applejack answered shakily, “But Ah guess Ah didn’t think this un through.”

“Me neither,” Dmitri added, “but we’re here, so what’s the plan? You do have a plan right?”

Jaze’s voice was low, and tight with anticipation, “The plan? The plan is to kill them all.”

“Works for me,” the young pilot exclaimed, “but with all due respect, how’re we gonna do that?”

The silver-eyed man hefted his submachine gun with his right hand, “You take the left side. We can see through the shield, so we can almost aim. We’ll just work this like a riot shield and push them back.”

The Colonel’s shield moved over so there was a space to the left of him, while the right edge of the magical barrier shifted closer to his body. Sands stood next to the black-haired human and nodded, readying his weapon and checking the magazine. After a curt nod of his own, the pair of humans put their guns to either side of the shield and opened fire into the androids. The robots fell one by one as their prey began fighting back; every pass of the small automatic guns knocked at least one trooper down permanently.

Recoil from the high fire rate made Jaze’s aim dance in spite of his best efforts to steady his arm. He was forced to fire much shorter bursts than usual to compensate. The bullet hose clicked on an empty chamber, and now the Colonel was presented with another problem. His forefinger jabbed the magazine release just above the trigger as he tried to fish a new one from the pouches around his waist. Frustrated, he finally spared the magic to envelope the magazine and slam it into the receiver. With a satisfied grunt, he telekinetically yanked the charging lever back and readied the compact weapon once more.

With the first lines of Cye lying on the ground, the trio slowly started forward into their foe. They passed into the rows of fallen robots, and Applejack’s senses were buzzing with adrenaline. She felt frustrated that she could not help; every instinct screamed at her to find some way to be useful. But there was nothing she could do, or so she thought. As they passed a knot of fallen robots, one with a non-working leg jumped from the pile in an attempt to break the human’s shield.

Without thought her sword cleared its sheath and cleaved the metal trooper’s head from it shoulders in one swift movement. It slumped to the ground, and the farmpony found what she was needed for. Her broadsword stayed raised as they moved through the trashed robots, and any movement was met with either a sharp blade or a strong hoof. The orange mare glared at the clumps of metal limbs and bodies piled together and silently dared any of them to make a move.

The fight was surprisingly short as the hall was not as full of troopers as the trio had thought. Jaze let the shield fizzle out as his hand fell. Every sense hummed with a high from the fight. Though he hated to admit it to himself, the fight had felt good despite its briefness. The young Colonel tried to convince himself that it was just knowing that he had spared his friends, but he knew better. The fight, knowing he had bested his foe with everything at his disposal, was why he felt so right, helping the ones he loved was a bonus.

He brought his false hand back up to stare at the metal limb, admiring just how far he had come in such a short time. Barely even a month ago he could not lift a sheet of paper, now he could hold a shield nearly indefinitely. He offered Trixie another silent thanks before reaching into an ammo pouch at his waist for to replace the nearly empty magazine in his weapon.

Each pouch turned up empty. The dark-haired man let out a low curse; he had lost track of his ammo during the fight. He pressed the release button to check exactly how many rounds he had left. A further curse escaped his lips when he discovered he only had a triplet of shots left, and he growled, “I’m nearly spent, how much ammo do you have Dmitri?”

“Not enough,” the younger man mumbled before adding in a clear voice, “I’ve got two full mags, plus a half in my gun. Need one?”

“Dammit,” Jaze let out a sigh, “no, you keep them. I’ll figure something out, and if nothing else,” He lifted Sairugi out of its sheath and gave a brief grin, “I’ve got this if nothing else, I’ll be fine.”

“Hold on,” Sands reached down and plucked his sidearm from his belt holster as well as a few sticks of ammunition, “Take this. Only got a few mags, but at least you’ll have something better to shoot off than your mouth. You really didn’t think this whole ‘hero’ thing through did you?” He gave a brief smile, no more than a flash of teeth, “Sir.”

The silver-eyed soldier’s smile was just a brief, “I guess I didn’t, good thing I am not a hero then. But we’d better get moving.” After checking the load and clicking on the safety, he stuck the pistol under his ammo belt and dropped the magazines into a pouch, slinging his submachine gun across his back for safe keeping. As armed and ready as he could be, he looked to the other two and nodded, “Let’s go.”

“Alrigh’, now what’re we gonna do?” Applejack interjected as she surveyed the carnage, “Ah mean, should we go after everypony?”

“I honestly didn’t expect to beat them all.” Jaze whispered in reply, scratching the back of his neck self-consciously, “I’d hoped just to make it to a door and run like hell.”

Sands stared at his commander, a blank look on his face. A laugh slowly worked its way from the young pilot’s stomach to bubble forth in great gouts of amusement. His eyes welled up as he doubled over in mirth, his hands clutching his stomach. The relief of being alive added to his amusement until it was nearly impossible to control. After several moments of laughter the young man was able to gasp, “I guess, you’re human after all!”

Jaze merely shrugged, “What did you expect? I just wanted to give everyone else a chance to get away before bugging out. I’m not insane you know.”

Applejack could not help letting out a snort of laughter before adding, “If’n we hurry, we could prolly catch up with everypony ‘fore they git too far.”

Dmitri managed to halt his laughing fits, though chuckles still burst forth every now and then, and knelt in front of the key panel once more. He quickly hacked back into the opening program and let the Colonel grab hold of the door to hold it open before slowly withdrawing from the computerized world. On the other side of the portal they found a hall terminating in a lift. A quick jog brought them to the sliding double doors, where the younger man jammed the button with his thumb. The trio anxiously awaited the arrival of the lift, fully aware they could be set upon at any moment by another contingent of Cye soldiers.

XXX

Vincent forced his way past the ponderously slow elevator doors into the hallway beyond; sweeping the passage with his gun to make sure it was clear before waving the others out behind him. Twilight and Shelby took positions to his left and right and just behind him while Trixie stepped between the other three, her eyes to the ground and full of tears.

The azure mare was barely aware of her surroundings as her mind was still focused on Jaze’s face as the door had closed between them. He had looked angry as Sands and Applejack joined him, and he would have only been so angry if he had thought they would not make it through the fight. Her heart leapt to her throat at the thought of the human perishing, not to mention her other friends. A ball of ice had formed in her stomach and she wanted nothing more than to lay and cry. But she wouldn’t let herself give up, she couldn’t. It would be poor testament to their memory if she let their sacrifice be in vain.

Deep violet pools finally rose from the floor to find the large man staring down at her with a concerned look in his eyes. A hand fell on her shoulder, and she twisted her head to the right to see the human woman giving a wan smile. Their silent pity only made the showmare feel worse and made it harder for her to bite back bitter tears of remorse. She was on the verge of saying something hateful to the two, before Vincent whispered, “It’ll be alright, you’ll see. Jaze is pretty tough to kill, and I bet the other two are too. They’ll get outta this mess just fine.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Trixie asked sarcastically.

Shelby gave a brief wink, “Our Colonel isn’t the type to let down someone he loves.”

Despite the gnawing worrying in her gut, the unicorn couldn’t help but blush at the insinuation. Twilight, oblivious to her friend’s embarrassment, but a fore leg around her blue neck in a tight hug and whispered into the distraught pony’s ear, “Come on, we have a lot of ponies counting on us, then we can go find Applejack, Jaze, and Dmitri.”

A note of hope crept back into the despairing unicorn’s voice, “You promise we can find them?”

“Did you really think we’d leave a friend in this mell of a hess?” the woman laughed loudly, “He’d have our hides for sure when he found his way out.”

The lift doors slid shut behind the quartet, and they could hear it rise back towards the floor above. Someone had to have called it. Vincent glared at the doors for a moment before turning to the rest of the rescue party and speaking in a low, calm voice, “Something is coming, and as much as I want to believe otherwise I have to think it is a bad thing. We need to move, which way do you think we should go?”

“Couldn’t we split up and go both ways?” Twilight threw out quickly.

Vincent shook his head, “Too risky, we’d be in a real pickle if we get caught. We need to stick together.”

Trixie glanced down each hall to see that both ended in a ninety degree turn, “I say we go left.”

“Not that it matters, but why left?” Shelby asked with a confused scowl on her face.

“I just have a good feeling about going left.”

“Left it is then, but we need to move now. Double time!” Vincent ordered before setting off in a jog down the left, the rest of the group hot on his heels. They reached the end of the hall, nearly threw themselves to the left and kept running.

The hall they now found themselves in branched off in multitudes of directions and sectioned of small rooms that looked like nothing more than storage. Despair settled once more on the azure magician as she realized just how large the base was, and she feared never being able to find her way out, let alone the missing foals. She hoped that, wherever he was, Jaze was having better luck than them.

XXX

The elevator arrived with a ding, and its doors slid open to beckon the trio standing guard over the hall into its perceived safety. Jaze waved the others in before stepping in and slapping the down button. His mind was set on regrouping with his friends, they could figure out a strategy from there. The other two stared at him as the lift descended, eyes wide and slightly worried. He could feel their anxiousness washing over him, and he had to admit that he shared their feelings. They had no idea what would be at the bottom of the lift; for all they knew they were walking into another ambush.

The Colonel drew his pistol and clicked off the safety as the elevator started slowing to a stop. Sands readied his own weapon and took up position next to the doors across from Jaze, nodding. As the doors slid open, the pair of humans wheeled out to the left and right, scanning the hall with weapons ready.

The empty hall was both a relief and worrisome for the dark-hair assassin. His pistol sank towards the ground as his left hand rose to the comm unit in his ear. He had hoped to raise the rest of the rescue party, but triggering the communicator only gave a loud, grating screech and a burst of static. It took every ounce of willpower the silver-eyed soldier had not to rip the comm from his ear, but he couldn’t hold back a wince of pain.

“Ya alrigh’?” Applejack asked when she noticed his grimace.

“We’ve got no comms.” Jaze replied simply with a worried frown.

The same worry reflected on Dmitri’s face, “Since when? What happened?”

“If I knew, I’d fix it.” The Colonel let out a long, exasperated sigh, “Okay, we’re cut off with no comms and low ammo. But we still have a mission, so no dallying.”

“Just another day at the office, huh Jaze?” the young pilot commented with a broad grin.

“I guess so.” Jaze grunted; his eyes passing between both directions the hall took. There was no way of knowing where the rest of the team had gone, and guessing wrong could be catastrophic. Several minutes passed, and still the Colonel couldn’t make himself pick a direction.

Applejack scuffed the floor with a hoof in frustration at the silence, “Where are they? They couldn’ta jus’ disappeared!”

“I wish I knew.” came the curt reply, and frustration crept into the human’s voice in spite of his best efforts to conceal it. “Come on, left or right?” he whispered to himself, “Left, right, left, right…” Each word was punctuated by his silver eyes flashing between the directions while the fingers of his left hand drummed out a steady rhythm on the hilt of the sword at his waist. “Come on, give me a hint.”

“I think we should go right.” Dmitri spoke up from next to the young Colonel.

Applejack nodded, “Ah gotta agree with Dmitri. S’better then stayin’ here.”

The silver-eyed man threw one final glance down the left hall before heading down the other hall, “Let’s go with your plan, better than the nothing I’ve got.” He ran a hand through the black hair plastered to his brow in a vain attempt to shove it away, “Sands, you’re going first since you’ve got the SMG. I’ll take the rear, AJ I want you to stay between us and try not to get dead if shooting starts.”

The apple farmer grimaced, “Thanks for the confidence.”

“Hey, don’t be that way.” the young pilot joked, “At least you’re not going to be the first one into an ambush.”

Jaze cut off the farmer’s retort as she opened her mouth to fire back, his voice a mix of anxious expectation and confidence, “Enough chat, we’ve got kids to rescue.” Sands started walking down the right hand hall, and the Colonel lightly tapped the young mare’s shoulder as she turned to follow so he could whisper softly, “We’ve got to be getting close to where Applebloom is, I can feel it.”

She offered a brief, tight smile, “Thanks a heap; Ah know we’ll find ‘er, an’ the others.”

He gave an encouraging nod as she stepped away to fall behind Dmitri. Seeing the hope in the young mare’s eyes made Jaze’s own spirits soar. Despite every set back, she had never stopped believing they could make everything right. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing all the negative thoughts out with the stale air before moving after the others ahead of him.

The trio moved down the hall as quietly as the floor would allow and rounded the right hand turn at the end of the hall to watch in despair as new hallways opened up into a maze of corridors. Several rooms of multiple sizes were sectioned off by the passages, and a grimace settled on the scarred soldier’s face as he realized they would have to check each and everyone for both the remainder of the team, and for the missing ponies. A hushed conversation led the three to split up to search the halls as quickly as possible. Jaze took the first few halls, Applejack chose the next section, and Dmitri searched the last halls.

As the Colonel turned down the first hall and saw how many halls split off from this one, the reality of just how much ground they had to cover struck him. Every few feet the passageway split off to his right or left and sectioned off another room, and gave him another way to get lost. His hopes suddenly sank back to where they had been moments before. They were going to be in for a long search.

XXX

Vincent growled with frustration as they turned down yet another hall in the maze his group had found. It felt like they had been searching for days, not the mere two hours they had been at it. No one bothered looking in any of the rooms that had no one nearby, as they assumed anything of importance would be under heavy guard. But as they turned down what seemed like the thousandth passage in a never ending hell of blank, white walls he began to wonder if he had been mistaken.

As he came around another corner, a pair of Cye troopers began firing at him. Rounds impacted the armor of his chest, and he felt the air leave his lungs. The large soldier stepped back around the corner and leaned against the wall for a moment to catch his breath. Shelby rushed to his side with a hand on his shoulder only to get waved off for her troubles. The woman peeked around the corner, withdrawing her head as bullets whizzed past to slam into the wall behind her.

The large human grunted in anger as he stood to his full height. Hate for the machines that had the guts to shoot at him coursed through every fiber of his being. He felt like time had slowed, and everything looked more defined. As air filled his lungs again he gave Shelby’s arm a quick pat. She nodded, took a deep breath, and dashed across the opening to the far side; narrowly avoiding the hail of bullets flung at her. Vincent took her place at the near corner; he leaned as little of his body around corner as possible to fire a quick burst at the androids even as Shelby put her arm around the corner to do the same.

One of the troopers fell with a chest pockmarked by bullet-holes. Before it had even hit the ground, a tidal wave of Cye soldiers boiled out into the hall like metallic ants from a doorway just behind the original two. Vincent cursed as he withdrew around a corner to avoid the return fire from his foes. His heart skipped several beats as more rounds impacted the wall mere inches from his fiancée’s face, though she was able to pull away with little more than a pounding heart.

Twilight watched the two humans fighting for their lives with a frustrated grimace on her face. She had worked so hard to learn how to fight, but now she found herself unable to move. Her gun floated before her in a lavender field of magic, and her eyes flashed with determination as she stepped up next to the man at the corner.

“What can I do?” the lavender unicorn yelled over the gunfire.

Vincent glanced down before returning his attention to the metal foe around the corner. His voice was tight with anticipation as he hollered back, “Get over next to Shell, take a knee down next to her and start shooting.” He shot a quick look to the woman across from him and yelled, “I think we found something!”

“Yeah,” Shelby yelled back, “we found trouble. Same thing I always find with you.”

“Oh come on baby, that’s not fair!”

“But it’s the truth, and you know it!”

He gave a false pout, jovial despite the combat, “Aw, but I thought you liked the trouble?”

Her smile was as bright as kid’s on Hearth’s Warming morn, “Of course I do, but you have to admit you manage to find more than your fair share.”

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at the two human soldiers’ bickering. Her laughter ended, however, as she viewed the short distance she had to travel. Though it was barely longer than she was, the space was filled with tiny bits of flying death. Every part of her from her head to her gut told her crossing the hall would only get her hurt or worse. She tried to steel herself for that first step by bringing to mind all the young ponies that needed her, not to mention one of her best friends.

Thoughts of the cyan mare, hurt and alone with no one to comfort her, somewhere in this very building made the unicorn’s fury rise. But her anger was still not enough to overcome the feelings of doubt hammering at her mind. Her lips pulled back in a scowl of frustration; she tried to force her legs to move, but they remained staunchly in place despite the orders from her brain.

As she glared across short hall an idea struck her. Her horn glowed with a brighter lavender light, and a brief field of similarly colored magic enveloped her. A dazzling flash lit up the hall, and the unicorn disappeared from where she had been rooted only to reappear standing next to the human woman. Shelby jumped from the explosion of light and the loud pop that resounded next to her and looked down to see the young mage shaking off the dizzying effects of the teleportation. The dark-haired woman looked back across the hall to where the pony had stood before and saw a small patch of blackened floor.

“Now that’s a neat trick.” she remarked jokingly with a smile, “Now can you do the same thing to them,” she pointed a finger around the corner, “but send ‘em to, oh I don’t know, the moon or something?”

Twilight’s cheeks flushed at the praise, and her words came out more jumbled than she would have liked, “I’m n-not that g-good with magic. That w-would take a l-lot of power.”

“Come on kid,” Shelby laughed as she reached down to ruffle the young mare’s mane, “I’m just teasing ya. Still, guess this means we get to have more fun right?”

“I… guess?” The lavender unicorn looked up to the grinning woman with a worried look in her eyes. She had to assume the other had lost her mind, or she wouldn’t think of this mess as fun.

Twilight tossed her head to shake away the thoughts invading it and stepped around Shelby to press herself into the wall just before the corner. She could hear the rounds slamming into the walls and floor. It took her several seconds to be able to peek around the corner. Spent shell casings dropped from the submachine gun above her head as the woman holding it fired a steady stream of lead into the machines, and the young mare brought her own weapon up in a magical field and drew a bead on one of the lead machines.

Her magic closed around the weapon’s trigger and sent a quick burst into the android down the hall. The rounds tore into its chestplate and the Cye trooper fell to the deck, dead. A small bit of pride bloomed in the pony’s chest as she took careful aim at the next trooper in line and dropped it as well with another controlled burst. As with everything she did, her method was methodical and she tried to keep all the things she had been taught in mind.

“’Rule two,’” she quoted from her Corporal trainer almost silently, “’short, controlled bursts.’” The gun spat out the last few rounds to fell another of the metallic monsters, and she hit the magazine release and slapped a fresh one into the receiver before continuing her methodical assault.

For the duration of the fight, Trixie had sat well away from the pitched battle to watch. A feeling of uselessness flared inside the azure pony as she saw the three others fighting; although she her mind told her she could help she couldn’t make herself draw on her magic to do anything. Anytime she even thought of calling up her magic her mind locked up and wouldn’t let her call forth even the basic spells.

As she tried to find a way to help, a sound reached her ears from further up the hall. It had been nearly impossible to hear over the sounds of battle, but it managed to find her ears; it was the sound of breaking glass. Her eyes scanned the hall, but nothing stood out and the passageway quickly turned away in multitudes of directions. Her mind conjured up images of more of the androids making their way towards the group of soldiers and her heart began to race.

If somepony was out there and wished them harm, she couldn’t let it go. She scooted a little closer to the large human still fighting against the machines down the side passage and yelled, “Somepony is out there; I will go see who it is, and what their purpose is.”

Without even looking down Vincent called back, “If you think you need to, then go. God knows I don’t wanna get flanked; that’d be death here. Don’t get lost,” he paused, then added emphatically, “and don’t get dead! Jaze would tear my head from my shoulders!”

“I will try my best.” the azure pony replied as she readied herself for the short dash across the opening. The three other members of the group threw as much lead down the hall as they could to give Trixie the time she needed to skip across the opening and avoid getting a bullet for her troubles. Once across she trotted up the hall to find the source of the disturbance.

Vincent watched the mare move up the hall as quickly as she could while staying silent and a smile touched his lips. Despite being defenseless, the pony was willing to risk her life to help the rest of the team. Seeing such a selfless act rekindled his hope that they could make it through this; not just this fight, but the war in general.

A round hit the ground too close to his foot for comfort and jerked the soldier back to reality. The gun in his hands barked out a steady rhythm that he found almost comforting, a familiar sound that had never failed him throughout the many fights he’d seen. He dropped back behind the wall to reload and took a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow before he risked a quick peek around the corner. The Cye troopers had definitely been thinned, although there were still a few still on their feet.

The bullets pouring down the hall slowed from a river to a trickle, and Vincent’s face cracked into a broad, almost insane grin. Not even in their own base could his foes stop him and his friends. And as the last trooper fell, he stepped around the corner to inspect the door these metal soldiers had fought so hard to protect. It seemed as nondescript as any other door, but there had to be something important on the other side to warrant such a guard. As he neared the door with the other two following him it slid open and revealed the room the androids had worked to protect.

Inside the surprisingly large room along every wall were what looked like server clusters that stood about the height of a large man and nearly reached to the low ceiling. Each cluster was silver and slightly rounded at the edges with lights blinking at regular intervals along its front to indicate something that was lost on the large ex-farmboy. Taking this for some sort of data processing center, Vincent kept scanning the room for something more.

There, in the far right corner almost like it was trying to hide stood a different looking object. It was a darker gray than the surrounding computers, and it had dropped all pretense of being square to become a cylinder. It stood on three flared legs, and at the top it had a trio of long fins reaching up from the sides of the object. As the large man stepped closer to the object he could hear his comm buzzing with interference in his ear, the first noise it had made in hours.

“That must be why the comms aren’t working. It looks a lot like the jammers I was shown during training.” Twilight remarked thoughtfully as she inspected the strange object.

The large soldier glanced behind to see where the pony was standing in the door and gave her a quick nod, “You’re prolly right. Know how to disable this thing?”

A hand yanked him back, and Shelby’s gun lined up on the object. Her finger closed on the trigger and the weapon spat out a stream of lead into the jammer’s casing. It crackled loudly as electricity sparked along its surface and a wave of static washed over the group. When the static had passed, the comms in the groups’ ears gave a shrill screech followed by an earsplitting pop. Vincent looked to his fiancée and was given a broad grin and she answered his unasked question in a laughing voice, “There, it’s disabled.”

The ex-farmboy looked to his love with a glare, a glare offset by the small smile touching his lips, “You coulda just gotten us killed ya know.”

“Oh come on,” the young woman laughed, “you heard Twilight; it was just a harmless jammer. It wasn’t gonna blow up or anything.” She strutted past her love and bumped him playfully with her shoulder as she brushed by him, “Think you should try raising Jaze or someone now?”

“I dunno, maybe you’re right.” He put a finger to the unit in his ear and spoke clearly and loudly, “This is Vincent; Jaze can you hear me?” Only silence answered his question.

From Bad to Worse Part 2

Jaze and his two friends had been searching fruitlessly for hours. They had found all manner of rooms; from a cafeteria, to several restrooms, and even many barracks-style rooms with thousands of beds awaiting someone to sleep in them. The problem was that there were not enough traitorous humans to fill all the beds, so the Colonel’s mind was forced to wonder just where the extra bodies were going to come from. Even more troubling was that the beds seemed to be too small for an adult, and the assassin’s mind churned with all the implications of their discoveries.

The few things they didn’t find were the foals, their friends, or any kind of resistance. Each second that passed without seeing someone else made the dark-haired man’s mind conjure up images of ambushes and other nasty surprises. But nothing had happened yet, and his anxiety continued to grow.

Another turn of the hall ways brought him to a series of evenly spaced doors on his left. The hallway was a dead end, so Jaze moved to the first door and touched the button next to it, stepping inside as it slid open, pistol held high and ready. As the door flashed shut behind him, his silver eyes scanned the room he had found. As with the rest of the base, its walls were a stark white, but after that the similarity ended. Three waist-high black-topped tables with odd stains on their surfaces standing in a row took up the center of the room while the edges of the room had glass-faced, metal cabinets holding beakers of various chemicals, tons of lab equipment from microscopes to dissection kits, and other strange implements that the soldier could not give a name. A few of the cabinets held various types of saws, both hand and powered, as well as other large, sharp instruments. On the right wall was a door leading to the next room.

To his left in a corner a stood a tall, metal bookshelf, almost over flowing with a mass of papers. He ignored the rest of the room and walked towards the mess, hoping to find some clue as to what had been going on. He holstered his gun and ruffled through the various articles. Most were incomprehensible graphs and data, a few were equally unreadable shorthand notes, but one form caught his eye. It was a thick document, at least ten pages stapled at the corner to keep them together, buried underneath a stack of other documents that seemed to be more of the raw data. Jaze threw a quick glance around the room before pulling out the essay. Its title identified it as a report of some form of experiment, and the soldier glanced at the first page in curiosity.

On each new planet humanity colonizes there are new flora and fauna to behold. Every new creature has great potential, either for good or ill. But each new species that has been found is always unintelligent. Never before has another intelligent race been found by any explorers of a new world, until now. Not just one, but several species have been observed on this new planet, though the dominant form seems to be a type of equine similar to a pony from Earth with some distinct differences.

Jaze’s eyes widened as he realized that Carn had to have been spying on several of the other races besides the Equestrians. Even though he was dead, knowing Carn had been gathering intelligence on so many spoke of some grander scheme that filled the scarred soldier with worry. What that plan could be, the Colonel didn’t know, but he was glad that the insane man’s plans had been stopped with his death. The dark-haired man skipped down several paragraphs to get through the exposition of the paper and picked up at a random place:

The next specimen is of the winged variety, taken after the attack of their city made of clouds. Like the rest of the specimens euthanized during the conflict, this one suffered extensive damage; most notably to the cranium having taken two separate gunshot wounds that obliterated much of the head. The rest of the body was intact, however, and dissection was carried out before rigor mortis could set in fully. The specimen, a female of orange coat, was spread out in preparation for dissection before a single cut was made starting at the base of the neck to just above the groin…

A wave of nausea overcame the silver-eyed soldier as he realized what he was reading. Sickness slowly turned to anger as his vision reddened and his grip on the paper tightened. That anyone could treat the dead of Cloudsdale with such cold-heartedness made the man’s blood boil. He managed to calm himself enough to keep reading, though he once more skipped ahead to avoid the ruthless descriptions that had been written and read only the last few paragraphs:

It is believed that while these equines appearance is like that of those from Earth, they are vastly different. Their organ structure, for example, is more closely related to that of a human’s and even seems as if these equines could be omnivorous. In fact, a few of the examined specimens were found to have ingested eggs, though predominantly they are herbivorous. Even their DNA is immensely different, having fewer chromosomal pairs and matching the human number of twenty-three.

The original purpose of this experiment, however, was to examine ways of giving mechanical additions to an equine subject, most specifically modifications to the brain. As shown with subject 009, stable modifications are nigh impossible and the subject is only still alive through the use of life supporting machines, though she has stated that she is in great pain on several occasions. The other ten subjects have all either expired, or become functionally brain-dead and been terminated.

It is believed the failure is caused by a very slight change of brain chemistry and structure; though the equines’ brains are close enough to that of a human’s that additions will be possible with further study. The differences causes rejection of cybernetic limbs, and more often than not the body reacts violently to the chemicals needed to ensure the limb’s proper functioning. This violent reaction usually destroys the brain or shuts down the nervous system, with visible rashes and sores being less common though observed.

In conclusion, the equines will be viable candidates for the project provided necessary modifications to the systems are made. What those changes will be, and how long it will take is unclear, but further testing will further the understanding of the equines’ physiology. More specimens are needed in better condition than have been previously used. Suggest collecting specimens peacefully then using lethal injection to preserve the bodies for testing.

Anger once more raged unchecked through Jaze’s mind, and he stomped over to the trio of tables in the center of the room. The table tops, as he suspected, were stained with blood that had been hastily scrubbed away. His hand lay on the table as fury stormed in his eyes. Trying to get his emotions under control was a losing battle, and his anger grew as he realized what was going to happen to the foals that had been brought here.

“You sick bastards!” Jaze screamed as he grabbed and threw the table into the cabinets in a blind rage. He immediately regretted it when a loud crash of breaking glass rang out and probably alerted every being around to where he was. Despite the fact he may get killed, the Colonel desperately wished for someone to come investigate the noise so he could have someone to unleash his pent up fury upon.

A sound brought the scarred man spinning towards the door on the right of the room. It was almost nonexistent, but he was just barely able to catch it. He retrieved his weapon from the cabinet and moved next to the metal door, pressing his ear against it in an attempt to make out the sound a bit better.

It was a pained, female voice that croaked, still barely audible, “H-hello? Is anypony there? P-please, can somepony please h-help me?” He could hear the tears in her voice as she spoke, and knew voice had to belong to the mare that had been mentioned in the report. His hand reached out and hit the open button for the portal, and stepped into the next room as it opened before him.

This room seemed to be some form of medical bay. It had medical equipment strewn all over, with a single operating table in the center that had a large light above it to keep the patient well lit. But nopony seemed to have been in this room, and Jaze looked up to see another door, this one already held open.

Past the metal frame was what looked to be a patients’ recovery room from any sickbay or camp medic tent in any army throughout history. Several beds were lined up and down both sides with curtains that could be drawn around the patients to give some modicum of privacy. All of the beds stood empty with the exception of the last one on the left, which had its curtains drawn.

Jaze moved towards the hidden bed, and groans made their way to his ears. Someone was definitely behind the curtains, and whoever it was obviously wish she wasn’t there. As he moved closer to the hidden form, sniffles began making themselves heard as well as a low beeping as of medical equipment. Every step he took felt like a mile; he needed to reach the bed to help the poor soul, but he almost feverishly wished he didn’t have to look. He took slow, cautious steps, trying to keep quiet as he inched closer.

“I can hear you, what is it now?” the mare asked in her pained voice, “More tests? Please, you can’t do this! I just want it to end; I want to see my husband and my baby again.” The silver-eyed soldier gave one last glance around before wrapping his hand around the curtains and giving them a quick yank. “Oh thank Celestia; you’re not one of those doctors.”

“No, I’m not.” Jaze whispered as he looked her over. Her mane had been shaved away, and atop her head was a long scar that ran from her forehead all the way to the back of her skull. The right eye was concealed beneath a black patch, while the other was red-rimmed and bloodshot. Continuing down from her face, her injuries only got worse. One foreleg was wrapped in a cast, obviously broken, and her ribs too had been tightly bound. The good leg had a pair of hoses jammed into it which were connected to a blood circulator. A small mask covered her nose to force air into and out of her lungs, though it kept her mouth free to be able to speak. Yet another machine monitored her heartbeat,

Her snow-white coat was messed from days without being cleaned, and peeking out from behind her back were the nubs of her wings tightly bound in white linen. Seeing those wings made him realize who the mare was; his face twisted into a mask of sadness and pain at the wretched creature looking up at him, her identity weighing heavily on his mind.

“Why do you look so familiar?” the mare asked hesitantly, “I have seen you somewhere…” She trailed off as she tried to place his face, but the exertion was obviously painful and Jaze wished to spare her more torment.

“Of course you have,” The scarred soldier’s voice was low and choked with emotion, and he knelt next to the white mare’s bed “I was the one who took Zephyr from you at Cloudsdale.”

For a brief moment confusion filled the mother’s one good eye before understanding brought tears of relief to her eyes, “Zephyr, my baby? She’s okay?”

“She sure is,” Jaze beamed, though his eyes threatened to tear up as well, “and she misses you terribly. She’ll be glad to see you again.”

A look of deep sadness filled the mare’s eyes and she began to sob, “I c-can’t go back to h-her like th-this. It’d break her heart!” She turned her blue eyes, an exact match to her daughter’s, to the machines next to her, “I c-can’t even l-leave this bed; w-without these machines I would d-die. And it h-hurts so b-bad, everything hurts.”

“How did you survive?” the dark-haired assassin asked in wonder, “The last thing I saw was you getting shot in your wings…”

“My wings wouldn’t let me fly, but the slowed me enough that when I hit a tall tree on the way down it only broke most of my bones. These cruel things found me, half dead, and brought me here.” A hoof came up to his arm as pain and fear filled her eyes, “As soon as I woke up, they started doing horrible experiments to me and the other’s they had found. The rest of them all died, but they hooked me up to this stuff and kept me alive.” A sudden thought crossed her mind and made her shudder, “I am alive right? Or did I die and this is my punishment?”

“Don’t worry, you’re alive and we can fix this.” Jaze let an encouraging smile creep across his face, “The StarSide Marine Corps has some of the best doctors in the known universe, and now we have unicorn doctors with magic. There’s nothing that we couldn’t fix.”

“They put something in my head.” she admitted, terror causing her voice to quake, “I don’t know what it’s supposed to do, but what if it makes me go crazy and hurt somepony? What if I hurt Zephyr?”

Jaze forced his smile to stay in place, “Come on, just listen to me. Zephyr needs you, and seeing you again would make her the happiest little filly in the world.”

“She would be terrified of me!” the mare screamed in anguish, “I look like a monster, and for all I know they made me one! And everything hurts so bad; I feel like my brain is on fire!” Her voice became soft and pleading, “Please, just finish me. Turn off the machines and let this pain stop. I just want everything to end; I don’t want any more pain.”

“No,” he responded quickly, “you’ve got a filly to look after who wants nothing more than to see her mother again. You owe it to her to try at least.”

“I did try! But I am too weak, and I can’t let her see what’s happened to me. Better to let her remember me as I was and not as I am.” Her tone became even more pleading, “She’s barely three, do you think she would understand? And what if I were to die in front of her again? She couldn’t handle it! Please, just let it end. Turn off the machine and walk away.”

“No.” At his simple statement, ire flared in the broken pegasus’s eyes, but before she could say a word he continued. “I won’t just turn off the machines; you’ve gone through enough already. If I have to do it, then it’s going to be as quick as I can make it.”

A sigh of relief crossed her lips as the mare relaxed, “Thank you, now I can join Cross Winds.”

Jaze’s pistol rested against the side of her head, his finger creaking on the trigger, “Don’t worry, it’ll be quick and you won’t feel a thing…”

XXX

A single gunshot rang out from nearby and made Dmitri jump in surprise. He had heard the sounds of battle coming from a ways down the hall, but this closer shot had him worried. Applejack had finished her section quickly and was helping him to search his, though it seemed to spread on and on indefinitely. But now he feared what had happened to one of his friends and decided that he needed to find them.

Before he could move a man came, sprinting and huffing for breath, around the corner with the fillies in tow. One was a unicorn, another a pegasus, and the final one was an earth filly. The man slid to a stop a few feet away from the young pilot, who had brought up his gun and had it trained on his chest. The man had false green eyes, graying brown hair, and slowly put his hands up in a sign of defeat to show they were empty. The young ponies milled around behind the graying man, peeking out from behind his legs to stare in wide eyed wonder at the gun-wielding soldier.

Sands waved with his gun to away from the other man and growled, “Send them over, and I won’t turn your face to mush.”

Bright green eyes stared at him unafraid and he whispered to the ponies behind his legs, “Go on, do what he says girls.” As the three ponies hung their heads and moved away, he continued, “You’re not going to hurt them, are you?”

“What? Of course not, why would we when we came here to rescue them?!” Dmitri turned back down the hall and yelled as loud as he could, “Applejack! I found three of the kids!”

The earth filly perked up at hearing the name, and her mouth broke into a wide smile while her eyes shined with happiness and she cried out, “Wait, Applejack?! Ya mean mah sister’s here?!”

“So you’re Applejack’s sister huh?” Sands said as he gave a grin, “Applebloom, right? Don’t worry, she’ll be here soon.” He turned his gaze back to the man standing a few feet away, “And as for you, no sudden moves. I really don’t want these girls to see what you look like on the inside, traitor.”

“Hang on a second,” the green-eyed man said confusedly, “you’re one of the intruders, aren’t you?”

“Uh, duh genius.” mocked the pilot, “What did you think?”

“But I, I thought,” the grayed man slapped a hand to his face in realization, “I done goofed.”

“What do you mean you ‘done goofed’?”

“I thought you were here to kill me for dropping that Cye trooper.” the fake-eyed man admitted, wincing at his own stupidity.

Applebloom stopped halfway between the two men and asked with wide, imploring eyes, “Yer not gonna hurt Cameron are ya mister? He’s a nice un’, he did save us from that one metal feller before.”

Dmitri glanced down to the young earth filly, and then down to another two pairs of puppy dog eyes staring up from his legs. He heaved a sigh and let his guns sink toward the ground, “I guess that I don’t have to, since you brought these three here. If,” he added as the other man’s face became hopeful, “and only if you tell us where the rest of the little ones are. And where Rainbow Dash is; she’s a light blue pony with a rainbow mane tail.”

“The kids’re nearby,” Cameron nodded down the hall, “just up thataway in fact. The other one should be somewhere around here I think. If you give me a minute, we can…” He trailed of as the tramp of heavy, metal feet thundered through the hall. Pale-faced terror gripped the two-time traitor and yelled, “Damn! They’re coming; we need to get the hell away, now!”

“Girls, go! Down the hall, NOW!” Dmitri screamed to the three fillies as he brought his submachine gun up, “I’ll…”

He wasn’t even able to finish before a trio of Cye troopers standing abreast sprang around the corner the four had just come from. Their guns came up and let loose a storm of death into the hall. For Cameron, there was no chance; he caught most of the rounds with his back and fell to the ground with a pained scream. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo screamed at the gunfire and ran at a dead sprint for the end of the hall where Applejack had just appeared. But Applebloom had turned at the dying man’s scream and watched in horror at the slowly spreading red pool surrounding him and his pained spasms.

Pure, primal instinct drove Sands to jump forward and tackle the young filly frozen in the hall as the android soldiers brought their rifles down to fire at the young pony. The pilot slammed into Applebloom and rolled away from where they had been; rifles barked angrily and the young man screamed in pain when a round hit just above his left knee. Intense, burning pain spread up the limb and brought a curse to his lips. His eyes rose to see the mechanical troops taking careful aim at him and the pony in his arms, and he knew that there was no way he could take them down before he became a red stain on the wall.

“DON’T YOU DARE TOUCH MY SISTER!” Applejack bellowed as she charged down the hall toward her gun wielding foes in a seething rage. She leapt the last few feet over Cameron’s still form; when her fore-hooves hit the ground she spun and channeled every ounce of momentum and strength into a rage-powered kick aimed square into the chest of the Cye trooper on the left.

The powerful blow crumpled its chest like foil and sent it flying back several feet to break apart on the wall. The other two troopers started what seemed to be slow turns with their guns raised to put the new threat down, but the furious orange storm wouldn’t abate so easily. Her gauntleted hoof dipped down and connected to her blade to yank it from its sheath. The blade’s arc carried it into the middle of the Cye trooper standing closest to her; the sword crushed and cut into the metal soldier and flung it into the next trooper in line, who was knocked to the ground.

As the last android tried to climb back to its feet, but Applejack was already standing over it. She reared up and let her free hoof join the one connected to her sword. With an inarticulate shout, she brought the metal down on her opponent and cleaved it from its left shoulder to its right hip. The now-useless hunk of metal and wiring settled to the ground on what was left of its back. An unsatisfied orange mare glared down at the fallen robot before turning and bringing a strong hind-hoof down on its head, crushing it into an unrecognizable lump of metal bits.

She turned towards the wounded soldier laying against the wall. Her usually warm, friendly face was dark and angry, though as soon as she saw the trembling pony in the human’s arms she regained a bit of her usual manner. The orange mare sat back on her haunches and held her forelegs out to the other with a gentle smile.

Little Applebloom stared at her sister, the only thing that seemed real to her in the middle of a world gone crazy. Tears filled her young eyes, and she broke away from the injured pilot’s grip to dash into the other pony’s tender embrace. Soft sobs rose from her as she buried her face in the cold metal plate on the older mare’s chest.

“Shh,” Applejack cooed softly, “s’alrigh’ little un’. Ah’m here, yer gonna be alrigh’.”

“C-Cameron,” the filly bawled, “i-is h-he…?”

The armored pony turned and looked to the form sprawled in the hall. He wasn’t moving, not even his chest appeared to be rising with breath. She looked back down to the young one staring up at her with tear-reddened eyes and gave her head a short shake. Wails rose from the young pony and she squeezed her sister in a tight hug. From the chest plate of the gold hued armor she asked, “B-but he w-wasn’t a b-bad g-guy! G-good g-guys ain’t supposed t’ d-die!”

“Sometimes,” Sands groaned in pain from where he was leaned against the wall, “bad things happen to good people. And good things happen to bad people.”

Applejack caught the pain in his voice and let her eyes roam down to the wound in his leg staining his pants crimson. “Oh Dmitri!”she yelled, “Yer hurt! Why didn’ ya say sumthin’?”

“I’ll be fine.” he assured the worried mare as he tried to climb to his feet. He managed to get standing, but as soon as he put any pressure on his leg it crumbled and brought him back to the floor.

“No ya ain’t. We gotta stop the bleedin’ or yer not gonna make it anywhere.”

The wounded pilot grimaced, “You’re right, no choice is there?”

He checked to hall to make sure they were safe before he took off his helmet. Next he fumbled with the straps to his body armor before finally managing to loosen it enough to pull it and his outer-coat over his head and leave him in the hall with just a simple, grey shirt covering his upper body. The undershirt he tore in half; folding one half and laying it over the bloody, painful mess.

“Hold that there would you?” he asked the mare as he started tearing the other half of his shirt into long strips for bandages. She obligingly placed her hoof on the makeshift patch to keep it from falling off and winced in sympathy when he jerked with pain. Soon, the cloth was stained red, and the mare’s heart ached for the young man. If he hadn’t had helped her sister, he wouldn’t have gotten shot.

He took the strips he had made and tied them end to end to make one long strip which he began winding around the wound and the makeshift patch to stem the flow of blood. The gray cloth turned red as the man tried to climb to his feet once more, and was just able to stand without toppling over. He looked down to the pony and gave a drawn smile, “I’ll be okay ‘til we get home, I think.”

Applejack stood up and wrapped her forelegs around his neck in a thankful hug, and gave his cheek a quick peck of gratitude, “Thanks a bunch. If it weren’t fer ya, Applebloom woulda gotten hurt.” She fell back to all fours and gathered the fillies to her and herded them down the hall, leaving behind a very confused soldier staring after her.

The comm unit in his ear buzzed and Vincent’s voice crackled through it, “Come on, someone answer dammit!”

Dmitri’s hand flew to the unit in his ear and he quickly called, “Vincent! I hear you! It’s Dmitri.”

Relief flooded the voice in the comm, “Finally! Been flicking through channels trying to reach someone for several minutes.” Disdain replaced relief as he added, “Wouldn’t have minded a different person though.”

Applejack stared back at him from up the hall with a hopeful look on her face as Sands asked, “Where are you guys? We’ve been all over and haven’t found you. Was it you guys doing the shooting we heard?”

“Prolly, but we’ve been done for a while. I’ve been cycling channels on this POS comm since.” Vincent answered.

Dmitri glanced back to the still forms sprawled in the passage. “We ran into a bit of trouble ourselves.” he acknowledged sadly. The sandy-haired man gave his head a quick shake to chase away the regret starting to enter it before adding, “We did manage to find three of the foals, me and Applejack did. We need to find Jaze still; I think he found a bit of trouble too.”

“That’s all you did, find three of the ponies?” Vincent mocked, “We’ve got the rest, found ‘em while I tried to raise someone. And we destroyed a jammer, which is why you and I can have this little chat.”

Shelby’s voice suddenly echoed down the hall, “MARCO!”

Dmitri laughed, and added, “Thank you Shelby, I can find you now.”

The boisterous women’s voice replied in amusement, “Good, now get your butt over here rookie, and try to bring our wayward Colonel with ya.”

“Actually boy, meet us at the elevator out of here.” Vincent ordered, “That way we can get out of here as soon as we meet up.”

“Roger that Vincent. I’ll meet you there.” His hand fell from the comm and he looked to where Applejack had taken the three ponies up the hall. She had her head poked around an unexplored hallway.

He drew a breath and hollered, “Hey, we need to find Jaze and get going. Vincent and his group found the foals, so we need to get back to them and get the foals out. Not to mention we still have to find Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah, about that…” the armored mare called back, “Ah saw somepony all shady lookin’ come outta one’a these here rooms. Maybe that’s something?”

Dmitri limped down the hall with one hand on his left thigh to steady the limb and the other holding his submachine gun in a tight grip. Every time his left foot hit the floor he winced from the angry hole in his leg sending another dose of hot pain up his body. By the time he reached the side hall he was panting from the strain, but he refused Applejack’s silent offer of help with a quick shake of his head. He looked down the hall; it seemed normal enough.

He threw out of the corner of his mouth, “Maybe, maybe not. I’ll check it out; you get this bunch with the rest of the kids.”

“But Dmitri, yer…”

“I’m the one with the gun, and don’t forget I only got hurt because I jumped forward like an idiot.” He flashed his teeth in a quick smile, “I can take care of myself. Don’t worry, I’ll be just fine.”

Applejack looked down to the three fillies clustered around her, each with eyes wider than the last. A hand landed on her shoulders and drew her eyes back to the pilot’s. He wore a slight, confident smirk that managed to put her at ease and allow her to say, “Alrigh’, Ah’ll go.” She stood and shoved a hoof into his chest forcefully to punctuate each word as she hissed, “But, ya, better, come, back, safe! Ya, hear?”

His hand rubbed at the sore spot while a short chuckle escaped his best attempts to hold it in, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it. With Dash.”

She gave a nod and turned down the hall to leave with the three stunned fillies in tow, heading towards where they had heard Shelby’s voice. Sands watched them get around the first corner before turning back to the hall he had yet to explore. No one was moving down it now, but he had to assume that the sounds of gunfire would draw someone to investigate sooner or later. It was a hall like every other, blank white walls a few doors spaced evenly down each side.

The pilot’s gun was at the ready as he stepped into the hall and made his way to the first door on the left wall. Another keypad was next to the door, though this one beamed a bright green light. Touching a button on the keypad made the door open to reveal a closet full of cleaning supplies. Finding a piece of normalcy in the middle of a mechanical enemy’s base brought him up short for a second, but he didn’t have time to admire this new finding. He stepped back, let the door slide shut, and moved on to the next door.

This door too was unlocked and opened onto what could only be a break room. Chairs and couches were arranged around several low tables. A few of the tables had the remains of hastily consumed meals and card games. But nothing to help him find his missing cyan friend. So he stepped back out again to move on. A door a few feet down the hall on the right had a locked keypad next to it; he hoped that it being locked was a sign of something important behind it. He moved down and stood in front of the door, staring at it and praying for it to contain what he was looking for. Placing his ear against the door yielded the sound of someone whimpering.

Hope and fear filled the sandy-haired young man as he turned his attention to the keypad. Prying it open allowed him to find another line to connect directly to the computer. He spooled out a length of the cord and plugged it into the jack at the back of his neck, all the while hoping it wasn’t another rigged door.

The hall around him spun and faded away to be replaced by a computerized world. The entirety of the world consisted of a dark blue floor floating in black space. Looking down showed his seemingly-naked body as a translucent lavender, the edges of which were blurred and softened. He looked around to try and find the unlocking program. Across from where he had appeared was a black object as tall as him. He hadn’t noticed it at first because it blended in with its back ground, but a slight flicker from inside gave it away. He smiled as he moved next the thing. “Okay.” he whispered out loud to himself, “Let’s get this open.”

His arm came up from his side, and he slowly slid his arm deep into the black obelisk. The other arm soon joined the first; he took a deep breath and gently began prying the object open. It gave only reluctantly to reveal a brightly lit, pulsating gray core. A smirk touched his lips as he reached a hand out to grab the center light. As his ghostly, lavender fingers closed around the gray orb, it changed to a bright, happy green and allowed him to easily pull it from the center of the obelisk.

As soon as the orb left its housing the obelisk turned the same green as its core and began to warm to a pleasant temperature. The core itself fizzled out of computerized existence, and Dmitri felt hope rise in his chest with the orb’s disappearance. He gave one last, quick look around to be sure he hadn’t missed a trick before he began to leave.

A deep breath later he found himself back in the real world accompanied by a sense of vertigo. He quickly yanked the cord out of his neck; a jolt of pain went up his spine as he set the keypad back into the wall, noting with satisfaction that the light had turned green. Getting the pad back together only took a moment and he was quick to thumb the door open.

It opened to reveal a darkened room with a single bright light illuminating a single, mostly cyan figure stained with blood and chained at her legs so they were spread out to each corner of the table. Bile rose in his throat as he stared at the ruined wreck of the once proud athlete. Cuts roamed across her body with no apparent order and ugly purple bruises shone through the fur of her face. Both of her lips had been split by someone’s knuckles and one of her wings was stuck out at an odd, painful-looking angle. As he moved closer to the still form he noticed the smell of burnt hair, and he suddenly realized that several spots had been burned until they stood out in angry red patches.

Jaw clenched and gun held in a tight fist, Sands made his way quietly to the unmoving pony. Not even her chest seemed to rise and fall with her breathing, and he feared the worst for her. As he stepped within the small circle of light that spilled onto the floor from the over head light, he managed to see that her chest was moving, though only just. Her eyes were clenched tight, though her lids moved restlessly.

