Chapters Friendship, the warm that embraces us in a sunny day, the wind that covers our body with the fall of winter, the one that cleans our tears when the horrible happens. A friend can be a mother, a father, a brother or sister, but not a lover...
Sometimes we deny ourselves from the arms of love, apart our bodies from the kisses of eternity, and live like it´s not worth it. We may think it´s just a stone in our uneven way, a distraction; but sooner or later, love finds its way to us, whether we want it or not, and when it finally arrives... we embrace it.
Light illuminated her body as she finished the battle, it was a tickling sensation running down Twilight´s body, but she didn´t care, all that mattered was that Tirek had been defeated, the kingdom had been saved, and the princesses had returned to their rightful places. Peace would continue as long as it could.
Lord Tirek had caused so much destruction, broken bonds, created disharmony, but at last it was finally over. The spell that was casted using the power inside the box had done it´s work, as the ruthless centaur was brought to his knees, and returned to the deeps of Tartarus.
Some of the Elements never noticed their smiles, their satisfaction. Soon enough the feeling ends, there is something off but they don´t pay much attention to it.
The mares descend to the floor, their bodies once again brimming with excitement, as they prepare to repair Equestria. Their ears prepare to hear the all familiar voice telling them to finish unleashing the magic across the kingdom, but it never came.
The five Elements turned their heads, searching for one mare, the one that had joined them, bond them together, made them friends. Twilight was nowhere to be found.
"Have any of you seen Twilight?" Applejack asked, her worried expression matching the rest of the Elements. Seeing her friend´s head shakes, Applejack screamed to the air. "TWILIGHT!"
"Wow! What happened, she was here a second ago!" Rainbow exclaimed, flying a few steps away from the farmer.
"Did you see her land with us?" Applejack asked, getting a negative as a response.
"I don´t get it, how could she vanish all of a sudden?" Rarity asked, walking towards Applejack, suddenly from the top of her head, a pink mare appeared.
"Maybe she´s at Ponyville waiting for us to party!"
"Pinkie, this is serious!" Applejack replied, getting her pink friend off Rarity, who was the next to speak.
"You think she´s already out helping other places?" Her assumption was highly unlikely, but it was possible, better than nothing at least.
Applejack placed her hoof under her chin, thinking about it for a few seconds, until Rarity talked again. "It´s worth a try."
Applejack sighed, lowering her head for a second. "Alright, but if we don´t find her, that could mean problems." With that, she turned to face the rest of the group, who where looking around for Twilight. "Come on everypony! We have to clean up the mess Tirek made, we will search for Twilight on our way, so let´s split up!"
"Wait! AJ" Rainbow placed her hoof on Applejack´s right shoulder, with the intention of stopping her. "And if we don´t find her?"
The farmer turned to face her her friend. "If we don´t, we´ll talk with a certain centaur."
With that, the five Elements traveled to the other parts of the kingdom.
Towns, cities, castles, each place in Equestria was cleansed from the disharmony created by Tirek, but there was no sight of Twilight, no matter where they went. With each place they went, their faces melted more and more, and soon their smiles where nowhere to be seen, the hope in their was vanishing faster.
Uncertainty kills, that much is true, and for the Elements it is no different.
Finally they reached Canterlot, and once again the group was reunited, their faces holding grim expressions, expressions instantly spotted by the princesses.
Celestia had walked towards them, Cadence, and Luna on her side. The princess of the sun saw Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.
Celestia saw something was wrong, and not just because of the Element´s faces; she could feel an empty spot in the air. Celestia felt a hole in her stomach, her chest got agitated.
As Celestia got closer to the already sad ponies, Cadence and Luna stared at each other uneasily. Something bad had just happened, something maybe irreversible, something that would mark everypony for the rest of their lives.
The princess of the sun tried to hide her uneasy breathing as she asked.
"Where is Twilight?"
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious—the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. — Albert Einstein
Bright lights shined through the immense vortex, consuming anything from being watched. Across galaxies, across time and space, she felt her being being separated into millions of pieces, then being reconstructed again. Desperation began to consume the young princess, who was struggling to understand what exactly was happening, but funny enough, her mind wasn´t with her. It felt like a dream, or worse, a nightmare.
In not a moment too soon, the madness ended.