“Hey Dash,” he whispered, “wake up girl. We have to get outta here.” He removed the chains binding her limbs and let them clatter to the floor loudly.

Rainbow Dash let out a loud groan and curled into a tight ball. She delicately cracked open one eye to stare at her rescuer with a look of pain and confusion. Pain quickly consumed her and she mumbled, “Can’t be; gotta be seein’ things.”

Dmitri took the pained pegasus’ shoulders in his arms and gave them a small shake while he whispered, “Come on, wake up. It’s me; I’m here and we can leave now. But you gotta wake up.”

“Sands?” she asked in a befuddled voice, “Is it really you?”

“Damn right it is, now are you going to get up?”

“It hurts man, it hurts bad.” whimpered the rainbow-maned pony, “He tried, but I didn’t let him.” Tears welled up behind clenched eyes as she wrapped her forelegs around his shoulders, “It was so hard; he hurt me so much…” Fury suddenly filled her eyes as she whispered, “But I didn’t give him nothing! You believe me right?”

“Of course I believe you, now let’s get you home.”

“Mmm,” Dash murmured tiredly, “can’t wait…”

“And just what do you think you’re doing in here, hmm?” a cold, deadly voice asked from behind near the door. The pilot slowly turned back toward the voice to see a man with robotic-looking eyes hidden behind glasses and scars covering every inch of exposed skin standing with a smirk on his face. Shivers ran down his spine as he stared at the man in the door; already he could tell that the leering man was not someone whom he would wish to know.

The man pushed off from the door and asked again with a harsher tone, “I said, what are you doing here?”

“I’m getting my friend out of here.” Dmitri spoke confidently, but silently he prayed for the man to just walk away.

The bespectacled man’s grin somehow managed to grow even larger despite the lack of merriment on his face. Coldness that gripped the soul radiated out from the strange cyborg as he replied in a tone of mocking surprise, “Oh! So you’re the one who caused all that racket! I was wondering who interrupted my work.”

“Work?” asked the pilot, but he got the feeling he really didn’t want to know.

“Where are your manners?” His voice held the scolding tone of a mother berating an uppity child, “You should ask a man his name before demanding answers from him.” Before he could get a reply, the strange man continued, “My name is Victor, but you can call me Dr. Kanan. And you can see my work for yourself on the table behind you.”

Dmitri’s eyes went back to his groaning friend, and a sickening hate took hold of his mind. Burning rage filled him to the point that his hands shook and his knuckles turned white from gripping the submachine gun in his hands. He glared death toward the grinning tormentor and hissed, “You’re the one that did that to Dash?”

“Of course, it’s my job.” Victor made to take a step closer, but the sandy-haired young man brought his gun up to train it on his chest. The doctor’s sneer never faltered as he waggled a finger, “Now now, I’m not going to try anything. I’m an old man and you’re a bright young buck, and a soldier to boot! I know if I try anything, you’d have no reason not to send me to an early grave.”

The older man circled around slowly until he was standing beside Sands, but a few feet away. The pilot had kept the gun trained on the scarred doctor’s chest as he moved, though something stopped him from pulling the trigger. Robotic eyes regarded the mare clutching herself pitifully coolly and the first truly happy grin appeared on his face, “But I doubt you will kill me if I don’t attack you.”

“What makes you say that?” Dmitri growled, “I could kill you right now, but I’m feeling generous. I’ll take you in and let you hang for what you’ve done.”

“Oh please, you couldn’t kill me. It’s not your nature.” Grin firmly in place, Victor began to lecture, “I’ve seen men and women like you before. You’re the upstanding, noble type that doesn’t want to get their hands really dirty. Sure, you could kill someone that attacked you, or a friend in your view, but not without motivating provocation. You’d rather just let ‘the system’ handle criminals instead of doing what needs to be done.” He took a few steps nearer to the young soldier, stopping just outside of arms reach, “I know you won’t kill me, you even feel bad for killing those you do in self-defense.”

Sands’ gun wavered from the mad doctor’s chest slightly as the words struck home. No matter what he told himself the words rang true. Fingers tightened on the trigger but couldn’t put the last bit of pressure to wipe the sneer from the scar-covered man’s face. Finally, he released the tension from his arms and sighed. He felt almost trance-like as he turned an eye inward to examine his own feelings.

Finally the sandy-haired young man admitted, “I may not be able to kill you outright, but I can make damn sure you don’t get away. You will be punished for your crimes.”

“I knew it, you couldn’t…” Kanan stopped with a gasp of sudden pain and his back arched away from something at his back. The torturer turned, and Sands caught sight of a silver handled scalpel buried deep in his back. Behind the stabbed man stood Dash, leaned against her table with a look of grim satisfaction and hate on her face.

Surprise filled Victor’s face, surprise that turned to rage as he saw his killer. Hands reached out and wrapped tightly around her throat, all thoughts abandoned as he wished nothing more than vengeance. The pony could only gasp and fight back with what little strength remained in her limbs, though it was a feeble attempt that had no effect on the crazed doctor.

But the attack broke Dmitri out of his reverie; gun raised high he lunged towards the grappling combatants. His gun whipped down to the dying man’s head, striking the side of it hard enough that the blue-eyed youth’s hands numbed. The first blow knocked Kanan’s grip loose, and a second knocked him flat on the ground. The scarred-cyborg managed to rise up on one elbow and looked up to find a muzzle aimed right at his head.

Hate once more filled the young man’s eyes as he snarled, “Hope you like warm weather.” Kanan tried to raise a hand, maybe to beg for mercy. Dmitri never gave him the chance. He squeezed the trigger briefly and sent a single round right between the torturer’s robotic eyes. His head snapped back and he was dead before the shell casing clattered to the floor.

Sands searched to find a sliver of pity or regret, but all he found was a sickening hate. A groan made him spin and kneel in time to catch Dash as she fell. She gave him a weak smile as she recovered and whispered, “I’m sorry, that was stupid. I shoulda just let ya take him in for trial or whatever, but I had to do it myself ya know? I didn’t wanna risk him getting away, I couldn’t’ve taken that.”

“I know, don’t worry about it.” Dmitri threw a quick glance to the prostrate form, “No way he’s going anywhere, now let’s get you outta here. Let’s go home.”

“Home,” The pained pony spoke the word lovingly, and she finally felt real hope swell for the first time since she had been captured, “I’d like that a lot.”

He nodded and straightened to help the mare find her hooves. She was wobbly at first, but she shrugged off his helping hands, saying he was hurt too. Pain did rage in his wounded leg, but he did his best to ignore it. His injury seemed paltry next to what the pony had suffered through, and he felt guilty for even thinking he knew what pain was.

They turned back to the door to see a cream-colored unicorn stallion with a deep red mane and tail staring at the slain man. Ruby eyes bulged in fear as he caught the young man’s eyes, and the unicorn seemed frozen in place. Dmitri gave a brief, encouraging smile and said, “Hey, don’t know where you came from or how you managed to escape, but we’re getting outta here. You can come along with us, we’ll get you out.”

“You, you killed, he’s…” the unicorn stammered as his eyes passed between the dead man and his killer.

Dash’s eyes flashed recognition, and she whispered, “Don’t let him escape, I know that voice.”

Sands brought up his weapon and pointed it at the pony in the door, but confusion furrowed his brow. He looked down and asked out of the side of his mouth, “What, who is he?”

“He’s the one that sold out everypony.”

The youth was too tired for anger as he took a firmer grip on his weapon. He could almost taste the fear as the pony’s attention went to the weapon now pointed in his direction. Despite his wish for it to just be over, Sands put on his best glare and growled. “Don’t move, or I’ll drop you. You’re coming with us.”

XXX

Silence filled the room as Jaze yanked the curtains closed around the occupied bed. Flecks of blood colored his hands, and a sink tucked away in a corner served to remove the last vestiges of the mare’s life from his. Her smile, her relief, at the very end was the only thing he tried to keep in his mind as water ran red into the drain. A few towels were stashed under the sink, and he used one to dry off his hands before tossing it into the sink.

Illness settled in his stomach in spite of his best attempts to force it away. The images from just a moment ago were burned into his retinas and assaulted him anytime he so much as blinked. He tried to force down any thought at all, but nothing worked. Nothing could change what he had done, and he knew it. He slammed a fist into the wall in front of him in frustration. All the ability he supposedly had, and he couldn’t save a single life.

A terrible thought struck him, one that filled him with sickening dread. What would he tell Zephyr, how could he even face her? He had been given another chance to save the filly’s mother, and he had let it slip through his fingers. Bitter tears fought to escape his eyes as his hands wrapped around the edges of the sink, though he managed to fight them back.

Rapid tapping noises like metal being clapped together brought him around to see one of the gangly, assassin-type androids barreling down the rows of beds toward him. It was ducked low with both of its wrist-blades extended and held out to its sides in preparation for a quick kill. Jaze realized he had dropped his gun at some point, and he barely had time to yank out Sairugi before the robot was on top of him.

It raised its blades high and dropped them down in one inhumanly fluid move. The Colonel held his sword above him at an angle to block the strikes; they fell in quick succession and felt like hammer strikes from on high as they bounced off his angled weapon. The android wasted no time and launched a lightning-fast slash aimed at the left side of his exposed ribs. He launched himself away and tucked into a roll, coming to his feet well outside the android’s range.

A bluish-silver glow enveloped his hand as the scarred soldier reached out with his magic and took hold on one of the unoccupied beds. He threw it at the robot’s head with an inarticulate scream of rage. He hoped that the unexpected move would bring a quick end to the fight, but his hopes were dashed when a wrist-blade neatly bisected the bed.

His foe didn’t even slow and closed in as Jaze took his sword in a firm, two handed grip. The android swept its blade down diagonally at his neck, and metal crashed into metal as the raven-haired man brought up his own weapon to meet it. Shock rippled up the human’s arms from the savage blow. Before the ring of steel had even faded the robotic assassin swept his blade in a flat arc at his thigh.

Jaze leapt back away from the blade and lunged forward as soon as his feet hit the floor. The curved blade looked like flowing mercury as he brought it up aimed between the android’s legs. His foe crossed its blades, caught the katana, and stopped it cold. The robot lunged forward with its weight behind one of its shoulders aimed at the Colonel’s chest; the heavy blow knocked the breath from his lungs and made him stagger back a few steps before he could catch himself.

He dove back again to avoid a pair of crossed strikes as he tried to catch his breath, once more springing to his feet from a tight roll. Sweat poured down his face and he was already panting from the fight. Knowing that time was not an ally in this fight, his bluish-silver eyes urgently searched for some way to finish it. The beds once more caught his eye, and his hands came up once more. The aura of magic surrounded his hands; energy charged the air and magic surrounded the empty cots. A smirk touched the assassin’s lips and brought all the beds together to smash into the robotic-menace.

It didn’t even try to block. Instead, it leapt and stuck to the ceiling, glaring down at its prey with bright red eyes. Somehow the freakish machine could cling to walls. The beds crashed together into a pile underneath it as it stared at the stunned man in a way that seemed almost mocking, for a machine. The android assassin took two steps along the ceiling and pushed off towards the scarred soldier with its blades ready to spear him.

Jaze spun around the attack and continued until he was standing behind his opponent. His blade held parallel to the floor, he threw his weight behind the sword and lunged to stab his foe in the back. The android dropped into a deep squat, and in one quick motion spun and swept the human’s legs from under him. A grunt of pain escaped Jaze’s lips as he fell on his side and was forced to roll away along the floor. He found his feet with his back to the pile of beds.

The android pressed the attack by throwing out a series of quick slashes aimed at the silver-eyed man’s head, neck, and chest. He managed to block or avoid most of the blows, though one skirted along his breastplate without so much as scratching the enchanted metal. His arms were starting to tire from the near-constant impact of sword-on-sword, and he knew that he couldn’t let the fight drag on any longer. He brought his sword up and snapped it down at the android with all the strength in his two-handed grip. Metal rang brightly as the android stumbled back several steps from the blow.

The door leading to the hall caught his attention, and soon he had dashed past his foe to reach the hall. He hoped to gain a bit of breathing room, but he could feel the metal monstrosity hot on his heels. Stepping back into the stark hallway, he spun and brought his sword in a sweeping arc at the robot’s legs. It easily blocked the wild strike and countered by slapping the flat of its blade against the Colonel’s wrist.

Sairugi was knocked out of Jaze’s hands from the powerful blow. The robot’s wrist-blade retracted as it grabbed the soldier and slammed him into the wall across from the door. Struggling proved useless as metal eyes lifelessly studied the armor protecting its foe. The Colonel couldn’t draw breath past the metal hand at his throat and his vision receded until all he could see was his foe planning his death. He glared as best he could at the android, silently urging it to get on with it. A slender metal arm drew back, the blade held flat and aimed square at his chest.

XXX

Trixie’s hooves pounded against the floor as she sprinted down the blank hall. Her breath was ragged from running and she was nearly spent. She had heard the clash of metal and hoped it was Jaze. The sound of battle had started quiet but had grown louder as she drew closer. Nothing mattered more to her than finding the source of the commotion.

Even the air felt like it was against her and was purposefully thickening to slow her down. She ground her teeth in frustration; she knew she was exhausting herself but she couldn’t slow down even if her life depended on it. Every breath burned in her lungs while sweat rolled down her face and into her eyes.

From somewhere up ahead she could hear the clash of swords getting louder until it finally reached a crescendo and was silenced. The battle seemed like it had come from just around the corner. She poured every bit of speed into her hooves as she could and managed to make it around to see a slender Cye assassin pulling its arm back to stab Jaze. Panic seized the azure unicorn and she screamed, high and keening, “JAZE!”

As the battling pair turned to see what had made the noise, the magician realized she only had one choice. Her horn began to glow as she took careful aim at the cybernetic assassin. Brief, disjointed images of the fight in the rain tried to force themselves to the fore of her mind and stop her use of magic, but she replaced those hated memories with the tableau before her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the android making a move toward her as though it were moving through water. But it was far too late.

A single, bright blue bolt of magical energy shot from her horn and slammed into the arm that had been poised to end her love. The mechanical appendage boiled and peeled away in the searing heat of the powerful blast, leaving the robot with a smoking wreck of tangled metal where an arm had been before. The whole right side of the thing was burned black. It barely reacted to the loss of one of its limbs, the only thing it did was drop who it had been holding. The Colonel slid down the wall and fell to his side where he lay gasping.

Jaze gasped as his airway was released and blessed oxygen flowed back into his lungs, giving strength to his limbs and clearing away the cloud that had settled on his vision. Sairugi lay right next to him only a few inches away. His hand almost instinctually found the sword’s hilt and brought it closer to his body. A clawed, metal foot entered his view when the android took a bold step toward the new threat.

Eyes clear once more he looked up just in time to see another bolt of blue energy strike his opponent’s other arm and remove it in the same, destructive fashion. He climbed to his feet, a relieved sigh escaping his lips. The now-defenseless android stood its ground as the scarred man turned to glare at it. Sairugi flashed as it removed the robot’s head; the inanimate hunk of metal fell to the ground like unsupported sand as the Colonel sheathed his blade.

He began to turn back to the pony that had saved him, but was knocked to the ground by an azure blur before he could even turn halfway. A pair of soft, furred lips crashed needfully to his as the mare’s forelegs wormed around his neck. Once more he couldn’t breathe from something wrapped around his neck, though this time it was an altogether more enjoyable experience. His face warmed, and he even managed to convince himself that it was only the after effects of the magic that had passed so close to his face.

Tension slowly eased from the soldier’s shoulders the longer she held him in her embrace. Fear, anger, sadness, regret; everything faded away and gave in to simple joy. His hand came up to cradle the back of her head tenderly while the other was pressed between her shoulders. Tears burned on his face, though he couldn’t be sure if they were hers or his own.

After a brief eternity, the young mare broke the contact to give him an almost dazed stare. A soft smile eased across her face; a smile that was matched by the scarred man. His arms enfolded her and held her close. He tried to convey all his love through the simple touch, and he could feel the same effort from the limbs around his neck. For just a brief moment, the pair forgot where they were and who they were.

Trixie buried her face in her soldier’s chest, and hot, wet tears of relief rolled down her cheeks. No matter what she tried the tears wouldn’t stop. Sobs racked her body, and she desperately clutched the soldier holding her as if he would vanish. A thumb brushed her tears away as a voice whispered in her ear, “Don’t worry; I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh Jaze!” she wailed, “I thought you dead!”

A finger brought her eyes up to his, full of love “How could I die with someone like you waiting on me?”

Before she could say anything more, the comm unit in the Colonel’s ear buzzed to life and Vincent’s worried voice nearly begged, “Come on Jaze, I know you’re out there. That Dmitri kid said you werestill alive; answer dammit!”

Jaze gave the pony on his chest a sheepish grin before putting a finger to the comm and answering the call, “Vincent, good to hear from you.”

“God dammit Jaze!” the large soldier practically screamed, “I’ve been trying to reach your sorry ass forever! Where the hell have you been?”

The assassin’s eyes passed from Trixie, to the blackened android, and finally to the door he had just come through. “It’d take too long to explain. Just know that I’ve been busy.”

“Well quit working so hard and make your way back to the elevator. We’ve got the kids and your pony friend, plus someone you’re really gonna wanna meet.”

“Sounds like a date Vin, be there in five.” The Colonel shut off his comm and smiled at the pony still perched on top of him, “I think we should get moving; they’re waiting on us.”

Trixie fixed him with a serious stare and whispered, “I’m not moving until you promise you won’t leave me like that again.”

“I couldn’t leave you if I tried, Trix,” he promised with a smile. “I care too much about you.”

She nodded and pulled herself off his chest. The young Colonel rolled to his feet; his eyes went back to the fallen robot. A cheeky grin spread across his face as he stared at the scrapped android, a grin that made the young mare nervous. She waited on him to say something, to explain his smile, but as time passed he only smiled wider.

Finally she could take it no longer and asked in a frustrated voice, “What?”

“You used magic.” Jaze accused, smile still firmly on his face.

Confusion furrowed her brow as she asked again, “What?” Her eyes moved down to the slightly-smoking cybernetic assassin and realization dawned on her. She let her lips spread into a confident smile and said, “I guess I did.”

The scarred man knelt and wrapped his arms around her neck in a tight hug, and his cheek was pressed to hers. “Thank you,” he whispered warmly, “I’d be lost without you, in more ways than one.” He quickly stood and said, “Okay, let’s get out of here. Parents are probably worried sick about their foals by now.”

XXX

The elevator dinged open in front of the mass in the hall just as Jaze and Trixie reached them. The fillies and colts were talking in hushed, excited voices about the heroes that had saved them. A few recognized Twilight and were amazed that a book worm could fight at all, let alone with alien weapons. Those that knew her swarmed around the lavender unicorn and begged to be told stories of how she had learned her skills. Instead, she lectured all of them on how violence was an absolute last resort. The young ponies listened to her speaking with wide, star-struck eyes, and none dared to interrupt.

Applejack was checking her young sister’s health for the hundredth time, much to the filly’s chagrin. The pair held a heated, though whispered, argument about the older sister’s fussiness, with Applebloom trying to force away her sister’s hooves and Applejack unwilling to let go.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stood with Rainbow Dash, helping the athlete to stay on her hooves. The cyan mare hated that she needed help, especially from ponies so young, but she could barely stand, let alone move. The younger pegasus stared at Dash’s broken wing with a look of sympathy for her hero. A few feet away Sands leaned against a wall to take pressure off his leg while Shelby checked his hastily made bandages.

Vincent stared at the sandy-haired youth as he stood guard over the traitorous unicorn, and a storm of different emotions raged through him. On the one hand the kid was a cyborg and instinct made the large soldier hesitant to trust him. But on the other, the younger man had been nothing but helpful; he had even taken a bullet for one of the young ones. No matter what the ex-farmboy thought, the kid wasn’t against them. And it burned him to know that he had been so wrong.

He looked up to see Jaze walking towards him with a confused look on his face. Silver eyes passed between the larger man and the stallion under his gun. The young Colonel stood in front of them without saying a word, though questions swarmed on his face.

Vincent looked down at the fearful unicorn and growled, “This is the one who sold us out Jaze. He had a hand, er, hoof, in everything that’s happened.”

The cream-colored stallion looked up to the Colonel apologetically and said, “I didn’t know that any of this would happen, they just took me and said they’d kill me if I didn’t help! You’ve got to believe me!”

“That’s the stupidest lie I ever heard!” Dash called from her place between her young supports, “You cut some kinda deal with these guys, now you’re just tryin’ to cover your rump!”

Nervousness filled the ruby-haired unicorn at being caught, and he tried to weasel his way out, “No, you misunderstand, I…” He stopped when a gleaming blade pressed lightly to his throat; he stilled his movement and forced himself to quit breathing as a pair of cold, silver eyes regarded him emotionlessly.

“Just shut up, don’t even try to talk your way out of this.” Jaze looked around at the gathered foals, searching for one amongst the milling crow. But little Zephyr was nowhere to be found; he turned back to Vincent and asked, “Where’s Zephyr? She’s a little, gray pegasus filly.”

“They took her away when we escaped!” Sweetie Belle called out from next to Rainbow.

“Yeah, one ‘a them metal fellers took ‘er off somewheres.” Applebloom added.

“Cameron said she was ‘special’, and that somepony wanted to see her!” Scootaloo finished.

The assassin fixed a heartless glare on the unicorn, who gulped against the blade at his throat. The Colonel’s voice was low and deadly as he said, “Do you know anything about this?”

The pony looked at the sword, and waited for the pressure to leave his jugular before answering, “I know where the commander’s office is, but if I take you there he’ll kill me!”

“And if you don’t, I will kill you.” He leaned down to the unicorn’s level and whispered, “I’ll cut you a deal, you lead me to his office and I’ll give you a two day head start before I let anyone go after you.”

For a moment, the unicorn looked like he would bolt. Vincent tapped his SMG to the pony’s shoulder and gave a brief shake of his head, and from the dangerous glint in the large man’s eyes the stallion knew he wouldn’t get far. So he gave one last look around and said defeatedly, “Deal.”

“Okay, then that’s settled.” Jaze stood up and looked his large friend in the eye, “We need to get the wounded and the kids out of here. I doubt we could reach anyone from underground, so I want you to go up to surface level and call for extraction. Tell them to be fast, but do it right; I don’t want to lose anyone on this. Take Dash, Dmitri, and AJ with you. Shelby, Twilight, Trixie, and I are going to go get Zephyr; we’ll meet you back at base for drinks.” He raised an eyebrow and added, “Got it, Warrant Officer?”

Vincent looked to his love, and wished deeply that he could go with her. But the split made sense, and he wasn’t one to disobey orders, even if those orders came from a friend, and his friend had made it quite clear that it was an order. So he bit back his protests and said, “I see, you just want some alone time with the ladies. Don’t worry, I’ll get everyone out.”

“Good.” Jaze turned and looked down at the still terrified ruby-haired stallion, “Lead the way. But try anything, and you’ll die first.”

The cream-colored pony gulped, “Yes sir, I won’t try anything.”

The scarred man nodded before saying to the rest of the group, “Okay, let’s go, and make it quick.” He turned to leave, but spun back to his large friend and quickly asked, “Oh before I go, can I borrow a little ammo?” He lifted his submachine gun on its sling and gave it brief shake with the explanation, “I’m dry.”

“Sure, here.” Vincent reached into an ammo pack at the small of his back. His face suddenly wrinkled in shame and he produced a few magazines, as well as an apple-sized object.

Seeing the round item in his friend’s hand made Jaze glare at the large soldier and say, “Vin, is that a…”

“EMP grenade?” The farmboy’s face colored and he gave an embarrassed smile, “Yeeeeaah, and I’ve got a couple more.” His eyes fell to the floor in humiliation, “I forgot I had ‘em.”

One of the scarred soldier’s eyebrows raised as he slowly asked in a bitingly sarcastic tone, “You do realize where those might, just might have come in handy right?”

Vincent winced at the remark, “Eh, yessir.”

Deciding to spare his forgetful friend any further embarrassment, Jaze snagged the magazines from his friend’s hand and said, “This means you get to buy the drinks.” After the large soldier nodded, the Colonel called out, “Let’s get this done, I’m sick of this place.”

Shelby moved next to her fiancé, giving the side of his head a quick slap before prodding the traitorous stallion with her gun. The ruby-eyed pony trudged down the left hand hall a few feet before the woman pulled him up short to wait for the others. Jaze and Trixie picked their way through the foals to stand next to them, the young assassin turning and calling out, “Twilight, let’s go!”

Twilight nodded to the young Colonel, but moved closer to Rainbow Dash. Seeing the various wounds coloring her fur nearly brought the lavender unicorn to tears. But the same confident smirk still graced the pegasus’ lips as ever; she was still the same pony. Twilight wrapped her hurt friend’s neck in a hug, still biting back tears. A hoof reached back and awkwardly patted her back in what the other hoped was a comforting matter.

“Don’t worry Twilight.” Dash kept her voice confident and reassuring as she hugged her friend with one leg, “I’ll be just fine once I get home and get some rest.” She pushed her lavender friend away and gave a smile, full of pain despite her words, “And get some food. I’m starving!”

Twilight couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s eagerness. She stepped back and tried to give a watery, confident smile of her own, “You better fill up, because there’s a few things I would like to say to you when we get back.”

The athlete winced, thinking of just how long this lecture was going to be. The lavender magician turned and made her way toward the others already trotting down the hall. The traitorous unicorn was at the fore, leading the group. Looking at him made the young mare realize she had seen him before, wearing the regalia of the Royal Guard in Canterlot. She had never spoken with him, but just knowing that one of the elite protectors of Equestria would willingly fall in with one of the biggest threats faced by pony-kind, or Gaia in general, made the bookworm want to scream in frustration. Trixie must have known he was a Guard as well, as she had a death-glare fixed on the stallion that he was studiously ignoring.

The ruby-haired stallion led them through the twists and turns of the hall, keeping his pace at a quick nervous trot. Shelby’s gun was not quite aimed at him, but it was close enough at hand that there could be no chance of escape. Each member of the rescue team had their eyes glued to the surrounding halls, just waiting for something to jump out from round a corner and try to slaughter them. But nothing happened, and seconds ticked by into minutes with only clack of boots and hooves to break the silence.

Far too soon for Twilight, they had threaded through the maze to come to a dead end with a single door lavishly decorated with what looked like gold inlays. The closer they got, the more nervous the leading stallion became. Until at last he would take not a step further and merely pointed at the door.

“That’s his office there can I go now please?” the stallion asked in one quick breath without pausing. Jaze’s eyes flashed between the door and the traitorous pony, before he finally nodded. The cream-colored unicorn turned and galloped back the way they had came without pausing to give thanks.

Shelby watched him with anger in her eyes before she dropped into a crouch and brought her gun to her shoulder. She had the sights trained on the running stallion, and growled, “I can still drop him from here Jaze. Just give me the word.”

A hand fell on the barrel of her weapon and forced it down. She looked up to see silver eyes regarding her emotionlessly. Somehow, the lack of anger was more terrifying than blinding rage, and she felt a shiver go up her spine. The chills got worse when he said, “No, I’ll keep my word and give him a two-day lead. But after that, all bets are off.”

A low whooshing noise brought the pair around, and caused everyone to bring up their weapons. The door had opened, and a sinister voice echoed from inside, “Come in boy, I haven’t got all day.”

Jaze’s face paled. He recognized that voice, but it was impossible. Everything he knew told him it was. He had to be mistaken, had to be. But Trixie confirmed his fears when she looked to him with horrified eyes and let out a terrified whisper, “Jaze, that sounded like…”

The Colonel cut her off with a nod and rushed through the door, all thoughts of caution forgotten. The azure pony charged in after him, leaving Twilight and Shelby behind in the hall. They each looked to the other in confusion before shrugging and stepping through the doorway themselves.

A large, square room spread out before them. An ornately-carved wooden chair sat stood between them and a matching desk; the high back of the chair blocked its occupant from view, but they could hear someone sniffling softly from the other side of the tall wooden seat. A series of view screens hooked to cameras all throughout the base flashed off, one by one as the chair turned around.

Zephyr was sitting and softly crying on the lap of the last person Jaze would have expected. His eyes had changed after the fragments from an exploding grenade tore them apart, the same grenade that had cost the dark-haired assassin his left hand. Whereas before only his irises had been dark, now the entire eye, white and all, were as black as starless space. Along with his eyes, his skin now had the same pallid whiteness usually reserved for a corpse. But other than that, the man sitting and smiling at the group arrayed before him looked no worse for wear after being stabbed through the heart.

His cruel smile grew as he saw the terror in the scarred soldier’s face. Mirthless laughter escaped his lips, a cold laughter that sent a deep thrill of fear through everyone who heard it. The longer he looked at the stunned young man staring at him, the harder he laughed until he was sure to shake apart from the deep guffaws.

Trixie finally found her tongue enough to choke out, “But you, you died! I saw…”

“You’re absolutely right.” the graying madman said with a smile, “I did die out there in the rain. But I have transcended death itself.” He turned his attention back to Jaze, who was still riveted in place from shock, “And now I am back to continue our little game, boy.”

The young Colonel swallowed past the lump in his throat, and forced his dry lips to speak the other man’s name, “Carn.”

Revelations

A mocking smirk spread across Carn’s lips; his tone cruel and biting, “Bingo my boy!” He ran a pallid hand through Zephyr’s brown mane; the resurrected man seemed indifferent to the young pony’s soft sniffles as his hands combed through the thick brown hair in an almost tender manner. Black, soulless eyes regarded each of the rescue party in turn, seeming to stare into the minds of those who dared to look back into the bottomless pits. Finally the black eyes locked onto the young Colonel.

Seeing those eyes lock to him made the young man freeze with paralyzing terror. Everything about the older man gave Jaze shivers of fear. His throat felt like sand paper, and he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking to steady his aim as he brought his short-barreled weapon up to the corpselike man grinning at him. Despite his fear, he managed to keep his voice level and calm, “This isn’t possible. I know you’re dead; I killed you myself!”

The smirk on Carn’s face only grew, “As I said, you did kill me. A few of my loyal followers found me and brought me back here.” A single pale hand rose and clenched into a fist. His black eyes regarded the hand thoughtfully before he continued, “My eyes were destroyed, my heart stopped, and I was already beginning to grow cold.

“I was almost aware of my surroundings when the surgeries started. The useless lump of muscle in my chest had to be… removed.” Jaze could feel the hatred pouring out of the soulless orbs set deep into the other man’s ashen face. Carn’s mouth became a thin, angry line, and his voice deepened in rage, “I was awake and aware for the entire procedure. Do you know what that’s like?” He snickered, “No you don’t; how could you? Needless to say I have never felt pain like that.”

Shelby could no longer keep her mouth closed. She let out a derisive snicker and mocked, “It obviously wasn’t enough if you came back for more.” The corpselike man stared at the young woman with a look of someone regarding a fascinating insect. Having those eyes focused on her made the brash woman clam up; her brow became slicked with sweat the longer he looked. Several times she tried to continue speaking, but each time her jaws merely worked with no sound to show for her efforts. All she could do was stare back into the bottomless wells of black aimed at her.

Finally, Jaze could stand it no longer and stepped between the two, “Tell me what you want Carn. And let Zephyr go.”

Carn smiled gently at the filly in his lap, his hand continuing to stroke her mane, “Oh I don’t think so. See, she’s part of my plan for this world, and for all of the known galaxy.”

The Colonel’s voice darkened in anger, his fear all but forgotten; “I saw your plan for the fillies and colts you stole.”

The knowing smile that tugged at the corner of the older man’s lips infuriated Jaze to no end. The scarred soldier glared as Carn spoke, “I think you misunderstood that report you read. It was outdated, we had already gathered more than enough subjects by that time. So you’re well behind the times.”

“Care to bring me up to speed then?”

The black-eyed commander grinned, “I suppose I could.” He shifted the young pony in his lap into a more comfortable spot before continuing, “For a while, I had thought about my judgment on humanity,” He pointed at Trixie, “bearing in mind your words to be honest. I thought to myself, ‘why destroy what I could control’?”

A soft noise of deep thought drew Jaze’s eyes to Twilight. He could see that she was interested in spite of every part of her saying the man was wrong, and she asked, “Control? You plan on using your Cye troops to control humanity?”

Carn seemed ecstatic to have such an interested listener and continued with an almost boyish excitement, “Oh no, please. I would never use such a crass, ineffective method.” A single finger tapped his right temple as he spoke, “I wish to control the very mind itself.”

“That’s impossible old man! You’re crazy!” Shelby yelled.

“Am I? Or am I just the only one who is willing to pursue the potential?” The pallid man let his eyes roam over the group as he began to lecture, “Cybernetics. They are the future. They can make us stronger, faster, smart, and a whole host of other enhancements.” His right hand came away from the side of his head and clenched into a fist, “With those enhancements, humanity can reach beyond their current limits, and so much suffering can be eliminated. Imagine it; no more war, no more sickness, and I have proved you can even transcend death itself!”

“But at what cost?” Jaze fired back, “What will humanity have to lose?”

“Nothing important, and nothing that isn’t going to be freely given.” Carn stared hard at his own hand as if he could see through it to the future, “The only thing required is that every living human is implanted with the latest cybernetics. These will make humanity better in every way, including in how they get along.”

“But you’re asking humanity to give up their free will.” the Colonel stared at the older man across from him, “You’re trying to tell people how to live their lives, and trying to force people to leave their humanity behind.”

“Oh spare me that lecture, boy,” the black-eyed man growled, “I am a force for advancement, and betterment of the human race! I will cure humanity of their intrinsic hate; I will make them Homo sapiens superior!”

Trixie cleared her throat and managed to ask, “That is all well and good, but where do Equestria, and Gaia as a whole, fit in?”

“My sweet little pony, humans aren’t the only ones with a sickness.” His pallid hand went back to stroking Zephyr’s long mane, “You ponies prance about, hiding behind false goddesses. They use you, and you’re too blind to see it. But I will set you free, and the ponies shall stand at humanity’s side as we conquer the stars. I shall gather all of the children of this world here to begin their new lives. No longer will humans or ponies stand divided; they will be able to give their all to one true course. My course,” he looked down at the filly in his lap, “and my successor’s.”

“You plan to have Zephyr…” Jaze began.

“But of course.”

“Why?”

The graying man smirked, “Because the strongest leaders will come from the kindest hearts, and I can see what it does to you knowing this pony is in my hands.” Black eyes fixed on the scarred soldier, “I can see the anger in the way your heart beats, and the fear in the way blood has left your face.”

“How can you…”

“Cybernetics, my boy. Imagine the possibilities.” Carn stood, cradling Zephyr in his arms, “I have become stronger, faster, and better in every way possible. But I have no more time to make verbal jousts with you. I am a very busy man, with an appointment to keep. I shall take my leave of you.”

The cyborg commander turned back to his desk and hit a concealed button, making a door open in the back of the room. He started to walk towards the dark portal, only to have Jaze and Trixie rush to block his path. The dark-haired human had his weapon trained on the older man’s head, while the azure magician’s horn began to glow with seething, magical fury.

“If you think you may walk out of here with that filly,” Trixie asked with her eyes full of hate, “you are sorely mistaken.”

“I made a promise.” Jaze added, “A promise to take care of Zephyr. I won’t let you hurt her.”

“And I saw just what you did to my test subject.” Carn’s voice was calm, but dark anger showed in the lines of his face, “Don’t play the hero, boy. You’re just as willing to kill those who get in your way as I.”

The young mare turned her head to look at the man standing next to her, “Jaze, what is he talking about?”

“You haven’t told them?” The black eyed man smiled, “I can see why you wouldn’t want something like that getting out. But you should probably tell someone, or it will eat you up inside.”

“You’re assuming I regret what I did.” Jaze’s gaze was level and clear as he thought back to the pegasus mare he had found, “I couldn’t leave her like she was, and this is what she wanted.”

“So you say, but all I saw was you killing a defenseless pony.”

In spite of himself, the Colonel couldn’t help but let the words get under his skin. His jaw clenched in anger, and hate coursed through his body. He focused a deadly glare at the other man and spoke in a voice shaking from barely controlled rage, “Say what you wish Carn, but the fact remains that I am not letting you leave here with Zephyr! Hand her over, and I’ll let you leave alive.”

To everyone’s surprise, Carn merely shrugged and said, “Fine. Have it your way.” He set the young filly down and let her run into the assassin’s waiting arms.

Jaze knelt to catch the sobbing pony in a tight hug; despite the relief to have her back he couldn’t shake the feeling he was missing something. He looked the young pony over, but found no obvious markings or injuries. Zephyr looked as healthy as ever. The Colonel looked up to his most hated foe with a questioning look.

“Don’t you worry, I’ll be taking her back soon enough.” Carn assured, “In fact, you’ll be begging me to save her from the cleansing to come. Adult humans and ponies are too stuck in their ways to accept the implants completely. I need the subjects to be young. But the old ways must be purged to make room for the new.” He stared down his nose at the young Colonel, “Very soon, you and your pathetic defenders will be engulfed in the flames of progress. You’re outdated, and natural selection must take its course. All the parents will be throwing their children to me, just so that the younglings can live.”

The cruel cyborg’s eyes closed for a moment, before he opened them and gave a content smile, “I must leave now. I have some friends coming, and I must meet them. Have a good day.” He brushed past the pair, the young Colonel raising his hand in warning when Trixie looked about to give chase.

“Let him go, he’ll come back.” Jaze let his shoulders slump tiredly, “He always does.”

“What was he talking about Jaze?” Trixie whispered to the young Colonel, “What did he mean by ‘test subject’?”

“Can’t I tell you later?” he nearly pleaded. He gave a pointed glance to the filly sobbing in his arms, “We need to get her out of here.”

The azure mare could see the pain evident in her love’s eyes and she merely nodded. They turned back to Twilight and Shelby, the young woman looking as if she would disobey her commander’s orders and take off after the older man. A quick shake of the head from the raven-haired soldier brought her back to task however, and soon the four made ready to leave with their precious cargo tucked safely into Jaze’s arms.

XXX

Well outside of the gravitational pull of the planet with an orbiting star, a small starship of human design fizzled into existence accompanied by flashes of bright blue light. It was a frigate, a smaller vessel that was roughly one kilometer in length from stem to stern. The ship was gunmetal gray unmarked from the ravages of battle, and boxy, giving it a look like a rifle with no magazine. Adding to that illusion was the single long cannon running most of its length along its bottom relative to the decks. Finishing out its armaments were multitudes of missile pods tucked away into the sides of the ship like old time cannons on water-based ships and several point defense guns.

Light shone out from a bubble of glass at the fore of the ship. The transparent material allowed a bald man in his fifties with brown eyes to glare out at the strange planet hanging before him in the inky blackness of space. His face was sun browned and weathered; speaking for a life of hardship that had been conquered out of sheer spite. Around him on the ship’s bridge were the haggard sailors needed to keep his ship swimming. Consoles flashed along the walls; signaling warnings needing tended that had men and women rushing about.

A grimace was fixed on the Captain’s face as he watched his crew run about madly. Not one of them was out of their thirties, and most of those were fresh out of naval academy. Between them, only he and two others of the bridge crew had seen combat. Phantom pain from the fire that had engulfed his last ship seared his leg and side. Screams from the crew he couldn’t save filled his ears again no matter how much he tried to force them away.

A female ensign sitting in front of a scanning console called out, bringing the Captain out of his reverie, “Captain Marcel, scans are complete.” She regarded the console nervously as she felt her commander’s gaze land on her neck, “We’ve got two Cye cruisers in orbit above the world that Colonel Armand and one thousand StarSide Marines are supposed to be stationed on. As best we can tell sir, they’ve driven all ground forces back for now.”

Marcel glared out the window at the pair of objects. Even without the scans, he could have told his crew that they were facing Cye ships; he knew their profile all too well. He glanced at the ensign for a brief second before returning his gaze out the window.

“Then why haven’t they started bombing the planet? Or at least sent in more damned troops?” the Captain wondered out loud to no one in particular. He stared at the pair of ship, wishing for the hundredth time that he was still in command of a destroyer. There was no way he could take on two ships with only a single frigate. Each of the enemy’s ships were nearly twice his size and better armed. Having the Cye starships so close yet being unable to do anything about them frustrated the Captain to no end.

He had been forming various plans on how he could take them both down without losing his ship, a young man working furiously at another console along the walls gave a cry of triumph and called, “Sir, planetside communications have been reestablished! They say that the Colonel is unavailable at the moment, but give them a few minutes and they can patch you into his comm.”

A relieved sigh escaped Captain Marcel’s lips, the only sign of relief he allowed himself before calling back, “Then tell them to make it so, and as fast as possible.”

While the communications officer began issuing orders on his behalf the Captain turned his attention back to the pair of cruisers. Sooner or later they would take offense at his presence and attack, unless he could get out of their minds. His eyes were drawn to the far side of the planet.

“Perhaps,” he whispered to himself before calling out to the woman at the helm, “Lieutenant Fosters, bring us to the far side of the planet at best speed. Give those ships a wide berth for now, maybe we can avoid a fight until we know if this Colonel has a plan. And Stevens, get me those gorram comms! I wanna know just what the hell is going on before everything goes to my favorite vacation spot.”

“Aye sir!” the sailors called out in unison. The helmsman began carefully plotting her course through space while the officer working comms quickly spoke into the microphone hanging before his lips. Eyes furtively watched the grizzled Captain while the ship burned through space. Having the eyes on him made a slight grin touch the bald man’s face; he may not like the limelight, but he could feel the crew’s confidence grow. Ignoring their age, the group gathered in the bridge were some of the best and brightest that the Earth Coalition Navy had to offer. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

XXX

Failing sunlight fell on the faces of the five finally leaving the base. Jaze still cradled sleeping Zephyr in his arms, with Trixie right by his side to reassure the young filly. Shelby’s eyes continuously darted around looking for trouble while Twilight hung her head tiredly and just managed to avoid bumping into anything. A dropship that had been circling above the base coasted towards them. As it touched down, its troop bay ramp opened invitingly. The group trudged up the ramp and practically fell to the deck, as there had been no time to refit the seats.

Jaze’s arms were shaking with the effort of carrying Zephyr through the long walk back to fresh air, but he couldn’t make himself set her down. He sat cross-legged and laid the exhausted filly in his lap. Trixie tucked her legs under her and lay next to him with her head on his shoulder. He couldn’t care less about appearances right then and simply enjoyed her company. His arm slipped around her azure shoulders while Shelby and Twilight collapsed across from them.

Thrums of power from the craft’s engines propelled them into the sky. Save for the hum of thrusters, the troop bay was silent. The Colonel’s gloved hand softly stroked the young filly’s mane while she softly snored into his lap. He could just see a sliver of Trixie’s beautiful eyes peeking out from behind mostly closed eyelids as she stared at the tiny pony. For that moment, everything seemed right in the world, and a peaceful smile spread across Jaze’s lips.

“Colonel sir,” a voice broke in over the comm unit in his ear and brought the scarred man back to reality, “We have received a transmission from an ECN vessel holding orbit on the dark side of the planet, would you like me to patch it through sir?”

Jaze couldn’t hold back a slight sigh as the illusion of peace was shattered, and he put a finger to the comm and asked, “First, did the foals make it home safe?”

“Yes sir, they are all back and accounted for. We’ve been reuniting them with their parents for some time now, sir.”

“Good, you can patch the ship in now.”

The line went silent for a moment, before a new, gravelly voice wreathed in static spoke up, “Colonel Armand, I am Captain Marcel of the ECN Remembrance; I understand you’re in command of this sector.”

“That’s me,” the dark-haired assassin replied, “mind telling me what you’re doing here, and why I wasn’t told you were coming?”

“No time for that, shit’s brewing up here. You realize there are two Cye cruisers waiting in orbit right?”

“Of course.” The scarred soldier locked eyes with Shelby, who had perked up when he had started speaking with the Captain. Questions burned in her eyes, though she kept them tightly locked behind her lips. Even Trixie opened her eyes to stare at him in confusion as he spoke with the Captain.

“Do you have a plan to get rid of ‘em?”

“Uh, not… exactly…” the Colonel admitted lamely before adding, “If possible, can you wait until I can set up a conference between us, and the rulers of this country?”

A sigh came back over the comm as a rush of static, “If you must, but don’t dilly-dally! Any minute those cruisers could go hostile and rip us apart.” The line suddenly went dead as the Captain cut the connection.

Jaze heaved a heavy sigh before he called to the pilot of the dropship, “Get us back to base pilot, and don’t spare the engines.”

“Sir yes sir!” the pilot yelled over his shoulder, and the thrum of power from the engines suddenly increased.

The scarred young man spared a nod for the pilot before he put a finger to the comm unit in his ear once more, “Control, I want some Marines, as many as it will take, to sweep and clear the base located in the Everfree Forest, cleared.”

The voice that answered was hesitant, and almost fearful, “Yes sir, I’ll send a detachment right away sir. It should only take an hour to get it done.”

“Give them two hours and let them be extra through; I don’t want anything missed.” The Colonel thought for a moment before adding, “And send in anyone we have that’s got some experience in code-cracking to break into the encrypted computers. I want any and all files, both computer and hardcopy, saved and brought to me.”

“Sir yes sir! I’ll get on that right away sir.”

“And one more thing,”

“Sir?”

“Have a conference room set up, and get Princesses Celestia and Luna brought there. Tell them I said it was urgent.”

“Yes sir, is that all sir?”

“I think so; I’ll let you know if anything else comes up.” Again the line was cut off from afar, and Jaze leaned his head back against the wall of the transport. He couldn’t help but think of all that had happened in the traitors’ base, and most importantly of the mare he had found. The hand running through Zephyr’s mane twitched at the memory of the pistol’s discharge; every part of him silently wished that he had been able to give the young filly her mother back. Tension eased back into his shoulders as he began to realize that this fight was far from over.

XXX

Celestia took in her surroundings while she waited for her young Knight-General to arrive. In the center of the otherwise unfurnished room was a long, low table with a communication screen set up on one end. By her side stood Luna; the younger alicorn seemed exhausted by all that had happened. The navy-blue princess’ starry mane had sunk around her shoulders and almost ceased to blow in a nonexistent wind like her sister’s; the very ends of her mane only fluttered weakly to give the appearance of trying.

The older ruler watched her sister with worried eyes. Even without speaking about it, Celestia knew what had the younger pony so tired. The smaller alicorn had lost a thousand years of learning to cope with the evils that would beset the ones they were supposed to rule. Having a war thrown upon her like this had been a shock to the poor mare; young though she was she had handled it as if she had been expecting and readying herself for it for years, but only in the presence of others. Alone, however, the navy blue pony’s façade dropped and she was once more showed the fear for her subjects that was now etched into her very being.

Just as Celestia was about to give comfort to her sister, Jaze walked through the door and quickly shut it behind him. The human looked just as haggard and browbeaten as Luna, and a tormented look had settled behind his eyes, hidden to all save the elder Princess’ searching gaze. He gave the pair a brief nod and a false smile before he moved towards the table.

Every bit of the young human was covered with sweat, dirt, or any number of other substances that didn’t bear thinking on. At his waist hung the ever present-Sairugi, while a small weapon hung from a sling off his shoulders. As he approached the table, he quickly unbelted the sword from his hip and leaned it against the table. The gun’s sling went over the dark-haired soldier’s head and soon the weapon was laid on the tabletop.

Jaze took off his helmet and shook out his sweat soaked hair. His eyes locked with the white alicorn’s before he spoke in a low, tired voice, “I hope you’re ready for a story, because I’ve got one hell of a tale to tell.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow suspiciously before saying, “I fear that we may not like what you have to tell us.”

“We get much the same feeling,” Luna spoke through her yawn, “but as we have been told, even bad news must be given an ear. What have you to say?”

The human nodded towards the view screen, “We need to wait for one last person, but I can tell you not all of my news is bad.”

The pair of alicorns nodded at his words. Celestia studied him as he turned mostly away from them to lean against the table on the other side of her from her sister. Worry showed through his armor and despite his back being turned. The Solar Princess could feel her own anxiety growing the longer she watched him. Her mind slowly turned over everything that could have happened to make him so nervous, and each situation seemed to get worse than the last.

A loud beep from the machine across from them startled the princess out of her thoughts and drew her attention to the blank screen. She watched as it slowly warmed to show an older human male’s grizzled face. The man’s face was new to her, and from the screen she could hear the faint sounds of other humans moving around hard at work.

His eyes took in the trio looking at him; the brown orbs gliding past the other human in the room to fix on the elder ruler, more specifically her crown. Seeing those eyes aimed at her made the tall pony realize how much strife he had been through, both recently and throughout his hard life. Little emotion showed on his face, but there was more than enough for her to tell he was not a man used to being afraid. But he was afraid now.

His face continued to be a blank mask as he asked in a gruff voice, “Mind telling me what a pair of animals are doing in this conference, Colonel?”