Twilight´s vision was fading, the only things visible in her blurry sight were vasts landscapes illuminated by a full moon, but all was not peace. Suddenly a loud explosion was both heard and seen by the fading Twilight, followed by multiple screams, it all seemed like a complete war zone.
The young princess was too lost to even think about what was happening, and seconds before her vision went dark, she could hear voices amongst the chaos, and getting closer to her, after that, Twilight passed out.
"What have you found about her?" A tall man, wearing a high ranked military blue uniform, asked. The man had received news from his men on the battlefield about an unusual rainbow-like light just behind one of their tanks, what followed after that, set them on the edge.
Just at the middle of the anomaly, lied an average stature woman, with sapphire blue hair, a small pink streak was also visible. That wasn´t the weird part, the strange thing was her skin, with it being purple, from feet to head, and they were certain of it, as she was found completely naked. This woman looked like she was in her twentys.
The two men instantly notified their superiors, who were ordered with taking an evac-chopper and bring the woman with them. The girl was taken into a facility and placed inside a white chamber, which only had a small bathroom and a bed, it was clean at least.
Scientist immediately dressed the woman, and began to study her, seeing if she had any kind of connection with the invaders, but there was nothing to confirm the theory, even less from the fact she appeared out of a rainbow light.
Three hours had passed, and the investigation gave absolutely nothing, everything seemed normal with the woman, with the obvious exception of the skin and the strange energy which caused some anomalies with the equipment inside the base.
"Nothing general, the subject seems completely normal" One of the scientists spoke, pushing his glasses with his middle finger. The old man addressed as the general placed his closed fist under his chin, deep in thought, suddenly the door opened, giving way to a you soldier.
"General, she´s waking up!" A soldier informed the old man, instantly getting his attention, and without any other word, he headed out and towards the chamber.
We have enough with this war to handle another problem. The general thought as he made his way towards the room, his pace was a fast one.
From within the containment chamber, low moans could be heard coming from the young woman, as she began to wake up. Everyone was waiting expectantly for her to be awake.
It wasn´t long before the general entered the room, his expression matching the rest of the soldiers and scientists behind the glass of the room, none of them expected what came next.
Twilight felt her head being crushed by pressure, it was a horrible headache. She started to remember what had happened, from the finality of Tirek´s battle to... the place she saw, the fire, the voices.
Feeling the pain intensifying, Twilight proceeded to grab her head, until she felt something weird, unsettling. From the several reactions the princess could have, only one would summarize her ´condition´ pretty well.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
From behind the mirror, everyone could witness the scene, as Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs.
The princess used her wrists to try to take off the weird appendages on her now hands, obviously it was all rather pointless. Twilight tried to regain her composure, until she noticed her legs, then everything exploded.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The now human Twilight crawled to the corner of the small room, as if she was trying to escape from her feet, her screams became each time louder, until a scientist decided to step in, only to be stopped by the general, who placed his arm in front of him, while shaking his head in a negative; the scientist complied and proceeded to take sit again.
Twilight found herself hyperventilating, her vision becoming blurry because of it. Her body tried more and more to back away, with the wall behind her stopping the advance.
"What is this!" She finally spoke. Twilight raised her head and screamed at the ceiling. "Rainbow! Applejack!" Everyone at the other side of the room watched quietly as the scene unfolded. "Pinkie! Rarity!" Finally noticing how worthless it was, she finally lowered her head and broke into tears, whispering the name of her remaining friend. "Fluttershy..."
The young princess tried to place herself face down on the floor, laying down like a pony would, but her new body wasn´t designed for that, and soon changed her position. What came next was sobbing, as Twilight placed herself into fetal position while grabbing the legs with her arms, and hiding her face between them. Her reaction was completely interesting, especially for the general, who had his hand under his chin, thinking about it, It was then that the man decided to enter the chamber.
The door slowly opened, Twilight didn´t care though, as she simply remained with her face hidden.
The general made a few steps, stopping right in front of the sobbing woman, then cleared his throat to speak. "Excuse me miss." Twilight didn´t answer. "I said, excuse me miss!" His voice now sounded tougher, without being rude, but giving away authority.
Twilight slowly raised her head, her eyes making contact with the old man, then backed away after watching a tall... thing walking in two legs; His hair was short and gray, as well as his mustache; he had what looked like a militaristic blue uniform. The man´s voice didn´t scare her, but his body did.