Luna’s face darkened and her mouth opened to deliver a retort, but a raised hand from the gold-armored human silenced her. Jaze’s stoic gaze fixed on the screen as he spoke slowly, “Captain Marcel, may I introduce Princesses Celestia and Luna, rulers of the Day and Night, leaders of the land of Equestria, and the ones who have helped me to defend this world against the Cye’s advances.”

Indignation flashed in Luna’s eyes from the human’s words. The navy blue alicorn gave a curt nod and spoke in a voice that didn’t quite show contempt, “Welcome to our planet, human. We have fought your greatest enemy to a standstill, and lost many brave ponies along the way, both warrior and civilian. We would like to know who you are that you can talk down to us.”

Celestia just managed to stop a scowl from spreading across her face at her sister’s tone. Another thing that Luna seemed not to have learned was how to control her temper. The same resentment burned in the taller alicorn’s breast, though she managed to keep most of it from her face. Now traces of her ire migrated to her sibling; it was the duty of a Princess to hear out everyone with a fair ear after all, and taking out your anger on someone you had just met was as sure as any to have a partnership get out of hoof.

Jaze flinched at the younger alicorn’s reaction, and finished the introductions with a pained voice, “And this is Captain Marcel of the ECN Remembrance, the human ship currently in orbit somewhere over our heads. He’s going to be helping us roust the Cye from this system completely, if we can get a workable plan.”

Luna’s face colored bright red under her navy fur as realization sunk in. She somehow managed to stammer out, “W-we are sorry, we had no idea…”

“Eh, don’t worry ‘bout it.” the gruff Captain replied, “I know what fighting a long battle’s like. It gets to ya.” He fixed his eyes on Jaze again and added in a tired voice, “Speaking of long fights, I’ve got bad news. Earth’s been hit, it’s gone.”

The Colonel tried to hide his reaction, but to no avail. His eyes took on a pained look and his face twisted into a grimace. He turned his head away from the screen for a moment and let his eyes close before nearly whispering, “How, when?”

“They got hit a few days ago; Admiral Gaston was leading the Earth’s defense fleet when they reported a massive Cye fleet dropping in out of nowhere an’ started ripping our ships a new one. The message we got was garbled, but we understood that we were to report to Earth immediately. Before we arrived, we received another message from Admiral Gaston himself that Earth was lost, an’ for all Earth Coalition vessels to leave the Sol system before we lost anymore ships. I decided to carry out my original mission, an’ came to give you aid.” Marcel raised a brow, and added, “Helluva story huh?”

“Are there any survivors on Earth?” Jaze asked quietly, “What about the defense fleet, did anyone make it out?”

“Unknown right now,” Seeing the young commander’s face fall even more, the Captain added, “But Gaston’s a wily old bastard, he’ll figure something out. And Earth’s tough, nearly everyone there will have picked up a weapon to fight back an invasion, so don’t count her out either.”

The dark-haired assassin heaved a heavy sigh and said to no one in particular, “I’ve got to let the troops know, it’s going to kill them.”

Celestia finally spoke up to ask, “Are many of the Marines here from Earth?”

“I highly doubt it, Your Majesty.” Captain Marcel said respectfully, “Most men and women that enlist from Earth are stationed there, let’s ‘em keep the home-field advantage.”

“Then why will it be so detrimental to your troops moral?” Luna asked, “If few if any have any connection to Earth, what would make them hurt?”

Anger flashed in the old man’s eyes as he began “Looky here missy…” A raised hand from the young Colonel brought him up short, though anger still resided on his face.

Jaze locked eyes with the older man and spoke calmly, “Captain, remember that she’s not grown up with humanity’s history; this is all new to her, and every Equestrian.” He turned his eyes to the Princesses and added, “And for humanity, Earth is like a beacon. It’s humanity’s birthplace, a place of freedom and equality, and a testament to humanity’s power and will; the one place all humans prize. Earth is the seat of power, and the location of our government. It would be like if Canterlot was taken; every single pony would ache with sorrow, without exception.”

“Then many shall be heartbroken.” Celestia commented knowingly, “But they must be told, it is their right to know.”

Marcel loudly cleared his throat to call for attention, “Not now, we got a more immediate problem. We’ve still got a pair of Cye cruisers hanging high in orbit over this ball, gotta get them outta the way first.”

The scarred Colonel ran a hand through his hair in frustration before he spoke, “You say you could only take one ship, right?” When the older man nodded, the gold-armored soldier continued, “Then we’re gonna have to launch a joint attack, do you have any fighters?”

Marcel nodded again, “We’ve got one wing, ready and able to be in the void in a moment’s notice.”

“Good, I’ll take my fighters out and meet up to hopefully distract one ship while you take the other down.” Jaze straightened with a derisive laugh, “Maybe we’ll even be able land inside and fight our way to the reactor core. It’s not much of a plan, but it’s the best I’ve got.”

“Knight-General,” Celestia called to get the young man’s attention. When he looked towards her, she continued, “I may know of a way to destroy the other ship without having to take unnecessary risks.” Her lavender eyes turned towards the man on the screen and she asked, “Do you think you could spare one hour for preparation?”

“Maybe,” he replied quickly, “But any longer and they’re gonna get pissed about us floating on the dark side of this rock, and they can turn my ship into a tin can anytime they want. So hurry.”

“Then follow me little sister,” the taller alicorn called as she made her way towards the door, “we have much to do and little time to do it.”

For the Fallen

Marcel sat in the captain’s chair, glaring out of the viewport at the pair of enemy cruisers. His fingers drummed against the arms of his chair as he awaited a response from the ground teams. Nervous tension filled the air, and the Captain could practically smell the younger crew members’ nervous sweat as they silently worked their individual stations. A few kept throwing glances towards him before turning back to their consoles. They had slowly brought the ship back around from the dark-side of the planet in preparation for their attack, and now all they could do was wait.

A grimace graced his face as the side of his fist suddenly pounded against the arm of his chair, making several of the younger men and women jump. “What the hell is taking him so long?” Marcel fumed, “It’s been too long, we may as well have a giant bull’s-eye painted on the hull.”

A crackle of static came from the comm station, cutting of the Captain mid-rant as the young Colonel’s voice rang out, “Captain, we are ready. Just wipe out one of the ships, and we’ll do the rest.”

Marcel couldn’t stop a brief snigger, “What, from down there?”

“Yes.” The Colonel replied firmly, “Princess Celestia swears they can pull it off, and I trust her.” He paused before adding, “And the Princess says to stay out of the path of the sun.”

The comm went dead and everyone looked towards the Captain, their breath held as they awaited his word. His aged eyes looked out of the view port once more, and a thin, devilish smile graced his lips, “You heard the Colonel, we got a cruiser to take down! Order all hands to combat status! Ready the missile pods, and get the Mag Cannon charged!”

A chorus of affirmatives rang out as the young crewmen began gearing the ship up for a fight. Marcel could feel the power thrumming through his ship as it came to life, almost as eager for the fight as he was. The crew spoke in excited shouts, each sailor swinging between anticipation of battle and fear. A few of them seemed ready to crack under the stress; their brows soaked with sweat and tension showed in their young shoulders. The Captain silently hoped that they wouldn’t break when the fight actually started.

One of the enemy warships ponderously turned in their direction. Marcel felt his heart thunder in anticipation of the fight as he ordered the ship to come around the moon. The ship’s engines roared to life, and soon they were powering for the pair of cruisers. A small swarm of fighter craft scattered from the hanger bay of the frigate forming a protective cloud. Bright flashes of light appeared around the larger enemy ships as their own small vessels.

The smaller enemy craft closed in with the humans’ vessel, only to be quickly eliminated by the experienced human pilots supported by anti-air guns spread along the Remembrance’s hull. Marcel couldn’t stop a grin from spreading across his face as his ship pushed past the debris without a pause. His eyes scanned the pair of cruisers, searching for a weakness. They had begun to turn in formation, each staying close to the other’s side. Maybe a little too close…

“Hm…” the Captain pondered aloud, “They’re not too bright… I wonder…” His smirk cranked up a notch and he called, “Fosters, bring us abreast of the cruisers, and keep our nose pointed at ‘em. Don’t give ‘em time to maneuver.”

“Sir?” the helmsman asked, “Are you sure about that sir?”

“You countermanding my orders Lieutenant?” Marcel asked in a calm, cold tone.

“No sir!” she barked, “But regulations state that a helmsman may if said orders put unnecessary risk on the crew or the ship, sir!” A brief pause, then she added with a smirk, “But they never told us what to do if your Captain is batshit insane, sir.”

The words caught him off guard, but gave him a bit of hope. Not all of his crew would be spineless, at least. “What you do if your Captain is, as you say, “batshit insane”, is follow orders.”

“Aye-aye sir!” she called, and quickly plotted a course on her nav console. The Remembrance surged forward, circling around the slower ships easily. The bridge crew glanced from their consoles to stare at the enemy ships before ducking back to their work.

The Cye cruisers whirled in place to track the human frigate, and Marcel found himself holding his breath silently. As they turned, the enemy ship’s bow on far side clipped the stern of the fore-ship. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to cause any major damage, but it did cause the fore ship to over-spin. Now the Cye ship acted as a barrier against the other ship, while giving the Remembrance an easy target.

“Fire the cannon!” Marcel called out, “And give the metal bastards a nice salvo of missiles.”

Thunder emanated from below the deck and a dark-red glowing streak of molten metal passed through the short distance to strike the enemy amidships. The magnetically fired round tore through the Cye ship, leaving behind a gaping, splintered hole in its middle. Several chemical contrails crossed over to dot the enemy’s hull with brief flashes of fire.

Glittering clouds of shattered metal spread from the broken warship as the bridge crew cheered their victory. The other ship held in place as its robotic pilots tried to make sense of what happened. Before too long its bow began to nose under the dead ship, eager for blood. The glinting silver metal appeared from under its ally’s shadow, startling the Captain with a realization; he had put himself between his foe and the sun.

“Good shot Simmons,” Marcel called encouragingly, receiving a bright smile from the middle-aged man at the console in return, “damn fine job all of you. But now Fosters, time t’ get us the hell outta here. Burn for as far away as we can get, and stay outta the way of the sun.”

“Yes… sir?” she responded confusedly as she tapped a new course into her nav computer. The ship’s engines hurtled them away from the now dead cruiser and its lumbering friend.

They were well away from the slower vessel before it could remove itself from the grip of its ally’s lifeless husk. The enemy warship turned and began to give chase, emerging from the shadow of the other cruiser into the bright sunlight. Intense white light blasted from the ship’ engines as it made to pursue the smaller human frigate.

The Captain nodded to his communication officer and ordered, “Get me the Colonel.”

For a moment the bridge was silent, until the young Colonel’s voice crackled across the comm, “Are you ready for support?”

“Damn straight!” the grizzled old sailor barked, “Send ‘em to the recycle bin!” The line went dead, and Marcel was left to wonder what the groundside team had planned.

He didn’t have long to wait. One of the crew manning the scanners stared at her console in confusion before calling, “Uh sir, I’ve got a radiation spike.”

“From the planet?” asked the Captain, glancing expectantly towards the green and blue orb just visible in his view screen.

“Uh…” the ensign stammered, “No sir. It’s coming from the sun.”

For a moment Marcel’s mind blanked out at her words. He gave his head a brief shake and called, “Turn us around, this I gotta see.”

The ship quickly rotated back towards their foe; when the larger warship and the sun filled the viewport the Captain’s jaw dropped. The glass darkened to save the eyes of everyone on the bridge, but it didn’t stop them from seeing the surface of the sun change. A bulge seemed to appear on the ball of burning gas. From the bubbled area a single, bright line of concentrated heat and light burst forth to strike the bow of the Cye ship. The light was so powerful that, even with the viewport at its darkest setting, it was blinding

Metal boiled away from the contact only to refreeze in the vacuum, giving the doomed ship a glittering aura. The ray slowly tracked back along the ship towards the stern and neatly cleaving the warship in half. Armor gave way without a fight, and the ship seemed to writhe in pain from the new stresses on its hull. The line of light traced further towards the ship’s stern and struck the reactor, detonating it and turning the dying ship into a brief sun.

Deafening silence filled the bridge as each sailor tried to wrap their heads around what had happened. Captain Marcel stared at the debris field that used to be an enemy warship and forced himself to swallow past the lump in his throat. His voice was weak and shaky as he called out, “Get the Colonel back on the line; I wanna find out what the hell just happened!”

XXX

Short-lived gusts of wind blew from Celestia’s wings as she settled back to her hooves. Jaze couldn’t stop himself from staring at the snow-white alicorn, his mind reeling with shock. Light slowly faded from her eyes as they settled back to their usual violet color. They were standing in the torn up ground in front of the trench line, accompanied by Luna. The air seemed far warmer than it had moments before, and the remains of the Cye cruiser could be seen making bright, burning streaks across the sky.

She turned to look at him with a soft smile before her knees gave out and she collapsed. He rushed to the falling Princess’s side just behind her younger sister, between them able to keep the tall pony from crashing to the ground. The Solar Princess shook her head to try and clear it while the pair holding her studied her worriedly. She felt surprisingly warm against the young Colonel’s hands, almost feverish, and he could feel her trembling slightly with exhaustion.

“Are you alright?” Luna asked softly as she held her sister up.

Celestia smiled reassuringly, but her voice was weak and tired, “Do not worry sister, I am fine. I just have not used that much magic in a very long time.”

“With all due respect Princess, you’re not fine.” Jaze whispered angrily, “You look like death warmed over. Why did you do that?”

“It worked, did it not?” the elder Princess replied smugly. “This way, we didn’t risk any more soldiers in a risky battle inside one of those ships.”

He opened his mouth to argue, only to close it again in frustration. Her logic was sound, though the dark-haired soldier wished she had told him her plan first. He heaved a sigh and admitted, “Yes, that may be true. But you could have been hurt, and then where would that leave us?”

Before the tall alicorn could respond, his comm crackled and the voice of a perturbed Captain Marcel practically screamed in his ear, “What the ever-loving HELL was that?!”

Jaze looked to Luna and silently asked her to take hold of her sister for a while. The dark-blue alicorn nodded and moved to take the taller pony’s full weight. He gave a quick nod of thanks and put a finger to the small device in his ear to answer, “What did it look like?”

“It looked like the gorram sun got pissed and just blew the hell outta a warship!” the Captain spat, “The hell did you do?”

A grin spread across Jaze’s face despite his efforts to stop it, though he just managed to stave off laughter enough to say, “I told you not to underestimate these ponies.”

Static washed over the Colonel’s ear as Marcel heaved a sigh, “Never said they could make the friggen sun as a weapon.” He paused a moment to collect his thoughts before continuing, “But, to business. We’ve got roughly a hundred Marines aboard the Remembrance, would you like them groundside?”

Relief spread across Jaze’s face, “That would be great; we could use the help down here.” His face darkened and he glared over the broken field, “We lost a lot of good people.”

Silence buzzed through the comm for a moment before Marcel gently said, “They didn’t die for nothing kid. Why don’tcha tell your people to take a break, they damn well earned it. What y’all did today is nothing short of miraculous.”

“But we’ve got a lot of work…”

“Sod the work!” the Captain growled, “I’ve got a hundred soldiers here who’ve got nothing better to do, let them do some heavy lifting for a bit. Have your men get some shut eye, they need it.”

“I think we will take you up on that, as much as we can.”

Luna waved a hoof to catch his attention, and asked, “Do they have any medical personnel aboard? Our doctors and nurses are over worked but there are still many wounded that need attention.”

“I heard, and we’ve got a full medical suite.” Marcel answered, “I’ll send down the docs and supplies to help out as well. Anything else?”

“I think that’s it.” Tension eased from the scarred soldier’s shoulders as he added, “Some rest sounds great about now.”

Jaze could hear the smile on the Captain’s face as he said, “Rest, relax, and enjoy it. That’s an order soldier!”

XXX

Dmitri failed to suppress a sigh of relief as an earth-pony nurse propped up his injured leg. He was in a single-occupant room at the local hospital, the Marine medical tents having become over full, sitting on the same uncomfortable bed that seemed to grow in every hospital in the galaxy. The bed was shoved up against the wall opposite the door, while a small instrument table took the place of a night stand. A few monitors were located unused against the wall to his right, and an IV stood guard over the left wall.

The nurse, a mare with stunning gold eyes, a mahogany coat, and a flaxen mane, helped him remove his armored suit. Soon he was left wearing nothing but his underclothes. Cool air flowed over his bare skin, a welcome break from being cooped up in his sweaty armor for so long. His eyes shut as he leaned back against the wall of the small room. There was no where he needed to be anymore; he was free for the moment. Pain lanced up his leg, reminding him of the price for this calm.

He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pride; he had saved someone. The pain knifed through him and made every twitch of his leg nearly unbearable, but it had been worth it. Remembering the kid and her older sister together still put a soft smile on his face, though his smile turned into a confused frown as the memory continued to the quick kiss the orange pony had given him. Even now, his heart thudded as he recalled the brief touch of her soft lips against his cheek, and his stomach roiled nervously as if he was in a fight.

A brief tap on his arm drew him back to the present. He looked up to see the nurse giving him a warm smile while her hoof rested on his arm. Her voice was soft and sweet, but only just managed to be calm as she stated, “A doctor should be here to help you soon, but there are a lot of a patients with more grievous injuries than you. It may take awhile for you to be seen to.”

Dmitri nodded in understanding, “Don’t worry, I get it.”

The nurse looked relieved as she nodded and turned to leave, but on her way out the door opened to admit Applejack. The orange pony had a look of worry on her face that slowly settled into relief as she looked at the shirtless man on the bed. She turned to the nurse and quickly asked, “Is it alrigh’ if Ah stay here with him fer a while?”

The mahogany nurse gave a smile and a wink, “Of course, your coltfriend could use the company.”

Applejack’s face colored and her voice filled with nervous tension, “But he’s not my…” The golden-eyed nurse ignored the farmpony’s protests and quickly left, leaving behind a very flustered Applejack.

The farmer’s eyes turned back towards the young man on the bed. Her gaze was strictly focused on his face, and after a moment he realized why. His exposed skin reddened to match her crimson cheeks. Every so often he could see her eyes flick across his exposed form before jumping back to his face. The sound of his heartbeat thundered in his ears, and it grew quicker with each passing second.

A rumbling noise emanated from his throat as he tried to get his voice to work. He tried several times to speak, but each time he could only flap his jaws uselessly until he finally stopped. Humiliation filled his mind at his own inability to speak; for some odd reason he still couldn’t get the feeling of her lips on his cheek out of his mind.

“Er… Hey Dmitri.” Applejack finally managed to spit out, sounding just as flustered as he felt.

“Y-yeah AJ? What’s up?”

“Ah… Ah jus’ wanted t’ say…” She gulped and whispered, “Thanks, again. If ya hadn’t been there…”

A smile spread across his face, and he waved his hand dismissively, “It was nothing, really. Anyone would have done it; I just happened to be the one around.”

“Not e’erypony woulda done that Dmitri. Lotsa folks woulda just let ‘Bloom d… di…” She swallowed hard and continued shakily, “Woulda let ‘er get hurt. Ya didn’ let that happen, and I ‘preciate it. Yer a good stallion; Ah mean, yer a good man. Yer a lot stronger than I had thought when I first saw ya in Jaze ‘n Trixie’s house.”

Deep green pools locked to his, and once more his heart began to pound. Seeing the gratitude in her eyes made a strange warmth roil through him. He was suddenly aware of her wandering gaze, and his cheeks shone brightly. Even the twinges of pain from his leg went ignored as he stared into the absorbing green orbs of the pony. He felt he should say something, anything, to her, but he couldn’t find proper words again. His mouth opened to speak, only to have the door burst open and a flustered looking golden-yellow, pink maned pegasus pony with saddlebags laden with medical supplies stepped into the room.

“Oh my gosh I am so sorry it took so long!” the winged pony exclaimed, though her voice was still barely above a whisper, “I’m…”

Applejack failed to stifle a quick laugh, which brought the yellow pegasus around to where the earth-pony had stepped out of the way of the door. The farmer smiled warmly and took her friend in a brief, one-legged hug, “Hang on there Fluttershy, yer alrigh’. We was tol’ that it could be awhile ‘for anypony got here.”

“A-Applejack?” stuttered the flustered pony. Confusion shone in her eyes as she looked between her orange friend and the injured human on the bed. Her face lit up with sudden understanding, and she mumbled, “Sorry… didn’t want to interrupt anything…I’ll just go now…”

The timid pegasus turned to leave, but her friend caught her gently by the shoulders and pulled her back into the room, “Don’ go! Dmitri needs a doc; he’s hurt pretty bad.”

Fluttershy gasped, her hoof flying to her mouth, and whispered, “Oh goodness, I forgot! Oh please don’t be mad at me, I…”

“Ms. Fluttershy!” Sands called forcefully, startling the nervous pegasus, “I’m not mad, but I do have a very painful hole in my leg. So could you fix that, please?”

“Oh, r-right…” The winged pony unwrapped his leg with great care, not batting an eye at the bloody wound. Applejack turned her head away as her usually-timid friend set to work on the young soldier.

From the clench of her jaw, he could tell the apple farmer was close to being sick. That, and the decidedly green tinge just peeking out of her fur. Every bone in his body wanted to tell her to leave, and yet he stopped the words from leaving his mouth. Despite her looking ill, he felt more at ease with her near. She turned to give him a brief, comforting smile before turning away again.

A soft smile spread on his own face that quickly turned to a grimace and a hiss of pain. Fluttershy had begun cleaning the wound with a cotton swab soaked in a burning liquid, and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to cry out. His hands wrapped around the edge of the bed in a white-knuckled grip; he refused to utter a word in front of the orange mare. Her praise rang loudly in his ears; he wanted to prove himself worthy of that praise. He was tough, he could handle this. No problem.

Still, he was relieved when the swab was removed and the timid mare began to rewrap the bullet-wound with sterile bandages laced with both antibiotics and healing spells courtesy of the resident unicorn physicians. Cooling sensations swept aside the pain in waves of sweet relief; the spells obviously worked. Fluttershy finished wrapping his wound, tying the bandages tight against his leg to keep them in place, and stepped back to inspect her work.

He looked at the shy pony and gave an encouraging grin, “There, fixed. That wasn’t so bad.”

“Right.” Fluttershy looked up at him with the sternest, most intimidating face she could manage, which still failed to impress the young soldier, and ordered, “N-now you can’t-t b-be moving around. So no walking, jumping, running, or any strenuous activity. And definitely no f… fi… figh…”

“No frolicking in the flowers; got it.” When she looked up in confusion, he gave a small wink and smile to let her know he had understood what she really meant.

Relief flooded her eyes, and the timid pony packed up her medical supplies and turned to leave, “No I’ll get out of your manes; I can understand wanting to be alone. Together.” Crimson patches splashed across her yellow cheeks, and the pegasus quickly left without a backwards glance.

“But we’re not…” Applejack called after her friend just in time for the door to click closed behind the pony’s bright-pink tail. Her dark green eyes turned back to his, confusion sparking in them.

Dmitri couldn’t hold back a laugh as he said, “Why does everyone seem to think we’re an item?”

XXX

Long, black bags filled with the men and women, mares and stallions who had given their lives in the trenches just outside Ponyville were laid in neat rows behind the medical tents. Several of the tents had to be removed to make way so the bodies wouldn’t be stacked atop each other; a fact that had Jaze’s heart aching with sorrow. His gilded armor glinted in the sunlight, the inner layer slowly becoming damp with sweat.

He stared out over the field from where he stood next to the medical tents, biting back a bitter scream. Every black bag was filled with another of his mistakes. His legs trembled under the weight of responsibility, and he couldn’t stop himself from seeing brief glimpses of the lives he had let end in such a violent manner. Each person or pony lying before him had once had a family, and he was the reason they could never see their loved ones again. Sairugi weighed heavily on his hip; the sword felt like it had slowly gotten heavier the longer he stared out over the deceased and now felt like it become a small planet dragging him down.

The unmistakable sound of hooves crept up on his side, and he whirled around to see Trixie standing a few feet away. She halted as he spun, staring at him with wide, soulful eyes. Even seeing her failed to bring more than a quickly small spark of happiness that was quickly extinguished. Her mane and tail were messier than he had ever seen, and exhaustion shone in her violet eyes.

Trixie took a few more cautious steps towards him before explaining, “A couple of Marines told me I could find you here. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He remained silent, and she eased up to him until she was standing at his side. She kept her voice low as she asked, “What are you doing here Jaze?”

“Seeing the price of failure.” His voice was much flatter than he had expected, surprising even him. He looked back out over the rows of fallen soldiers, trying to think of ways he could have saved more of them. Everything that had happened was his fault, each dead comrade a grim reminder of his inability to keep everyone safe.

“You mean the price of losing this fight?” Trixie asked innocently, drawing him out of his own brooding mind. He slowly turned back to her with a dark scowl that sent visible shivers down the pony’s spine.

“No, I mean my failure.” His gloved hand came up and pointed at the nearest body-bag but a few feet away, “See that? Each of those men and women depended on me to get them home safe, to make the right calls to keep them alive. I blew it; I let each of them down in a way I can never make right. Because of me those soldiers are dead, because of what I couldn’t do.”

“Now, Jaze.” Concern filled her voice, and she stood on her hind-legs to place her fore-hooves on his shoulders, “That is not the way to think about it. Each of those men and women were prepared to die. You couldn’t have saved them all; that is completely impossible and you know it.”

“Maybe not saved them all,” the Colonel countered, turning his head from the deep violet pools pulling him in, “But I could have surely let fewer of them die. Maybe…”

“No!” she ordered, yanking his head back around to face her with a hoof on his jaw, “Do not go down the ‘maybe’ path. Trying to think of ways you could have done better will only make you all the more bitter. Focus instead on what is.” Her hoof swept out, indicating the camp, “How many soldiers did make it through? And how many mares and stallions are getting to hug their foals again because of what you did?”

“And how many sons and daughters won’t get to hug their fathers and mothers again because of what I’ve done? And how many…”

“Jaze.” interrupted the magician, “Listen to me, please.” He fell silent, staring into her large, expressive eyes. When she was sure he was paying attention, she continued, “What happened to them isn’t your fault. It could have happened to anyone, so just count yourself lucky that there wasn’t more dead. Or that you weren’t among them.”

Her hoof gently stroked his cheek, sending another quick spark of happiness through him. His gloved hand slowly reached up to take the hoof, and his heart couldn’t help but sing when she didn’t shy away from the false limb. Phantom warmth spread up the mechanical hand, bringing a slight smile with it.

The young man gently pulled her hoof away and whispered, “I just wish they didn’t die for nothing.”

A blur at the edge of his vision caught his eye, and he had no time to avoid the azure hoof that crashed into the side of his face. His head snapped around and the blow sent him reeling, causing the azure magician to fall back to all four hooves. A bright red mark appeared on his cheek where he had been struck, stinging painfully. He looked up at Trixie, who looked utterly livid, and somehow he knew she had held back with her slap, though it was still the hardest he had ever been hit.

Violet eyes flashed angrily, and she called out, “Don’t you dare demean what those poor soldiers did by saying they died for nothing. They died so others can live; you would do well to remember that as you seem to have forgotten what your Marines were doing here.”

“But if I had never been here…”

Trixie walked over to him and wrapped her forelegs around his waist, “But you are here, and you can’t change that. You are the one that has said that you cannot change what has happened.” She buried her face in his armored chest, “So please, stop tearing yourself up over this. It is just going to hurt you.”

Jaze opened his mouth to argue back, but the fight went out of his body as the truth in her words wormed into his mind. His mouth slowly closed, and he gently wrapped the pony in a warm embrace.

“Thank you,” he whispered, “I don’t know where I’d be without you right now Trixie.”

“Dead in a ditch more than likely.” The azure mare looked out over the black bags and tugged at his arm, “We should leave; this is not a good place to get some rest.”

She led him away from the bodies, and they passed through the bustling camp as quickly as they could. Soldiers still rushed through the camp, barely giving the pair any notice. A few would offer a quick nod or salute to their Colonel before moving to the next task they had been assigned. Trixie stayed close at his side; she didn’t seem to be going in any particular direction except away from the field hospital.

Up ahead of them the scarred soldier saw a spot of pink among a field of olive drab bouncing towards the landing area. He nudged the pony at his side and pointed towards what could only be Pinkie Pie, giving the azure magician a questioning look. She gave a confused shake of her head in return. They set off in a jog towards the ball of energy in pony form, and Jaze already felt a bemused smile forming on his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a similar grin forming on Trixie’s lips.

Pinkie saw them approaching and raised her hoof in a wave and shouted, “Hiya! Whatcha doin’?”

“We had planned to ask you the same question.” stated the azure mare, “And just what are you doing?”

“Right now?” chirped the party pony, “I was just gonna wait here for all the new arrivals so I could welcome them here because I know it can be scary when you don’t have any friends and I don’t want anypony to be scared when they come to Ponyville because everypony is so nice around here and…” The poofy-maned pony paused for a moment to take a deep breath to continue her explanation, only to suddenly find a hoof stifling her voice.

Trixie offered a painful smile, “Thank you, we understand.”

“But you know you’re not supposed to be in the landing area Pinkie.” Jaze stated, though he couldn’t stop a small grin from taking the force out of his statement.

The energetic mare looked up at him, her lower lip wobbling as she neared tears, “B-but… If I don’t welcome everypony that’s coming in, then might get scared and lonely and that’s…”

The powerful thrum of dropship engines filled the air, and the three looked upwards to see a few of the boxy crafts coming down towards them. Pinkie used her best puppy-dog eyes and stuck her lower lip out in pout. Her eagerness and sincerity melted the Colonel’s resistance. He gave a quick nod and said, “Alright, we can let it slide this time. But as soon as… Hey, are you listening to me?”

The bright-pink mare wasn’t paying attention to a word he had said, as her eyes were transfixed on the sky above. At first he assumed that she was mesmerized by the dropship, and when he turned his eyes upwards that was all he saw. But soon, he could see tiny flashes of blue light blinking into existence before vanishing, only for another flash to appear near the previous one. He began trying to count the winking lights but soon stopped at over two dozen, though the flashes continued. Confusion registered on his face that was mirrored in the mare next to him.

“Jaze,” she asked worriedly, “what are those, pieces of the destroyed ships?”

“Can’t be.” he muttered, “They would be streaks of fire, not flashes. It looks like a starship dropping out of…” Like a charging bull, realization struck. Jaze paled as he finally realized just what was happening, but he needed to some way to confirm it. His hand flew to the comm in his ear, and he flipped to the Remembrance’s channel.

“Captain, Captain Marcel do you copy?” he practically screamed into the communicator. He felt Trixie’s eyes on him, and could feel the uncertainty and fear radiating off her. His own chest was tight with apprehension as he waited for a response. But the line remained dead for far longer than he was comfortable with.

Finally, he heard the grizzled old sailor’s voice crackle back over the speaker, “Dammit, Jenkins! Get that fire out, vent decks E and D. Everyone there’s already dead or had evaced already. But if you don’t get that damn fire out, we’re all dead.” His orders delivered, Marcel finally turned his attention to the waiting assassin, “Colonel, shit hit the fan big time here. We’ve pinged more’n two hundred warships with more coming in every minute. A few already shot the living hell outta us, so if you got a plan, now would be a great…”

An explosion sounded through the earpiece, and Jaze reflexively slammed his hand to that side of his head as he grimaced at the sudden noise. He could still hear the bridge crew, though the sound was now muffled greatly. Marcel’s voice screamed at the crewmen to abandon ship, but soon another explosion thundered over the comm and the line went dead.

He waited a moment, hoping against hope that the Captain would somehow continue to speak. But as time wore on he had to accept what was going on. His hand slowly flicked to the all-hands frequency, and he barked into the comm, “Everyone, get back into the trenches.”

Preparations

Warning sirens blared their shrill cries at anyone who could hear them on the bridge. The starship rocked from the missiles slamming into its hull, and had Marcel been standing he would have been thrown to the deck. Several other members of the bridge crew were having trouble getting back on their feet as the Remembrance continued to be pelted by enemy fire. The few officers who were still at their consoles raced to assess the damage. Outside the viewport the empty black of space was filled with bright points of light flashing into existence, marking the appearance of yet another enemy ship to contend with.

“Someone give me a damage report!” Marcel called, “What the hell is going on?!”

“Several hits along the hull, structural integrity holding for now!” a crewman yelled. His eyes darted across the console as various stations throughout the ship reported in, each assessment more dire than the last. After several moments the young man continued, “Gunnery control reports direct hits to the cannon; it’s offline with no hope of repair outside a shipyard. We’ve still got our missile pods to fight back with, but the engines have taken major hits and their capabilities have been cut sixty-six percent so we’ve got no mobility.”

“Scans have over two hundred ships already in-system, with another huge group coming.” a member of the bridge crew called out before her voice became confused, “One group must be moving in a dense formation, they’re showing up as a single contact on the FTL scanners…”

Another thundering boom emanating from the lower decks shook the ship. The grizzled Captain scowled, this fight had turned ugly before it had begun. His crew, as well as his ship, was quickly falling apart under the stress of multiple direct hits. Everywhere he looked he saw the same, panicked expression as they worked to stop the ship from being torn asunder. His mind raced as he tried to find a solution before his frigate was reduced to molten metal.

“Sir!” an ensign called out, yanking him from his thoughts and back into reality, “Fire in decks F through D! Flame suppressants aren’t activating.”

Marcel shook his head sadly and answered in a voice even he found strangely calm, “Sound the decompression alarms, then vent those decks. At least we can hold up long enough to do something.”

The young man paused long enough to give his captain a pleading look before doing as he was told. Soft sounds could just be heard from below, a series of dull thumps as the atmosphere in the lower areas of the ship blasted out into space. The Captain could imagine the twinkling cloud of crystal that would have surrounded his ship like foggy breath. Before he could stop it, the image changed to one of great animal uttering a final gasp before the end.

“Dammit.” he growled. His eyes toured the bridge again, taking in each panicked face that turned to look at him. Every member of the crew was expecting, hoping, him to find some way to pull through this; some way to keep everyone safe and win against all the odds. Until then he hadn’t realized just how much the men and women aboard had idolized him. They all wanted him to pull some miracle from the air, and he knew there was no way to help. Anger at his own helplessness welled up inside his chest as he realized he was about to lose another ship with no way to salvage it.

He heaved a heavy sigh, trying to force away his frustration, before ordering in a calm, clear voice, “Scramble the fighters and tell’em to get planet-side; they’re gonna be handy really soon. Have all nonessential personnel get in the escape pods and leave.”

“Sir, Colonel Armand is hailing us.” the comms officer yelled.

“Put him on.” Marcel glanced around the bridge and noticed that there were still fire warnings on one of the consoles. His voice was a growl as he ordered, "Dammit, Jenkins! Get that fire out, vent decks E and D. Everyone there's already dead or had evaced already. But if you don't get that damn fire out, we're all dead." His orders delivered, Marcel finally turned his attention to the waiting assassin, "Colonel, shit hit the fan big time here. We've pinged more'n two hundred warships with more coming in every minute. A few already shot the living hell outta us, so if you got a plan, now would be a great…"

A massive hit rippled through the ship, and the grizzled old sailor was tossed around in his chair as the bridge lights flickered. Several consoles erupted into showers of sparks and shrapnel, including the comm station. The young ensign manning the console caught the blast and had his chest ripped open. He slumped against the console, unmoving and with small crimson steams running down the wrecked comm.

“GODDAMMIT!” Marcel screamed before yelling to his crew, “Everyone, get to the life pods! Go, go, GO!”

The crew wasted no time in turning and running from the room under the Captain’s urging. But before they could take more than a few steps, another devastating explosion ripped through the ship and plunged the entire frigate into darkness. Emergency lights flickered on, casting their ghostly green glow over the ship.

Marcel and his crew had trouble staying on their feet as they made their way towards the door that slid open welcomely as they approached. The combined explosions had sent the ship spinning through space, and the Captain couldn’t stop himself from glancing out the forward view screen before he left his bridge for the last time. Stars swirled past the thick glass in a view he could only think of as beautiful, until it swung to show the enemy fleet.

And at the head of the Cye ships was an utterly massive mobile space station. The station was almost half the size of the moon; it roughly hemispherical with a long tower extending from the relative bottom of the main body of the structure. The entire thing was black as space, rendering it invisible in the darkness of the void; if it hadn’t been for the bright sun shining directly on it the Captain would never have seen it.

His mind failed to make sense of the mind bogglingly huge structure. Never had he known the Cye to build structures of this scale. They never took any resources from any planets they conquered, nor did they ever do more than recycle their dead into more troops or ships. Nothing seemed to add up to this station, but the impossibility didn’t seem to stop the thing from hanging ominously in space.

A pinprick of bright, red light appeared near the bottom of the dome. The light quickly grew brighter, and it took a moment what he was seeing to register with the grizzled old Captain. For the first time since this slaughter had started, his palms began to sweat and his pulse quicken. His eyes bugged wide, and he turned to scream at his crew, “Get yer asses MOVING!”

The crew somehow managed to make their way to the door with Marcel at the back of the pack. His eyes were fixed on the forward viewport as the younger crewmen went ahead of him. They seemed to take forever as time slowed to a crawl; he could see the light growing brighter with every second. Even though it only took a few seconds for them to get out ahead of him, it still felt like an eternity when he finally stepped through the door and slammed his hand against the control to seal it. Bu before he could take a step, a liquid steam of glowing metal passed through the bridge they had just occupied.

Everything whirled around him as the gravity generators for the ship finally failed, and the bridge crew was tossed around inside the hall. Marcel felt as if he had been picked up and thrown against the wall. His head slammed against a bulkhead and he slumped bonelessly to the floor. Fuzz filled his head and a fog settled over his vision. All thought was obliterated along with knowledge of who and where he was. He was simply floating along, gently bumping against things that were sometimes hard and unforgiving, other times soft and yielding.

Blurry shapes passed in front of his eyes, shapes that spoke in garbled words he couldn’t understand. Something took hold of the shoulders of his uniform, and he felt a gentle sensation of movement. Soft though it was, the motion made him feel violently ill. Digging deep into his mind, he managed to bring up the memory of being someone important. He refused to allow whoever was tugging him along to see him get sick; he had to look strong. So he closed his eyes and focused on his need to not lose the last thing he had eaten.

Finally, the motion halted and his stomach stopped trying to turn inside out. A solid but still giving object pressed to his back, followed by something tightening uncomfortably around his chest and holding him firmly against whatever was at his back. He was too weak to fight, but he opened his eyes to try and make sense of what he was feeling.

Again he could see the blurry shapes, but now they were a little more defined. He could see faces, faces he knew. One seemed to be talking to him, but the words were lost to the ringing in his ears. Soon, his head was too heavy to lift and his chin fell to his chest. Black straps encircled his torso, a harness. Seeing the harness started bringing back more memories; of who he was, and what had happened. His hand pressed to his face as he forced the thoughts to form and tell him what was going on.

It all came back to him in a rush. His vision cleared, and suddenly realized he was sitting in one of the ship’s cramped, windowless escape pods surrounded by the bridge crew. Pain radiated from the back of skull where it had struck a bulkhead; he knew he must have cracked it and probably had a concussion. But despite the pain he forced himself to stay focused.

The young helmsman was sitting at the controls of the craft, running a quick check of the systems before they left. Across from him sat more of the crew, strapped in similarly to him. Relief showed on their faces at seeing him aware, and one young woman even offered a brief, confident smile. They still seemed to think he was in control, even if he had spent the whole journey through the ship being tugged along half-dead.

A jolt shook the craft as it was blown clear of the dying vessel; the jolt sending another wave of pain coursing through the Captain’s head. The helmsman triggered the pod’s engines and began to power towards the planet. Marcel’s heart ached at the destruction of his ship, and at how many crewmen were probably lost. He stared at the ceiling and whispered, “Now would be a great time for a miracle.”

XXX

Soldiers shouted back and forth along the trench line as they hurried about, making final preparations before the coming storm. Desperation hung heavily in the air, so much so that Jaze could nearly taste it while he watched his troops work. An assault rifle hung from its sling on his shoulder, his sword was secured at his hip, and his helm was once more securely fastened to his head. He was ready for the fight, or at least as ready as he felt he could be.

The young Colonel couldn’t stop himself from pacing slightly as he watched the sky. Sweat slicked his hair, not all of it from being encased in metal, and poured uncomfortably down his back. His heart thundered in his chest loud enough he feared it would be heard. Everything seemed to take on a more vibrant, energetic feel. Despite this odd vigor infusing everything, weariness settled in on his limbs. He couldn’t remember being this tired before, both physically and mentally.

Unsteady hoofsteps sounded behind him, and he turned to see Rainbow Dash tottering towards him. She looked horrible, worse than when she had been rescued. Her eyes had become sunken slightly and bloodshot, and more bruises were starting to show on all across her body. Every step looked like it took massive effort to keep from falling over, and a plaster cast encased her broken wing. But in spite of it all she still wore a confident smile.

He couldn’t help but feel a hint of admiration for the cyan mare. She had gone through more in a few hours than most did in a few lifetimes, and yet she could still retain her cocksure attitude. Even so, a flare of annoyance flashed in his eyes. Her rashness had nearly gotten him and almost all of his friends killed. Worse, she had completely ignored his orders, and he couldn’t let her off too easy, despite what she had been through.

The speedy pegasus stopped a few steps away and raised her forehoof in a salute, “I’m ready to fight; where do I need to be?” He was ramrod straight as he stared down at the rainbow-maned pony. His eyes flashed a deadly glare at her, and she seemed visibly taken aback.

Somehow his voice came across as coldly flat, which even took him by surprise, “I can’t even begin to tell you how much trouble you are in now.”

“Wh-what? What do you…?”

“For starters,” he hissed, cutting her off midsentence, “you disobeyed direct orders from your commanding officer. I told you to wait, and you charged in anyway. Did you think about what would have happened if those men had decided to cut and run? They wouldn’t have just let the foals walk away, you know that right?”

Confusion registered on her face that slowly turned to realization. Horror and revulsion etched onto her face, and she spoke in a disgusted whisper, “Ya mean they woulda… Why would somepony do that?”

“To make us mad, get us to act stupid.” A finger pointed at her nose accusingly, “You’re proof of that. And then did you not think about what would happen to you or those around you by rushing in like that? What if those bullets had pierced your armor? What if you had died, what would that have done to all your friends? You put everybody at risk; Dmitri got shot and nearly died looking for you. Not to mention all the fights that broke out while we searched.”

Jaze could see the words hammering his friend’s mind. She looked ready to rebel, to shout at him, and he silently dared her to defend her actions. Instead, her confidence crumbled, and she looked ready to cry. Her voice became a stutter as she tried to explain, “I-I didn’t think…”

“And that was your problem.” he cut in again, “You didn’t think. You let your own confidence and brashness lead you into doing something stupid and nearly killed more of your friends than I care to name.” He forced himself to talk a deep, calming breath before he stated flatly, “In light of what you went through, I won’t give you anymore punishment. However, you are confined to either the medical tents or Ponyville General until further notice. You’re still hurt; you need rest and medical attention.”

Remnants of her confidence mixed with anger, and she glared up at him to begin saying, “But I can…”

“Do what? Your wing is broken; can you fight on the ground?” His voice was nearly a yell, and he could see his words’ affects in the mare’s eyes. She stared at the dirt under her hooves with her good wing held high in fury. Resentment and hurt radiated from her, so much that Jaze wanted desperately to apologize.

Magenta orbs brimming with bitter tears whipped up to meet his, and the flyer growled, “Yes sir.”

That last word was loaded with so much acid that Jaze was mildly surprised he wasn’t killed. His friend turned away with her head held low. Light glinted from a tear near her chin, and he suddenly realized just how cruel he had been. Necessary or not, he had done more to hurt her than the entire time she had been held prisoner. His heart ached for her, and he couldn’t stop himself from calling out, “Hey, Dash?”

She turned, fixing him with the weariest glare he had ever seen, and asked, “Is there more, sir?”

“Yeah, there is.” Her eyes made him feel all the more horrible, so full of pain of every sort. He tried to give her a confident smile, but the best he could manage could only be called a grimace. Still, his tone was sincere as he said, “I’m sorry, but things need to be said. I doubt anyone would have done differently, even me. You did what you thought you had to, without hesitation. That’s not always a bad thing, and I know you didn’t intend for any of that to happen. Rest and get well, you’re still needed.”

A ghost of a smile played across the young mare’s lips, a hint of her confidence returning. She nodded, her injured wing twitching in pain, and spoke tiredly, “I guess you’re right. But make sure ya give those metal morons one from me, okay? Can I at least have that?”

“Not one, several.” he agreed with a grin, “Now get some…” Darkness engulfed the pair, causing Jaze to fall silent. He turned and looked towards the sun, expecting a rogue cloud or perhaps a storm. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of an overwhelmingly huge object blotting out the sun. Exactly what it could be was hard to discern, but he intrinsically knew it to be trouble. Quiet fell over the defenders as they watched the sun become engulfed by the massive, inky blot.

Jaze stared up at the sun-eating with a look of weary concern. All traces of weariness fled from his limbs and his heart pounded painfully in his chest. After giving his rifle a quick check to make sure it was fully loaded, he hopped into the trench to find either one of the Princesses. Whispered words of encouragement from both Marines and Royal Guards reached his ears, not to mention more than a few curses.

Several soldiers, human and pony alike, turned to look at him with questions in their eyes before he had even set foot in the ditch. He gave each one the only thing he could offer; a quick, hopefully encouraging smile and a nod. They at least seemed calmer, but the tension was still palpable. He watched as the shadow of the object swallowing the sun encroached on the land behind the trench. Soon everything would be swallowed by the darkness and an unnatural night would fall.

Static crackled across the comm in his ear, and a panic-stricken, female voice asked, “Can you hear me Colonel, sir? This is Control, come in Colonel Armand.”

It seemed like the woman was nearly ready to crack, and her terror lanced through the airwaves to try to inflict him with mind-breaking fear. He knew that he was just passing the blame for his own anxiousness onto someone, anyone, else; and he refused to allow himself to lose his mind over a simple eclipse.

“Yes, I can hear you.” he replied with a forced smile, and an attempted laugh, “What’s going on, what is eating the sun up there? Should I start some kind of pagan ritual, or do you have a better explanation for me?”

He heard a quiet, quickly stifled laugh across the comm. For several seconds there was no response, but when it finally came the Control operator sounded more assured of herself, “Sir, I do sir. Scans show that the structure is made of the same alloys as typically used in Cye vessels; if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it was a mobile fortress or space station.” She paused before adding almost as an afterthought, “Or a massive weapons platform.”

Nervousness crept into the Colonel’s voice as he said, “Uh… thanks. That’s… reassuring.” His mind raced faster than his heart as he ran through all the possibilities, each more worrying than the last. If it were a station, then there was no telling how many troops they could spit out onto the planet. But if it were a weapons platform… suddenly the entirety of his combined forces seemed woefully overmatched.

The operator’s voice broke in on his thoughts, calmly asking, “Excuse me, sir? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, still here. Is there more?”

“Yessir, Captain Marcel’s life boat has been recovered, which accounts for all of the ones launched from the Remembrance. The Captain is in the ponies’ hospital right now, as he received a serious head wound.”

“Good to hear.” He cast his eyes quickly up and down the trench before asking, “Do you happen to have a location on the Princesses? I need to speak with them.”

“Give me a moment, Colonel.” The line went silent for a time; she must have been talking with someone on her side. Time ticked slowly by as he waited, and he couldn’t help but begin to feel agitated. Just before he began to pace irritably, he heard the sound of movement on the other end of the line and the operator finally responded, “Yes sir, I know Princess Celestia is currently near the center of the trench line, while Princess Luna with a few Guards and Marines are currently in the hospital finding out what happened in orbit.”

“Okay, let her know to pass word along when she finds out. Armand out.” The line went silent once more, and Jaze set off towards where the Princess of the Sun was supposed to be. He couldn’t help but feel like she would have a better grasp of what could be done, and he hoped she might be able to use the sun against the construct.

He set off in a jog, passing hundreds of soldiers with expressions ranging from near-panic to excitement. Most of the Guards offered him a quick salute with their hooves over their hearts, while the Marines gave respectful nods as he passed. A smile touched his lips at the humans’ adherence to age-old protocols; with the bright gold armor he was wearing there was no way he wasn’t going to be recognized. Still, he felt that each of them were ready to lay down their lives in the horribly lopsided battle to come, but he had to ask himself the same question.

As he trotted down the line, his mind turned back to everything he had seen and done. All the places he had been, the people he had met, and more importantly the people he had killed. Their faces swam before his vision, each taunting and calling to him in shrill voices. Many he didn’t even have a name for, but each was burned into his memory. Each life he had taken added another bit of weight to his mind until he felt weighed down by a layer of lead around his heart.

There was no guarantee that he, or anyone, would make it through the coming fight alive. His mind slowly let each face fall away to be replaced by one of the people he loved. Each of his friends brought a measure of calm and lifted his mind from the place it had begun falling to. He finally banished all thoughts of the past, and instead focused on his future.