The princess´ eyes shrank down in fear, as she spotted the man getting closer to her, then kneeling down on the floor. Although his voice was rough, his face demonstrated the warm look of a worried father. "I´m not going to hurt you, I only need to know your name."
The princess took all of her courage to speak, trying not to tremble too much. "It-it´s T-T-Twilight. Twilight S-Sp-parkle."
"A pleasure meeting you Miss Sparkle." The general said as he stretched his arm to shake hands with her. Twilight took notice of his intention, but she was not sure how to use her new appendages. "Just stretch your arm." Twilight did as he said until her hand made contact with his, then noticed how the man closed his hand around hers, causing the princess to flinch. "Easy."
Finally the two shook hands, and Twilight began to feel more comfortable, the initial scare still being felt in her chest. The general stood up.
"Twilight Sparkle, that´s an odd name." The man offered his hand to the young woman. "But I have seen enough things in one life time for it to make me loose my sleep." Twilight took his hand, and tried too get up, only to stumble a bit, she obviously wasn´t used to her new body, a fact that was noticed by the general. "You act like this isn´t your body."
"I-it isn´t!" That definitely got the man´s attention.
"What do you mean it isn´t"
"Where am I?"
"you´re in the pentagon, Virginia." The general answered.
"Where are my friends!" Twilight exploded.
"I beg your pardon?" The man took a step behind, immediately after witnessing her reaction.
"My friends! Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack..." The general observed as she finished mentioning the names she screamed before, with some new ones such as a ´princess Celestia´ and a ´princess luna´. It all seemed like a fairy tail, and the man seriously considered the woman was nuts, but the way she was found, and her skin color and unusual reactions spoke against his thoughts. Finally, Twilight broke into tears, making her wrap herself around the general, who embraced her as she felt the sadness drowning her entire body.
"Where do you come from?" The general finally asked.
From between sobs and tears, Twilight spoke. "Equestria."
Equestria? Now it definitely sounded like a fairy tale, and that certainly didn´t sound like anything on the planet.
"Did you come with the invasion fleet?" The general asked, causing Twilight to release herself from the embrace, and proceed to watch at the man with watery eyes, confusion clearly visible on her face.
"Invasion fleet?"
Instantly realizing the new guest had a deeper mystery, the general spoke. "Forget about it. It seems there is more to you than meets the eye." The general placed his arm on Twilight´s hip, to give her walking support, then offered his free hand so that the princess could hold unto something. "Come miss Twilight, there is much to discuss if you want to return wherever you come from."
As the two walked out of the room, Twilight couldn´t stop thinking about her current situation, where she was, where her friends where, how could she return? At least she was about to get help, to learn about this new place, and deep inside her she could feel she was in for a huge adventure.
Six years later
The enormous hall housed hundreds of people, each one working inside the facility, it was a huge place where scientists worked day and night, researching, and inventing new ways to defend their country, some areas were used for intelligence against the enemy, others for weapons development. Suddenly the entrance opened, giving way for a feminine figure to enter the place, a young woman sporting black heels, a white scientific coat,and a pair of black glasses. Her face showing a clear smile, as she entered the place where the woman could give everything she had to offer. The young lady walked across the room, getting several smiles from her co-workers.
"Good morning miss Sparkle." One of them said, getting a smile in response.
"Good morning Claudia."
"Good morning Twilight." Another one greeted her, naturally she answered back.
"Good morning Jack."
Like that one after another greeted Twilight Sparkle, head of the science committee, as she wondered through the place´s walls, and towards her office, ready to continue her job.
A pair of wooden doors swing open and give way to Twilight, the young woman walks towards her small desk and places a bunch of documents in it, but before she proceeds to take sit, Twilight places her hands on top of the desk, then lowers her head, the shining smile on her face disappearing a bit.
The young woman finds herself deep in thought, even though, today´s a big day. Twilight had found more interest in the weapons research program inside the organisation. The high position inside the science committee actually bored her more than she thought.
Her decision had caused some fights with the man she saw as a father figure, the man who had helped her ever since she arrived, this man was general Graves. Graves had taken notice on her keen intellect, which far exceeded some of the brightest minds in the world, as such, he pulled some levers so that she could have a high position inside the pentagon, an offer she refused, and instead focused on the organisation Graves took part in, the organisation she finds herself working now, Twilight could never regret her decision.
These three years were really hard for her, and not just because of the fact that she was ripped from her home, but because she practically had to start from zero. Her bright mind sure helped, but the ample array of information about history, and biology proved to be quite a challenge. Sometimes she found herself perplexed on how several things this place shared in common with her home.
Stretching from her position, the young woman walks towards a coffee table. Her delicate hand grabs a cup with the words ´For Science´ and proceeds to fill it with the hot drink.
Twilight returns to her desk, and goes to take a sit, ready to organize her things before she can proceed with the transfer. ´just a few more documents, Twilight´ she thinks to herself.
The young woman pushes her glasses with her index finger, and proceeds to grab one page from the rest of the documents inside the purple folder, then rests her left hand under her forehead. She tries to focus for a few seconds before her attentions directs somewhere else.
Twilight reaches her lab coat, and pulls a small picture from it, her heart sinking as soon as she sees it... it is a picture of the alicorn princess and her friends back in Equestria.
The night she appeared here, Twilight had totally forgotten about the picture, which was stored inside her mane during the battle against Tirek. It was good luck that unicorn´s, alicorn´s... and Pinkie´s manes had special properties, even in a world different from them.
That picture was the token that convinced Graves not to send her to an asylum, but the value it had on Twilight´s heart, was bigger than anyone could even comprehend, it was her old life, the life were she learned friendship was the most powerful magic, a thought held by her to this day.
Twilight can´t help but to release a small smile, as she begins to wonder ´Will I ever go back? Am I going to see my friends again? What has been of their lives?´. It has been three years since she left Equestria, and even though she had found a home in this new world, Twilight can´t forget about her old perfect life, a life where war, violence, and insanity weren´t present every day.
Twilight sighs as she stares at the photo for a few seconds before three knocks are heard from outside her office.
"Come in!" Twilight says, her head lifting up, as she uses her hands to wipe some of the tears falling from her cheeks.
Soon enough, a man in a very familiar uniform, enters the room. His face sporting the insignia gray mustache. Graves enters the room, a warm smile appearing on his face as she approaches Twilight´s desk, where an equally grinning woman stands up.
Without letting the smile disappear from his face, Graves speaks with a jokingly serious tone. "Attention, soldier!"
Twilight answers his grin with one of her own. "Twilight Sparkle reporting for duty!" She salutes the man.
The scene lasts for a few seconds before the two broke into laughs, then reach each other in a warm embrace.
"Good morning Skits." Twilight, as intelligent as she was, seemed to be incredibly naive, and extremely innocent, this caused some rather funny and exaggerated reactions with things she wouldn´t understand first hand. This was accompanied by her almost psychotic urge to fix things that weren´t broken, giving way for some rather hilarious mental breakdowns. It all seemed like a comedy play, hence the name ´Skits´.
"Good morning Graves." Even though she doesn´t call him father, the man has been the closest thing to one for. Twilight´s real father had died shortly after Celestia took notice of her magic prowess, causing an indelible mark on her, sometimes making her insecure and sociably awkward, this was the reason why she didn´t have friends back in Canterlot, the reason why she preferred to stay inside the castle and study all day. Sure, her real father used to work extra hours, and the amount of time she spent with him was very little, but still it caused some psychological repercussions in her persona.
Graves released himself from Twilight´s embrace, and made eye contact with her. "So?"
"So what?" Asked a confused Twilight.
"So, what do you want for tomorrow?" Graves could notice her confused expression, telling him that the woman had no idea of what he was talking about, this caused him to release a small smile. "It doesn´t surprise me you forgot about it... I guess turning twenty three comes with the downside of amnesia for you."
Twilight wide opened her eyes at the sudden realization, her face releasing a sheepish smile. "Oh! That!" Graves waits expectantly, as he prepares for the answer the man already knows he´s going to receive. "I... actually haven´t thought about that, and to be completely honest, I really don´t want anything." Twilight gives the best of her smiles, so that she could impede the insistence of the man, who keeps holding a small grin. It is in moments like this where remembers the legendary Pinkie parties.