Trixie. Her face was the one that most filled his mind. She would seem to look at him and smile, a smile of promise for better things to come. A smile of his own touched his lips as he left her warmth surround him. He could see her standing with Zephyr held tight in her forelegs. Both ponies looked overjoyed, warm and safe. Everything else fell away, replaced by that image. Warm, bright feelings suffused his body, strengthening his resolve. He made a promise to himself, a promise to see that thought become reality; he owed them that much at least.

Celestia was right were Control had said she would be, surrounded by a crowd of soldiers hanging onto her every word. Her clear, soft voice carried over the din and drew the young Colonel out of his mind. He hadn’t even realized he had still been walking. A Guardspony spotted him and called out to the Princess, pointing with a forehoof.

She turned and quickly motioned him over with a wing before turning her eyes back to her sun being engulfed. He spared a moment to look up and saw the sun half hidden behind the Cye construct. His pace increased to a sprint; he needed to speak with Celestia before darkness fell. If nothing else they had to think of a way to keep the battle area lit after the sun was hidden. He wished they could get the thing in the sky away from the sun as he could see it hurting morale, but he just hoped they could still fight when the time came.

The Solar Princess smiled sadly as he drew near. She still looked weak and tired, and he couldn’t blame her after seeing her turn the very sun against her enemies. Even now he still couldn’t believe he had seen that. But this weariness seemed to go deeper somehow, deeper than he had ever seen before. Almost as if she had just lost her child. But her smile seemed sincere, and her voice was calm and even as she spoke, “Good of you to join me; now can you tell me what is covering up m… the sun?”

“It’s some kind of Cye space station.” he explained as he stepped next to her.

She turned to stare at him in blank disbelief, as she might a two-headed pony. At first her stare confused him, until he realized she had never seen any form of space station. All this was still new to her, and newer to the ponies around her. He remembered what it was like the first time he had seen a ship, and how life changing it had been. Sadness filled his heart for a moment at the thought of how an entire race had lost its innocence at once, but he buried it and explained.

“A space station, basically it is a place for starships to go and get refueled, resupplied, and even small repairs.” His finger tapped his lips in thought for a second before he added, “Think of it as a small, moveable moon. With guns. Lots of guns.”

“I… I see.” Celestia replied shakily. She seemed ready to crack; the most fear he had ever seen her show since they had meet.

Seeing fear in the normally composed alicorn’s eyes made him truly understand just how much trouble they were in. He took a chance and stepped next to the pony to put his hand on her shoulder in a warm, friendly gesture. She was shivering underneath his hand, as though from cold. Worry filled the dark-haired man at her quakes, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she were sick. Before he could ask, she shrugged his hand away but gave him a brief smile.

Celestia’s voice was soft, but he could still hear a hint of pain as she nearly pleaded, “Don’t worry about me; I will be fine. I am just a little shaken, but…” She turned her head upwards again, “I haven’t seen the sun go dark in the sky in over a thousand years. And on that day I made the biggest mistake of my life.”

At first, Jaze didn’t understand. Sad tears began to flow from the Princess’s eyes, and after a moment he finally began to realize. He nodded, looking to the sun as well. It was three-quarters hidden behind the Cye’s construct. Twinges of heart-ache for the alicorn rolled over him in waves; he couldn’t even begin to understand how such a powerful, heart-breaking memory would feel being drudged up by the single greatest threat her people had ever faced.

His voice was low and reassuring, and he tried to keep a comforting smile on his face, “Don’t worry about anything like that. Nothing like that will happen again, and in the end it turned out for the best right?”

“My head knows that.” she assured, “But my heart is not so sure.”

“You and everyone else.” Jaze mumbled darkly.

They watched the sun shrink to just a bare sliver peeking from behind the station. He wished that this had been a natural occurrence, in a time of peace. Ever since hearing about them he had wanted to watch an eclipse; his home-world had no moon. For the briefest of moments, he allowed himself to believe that everything was right in the world. He wasn’t sitting in a trench in hot, sweaty armor, he wasn’t watching an enemy move their space station into a strategic location; he was just another young man watching an eclipse amongst friends.

Before the sun could fully disappear, he turned to Celestia and growled, “Dammit, I forgot why I came here in the first place. We need some way to keep the battlefield lit after that thing hides the sun. They want to throw us into confusion, and they’re going to get just that really quick.”

The tall pony turned to look at him with a simple smile, “You have asked for the easiest thing we could give.” Seeing his confused stare, she explained, “Luna and I decided at the beginning of this conflict to keep the sun high so your Marines and our Royal Guards would have the light needed for the battle ahead. It has been ‘night’ for over an hour now.”

Jaze glared at her, though he managed to keep his voice mostly civil, “Why didn’t you tell me about this decision?”

She seemed more amused than contrite as she apologized, “I am sorry, but did it never occur to you when the sun didn’t seem to move?”

“Yeah well…” He did his best to ignore the ridicule, though he could feel his cheeks heating up embarrassedly, “Time has a tendency to be strange when you’re fighting for your life.”

“A fair point.” the Solar Princess laughed, “However, it does mean we have a plan. As long as the soldiers do not mind having their battle by moonlight.”

“That’ll work I think. So long as it’s the brightest moon in history. We need the light, as far as we know Cye don’t.”

“Worry not,” she assured with a smile, “You shall find no want of light tonight.”

He nodded, “Good. But you don’t think you could take out that station the same way you did that cruiser do you?” She shook her head sadly, and Jaze’s shoulders fell as a small measure of hope left, “I was afraid of that.”

He turned his eyes skyward just in time to watch the sun finally disappear fully. Darkness fell completely, turning the day into night. After a brief moment of disorientation, his surgically-altered eyes adjusted to the inky gloom. Everything had lost its color and became varying shades of grey, but lines and motion stood out in great detail. Any spot of light glared brightly, nearly blinding him. He could no longer look up at eclipse, as the corona of light was still painfully bright.

For several moments he stared out over darkened, broken field until a light flared next to him. His hands flew to cover his burning eyes, and he turned to glare at the Princess standing next to him from between his armored fingers. Her horn was glowing with a deep golden light, almost like her usual magical aura but it seemed thicker somehow. As if it was nearly tangible.

“I have set the sun in motion, and Luna has begun to raise the moon.” Celestia offered in explanation as the rich light from her horn faded, “Soon there will at least be that in the sky.”

Jaze carefully looked up, still hiding his eyes, and sure enough the sun was visibly moving. The Cye station followed its path for a time, up to the point the orbiting star began to sink below the horizon. After that, both were lost to view as the moon peeked out over the edge of the world. Soothing light eased across the land, and a collective sigh of relief went out of the defenders manning the trench.

“Celestia,” Jaze sighed as he turned back to look at her, “I am going to hand out any weapons we have left in the armory to any Guard that wants one. It may be against regulations, but they can hang me if we survive.”

She nodded, though her features were set in a confused grimace, “Why would they punish you for arming the Royal Guards? Does that not make this fight easier on your soldiers?”

“Technically, the Guard isn’t part of the StarSide Marines forces.” he explained softly, “Handing out weapons from an SSM armory can be considered weapons trafficking at best, treason at worst.”

Resentment colored in the Princess’s soulful eyes, and her tone became poisonously hurt, “But we are allied against your enemies! Why would they withhold something that would give us, and by extension their Marines, a better chance of survival?”

“Equestria is our ally in this,” he assured, knowing that what he had to say next would surely only make her anger grow, “unofficially. But there has been no formal acknowledgement between our governments, so I could still fall under the illegal distribution of ordinance technicality.”

Celestia’s voice was barely a whisper, but the rage in it was as loud as gunfire, “But you are only doing what you think is best to help everypony succeed!”

She was practically shaking with indignation, and at that moment Jaze was truly aware of how powerful a being she was. Even ignoring her magical abilities and power over the sun itself, her form rippled with muscle now quaking with unbridled rage. She could easily crush him beneath a single, booted hoof. As he watched the white alicorn fight to regain control of her emotions, he was silently thankful that she was his friend. Or at least ally.

He kept his voice low and soothing, like he was talking to wild creature he didn’t want to spook; in many ways, he was, “Princess, don’t worry about it. I doubt they will punish me for this. There is precedent for a similar situation, and from what I understand all of the Earth Coalition Government is either dead or in hiding.” He faked a light-hearted smile and added, “Besides, if they wanted to hang me they have plenty of other reasons; what’s one more death sentence between friends?”

This managed to bring a smile to her face, a brief flash of teeth before it was gone. She drew in a great breath of air, holding it for a moment before letting it go and taking another. This continued for a few moments until she seemed to have calmed down. Finally, she looked to him solemnly and asked, “Do you really think we can do this? Knowing full well that,” she pointed towards where the Cye space station had disappeared, “is up there; do you still believe we can win?”

“The only thing we can do is try.” he answered quietly.

A cool breeze caressed his cheek almost lovingly, leaving him feeling a little fresher than before. For a moment, he could actually see them pulling through this. He saw them being victorious, standing atop a mountain of Cye bodies as the space station broke apart and starships turned into brief balls of fire. Before long reality set in again, but he quickly added that image to the growing pile of thoughts to give him hope.

He looked straight into the tall pony’s eyes and smiled peacefully, this time his smile came naturally, “What do you say we show these metallic monsters what we can do?”

Under the Gun

Bullets hit the dirt inches in front of Jaze’s nose, spraying him with pinpricks of stinging soil. He ducked back behind the earthen fortifications before a stray round found his helmeted skull. Guns clattered deafeningly as the Marines fired back at the advancing enemy. Heavier machine gun emplacements sounded out above the other sounds of battle. Bright moonlight lit the field with a ghostly luminescence. The dusky blue light shone off the androids’ metallic skin, lending an otherworldly feel to the invaders.

Just a few feet away stood Celestia surrounded by many of her now armed and ever-loyal Guardsponies. Her spiraled horn glowed a pale gold, belching great gouts of gilded light that cut through the invaders with ease. Every robotic foe that came near the beam fell blackened and melted by its intense heat. Even from where he was, Jaze could see her weariness had fled. In its place was an almost enraged determination as she used her magic to destroy entire platoons. Despite their deadly nature, the beams that the Princess of the Sun threw forth held an odd beauty, not unlike the sun from which she drew power.

The scarred soldier whirled up over the embankment to return his weapon to the volume of fire being poured at the advancing androids. They had been slowly creeping towards the beleaguered defenders for the better part of the night and were now a scant few feet away from the defense line. Soon, they would be able to begin jumping down into the trench itself. And from there the fight could only get worse. The night sky was still full enemy dropships bringing in reinforcements by the thousands, and the shipments showed no signs of stopping.

Bodies of fallen metal troopers began forming a carpet over the ground, turning footing for the robots treacherous. The Cye showed no fear or sadness for their multitudes of fallen comrades, marching over their bodies without a glance. For every android put down, ten more filled in the gap before the defenders could reload. Even with the heavy machine guns mowing down the foremost lines of the automatons they just kept pushing forward, firing all the way.

Unfortunately, the enemy was not the only ones taking casualties. Even as Jaze knelt to reload a Marine next to him screamed and plopped down onto his backside, clutching a bullet wound in his arm. The soldier didn’t even have time to call out before a unicorn field medic descended on him. She spoke calmly as she dressed wound and used a few healing spells to stop the bleeding and begin the healing process. Jaze helped the other onto his feet before they both took back to firing into the Cye lines.

In the few seconds that Jaze had been kneeling, the androids’ line had inched forward until they were almost at arm’s reach. A curse fell from his lips and he quickly brought the rifle to his shoulder. The gun spat fire into a small cluster in the leading android’s chest. It went down, quickly followed by three of its companions before his rifle clicked on an empty chamber. He automatically thumbed the release lever and knelt down for another magazine, snagging one from the pile he had placed at his feet.

Jaze took a moment to catch his breath and wipe the sweat from his brow. His arms were sore from the constant kick of his rifle, and his silver eyes were watering from the constant flickering light of muzzle flashes. Constantly being on the brink of death, not to mention several close calls, had left him feeling ragged and worn thin. Every movement was a struggle, and the part of him that refused to believe he was getting shot at again wanted nothing more than to lie down and rest for a year.

As he slammed the fresh magazine into the weapon’s receiver a flustered Night Guard stallion came charging up the trench. His face was streaked with mud and fouler things, while his chest heaved from the exertion of his run. The stallion made a beeline for Celestia, screaming over the din of battle, “Princess! Your sister requires aid! She and a few volunteer mages are under heavy assault; her forces are quickly becoming depleted and the line is threatening to break!”

Jaze waved to get the white alicorn’s attention, and shouted, “Celestia, don’t you worry about Luna. I’ll take a few soldiers and reinforce the line.” He racked back the charging lever for emphasis, fixing a determined look on his face.

“Yes, go Knight-General.” the Princess called back quickly, adding, “Take a few of the Guard as well, you’ll be hard pressed to find anypony as determined as they are.”

Jaze nodded, shouting, “Good, I was going to steal a few anyway!” He singled out five and pointed towards the runner, “You follow him to reinforce the Princess; we’ll be right behind you.” They gave quick salutes with their hooves over their hearts and left, running as fast as their legs would carry them. The Colonel watched them run for a moment before he picked a nearby Marine fireteam to accompany him.

The group ran after the Guardsponies, keeping their heads ducked low. Bullets whizzed over the top of the fortifications to bury themselves in the opposite wall. They brushed past Marines and Guardsponies screaming in wordless rage as they fired back. Adrenaline coursed through Jaze’s body and kept him on his feet, but only just. His nose burned from the heavy odors of gunfire and death surrounding him, and his lungs nearly refused to breath in the tainted air.

Up ahead, a powerful beam of deep blue light nearly lost in the gloom burst from the trench into the enemy forces. Several smaller beams of various color blasted out in rapid succession as well, lighting the ditch up in brief flickers of radiance. Cye rifles screamed and spat rounds into the area where the magical light seemed to be originating, and the rifles of either Marines or Guardsponies answered in kind. Despite the best efforts of the defenders the enemy was slowly advancing. Seeing Luna’s magic had pushed Jaze into running faster. Worry filled him as his legs blurred with speed, and he silently hoped that they weren’t too late.

He came around a slight bend in the trench just in time to watch the first Cye trooper drop into the ditch. It was looking away from him, and he could see the Princess just beyond it. She was still holding off a large knot of the metallic soldier and hadn’t seemed to have seen her peril. The scarred assassin’s heart ached and his legs moved faster than he thought possible, until he had far outpaced the Marines behind him. Just as Jaze reached it, the metal trooper began to bring up its gun. It was too close to Luna for Jaze to use his gun; he would just as likely hit her as his target. Instead, he let the gun fall and drew his sword, removing the Cye trooper’s head in one swift stroke.

Luna spun when she heard the thing’s hull hit the dirt. For a moment she looked shocked and appalled, but she soon hid the emotion behind a smile. She gave him a nod of thanks and looked ready to say something, but Shining Armor came sprinting up from her other side in a panic and yelled, “Princess, I was told you need reinforcements…”

The Guard Captain had a pair of rifles suspended in a magical aura beside him with both muzzles pointed upwards. He regarded his commander with a blank stare, though he gave a respectful nod. Powder blue eyes took in the fallen trooper amongst the dead defenders, and his stare turned to one of anger. A magical aura surrounded the android and threw it out of the trench with all the force that the Captain could muster, catching a trio of enemy troops attempting to jump in.

For the first time since he arrived Jaze took a moment to examine his surroundings closely. Corpses of fallen ponies and humans littered the ground and made footing perilous; it was a wonder he hadn’t tripped and broken something. Not far away sat an unmanned gun emplacement, its operator still propped against its stock missing the better part of her face. A pair of Marines silently began moving their fallen comrades out of the way so they wouldn’t get stepped on.

Before the assassin could bend to retrieve his rifle, a large group of enemy soldiers crested the embankment and jumped down next to him, knocking the pair of human soldiers to the ground. Sairugi was still in his hand, and he quickly set to work on the foolish foe. The first went down with a quick, deep slash across its chest. It hadn’t even hit the ground before his sword sunk to the hilt in one of its companions. Unfortunately, the blade caught something and was yanked out of his hand as the limp android rolled to the ground. He reached for his side arm as a third trooper turned and brought its rifle to bear, but he wouldn’t be able to draw in time.

One of the Marines that had been moving the dead leapt from the ground and tackled the robot, smashing it against the wall of the trench. It was still moving, and the soldier responded by smashing it in the face and chest with the butt of a rifle until it was still. As his savior turned to look at him, Jaze realized for the first time that it was a young woman. She was so caked in grime that her features were unrecognizable as human, and her armor made her appear like any other soldier.

She offered a salute, but there was no time for a proper introduction. A thump sounded behind him as yet another Cye soldier landed. When he drew his pistol and turned to put it down however, he found it suspended in the air. Shining Armor regarded the struggling android coldly before his rifles riddled it with bullets and he casually tossed it aside. The two warriors moved closer to the midnight-blue alicorn still firing bolts of magical power to try and force the Cye back. The gold-armored human bent and picked up a fallen assault rifle and retrieved his sword, dropping a fresh magazine into his weapon as he took his position on Luna’s left.

Jaze called to the woman who had saved his life and pointed to the silent heavy machine gun. She nodded and grabbed her companion to relay the order. The pair practically crawled towards the gun, carefully avoiding the bodies of their fellow soldiers. A few times they had to stop and put a few androids down that jumped in the trench with them, but soon they were gently pulling the fallen soldier from the post she refused to leave, even in death. As soon as they reached the gun the Colonel turned his attention back towards the Cye troops.

A wave of the androids fell into the trench, only to be met with several quick bursts from the defenders’ combined weapons. Magical bursts from beside the Captain of the Guard took down dozens of the robots before they could jump down. It must have been the volunteers that the Night Guard had mentioned earlier, but he couldn’t quite see who it was because of the curve of the trench. Their actions did manage to push the Cye back a few steps, enough so that the rest of the group could reload in relative peace.

Shining Armor placed his forehooves on the wall of the trench so he could peek over while his rifles floated just over his head. One was always firing while the other was being reloaded, making sure there was a constant stream of lead death pouring from his position. The stallion was standing next to a stack of ammunition, but it wouldn’t last long with the continuous fire. Even now it was beginning to look small, and there was no telling when one of the supply corps would be able to come by with more ammo.

So Jaze knelt and began rummaging through the various pockets and pouches of the dead Marines around him for any spare magazines they may have been carrying. Most of the soldiers had at least one magazine stashed somewhere, while many had two or even three. But much of what he found were simply personal effects; pictures, lucky objects that had run dry, a few credits here and there, various odds and ends of every sort turned up in his search. For each fresh magazine he found dozens of reminders of how he had let these men and women down, not to mention their families.

He tried to force the thoughts aside, but they kept nagging at his mind. Stories arranged themselves in his mind for each new face he pulled out of the mud. In particular, a woman in her late thirties with stringy, nut-brown hair stuck in his mind. Her face was set in a rictus of pain and sorrow, and her dead, green eyes stared accusingly into his as he conducted a quick search. In her pocket was a picture of her and a man of similar age both wearing Marine dress uniforms standing arm in arm with a young girl in front and between them wearing a pretty, white, frilly dress.

Curiosity drove him to roll over a dead soldier laying next to the lady, and sure enough it was the man from the picture. They had died side-by-side on a world far away from their daughter, fighting for creatures they had just met. Shame filled his heart as he stared down at them; that he was alive while they had been forced to leave their child behind felt wrong. He wished nothing more than to take their place and give their youngster the parents she would most surely miss.

“Gaia to Armand!” a voice yelled from nearby, making Jaze’s head turn fast enough to make it pop. Shining Armor was watching him intently, his weapons pointed skyward once more. The stallion’s tone was urgent, though he seemed less angry than he had right to be, “These things aren’t going to feed themselves, you know.”

“Right…” the scarred soldier called. He gave his helmeted head a quick shake and shoved away from the bodies laying on the ground, “Here take…”

Before he could pass a few magazines over to the Captain, more of metal soldiers boiled over the embankments and filled the trench. Jaze brought his rifle to his shoulder and fired into the crowd before they could regroup and begin attacking. Three of the androids fell to the ground with small holes puckering their chests. All too soon however, the pin dropped on an empty chamber. One of the troopers used the chance to step up to him and knocked the gun from his hands. As the gun fell, his hand darted to the hilt of his sword and drew it.

He took the blade in a two-handed grip as his foe began to raise its rifle. Moonlight shined off the blade as it craved a path through the android’s thin neck. It fell to the ground limp and headless as the gold-armored soldier spun to the nearest machine. A quick slash across its middle, and the thing joined the bodies littering the ditch floor. But even as it fell, another stepped in to take its place.

He watched one float into the air in an aura of dark blue magic and be quickly pulled apart, each piece used as a missile to kill several more of the automatons. Luna had been forced a few feet away from the scarred assassin, surrounded by enemy troops. Even as he watched, her magic snagged another android and used it to batter more of the machines apart. Several fired at the alicorn, only to watch their rounds ping off a dark pink shield around her. Shining Armor stood next to his Princess; a strained look distorted his features and his horn was alight with a magical aura that formed the barrier around them.

A grunt drew his attention back to the Marines that had been trying to get the heavy machinegun working. The young woman who had saved his life before was grappling with one of the drones while her companion worked to reload the heavy gun. One of Luna’s Guards rushed to help, but a clutch of the machines blocked his path and he was forced to stop. Jaze watched the android slam her head into the trench wall and bring up its rifle for the kill.

His pistol was in his hand with no memory of drawing it. The first shot went wide, flying well over its head, while the second and third served to take off its head. The young woman had just begun to recover as her foe fell to the mud. She turned to give him a quick nod of thanks, but soon they were each embroiled in their own battles once more.

Jaze turned back to Luna and began carving a path towards her. None of the androids seemed particularly interested in him, and several of the robots fell to savage slashes from behind before the first ones turned to deal with the new threat. His blade was a blur as it hacked through the soft metal of his foes, cleaving through them with relative ease. Their guns were next to useless when he was this close, but already his arms burned from the effort. Each cut took far more out of him than he would have liked.

Much to his relief, he soon stood just outside the shield. The young stallion motioned him to just walk through the shield, despite it having stopped anything else from getting within a few feet of the pair inside. Jaze shrugged and slashed through the last few Cye soldiers between him and apparent safety. He had expected the shield to stop him, but it only gave him a slight tingling sensation as he passed right through it. The barrier passed, he stopped inside the protection of the shield for a moment to catch his breath.

Luna spared a moment to give him a brief smile of pure joy before she turned her attention back to the horde pounding on the pink bubble. A violent glow over took her horn, and suddenly it seemed like a crushing weight settled on the remaining Cye. They all fell flat and seemed unable to rise; easy prey for the Marines and Guards outside the shield. The Night Princess turned with a confident smirk on her face; the look of enjoyment on her face made the Colonel feel slightly ill with worry.

“It is a beautiful night, is it not Knight-General?” crooned the dark alicorn before she turned towards the still-advancing army to unleash more hell into their ranks.

Her soft tone made him realize that the din of combat had fallen to a distant murmur. His ears rang loudly in the sudden silence, and he had to resist the urge to knuckle them in annoyance. Without the constant threat of being killed, he was able to turn his attention to what was going on outside his immediate vicinity.

The flashes of light from down the trench line were flickering faster, though the lights seemed to be weaker. But somehow, the mages had managed to hold back the rest of the Cye forces. There was no telling how many dozens of the robots had fallen under the powerful magic being loosed on them. The nearby Guards and Marines made quick work of the last few stragglers thrashing on the trench floor before turning back towards the main battle. The defenders spread out across the weakened section of the line, stalling the enemy’s advance once more. Just beyond the embankments at the front of the line a low wall of destroyed androids had formed to where the ones moving forward had to climb over their fallen comrades. But even as they hobbled over, they were picked off by heavy weapons’ fire.

Hope began to return to Jaze’s heart as he watched the androids fall by the hundreds. Even in the past hours of pitched battle, the enemy hadn’t managed to get much closer. His heart soared, until he looked up and spotted the silhouette of the Cye space station against the night sky. It darkened a swath of the sky and hung as a promise of doom, silently watching. The assassin stared at it, trying to think of some way to remove the threat. Almost on instinct, he knew who awaited him aboard the planetoid. All he needed was some way to get close enough to kill the insane man.

The shield dissolved as Shining Armor took up his rifles and once more stepped up to the trench line. Sound rushed in to fill the peaceful space, bringing the scarred warrior back to reality. He moved to where he had lost his rifle and left the stacks of ammo; future battles could only be won after the current one was over. He began passing out the magazines to everyone along the line just as an earth-pony dropped off a small crate with more. Resupplied, he took up position near the heavy-machinegun that had finally started adding its roar to that of its brethren to make his own argument on why the Cye should leave.

“Holy hell Stacks,” the young woman called teasingly, “Took you long enough didn’ it?”

“Shut up Sis!” replied her companion, “Damned thing was jammed, and I am a marksmen, never used one of these things before.” The gun stopped firing, and the young man cursed loud enough to be heard over the din of battle, “Now what?!”

Jaze couldn’t help but smile as he yelled, “You’re out of ammo!” The pair jumped, apparently unaware that they had friendly company. They seemed even more shocked when they saw who it was that had joined their banter.

The young sniper checked his new weapon and grunted, “I guess it is.” He looked around and found a pack of the large magazines used in the gun and embarrassedly shoved a fresh one into the weapon. He went back to firing the weapon, and if the gold-armored soldier looked closely under the grime a mortified blush was just visible.

They woman shrieked with laughter and slapped her companion’s arm, “Come on bro, you’re slipping into senility!”

“Sh-shut up!” he called.

Jaze laughed, but before he could say anything another, a familiar female voice yelled out, “Excuse me, Captain?” The dark-haired Colonel turned, and his mouth fell open. Standing next to Shining Armor, looking disheveled, was Trixie. She waited for the white stallion to turn before she continued, “The volunteer unicorns just down the way are in dire need of water. We are not trained soldiers; none of them can stay up and fighting much longer. Is there any way to get them something to drink, and possibly something to eat?”

Jaze stepped closer and yelled, “Of course, we’ll get someone on that. Now would you tell me what you’re doing here?”

Her head whipped towards him, and a smile spread across her face. She trotted over to him, staring into his soul with her irresistible eyes, and answered, “I’ve been leading the volunteers from Ponyville, and I think we have been a valuable asset.” Her lips curled in a joking smile, “If I recall, we even saved you at one point.”

“True enough,” the assassin replied grudgingly before his tone turned dark with anger, “But you shouldn’t be here; it’s dangerous.”

Her smile slid from her face to be replaced by an angry glare, “Would you rather I sit on my rump back in town?”

“Frankly, yes. At least there you would have been safe.”

“While you were out here getting shot at?” she retorted, “The street goes both ways, Armand. I could not sit still while y… everypony was in danger. I have the skills to help, so I should be using them!”

Her moment of hesitation was not lost on the scarred soldier. His anger cooled slightly; if nothing else he could understand the sentiment. She stared up at him with anger flashing in the violet pools he knew so well, but beyond the front of irritation he could plainly see her fear. A sigh escaped his lips, followed by a slight smile, “Why can’t I stay mad at you?”

A smile of her own graced her features, and her toned brightened, “Because you know I am right.”

“Er…” Shining Armor muttered, drawing the pair’s attention back to him, “I’ll get somepony to bring your volunteers any supplies we can get; you’re too helpful to risk losing now.”

“Thank you, Captain.” she replied in breathless relief, “Then I shall go and inform the rest of the unicorns.”

The azure mare started to leave, but Jaze’s hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder almost of its own accord. She whipped back around, confused, and he lost what he had been going to say. For a moment he was silent, before whispering, “Be careful, okay?”

“There is no need to worry,” she assured with a wink, “you are far more likely to get into trouble than I. So you be careful, understand?”

His face split into a confident grin, “I’ll keep myself in one piece. I told you I’d be invincible.” She nodded and galloped back to her volunteers as he turned back to the Royal Guard Captain.

Shining Armor’s face was set in a grin, and his tone was mocking, “You like her, don’t you?”

“What makes you say that?” Jaze shot back, willing his face not to go crimson. From the look on the stallion’s face, he was sure he hadn’t succeeded.

“Because that is just about the same conversation I have with Cadence every time I have to go, or she does.” Armor’s eyes went misty, and his tone dripped honeyed sweetness, “’Don’t get hurt, be careful.’ It’s always the same.” Royal blue eyes refocused on the scarred human’s face, and a smile spread across the other’s lips, “What do you say we make it to hear another one, aye?”

“I actually have an idea towards that end.” The human swept his hand out to indicate the defense line, and asked, “Do you think you could put up a shield over the whole trench? That would be immensely helpful.”

The Captain looked up and down the trench, deliberation showing clearly on his face. After a short bit of thought, he looked up and nodded, “I can, but not for very long.”

“How long?”

“Hmm…” the stallion pondered aloud, “Five, no… Ten minutes is all I can give you for sure. At least, that’s what I can give and still be in fighting shape.”

“That’s at least enough time to think, and breathe.” Jaze gave a quick nod, “Do it, but give me a second.” He triggered the comm in his ear and switched it to the command frequency, “To all Marine squad and fireteam leaders: in one minute, have all your Marines cease fire. And make sure to pass the word to any Guards that may not have comms. We’re about to get a break.”

It took several seconds for all the soldiers to report in that they had received the message, and longer still for the rest of the Marines to acknowledge it. Seconds ticked away, dragging on like hours, while Shining Armor concentrated. The scarred human could feel a sort of tug, a current moving towards the stallion before him. A soft glow surrounded the Captain’s horn that slowly brightened as the minute neared its end. The assassin offered a silent prayer to whatever deity may have been listening that his plan would work.

Just as the minute expired, the stallion’s horn flared with intense pink light and a shield popped into existence around the defenders. Cye troops hammered thoughtlessly against the barrier, throwing every bullet and even their bodies at it to break it. But it held strong, though its creator looked exhausted by the effort already. The stallion gave a weak but confident smile, though the dark-haired assassin could still see the physical pain that the other was in.

XXX

All was quiet in the ditch as soldiers tended their wounds and weapons. Ammunition was distributed, rations consumed, prayers muttered, and soldiers stretched sore muscles before the next trip into hell. As they rested, Shining Armor shared an idea that put a smirk on the Colonel’s face. He passed the idea along to his soldiers, and similar grins graced their features as they moved to act on it.

But the enemy was far from idle. While the Marines and Guards made their preparations, the androids used the time to clear their dead from near the front line. Piles of scrap accumulated as tall as houses near the dark trees of the Everfree Forest as they moved the destroyed bits of former Cye. Soon, they had cleared all of their fallen comrades and began hammering away at the shield.

By then, the Marines had all called in their ready status. Jaze looked to the blue-maned stallion and gave a quick nod. Relief shone on the pony’s face, and it was easy to see why. His mane and coat were slick with sweat, and his limbs were shaking from the effort of holding the barrier in place. The light from before flared once more and the barrier exploded outwards, shredding the first rows of machines while throwing many more back several feet.

The defenders used the breathing room to unleash a torrential rain of explosive rounds. Each soldier with a rifle, be they human or unicorn, had several small stacks of the detonating ammunition, and they used it to quickly mow down thousands of the advancing androids. The few Guards without rifles hurled millions of empty shell casings with deadly speed and accuracy, grinding even more of the robots in broken scrap.

As ever, the androids continued marching into the metal grinder. But between the explosives and the unicorns throwing anything they could down range, the Cye were slowly being turned back. They couldn’t move forward fast enough, and step by step they were forced back towards their landing zone. Humans and ponies alike screamed at the retreating foe in a ruckus that would have made any living being shiver with fear.

XXX

Jaze thumbed the release lever and slapped a fresh magazine into his weapon as fast as he could. The roar of combat almost drowned out that of his fellow soldiers, though it still carried across the line. Somehow the sound lent strength to his limbs as he continued firing into the horde. His weapon had begun to get so hot from the constant firing that he had to set it aside and retrieve one from a fallen Marine nearby.

Heedless of the bullets whizzing past him, the gold-armored human never let his fire slacken longer than it took to reload. Wind off the rounds sometimes brushed his cheek, and the mixed smells of gunpowder, oil, and blood filled his nostrils with their horrifying odor. But none of these sensations actually reached his mind and went completely ignored. The thrill of combat swept through him, giving him the strength to keep going long after he normally would have stopped.

He reached down once more to reload, only to find that his stacks of HE rounds were gone. He switched to armor-piercing ammo and kept burning through the second stack of magazines. A grim smirk touched his lips; Shining Armor’s plan was working well. Already enough space had opened up to land several dropships end to end, with more ground being gained with every second.

A snort sounded from behind him, and he heard Luna growl fiercely, “More of the enemy doth join their allies above our fair planet.”

Jaze looked up, and sure enough he could see several more bright flashes of light appearing in the night sky. The lights began moving towards a cluster of what appeared to be stars, but soon revealed themselves as more of the enemy’s vast fleet. He couldn’t help but laugh as he watched the flashes wheel about in the starry depths. He looked to the Princess with a sarcastic smile and called, “Doesn’t really matter does it? We can’t be in any deeper than we are now!”

He turned back to the battle and kept firing, a frown overtaking his features. Every passing second made this fight go from bad to worse. But even before there was no way they could have actually defeated every one of those ships with just a few fighter craft. A buzzing sound issued from the comm in his ear, going mostly ignored. It was probably just Control about to tell him that more ships had arrived.

From the comm, an amused male voice cackled loudly and said in a deep, familiar accent, “This is the ECN super-carrier Vigilance asking: son, jus’ what in the hell did you do to piss off every single Cye bastard in the galaxy and bring ‘em here?”

The assassin’s brow furrowed in confusion; the man who that voice belonged to was supposed to be dead. Killed in a battle for Earth. His heart hammered in his ears, and hope once more began to invade his thoughts. He triggered the comm and asked incredulously, “Admiral Gaston? Is that you?”

Gaston laughed, “Surprise Jaze! Thought ya migh’ want a bit o’ help from every damned ship I could lay hands on.”

The scarred soldier grinned stupidly, his heart nearly singing. This had to be a dream; he had already written off his older friend as dead. He had trouble forcing words to form, though he managed to ask, “You brought a fleet?”

“Damned right I did. Ain’t gonna leave ya hangin’ on a limb.” The Admiral’s voice took a dark tone, and he added “’Sides, these bastards got a bit of payback comin’ after what they did t’ Earth. So what say we show ‘em why you don’t mess with the best damned fighting force in the galaxy!”

From Yesterday

Gaston sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge of the super-carrier as it powered through space. The control room for the monstrous ship was spacious, despite having enough tech to power and maintain a small city. Consoles monitoring everything clamored for attention, flashing multicolored lights to their handlers. His chair sat at the far back of the spacious room, affording him a perfect view of the controlled chaos. Directly in front of him was a holographic display showing the locations of enemy ships, represented by red triangles, and the human fleet, green squares. Dozens of men and women rushed this way and that as they tended to the delicate challenge of moving the titanic ship through space.

He adjusted himself in his seat and glared out of the large viewport at the masses of Cye ships before him. Cruisers, frigates, carriers; any and every class of ship was represented amongst the enemy’s massive fleet. The android’s vessels began turning towards the human fleet, making his heart race and his breathing quicken in anticipation. Just beyond the array of starships sat the inky black fortress that had appeared above Earth.

Even though this was the largest fleet anyone had ever seen, the hundreds of vessels arrayed against him barely even rated a sideways glance. Vigilance herself was more than a match for any ship they could throw at her, let alone the ever-growing fleet of human ships backing her up. But seeing that dark ball of manifested hate for humanity put true fear into his heart for the first time in what felt like eons.

“Gonna hafta shut that thing down.” whispered the Admiral, “If’n we wan’ outta this alive at least.” An ensign rushed up to him and held out a comm unit. He shot the sailor a grunt of appreciation before jamming the comm into his ear and triggering it, “Jaze, think ya can git up here? We need t’ work something out on this friggen station or we’re not gonna have a good time.”

Silence greeted his ears for a moment until he heard, “If you can promise some reinforcements down here, I’ll hop in my fighter and make my way up there.”

The Admiral grinned, “How does those reinforcements I promised forever ago, plus another few thousand?”

Once more, silence greeted his words. The young man on the other end of the line seemed to be having trouble getting his mouth working. When he finally was able to speak, his voice was weak from shock, “F-few th-thousand?”

“If you don’t think that’s enough…” Gaston began, his voice mocking.

“No, no I think that’ll do.” Jaze paused, and the sound of heavy breathing came from the comm. The old sailor waited patiently for his young friend to recover, silently smirking. After nearly a minute, the Colonel spoke weakly, “Okay then, I’ll be up in twenty. Just uh… just gotta take care of some things first.”

“Rodger that, see ya in twenty.” Gaston cut the link and turned to the men and women on the bridge, and his voice rang out clear and strong, “Alright ladies and gents, we got twenty minutes ‘til we have to entertain a ground-pounder, and I know yar all dyin’ for a bit’a payback fer Earth. Helmsman, bring us to course one-zero-two. Weapons, bring all forward cannons online, prioritize targets for when we git in position. Have fighters and interceptors make ready for a quick drop inta the void, and send a fleet-wide order t’ pick a target and send the firing solutions to Vigilance.” He paused in his orders for a moment before adding, “And have it made ready, I get th’ feeling we’re gonna need it.”

Several heads turned at the mention of the secret weapon carried on board. Worried eyes met his before turning away to carry out their duties. The Admiral leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and tried to force his heart to slow. Even thinking about it had him more worried than anything else. When it had been loaded onto his ship, he had never imagined a situation when it would be needed. This was a weapon of the old world; something he and everyone else hoped could fade into obscurity.

He heaved a sigh, and whispered, “Gods help us all.”

Jaze watched as his soldiers roamed the battlefield looking for any Cye troopers that hadn’t been fully disabled. Despite the sudden disappearance of their reinforcements, the robots had kept marching resolutely into the metal grinder until none were left. The reprieve, however brief it was going to be, gave the exhausted defenders cause for hope.

Soldiers kept glancing skyward at the first dropships full of aid began descending. Several of the flying buses set down as near to the medical tents as they could. Wounded Marines were brought out to be ferried to the doctors aboard orbiting hospitals that had been towed along with the human fleet. And in the dark night sky, hundreds of stars danced in the pitch-blackness of space, marking the furious battle that was already unfolding.

The young assassin climbed out of the trench, his entire body screaming for rest. His rifle hung from its sling across his back, and Sairugi rested in its sheath. Grime coated his face and armor, and the cloth under the metal was damp with sweat. Every muscle ached, and his eyes felt like there was sandpaper under his eyelids. He pinched the bridge of his nose as a headache began to set in, and an intense desire to lie down and sleep for a year set in.

He set off in a brisk walk away from the trench, carefully avoiding everyone. He needed silence, a chance to step back and breathe. The surroundings stood out in perfect detail to his altered eyes, letting him pick his way through the rush of activity around the defense line. Grime from fighting concealed the golden metal of his armor and let him brush past the few soldiers, human and pony alike, that got close enough to see him without being recognized in the moonlight, though a few drew breath to say something as he rushed past.

Up ahead, the lights from the camp cast their unnatural glow on the ground. The tents and prefab buildings took on a gray, dreary cast in the bright light of the lamps. Voices filtered from the camp; everything from shouts for help to encouragement for the wounded. Shadows fell across the ground as even more of the defenders raced about the camp, tending to anything they could before the next round of fighting.

He found his feet turning without conscious thought to avoid the brightly lit area, and he didn’t see a reason to stop them. The ethereal light of the white orb in the sky gave him a small measure of peace, not to mention helped him avoid anyone looking for him. Cold air filled his lungs, and he removed the helm from his head to feel the breeze on his damp scalp. For a moment, he could pretend everything was right in the world. His eyes slid closed as he walked and enjoyed the ease of the night.

From nowhere, one of the homes of Ponyville blocked his path. Air exploded from his lungs as he ran headlong into a brick wall, knocking him to the ground. The impact made his head twang in sympathy with his chest, his almost forgotten headache returning in a rush. He glared up at the uncaring building as he lay on his back and tried to get some air into his body. Frustrated groans escaped his lips as he stretched out against the cold earth behind the house.

An unexpected, snorting giggle made him tilt his head back against the dirt to see Trixie watching him. She tried to make her laughing fit cease, but anytime she looked ready to quit her eyes met with his and she began again. A smile touched the Colonel’s lips, and soon the laughter spread to him. Chuckles shook his body and made the small aches slide away. Even as the mirth slowly died out, his smile refused to budge as he looked up at the pony who had caught him.

The azure unicorn, still giggling under her breath, trotted over to him and held out a hoof. Her eyes were still alight with mirth, standing out in the darkness. The grime coating her form failed to make her appear any less beautiful than before, and her smile seemed to light the surrounding walls with a warm brilliance. She helped him up and whispered, “You can’t walk through walls Jaze.”

He could feel an embarrassed flush creeping across his face, and he turned away, hoping the darkness would hide the coloring. A forced smile turned the corners of his mouth up, and he fired back, “I figured that if I tried really hard I could actually manage it.” An eyebrow slowly rose, and he asked, “How did you find me?”

The unicorn whispered mischievously, “You are not as devious as you think. I followed you all the way from the trench.”

“Sneaky.” accused the young Colonel amusedly.

He knelt, and slowly reached out to run his fingers through her mane. His hands wouldn’t stop shaking softly, and he could see similar shivers going through her body. Even after facing down millions of hostile robots, nothing but being this close to her made his pulse race quite so hard. A hoof reached up to touch the hand flowing through the soft strands of her silver mane, following the arm back to his chest. The azure hoof settled over his pounding heart, making it beat even harder than a before. Her breathing quickened as she stretched her neck up and planted a soft kiss.

The short, velvety fur of her lips on his made his head buzz and spin. His free hand found the side of her face of its own accord and gently stroked along her jaw. Warm breath fluttered across his face as she broke the contact, but her face stayed only a hair’s width from his. Large, violet pools drew him in and stole his breath; everything else fell away to a distant distraction.

A demure smile graced the magician’s face, and she whispered, “I told you we shouldn’t wait so long for the next one.”

“You were right.” chortled the human, “That seems to happen a lot.”

She gave a brief laugh, before her features suddenly became serious, “Tell me; why did you try to sneak away?”

He pulled away, a mixture of shame and fear filling his breast. Looking at her suddenly became impossible; wide, expressive eyes stared accusingly into his mind. Several times he opened his mouth to say something, each time closing it when nothing presented itself. Finally, he managed to almost squeak, “I just… I needed to get away from everyone.”

“Why?” Once more his voice deserted him. He looked away, only to have a hoof on his chin gently bring his eyes back to hers. She shook her head slowly firmly whispered, “I know there is something wrong with you. You shouldn’t hide from it.”

“It’s just,” Jaze took in a deep, calming breath, letting it out slowly as he explained, “I see us doing well here on the ground, but then I look up and see that.” He pointed towards an area the stars had seemingly abandoned, “Gaston wants to find a way to take it out, but it’s just… That thing is huge!”

A weight felt like it had suddenly settled in the pit of his stomach. He stood and straightened his arms above his head, his back arching into the stretch. The aches and pains he had almost forgotten just a moment before flooded back into his body. Around him, the moonlit night went from a cool and comfort to threatening, a change that was as quick as it was unexpected.

“I just hate that the Cye could throw something like that against us.” Jaze finished.

Trixie nodded thoughtfully as she turned to stare at the innocently blank patch of sky. Her features scrunched up while she studied where the enemy space station had taken position. Seconds ticked by in silence, until finally the pony magician turned and stood on her hind legs so they were face to face once more. Her forehooves landed gently on his shoulders for balance, and she regarded him with a warm but fearful eye.

Her voice was calm and reassuring, “I won’t lie and say I know we’ll be alright.” Determination set her features in granite, and her lips curled in something halfway between a smile and a grimace, “But I will say that I believe we can pull this off. Obviously your friend Gaston thinks so too, or he would have ran away instead of coming here to die.”

A small laugh escaped his lips unbidden, though he refused to let the false mirth spill forward. He kept his voice low, nearly whispering, “You don’t know Gaston very well then. He’d rather get it done and out of the way than wait around to die. And he’ll make sure he takes a few of the bastards with him too.”

“You would know him better than I.” she remarked. For a moment she was silent, then, “May I ask a favor?”

“Sure, ask away.”

Her eyes seemed filled with doubt, but she refused to look away from him. The strength of her gaze threatened to root him to the spot. She seemed to be trying to find an answer before making her request. After what must have been an eternity, she finally asked, “Let me go with you, to meet Gaston I mean.”

A frown suddenly tugged at his lips, “No, not a chance.” His voice came out far angrier than he had hoped, and by the fury that suddenly sparked in the unicorn’s eye he could tell she didn’t appreciate his tone.

“And why not?” she hissed menacingly.

“Because I don’t want you going up there, that’s why.” Jaze almost shouted back as his own ire rose, “There’s no reason for you to go up there and maybe get hurt.”

“As opposed to what, exactly?” Trixie fired back tersely, “Staying here and having to either fight or listen to somepony fighting for my life while I sit on my rump and do nothing?”

“But…”

“Listen to me Jaze,” she interrupted, “You cannot really believe I would be any safer here than up there. There’s going to be swarms of Cye coming; I’d be safer away from that wouldn’t I? You know me too well to believe I could even think about staying away from this fight. One way or another I will be getting involved, and it will more than likely be on the front lines.”

Jaze calmly waited for her to finish, forcing himself to stay quiet as she expended her breath. As soon as she paused to take a breath he broke in, “Now you listen to me. You’re absolutely right, I know you. If I let you go with me then you’ll want to follow me on whatever suicide mission I end up going on. And there’s no way I’m letting that happen, so you’re going to stay here. And that’s not changing.”

She cocked her head and asked, “What do you mean, suicide mission?”

His shoulders fell as he winced; he hadn’t meant to let that slip. Large, worried eyes bored into his face, and the azure unicorn’s lips fell in a frown. Looking down at her made it nearly impossible to say anything. Seeing her anxiousness made him want to stop, but he knew that he couldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair to her.

A deep sigh crossed his lips, and finally managed to speak, “We’ve got to take down that station, it’s too powerful to let ride. Gaston’s got a plan, he has to. But it will probably involve someone getting inside it; if destroying it were as simple as just hitting it with a ton of ordinance it would already be a wreck. And I won’t let anyone else do it.”

Her worry morphed into outright fear at his words, and her voice took on a sudden, pleading tone, “Why not? Why does it have to be you?”

“Because I can do it, so no one else has to.” The flatness of his voice caught him by surprise, and made him sound calmer than he felt. Inwardly, he was shaking at the thought of being anywhere near that station.

“But why does it have to be you? There are others that could play the hero, aren’t there?” Trixie fired back quickly. He managed to catch a brief twitch of anger mingled with her worry before it disappeared. The resentment tried to hide behind her eyes, but it was as plain to see as if she were screaming at him.

He knelt and wrapped his arms around her neck, holding her close. For a moment she tried to pull away, but she slowly relaxed into the embrace. His voice was a whisper as he said, “I’m doing it because I can, and so that no one else has to and maybe die for it.”

“But…”

“But nothing.” he cut in, “I couldn’t live with myself if someone else died for something I should have done. I’d see their friends and families anytime I looked at mine.”

“And what about yours?” Her voice was low, but the exasperated tone was impossible to miss. She forced their bodies apart so she could glare into his eyes and held him at foreleg-length, “You could leave behind all your loved ones just for someone else? That is stupid, and you know it. Just this once, let someone else take responsibility.”

“There’s more to it than just that.” Jaze admitted grudgingly.

“Then what?!” she hissed in frustration.

“Carn.” He said the name as calmly as he could, but it filled his mouth with a horribly bitter taste. Hatred made his head spin as he turned to look up at the starless portion of the sky, “He’s up there, and I can’t let him be killed by someone else. I have to do it, or it doesn’t matter. This one is personal.”

Trixie’s face fell, and her eyes turned to the ground. She refused to look up at him, but he could feel the bitterness pouring out of her hooves. “I can almost understand that…” Her voice trailed off for a moment, and her head suddenly snapped up so she could once more fix him with a disapproving stare. Her voice was nearly a growl, “But are you really willing to risk your life for a personal grudge? Can’t you be satisfied with knowing that someone killed him?”

It took more effort than he thought not to push her way as hard as could, but he couldn’t stop his face from taking on an angry frown, “No, not after the things he’s done.”

“What more could he have done to make you hate him this badly?!”

The question burned in her eyes, and he was forced back to when he had found the young mare laying on that table deep inside the insane man’s base. Her eyes filled with terror and a small measure of hope filled his mind, and he could feel a phantom of the motion of pulling the trigger. His stomach churned horribly at the memory, and shame lit a fire inside him. The anger from before cooled until it had burned out completely, only to be replaced by hate for himself. The young mother of the filly that had wormed so easily into his heart was just one more failure to add to the pile, but one that stood out horribly.