Graves releases a small chuckle before speaking. "I was sure you would say that, so I took the liberty to take a few steps ahead of you, at least for once..." Twilight waits for him to finish. Graves releases a wider grin. "How does the Louvre sounds to you?" He finally says, as he pulls two plane tickets with Paris as a destination.
Twilight eyes wide open, she had heard about the museum while studying the history of this world, and instantly took a lot of interest in it. Her now dream to visit it, was foiled with all the work she found herself deep into, plus one alien invasion which lasted a year and a half, but things had already settled down.
However, Twilight has always been known for her obsessive necessity to study and work. Sometimes, Graves wondered whether this actions were only because of obsession, or a simple psychological reaction thanks to her loss, making her feel the necessity to get the approval of the parental figure she didn´t have. Graves feared it was the later, but he was sure as Heck she didn´t need to prove herself.
Twilight was the classic ´perfect daughter´, noble, intelligent, innocent and hard working, admirable qualities in the eyes of the man... the second and third qualities completely differed from his other boy, though.
He had talked about him on a few occasions, but never gave away too much detail about him, with the only things Twilight knew being the facts that he had left the army roughly two years before her arrival, and that he had lent a very helpful hand against the invasions. Aside from that, she knew nothing.
Twilight took a few minutes to realize what had just happened, and did her best to hide her excitement. "I-I don´t know what to... WE´RE GOING TO THE LOUVRE!" ...At least she tried to hide it. Despite almost turning twenty, and her amazing brain, Twilight sometimes seemed more like a little child. "I don´t know what to say, I mean, don´t we have a lot of work to do here? What about my new job?"
"Twilight, you work too much, and you don´t turn twenty three a second time, I say you´ve more than earned this trip." His face released a warm smile.
Twilight hugged him in excitement for two seconds before breaking the embrace. "Oh my! Oh my! I´m going to visit one of the largest museum, and not only that... we´re going to Paris!" Graves couldn´t help but to smile at the whole scene. "Just imagine the amount of history guarded in that place, the amount of knowledge left behind! A true arc of history!"
"I´m glad you like it, gather your things for your transfer, let everything ready. We leave tomorrow morning." Graves says, as Twilight relaxes a little.
"Yeah you´re right, I only have to prepare a few documents before I proceed with the transfer." Twilight replies, reaching towards her desk to continue with her work.
Graves approaches her. "Are you sure about this change, skits? We don´t need you blowing up the place." Graves mocked, taking into considerations Twilight´s obsessiveness.
"When have I ever done something like that?" Twilight replies in defense, getting a deadpan look from Graves.
"Don´t tell me you forgot about that little fiasco back at Polaris."
One year ago
Twilight found herself alongside Graves, stationed inside the Polaris space outpost. She had been called along a team of scientists to help increase the effectiveness of the base´s shields.
The young woman had invented a small artificial horn, which helped her use her magic in limited amounts. Twilight was surprised that even though she lacked wings and a horn, magic still cursed through her body, thankfully she had found a way to channel that power through an artificial appendices, without the need to connect the artifact inside her body.
While under Celestia´s wing, Twilight had learned a few magic spells, which didn´t need the use of her horn. These magical words required a lot power from the pony, but packed quite a punch. The newly alicorn princess found a certain spell that allowed her channel magic through an exterior object.
With these in mind, Twilight created a small metal horn, but thanks to the limited amount of magic she could use (mainly due to the nature of her new body) sometimes there was risk of collateral damage, and results she didn´t intend.
Once the new shields were tested in the hangar, Twilight headed towards the missile room to install the last defenses, Graves awaited there for her return.
The warheads were varied in power, from the nuclear type, to the less powerful ones. Sadly for everyone, the control panel of one of the missiles began to malfunction, but not to the point to accidentally fire a warhead... at least until Twilight stepped in to ´fix´the problem.
"Um... Skits? I don´t think we should rely on that horn of yours to fix the problem, as far a I know, It sometimes malfunctions." A puzzled Graves inquired.
Twilight found herself in four legs, and under the panel, trying to fix the problem with the metal horn on her head, it was a rather funny position.
"Nothing to worry about, the probability of me failing a spell is rather dim."