In as short of an explanation as he could manage he told her the entire story from when they had separated. Disgust and horror filled her eyes in equal measure as his tale concluded. He found himself unable to look at her, but her hooves unexpectedly slid gently around his neck. Her muzzle grazed his cheek, sending an electric current through his body. The sensation, and her embrace, slightly calmed his stomach; just enough that he could look her in the eye.

A sad, almost teary smile was set on her lips, “I see now. I never knew…”

Her voice trailed off as she let her head drop almost tiredly. For several moments she was silent, and Jaze couldn’t help but wonder at what was going through her mind. The memories continued to wash over him, and a burning knot developed in his stomach. He felt he needed to explain things better, but nothing came forward. Finally, he managed to regain control enough to say, “I’m so s…”

A hoof was at his lips in a blink, silencing him. Trixie fixed him with a caring but firm frown, “Don’t you dare apologize. There is no point, and no reason to be sorry. You only did what you had to do. If you had left her alone she would have found a way to kill herself, I would be willing to bet my last bit on it. All you did was spare her several hours of suffering.”

“But I…”

The hoof still around his neck pulled him down into a kiss, halting his words. Her quickness caught him off guard and left him frozen in her embrace. A free forehoof traveled around to his back and gently followed its curve. He could feel himself relaxing into the pony’s hold. Tension he hadn’t realized was there eased out of his shoulders, and his mind hummed in time to his heartbeat.

Trixie broke the kiss and smiled, “Are you done worrying, or do I have to do that again.”

He couldn’t help but let a grin slip onto his face, and his arms gave her a warm squeeze, “Wouldn’t mind it, to be honest.”

“But we’ve still got to get up to Gaston and see what he has up his sleeve.” She giggled, “I don’t think we have the time.”

The smile quickly morphed into a frown and his eyebrow rose, “What’s this we? We aren’t going anywhere. I am going to go meet Gaston while you stay here.”

“No, I am going with you to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.” She kept her tone angry, though the glint in her eyes was closer to amusement, “Besides, someone has to make sure you come home. You’ve got responsibilities.”

“Like what?”

“For starters, you’ve got to take care of Zephyr.” There must have been a look on his face he wasn’t aware of, because the unicorn smirked and added, “Oh don’t play that, you know that you will be taking care of her. If nothing else until she can find a loving home.”

Jaze nodded tiredly, “I suppose so, but if I can’t make it back…”

“You will.” insisted the mare emphatically.

He waved his hand to stop her before continuing, “There’s the strong chance I won’t, and if not I’d want you to be here to care for Zephyr.”

“But if I go with you, we can both be here for her.”

She stared up at him with wide, almost pleading eyes, and he found it impossible to refuse. His mind had trouble absorbing her words; he had never truly considered a life with her until now. Before, he had assumed that something would force them apart. But now, the image formed unbidden in his mind of the three of them together, happy and safe. A warm smile touched his lips, “Mmmm… That would be nice.”

“So I am going.” asserted the unicorn; her voice carried a tone of finality to compliment the determined look on her face.

Sighing exhaustedly, Jaze shook his head. Her lip pouted slightly and her eyes widened even more than usual. Small almost-whines emanated from her as she continued stare at him. He couldn’t but chuckle at the expression, and finally answered, “If you promise to stop looking so pathetic then yes, you can come.”

Trixie immediately smiled broadly, “Great, I am ready. And by the way, Celestia asked me to inform you that she, Luna, and a small contingent of guards would be joining you as well.”

Another quiet chuckle escaped his throat, “It’s becoming a right party. Makes sense though, I had planned to ask them if they were going to go.” He rolled his shoulders as tension began mounting again, “Alright, let’s get gathered up and ready. We’ve got a war to finish.”

Inky black space spread out in front of the small cluster of fighter craft and one dropship rising out of the atmosphere of the planet below. The smaller craft aligned with the flying box’s nose and wings as they moved in formation towards a human ship in high orbit above Gaia. Beyond the huge carrier in the star-speckled void raged an intense battle between the human and Cye fleets. Small, short-lived puffs of fire appeared constantly between the two foes, with larger explosions occasionally throwing out debris as a ship was lost.

The Vigilance looked like a huge, flattened, rectangular box nearly three kilometers long and half a click wide. The bow section came to a rough point, and near the tip of the pointed nose was a bulge with a large viewport letting light spill from the ship’s bridge. The aft section of the ship was dominated by four large engine clusters that pushed the ship forward and allowed for coarse heading adjustments, while several smaller engines placed at strategic points along the hull allowed for fine adjustments to the lumbering ship’s course.

Thick armor covered the carrier from stem to stern. Along its sides were several hanger bays for various smaller craft, while relatively small, computer-targeted pinpoint defense guns dotted its top and sides anywhere there was nothing to obstruct their view. Its bottom was dominated by a pair of large cannons; huge, destructive weapons that were easily capable of drilling a hole through any ship that dared stand against it. Finishing out its armaments were hundreds of missile pods along each side.

Jaze watched as the massive super-carrier loomed before his fighter, and his breath sounded thunderous encased in the sealed armor suit. He was situated just off the nose of the dropship carrying the Princesses and their chosen guards, with Shelby and Vincent flying on either side. A gasp sounded from the seat behind him as Trixie caught sight of the colossal starship. He tossed a smile over his shoulder at the stunned mare. The flight-stick shook in his hands, and he had to admit that a bit of the awe the pony behind him transferred into his own body. Seeing the huge ship, one he had only ever heard about, brought the ghost of hope closer to the fore of his mind.

He activated his comm and called out in a clear voice, “This is Colonel Armand inbound on vector one-zero-nine along with some VIPs, requesting clearance to come aboard, over.”

The response was swift as an operator with a soft, feminine voice replied, “This is the Vigilance traffic control,roger that Colonel, we’ve got you on scope. Hanger bay 17 is clear, lighting it up for you. You and your flight may put down there, and there will be a guide waiting to take you to the bridge.”

After a brief moment, one of the many huge airlocks became lit by small, revolving yellow lights. He relayed the instructions to the rest of the group of spacecraft before responding to the coordinating officer, “We’ve got the hanger in sight and are coming in. Thanks for the safe port in the storm Vigilance, out.”

Jaze let the comm fall silent and nudged his fighter towards the indicated hanger bay. Behind him in the vacuum of space, the rest of the group followed his lead towards the starship. He could hear Trixie in the copilot’s seat breathing heavily as their small craft drew closer to the Vigilance. As they neared the huge doors of the airlock, the metal airlock doors gaped open to swallow them into the belly of the ship.

They passed through the portal into the wide hanger without breaking formation. The inside of the bay was spacious enough for all four small craft to set down comfortably with room to spare. Grated steel floors exposed the various pipes, conduits, and wires of the ship’s many systems. Against the far back wall was an enclosed control area with large windows spaced evenly along its length that wrapped around to each side of the room. A bright-red light sat in the center. Inside were a few sailors and security officers. Catwalks above served to allow access to the tops of the craft for maintenance, and against the far right wall at the edge of the control room was an airlock leading deeper into the ship.

The large bay doors behind them slid closed as their craft touched the deck. Fog-like wisps issued from a few, carefully-concealed pumps as atmosphere hissed back into the hanger bay. The light turned green, and Jaze thumbed the canopy release of his Thundercat. He gratefully pulled the sealed helm off, letting it float within arm’s reach in the lack of gravity.

Being on a ship was somehow comforting, a feeling he never would have expected from the sterile structure. But the thrum of engines brought to mind earlier days, times that now took on an odd nostalgic feeling. He unclipped his harness and lifted himself slowly into the air, an almost childish grin on his face. Being able to fly didn’t hurt either.

A set of doors near the vacuum indicator slid open, and a middling-height young man in a lightly padded flight-suit pushed out into the bay. He was not quite thin or stocky, falling neatly between the two extremes. His bright-red hair was shorn close to his scalp, only leaving just enough to show its color, and hazel eyes watched as the ground team adjusted to being weightless in thinly-veiled amusement. The cocksure smirk that all pilots seemed to have looked permanently grafted onto his face, though friendliness shone through the veneer of bravado.

Jaze pulled himself out of the fighter-craft, floating gently alongside it. His stomach clenched in instinctual anticipation of the fall to come, but the tense feeling quickly faded as he adjusted. Being weightless again made him realize just how much he had missed being in space. With a gentle kick off the side of his plane, he sailed to the deck where the pilot waited, their feet just brushing the deck.

The pilot gave a quick salute and called out in a respectfully friendly, if cocky, tone, “Welcome about the ECN Vigilance, Colonel. Major Reynolds, I’ve been tasked with takin’ ya to the bridge.”

The scarred assassin nodded, “Thank you, I get the feeling I’ll need the guidance.”

Something bumped into his back and pushed him forward, sending him into a slow tumble. As he turned over, he saw Trixie hovering where he had been, unable to stop giggling as she watched him twist through the air. The red-haired Major was watching her clutch her stomach laughing with an incredulous look on his face.

“I heard that the aliens looked like animals,” remarked the pilot, “but I thought they were exaggerating.”

Trixie glared at him, but managed to keep her tone civil with only a hint of coldness, “Interesting coming from a hairless ape. I know that I have seen your cousins. In a zoo.”

Reynolds laughed loudly, and gave the unicorn a quick wink, “Ooo, I like ‘em feisty. But I was only joking.”

Loud thuds from the inside of the dropship halted the conversation. The ramp lowered and Celestia stormed out, her hooves clanging sharply against grated floor. Light crimson patches shone through her snowy fur and her brows were knitted in frustrated embarrassment, but she held her head high. Behind her, Luna stepped out with a thinly veiled grin gracing her lips. The elder alicorn studiously ignored her sister while trying to keep a grimace from her face. A dull, dark-blue glow encased the sisters’ hooves, keeping them both glued to the floor and able to walk normally. Last to leave the dropship were several humans and ponies acting as an entourage.

Jaze couldn’t help but smile slightly at the eldest princess’s discomfort as he floated an inch or so from the deck. She fixed him with warning stare that wiped the grin from his face, though only just. Still, he had to ask, “Is there something wrong, Princess?”

Giggles erupted from Luna, and she cut her sister off before the other could say anything, “Tia doesn’t like confined spaces.”

The elder princess shook her head, and stated proudly, “That is not of any concern, shall we just go and meet with the honorable Admiral?”

Jaze looked up to the two fighters where Shelby and Vincent still sat. The dark-haired woman waved him away before gliding over to her lover’s craft. The Colonel gave an understanding nod before turning back to his guide, “This should be everyone then, ready when you are.”

Major Reynolds smiled as he turned towards the airlock leading into the ship, “A’ight then, follow me.”

The group moved towards the door, passing through without slowing as it opened around them. As soon as they were past the threshold, gravity brought their feet back to the ground. Beyond was a long hall of the same steel floor and walls as the hanger. Doors dotted the left side of the passage. Strip lighting ran along the ceiling, lending their bright luminescence to the corridor. Major Reynolds led them down the hall, with Jaze and Trixie directly behind and to his sides while Celestia and Luna stuck close on their heels.

Following the Lunar Princess was a mixed group of human Marines and Royal Guards, including the remnants of the soldiers that had rushed to the aid of the Solar Princess before. They had all used the time to clean themselves up to look presentable before the leader of the human forces. Two of the Marines, the woman and man from before, stared around them in wide eyed wonder.

The man whistled, the sound bouncing around the hanger bay, and his voice was tight with amazement, “Damn she’s a beauty, this ship is.”

Reynolds snickered from the head of the column, “Damned right she is. Vigilance is the pride of the Earth Coalition Navy. May as well be her own floating city, with as much power and as many sailors as she’s got.” He turned to wink over his shoulder at the Marine, “We even got a few jarheads around. You know, to clean the toilets with their toothbrushes or whatever you lunks do.”

The Marine’s face was split into a grin, and his voice took on a mockingly friendly tone, “Yeah, this coming from a member of the Chair Force.”

“I’ll remember that next time you guys are crying for air support.” Reynolds fired back.

“And I’ll remember that next time one’uh ya fly boys begs the real soldiers to go secure a building.”

Jaze did his best to tone out the friendly bickering as they walked the long halls of the ship. Instead, he began to watch the ship as they passed through corridors of all sizes. People kept running out of doors as they attended their duties, but everyone of them stopped to stare at the strange procession moving down the hall before them. Each time, he would raise his hand in greeting, and one or both of the Princesses would offer a kind, calming word.

Friendly banter soon turned to talk of the war, and Jaze lent half an ear. Major Reynolds spoke in a soft whisper of the failed search for the Cye homeworld, only to have it suddenly appear out of nowhere in the skies above Earth. From the station poured billions of the androids, using Admiral Gaston’s absence to quickly overwhelm the few remaining defenses. Top leaders suspected this was the fleet that had been making its way to the Gaia system, but it had made a detour just to hit Earth.

Heartache shone from the eyes of the redheaded pilot as he recounted the second hand reports, culminating in Vigilance returning just after the Earth Coalition General HQ turned into a smoldering pile of rubble. As far as anyone knew, the entirety of humanity’s government had been annilated within the first few hours. But almost as soon as the Vigilance and the fleet sent out to attack the Cye in their home returned, the androids warped out of system.

Anger coursed through Jaze’s veins at a slow burn, growing hotter as he listened. He silently added each new detail about the attack on Earth to the list of things he would make the enemy pay for. He may have only been to Earth a handful of times, but it still felt like home. Rolling hills of verdant green and lovely blue waters, vast forests and snow-capped mountain, everything seemed designed by an artist to lend a feeling of peace and beauty.

Thankfully, the trip to the bridge was a short one and he didn’t have to brood long. The corridor they had been following ended abruptly as it rounded a corner in another airlock-style door, which slid back into the wall to allow them entrance. He cast his silvery eyes around the overly large bridge, taking in the various consoles and people scattered about the room. They had entered from a side, lending them a wide view of the spacious room. One graying old sailor wearing a gray Navy uniform with an Admiral’s pin on the collar stood next to a small but comfortable looking chair, calling out orders. Energy charged the air, while people and machines alike filled the space with their noise.

Jaze yelled over the din towards the man, “Look who thinks he’s a big-shot! And it’s all because he’s got a fancy toy.” For a moment the human noise paused. He grinned as the Admiral turned to stare at him with questioning eyes, and added quickly, “Good to see you again old friend, emphasis on the old.”

Gaston’s eyes lit up as he saw who had called out. He walked over and clapped Jaze’s shoulder in a warm gesture, “Good t’ see ya lad. Too bad it ain’ under better circumstances.”

“I second that.” Jaze spared a moment to glance out the large view port at the front of the ship before continuing, “So what’s your plan?”

The old Admiral grinned, “Manners boy, you haven’ introduced me to yer friends.”

Before he could say a word, Celestia stepped up and nodded her head respectfully, “In this case, I would spare the formalities and skip right to the point; I’m afraid this is not a pleasure visit.”

“Yer righ’ in this case.” Gaston walked over to the viewport with his arms behind his back, and stared out over the inky black of space dotted with signs of battle. He took a deep breath, and began speaking quickly in a low voice, “I do have a plan, but it’s gonna put a lot of good people at risk.”

Jaze stepped up next to the older man, though he ignored the breathtaking view as he asked, “So what is it? Can the Vigilance’s guns take that station down?”

“Not a chance in hell.” The Admiral fished something from his pocket, producing a small pipe he always seemed to have on him, which he lit with a match. Fragrant, bluish smoke curled from the end of the pipe as the old sailor puffed on the stem, blowing out a small cloud.

Jaze waved aside the smoke as he leaned closer, “Then what? Send in a team to get to the reactor?”

“Better.” Gaston led him over to another console, this one a single large screen showing various parts of the ship in small windows for each one. A virtual keyboard shone from under the console. The Admiral tapped a few commands into the console, and one of the windows grew to cover the entire screen. It showed a large cargo elevator that was just beginning to reach the top level. Inside was a large trolley with a tech at each corner. Sitting on top of the trolley was a steel gray object shaped like a fattened cigar. From end to end it must have been almost ten feet long, while a large man would have trouble getting his arms around.

The young assassin stared at the object for several moments. He couldn’t figure out what he was seeing, but a glance at the broad, nervous grin on Gaston’s face told him it was important. Giving it another once over, he saw a small detail he had missed in his initial glance: a small control pad halfway along its side. Overall, it was extremely unimpressive. Several more seconds ticked away with no great realization, until he finally turned and said, “Alright, I give. What is it?”

“That my boy is a nuke.” Gaston puffed on his pipe again, blowing the smoke straight up as he spoke, “Thermonuclear warhead, found it in one o’ the abandoned cities after the first collapse o’ humanity. From what records survived of that time and what followed, a tribe found it and kept it; apparently using it as some sort o’ bargainin’ chip. From there, it worked around the landmass it was found on until society began to rebuild. It was buried in’uh bunker and forgotten by all but the highest members of world governments, until the Earth Coalition became a thing. When the Vigilance went live fifteen years ago, it was moved on board as a weapon of last resort. Best we can tell, that thing could level a large city with ease. Several in fact.”

Nervous glances shot their way from every human in the room, and Jaze had to admit to sharing the uneasy feeling in his gut. What had seemed so innocuous just moments ago now felt charged with evil. He followed the weapon’s progress as it left the elevator, unable to fathom how such a thing could still exist. As the weapon left the camera’s view, he finally managed to find his voice, “I thought those were all destroyed, and research into nuclear weapons was banned under penalty of death. How did that survive?”

“Because,” The Admiral took another calming puff of his pipe, “humans like power, and this gave it to ‘em. This thing is the single most destructive piece of technology humanity e’er produced, and it and its kind nearly destroyed us. Now this one’ll get t’ save us. Funny how that works huh?”

“That thing must be thousands of years old.” argued the assassin, “How do we know it still works?”

“’Cause the eggheads say so. Apparently they still get power readings from it; they even managed t’ switch it over from the barbaric symbols they used way back then into something workable today, and gave it a control panel.”

Celestia stepped up next to them staring between them, “If I understand it, then this has the power to destroy the station, true?” She got a quick, but sure, nod from the grayed sailor, and continued, “And it can be used against, correct?” Another nod. “Then we must use it.”

“It’s not so simple, Princess.” Jaze began, “This weapon, we don’t know a lot about it. And knowing this still exists will send the public into a panic, they’ll want to know how many more still hang around from before. And they’ll worry about why the government would hide something that they banned in the first place. It’ll be a PR nightmare.”

Luna stepped up next them with an odd glint in her eye. Her voice switched over to a loud, carrying, authoritarian tone, “Perhaps, and if thou doth not use it, thou shan’t need fear the backlash. For all humanity, all ponykind, and more shall perish. It would be far better to beg forgiveness in this, we think. ”

Celestia nodded in agreement, “My sister speaks wisely; we must do something to stop this fight, or risk losing everything.”

Jaze stood straight and gave the Admiral and Princesses a smart salute, “It’s not my place to decide. I’m just here to follow orders, regardless.”

Lips falling into a frown, Gaston whispered, “Ya got something to say, say it. If ya see a problem I wanna know.”

“No sir, I have nothing more to say. I have said my piece and will follow what you and the Princesses decide here.”

Gaston heaved a sigh before looking between the pair of alicorns, “I say we use it, consequences be damned.”

“Agreed.” Celestia said simply.

For a moment, Luna stared out the large view port at the Cye station. She seemed to get more infuriated the longer she watched it, until she finally hissed vehemently, “I shall say yea as well. If this weapon can vanquish our foe, we would be bigger fools not to use it in this case.”

Gaston nodded, determination in his eyes, “Good. Now we just gotta get the thing inside that station.”

“Could we not just fire it towards the beast?” Luna asked, “If it is as powerful as you say, then detonating it nearby should destroy it.”

“Not that simple.” The Admiral pointed at the Cye’s station, “It might do a ton of damage, and hell it may even let us move in and finish it off. But that’s a helluva risk to take on a maybe. What we gotta do is get deep inside the station and plant the bomb somewhere near the center.”

“That seems like it will be highly risky.” commented the white alicorn, “You see that this path will lead to the deaths of several of your men, do you not?”

The old Admiral glared at his guest, taking short, angry, puffs from his pipe in between his words, “O’course. But between letting a few die or the entire species die, well, that ain’t a choice. But I am going to ask for volunteers first, I don’ like sendin’ folks to their deaths.”

“Then I volunteer.” Jaze called out loud enough to be heard across the room, “And I’ll do it alone. Get the nuke strapped to my fighter, I’ll use that to get close, fast.”

Gaston shook his head and spoke almost angrily, “Don’ be stupid boyo, that’s suicide for sure.”

Trixie stepped in out of nowhere into the center of the group, her eyes lit with determination, “You are right, it would be dangerous to go alone. Which is why I will go with you.”

“Trixie…” started the dark-haired Colonel, only to have the unicorn cut him off.

“If nothing else how are you going to move the bomb? I can use magic to levitate and move it without a problem. You would only have to worry about getting us in and out alive.”

“Ya act like this is a foregone conclusion that yer gonna be going in alone you two, and yer not.” Gaston removed the pipe from his lips and turned it over, grinding the bright-red speck of flame beneath his shoe as he spoke, “There is no way I’ll let you two go gallivanting off alone and git killed. I’ll let you go, but I’m sending in a platoon of Spec Ops to assist you.”

“Admiral, hear me out on this please.” When the old sailor remained silent, Jaze continued, “Carn is on that station. He’s not stupid, but he is over confident. He wants to face me, and he’s willing to gamble for that chance. He is sure he can beat me, so he would let me through. But he wouldn’t take that chance with anyone else; he’d rip apart any team you send in before they were within one click of that place. Then where would we be? Down the bomb and having lost a lot of good soldiers for nothing.”

Gaston heaved a deep sigh, his eyes tired, and he stared at the assassin with a look of pain, “True as that may be, I don’t want to risk ya on something that may not work, because then we’d be down a bomb and I’d lose one of my last friends.”

A grin split Jaze’s lips, and he had to force to keep his voice level, “You know Gaston, there was this wise old man I knew.”

“Don’t you even…” the Admiral started, only to have the younger man talk over him.

“He once told me there are certain things a man can’t do, even for survival. And that there are things a man has to do, even if it kills him.”

Wincing his eyes shut didn’t stop Jaze from seeing the effect the words had on the old man. Gaston glared daggers in his direction, though the anger didn’t seem directed at him. After several moments, the old man finally replied, “God dammit Jaze, you had to throw that back in my face after all these years?”

He couldn’t suppress a small grin, “Because you told me to take any advantage I could.”

The Admiral heaved a heavy, tired sigh before giving a tight smile, “Yer gonna be the death of me, ya know that? A’ight, we’ll try this plan of yours. But you will be taking an escort to make sure you get there, and there will be a Special Operations team waiting in the wings for if things get too hot.” Gaston looked to the door, where Reynolds was standing, and ordered, “Yer one’uh the best pilots we’ve got, and yer flight’s got a nearly perfect mission completion record. Get yer asses ready to escort the good Colonel here over to the bad guys so we can give ‘em a little present.”

While the grayed sailor continued handing out orders to everyone within earshot, Jaze turned his attention back to the Cye’s huge space station. Watching the station sit there made his heart batter his ribs and his chest felt unbelievably tight, which got worse the longer he stared. Activity exploded all throughout the bridge as sailors rushed to prepare for the suicide run.

Trixie stood by his side, her face not quite nuzzling his hand affectionately. Silky strands of mane brushed against his fingers, and it took a surprising amount of effort not to start running his fingers through the soft tresses. Having her nearby was an immense comfort, far more than he would have expected. Neither said a word, only stared out of the large window. Numerous times he tried to say something, to thank her for standing by him, but each time he closed his mouth without a word.

After several agonizing moments of silence, the unicorn stood on her hindlegs and wrapped her forelegs around his chest in a tight hug, pressing herself close to his side. Words became redundant, and instead he wrapped one arm around her shoulders. Heedless of the multitudes of people that could be watching, they stood in their own little world as they waited the coming storm.

Ambition's Limit

Jaze, loaded down with a borrowed assault rifle and a small pack of ammo, entered the hanger bay just as the techs finished attaching the bomb under the wing of his fighter with Trixie close on his heels. It looked so innocent hanging there, not like the world ending weapon it was. Looking at the nuke filled him with a sense of dread, one only marginally eased by having the azure unicorn at his side. She kept throwing nervous glances at the weapon when she thought he wasn’t looking, and he could see his unease reflected on her face.

As they crossed the threshold of the hanger bay, he found himself weightless once more. He tried to force the thoughts about what he was doing, and how suicidal it really was, away into a dark corner of his mind. But to no avail; the feeling of dread refused to subside. Even as he belted himself into the seat of his spacecraft, his mind brought forth new things that could go wrong. Maybe he would be wrong about Carn’s intentions, and he was about to get mercilessly torn apart by the Cye space-station’s defenses. Or the insane man planned to lure him into a trap.

He snickered as soon as the thought crossed his mind; of course it was a trap. A trap he planned to walk right into. There was no choice; someone had to plant the bomb, and he couldn’t let someone else try it. If he was right, then he would be the only one able to get close at all. But if he were wrong…

A hoof touched his cheek, and he twisted around to see Trixie smiling at him from the passenger seat. The violet gems of her eyes radiated strength and a measure of hope. He reached up and gave her hoof a squeeze, letting himself relax. As he did, he realized his heart was nearly bruising his ribs. Shakes set in on his hands, though he couldn’t tell if it were nerves or excitement anymore.

For the first time, he actually took a look around his cockpit. Someone had stashed his helm under the control panel, which he swiftly placed over his head and sealed. After storing his rifle with his sword, he began running a quick preflight check. Even in the face of certain death, the habits that had been drilled into him by months of training made him go through the motions. Lights slowly clicked on one by one, and low vibrations shook the craft as it hummed to life.

Finishing the preflight served to calm him further. The shakes were mostly gone, and his heart had slowed to its usual steady thump. Twisting in his seat, he gave Trixie one last smile before he triggered his comm, “This is Colonel Armand, is everyone ready? I’d like to get this show on the road.”

After a brief moment of silence, Major Reynolds’ voice replied, “We’re ready on this end, just waitin’ on ya to get your butt in the black. Soon as you’re in, we’ll fallah ya and meet up. Then we can deliver a present all trussed up and pretty to these Cye bastards.” The cocky pilot paused for a minute, before finally adding, “There’s a human leadin’ the robots, that right?”

Jaze felt tinges of anger cloud his mind as the thought of that man once more entered his head. Try as he might, he couldn’t quell the sickening hate that spread through his body, but he somehow managed to keep the fury from his voice long enough to answer, “Yeah, there is.”

Reynolds’ voice was suffused with barely contained laughter, though with hints of far darker feelings carrying under everything, “Okay, here’s what I want ya to do. When ya see that bastard, if ya do I mean, gut him for me. Like, dig his spleen out with a butter knife. Hell, I’ll even supply the knife.”

Hearing the odd request nearly brought a grin to Jaze’s lips, and he had trouble keeping the chortles from his own voice, “Tell you what, you get me close enough and I will.”

“Deal, so let’s get moving.”

An alarm sounded in the hanger, and anyone still in the main area rushed back to the control room. The large metal airlock ground open as atmosphere blew out into the darkness surrounding the large ship. Jaze teased his craft off the deck, using the fighter’s belly jets to ease it gently past the large dropship still near the bay doors. Once he had cleared the hanger, he let the dual engines power him further away from the Vigilance until he was a few hundred meters off the side of the mammoth ship.

He gently banked the craft back around just in time to watch a group of six more of the speedy craft exit another bay, as well as two more from the bay he had just left. Frowning, he triggered his comm again and found the proper channel to ask, “Vincent, Shelby, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Whaddaya think we’re doing?” Vincent replied, his grin evident in his voice, “Can’t let ya have all the fun for yourself, that’s just downright greedy.”

“Besides,” added Shelby, “who else’s gonna pull your butt from the fire?”

Gratitude swelled in his chest at the pair as they fell into formation behind him. He had trouble keeping small tears from forming at the corners of his eyes, though he somehow managed to keep his voice steady, if a little thick, “Thanks you two, even though you’re technically being insubordinate.”

“Well looky at you, using them fancy, big words.” teased Shelby.

Before he could fire back a retort, Major Reynolds broke over the comm, “Uh, whaddaya say we quit the love patter and get Operation Sea Bass under way jarheads? I’d really like to get back in the Vigilance soon; I’ve just gotten to the good part of my book.”

Jaze watched the red-haired man’s fighter fall into formation with him, trying to contain the question. Silence reigned, but all too soon curiosity got the better of him, “Sea Bass? Since when did this have a name?”

“Jus’ what I’ve been calling it, since it’s gonna flounder.”

Once more, silence ruled the airwaves. Jaze tried several times to speak, but each time fits of giggles threatened to break out and he was forced to close his mouth. Finally, Reynolds asked with a somewhat nervous laugh, “Didn’t like that one?”

No one had time to respond, as a group of enemy fighters suddenly poured fire at them from close range. Bullets whizzed past the nose of Jaze’s craft, forcing a brief, surprised curse from his throat as he yanked the stick away from the danger. He shot up relative of the formation, Shelby and Vincent staying close on his tail. Scanning the area showed several of the Cye had drifted close enough without power to engage them; the craft suddenly powered to life and made a beeline towards him.

“Oh shit, combat!” Reynolds yelled into the comm. His fighter jumped forward and moved to engage the closest foe as he ordered, “Everyone pick a bogey and put it down fast, don’t chase ‘em down though. Stick close to Colonel Jarhead here and show him how real pilots fly, and make sure he doesn’t get shot down so the lessons stick.”

After a chorus of agreement, the remaining human fighters save Shelby and Vincent broke formation to find individual targets. In the first seconds of the fight each of them scored a kill, and Jaze couldn’t stop a low whistle of appreciation. Part of him wanted nothing more than to join in the scuffle and score a few kills himself, but he forced that part down and aimed the nose of his craft at the looming space station. Jaze reached out for the accelerator, but another large group of enemy craft moved in and surrounded him.

Shelby wasted no time in engaging several of the androids. She flew circles around them, never staying in the same place long enough to be targeted. It wasn’t long before she had turned two into short-lived puffs of smoke and fire. Vincent jumped into the fray behind her, just in time to pulverize a fighter that managed to get behind his fiancée.

Knuckles whitened as Jaze’s fist clenched over the flight stick. He shot a glare at one of the enemy craft that blew past him; he couldn’t afford to get stuck here, but he couldn’t just leave his friends to fight it out. Trixie’s eyes bored into the back of his neck, giving him another reason to pause. His fighter slowly started pulling away from the furious battle; none of the Cye pilots seemed eager to chase him down. They instead seemed content just to engage his escorts.

A clear path opened up before the nose of his craft straight to the enormous space station, practically begging him to take it. One of the Cye fighters began nosing after him, almost but not quite following him. Almost like the android intended to scare him away. Alarm bells began ringing, and him intuition beat a tattoo against the base of his skull, screaming about a trap.

Looking over his shoulder at Trixie, he asked, “Do you get the feeling they really don’t want us here?”

“I seem to be getting that inkling, yes.” agreed the unicorn. She gave him a tight lipped, mocking smile, “Shall we do what they would like us to?”

A smirk of his own overtook his features, “Sorry, but that just doesn’t sit too well with me.”

He yanked the fighter back around before he had time to second guess his decision. The Cye pilot who had been inching towards him suddenly filled his view, and a quick burst of machinegun fire served to turn it into a splintering wreck. Suddenly he was a threat, and several of the androids broke off their pursuits to attack him.

Adrenaline surged through him, making time at once seem to race and crawl. Two of the closest enemy craft quickly buzzed in to avenge their fallen comrade. Jaze relaxed now that he was committed; it felt as if a huge weight had lifted from his shoulders. He pulled his craft into a quick turn, just in time to avoid a pair of missiles streaking towards him. Trixie called out every time the console before her beeped, giving him just enough time to twist away from another piece of ordinance intent on doing him harm.

Instinct guided him, drawing on years of experience and training to help him outmaneuver his foes. Stars filled his view as he wheeled through space while narrowly dodging incoming fire. Quick changes in direction kept the Cye pilots from getting a solid lock on him. But try as he might, they stuck behind him without giving him the chance to turn the tables on them. They took the chance to pour fire at him, forcing him to fly in an increasingly complicated pattern just to barely avoid the missiles and bullets hurled at him.

Minutes crawled by like hours as he rolled away from yet another explosive-tipped exhaust trail. If he kept going like this, sooner or later he would make a mistake. They only had to score a single solid hit for him to end up a flaming wreck. Already sweat soaked his body underneath his gilded armor. Stars and battling ships both large and small whirling past his vision began making him dizzy, something he couldn’t afford. He was barely evading his pursuers as it was, the last thing he needed was to become foggy.

Out of nowhere a human pilot came from underneath and destroyed one of the enemy craft. Major Reynolds hollered a brief war cry into his comm before lining up on the second fighter. The Major quickly finished his foe with liberal amounts of gunfire just as Jaze managed to get turned around. Breathing a quick sigh of relief, he nudged his fighter back towards the huge space station.

Reynolds flew next to the Colonel’s craft, and he could practically see the huge grin on the young pilot’s face as he said, “Hey look, I pulled your ass outta the fire; what would you do without me?”

“Probably be a flaming streak, thanks for that.” Jaze looked around just in time to see the last of the Cye fighters take missiles from several directions and simply cease to exist. The career pilots had only lost one of their own in the battle, and the remaining spacecraft lined up alongside him to continue their journey. Just ahead he saw dozens more of the enemy craft congregating for another run.

“Oh my god, why are there so many?” Reynolds questioned, and Jaze couldn’t tell if it were fear or gleeful anticipation coloring his voice. Without waiting for an answer, the Major continued, “Okay Colonel Armand, can’t let ya get bogged down again. You and the jarheads get goin’, let us real flyers take care of the hard work. But uh… if ya feel like it, could ya get done quick and get back here?”

“We’ll try Chair-force, but no promises.” Vincent promised mockingly.

Jaze looked past the group of enemy craft; just beyond them was clear space. After getting past the smattering of Cye pilots who will do anything to stop him; all he had to do was avoid any starships that wandered by with their point defense turrets aimed at him, dodge any anti-air the station itself had, and somehow find a way inside to carry a nuke deep into a hornets’ nest full of angry enemy troops before more than likely having to fight an insane, power-thirsty man hell-bent on humanity’s destruction. Couldn’t be simpler.

Once more he thought about just how crazy this plan was. He couldn’t stop chuckling under his breath at how insane he must be. Anyone else wouldn’t have pushed to be given this mission. Or even have volunteered in the first place. But now here he was about to throw himself and his friends into another situation designed to kill them all.

Shelby and Vincent quickly fell in on either side of him, and Trixie stretched out as far as she could against her restraints to give his shoulder a reassuring pat. There was no more time left to second guess. His hand reached out, feeling as if it crossed miles to grab hold of the accelerator. His heart thudded in his ears, while every muscle tensed in expectation.

Ramming it forward sent power surging through the fighter, and he was pressed back into his seat as his spacecraft shot off on a cone of bluish-white exhaust with his escorts close behind. The gap between him and the enemy formation closed quickly, leaving him no time to dodge. If he tried, he would just end up as space paste. His finger tightened on the nose-gun’s trigger and sent sheets of powerful, armor-piercing slugs into the group before him. Streaks of light briefly marked the bullets’ paths through space, soon joined by two more streams of specks as Vincent and Shelby each added their weapons to the fray.

The three human craft blew past as the Cye pilots scattered from the hail of metal thrown at them. Several of the lead craft had nowhere to run and were cut down as Jaze blew past them with his guns still blazing. Enemy fighters surrounded him, unable to do more than give the robotic equivalent of a glare before he and his friends were beyond them into clearer space. He didn’t slow, or turn to see if any of the androids had already managed to organize and follow. Eyes locked on his target, he refused to let up on the throttle until the enemy craft were only tiny dots of light against the black of space.

Halfway across the vast expanse of void before his target, and he was still breathing. Anticipation made his heart race; he could make it. Nothing but nothing stood between him and his goal now, all he had to do was reach it. He scanned the space fortress for any faults, anywhere he could manage to slip inside to plant his surprise.

Every inch of the immense station looked impregnable, a solid wall of black daring him to come closer. There seemed to be nowhere that would allow him entry. Frantically, he searched several times over for some chink in its armor, some weakness to exploit. Nothing. All he found was nothing that could help him. Even though a hanger bay opened every few seconds somewhere along the tower-like lower section, they closed as soon as the last of the small craft disembarking were clear. No way would he be able to get past the fighters and dropships before the doors slammed shut and cut him in two.

But there, at the end of the tower, was a bright point of light. A hanger that stood permanently open. No craft seemed to be coming or going from it, nor did it seem particularly well guarded. Dread settled over him at the obvious trap, but there seemed to be no better way inside. He nudged his plane towards the opening, silently begging it to move faster. The bay grew lager as he powered closer, darkened metal rushing to meet him in his headlong charge.

Getting to the unsecured hanger bay was oddly uneventful, considering the starships tearing one another apart a few kilometers away. Bits of debris occasionally floated past, but no other threats presented themselves. The few warships that did start to enter his lane quickly changed course and found a way around him, almost as if a field was repelling any danger. Some of the Cye starships even seemed to lead human ships away. It was just like he had hoped; Carn was trying to get him aboard the station. He may have expected it, but watching huge ships give way before the nose of his craft was more than a little disconcerting.

After what felt like the longest flight of his life, he and his escorts finally reached the bay. A wide, low room greeted them. The inside of the ship was a depressing gray, as if the color had been leeched out. Several Cye fighters sat spaced in neat rows, leaving only enough room for one or two more craft at best in the exact center of the bay. Dim lights along the ceiling wreaked havoc on his vision, adding to his fear of an ambush. Near the back was a wide airlock, only discernable by its slightly darker metal. There were no decorations or any obvious computer stations and the like, nothing to break the monotony of the room. And other than the small star-craft, the room was deserted.

Wary of a trap, Jaze eased his plane into bay and down into the empty space between a pair of Cye craft. Gravity forced him to settle back into his seat, a change he welcomed for once. He flicked a switch, and landing gear extended from the bottom of his plane to gently kiss the deck. But just as the wheels made contact, huge doors began quickly sliding shut over the exit. All he could do was watch as his escape route closed off.

The chamber resonated with a resounding boom as the doors slammed shut. Almost immediately, Jaze’s comm crackled to life and Shelby’s worried voice spoke in his ear, “Jaze, they’ve closed up and we can’t get in. Should we blast our way through or what?”

Trixie, having fixed a spare comm unit to her ear, replied from the back, “No, I would not attempt it. If human warships could not penetrate the armor, then the weapons carried by your tiny craft would do nothing more than bring unwanted attention to yourselves.”

“But we…”

Jaze cut off his friend before she could raise her object, “Don’t argue, Trixie’s right. Just try and stay on station to help us with the exfil, we’ll find a way to open the doors.” He stopped just before adding “somehow”, though he couldn’t help but feel he’d be lucky to find a decent place to plant the bomb, let alone any sort of hanger controls.

Thumbing another switch raised the canopy. Jaze removed his helmet and almost instantly regretted it; stale, metallic tasting air flooded the cockpit with its appalling reek. Welder fumes clogged the air. Under the first smells were hints of various other unpleasant odors, all of which blended together in an invisible cloud that threatened to choke the air from his lungs. His lungs heaved in protest of the horrid stink, and it physically hurt his chest every time he breathed in.

Trixie fell into a coughing fit, trying unsuccessfully to stifle it beneath a hoof. Turning in his seat, he found her eyes tearing up as she struggled to breath. He reached out, worry filling him at her plight, only to have his hand waved off. She slowly adjusted to the rancid air, though she still looked unwell. Despite the fit, she still forced a smile and whispered, “I will be alright; I have just never smelt anything so foul in my life.”

He nodded, grabbing his rifle and sword. After one last, quick scan from the relative safety of the cockpit, he hopped out onto the floor below. Shockwaves rippled up his legs from the impact, but he managed to stay upright with a bend of his knees. His heart fluttered in his chest, a combination of the foul air and the lingering expectation of combat. But even when he hit the ground, still nothing happened. No enemy troops, no sudden traps being activated, and no one shouted or tried to attack him. Eerie silence was his only greeting; a deafening quiet that chilled him for reasons he couldn’t explain.

Sharp clangs sounded beside him, coaxing a startled jump from him. He spun to see Trixie grinning sheepishly at him, having just followed him down to the floor. The last echoes died out as Jaze rolled his eyes before moving to untether the bomb from underneath his spacecraft.

He stared at the weapon for a moment, taking in once more just how much power he was looking at. Transferring his gaze over to the unicorn at his side, he asked, “Are you sure you’ll be able to move this thing? It’s pretty heavy.”

“How could you doubt me?” admonished the pony, her lip pouting in a ridiculous look of sadness that only served to put laughter in his throat. She took his laughter as a cue to pout more, and stated, “If I say I can do something, then as Celestia as my witness I can do it!” Magic shone from her horn, surrounding the bomb in a blue aura that gently pulled it free of its bindings. It floated before the smug-looking unicorn, and she indicated with her head for him to lead the way.

Chuckles continued to escape his throat as he turned towards the back of the hanger. The airlock wasn’t visible from down on the deck through the forest of fighters, but he knew roughly where it was. His heart pounded in his chest, and it felt like Trixie should have been able to hear it. Every sense screamed at him just to turn and run, but he forced his feet one in front of the other.

The azure pony fell into step behind him as they set off with the bomb floating behind them. She must have sensed his hesitation, for she offered a reassuring smile anytime he turned to look. But the smile did little to lift his spirits. From the silence to the lack of anyone manning the bay, everything felt off. Sounds were mostly absorbed by the large room and its multitudes small-craft contained within. Any number of Cye troops could be hidden amongst their planes, waiting to spring a trap.

But just as the flight to get here, the long trip to the large airlock was harrowing only by being uneventful. Nervous energy coursed through his veins; his eyes tried to cut through the odd gloom with little success, searching for some sign of a trap. This was far too easy, and he could see it was starting to get to Trixie too. Now when he looked, she was nervously glancing around as well. As they neared the wide doors, the airlock cycled open.

Several gleaming rifle barrels were pointed at them, held in the hands of faceless androids. Row after row of the robots filled the short hall, standing almost shoulder to shoulder with only small gaps between each one. He froze in place, unwilling to risk setting the Cye troopers off, and time seemed to slow down to a crawl. It felt as if he had been dropped into a painting; neither party moved, each waiting on the other to strike. He quickly looked around for something to hide behind. Nothing; nothing he could do to stop the inevitable hail of bullets from storming down the hall.

From behind him came a yell, “DUCK!”

Without thinking, he followed Trixie’s shouted instruction and dove to the ground. He didn’t need to wonder what she had in mind for long; the bomb hurled itself over his head and into the ranks of troopers. Several were crushed under the immense weight, while many more were flung back as it skidded down the hall amid the wail of tortured metal. The few not taken out scattered away from the sliding weapon in every direction.

The loud screech sent pain spiking between Jaze’s ears; he held his breath, waiting for the bomb to explode from being so violently jostled. He could feel every pulse of his heart distinctly, and suddenly wished there would be more. At least that would be a relatively painless way to go; he’d be atomized before he could feel anything. A second ticked by, then another, and the bomb slowed and eventually stopped grinding along the floor without unleashing the destructive energy stored within. Relief washed over him, heightened by seeing his foes had been reduced to a slightly more manageable size.

He took the slight reprieve to fumble across the floor until his back was pressed safely against the newly found cover. Trixie, a smug look on her face, soon joined him. As his fear began to subside a little, it flowed over to the unicorn beside him in an angered shout, “What the hell were you thinking? That could’ve…”

She rolled her eyes briefly and returned the glare that must have been on his face, “If that bomb had exploded from that, how could it have survived all those years of being in the elements? This bomb would have to have some kind of armor to survive that amount of punishment.”

Bullets impacted on the other side of the warhead, causing both of them to jump. Jaze eased over to the edge of their makeshift-cover and risked a peek. He only just caught sight of a number of the androids training their weapons on him before a shot passed centimeters from his face. Flinching away, he put his rifle to his shoulder as Trixie added, “Besides, it would seem we have more pressing matters to attend to.”

He gave her a nod before spinning up above the bomb and firing a random burst at the androids down the hall. A few of the rounds impacted across their line with little effect, and he was forced to drop down again when they all turned to fire at him at once. Underneath the sounds of gunfire and bullet impacts, he could hear the solid, steady tramp of metallic feet as they slowly moved closer.

At the first lull in the incoming fire, he leaned around the bomb to pour the rest of his weapon’s magazine into the advancing androids. A few staggered while one fell dead to the deck, but he had to yank his body back as more rounds slammed into the warhead and deck near him. Taking a moment to reload, he glanced around for something to turn the fight to his advantage. And just as his first, hasty glance had shown, there was nothing.

A sudden glow from beside him drew his attention back to Trixie. The azure magician’s horn was shining with a powerful light. A few drops of sweat rolled down her face, her face a grimace of intense concentration. He glanced around to see what she had found, but nothing seemed to be changing. Until a drop of water landed on his cheek and he looked up to see a large, dark storm cloud forming over head, complete with lightning roiling in its depths. The shifting vapors slowly grew larger as he watched, making the hair on his arms rise from the pent up electricity charging the air.

The pony spared a moment to give him another smug grin before unleashing the mini-storm’s fury. Bolts of lightning lashed out over the bomb, and Jaze risked another peek just in time to watch several of the metal troopers fall, spasming violently as the electricity shorted out their systems. Peals of thunder rang out in the cramped hall, and his ears rang painfully from the deafening uproar. Nothing standing past the bomb was spared by the roving strikes. Several of the automatons went flying away from the powerful bolts. Intense, blistering heat churned the hall into gusts of wind blowing away from the lightning strikes.

As Jaze watched in silent awe, the last of the androids took a large snake of electricity to the chest and dropped with its fellows to the deck. Silence once more filled the hall, a welcomed relief from the clamor caused by the localized storm. Trixie turned to him with a smile and remarked offhandedly with a tone of haughty satisfaction, “I believe that should clear the way. What would you do without me?”

“Probably not have to worry about a heart attack for a few more years.” He replied dryly as he stepped around the edge of the bomb. Nothing besides him and the magician seemed to be alive. For the first time, he was able to give the corridor several seconds to inspect it. But he hadn’t seemed to miss anything save the hall’s only exit, another airlock-style door.

Trixie hefted the warhead with her magic, and once more they set off. The airlock slid open noiselessly as they neared, allowing them into what could only be a staging area. Several racks of weapons were spaced out before them in neat rows, with crates of ammo on either side of each little island of firepower. A few closed doors were spaced around the fringes of the room, but the one directly across from them was standing wide open into another, larger room.

Again Jaze was struck by how smoothly this operation was going. They may have had to fight, but surely there were more troops to throw at a pair of invaders. The androids seemed like a token force, more of a welcome than any attempt to actually stop them. As he walked down the center aisle of the armory towards the open door, he peeked down the rows to each side. There seemed to be no one attempting to halt their progress. Everything was eerily quiet, as if the station was entirely abandoned.

They made it across the room without so much as hearing a stern warning. With his rifle held tight against his shoulder, he stepped through the open door into a wide room with a monorail track going through the center. The track passed through the walls, sealed by a door almost large enough for a fighter to pass through. But again, the place was empty; not even the train was in the station. There seemed to be no way of calling it, forcing a curse from his lips.

The silence seemed to swallow every sound they made, even their breathing. A quick scan revealed no other way in or out of the room besides the monorail. Jaze slung his rifle on one shoulder and stepped up to the track in hopes of finding something to help them continue. They had been led directly to this station for a reason, he could feel it. He searched all around for a hidden panel, or perhaps a pressure plate to summon the train. But still he found nothing.

Confusion knitted his brow, and he carefully searched along every wall and corner for something he must have missed. There had to be something, otherwise this would end up a very short trip. Yet still he found naught that could open a door to a secret passage, or even a hidden broom closet. Jumping across the tracks turned up a lot of nothing as well. If they had been led here, it must have been to starve them out.

From nowhere, a shrill siren blared out a warning, startling the pair in the room. Jaze spun around, and saw one of the doors on the monorail track had slid open to reveal a darkened, short hall. Deep in the tunnel, something began to move. A low hum filled the air as a train roared into the station, moving as blur of speed and metal. It was several cars long, each car lacking a top, or even seats. And like the rest of the space station, it was a dull gray.

Fear gripped him, freezing him in place, as the last car rolled into the station. Curled up atop it, only just clearing the top of the tunnel, was one of the spider-like heavy Cye units. It was slightly different than others he had seen; its head was slightly conical with a single, large, red eye nestled in the gray metal. The large cannon usually carried by its kind had been replaced by another heavy machinegun. It was smaller than the ground-based models he had seen, though he still would have trouble touching its head if he was standing on his own shoulders.

Its four legs spread out evenly on the train car, and it twisted around as it stood in what could only be the robotic equivalent of a glower. Almost instant dryness struck his mouth, while his palms seemed to have taken all that moisture for themselves. His rifle fell into his hands, although it felt as though the hand that caught it belonged to someone else entirely. It was impossible for him to raise the gun, even as he watched the heavy do the same. The android took careful aim; the barrel of its large weapon appeared to be a hole into the oblivion that awaited those caught under its gaze.

“Jaze, RUN!” Trixie screamed, breaking him from his fugue.

Somehow he managed to dive aside just in time to narrowly avoid a short burst from the huge machine gun that chewed up the floor where he had stood. The gunshots echoed painfully in the open chamber. Jaze couldn’t help but wince as he rolled to his feet and swung his rifle up in one swift motion. The unicorn used her magic to throw the bomb as the hulking robot, but it spun with lightning quickness and easily slapped the warhead aside. Now the beast was focused on her; its arm rose and he could hear the low whine of the gun spinning up for a fatal discharge.

Boiling rage supplanted any fear as the android rotated to face the pony. Jaze dropped to one knee and swung his rifle up, his finger tightening on the trigger. Bullets bounced off the monster’s thick armor as he screamed at the beast. Though the rounds did nothing to hurt it, the behemoth did turn its attention away from Trixie. On the downside, it was now glaring back into his eyes.

Jaze cinched his eyes shut, concentrating. His mind slowly settled down, leaving him feeling calm. Time may as well have ground to a stop around him, halted by the flow of power in his mind. Magic coursed through his veins with every beat of his heart and set them ablaze with new strength. The rifle clattered against the deck as his arms rose; power flowed to the tips of his fingers and spread out in a thick shield of bluish-white magic.

Even as his shield spread out, several rounds impacted the solid wall of light. Each large bullet that struck the shield sent a tiny wave of exhaustion rolling through his body. The strain soon had beads of sweat rolling down his brow. His knees shook with the effort and his arms swiftly grew tired, but he was just able to keep the shield firmly in place. Gritting his teeth, he silently begged for the barrage to end. Pain was starting to creep up his back, and a quick peek showed the magical aura before him beginning to thin in places.

Once more his eyes shut as he poured more of the dwindling magic into the barrier. Trying to reopen them proved impossible, so he stayed blind and attempted to force more of his exhausted magic into the shield. He could feel the power being bled dry from the base of his skull, leaving behind a void that quickly filled in with the soreness creeping up his spine. In an instant the assault stopped, catching him off-guard with its sudden disappearance. The jarring clang of metal on metal spiked through his head, forcing him to open his eyes.

His jaw fell open as the reality of what he was seeing forced itself into his taxed mind. The nuclear warhead was floating around the android, striking at random from every direction. It had turned away to meet the new assault, leaving the Colonel staring up at its back. Each blow was met by one of the monster’s arms batting away the heavy bomb, though it had no time to recover from each hammering blow before the next was launched. Jaze peered about the room for several moments before finding Trixie standing well away from her foe, horn glowing brightly with the lavender aura of magic.

Several times the beast tried to step forward to finish of its prey, but each time it was met a flurry of heavy blows aimed at its head and was forced back. He could see the sweat raining down her features; strong as she was, it wouldn’t be long before she was too tired to continue. Then it would be a simple matter for the metal monstrosity to crush her under heavy foot before turning its attention back on him for another easy kill.

When the heavy unit raised its arm to swat away yet another attack, an idea struck. The memory of the last time he had seen one of these units flooded his mind. Again, he watched as it the thing brought up its cannon to obliterate the shred of trench he had cowered in while waiting for whatever Twilight’s sniper group was planning. And once more, he watched as the thing fell from a single well placed shot. Jaze snatched his gun from where it had fallen, his heart skipping a beat at the insanity he was going to try.

The blows raining down on the heavy trooper began to slow. He could see exhaustion taking its toll on the unicorn mage. She was forced to back away as her target began to advance, until she bumped into a wall. Panic set in on her face; her efforts to halt the thing’s advance redoubled, fueled by terror. But her strikes were erratic and did little to slow it down; it merely continued forward with a determined gait.

Without pausing to spare another thought, he took a running start and leapt over the tracks. Adrenalin surged through him, burning away any trace of exhaustion. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he set off in a dead sprint towards the beast. It was still solely focused Trixie and hadn’t noticed him yet. His heart hammered painfully in his chest, and a knot formed in the pit of his stomach.

Getting to the beast was surprisingly easy. But as he neared, it spun around to face him. Even if a robot couldn’t show emotion, it still didn’t seem pleased to see him. Its arm rose to deliver a crushing blow, making his heart leap into his throat. Jaze slid to a stop and bent his knees in preparation to dive to either side as the heavy chunk of metal came down. He needn’t have bothered; as soon as the metallic monster had its back turned, Trixie collected her wits and slammed the nuke into the dead center of its back.

A mighty crack sounded as its armor split open a tiny crack. The thing stumbled forward a few steps, nearly crushing Jaze under its heavy foot. He sidestepped around the lumbering mass and quickly climbed atop its leg. It tried to sweep him off with a broad swing of its arm, forcing him to duck under the powerful blow. But as the swing went wide, he caught sight of his target. Or at least, where his target should have been; the thing’s side was devoid of any sort of weakness.

Despair settled on his heart, and he felt the bottom fall out of his stomach. He froze, unsure of what to do now. The weak-point under the arm had been his last hope. They had no real way of bringing it down now; none of the weapons he had could do more than scratch it. Unfortunately, his foe was still very mobile. An arm swept him from his precarious perch and sent him hurtling towards the wall next to Trixie.

The wall rushed to meet him with its hard embrace. All the air exploded from his lungs as he slammed into the unforgiving metal, sending him in a crumpled heap to the floor. His head rang against the metal with an unhealthy crack, making his vision swim sickeningly. Dull aches spread along his back and skull as he tried to draw breath into his rebelling lungs. Blurry shapes danced in his vision in a confused tangle, along with a horrid clanging that sent a hot shard of pain between his eyes. His rifle no longer seemed to be in his hand, though it was hard to be sure.

As he lay stunned, a powerful pair of legs wrapped around his midsection. Dragging his mind out of the mire that encased it allowed him a brief glimpse of silver-streaked mane before an intense pressure surrounded his body. Every inch of him felt like it was being encased in solid lead; any attempt to move was met by a stubborn refusal. A bright flash of lavender light, and then everything went dark. The only thing he could still feel was the pony wrapped tightly around his waist; everything else had ceased to be.

But before he could begin to wonder at what happened, another flash of lavender light brought reality rushing back. And with its return, his mind finally sharpened back into focus enough to see that Trixie had teleported them well away from the android. It stared down at where they had been, almost seeming confused by their sudden disappearance.

Jaze looked away from the robot and to the unicorn still latched around his middle. She looked up to him with a brief, smug smile before asking, “So, do you have any more bright ideas? Preferably something that may not get you killed?”

“Working on it.” he grunted as he tried to climb to his feet.

The words carried to their foe, and it spun around to face them. It cocked its head at them, and Jaze could only guess it was waiting on them to disappear again. He looked down to Trixie and whispered, “Think you could conjure up another storm like you did before? Because now would be a fine time to go all great and powerful on that bastard.”

“No, I am all used up from pulling your rump out of the fire.” Her voice was a low, angry hiss of displeasure and sarcasm as she added, “Unless you have a mana potion stashed somewhere, the only thing great and powerful I can conjure up would be a few choice insults.”

“Dammit.” he growled turning his eyes back to his foe. It had begun to step forward, though it was moving far slower than it had before. Every few feet, it would pause to watch them before continuing on, waiting on them to move. Jaze moved the pony behind him as his eyes scanned for his weapon. He finally found it directly behind the advancing robot, lying where he had fallen.

An idea struck, and he knelt down next to Trixie to whisper, “I need you to keep the thing distracted. Just for a few seconds or so, and I think I can take it down.”

“Because your brilliant plan worked last time.” remarked the unicorn. Despite her scathing tone, she dashed away, yelling, “Hey, you ugly brute! Look over here! Your mother must have been a toaster, and your father an abacus for all the brains you have.”

The heavy unit turned towards the fleeing unicorn, its gaze locked to the movement. It brought up its machinegun arms, but before it could take aim the pony had vanished into a cloud of lavender light. She reappeared several feet away from her starting point, though she was still right in front of the beast. Waving at the android to keep its attention, she continued to jump around the room. She was always just one step ahead of the heavy, and was never in one place long enough to get a shot.

Jaze shook his head in amazement before running as silently as he could towards his rifle. He kept expecting the android to catch on, to turn and catch him in the open and with no teleporting tricks to save him. But it seemed to have formed something of a grudge against Trixie and stayed entirely focused on her while he ran across the room and retrieved his fallen assault rifle.

He turned to face his foe, and was given a perfect view of the small crack that had formed in its armor. A few lazy sparks dripped from the wounded metal, a sure sign of distress. Deep inside the crack were a few important looking mechanisms and other bits, and Jaze hoped that he was right about their vulnerability. Phantom pain spread along his side and back as his mind processed what he had planned. Trixie’s sides heaved with the taxing struggle of using her magic so often; there was no more time to lose. Letting his rifle hang from its sling, Jaze drew his sword and leapt with all the strength in his legs.

As he soared towards the robot, he reared back with the tip of his sword aimed squarely at the weak point. He put every bit of strength he could manage into his swing; Sairugi’s blade plunged into the split in the android’s armor, buried to the hilt. The heavy unit reared up, almost as if in pain, and began violently tossing its torso from side to side in an attempt to dislodge its unwanted passenger. With both hands on the hilt of his sword, the only thing Jaze could do was hang on for dear life. Just holding on was a struggle; trying to scrabble up its back was impossible.

Large arms swung back in a vain attempt to crush him, and each impact made his arms tremble with the effort of staying in place. Viscous, slick, dark green fluid oozed out of the crack around his sword, and the android’s thrashing began to ease. He looked down, searching for something he could use to boost himself just a little higher. The joint between its torso and legs caught his eye, and his boots slipped perfectly into the crack. With his new leverage, he kept his robotic hand on the hilt of his sword and let his rifle fall down into the other.

As he had hoped, the crack was just wide enough for the barrel of his gun. He jammed the rifle into the split and squeezed the trigger, pouring the entire magazine into the hole. Bullets tore into the delicate inner workings of the robot, the sound of the rifle’s report absorbed by the thing’s hull. The android began shaking like a dog and throwing itself around in renewed efforts to get rid of him, but the strength of the false hand helped him stay in place as he emptied the mag.

It took all the remaining strength in his limbs to keep the rifle still, but soon the effect became evident. The android’s thrashing began to die out, though it still tried to get to him. Weak, wild swings of its arms slammed into its back and sides, but it was unable to get come close. All of his strength was gone and he was ready to fall off despite the certain death that awaited him when the robot finally went still and keeled over on its side.

Jaze was thrown clear of the falling android, rolling to a stop several feet away. He stared up at the ceiling with tired eyes. The sounds of ragged breathing reached his ears, and it took awhile for him to realize they were his own. Exhaustion and the leftover adrenaline made his limbs quiver. But even though he felt like sleeping for a month, his lips curled up in a slight smirk. They had beaten the android, by themselves.

Remembering Trixie sent a wave of worry through his tired body, and he sat bolt upright to peer around the room. Everywhere he looked was devoid of the azure pony. He couldn’t see her anywhere. His mind conjured up images of her being under their foe when it fell; he hadn’t been paying enough attention to tell where she was. Worry turned to panic as his heart skipped a beat, and he looked towards the defeated heavy trooper. But there was still no sign of the missing unicorn.

“Looking for somepony?” asked a voice from right by his ear.

“Gah!” he yelped, spinning around so fast his neck popped. Trixie stood behind him with a loving smile and her trademark smug smirk battling for control of her features. She was obviously more than a little amused with her stunt.

“What is the matter?” she questioned sweetly as she walked in front of him, putting on a falsely innocent façade, “Have you seen a ghost?”

Rolling his eyes, he replied sourly, “Thanks Trixie, I thought you’d been crushed under that lummox. Now I think I lost another ten years off my life. What the hell were you thinking?”

“What was…” she sputtered, incredulity mixing with bits of anger, “What were you thinking?! Jumping onto that thing like that, you might have been killed!”

“Well I wasn’t, and you weren’t either.” He held out his hand with a smirk of his own, “Guess that’s a win for us, right?” She rolled her eyes, but hooked her hoof around his hand and helped him to his feet. He gave her a quick nod of gratitude before moving over to their felled foe to gather his weapons.

Sairugi was stuck fast, and it took several hard tugs to dislodge the sword from its metal prison. His rifle, however, was a dead loss. Somehow it had ended up underneath the heavy when it had fallen, and had been crushed into uselessness. Even if it wasn’t destroyed, there was no way he could move the metal husk to retrieve the gun. Small twinges of regret echoed through him; there was no telling what else awaited them.

Resigned to having to stick with only his sword, he glanced up to see Trixie loading the warhead onto the monorail. He sheathed his blade as he strode over to the unicorn. Every inch of his body screamed in exhaustion, begging him for a rest. A quick inspection of the tram confirmed what he had seen before; there were no seats on any of the cars. Even after everything else that had already happened, this was the final indignity. Bad enough to be here, worse to have to sit on the floor.

Trixie waved him over, and stated while pointing to the front car, “I think there is a mechanism to control this train up there. At least, there are several buttons on the floor that look as if they would control this thing.”

“Ugh, on the floor. Figures.” Jaze replied sourly, a bitter taste in his mouth. He gave another look around the room, desperately hoping that he had missed something in his initial search. Or maybe some secret passage opened up. But of course, the tram was still the only way forward.

An exasperated sigh escaped his chest, and he practically growled, “Alright, let’s do this then. I’d like to have done with this.”

He clambered up onto the first car, and immediately saw the buttons that Trixie was talking about. A pair of simple, blue squares set into the floor, one in front of the other, at the very front of the tram. Other than that, there didn’t seem to be anything other controls. The sharp sound of hooves on metal rang out next to him, and he felt the unicorn’s presence at his side. He settled to the floor with his legs crossed comfortably before tentatively touching the foremost button.

As he had hoped, the monorail began inching forward. The door in front of their car opened to allow them to roll into another station. This one occupied by a mass of Cye troopers. Jaze’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. The robots turned to look at the monorail inching forward through the track; they were on either side of the tracks. Several nearby androids brought their rifles to metallic shoulders, each one training their weapons on the pair passing between them.

Both he and Trixie threw themselves to the deck, flattening out in hopes of making smaller targets. Jaze glared at the enemy troops, wishing he had thought to go back the armory he had passed through and grab another rifle. Instead, he reached forward and jammed his thumb into the forward toggle. Holding down the button did exactly what he hoped; their monorail exploded into a breakneck pace just as the enemy opened fire.

Rounds screamed over their heads, and then they were through the crossfire and into another armory. Everything was a blur to either side; if there was anything looking to harm them, there was no way they’d have time to aim before the cars blew past. Wind lapped at his hair, blowing it this way and that, as they continued on their mad journey. Standing was impossible as long as they were moving this fast, but neither passenger really cared. Jaze’s breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding rushed out in a grateful release; they were safe for now.

Brief glimpses of the scenery to either side revealed just how much power this station could project. Nearly every room they passed was something to add to the enemy’s war effort. He lost count of the number of weapon warehouses they had passed through, and although not every one was occupied there seemed to be more than enough troops massed to take any human world the enemy desired. It struck him out of the blue just how small he was in comparison to the massive force arrayed against him and his. A shiver passed through his body as a hopeless air settled on him.

Trixie must have felt his tremble; she scooted across the floor of the tram to throw a reassuring leg across his back. Regardless of the minimal contact, gratitude filled Jaze as he offered her a brief smile. Their noses were nearly touching; she was so close he could feel her warm breath against his cheek. She returned the smile, a slight tinge of red in her cheeks. The words he had wanted to say before burned on his tongue, begging to be given voice. Deep emotions swirled in his breast, rekindling his fragile hope. He could see the same feelings reflected in the wide, lavender pools staring back at him.

Those eyes drew him in; even here, amidst thousands of different ways to be killed, his breath caught in his chest as he stared into the depths of her gaze. His hand reached out and gently brushed a stray strand of her mane that had been blown out of place. He couldn’t resist teasing the side of her face with the tips of his fingers. The soft fur of her cheek sent a brief thrill through him that ran from his fingers to his toes. Her smile morphed into something he couldn’t quite place; almost like a mixture of nervousness, contentment, and other, more powerful emotions.

His lips began to form the words of their own accord, but no breath came to give them life. But again, she must’ve seen inside his mind. Her hoof went to his lips in a shushing motion, a lovely gleam in her expressive eyes. Through the touch, he could feel the feelings she had for him coming to the fore. He took the hoof in his hand and planted a light, tender kiss on the tip. Her crimson cheeks let him know she got the message.

The monorail began to slow of its own accord, catching both of them by surprise. They shuffled apart, and Jaze could feel his face heating in blush. He just managed to stand up into a crouch and his right hand went to his sword, while his left stayed on the floor of the car for balance. Another door loomed before them; as they neared it, the tram grew slower. This had to be the end of the tracks, and somehow Jaze knew that this was where they were being led as well. His hand trembled at Sairugi’s hilt, though he couldn’t be sure if it were fear or anticipation.

The door slid open just as they reached it, revealing a mid-sized, square room. It was a hub for several more of the monorails; Jaze counted five of the tracks on either side of the one they had rode in on. Each set of tracks had a control console of sorts at its terminus, and near the back of the room was another, larger machine that he couldn’t determine the reason for. Continuing the theme of the rest of the ship they had seen, the room was a dull gray and lacked any decoration. On the far side of the room were a few doors, all of them shut.

And standing in the center of the room, his face set in a deep scowl, was Carn. The older man was wearing a stylized uniform similar to a Marine’s official dress uniform; simple, brilliant white, loose-fitting pants and a rich purple over coat. The coat reached down to just past his waist, and ornate silver buttons marched up each side of his chest. Tasseled pads of a metallic gold adorned his shoulders, giving him an even more pompous air than usual. High-style boots came up to his calves, incasing his feet in gleaming black. Finishing out the man’s attire was a long, slim, straight sword with a gleaming, golden basket around the hilt in a glossy, black leather scabbard.

Their eyes met, and revulsion overwhelmed Jaze at the sight of those dead, black orbs set into the other’s face. He hopped off the monorail while leveling the best glare he could muster at the older man. In return, Carn’s scowl deepened and annoyance tightened his eyes. Those dark, blank eyes seemed to stare right into his soul; the depthless pools of hatred filled Jaze’s mind with their glare.

Sairugi shook loudly in its sheath, begging to be set free on the maniac. Jaze glanced down at his hand on the hilt of his weapon; he hadn’t realized before that his fist was so tight that his knuckles were white. It took several seconds of deep, calming breaths to let him release his death grip on his sword. As he did, he realized that his fatigue was gone; replaced entirely with resolution.

Before either man could say a word, Trixie mocked, “Are you trying to play at being a prince today, or did your favorite clothing store run out of everything that didn’t scream pretentious villain?” Jaze couldn’t help but let a smile creep across his lips at the unicorn’s fiery tone. He could feel the rage pouring from the insane cyborg all the way across the room.

“I believed it rather fitting.” the older man replied acidly. He took several deep breaths, letting out each one slowly before continuing with a sudden smile, “After I am finished with you two, I plan on wearing this to address your leaders; perhaps then they will be more amicable to surrender.”

Trixie jumped down next to him, using her magic to float the bomb off the tracks and leave it hovering nearby. Jaze flexed his empty hand, feeling renewed strength flooding his limbs. Hate burned sickeningly in his chest, demanding to be released against the thing standing before him. His stomach roiled in anticipation as his hand strayed back to his sword despite his efforts to make it stay still.

He looked to the pony at his side and nodded at the floor next to them, “Go ahead and put it down, we may be here awhile.” She glanced up at him before allowing the bomb to settle to the deck. It seemed to him like it had been waiting all this time for a chance to prove itself. Now, it would get the chance to make it being kept around worth it. Looking at the bomb sparked an idea in his mind; he knew what had to be done.

Carn’s voice brought his attention back up as the graying man glowered at them, “I must say though, I have underestimated you two. I had planned to take you on a tour of the station, but you have convinced me to just deal with you here and now. Too bad, I think you would have enjoyed it.”

Jaze knelt next to the bomb and forced the other’s words out if his mind. The keypad on the nuke beckoned to him. The small, numbered keys glowed a slight green, while the readout above them read “UNARMED” in the same green. He began to key in the code Gaston had him memorize to set the bomb up. Nervous shakes filled his fingers as he touched each key carefully, double checking before he pushed the button. A single wrong move at this stage could lock the bomb to where it was utterly useless, or worse; he didn’t want to end up dying for a stupid, single push of a wrong button.

After several, nerve-wracking seconds that felt like hours, the keys changed to a yellow, and the words “ENTER TIME TO DETONATION” rolled across the screen followed by a flashing, blank timer. A few more key strokes set it to fifteen minutes, and the warhead asked for confirmation. His finger hovered over the final key; for some strange reason he just couldn’t bring himself to push the button.

A pair of cold fingers marched down his spine, raising goose-bumps on the back of his neck. The amount of power at his finger tips suddenly overwhelmed him. He looked down at the nuke with a mixture of fear and fascination growing in his gut. Weapons like these had once nearly driven his species to extinction once, and here he was setting off another. It still felt nothing but wrong, like a slap in the face of history.

“What are you doing?” Carn suddenly called out loudly, breaking into Jaze’s thoughts. He looked up to see the older man staring curiously at him with a slight smirk on his face.

The other’s leer steeled Jaze’s mind, and he let a quick smirk of his own show, “Just taking precautions Carn. I want to fight you, I want to take you apart piece by piece, but I can’t risk losing and let this station stand. This bomb’ll finish off anything I can’t.” He looked back down to the nuke, but his hand still refused the order to move. Even if he was convinced this was the right thing to do, his body still seemed to be hesitant.

The older man erupted into a deep, shaking laugh. His fit continued for several seconds, and his smile was evident in his voice as he replied, “That is rich. Even if that bomb kills me, all humans will be elevated. This station is far too powerful for such a small bomb to do much more than damage a few systems. That damage would be repaired easily, and the drones would continue with their mission. As long as this station stands, humanity’s fate is sealed.”

Jaze couldn’t stop a slight snicker at the other’s arrogance. Carn’s head tilted in confusion, so the assassin patted the bomb and stated, “You’re thinking this is small? Don’t you know that a small nuke doesn’t mean a small payload?”

“Nuke? You mean…” The mad cyborg’s face lit with horror. His eyes widened to the size of eggs, and he seemed stunned. He shook his head slowly, and almost whispered, “That is not a nuclear bomb; you’re lying. You’re trying to trick me, to scare me.”

A smirk crossed Jaze’s lips, “Believe what you want, doesn’t change this from the biggest bomb humanity has to offer. And it’s sitting in your base, because you wanted to throw insults at a single man. I won’t make that mistake.”

The fear on Carn’s face suddenly cranked up, though he kept his voice angry, “You wouldn’t d…”

Jaze offered a quick grin before forcing his thumb down onto the button. The cyborg leader’s threat was interrupted by the sound of a loud beep from the warhead, and the timer swiftly began counting towards zero. He knew it was only moving normally, but still he felt that time was running out far faster than it should. Painful heartbeats slammed against his ribs in rapid-fire rhythm; he had to admit even he hadn’t expected himself to hit the button.

Shock rooted the purple-suited man to the spot. His mouth flapped, but no words came out. Black eyes regarded the bomb, and the gold-armored Marine couldn’t tell if it was anger or fear that lurked behind them. Those depthless orbs switched from the bomb to stare right into his eyes, causing a powerful shiver to race through his form. Suddenly his armor felt like it was holding him in place.

Trixie broke the spell by calling out mockingly, “Looks like he does dare Carn.” He turned to look at the unicorn just in time to meet her gaze. She smiled up at him and mouthed “I’m proud” before saying aloud, “Shall we leave then? Our work here is done.”

He nodded, no small sense of relief flooding his mind, before cocking his head to the flabbergasted man and ordering, “Get mad. I want you to hate me. You feel that? That is the same feeling you’ve inspired in so many other people. You’ve taken the things that everyone else held dear, and now it’s happening to you. I want you to live with that feeling. I don’t even want to kill you anymore; what I just did is far worse. You’ve got less than fifteen minutes to get out of here, I suggest you get going.”

He turned and waved towards the platform while stating tiredly, “Let’s get out of here Trix, I’m sick of this fight. Didn’t you mention people waiting on us at some point?”

Her head bobbed excitedly, and she turned with him to move back to the monorail. Peace filled his mind; an odd sort of peace he couldn’t have expected. Here he was walking away from the very man he had wanted nothing more than to kill for the past two years, and it felt so right. Easy, in a way, like this was how he had wanted it to end. He caught the eyes of the pony trotting next to him; her expressive eyes failed to conceal the relief she too was feeling.

From behind them came a shrill, tortured shriek. The clack of boots on metal rang out, echoing around the chamber in a confusing cacophony. They turned, Jaze’s hand flying to his sword, to see Carn closing in on them with his sword aimed squarely at the center of the golden breastplate. A burst of adrenaline surged through the gold-armored soldier, and his vision narrowed down to focus only on the blade coming towards his chest.

There was barely enough room for him to twist out of the way of the jab. He could feel the razor-sharp edge cutting the very air just inches from his arm. The older man was quicker than anticipated; the weapon suddenly changed direction and whipped up towards his face in a lightning-fast strike. Jaze was forced to pull his head back away from the blade, only to receive a hammering blow to his chest from its pommel. The blow dented his armor and pushed all the air from his lungs, sending him sprawling to floor. As he fell, he watched the other’s sword following him down. His foot lashed out, catching the older man in his stomach, and opened up a bit of breathing room.

The hard metal floor broke his fall none too gently, aggravating the aches from the previous fights. Every bruise screamed in agony in his mind as he rolled over onto his stomach. The spot on the back of his head twanged particularly painfully, filling his mind with a dissonant ringing. His hand clutched the newest sore spot developing on his chest; he couldn’t force himself to climb to his feet. He saw Carn standing over him again, with the blade poised to plunge into his chest. But before he could do more than realize his predicament, the clash of hooves and metal reached his ears.

Trixie charged, a soundless scream of rage rushing out of her snarling lips. The Colonel could hear a dull thud, and he caught sight of the older man landing several feet away. Hooves under his arms lifted him back to his feet as the other groaned and held his stomach. Jaze’s eyes watered from the lack of life giving air, and his mind was clouded. A pair of wide, lavender pools stared up at him, and the unicorn they belonged to began shoving him towards the tram.

Something he didn’t quite understand brought him up short. Danger seemed to be closing in on them. His mind suddenly cleared, and he pushed Trixie away as he dove in the opposite direction. A blur passed through the space they had just occupied, burrowing into the control console at the head of the tracks. Sparks flew from the machine, never a good sign. He rushed forward and gave the tram a quick inspection; sure enough, there was no longer any power.

He turned around to see Carn climbing to his feet. The older man glared at them, his face a cauldron of seething hate. His voice shook with barely contained rage, “You two are not going anywhere.”

Jaze slowly moved to the blade embedded into the control panel. Anger began to build in his mind despite his efforts to stop it. All he had wanted was to leave; now that was going to be unreasonably difficult. His breath came in short, ragged gasps as he wrapped his hand around the hilt and yanked the weapon from its prison of metal and wires. It really was a finely crafted weapon, if a little too fancy for his taste; the balance was perfect, lightweight but obviously strong, and its single edge looked incredibly sharp.

He turned back to the man behind him and tossed the sword, offering a deep scowl, “You want a fight so bad? Fine.” Sairugi slid from its sheath with a metallic as he stepped forward; the gleaming blade felt eager in his palm. He glanced down at the blade, admiring its simple, deadly beauty before saying, “There’s really no time for this, so I’ll give you one more chance to leave. We can have this fight later, if you’re so hot on it.”

Carn had snatched his blade out of the air with a matching glare. The dead-eyed cyborg slowly rose to his feet, his sword pointed towards the ground. Anger radiated off the insane leader, and his voice held the calm quality of a man beyond rage, “Do you really think that I can let you just leave? No, I am going to tear you apart. Afterwards, I’ll disarm your little bomb and then I’ll kill every last living thing on that backwater hole below.”

By the end of his rant, Carn was practically spitting with rage. Jaze couldn’t help but allow a grin onto his face, the smirk only growing when the other’s face darkened further with hate. Bringing his sword up in a strong, two handed grip, he replied, “Then let’s get this over with, I’d prefer not to be anywhere nearby when that bomb goes off.” Looking towards the unicorn at his side, he whispered, “Please, stay out of this one. I’d like to finish this myself.”

He watched his foe drop into a slight crouch. The other’s weapon was held high, tip angled down, with his wrist against the back of the blade. Jaze frowned; he had never seen a stance like that before. He watched, waiting for the other to move, but Carn remained perfectly, unnaturally still.

The assassin could feel his heartbeat throbbing against the hilt of his sword; it was almost like his opponent didn’t breathe. Sweat trickled down his face, and every tiny sound became louder than thunder in the deathly quiet room. He could even hear the long rush of air from Trixie exhaling beside him. His breath came in short gulps; an odd tightness formed in chest that restricted his breathing.

Seconds ticked past with agonizing slowness, and still his foe hadn’t moved. Jaze’s legs began to tire of standing in the same position, waiting for something to happen. But he didn’t know enough about the weapon being used against him to take the first strike. He knew the other’s blade was light, which meant it would be fast. Add in the other’s undoubtedly cybernetically enhanced abilities, and he wasn’t entirely sure what the weapon could do. As much as he tried, his body refused to loosen up from anticipation. A combination of fear and fascination held him in place, waiting.

A single, almost-invisible twitch; that was his warning before Carn suddenly lunged forward. The single edged blade whipped around the shark-eyed cyborg’s head like a lasso, coming down towards his neck. Sairugi moved instinctively upwards and formed a ceiling over him, halting the blow bare inches from his flesh. Powerful waves rolled down and numbed his arms from the impact as the clash of steel rang out, but he managed to turn the ornate blade aside with a downward flick of his wrist.

Before he could take advantage of the opening, a hand slapped into the hilt of his weapon and pushed his sword to the side with unnatural quickness. He looked into Carn’s eyes and saw a grin of victory. The older man’s empty hand snagged Jaze’s right wrist and yanked him closer, while the straight blade reared back to deliver a powerful thrust. Jaze watched the blade near, and his free hand lashed out to butt the deadly point away with backhanded swing.

He dipped his shoulder down, focused all his weight into the point, and shoved into the other’s chest. Carn stumbled, pulling Jaze along with him. The grip on his wrist lessened just enough that he could yank his hand back. His foot lashed out towards an exposed knee, only to bounce off like he had kicked one of the steel walls. Shock lanced along his leg, and he had to backpedal several steps before regaining his balance.

Carn’s fist slammed into his jaw out of nowhere, followed by a pair of slashes across the golden breastplate. Two deep rents appeared in the gilded armor though it just managed to turn the deadly edge away as Jaze offered a silent thanks to whatever deity was watching over him. His skin felt tight across his chest, a tingle spreading where the metal could have sliced open his skin. The blow to his face had his mind reeling; his vision swam drunkenly and he could already feel a throbbing bruise forming.

Jaze took several steps away, hoping for some breathing room to recover his wits. His chest heaved laboriously, and each wound he had accumulated over the last few days screamed in anguish. He found it nearly impossible to stand straight. The exhaustion he had felt before came rushing back in a tiring wave. His hands shook, but he knew that time was a luxury that he didn’t have.

The older man glared at him before pressing his empty hand to the small of his back and extending his sword straight out, the blade turned on its side and the point aimed at Jaze’s throat. Carn’s usual slight smirk had been replaced with sheer, seething rage. His voice was boiling as he snarled, “What’s wrong boy? Already tired? I can end it quickly, if you will just disarm the bomb.”

“Hah, like I would.” Jaze snickered, drawing another flare of rage from the pallid cyborg. He brought up his sword, attempting to disguise his fatigue under a façade of bravado. “And even if I wanted to, I can’t. If I fiddle with the keypad the whole thing will go up and we’d all be reduced to ash.”

“Then die you sorry excuse for sentience.” yelled the older man. He lunged forward, plunging the needle-sharp point in a powerful, downward thrust. Jaze watched the blade close in on the center of his chest for a moment before slapping it aside with the flat of his weapon. But before he could counter the thrust, his opponent had recovered enough to deliver another. All Jaze could do was knock aside the deadly tip of the weapon aimed at him while he waited for an opening.

His arms were already tired, and it was starting to show. Each new thrust got closer to his body before he could turn it aside. Time certainly wasn’t his friend, not the least of it being the bomb still ticking away in silence towards Armageddon. Every passing second, every blow he parried, added another bit of fatigue onto the growing pile. He needed to end this, quickly, or he’d find himself on the wrong side of a blade soon. A stupid, risky idea pushed into his mind; he had little other choice but to give it a shot.

As the next thrust came in, he turned it aside once more. But as his foe recoiled for another strike, Jaze lashed out with a powerful left hook to the side of the other’s face. The gauntleted, metal limb slammed into Carn’s cheek, causing the madman to cry out in shock and pain, and Jaze could feel the satisfying crunch of crushed bone reverberated up the false limb. He followed with a vicious kick to the stomach, sending the older man stumbling several paces.

As Carn stumbled away, Jaze felt a powerful thrum of energy from behind him. A wide, lavender beam shot past his hip to deliver a stunning blow to the other’s abdomen. The assassin turned to see Trixie in a wide stance, her horn already beginning to glow for a follow-up shot. Her face was a mask of anger, but he could see the hard edge of fear gleaming in her eyes with every quick glance she made toward the bomb. The older man took a few more steps back before catching a second blow to the gut and doubling over in pain. That was the opening the Colonel had been waiting for.

He rushed forward with his sword held at his shoulder for a swift cut. Seething excitement filled his stomach with a terrible heat. The other man fell to his knees, gripping his stomach where he had been struck. He was wide open, defenseless. Jaze gritted his teeth as his grip tightened on the hilt, and he brought the blade down in a powerful swing for the top of his foe’s head.

Just before the blow landed, searing pain exploded along his left side. His sword arm retracted instinctively, and he looked down to see the long, wide blade of his opponent’s sword pushed all the way through the weaker side of his armor, luckily only grazing his ribs. A scream sounded from somewhere behind, but Jaze couldn’t make out what words, if any, were being yelled. Carn glared up at him for a moment before launching a powerful punch into the assassin’s other side.

The golden armor caved under the cyborg’s unnatural strength. Jaze felt a sickening pop in his ribs, and sudden pain rolled over him in burning waves. His breath left his body, and it took all his meaning strength to stay on his feet. His sword arm dropped as the agony overwhelmed his strength. A gleaming black boot slammed into the broken bones; pushing him off the sword and forcing a shrill, pained scream from his throat that left it feeling ragged and raw.

His back slammed into the deck; he couldn’t even remember falling. All he could feel was the burning pain spreading through his body, its searing epicenter focused on his ribs. He managed to look up and saw a blood-stained sword aimed squarely at his nose. The man holding it glared down his nose before stomping on Jaze’s wrist and kicking Sairugi from limp fingers. Carn’s face showed a little color for the first time in a while, the bright red of fury.

“I have to hand it to you Jaze.” the older man mocked as he stepped down on the fallen soldier’s wrist, “You’ve been more of a pain in the ass than I ever would have expected.”

Black eyes seemed to flick upward for a moment, and Carn’s voice dripped condescension as he addressed Trixie, “Go ahead, fire your pretty little magic at me. Before you do, he’ll” The cyborg pushed down on Jaze’s wrist a little harder, “be dead. I doubt you’d have the fortitude to kill me anyway.”

Jaze looked up as his tormentor looked back down. Madness seemed to have taken a full hold on the other’s mind; a wide grin had spread across the cyborg’s features as he continued, “And that right there is why you are all too weak to live. She could easily kill me with only losing one, worthless life; I’ve seen what her magic can do. But as long as I’ve got you as my little bargaining chip she’s content to stand there and try to glare me to death while hoping I will spare you.”

A foot reared back, and Jaze barely had time to mentally prepare for the blow that landed on his ribs. More pain than he knew could inhabit a body flooded his mind, but he absolutely refused to voice it. He refused to give the monster standing over him the satisfaction of hearing him cry out again. Metallic-tasting blood filled his mouth, along with the slight pinprick of almost pleasant pain of having bitten his tongue. He squinted up at the other with as best he could make for a confident grin and taunted, “Are you done yet? If I’m going to die, I’d like to get it over with already. I do have a schedule to keep you know.”

Another kick to the ribs silenced him as he tried to keep the agony off his face. Carn gave a tight smirk, and whispered, “Now you’re trying to resort to seeming confidence to unnerve me; I know the game. You are going to die, followed to the afterlife very shortly by your little pony bitch, and then those two fighting outside my station. I’ll disarm your bomb, and present it and your corpses to those fools you call leaders before I execute them all. And then, finally, there can be peace as humanity ascends to the greatness it was destined for.”

Hatred flared inside Jaze’s wrecked body, drowning out the pain. His eyes cast about for Sairugi, spotting it just a few feet away. A few feet, and well out of reach. Carn stood above him, continuing to taunt, but the broken man forced the words out of his mind. He dug deep, hunting for the final dribble of magic lurking in his body. It took far more out of him than he hoped, but soon his mind was sheathed in the protective embrace of the strange power, bringing cooling relief from the burning agony.

Focusing on the warmth and comfort, he pointed the magic towards his sword lying against the deck. It twitched slightly, a slight glow forming around it that seemed to wax and wane weakly in intensity. He forced more of the magic towards the weapon, beckoning to it through his magic. It suddenly jumped into the air, hovering for a second, before zooming straight at Carn’s chest.

The blade ripped a bloody line across the front of the purple jacket before dropping into his outstretched hand. Jaze felt a few splatters of hot blood splash across his face as his opponent screamed in a mix of agony and surprise. The older man stared down at the wound, shock slackening his features, before his gaze transferred further down. Jaze brought both knees to his chest and delivered a fierce double-kick. Golden boots connected and sent the older man flying, allowing the Colonel to climb to his feet and gather his sword.

In an instant, Trixie was by his side, tugging his arm and begging, “Enough is enough. There’s not much time left, we should go now while we can! I’ll get us through the doors.”

He glanced to the bomb, and saw the digital readout click down past seven minutes left. More than half their time, gone. His heart leapt to his throat, but he still turned to look at his opponent. Carn was laying on the deck, holding his chest with a grimace on his face. Jaze turned and looked back to Trixie, nodding as he agreed, “Yeah, time to go.”

They took a few steps towards the closed monorail tracks, Trixie pressed to Jaze’s less-injured side for support. His legs had difficulty holding him up, almost like the floor was moving under them. Pain throbbed along each side of his ribs, aggravated by his attempts to walk. His sword felt heavy in his hand; he shoved the weapon back into its sheath with a grimace at the twinge rolling through his wounds. Without the pony next to him practically carrying him, he may not have been able to limp away.

Before they could take more than a few steps, Jaze felt pain saw across his back from his left shoulder to the opposite hip. The crippling agony took his legs out from under him entirely, and he fell with a gasp of pain and surprise. Trixie, caught under his sudden tumble, collapsed to the ground with him in a tangle of legs and hooves. Her face met the ground with a worrying crunch, but his mind was too fogged to do more than let worry blossom. He could see a crimson pool spreading around him, further cause for worry.

Carn’s boot landed against the ripping wound, and the older man leaned down to whisper, “You really didn’t think it’d be that easy right? I know you’re not that stupid.”

Blackness ate at the edges of Jaze’s vision. Somehow he managed to keep his mind intact, but every passing second irritated the wounds on both his ribs and his back. The boot at his back kept him pinned, and he couldn’t twist his head far enough to see his adversary without pain nearly making him pass out. Still, he couldn’t let the other’s insults go unanswered.

He gritted his teeth and hissed, “You’re right, I’m not. I’d just hoped you’d had enough and we could all get the hell out of here.”

“Ha!” chortled the cyborg, “You really think that bomb is going to go off don’t you? Not in your, or anyone’s lifetime boy.”

A hand closed around the armor at the base of Jaze’s neck, lifting him off the ground to where his feet only just grazed the metal floor. For some reason, the pain seemed to be leaving his body. It might have been related to the wide, ghastly pool stretched underneath him. The other seemed to be inspecting him, like meat at a butcher’s, and Jaze grimaced as he was violently shaken

“You know,” remarked Carn with a sarcastically happy tone, “I think I might actually miss you after all this. You are a very neat toy to play with after all. But, even the best toys break in the end.”

Jaze felt like he was in another world as the madman threw him aside. Landing on his side in a heap, the Colonel relished the sudden lack of agony assailing him. Mist had settled into his brain, tenaciously refusing to allow him a coherent thought. Notions of sleep filled him, his mind allowing him fantasies of just floating away without a care. He knew that falling asleep was dangerous for some reason, but at the moment he didn’t care. Everything felt so cold, and he was so tired. His one wish, then and there, was just to be allowed to rest.

Following the other man with his gaze was about all he was capable of. He watched helplessly as the dead-eyed cyborg reached down to grasp something. With a yank, an azure figure was pulled screaming from her stunned fugue onto her hooves. Anger began to flare dully in Jaze’s chest, though he couldn’t exactly remember why. A blood-stained blade came up, the point pressed tightly to the smaller figure’s throat.

“And you,” the taller figure growled, “you’ve shown yourself to be quite the royal pain in the ass. It seems that I had assumed wrong about you ponies, you all are much more powerful than I anticipated. Now, would you kindly die?”

The cyborg’s blade reared back to plunge down in a swift, fluid strike. Jaze felt his breath catch in his throat as he watched the weapon slide through the air. Anger pounded through his wrecked form, bringing with it an odd strength. Everything seemed to have slowed to a crawl. The blade he had been watching was moving through molasses on its way down.

He suddenly found his left hand curled around his foe’s blade, but was unable to remember getting off the floor. Images of Evelyn, of several destroyed human worlds, of people weeping at the sight of the bodies of friends and loved ones flooded his mind as he stared at the metal incased in his fist. The anger he had felt before intensified; his grip tightened around the blade. He could feel the weapon digging into the soft cloth on his palm, cutting right through to the metal digits beneath.

Carn’s face slackened in a mixture of surprise and anger. The older man yanked at the hilt of his weapon, it but it was stuck fast in the cybernetic grip. Jaze glared at the other, his voice tight with hate, “You’re not taking her too, bastard.”

His wrist twisted as his fingers tightened further. With a hard crack, the last few inches snapped off the blade and left him with a six-inch piece of razor-sharp metal. He looked down at the chunk of sword before staring into the blank, dead eyes before him. Shock registered on that face, and it wasn’t until he looked back down that Jaze realized he had stabbed the broken weapon into the other’s chest, right below his heart.

Carn’s mouth flopped open in surprise and pain, but Jaze didn’t pause long enough to let him get in a word. His arm reared back, landing a quick, left-handed punch to the jagged end of metal sticking out, driving the last few inches into the other’s chest. As the other reeled from the assault, Jaze dipped his right hand down to grip Sairugi’s hilt, yanking it out in a sweeping arc aimed at the insane cyborg’s chest.

Another bloody line appeared in the purple fabric across Carn’s torso. An odd mixture of blood and some viscous, translucent white material leaked from around the piece of metal embedded in his chest. He looked down at the new wounds, his face an unreadable mask. His arm whipped up and jammed the bottom half of the broken sword to the hilt into the gold-plated soldier’s left shoulder.

Jaze grimaced as pain tore through his chest yet again. It felt like his chest would burst from the searing torment rolling through it. His knees buckled underneath him, refusing to hold up his weight. He looked up to the seething rage on Carn’s face. A boot landed on his gold-clad chest, pushing him off the blade-stub and back onto the ground. The room spun dizzyingly, forcing him to shut his eyes or risk being violently ill. But even that failed to quell the queasy feeling growing in his gut. The foot on his chest aggravated his many wounds and kept him from drawing a clear breath.

He could feel the other staring down at him, disturbing glee rolling off the cyborg in waves, as he pushed down with his boot and growled, “I’ve told you, I am immortal now. Even this damage can be repaired. But your weak, fragile, organic form couldn’t…”

Jaze felt a line of heat pass over him, and the other’s words morphed into a shrill scream of pain and rage. The pressure on his chest lifted, and he opened his eyes in time to watch the madman fall to the floor clutching a smoking hole where before had been a blank, black globe. A light tingling spread across the Colonel’s skin, and he glanced down to see a field of magic blanketing his body.

Trixie, a grimace on her face from the strain, lifted him onto her back before turning and sprinting towards the tracks they had rode in on. The constant up-and-down of her gallop worsened the sick feeling in his stomach. He suddenly felt the telltale pressure of teleportation, and the pair found themselves running through a, thankfully deserted, tram station. Magical energy kept him pressed to the pony’s back, a small blessing he was thankful for; he barely had the strength to lift his head.

From behind, he heard a faint yell, “That’s right, run! Take your fool of a lover and leave you stupid equine! It’ll make it sweeter when I…”

The words faded into obscurity as Trixie phased through another wall on her mad dash for their original hanger bay. Jaze, his vision swimming, managed to croak out, “Trixie, hang on. We can’t leave him there, he’ll disarm the bomb.”

Though he couldn’t see the unicorn’s face, he could hear her devious smile, “Don’t worry about that, I left that jerk a little ‘gift’, from us to him.”

Despite wanting to argue the point, the only thing he found himself able to do was nod in agreement. His head fell against her back again, and exhaustion began to take its toll. Pain throbbed through his entire being; every step the mare took sent another jolt of agony through him. All too soon he felt blackness edging into his vision once again as the dual entities shut down his mind. The darkness claimed him, his last thought a hope to not wake up to see this horrid station again.

Light in the Tunnel

Warning beeps sounded from behind her head, heralding the arrival of another attempt on her life. On her right was the impregnable black wall of the space station, while on her left was a vast sea of emptiness. Shelby grinned wildly as she yanked the flight-stick back; this is what she lived for. Her craft twisted upward, and she caught the brief flicker of an explosion against the wall behind where she had just been.

Shelby glared at the responsible android before bringing her starcraft around. The robot pilot must have known what she intended; it began to power way from her. Her hands tightened on the controls, no way was she letting that thing escape her. She rammed the accelerator forward and placed her thumb lightly on the missile’s trigger. Everything tightened to focus on the fleeing foe, letting all the unimportant distractions fall away. There was only her, and the enemy fight in front of her.

Static erupted in her ear, and Vincent’s voice growled, “Hey, don’t stray too far. If they wanna run, let ‘em. We’ve got to stay here and keep ‘em scared off.”

“Ugh, alright fine.” she groaned. She was forced to watch as her target powered away. “Next time, you ass.”

Turning her craft around, she eased into position beside her fiancé. They resumed tight flying circles around the entrance to the hanger Jaze and his pony friend had vanished into almost an hour ago. Shelby stared at the sealed airlock, wondering why they had been unable to raise their wayward companions. They must have been too far inside the station, well out of comm range. Either that or they had been killed.

Shelby shook her head to clear it of those horrid thoughts. No way would Jaze let himself die while he still owed her a beer, and that unicorn was there to make sure he wouldn’t do anything stupid. No, they just had to still be wading through a maze of corridors. Shelby knew that soon enough they would reappear, more than likely with some silly quip. Except for the one dark corner of her mind that kept trying to force images of defeat into her mind.

It wasn’t hard to find the reason for her dark thoughts; she had never been more bored on a mission in her life. Ever since getting here, they hadn’t seen more than a few scouts like the one she had chased off. And none of them seemed to want to do more than look or fire a friendly rocket before going on their merry way. It was more than frustrating. Her foot tapped against the bottom of the cockpit as she continued waiting for… something, anything to break the boredom that had settled over her.

“Hey Shelby, look sharp!” Vincent called out, “Bogeys coming in at one o’clock high.”

She looked up and into the vast expanse of space to see five more of the Cye fighter-craft moseying in on their position. None seemed to be in any particular hurry to engage the pair of humans perched outside their base, a fact Shelby noted with a smirk of pride. The androids seemed content to hover just off the black wall, inching their way forward.

Anticipation of a fight brought shakes to her limbs, and she wished for nothing more than to dart forward into their formation. They were such easy targets, clustered so closely together with no momentum for dodging. Her hands tightened on the Thundercat’s controls; it was almost like they were mocking her, daring her to attack. A dare she sorely wished to take.

Her craft began edging towards the Cye above. The computer acquired a lock on the lead enemy fighter, and she let her thumb hover over the launch button. She knew that as soon as her missile left its home to find the target the rest of the Cye would attack, but the temptation was almost too strong to overcome. In fact, she welcomed the coming struggle if it broke up the waiting.

“Shelby…” Vincent muttered in a familiar, cautious tone.

It was that tone; the tone he always used right before something bad happened. Her eyes darted about for a moment before she triggered her own comm. “Yeah, what?”

“Something don’t smell right.” he remarked quietly.

He fell silent, she assumed to check his instruments. Shelby followed suit, throwing in another visual scan of her surroundings. Still, nothing was showing up by sight or machine. With the exception of the contacts right off the nose of her ship, there didn’t seem to be anything. Then what could Vincent be feeling? He wasn’t usually wrong about things like this; in fact his intuition had saved them far too many times in the past for it to suddenly fail now.

She glanced out the protective bubble of the canopy at her lover’s plane. “I don’t see…”

Her voice faltered and her mouth hung open as one of the hangers a few hundred meters further up the station opened. Light stabbed into the void, and Cye pilots poured out in groups. All the moisture left her mouth as she watched the enemy pile out into space. There were far more than she was comfortable with already, and they just kept boiling out of the opening. She stopped counting after hitting fifty, though thankfully they ceased appearing shortly after. The massive force of enemy fighters grouped into a tight formation and turned as one towards the pair of humans. The group that had been just above her suddenly turned around to rejoin their fellows, whatever they had been hoping to accomplish done.

There was no time for thought as the group attacked all at once. They flew straight at the pair of humans, a few losing rockets as they powered forward. Shelby twisted her craft down and away from the missiles while only just holding back a primal growl. Enemy fighters swarmed around her; everywhere she looked was another one looking to turn her into wreckage. She rammed the accelerator forward, and she found herself mercifully outside the androids’ tightening net. Their huge formation blotted out the stars above her. Vincent was still somewhere in that swirling mass, but his craft wasn’t visible between all the Cye’s. She knew he was alive, but not for long if she kept floating around doing nothing.

Bringing her fighter back up towards the mass, she waited impatiently for the computer to acquire a lock. As soon as it had, Shelby fired a missile into the fray. Smears of smoldering metal were her reward as the explosive landed a direct hit against one of the fighters. But her victory was short-lived; several of the androids immediately turned to face her.

“Aaaaaaaaaah piss.” Shelby remarked dryly. Her hand yanked the flight stick to the side on instinct. A small river of lead passed through the spot she had just occupied, sending a slight shudder through her at the close call. But even as she dodged one attempt on her life, the console behind her head lit up with several warning screeches of enemies locking-on.

Another quick jerk of the stick pulled her into a steep climb as she snarled. She glanced around for a moment, searching hopefully for Vincent amongst the sea of bogies. There only seemed to be more of the robots’ crafts, but no sign of her love’s amidst the chaos. Her search turned frantic as she continued to see no indication that he was still alive. The comm seemed like a good idea, but she was loath to distract him with talk, if he could even hear her. Or worse, confirm her growing fear.

Her breath left her lungs in a relieved sigh as she caught sight him silhouetted against the brief flicker of light of one of the multitudes of enemy craft turning into a fireball. Her craft seemed to turn on its own, and she took off into the fur-ball where she had last spotted the other Thundercat. The flight computer chirped, showing a lock on one of the craft in front of her. The android’s plane couldn’t have been more than a hundred meters off her nose, practically right on top of her. She thumbed the launch button on the flight stick, and the missile took off on a stream of exhaust towards its target.

There was no hope of the robot dodging. It exploded as she blew through the cloud of debris left behind into the mass of Cye fighters, several smaller chunks of wreckage pinging off her hull. Surrounded by the enemy, she didn’t have long to wait before another craft entered her sights and was dispatched with a burst of chin-gun fire. The console behind her screamed as an enemy pilot settled in behind her.

She pulled hard on the flight-stick into a steep bank just in time to watch a missile streak off into space. Silently hoping it would hit one of the other androids and save her the trouble, she rolled her craft over and looped it up behind the thing that was on her tail. As ever, the robotic pilots were slow to react, and she scored a quick kill with another missile. She barely had time to admire her work before another pair of the enemies’ craft settled in behind her.

“Wanna get behind me?” she mocked with a grin, “Fine, let’s go robo-boys.”

Pulling into a tight turn, she hoped to quickly lose them so she could continue her search. But these two seemed to have been upgraded; they stuck close at her tail. She turned and twisted, but to no avail. They may as well have been attached by a rope for all the good her efforts to shake them did. But that was no reason to give them an easy shot. Each time one seemed to be making a move to shoot her down, she twisted and wove between the other aircraft to avoid the incoming rounds.

Dodging wasn’t going to pull her out of the fire, however. Try as she might, there seemed to be no ridding herself of her followers. And even as she dodged around another android, several of the Cye’s fighters settled in around her like a school of sharks after wounded prey. She was completely cut off from escape. Everywhere she looked was filled with another close up view of one of the enemies’ craft. No help could come from Vincent; he was embroiled in his own fight somewhere amid the tangle of starcraft. Her fist slammed into the side of her cockpit; this wasn’t how she had imagined it ending. She was supposed to die on a mountain, not waiting for her friend to blow up a huge space station. Shrill beeps sounded behind her as the pair of androids to her back took careful aim.

“Looks like ya could use some help.” a familiar voice called out through the comm.

The pair of fighters behind her suddenly ceased to exist, and were replaced by a quartet of human craft. Major Reynolds, that cocky smile evident in his voice, crooned, “See? I told you that you Marines should just stay on the ground. Leave the flying to real pilots.” Two of the Thundercats rocketed past her into the enemy’s formation. The fighters flew dizzying circles through the mass of robotic pilots, destroying several of them before guiding Vincent out of the center of the press of androids.

Shelby relaxed back into her seat as relief washed over her. “Thanks a ton, Major. That was getting to be a little hairy.”

“No kidding. I lost two of my pilots to this mess.”

His voice was blank, but Shelby could just hear the tinge of sadness behind it. As the other pulled up beside her, she whispered, “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Meh.” growled the Major, “They were idiots anyway. I told ‘em to back off, they wanted to keep going. Got themselves blown up for it too.” He snickered, “Do you know how big of a pain it’s going to be to explain that to their families? And the gorram paper work!” He paused for a moment before grunting, “Okay, enough chatter. Better go help the rest of the group before we lose them too.”

Major Reynolds’ fighter jumped forward into the fray, weaving through the clumsy androids with practiced grace. Shelby decided to just let the Major have his way, silently shaking her head. She turned back to the fight happening just off her nose in time to watch another three of the androids’ craft disintegrate. Vincent and the other two were holding their own, but Shelby still felt a flutter in her stomach as she watched the deadly ballet.

She began to join the rest, but paused as a small, tired voice groaned into her ear amid a rush of static, “He-hello? Is anypony there?”

Her hand pressed to the side of her helmet as her brow furrowed. Shakes took over her limbs as she asked, “Trixie? Is that you?”

“Yes!” yelled the unicorn mage, relief flooding her voice. A hitch in the pony’s voice developed as she continued, “We’ve got the bomb set up; it can go off at any point. Jaze is hurt pretty badly as well; he is unconscious.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Reynolds chimed with a worried tone creeping into his voice, “Did I just hear that fricken’ thing is armed? Then why the living hell are we still around here?”

“Trixie, where are you two?” asked Shelby, ignoring the Major’s panic.

“We are back in the hanger we came into, right by the door leading back out.”

Shelby’s hand rose again, but she just managed to stop it from slamming into the side of the cockpit again. She asked as her throat dried, “Look around, is there anything in there that looks like it could open the door?”

Several tense seconds passed, each one driving her heart rate up. Her fingers drummed on the accelerator as she waited; every passing second made her drumming grow swifter. The walls of the canopy, which had always seemed so safe, were beginning to close in around her. The very air seemed too thick to take in properly, and it sapped all the moisture from her throat as it made its way into her lungs. At least the combatants seemed to have forgotten her while she awaited a response.

“There is nothing!” Trixie cried, her voice a screech.

“Ah dammit.” Shelby growled in return, “That’s just great. Okay, move away from the door; we’re gonna blast our way in!”

“That will take too long, and I already mentioned that your weapons probably would not dent this beast.”

“Then what should we do?” Shelby snapped, “I’m not leaving you two in there.”

The pony paused for a second before asking, “How close are you to the hanger?”

Shelby raised an eyebrow, but answered anyway, “Not too far, and I can get over there quick enough, why?”

“I need you to be close, but not right outside the door. Hurry, there isn’t much time left.”

“What are you doing?” Shelby asked. When no answer came, she let out a growl, “Damn pony; give me more to go on than that!”

She brought her craft around and guided it back to the hanger they had found open, though it was staying resolutely closed. There seemed to be no change, nothing for her to know what was going on. The drumming against the accelerator lever resumed, now accompanied by her foot tapping against the floor once more. She stared out the glass of the canopy, but still there was nothing. Each passing second set her head spinning around faster, until she spotted it.

Against the outside of the space station was slight distortion, like the ripple of heat over sand. A bright pink bubble appeared around the distorted area amid a brilliant flash, and suspended in the center were a pair of figures. Light glinted off the metal plates of Jaze’s gilded armor, and next to him was Trixie. They flailed weakly in the lack of gravity, until disappearing with another flare of lavender light.

From behind her head blasted a wave of heat powerful enough to worm through her armor, accompanied by the strong smell of singed hair. She twisted in her seat just in time to watch Trixie and Jaze appear with another bright flash and fall into the passenger seat. The unicorn heaved with her legs to move the bloodied lump of an assassin into the chair. Shelby’s breath caught in her throat as she viewed the many wounds and rends in her friend’s armor. Droplets of his blood smeared against the seat as the pony worked, and his eyes flicked under clenched eyelids while his face contorted with pain.

Shelby removed her helmet and turned fully around, her voice only just audible, “What happened?”

“We can talk later; fly now please!” Trixie pleaded, “He needs a doctor and that bomb is going to explode NOW!”

Without another thought, Shelby spun back around in her seat and jammed her head back into her helmet. She triggered the comm and screamed, “We gotta go, the bomb’s due to go boom any second!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” Major Reynolds replied. “Alright lads and lasses, you heard the lady, let’s make like birds and get the flock outta here!”

“With ya there!” Shelby cried as she yanked the flight stick away from the station, adding, “Let’s go, minimum safe distance people!”

She rammed the accelerator to its maximum, and the Thundercat thrummed with power as it exploded forward. The space station fell behind, growing further away with each moment. None of the enemy craft gave chase, and instead began pulling back towards the station. The rest of the human fighters fell in beside and behind her. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she couldn’t resist looking back towards the doomed station.

It still resolutely remained intact. Shelby gritted her teeth and demanded of the unicorn, “How much time was actually left when you left the stupid nuke?”

“If I remember, about five minutes or so, maybe a little less.” replied Trixie.

“And that was?”

“Three minutes ago. But Carn should be trying to defuse the warhead even as we speak.”

“Wh-wha-WHAT?!” sputtered Shelby, “Then we’ve gotta go back and stop him!”

“Trust me Shelby; I have already taken care of that.” The pony’s smug grin could be felt without having to turn and see it.

Shelby’s face scrunched, but she caved in, “Fine, if you say so. But if that bomb doesn’t go off…”

“It will, just go.”

“Right O then, we’re on our way to the Vigilance.” Shelby announced. She switched off the comm and turned her head to look into the back seat of her plane. Trixie was pressed against the side of the cockpit, holding herself several inches off the Colonel. Shelby met the pony’s worried gaze, a pleading look filling the expressive lavender pools. She offered the unicorn the best reassuring smile she could, and added, “Don’t worry; they’ll have docs there to take care of the idiot bleeding all over the seat. He’ll pull through; everything’s going to be fine.”

Trixie nodded, turning her attention back to the young man passed out beneath her. Shelby just caught the glimmer of a tear as it disappeared into azure fur. She wanted to offer more assurance, but she knew it wouldn’t help. Instead, she looked forward to where the Vigilance was just becoming a dot against the thousands of other dots of both ships and stars, growling to herself, dammit, can’t this bucket go any faster?

“That’s right, run! Take your fool of a lover and leave you stupid equine! It’ll make it sweeter when I find you hiding in whatever hole you crawl into!” Carn screamed, blood thudding in his skull.

That foolish boy and his damned pony were long gone. Pain bloomed in his chest, following the chunk of metal lodged under his ribcage. He stared down at the mix of fluids leaking from the wound, his breathing coming in short, shuddering pants. Everything seemed to hurt at once, but his newly missing eye screamed at him from the empty socket. Anytime he refocused his remaining eye, he could feel the muscles pulling against nothing. This was the second time he had lost his sight to them, there wouldn’t be a third. He would see to that personally.

His hand came up and reached into the stab, grasping the broken blade of his sword and pulling it out with a swift yank. The pain that accompanied its leaving barely registered as a flicker on his face as he stared at the makeshift stake. A small smirk tugged at his lips; even this had failed to stop him. He could easily have this damage repaired. It was a sign that he was right, that he would prevail. He even had the enemy’s trump card in his grasp; nothing would stop him. Even so, the pain thudding through his body, from everywhere at once it seemed, put a scowl on his face. The pup had managed to do more damage than he had thought.

The tramp of metal feet brought his eyes up to the multitudes of Cye troopers pouring back into the station’s train hub. One stood right beside him, and an intelligence brushed his consciousness. The presence was vast and comprised of many different Cye units connected, while a wealth of information threatened to overwhelm his limited senses. Each unit sent him what they saw, and they in turn could look through his eyes. The contact sent a thrill running along his spine, as it had every time since his rebirth.

The image of the unicorn that had fled with the young Colonel perched atop her back forced itself into his mind, the presence turning questioning. The thought of those two set his stomach ablaze. His eye gave a particularly painful throb as a hand clenched into a tight fist, his grip tight enough to make his fingernails dig into his palm. But as much as he wanted to, there was no way he’d be able to kill the pair, especially that pony. And he had to be the one to do it; he was owed the satisfaction of killing them himself.

“No, don’t chase them.” Carn answered aloud, “We will deal with them later. They won’t be able to leave this station; we can hunt them down at our leisure.”

He turned to the Cye that had retaken positions around the control station for the many hangers and trams, a thought occurring to him. He waved a hand at the androids and added, “Send a group of our pilots to remove those two clinging to the side of the ship. No reason to leave them there waiting for their friends; that would just be cruel.”

No sooner than he had spoken the words than did one of the troopers begin entering commands into the console. The selected Cye units marched towards one of the working tram platforms, boarding the vehicle as soon as it arrived. Just a few seconds after he had given the word, the androids had disappeared on their mission.

Once he was sure his orders were being followed, he looked down at his chest once more. Though the blood had slowed to a slight trickle, it was still going to need some attention. He removed his jacket, grimacing at the torn fabric, and tore a long strip to tie over the wound. His hands shook as he stared at his ruined clothing, growling a curse at the boy who had destroyed it. It was something he planned to make assassin pay for, dearly.

He turned back to the bomb just a few feet away. It sat there, silently clicking past the four minute mark; another testament to his foe’s foolishness. He knelt next to the weapon, gently touching the casing on the nuclear device. It was far beyond his skill to stop the actual explosion from taking place, he knew that. Instead, his hand moved to the timer. He gripped the timer’s plastic case and gave a yank, easily pulling the top half off and exposing a neat roll of wires of various different colors bundled together.

He snapped his fingers, and the discarded blade of his sword was placed in his outstretched palm. A quick tug at the plastic ties binding them, and the wires sprang apart for him to work with. His steady hand splayed the wires further as he silently counted each one and followed it to its destination. Every wire had to be cut in the proper order to interrupt the power without triggering a failsafe. A simple enough task, made interesting by the world-ending bomb set to go off should he mess up.

Rolling his shoulders, he pulled the first wire in the sequence out and sliced through it with the bit of broken blade. When nothing happened, he selected another wire, and another, swiftly working down to the last three. The end was tauntingly close. Carn’s heart skipped a beat as the warm glow of satisfaction grew in the pit of his stomach. He gave the timer a quick check; there was still over a minute left before detonation; more than enough time.

An android tramped over to him. Again the presence touched his mind, and the image of the pair disappearing from the hanger, followed by a view of several of the humans’ fighters retreating. He turned his gaze up to the trooper staring down at him, his heart suddenly still. His mind refused to acknowledge the information being sent to it, but the robots couldn’t lie. Nor would they have a reason to do so. That damned unicorn had proven yet again that he should stop underestimating her.

A scream of rage reverberated off the walls, and Carn felt his world slip away into a white-hot surge of rage. When he came to, the android lay scattered around him in various pieces, with the last half of his broken blade lodged in what was left of its chest. The first half was nowhere to be found. He turned back to the bomb and saw it enter the last half a minute of its countdown.

“Leave them.” he growled at the androids already moving towards the trams, “And bring back the other pilots. We will have the humans give up each one of them when we crush their pathetic fleet.”

Once again, rage boiled through him. He imagined everything he would do to them after all resistance had been crushed; maybe he would show them what it was like to have their eyes destroyed for a change. He knelt and grabbed the next wire, yanking it from its connector with a quick pull. All that was left was the infamous red and blue wires. Humans were nothing if not predictable. Snagging the red wire with a humorless smirk, Carn gave it another quick yank.

The timer gave a loud beep, and the grin slid from his face. It shouldn’t have made a noise, there should have been no power. Something had gone wrong. His stomach tightened into a ball as it sank into his boots; knew he had done everything right. In his hand, the wire had begun to shimmer slightly, as well as its brother still attached to the timer. His eyebrow rose as the wires swapped colors, resuming their true hues and revealing his mistake.

The unicorn, again; no one else could have done it. “Clever girl.” Carn remarked dryly. Her smug features flashed before his eyes, and he could only smile as her visage burned into his mind.

The room had become unbearably hot. Every breath sent another spike through his battered lungs, while sweat rolled off his brow and back in rivulets. He turned to the explosive, and he could swear he saw it glowing. Energy hummed through the area around the bomb. His eyelids slid shut, only to have an intense light blast through them as an unimaginable heat engulfed everything around him.

“Hey! Get out of the way!” yelled a voice from behind. Applejack pressed to the wall as a stretcher loaded with a wounded pony blew past her. Several more ponies were forced to dive out of the way as the volunteer nurses wheeled an injured stallion into one of the many rooms dotting the hospital’s hall.

She stepped back out into the hall after they passed, giving the hall a quick check. She seemed to have spent more time in the long corridors of Ponyville’s hospital in the past few days than she had ever done in her life. And in all that time, she had never seen the hospital be so full. Patients were being moved all over the place, while the doctors and nurses alike forced aside anypony unlucky enough to be in their way.

A few gurneys lined one side of the hall, skipping the doors to each of the patients’ rooms. The opposite side of the hall was left clear, and several doors to various storage rooms were spaced evenly down the wall. Humans and ponies peeled themselves off the sides of the corridor to continue on their way, everypony looking ready to fall over but still bearing a determined gleam in their eyes. But even as Applejack watched, one of the earth pony nurses leaned against a wall and passed out. The exhausted mare was soon lifted onto one of the waiting beds and wheeled off.

The ground floor she was in was cool to the point of giving her shivers even through her fur, not helped by the usual intensely clean smell had being replaced by a scent she had come to know well. The stench of blood was particularly bad in the wake of the gurney’s passing. Her face twisted with disgust, but there was really no escaping it. The odor was clinging to her armor, her coat, everything. She wanted, needed, a good, hot bath to rid herself of the repulsive metallic smell, but a nagging voice had brought her back to the hospital to help where she could.

Or at least, that had been her plan before everypony turned her aside. Her teeth ground together as she continued down the hall. Before, she could always find some way to help anypony that needed it. She had done her job; there was nothing left for her to do, and she knew that she had to let everypony else do theirs. But it didn’t leave her feeling any better.

Giving the floor a quick scuff from her hoof, she continued down the hall. No destination was set in her mind, but she had to keep moving. As before, her grimy Guardspony armor caught more than a few strange looks, a few of the nurses even stopped to ask her if she was lost. But Applejack turned each of them away as politely as she could manage, even if her answers got snappier with each utterance

Up ahead, she could see a break room littered with couches and vending machines. Her hooves turned to lead while her legs became pudding-filled sacks that almost failed to support her. She drew level with the room and peeked inside. Nopony had taken up residence in the rest area; a perfect place to stop and think. Applejack dove onto the nearest couch as soon as she entered the room.

A long sigh escaped her as she settled against the soft cushions; it must have been a year since she had sat down, and she couldn’t even remember what sleep was. Her eyelids immediately began to sink as she relaxed into the sofa; nothing had ever felt so comfortable. The sleepless nights and long days of fighting finally overtook her, and she did nothing to stop the advent of sleep.

“Hey,” asked a bemused voice from above her, “mind if I sit here?”

A scream began to rise in her throat, there were plenty of other seats that wouldn’t require her to move, but the familiarity of the voice choked off her anger. She cracked an eye, and almost immediately her eyes sprang wide open as she stammered, “OH! D-Dmitri! What’re you doin’ up?”

She curled her legs under her and allowed Dmitri to sit next to her, catching a groan of pain as he settled to the couch. The young man’s face had turned gaunt, and he looked ready to fall asleep himself. He was dressed in a muted green short-sleeved shirt and pants, the bandages on his leg just showing through the material. His hand gently massaged the wound as he leaned into the cushions, seeming like he didn’t notice the motion.

The human’s head fell back onto the back of the couch as he answered, “The staff needed help, so I got off my lazy butt to help where I could. But now it’s a matter of actually treating people, so I’m not much good anymore.”

“Sounds ‘bout righ’.” Applejack remarked, “The human ships up there’re keepin’ most uh the Cye offa the planet. The rest’re gettin’ picked off by them fighters, so’s not much use in me stickin’ around the trench. Needed to get away a bit, ya know?”

“I can understand that, for sure.” Dmitri muttered. He pressed the back of his fist to his mouth to stifle a yawn before continuing, “So, is it over? There’s nothing else coming right?”

“Ah couldn’ say.” she admitted. Her hoof rubbed at her eyes, and she added, “Last Ah heard, Jaze’d gone up to figure out what we was gonna do ‘bout the big thing that has e’erpony all worried up in space. Ain’t heard nuthin’ since then, Ah’m afraid.”

“Damn, hoped you’d have some good news to report.” responded the Marine with a lighthearted tone.

Despite his attempt at humor, Applejack couldn’t make herself laugh. Her head sunk down to rest on her forelegs, and she whispered, “Wish Ah could too.”

“Oh come on, don’t do that!”

“Do what?” she asked, her brow knitting together as she fixed him with a single eye.

“Start acting like it’s your fault there was less than great news. I’m not one to shoot the messenger.” Dmitri smiled and put a hand on her shoulder, “Besides, you told me there was no more fighting planetside. That’s great news; gives us time to regroup.”

“Yeah, Ah guess yer…”

Her voice faltered as a commotion rang through the halls. Ponies and humans alike ran past the door to the break room, barely taking the care not to bump into each other in their haste. The elated yells filtering through the air only served to stir her curiosity further. She looked up at the young man to see her confusion mirrored on his features. They both rose from the couch and dove into the rush of bodies pushing them towards an exit.

Applejack frowned as her mind churned over what could be happening. Besides the rush to get outside, there seemed to be nothing wrong. They ran out into a wide lobby, large windows looking out into the calm darkness. She glanced out a one as they dashed by, but the night still looked as it had before. Although, silhouetted against the lawn, she could just make out several figures staring into the skies.

The entire group soon burst into the night, and Applejack immediately turned her eyes upward. There seemed to be no difference anywhere; it was the same stars she had seen on countless nights, and the multitudes of glowing dots representing the battling ships in orbit still moseyed around. As strange as it was to see, the dozens of beings around her wouldn’t be watching that, it had been going on for too long to keep its novelty.

She turned to look at the blotch of stars that had been blacked out by the thing over her home, and noticed a faint glow somewhere near the center. As she watched, the radiance brightened until it began to rival the moon overhead, and just continued to grow. She squinted at the station; it didn’t seem to be moving, and nothing looked to have moved closer. Her stomach roiled dangerously as her mind jumped through anything the giant construct could be attempting.

The light, that before had grown so steadily, suddenly turned as bright as the sun. Applejack brought a hoof over her face and twisted away, and she heard several others cry out in pain as they followed suit. An instant headache formed deep in her skull, and spots swam lazily in her vision. The light eradicated the shadows around her, turning night into day for few, brief moments before it cooled back into nothing.

As quickly as the brightness had come, it was gone, and darkness reclaimed its rightful territory, a welcome relief. Deathly silence held court over the hospital’s front lawn, even the group’s breathing seemed to have stopped. Applejack blinked rapidly to clear her vision, all the while rubbing a forehoof to her temple. She stayed still for fear of bumping into somepony nearby, but there seemed to be no movement from the group at all. Her ears turned up and twitched around, searching for any sign she was still surrounded by living beings. The only comfort she had was a calm breeze tugging almost lovingly at her mane.

From the stillness behind her, laughter crept through the air. It began softly, but soon grew into the manic laughter of relief. As the fit reached a peak, the voice screamed towards the sky, “That’s for Earth you metal bastards! And for every other planet you destroyed!”

“Is it over?” whispered a stallion as the first voice resumed its laughter; a few nervous voices joining it.

“That… it couldn’t…” a woman cried out, “It’s just like the old stories, stories from Earth! ‘And in the skies another sun was born, ripping apart all in its path as it grew, until even the very ground was scorched and torn asunder by its fury.’ That was a nuke! They used a fucking nuke!”

Hushed, almost angry whispers broke out into a low buzz. Every human in the group seemed to be engaged in the argument. They gravitated towards one another and began to talk in earnest. Applejack couldn’t catch more than a few disjointed words, but each one spoke of the horror of. A shiver that reached to her core ran through her as the hushed conversations grew louder.

Applejack felt a hand land on her shoulder, and looked up to see Dmitri. His face had twisted into equal parts fear and anger, and he kept throwing glances. He leaned close enough to hiss in her ear, “I knew they’d think of something, but damn, I never thought about a nuke. They shouldn’t even be any to use!”

“What’s a nuke?” she shot back, glancing around. Many of the humans nearby had begun to look angrier, and the tension rolling off them was enough to make her fur stand on end.

“What’s a…” Dmitri began incredulously, before slapping his forehead, “Crap, I forgot, you’ve not dealt with human history. Long story short, nukes are most of the reason humanity nearly killed itself all those years ago. They’re supposed to be banned. So what the hell is the ECN doing with one?”

“Whatsit matter if’n it saved our hides?” she asked.

Utter silence greeted her question, the conversations dying out as the humans turned to look at her. Chills ran down her spine as pools of anger glared at her from every direction. They looked ready to tear her apart, and several began to close in on her. A few ponies pressed closer to her sides, and she felt Dmitri’s hand give a quick squeeze at her shoulder. She forced herself away from those nearby; the last thing she wanted was for somepony else to get hurt for her.

She plastered a smile to her lips and called over the crowd, “Ah don’t know what makes y’all hate these nuke things s’much, Ah ain’t had the pleasure of growing up knowin’ ‘bout ‘em. But alls Ah kin see is that it blew up that thing up there. So’tuh me, that seems purty good. Ah’m jus’ glad we had something to fight back with.”

Angry voices began shouting at her in a nonsensical jumble of words, though the humans just managed to keep their anger from boiling over into physical blows. Applejack felt her whole body quake at the sight of all the humans glaring at her. Several looked ready to kill, and like they could go off any second. She had never seen anypony get so upset over an opinion.

One man yelled out over the crowd, “But if there’s nukes still in use, what else are they hiding?” Murmurs and shouts of agreement followed the statement, along with cries for answers. Applejack looked from one angry face to the next, and her heart began to race. Whether it was fear or anticipation, she couldn’t be sure.

“Quiet!” Dmitri barked in a commanding tone. The crowd followed the order almost instantly, and Applejack could see why. The young man stood ramrod straight with his arms crossed and his feet planted firmly in a wide stance. A fierce glare set his gaze alight that made each one of the unruly people he turned it on shiver slightly. Even in his simple hospital clothing, he cut an impressive figure. All eyes turned to stare at him, waiting breathlessly for his next words.

Dmitri took a second to gaze around the group again before continuing, “Get a hold of yourselves. AJ’s right here; we shouldn’t be mad because someone used a weapon. I would have rather had that bomb than not.”

“But what will happen now? How many more of those damnedable bombs’ve they got stashed away?”

“Yeah!” cried out another indignant voice, “They could use one to destroy any colony that didn’t obey them. They’d be unstoppable with weapons like that!”

“They already could, if’n they wan’ned to.” Applejack fired back. The eyes turned back to her, but now she could only find curiosity and fear. She swallowed hard and cleared her throat to continue, “They’ve got all kinds uh ships and soldiers; if they wan’ned to take over anythin’ it wouldn’ be too hard.”

“But…”

“Enough!” yelled Dmitri over the crowd, “You’ve all got work to do, or did you forget the people you left unattended to stand out here? Everyone with something better to do should hop to it!”

Grumbling amongst themselves, the crowd disbanded and returned to the hospital. Soon, Applejack was alone with Dmitri on the front lawn. She let out a quick huff of air and allowed her legs to collapse. The ground felt just as comfortable as the couch before, and her eyes were already beginning to sink. Every inch of her body was still shivering. Their angry faces stuck in her mind and swam in her vision. The humans had turned on her so fast; she had never seen anything like it.

“Hey, don’t worry.” Dmitri cooed reassuringly as he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked up as he gave a smile and added, “That’s how people are. They’re scared, and lashing out. Once there’s an official statement from the ECN they’ll calm down.”

“Didn’t ya do the same thin’?” asked Applejack tiredly, only half joking.

The young man laughed, “Yeah, and I’m all better aren’t I?”

“Ah guess so, huh?”

She let her chin sink to the ground and curled her legs underneath her body once more. Sleep threatened to overtake her once again, but she couldn’t stop glancing around. She hadn’t been afraid of the dark since she was a filly, but now the comfortable night was full of danger. Every shadow turned into another hateful face, each gust of wind an angry voice. Even as tired as she was, her mind refused to close down.

Dmitri knelt next to her as his arm gently wrapped around her waist. He heaved her back onto her hooves and chortled, “I don’t think it’s a great idea to pass out on the front lawn, milady. Someone may step on you. Let’s get you back on one of those comfy couches, and I’ll sit with you until you wake up.”

Applejack couldn’t hold back a yawn. She rubbed her eyes with a hoof, the other barely supporting her, and murmured, “Tha’ sounds nice. Thanks Dmitri, fer yer offer and fer stickin’ up to the crowd for me.”

“Nothing more than any gentleman would do.” assured the young Marine.

He was bent double, never taking his arm off her back. The only thing keeping her up was a hand on her side. She leaned against him, and sighed, “Then Ah’ll do the only righ’ thang and take ya up on tha’ offer.”

The hands turned her towards the entrance to the hospital, but she couldn’t resist one last look up into the sky. The patch of stars that had been covered for so long was clear; whatever pieces of the station that were left were floating amongst the blackness between the bright points of light. A weight that had settled on her so long ago lifted from her shoulders, and a slight smile graced her features. For the first time in awhile, she felt that the end was near.

Bright New Day

Everything felt frozen. He was naked in the cold, nothing between him and the unforgiving, frigid air. Darkness pressed down on him, forcing into his throat and filling his chest with the same hateful chill. He couldn’t tell what he was laying on in the darkness, but it was giving with several bumps everywhere along his back. His eyes couldn’t pierce the gloom, and his limbs couldn’t rise to fight off the vile, clinging shadows. And as the shade pressed into him, a dull ache suffused his form.

A familiar, haunting voice called out from the darkness, “Jaaaaaze… Where are you Jaze? Come here.”

The voice made his limbs shake. He knew that the voice should have been silenced forever, that it couldn’t exist. But as it called his name again, he knew that its owner was still alive. From somewhere nearby, he heard the shuffling of something’s shambling gait. He stilled his breathing, hoping against hope that he hadn’t been heard. The foot falls halted, and the voice called out again from their direction, raspy and shrill with urgency, “Where are you boy? You can’t hide forever! I can smell you… I will find you…”

The footsteps resumed, moving a little faster this time. Jaze felt his lungs burning with need for air, but he could no longer let himself draw breath. His chest was tight, too tight for his heart to keep beating. Something was pulling down on him, keeping him pinned to whatever was under him. He offered a silent, begging prayer that whoever was looking for him never found him. If it found him, he knew he was dead.

In the shadows next to him, he saw something moving. Roughly the size and shape of a tall man, the figure was hunched over as if in terrible pain. The thing seemed to be made of shadow, a swirling mass of darkness that radiated hate and fear. It slowly turned in his direction and took a few, shuffling steps forward. He could just make out its rasping breath grinding in its chest, but its face remained in cloaked in darkness. The sickening smell of rot washed over him, turning his stomach and leaving a sour taste on his tongue.

The figure drew closer, until it was right on top of him. Though he couldn’t see them, he felt the thing’s eyes staring down at him. It stooped over, its face still hidden, and whispered in a raspy voice, “Welcome home Jaze.” The figure held a lantern up to its face, and bright light burned away the shadows surrounding them.

Carn’s leering visage stared down from above, but his face had decayed to where the bones of his face were visible in places. The insane man’s black eyes had been torn out, leaving behind only the raw, bloody sockets. A mad grin lit the older man’s face, revealing long, sharper-than-normal teeth set into bloody gums. Jaze’s heart turned into a ball of ice in his chest as the demonic visage leaned closer.

“Now you will stay here,” whispered Carn, “with me, forever.”

“No…” Jaze groaned, trying to break free of what was holding him down.

Carn laughed, “You can’t escape. You will stay with me, and them.” The older man held his lantern higher and cast its unnatural light on the floor.

The surrounding area was a carpet of bodies. All of them were corpse-white and featureless, lacking any indication of gender. Some were still, while others still weakly struggled to rise above their fellows. Several of the bodies had wrapped around him, and were pulling him down into their company. As soon as the light struck them, their hold on him tightened and forced the last remainders of air from his chest. Their rough skin was intensely cold and peeled away his skin where ever it touched. Bald, eyeless heads turned towards him, making his skin crawl.

He tried to fight off the grasping hands and powerful arms. He kicked and thrashed his arms against them, but he could only move his limbs a scant few inches with no power behind them. His struggles made their grip stronger; one arm slithered across his neck and closed around his throat. More of the pallid arms clutched his ribs, crushing them and making his body burn with agony.

It was impossible to breathe. Long, sharp fingernails scraped over his bare flesh, leaving behind several deep cuts. The new wounds welled over with blood and burned horribly in the freezing air. More of the claws dug into his back, sending flares of agony along his spine. All the while, the subhumans pulled at him and began slowly dragging him down into the press of bodies.

One of the creatures near his neck reared back and a split appeared across the middle of its face, revealing two six-inch fangs set into its upper jaw. The beast lunged forward and dug the dagger-like teeth into his left shoulder. Ice spread from the wound, burning along his arm and chest in a numbing shock of misery. Jaze’s mouth fell open, but no sound could escape past the arm around his throat. They continued to drag him downwards, crooked hands now clutching at his face. He could just peek out from between the fingers to see Carn staring down gleefully.

A bright light appeared from behind the older man, and Carn suddenly screamed before retreating into the shadows. The bodies nearly threw him from their grip into the luminescence. The various wounds covering his exposed form burned away in the glow, and he felt gentle warmth spreading through him. A sense of safety settled over him, and the tightness in his chest eased to the point he could breathe again. He felt the warm radiance lifting him further away from the grasp of the creatures below, carrying him somewhere.

Shivers racked his body as he thawed enough to move. The warm light slowly turned into something like sunlight. It felt wonderful against his bare skin. He reached around to his back to gently feel the area where his raw wound had been, and found nothing. Only smooth skin with the barest trace of scarring marked where the claws had dug into him. His fingers flew to his injured shoulder, and found it too was completely healed over.

The light deposited him on something soft and cozy. He felt a warm presence against his legs, a comforting change from the frigid bodies. Something covered him, spreading soothing heat through his chilled form. The shivers began to subside, leaving Jaze feeling exhausted. He felt something brush his cheek. A smiling, feminine face peered down at him with soft eyes. The woman whispered his name as she leaned down to plant her soft lips against his.

“E…” he croaked, his voice having deserted him, “Ev…” The light above him grew brighter, so bright his eyes were forced shut. He could feel himself slipping away. Even if he tried to open his eyes now, he wouldn’t be able to drag the lids back. He welcomed the darkness, especially if it let him forget. But he wanted one, last look at the one who had saved him…

Jaze tried to open his eyes and was instantly blinded by bright lights, which sent a spike of pain deep into his head. The light bleached his sight and left him unable to see. His eyes immediately clamped shut, and refused to open again. Spots dotted the blackness while his head throbbed in sympathy with his eyes.

The remnants of the dream set his heart to pounding, though he didn’t know if it were fear or something different that set his pulse racing. He could still feel the arms gripping him, but the face that had smiled at him just before he awoke continued to swim through his mind. Even thinking the name set a wave of pain through him, but he couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit of joy at having been able to see her again. Even if it was only a dream.

Intense soreness wracked his body from head to toe. The worst was his ribs. They twanged painfully every time he drew breath, or tried to make any movement at all. His back and shoulder throbbed at the smallest movements as well. The pain robbed his limbs of all their strength; he couldn’t even bring them off of the bed. The only thing he could do was lay there and wait.

He was lying on his back, his lower half covered in a thin sheet. Several bandages were wrapped around his torso running every which way. The tight bandages made breathing difficult. The only thing he could feel on him other than the sheet and dressings was a close-fitting pair of undershorts. Underneath him was a comfortable mattress; supporting his head and shoulders were several large, fluffy pillows. The cool air made him wish for something other than a sheet to cover with. An overly clean, disinfectant smell reached his nostrils and sent a shudder through him. He knew that smell; it was the same smell of every hospital in the galaxy.

He lay still, trying to remember what had happened. There had been a fight, but he couldn’t focus on the details. He kept getting flashes of fear and exhaustion, but everything was a blur in his mind. The harder he sought the answers to his burning questions, the faster the memories vanished. If he’d had the strength, he would have thumped the bed in frustration. But as it was, he was forced to continue waiting on something to become clear.

As he lay in the darkness, Jaze began to remember what had landed him here. The space station swam to the fore of his mind. Everything, from the fights through the station to that last, painful encounter, began to take form inside his mind. And finally, he remembered leaving the bomb in Carn’s care as Trixie fled with him on her back. But everything afterwards was blank. Vague memories of being intensely cold and of being pressed into something by what must have been a huge hand were the only things that he could recall.

The pain in his eyes had begun to subside, and he hoped it wouldn’t return as soon as he tried to open them again. His eyelids creaked apart and he was able to look around the area he found himself in. Trixie was the first thing that caught his eye. She was gently snoring, using his leg as a pillow. Her mane had become a frizzy mess as she slept, casting a halo of silvery hair around her head. He couldn’t help but smile softly at the unicorn as he looked down at her.

A quick glance around the room showed he was in a hospital. The room was the familiar dark gray of a human starship. To his right was a small, sliding metal door slightly recessed into the wall. Across from the door was a round porthole looking out onto a field of stars. There was a small nightstand and two chairs across from each other by to his bed, but that was all the spartan room contained. Trixie sat half in one chair with her upper body resting on his bed with her forelegs propped against the edge. The other chair sat unoccupied but looked like it had been well used.

Both of his arms had a couple needles jammed into veins and connected by long, clear tubes to several bags of fluids above him. One filled with what was unmistakably blood, while another couple held what looked like water. Attached at each temple was a small wire leading to a machine with several wavy lines arranged vertically on a glowing, green display. On the first finger of his real hand was a small clip leading to another machine that he recognized as monitoring his heart. Across his chest, he could see bright white bandages crisscrossed around the majority of his upper half.

His eyes finally slid back to the pony lying against him. He just managed to bring up his metal hand and gently brush away the stray strands of mane from Trixie’s face. The unicorn hardly moved at the touch of his hand. But as he brushed away the hair, he could see dark bags underneath her eyes. Fresh trails of tears matted her azure fur starting at the corners of her eyes. His thumb gently brushed against the last traces of the unicorn’s tears. Even with his hand on her face, Trixie didn’t do more than murmur in her sleep and snuggle closer to his leg.

The sliding door flashed open, and in burst Admiral Gaston. The old man’s face had become drawn, showing many of the same features as the pony on Jaze’s leg. The dark bags under Gaston’s eyes as well as his sagging shoulders made the grayed man look far older. But as soon as the sailor took in the scene before him, a genuinely happy smile spread across his face. Gaston practically strutted to the bed, and even with the tiredness playing behind them, his eyes sparkled with mirth.

“Jaze! You’re awake. Gave’us a gorram scare ya did.” the old man crowed, practically bouncing into the room.

“Sh,” Jaze croaked. His throat was scratchy and raw, turning his voice to gravel. His tongue was fuzzy and thick, while he couldn’t seem to keep his mouth wet at all. But he still managed to grind out an admonishment, “Keep it down, Trixie’s trying to sleep.”

Gaston’s face reddened as he looked down to the sleeping mare. His voice dropped lower to match Jaze’s, “Oh, aye. Bes’ thing for ‘er righ’ now. Been with you since the docs dropped you in here to recover, all trussed up and lookin’ like hell. Stayed up almost three days; guess she finally couldn’ stand it anymore ‘n fell asleep. She couldn’t have been out for too long, either.”

Jaze nodded, his hand running through the unicorn's mane again. Moving his arm sent shocks of pain down his side, but the soft, silvery hair felt wonderful against his skin. The strands parted around his fingers, each one catching the light as it fell back into place among the mess. The pain along his side began to lessen the more he played with the fine hairs.

“So, how’s it been old man?” he asked as a painful smile creased his face. “How long was I out, and what happened while I was?”

“I’ll start with the easiest one first; you’ve been out ‘bout a week.”

Jaze’s eyes widened as he felt his heart skip a beat, “That long?”

“Yep.” confirmed Gaston, “With the blood loss, broken ribs, ‘n the cuts everywhere, docs’re saying that it’s lucky you lived. Was really touch ‘n go for awhile there.” The old man raised an eyebrow in a disapproving glare, “And I’ll say it again, you scared us nearly to death.”

“So could you tell me what’s been going on in that week? What happened after we left the Cye station, I don’t remember it at all.”

“I’ll tell ya what happened.” cackled Gaston as his voice began to creep higher, “Biggest damned explosion I’ve seen. Jus’ obliterated that station. Don’t know how you two did it, but you pulled it off. Damned heroes you are.”

Jaze smiled as he gently combed Trixie’s mane with his fingers. “Thank her. She’s the one that kept Carn from disarming the bomb, somehow. I was just there to stall him a bit.”

“Either way, it worked.” Gaston moved to the unoccupied chair and fell into it with grateful sigh. With his elbows on his knees, the old man continued, “Soon as the station went up, most of the Cye ships turned tail and ran. A few stayed behind, but they were hardly organized. My fleets massacred the leftovers an’ didn’ lose a single ship. As an added bonus, human forces across the galaxy are reporting the Cye forces they’re facing are either falling or being pushed back. Won’t be long before we’ve swept’em clean of the galaxy.”

As much as he hated it, Jaze couldn’t stop the hopeful tone from taking over his voice, “So, you’re saying this over?”

“I reckon so, boyo.”

A strange fluttering filled Jaze’s stomach. Even though he had been work toward this moment for years, it still sent a numbing shock over him to hear that it was over. His hand came up to cover his mouth as the truth began to sink in. It really was over. He wouldn’t have to hear about another human colony being destroyed, or listen to another sad story of someone losing their entire family. The pain filling his body became distant as the realization washed over him.

Jaze looked up to Gaston, “God, that’s good to hear.”

“That it is.” the old Admiral conceded, “It’s not all sunshine and rainbow though. We’ve got a lot of wounded here, plus we’ve got a lot of ships around the planet to search for survivors. Not to mention clearing out the last bits of Cye from any worlds they’re still on.”

“Yeah, but…” A smile lit Jaze’s face, “It’s over. The war is over.”

The grayed sailor nodded, “Aye, it is. We’ve yet got a lot of work to do, but for now we can all breathe a bit easier.”

Jaze grinned; his stomach still felt fluttery. He still felt as if he were in a dream. Looking past the Admiral at the porthole, he stared out at the field of stars. After so long, they held wonder like he hadn’t felt since he was a child. Each one was a potential to find a new world. He looked back down at the pony stretched across his legs; maybe they could even find more friendly beings scattered throughout the galaxy.

“So what happens now, Gaston?” he asked as he looked back up, “What is our next move?”

Gaston stood in one startlingly-swift motion and place his arms at the small of his back. Any trace of a smile slid from his weather-beaten face, and his gaze became fierce and focused. Puffing out his chest just a bit, the old man crowed, “We’re gonna take back every one of our worlds stolen by the Cye, starting with Earth.”

Jaze managed to pull himself up into a sitting position despite a searing flare of pain from his ribs. He brought his right hand up in a quick salute as he asked, “Great, when do we start sir?”

“You’re not doing a damn ‘til you’ve healed up a bit. Then I have an idea for the perfect assignment for you.”

“Very good sir.” Jaze responded, but he felt his heart sink. Even if he had known it was coming, the idea of leaving Equestria behind left a hollow feeling in his chest. He couldn’t stop his eyes from flitting back down to the unicorn sleeping on his leg. It left a sour taste in his mouth to think of leaving already, but he knew there was no choice. He set his jaw as the idea took hold of his mind, all the while holding back from screaming about how unfair it was.

The Admiral smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry about the future so much boyo. You worry about getting all fixed up,” he gave a pointed glance at Trixie, “And the things that are right in front of you.”

His face burned, and Jaze let his gaze drop to look at the floor. “Is it that obvious?”

“Only if someone knows, and I’ve had a long time to figure these things out. Was a bit like that with my wife.” chuckled the old sailor. A hand landed on Jaze’s shoulder as his friend added, “Don’t worry about anything right know, just rest and feel better.”

“I’ll try, that’s all I can promise.”

Even as he said the words, Jaze felt his eyelids droop. He settled back into the comfortable pillows as everything began to fade away. Just the effort of sitting up to talk left him feeling drained. The softness of the mattress was pulling him back down into peaceful oblivion. A large yawn split his head, and he didn’t even hear the door open to let Gaston out before he dropped back into dreams.

Farewell...

Bright sunshine streamed through the windows of Ponyville General, aiding the overhead lights in illuminating the small, bare recovery room Jaze waited in. He rested in one of the chairs, his foot tapping quickly against the floor. The bed had been made, everything had been tidied up, and no one had thought to leave a book or anything to make the wait bearable. There was no clock on the wall, no way to judge how long he had been sitting there, doing nothing.

Today was the day; he was finally being let out of the room that had been his world ever since he had been moved down to the planet a couple weeks ago. Most of the pain was gone, and only a bit of stiffness remained to remind him of his injuries. Between all the sleeping and tests he had gone through during the first few days, they were a blur. But time dragged on, seemingly leaving him behind. Everyone had been too busy over the last few days to visit much, and the doctors and nurses were hardly any sort of company. But now, the only thing left was one final check from a doctor, and then he would be free.

Jaze stood and stretched, finally unable to stand sitting any more. Casting one last, disgusted look around the tiny room, he moved to the only window, across from the door. From his second story vantage point, he could just see the activity from the human camp in the distance. Dropships were constantly touching down and lifting off, kicking up dust all the while. Overhead, just visible between the clouds, was a huge human carrier directing the flocks of smaller ships fluttering around it.

The ship, and others like it, had been appearing and disappearing in the sky ever since yesterday morning. They would hover just outside the planet’s atmosphere while the dropships ferried up whatever cargo had been chosen for that particular vessel. Some had been filled with the recovered wreckage from the Cye, others with human equipment. He had been learned that this particular ship was taking on the Marines wounded or killed over the last few days.

A knock at the door made him jump. Without turning around, he yelled, “Come in!” The door opened and softly clicked shut behind him. He began to turn, the grimace on his face morphing into an outright glare, “It’s about time you showed up, let’s get this check up…”

His voice faltered and his eyes widened. Trixie, with Zephyr at her side, stood grinning by the door. The little filly in particular was a mess; her long, brown mane was tangled beyond recognition, and the childish spark her eyes usually held was gone. Trixie was only a little better, having taken the time to run a quick comb through her mane. She had her saddle bags thrown across her back and bulged oddly from something uneven concealed within.

Before he could say anything, a small, gray blur launched itself across the room into his abdomen. The air exploded from his body as a pair of tiny forelegs wrapped as far around his waist as they could reach. Tears soaked the thin material of the hospital gown as the filly buried her face into his stomach.

Jaze gently ruffled the little pony’s mane, putting on a wide smile as he asked “Come on now, what’re those tears about huh?”

Zephyr wailed harder at his words, and her voiced hitched with sobs, “B-because th-th-the doc’ers said you was hurted, an’ I couwdn’t go see you because you was too sick, an’ dey did’nit know if you was gonna get better an’ I did’nit want you to go away wif Mama and Dada…”

She looked up from his stomach, tears still streaming down her cheeks, “Please don’ go ‘way! I don’ wan’ Jazer to go ‘way!”

Trixie glided across the tile floor and wrapped the tiny filly in a tight hug from behind, gently nuzzling against the young pony’s neck. “Don’t worry Zephyr; Jaze isn’t going away for a little while.”

“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere just yet.” he crowed with a wink.

The gray pegasus looked from his face to Trixie’s, and the tears slowly began to peter out. He gave the child as honest a smile as he could manage. Bright, sea-blue eyes regarded him carefully; he could practically see the wheels turning in her young mind.

Her sobs finally ceased entirely, and Zephyr whispered, “Weally? Jazer’s not gonna go ‘way?”

“Not for a little while sweetie.” Jaze assured the sepia-haired pony as he knelt to her level. His arms wrapped around the young one, and he gave a tight hug as he added, “Do you really think I could leave something as adorable as you behind?”

Zephyr couldn’t help a watery giggle, and a smile began to spread across her tiny face. She buried her face into his chest, and murmured “Dat’s good. I don’ wanna be awone.”

“Alone?” asked Jaze, one eyebrow rising, “Don’t you have aunts or uncles? Maybe some grandparents?”

The youngster shook her head, tears again filling her eyes, “I don’ hab anypony else buh Mama and Dada.”

“Don’t worry about it Jaze.” Trixie cut in, “I’ve already spoken with the officials about taking her in; they said that since she seems to have bonded with us so quickly that she should stay with us.”

The words struck Jaze like a bullet. He tried to keep the smile on his face, but couldn’t stop it from shrinking a bit. “Yeah, with… us.”

The words came out dead and hollow, despite his attempts to make them otherwise. Immediately, Trixie’s eyebrow rose with a pointed glare in his direction. He could easily see the suspicion in her gaze; those wide, lavender pools couldn’t conceal anything at all. The stare was impossible to look directly at, and he was forced to turn his eyes down towards the bright bundle of happiness contained in his arms.

At least Zephyr didn’t seem to notice anything amiss; her smile never faltered. “I’m going to stay with Jazer and Twixie!”

“You sure are.” Jaze agreed, but he still couldn’t put any enthusiasm into his words.

“Hey Zephyr, why don’t you wait outside for a bit?” suggested the azure mare as she stood.

“Ah-kay!” chirped the young filly.

She bounced to the door with a wide grin on her face. Even with the tearstains still fresh on her face, her brightness had returned full-fledged. The pure, innocent gleam in her young eyes had rekindled, and she seemed to be her usual bright, cheery self again. The sight was enough to bring a genuine smile back to Jaze’s face, a smile that quickly fell with one look at Trixie’s glaring visage.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind the gray pegasus, Trixie straightened to her full three foot height. She seemed to fill the room, and the rage in her eye didn’t help. Jaze turned away; he was still unable to look directly at her. A short snort sounded, and a hoof whipped under his chin to bring his eyes back around.

“What is wrong with you?” hissed the unicorn, acid in her glower.

“Trixie, we’ve talked about this…” he began, but a hoof to his lips silenced him.

Neither of them moved save for their breathing. The mare studied his face, the intensity of her gaze never wavering. It stopped his heart from pumping, and his entire chest tightened. The unicorn’s beautiful eyes studied his face, slowly roving over every inch of his features. He knew what she must be thinking, and her stare kept him riveted to the spot.

The silence wore on, deafening in the tiny room. If he focused, he could hear the rest of the hospital going about their day. He imagined he could even hear the dropships taking off in the distance. Everyone was busy running around trying to do whatever task had been assigned them.

But inside that little room, time was standing still. Not even the dust seemed to be moving in the air. It almost felt like he didn’t need to breathe. His lungs would go for what felt like hours without drawing in a breath, until his body suddenly remembered how to take in air in one sudden gulp. Kneeling was starting to get painful, but still the lovely mare’s eyes refused to release their hold on him.

“Jaze, I need you to be honest.” the pony finally said, her face completely blank, “Is it really necessary you leave? Is there no other way? You say you are friends with Gaston, maybe you could…”

He snatched the hoof still at his lips, cutting the azure pony off. The air felt thick against his lips as he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The words stuck in his throat; he didn’t want to say them, but knew that he had to. Still, they refused to leave the safety of his mouth, as if not saying it aloud would somehow change the world.

“Trixie…” he croaked, “I’ve already got desertion on my record; it’s only Gaston that kept me from being hanged on the spot when they found me. As much as I would like to otherwise, I have to go where they tell me to.”

“Who ‘they’?” she fired back, “Maybe we could talk to them; surely they wouldn’t want to split up…”

As much as he would have liked otherwise, Jaze couldn’t suppress a snicker. “The Earth Coalition government has absolutely no qualms about splitting up friends and family, if they feel it serves a purpose.”

Trixie’s face contorted into a scowl and her voice into an almost feral growl, “What purpose does it serve?”

“Gaston says that there’s still plenty of worlds seiged or taken, not least of all Earth.”His voice was surprisingly dead, even to him. “Not to mention the petty squabbles, rebellions, and crime that will spawn in the wake of the war. We need every soldier we can get now, and that includes me.”

“But what difference does one soldier make?” she fired back, “Does it really matter to them so much that just one person is not fighting? They have millions more! Why can’t you just stay here?”

“Because if they let one soldier walk away they couldn’t stop anyone else. Everyone will have that same excuse, right down to the last person throwing down their gun and walking away from the battlefield.”

Trixie stared at him, and he could see the desperation behind those wide, lavender orbs as she fumbled for another argument. “But…We could… You could…”

“No.” His voice rang in the small room. The word felt final even as he spoke. He stood and fixed the pony with a steady gaze, adding, “I can’t disregard orders, or try to fight them. Not when I’m already in enough trouble over disappearing for months.”

Trixie froze, staring at him with eyes wider than normal. Tears swam in the mare’s eyes, and her lips refused to let her make words. It sent a bolt of pain through his chest to see her looking so shaken, but he couldn’t give her false hope. The pain only worsened as her tears began to flow accompanied by heart-wrenching sobs.

She suddenly dove at him and wrapped her forelegs around his neck, her chin resting on his shoulder. Sobs reverberated through his chest as Trixie finally broke down. His arms encircled her, trying to give some small measure of comfort. Blurriness took hold of his sight, and he felt wetness kiss his cheeks.

“H-hey,” he managed to choke out, “it’s not like it’s forever. Soon we’ll have freed all the human worlds, and then I…”

She suddenly shoved him away, hard enough that he stumbled back against the wall. Tingles of pain spread across his back, and confusion knitted his brow. Trixie turned away and her voice came out a bitter hiss, “And then you will be off on some other mission, something else that’s too important to get away from. And then another, and another, and so on.”

“No, I’ll be back after we’ve fought back the Cye, I swear!” he called. Stepping forward, he bent over and put a hand on her shoulder, “It won’t take too long, they’ve been falling back all over the galaxy. I’ll only have to be gone a few months, tops.”

The pony shrugged off his hand and refused to turn around, but at least her voice lost some of its hostility. “And what can happen in a few months Jaze? You can get just as dead that your stupid little war is ending as you could when it was still getting worse. What will I tell Zephyr? You remember, the young filly you just promised you weren’t leaving? What will happen if you never come back? Tell me, since you have all the answers.”

His breath hitched; that was something he had never thought about. “Then… Then you’ll find someone better than me. Someone that will actually give you what you need, and deserve, instead of leaving when they’re needed most. But I can’t just walk away from my duty; there’s too many people counting on me.”

Still, she refused to look at him. Her voice wavered, but never broke as she stated, “I don’t want anypony ‘better’; you are what I deserve, what I want. Go then; do your duty that you care so much about. Hopefully you will be able to make it back, and that I will be here when you return.”

Tears flowed freely at last, each one that left leaving him feeling a bit more drained than the one before. He couldn’t think, or form any sort of argument. All he could do was watch as the unicorn strode towards the door. The soft clop of her hooves against the tile floor was deafening, every hollow thud echoing around the small room. He tried to step forward, hoping to stop her, but the air must have turned to concrete when he wasn’t looking.

She paused for a moment when she reached the door, and stated in a deadpan voice as floated her saddle bags to the bed with a flick of power from her horn, “I brought you some clothes, thought you might like to change out of those hospital rags.” The pony yanked open the door with her magic, bouncing it off the wall.

“Trixie, wait.” Jaze called, “Please don’t leave it like this; I’m not going away forever, I promise.

The sound of a soft sigh reached his ears, and a shiver passed through the unicorn’s form. For the briefest moment, she looked ready to turn around. Instead, she simply tossed her head and hissed acidly, “I see where your promises lead Jaze.”

Her words froze him, burying a hot knife into his chest. His jaw locked, and a lump formed in his throat. His voice turned into a raw croak, almost inaudible, “Trixie, please…”

“Goodbye Jaze, and farewell.”

She disappeared through the door, slamming it shut behind her. A dull pain shot through his chest, and his eyes were scratchy and raw. The aches and pains from before suddenly returned. His arms had become leaden and dead, unable to raise more than a few inches before falling back to his sides. Standing was an impossible task; his legs were wobbly to the point they wouldn’t hold him. He sank into a chair and rested his head in his hands.

The tears dried on his cheeks, leaving only a salty crust behind. His breath came in short, shuddering gulps. All over his body felt cold. Even his heart felt like it had been replaced by a ball of ice. There was no feeling left.

Several things he should have said bored into his mind, along with a mocking voice for not having used them. He needed to go after her, to explain things better. Everything would be so easy to fix, if he could just get up and move. But try as he might, his legs refused to work anymore. It was like her words had turned him to stone, her anger rooting him to the spot.

And she had every right to be angry. Things were going to be difficult, and he was running away. Abandoning her. If it were him, he would be nothing but angry with the person leaving. But he couldn’t just leave his duties as a soldier; there would never be any peace for someone wanted for treason. She just couldn’t understand that.

“Agh, why can’t things be easy?” Jaze asked the floor beneath his feet.

“Because nothing worth doing is?” a voice answered.

His head shot up, and he was greeted by the sight of a green-maned, cream-colored earth pony mare wearing a nurse’s uniform. A small, black bag was slung across her back, and she looked to have been awake for days. She gave him a quick smile, and added, “I’m sorry, but I did knock. When no one answered, I got a little worried.”

Jaze let his head fall back down to his hands, his strength quickly leaving. Silence took hold of the room, and he could hear the nurse shift slightly by the door. He tried to ignore the pony, instead studying the tiles below. Maybe if he waited long enough, something would become clear. She stepped further into the room, each hoofstep echoing around the room like the unicorn’s before.

“Soooo,” she asked hesitantly, “I guess that young mare that just, er, left was a friend of yours?” The only answer he could muster was a brief grunt. He didn’t want to talk to anyone, except the one being least likely to speak with him right now. It would have been too much to raise his head.

But unfortunately, the nurse couldn’t take the hint. She took a few steps closer, and tried again, “Look, I know that it looks bad now, but I think your friend just needs a bit to cool off. Then you two can talk. I see it all the time with those that were seriously wounded.”

The words sent a bright shard of hope through his cold body, and he brought his eyes up to stare at the mare. “You think so, huh?”

The nurse winked, “Sure. Just give it time.”

She moved around the bed to stand beside him, and added, “Now stand up; let’s get you tested so you can leave.”

The late morning sun burned hot and bright directly overhead. Dust rose as a dropship touched down, filling the air with the roar of engines. Sunlight gleamed off the polished sides of the ship, seemingly beaming right into his eyes. An acrid, metallic tasted coated his tongue, and the smell of ozone burned in his nostrils.

Dmitri limped towards the dropship that had just landed. Ponies milled around the landing area. Some waved in his direction with bright smiles, receiving a quick wave and a smile in return. A group of Marines strode past him without a second glance, each one loaded down with packs of equipment. A similar pack was slung across his back, and his gray uniform was sticking to his back from sweat. His leg was still stiff and sore, making walking a challenge. He grimaced at the wounded limb, wishing that it would finish healing already.

Dmitri glanced around again, and spotted a flash of orange forcing its way to the front of the massed crowd. As he watched, a bright-orange mare broke through the crush of ponies. She glanced around, and her face lit up the moment she spotted him hobbling along. Her wave nearly shook the hat from her head as she bounced on her hind-legs. He couldn’t help a small smile from taking hold of his lips, and his feet changed course without input from his mind.

As he neared, a spot on his left cheek began to smolder. He suddenly remembered the brief touch of her lips against his skin. The tips of his ears began to burn, the heat slowly spreading across the rest of his face. It wasn’t too hard to imagine how red his face was, and he could only hope that someone looking would attribute it to the heat.

Before he knew it, the earth pony mare stood before him. Applejack gave him a bright smile, “Hey, there ya are. Was worried ya’d already left.”

Dmitri returned the smile, though he couldn’t help a twinge of sadness going through him. “Nope, still here. But this is the last shuttle home, so I do need to make it.”

“Oh.” The mare’s smile dropped from her features as her gaze fell to the ground. She scuffed a hoof against the dirt, and muttered, “Ah knew that. Ah jus’ wan’ed to say thanks fer everythin’.”

“Anytime.” His leg twitched, forcing him to add with a light-hearted smirk, “But can we try not to have to do it again, like, ever?”

The ghost of a smile played across her features, “Yeah, that’d be nice. Especially if we could just get together without any sorta fightin’ t’ gettin’ in the way.”

“That’s not too far off, I think. Maybe in a few months, we’ll have everything locked back down.”

Applejack nodded, a serious cast on her face, “But ‘til then, ya better stay safe, a’ight?”

He glared down at his leg and said in a bitter undertone, “With this damned thing, I doubt I’ll actually be doing much. Probably just a lot of sitting on my butt.”

The earth pony stood and threw a foreleg across his shoulders, giving him a sideways smile. Dmitri felt his cheeks warming even more than before. The left side of his face in particular felt like someone had laid a hot coal against it. The crooked grin grew a hair wider, and Applejack dug her free hoof into his side. “Issat so bad? Least ya won’ hafta worry about gettin’ shot. Again.”

“Yeah, yeah I guess so.” Dmitri felt his face redden further at the crack in his voice, and he silently prayed that the mare wouldn’t notice.

Applejack, still grinning, fell back to her hooves, “Ah suppose ya should be gettin’ on to yer ride.” Her eyes sparkled, and her voice turned hesitant, “Unless… ya wanna stay.”

He let his gaze fall. “I wish I could, but I’d be in more trouble than I could deal with.”

“Ah know.” assured the young mare, even as her smile slipped away. “Don’t mean we can’t dream.”

“But I promise to come visit at my first chance.”

“Ya’d better, Ah do still owe ya.”

He stood there, searching for something else to say. The bright sun was beautiful, and a stark contrast to the gleaming gray of the ship behind him. The smell of the dirt under his boots, of the wind, and of the plants swaying in the gentle breeze rooted him to the dirt. Not to mention the rodeo-pony watching him.

The memory of her brief kiss kept forcing itself to the fore of his mind. Butterflies filled his stomach, which got worse anytime he looked into the sparkling, bright-green orbs staring up at him. He toyed with the idea of confronting her, but couldn’t bring himself to say anything. It was probably just more common in pony culture to show appreciation like that.

Finally, he couldn’t stand looking down into her upturned eyes anymore. “I’m sorry, but I need to go.”

Applejack’s gaze fell to the ground, finally allowing him to be free of its spell. “Righ’, be seein’ ya Dmitri.” Her voice was low, a barely audible whisper. She turned away and pushed back through the crowd of ponies, and soon he couldn’t see her anymore.

Dmitri let out a long, tired sigh as he turned back to the dropship. The butterflies had stilled at the sight of the starship hunkered to the dirt. Its gray hull beckoned to him; an irresistible call that tugged him towards it. His heart had sunk to replace the flutters; he felt oddly empty. He trudged toward the ship and tried to force away the disappointed look he had seen on the earth-pony’s features.

The unasked questions still jingled around in his mind. One in particular kept cropping up, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the kiss had to have meant something. Even if he had just saved her sister, there had to be something special about the contact right?

His feet dragged along the ground, begging him to go find out. Looking at the ground, he continued towards the starcraft. He knew he had missed his chance; there was no time to track Applejack down before he had to leave. His heart grew heavy as he drew level with gleaming metal; it was something that would just have to wait. Maybe he could ask if he ever returned.

Moving around to the back of the ship, he found the boxy craft’s ramp down. The dim interior lights left him in a blind darkness while he blinked rapidly. His eyes slowly adjusted to the gloom, and he could begin to see faces staring at him. Usually being watched would have bothered him, but at that moment he couldn’t care less.

Most of the seats were still empty, but one person sitting at the fore of the craft caught his eye. Jaze stared at the wall, supporting his head with a hand to his cheek. The seats around the Colonel all sat empty. Dmitri strode towards the scarred assassin, ignoring the strange looks being thrown his way. His sore leg was screaming at him to sit down and he was happy to oblige. He took the seat directly across from Jaze.

The Colonel continued to stare at the wall. Dmitri seemed to have gone unnoticed by the other. He stashed his rucksack underneath the seat and tried his best to relax against the hard plastic. Already, the lack of cushions had his back grumbling with soreness, not to mention his backside. But at least his leg was a little less painful.

Dmitri glanced around at the assorted Marines around him. Most seemed to have forgotten about him, and were instead doing their best to get comfortable against the rigid chairs. One just a few seats away had managed to fall asleep, with her head drooping against her chest. Dmitri yawned, but his brain was buzzing too much to allow a nap. His thoughts wouldn’t turn away from the young mare.

He leaned forward in his seat and cleared his throat. “Good morning Jaze. How’s it going?”

The scarred assassin jumped and turned. His silvery eyes were bloodshot with deep purple bags under them. The Colonel blinked several times; his brow furrowed deeply as he studied the man across from him. Giving his head a sudden, quick shake, he finally responded. “Oh, hello Dmitri. Everything’s good, just fine really.” Jaze straightened in his seat and yawned, giving a quick stretch.

Dmitri let one eyebrow slowly rise, “You don’t look it. Is there a problem? Did you learn something we should know?”

“No, nothing. Everything is fine.”

“There’s something bothering you.”

“It’s nothing to worry about; just a stupid mistake I made that may have cost me something important.”

“I think I know what you mean.” Dmitri remarked as his gaze fell. The young mare’s face floated behind his eyes once again. Try as he might, the visage just wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Something wrong?” asked Jaze.

Dmitri’s head snapped up to see the Colonel staring at him with a look of concern. He gave his head a quick shake and mumbled, “No, I’m fine. Just… just thinking.”

“About?”

“About a question I wanted to ask someone, and didn’t.”

The scarred soldier’s lips twisted into a small smile. “I see. Let me tell you something Sands; don’t wait to ask a question. It can end up as too late in an instant.”

For a moment, all thought left his mind. Dmitri stared at the man across from him, taking in the knowing smile. Without understanding why, he gave a quick look around the dropship’s interior. It was still mostly empty, and there had to be several more Marines that would be making their way here. A fervor began to take hold in his stomach; a need to move and act that made his hands jitter with anticipation. He needed to do something, and just what that was began to take shape in his mind. And in that moment, he knew he couldn’t leave the planet without talking to Applejack one last time.

Jaze’s smile grew by a few teeth, “Is it too late now?”

“I… don’t know.” For a moment, the heat died back. His heart felt like it stopped for a split second; how did he even know where she was? It could take hours to find her again. Unless she was staying nearby to watch his ship leave, which it would with or without him. “I don’t want to be left…”

“Did you forget who I am?” mocked the assassin. He put a finger on the gleaming emblem pinned on his shoulder, “These aren’t for show you know. They actually give me a bit of power. Go do what you need to; I’ll stall the take-off.”

“Are you sure?” Dmitri fired back, feeling his pulse thudding in his head.

“I’m not going to sit by and watch you throw something away for a stupid reason. No excuse now; get going.”

Dmitri let his gaze fall to the floor again. There was no reason to keep from going. She couldn’t have gotten too far, and someone was sure to have seen her. And Jaze said he would keep the ship from leaving. But still, he couldn’t get himself to stand up. Doubts nagged at his mind, bringing out everything that could go wrong. What if he couldn’t find her, or what if he didn’t like the answer? His hands balled into white-knuckled fists on his knees. It didn’t matter what happened; he had to at least try. He just couldn’t leave things as they were.

He stood up in a rush. “Hold the ship, I’ll be back.” The words flew from his lips, and he was striding towards the ramp even as he spoke. If Jaze had said something, it was lost in the mess of thoughts burning through his mind.

The bright sunlight blinded him for a moment as he left the ship, and his hands flew over his eyes. He blinked as he scanned the crowd of ponies staying just inside the safe area around the ship, but he knew it wouldn’t be that easy. She was nowhere in sight, but he didn’t let that get to him as he stepped off the ramp and took off in a jog where he had seen the earth mare disappear to.

The soreness in his leg seemed to fade away as he ran into the crowd of ponies. Most jumped out of his way, many throwing stern glares his way. The few who were too slow he simply dodged around. As he dashed through the crowd, he kept twisting his head to spot any sign of the orange mare. He saw every color of the rainbow and more, but not even a hint of the pony he sought.

He broke through the crowd and slid to a stop. His heart battered his ribs and he took in great pulls of air. He turned in a full circle, but still Applejack was nowhere. His heart sank along with his shoulders. There was no way to make it all the way across town to her home, and he wasn’t even sure she’d be there. She could be anywhere; it was impossible. And besides, he still had no idea what he would even say.

He gave a last glance around, and spotted a dark brown hat just over the tops of the crowd. The farmpony’s signature hat was near one of the prefab buildings left behind as an outpost. Hope rekindled in his heart as he pushed through the crowd, until he finally saw his target leaning against the plain gray building. His lungs heaved to try and bring in air after his run, and he felt the material of his uniform sticking to his back.

He called out and waved, “Applejack!”

The farmer turned towards him with a start. As she looked at him, her eyes widened and a brief grin flickered across her features. She waved back excitedly, beckoning him over with a hoof. Somehow he managed to dodge around the ponies still milled about the ship and slid to a stop next to the farmpony.

“Dmitri,” she asked in a tone to match her face, “what’re ya doin’ here? Ah thought ya needed to git onboard th’ ship?

“H-hey…” he forced out between breaths, “I… needed… to talk… to you…”

Applejack rolled her eyes and smiled. “Hang on there pardner, catch yer breath firs’.”

He nodded and put his hands on his knees. For several moments, he took in ragged gulps of air while the pony patiently waited. His face was flushed and hot, and a stitch had developed along his side during his run. Sweat rolled off his nose to fall into the dirt road. When he had finally recovered enough to speak, he stood and glanced around. More than a few curious eyes peeked at them, though their owners quickly looked away as soon he saw them.

He put a hand on Applejack’s shoulder and guided her towards the shade behind the building. She frowned, but followed without question. They entered the dim alley; the houses nearly blocked out the sun above. A cool breeze tugged at them, and Dmitri couldn’t help a sigh of relief at the sweet, cool air. Applejack stood close to him with a confused tilt to her head. She was closer than he would have been comfortable with, but this time it just seemed right.

As he looked down at the farmpony, his mind locked; it was almost like he couldn’t remember why he had tracked down the mare next to him in the first place. The frown on her face deepened and her eyebrow slowly rose, but still he couldn’t think of a polite way to approach the subject.

She started to ask, “Didja need sumthin’, or…”

“In the base, was there really nothing more to that kiss?”

He blurted the words, almost so fast as to blur together. Applejack froze in midsentence, her mouth hanging open in shock. Redness touched his cheeks, and his eyes went up to the sky. He would have looked down, but Applejack was in the way. He hadn’t meant the words to come out like that; he must have blown it. He couldn’t bring his eyes back down to look at her, to see the rage that was surely building on her features. Several agonizingly long moments passed in awkward silence. With a deep sigh, he finally brought his gaze down. Best to get this out of the way.

But when he looked down, he saw a face just as red as his must have been. Applejack stared at a patch of grass under her hooves with her ears flattened against her head. She rubbed one forehoof against the opposite leg, and replied, “Ah… Ah really don’ know sugercube. It jus’ kinda… happened, ya know? Ah don’ know what got intah me back there.”

An idea crossed his mind as he stared down at the pony. It was crazy, and might earn him a slap. But he had nothing better. His hand reached out and snagged her chin, bringing her head and gaze up. Bending at the waist, his lips touched hers in a short kiss. Applejack froze, but the expected blow never arrived. Instead, she seemed content to stand there. The short, velvet soft fur of her lips sent a tingle running from his head down to his toes and back, leaving him feeling lightheaded and dizzy.

The contact was brief, only a fraction of a second. He could feel his heart pounding in his head, accompanied by a powerful heat across his cheeks as he broke the kiss. If she were going to slap him, now would be the perfect time. But she just stood there, staring at him with wide, confused eyes. The blush on her features had deepened, somehow making her eyes seem to sparkle.

“If you ever figure out, let me know.” His voice was smooth, far more so than he felt. Inside, he could feel everywhere quivering at once. Like a cause of battle jitters, but much more pleasant. He sidled past the pony and back out into the bright sunlight. She stayed rooted to the spot as he jogged back towards the camp, and his waiting ride. The burn was still going strong on his cheeks, and he silently offered a prayer that everyone would assume it was from the run.

... Is the Begining of Hello

Jaze watched Dmitri dash down the ramp of the dropship; the smile he had plastered to his face fell away as soon as the younger man vanished. He turned his gaze back to the wall next to him, trying to suffocate the thoughts from that morning. But that proved impossible; Dmitri’s questions had torn down the wall he had used to block off the memory of being in the recovery room.

The soldiers all turned back to their conversations, studiously ignoring him with their questioning eyes. But he could still feel them throwing the occasional, curious glance his way. Their chatter swiftly began to wear on him; all he wanted was some quiet. It would have been a simple matter to bark an order at them, to make them stop. But he stopped the words even as they reached his lips, it wouldn’t help anyway.

Trixie’s last words to him still echoed hollowly in his head. It had been more than a day, and they made him feel sick. His lungs didn’t seem able to take in enough air. He had waited as long as possible, waited for the very last dropship, hoping that he would find Trixie so he could at least try and set things straight. The absolute last thing he wanted was to leave things like they were; he hated that she was so angry with him. But he hadn’t seen her at all. She must have been avoiding him. He could have always gone to their little home and waited for her there, but something had always stopped him just short.

She must have been so hurt over his leaving that she never wanted to see him again. He grimaced at the wall; if that’s what she wanted, then she could have it. Anger began to swell up in his chest; if she refused to see him, he couldn’t do a thing to change her mind. And as much as he hated it, that seemed to be her choice. But even as the thought occurred to him, pain shot through his heart. He tried to harden against the pain, but it was in vain. The fury and rage battled for control, the pain eventually choking out the anger and leaving only a void.

A light tingling flowed across his skin. The odd sensation rolled over him in waves and made the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. It was a strangely familiar sensation, one he felt he should know. Heat seemed to radiate from the seat across from him, slowly building until he couldn’t ignore it any longer. He brought his gaze to the seat and spotted a slight shimmer just over the hard chair, not unlike heat roiling off desert sands.

The smell of crisped hair filled the small dropship interior, and Trixie appeared amid a bright flash of lavender light. Jaze jumped at the loud pop that echoed through the hull of the ship, and his ears rang softly in protest of further abuse. Shouts rang out as the exhausted soldiers seated around the small craft sprang to their feet. The men and women zeroed in on the azure pony who had appeared in their midst, offering her disapproving glares which went unnoticed by the intended target. Jaze waved them down, and he waited for them to take their seats before looking to the mare who had dropped in for a visit.

The unicorn across from him looked more haggard than he had ever seen. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and her coat looked matted in places. As soon as their gazes met, her eyes filled with tears again. He longed to reach across the aisle and brush away the droplets that leaked from the edges of the sad, lavender orbs, but something stayed his hand. Now that she was here, in front of him, he couldn’t think of a thing to say.

“Jaze.” she croaked, “We really need to talk.”

A scathing retort jumped to mind, immediately forgotten as he looked into the bottomless pools. He could see so many different emotions playing across her face; the same he could imagine playing across his own. He leaned back and nodded. “Yeah, I’d say so. But do you think here, now, is the best place for that?”

She looked around, blushing a deep crimson as she seemed to notice the other humans staring at them. Jaze looked at the soldiers and slowly fixed each with a stern glare. His voice was low but easily carried across the small craft as he asked, “Would you all mind taking a short walk? It could be a bit before we take off anyway.”

In a blink, every one of the soldiers had disappeared from the ship. The Marines couldn’t leave the craft fast enough, practically tripping over themselves in their haste. For a moment, confusion knitted Jaze’s brow together. He glanced towards the mare across from him and flinched at the gleam in her eye. She wore a look of such overt danger that he nearly wanted to run away himself, and it wasn’t even aimed at him.

As she turned back towards him, the glare slid from her face until she looked near tears. He watched as the unicorn struggled to find the words she was looking for. It was impossible to tear his gaze away from her; his heart swelled in his chest just to have her close again, even if it was under terrible circumstances. She cast her eyes to the ground and took a slow, deep breath, letting it all out in a rush as she brought her head up again.

“I…” Trixie’s voice faltered, and tears began to roll down her cheeks. She lunged across the aisle and threw her forelegs around his neck. The strong limbs held him tightly, while the pony buried her face into the top of his shoulder. Sobs jerked through her body, and he could feel tears beginning to soak through his shirt.

Wetness touched his own cheeks as he wrapped her in a warm embrace. Her cries resonated through him, forcing even more tears down his cheeks. He leaned his head down to rest on top of hers. The light scent of roses filled his head with a pleasant haze. Time held no meaning for him anymore. It was just good to be able to have her in his arms again. It felt so right to be holding her like this; he wished it would last forever.

Trixie finally pulled away just enough to fix him with a watery stare, though her forelegs stayed tightly wrapped around his neck. “I am so sorry; I do not want to leave it like that. I don’t want to risk that being your last memory of me, or mine of you.”

He brought up a hand and brushed away her tears with the tips of his fingers. “You’ve got no reason to apologize, none at all. If anything I should be apologizing to you. For leaving you, just so I could go gallivanting around the galaxy. I just hoped that you wouldn’t hate me for it.”

The mare giggled in spite of herself, the sound ringing in his ears. “I could never hate you, you stupid space-colt. I understand not having a choice, even if I don’t exactly like it.”

A glint over the hollow at the base of her neck caught his eye. Laying against her azure coat was a golden band set with a large diamond, hanging from a silver chain. He reached out with trembling hands and took the ring gently between his thumb and forefinger, turning it this way and that to catch the sunlight filtering in from the open backend of the craft. His breath caught in his throat, unable to move past the sudden lump in his throat.

“You’re still wearing this?”

She nodded. “I never take it off.”

“I’m glad.” His hand traveled back up the side of her neck and cupped the corner of her jaw. The warmth of her face poured into him through the contact, and he could help a contented sigh. “It’s good to see you again. I wish I didn’t have to go.”

“Maybe…” She paused, her eyes darting around the room. Hope shined in the deep lavender pools dominating her features. “Maybe you could stay. I’ve seen a few humans still here, staying with what remains of the camp. Maybe you could get posted here?”

A harsh twinge of sadness twisted through him as his face contorted into a frown. “Gaston says he already has a mission selected for me, something important. I don’t think he’d put it off, and I owe him so much already. This is something I have to do.”

The hope faded from her eyes, sending another stab through his heart. “Oh. I see…”

She stared at the wall behind him, close to tears. His arms wrapped around her neck, and a hand to the back of her head pulled her tight against him once more. “Don’t worry; it will only be a few months, tops. This one mission and I’ll put in for leave. I swear I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Trixie nodded against his shoulder, and let out a quick, shuddering breath. “Just try and stay safe okay? I don’t think I could take it if you got your stupid self killed.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be safe.”

Her head rose, and her lips lightly touched his cheek. “Then go get whatever you need to done, and hurry back. But expect to never be allowed out of my sight again, understood?”

“Yes ma’am!”

The azure mare pulled out of his grasp and quickly left the dropship. Jaze felt oddly light, and a tingle spread from the place her lips had touched. The seat he rested on had suddenly turned into the most comfortable chair it had been his pleasure to occupy. A smile turned up the corners of his lips. At least there was still hope.

Stars shone beyond the large pane of thick glass that made up the outside wall of the observation room. Benches were set up in rows in front of the glass wall with potted plants dotting some of the space between the seats. Every so often a breeze ruffled the plants’ leaves as the climate control kept the room at a constant, comfortable temperature. It was one of the view areas of the ship not dedicated to bringing war, but it still bore the mark of a warship in the large armor plates that could just be seen at the edge of the viewing area, ready to be dropped over the weak-point in case of attack.

Jaze leaned against the glass with his cheek touching the wall. His breathing fogged the cool glass, only for the condensation to swiftly vanish before he let out another breath. From where he was, he could just see Gaia hanging amid the bejeweled blackness of space. The beautiful green and blue marble of a planet kept his gaze riveted to its vibrant surface.

As impossible as it was, he kept trying to pick out the small hamlet he had lived in for what felt like years. The mountain that Canterlot was built into stood out amid a sea of greens, and nearby was a patch of dark, vile green. Even from in space the Everfree Forest looked menacing. But for now, it gave him a general area to look for the town. Though he couldn’t actually see the buildings, he could imagine each one below.

He let out a sigh as he turned away from the stunning view. It had been almost half an hour since he had arrived on the Vigilance at Gaston’s request. As soon as he’d arrived onboard, an ensign had told him to wait in the observation room for the Admiral. What hadn’t been told was just how long he was supposed to wait. If the wait dragged on too much longer, he’d leave for the mess hall. Let the old man find him for a change.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, a voice from behind spoke up, “Good, you’re still here. Worried ya might’ve taken off.”

Jaze turned to see Gaston standing in the wide doorway set flush near the center of the wall. The Admiral’s face was haggard and drawn, more-so than usual, and he looked ready to fall over asleep at any moment. Despite the tired look in his eyes, a smile was firmly on his face. The grin spread across his features, turning back the march of time several years. In his hands was a folder containing a thick stack of papers.

Gaston wove between the benches and plants, picking his way towards the glass wall. Jaze watched the graying Admiral come, trying to keep his face impassive. The scarred soldier pushed away from the wall and snapped a salute. “No sir, I’m still here. As you asked.” Under his breath, he added, “But I would have left soon.”

The old sailor chuckled as he stepped up in front of Jaze. “I know I’m a bit late; I’m sorry. There’s been a lot to coordinate ‘fore we jump system.” Gaston brought up an eyebrow. “And you can drop the salute boyo, ain’t no need for it now.”

The ex-assassin let his arm fall. “Might I know why you had me stuck in this room for so long? Or was it just for a chat.”

Gaston sighed. “Alright, I suppose you’re wanting to hop right to the point. Fair enough I suppose.” The Admiral swept his arm out towards one of the nearby benches. “Grab a seat, get comfortable for a bit.”

“I would prefer to stand, if that is okay sir.” Try as he might, Jaze couldn’t stop his voice from coming out taut and formal. His shoulders were stiff and unable to relax. He stared into the other man’s eyes, unable to smile.

“Jaze,” The graying man’s eyes filled with worry as his smile melted away, “is there something wrong?”

“No sir. Just eager to get back to it sir. I want to finish this war.”

The grin slowly returned to the Admiral’s face, “Good, just what I want to hear.”

Gaston opened the folder, thumbing through the loose pages. His brow furrowed as he searched, one eyebrow slowly going up. “First things first: I’m sure it will please you to know you’re no longer acting Colonel.” His smile grew, and added, “In fact, you’re being shuttled into the Special Operations section.”

Jaze felt his heart skip a beat, and his eyes narrowed. “Sir, I thought I said that I didn’t want…”

“Hang on boy you’ve got it all wrong.” Gaston laughed, and held the folder out. “Here, it might be easier if you just look at it yourself. I think this’ll be an assignment you’ll be proud to have.”

He took the folder with a wary glare, and began ruffling through it. The first few pages were the usual ignorable preamble, and it wasn’t until he had sorted through it that he began to read. The papers detailed a plan of sorts, and his part in it. He skimmed through it, grimacing at the cushy job he was placed in, until he flicked to the last page where his post was listed.

His eyes slowly widened as he stared at the words on the page, and he brought his gaze up. “Sir, Gaston, is this for real?”

“Aye; there’s a ship waiting to take you to your post right now. Your gear is already loaded onboard, anything else you need can be acquired later. Now get going, you don’ want t’ miss your flight.”

Trixie stood outside the small, comely house, staring at the pastel blue walls. It looked the same as it always had, but it didn’t feel like coming home. No lights shone out of any windows. No sounds escaped from within the dark confines of the humble abode. The small cottage seemed hollow, empty, and it wasn’t hard to tell why. Even the bright sun and beautiful weather failed to make the place seem as welcoming as it once had.

A tug at her tail made her turn to see Zephyr staring at her with wide eyes and her tail between her lips. The filly released her hold and whined, “Twixie, I hungry. Can we eat now?”

Trixie didn’t feel the least bit of an appetite, but she swallowed the thought. “Sure sweetie, let’s just get inside and I will find you something.”

She stepped up onto the porch and through the door. With a flick of magic, the lights set into the ceiling came on. Everything was exactly as they had left it seemingly so long ago. The house still felt wrong, but she had to force it to the back of her mind. It wouldn’t do to think too much at the moment. Another tug at her tail brought a tight, sad smile to her lips. Besides, she had things to take care of.

Moving into the kitchen, her horn ignited with a pale lavender glow. A similar glow encircled the handle on the refrigerator door. The fridge swung open to reveal shelves piled with food. The tempting morsels sent a rumble through her stomach, forcing her to reconsider her lack of appetite. Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten.

She floated some bread and an assortment of vegetables out of the cold box, and quickly assembled a couple sandwiches in the air in front of the amazed young pony. Offering one with a smile, she sweetly said, “Eat this little one, and I will put something better one to cook for later. But you need to sit up at the table to eat it, okay?”

“Ah-kay!” Zephyr bit down on the packed sandwich and skipped to the dining table to tuck into the snack.

Trixie kept the other sandwich suspended in a field of magic in front of her lips. She searched through the fridge for something easy to throw on; taking small bites of the strangely tasteless food a she looked. Unfortunately everything would need more work than she wanted to put in, so she opened the freezer, hoping there was at least something ready-made.

The freezer was mostly empty, save for a foil-wrapped baking dish on the ice covered floor. She froze mid-bite, staring into the foggy compartment. Seeing the dish sent a numbing wave through her. She had made it up days ago, a simple casserole dish, and a welcome back meal after they had forced back the invaders of her world. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill out onto her cheeks at any moment.

“Trixie, I still hungry.” whined a small voice from behind. She twisted her head back and saw the brown-maned filly eyeing the half-eaten sandwich still floated just in front of her lips.

Trixie bit her lip, fighting back the tears, and placed the half-eaten sandwich in front of the youngster. “Here, finish this. I am just not too hungry I guess, huh?”

Worry filled young, ice blue eyes as she looked from the food back to the mare. “Is you sick?”

“No sweetie, just tired.”

“Den is nap time?”

Trixie gave a tight-lipped grin that couldn’t quite make it to her eyes. “Yes, after I put this in the oven and you finish your food.”

She wreathed the dish in the freezer with magic, pulling it out and shutting the freezer door with slightly more force than necessary. Another quick magical flick brought the oven on and opened its door to let her slide the frozen dish into the already warm box. She turned back to the table, and saw no sign of the sandwich beyond a few, stray crumbs.

Zephyr let out a head-splitting yawn and rubbed her eyes with the backs of her forehooves. Her head drooped toward the table as her eyelids followed suit. Trixie’s smile came a little easier to her face as she scooped up the youngling in one foreleg and carried her down the dim hallway to the bedrooms. She glanced toward the door to her room for only a moment before continuing down the hall.

The door was still shut, just as it had been so long ago. He had been the last one to be in that room, and it had been the first time they had shared a bed together. The memory of being held, of the gentle breeze of his breathing caressing her face, of the warmth of his skin; it washed over her in a way that threatened to halt her breath. Her horn glowed, and the doorknob twisted in her magic aura.

A blast of cool air burst from the dark room. Trixie carried the drowsy filly in her grasp to the bed and pulled back the bedspread. She placed the youngster on the sheets and tucked the covers around her. The little filly curled her neck and tail around her body and was asleep almost before Trixie had finished pulling up the blankets. She crawled on top of the bedspread next to the filly, lying on her back.

The soft pillows cradled her head, making her drowsy. She stared up at the ceiling; minutes ticked by as she waited for sleep to let her into the peaceful oblivion. But it never came. Her mind refused to shut down, to allow her to rest. The soft sounds of Zephyr’s breathing were unusually deafening, and the coolness of the bed felt wrong. The last time she had been here, it had been warm. She rolled over and pulled the young pegasus closer.

She stroked the filly’s voluminous, brown mane, letting her lips twist at the corners just a bit. The warmth emanating from the filly was little comfort. The smell coming from the bed itself wormed into her mind. It was his scent, tantalizing her with memories of happier times. Tears again welled in her eyes; everything had been going so well. She buried her face against the warm bundle held against her chest, forcing down the sobs that filled her chest with pain.

The filly stirred, and asked groggily, “Twixie, where Jazer go?”

She tried to smile, but it hardly registered as a grimace. “He went to make sure everything is safe.”

“Jazer went to beat up da munsters?”

“Yes dear one.” whispered Trixie. She found herself biting her lip to hold back tears. “He went to make sure that those monsters can never hurt anyone again.”

Zephyr yawned, and her voice managed to drop even lower. “He comin’ back?”

Trixie couldn’t bring herself to tell the youngster that he may not return. It was entirely likely that Jaze could die. And Zephyr had already lost so much to the war, more than anypony should have to. Why couldn’t she just let the little one have this at least?

“Yes sweetie.” She choked out the words, trying to bury the emotions swirling in her breast. “Someday, he will be back. Someday really soon, I bet. Until then, the only thing we can do is wait.”

“Ah-kay.” murmured the filly. Zephyr rolled over and nuzzled into Trixie’s stomach. “Is good dat Jazer’s not gonna wet da munsters hurt anypony ewse. Dey’s reawwy scary. I don’ wike da munsters.”

“Nopony does little one.” Trixie climbed under the blankets and wrapped the filly in her forelegs, holding her close. She stroked along the youngster’s back as she dipped her head to plant a kiss atop the young pony’s head. “Now why don’t you take a nap? Jaze said he will be back in a few months.”

“Maybe even before then.”

Trixie froze. The owner of that voice couldn’t be here. She had watched him leave. Both ponies turned towards the door as one. Trixie stared at the human standing in the frame, a wide smile on his scarred face. Her mouth fell open as she tried to make sense of the figure standing where he couldn’t possibly be. In one hand, he held a large folder. Her breath was caught in her throat. He wavered in her sight, almost like he was underwater, and wetness brushed her cheeks.

As ever, Zephyr was the first to react. With a happy squeal, the filly ran and dove off the end of the bed into his arms. “Jazer! You hewe!”

The stupid grin on Jaze’s face widened. He caught the youngster and wrapped her in a tight hug. “Am I really? Let’s see.” He reached up with one hand and pinched his cheek between a thumb and forefinger, stretching the skin. His voice distorted, he chuckled and said, “Yea, sheems I am here.”

He released the skin with a thoughtful look. “But maybe you’re the fake one!” His fingers pinched her cheek lightly, drawing a loud giggle as he released it. “Nope, everyone’s here.”

His gaze met hers, and it felt like a switch had been thrown. Trixie found that her muscles suddenly worked again. She rolled off the bed and slowly, cautiously, walked across the room to the human’s side. Looking up, she watched his smile change. It lost the silliness, and shrank a faction. She worked her jaw, trying to find the words.

“H… how Jaze?” she forced out. “I saw you leave.” Her eyes widened. “Wait, you aren’t in trouble are you? You were supposed to go, and you said if you didn’t…”

His free hand came up and put a finger to her lips. “Hang on a moment, don’t worry about that. Take a look at this.” He held out the folder. Inside, she could just see a stack of papers.

She yanked the folder from his hand, noting his grin coming back. She opened it, skimming through. For a time, it seemed to be mostly unimportant. Finally, something caught her eye, and she read aloud, “Major Jaze Armand, under the title of Special Operative, is hereby ordered to assume command of clean-up and recovery operations, as well as the fostering of goodwill between the general public and the Earth Coalition government.

“In addition, SO Armand is to head efforts to recover any intelligence or operable technology from the Cye. As of today, SO Armand is to be stationed on the planet of Gaia under the supervision of the rulers of Equestria, Princesses Celestia and Luna…”

Her voice petered out as the words ran through her mind over and over again. She looked up to see a smile on the scarred soldier’s face. Glancing back down at the papers, she croaked, “Jaze… This… Does this mean…?”

“It does.” She could see tears filling his eyes, “I’m here to stay, for good.”

Words again failed her. She stood and wrapped her forelimbs are his neck, trapping the young filly against his chest. Trixie buried her face in his shoulder as his free, black-gloved hand pressed into her back. The metal digits pressed painfully into her back, but she ignored the discomfort as best she could. It just felt so wonderful to have his arm around her; she didn’t want to risk him taking it away. Tears of happiness flowed down her features as she cried in the warm protection of his embrace, not even a moment ago she would have thought this impossible.

His hand moved, trailing up her back, along her neck, to her chin. She shuddered at the caress; the feeling of him being so close was intoxicating. He used two fingers under her chin to bring her head up to meet his smile. Blue-silver eyes peered at her, pools she could lose herself in forever. At the corners of his eyes, she could see tears beginning to form. Her smile matched his as she tried to get her sobs under control. They were so close; his warm breath broke against her features.

Without warning, he tilted his head down the last, scant distance and pressed his lips against hers. A light sound escaped her throat as she relaxed into the kiss. Tingling waves roiled through her stomach. Her eyes slid closed as the room around her seemed to spin; it was nearly impossible to keep her hooves steady on the floor. The back of his gloved fingers brushed against her cheek, wiping the last remnants of wetness from her coat. Something squirmed against them, but she couldn’t spare the thought to investigate.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew! Gwoooooooooooooss!” whined a high-pitched voice Trixie recognized. The voice seem to come from far away, and behind a wall, “Pu’ me down!”

Jaze pulled away, eliciting a groan of protest from her throat. His cheeks were stained crimson, and he looked to the filly he still held in the crook of his arm. Zephyr stared at him accusatorily, pouting. Trixie had to turn away to hide her red face, using a hoof to unsuccessfully stifle her giggles. The human looked to her with a wide, apologizing gaze before setting down the tiny pony in his arms. Zephyr scampered back to the bed, safe from anymore displays of affection. She scrunched her face at them and burrowed back into the covers.

Trixie giggled again at the sight, and at having the human back. She couldn’t stop smiling whenever she looked at him, and could see a similar grin turn up the corners of his mouth. The man held a hand to his face, stifling a laugh at the young pegasus’ plight. She could feel laughter beginning to rise in her chest, and she stood on two legs again to wrap her forelimbs around his neck once more.

“I’m sorry Zephyr.” Trixie said to the filly hiding on the bed. “We didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Why gwown-ups so gwoss?!” screeched a muffled voice from under the bedspread.

Jaze chuckled, and turned toward the bed. “I’m sorry little one, but I can’t promise we won’t be gross anymore.” His silvery eyes turned back to hers, taking her breath away. His smile was tight-lipped and sincere as he whispered, “And I apologize to you too, for not doing this earlier.”

His strong arms locked tight around her, one at her hips, and the other around the back of her neck. She gasped as he pulled her tight against him, gently pulling with the arm around her neck to bring her lips to his. A hand rubbed small circles at her lower back, forcing a coo out of her throat that was quickly lost in the passion of his embrace. His warmth rolled through her as her heart punched her ribs. Her breath came from him, breathing in his essence as she pushed forward into his kiss. Her mind swam deliciously, and her body had gone numb. But that was more than okay with her; she didn’t need it anyway. The arm around her neck was gone she realized, and she felt the smooth fabric of his gloved hand stroke her cheek. Another soft sound escaped Trixie as she firmly squeezed his neck.

Jaze broke the kiss, pulling away with a smile. She allowed it with great reluctance; the only thing stopping her was knowing he was hers. Her chest heaved, and she suddenly realized she was out of breath. It was impossible to focus on anything, though the scarred soldier’s face remained clear. She could feel his chest rising and falling against hers, an mesmerizing sensation she never wanted to end.

Giving the human a wide, dazed smile, she panted, “That… is an apology… you need to repeat… everyday… for the next year.”

“Every day, several times a day.” Jaze agreed.

Her smile somehow managed to widen even further. “Then let me say: welcome home Jaze.”