"It´s not you the one I don´t trust, but rather that thing on your head." Graves replied, catching from the corner of his eye one of the soldiers staring at her behind, which caused the old man to launch a dead glare towards him, immediately making the soldier cease his actions. "We need the proper tools to fix the problem, not magic, at least not one that tends to blow things up or do something you weren´t expecting."
"I´ve tested this horn enough to be sure it won´t fail." Twilight said in her defense, forcing Graves to place a hand on his forehead while sighing in desperation.
"Didn´t you test it only once? And ended up sending the neighbor´s conscience into his dog and vice versa?" Twilight released a small sheepish chuckle.
"Maybe it didn´t work as planned then, but I´m sure it will right now." Graves had to admire her optimism, it was one of the things that made her special, that and her amazing ability to screw things up, an ability that was about to shine once again.
The control panel suddenly let out a few sparks, as it began to turn on. "Aha! I did it!"
Graves could feel a small smile forming in his face... until a red light began to flash, followed by the sound of an engine starting.
Graves placed both of his hands on his face, as he sighed. "I don´t want to look at this."
Twilight went out from under the console, and stood up just in time to spot a small missile launched with directions towards the earth.
Graves wasted no time in walking towards the panel´s screen. "Where is that missile going to collide?" He asked one of the soldiers, who quickly calculated the place, then showed it to the man, who simply hummed in response.
The missile would collide at an establishment, thankfully it was three of the morning on Earth, which meant there were no people inside, plus the missile wasn´t one of the powerful ones, it would only destroy the place and nothing more.
The whole team watched at the big screen hanging from the top of the ceiling, waiting for the collision, and once it finally arrived, Graves turned to face Twilight with a kill look on his face, the young woman sheepishly smiled before talking. "At least we only lost a Walmart."
Graves facepalmed.
Twilight did her best to release the cutest of her smiles, before the general spoke. "We went through a lot of problems to cover up that little incident."
"I´m deeply sorry about that, but trust me on this one." Twilight placed her hands together pleading for the opportunity.
Graves couldn´t help but to sigh in response, secretly releasing a smile on his face. It took him a few seconds before he talked. "Very well, but no more screwing up, okay?"
Twilight smiled. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" That was all he needed to completely trust her. Twilight had talked too much about her old friends, and she seemed to love them so much to hold a Pinkie promise sacred.
Graves simply nodded, as Twilight sat once again on her desk, never realizing the picture of her friends slipping from her coat and falling to the ground. Graves took notice of this and went to grab the photo.
The smile on Twilight´s face diminished once she saw the object, and lowered her head. Graves sighed in sadness, as he got closer to Twilight. The man took a good look at the photo on his hand, before clearing his throat to speak. "I know you miss them Skits, and believe me I have done everything in my power to find a way to return you home." The man placed a hand on her shoulder. "But I promise I will continue doing the impossible to find a way."
Between sobs, Twilight raised her head to stare at the man, her eyes watery and red. "You Pinkie promise?"
Graves gave her a warm smile, then made the gestures with his hand. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Twilight broke into tears as she wrapped her arms around Graves, who naturally returned the embrace a loving father would. The first time Twilight said she was a pony, he had seriously considered sending her to an asylum, at least until she showed him the photo.
It was hard for him to actually believe the story, even after witnessing the evidence, but there was no other explanation for the multiple anomalies surrounding her, which left him with the only option to believe her.
He learned a lot about her friends. Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie (This one had caught his interest); as well as the existence of the princesses, her number one assistant Spike and the kingdom she comes from. All of it was hard to digest, especially for a man who lived in a world that was the complete opposite of Equestria, it was complete madness, but it was the truth.
Then came the topic about magic, thankfully this one was even easier to confirm, as Twilight had proven again and again of it´s existence, with the fiasco at Polaris being and example.
Graves wasn´t joking when he said he would do the impossible to find a way to return her, as millions of dollars were wasted in research, even suicide missions inside the alien ship to search for a portal, nothing had worked, but he was still willing to do anything in his power to help her, even though, deep inside him he wasn´t sure if he really wanted...
Twilight was completely aware that Graves had lost his daughter and wife twenty years ago, and sometimes he would tell her that if she were alive right now, his daughter would probably be just like her.
Graves however, would never tell anything more about the matter, even to the point of changing the subject, it was a normal reaction, especially after such a horrid loss.
Twilight cried for a few more minutes, until Graves spoke.
"Come now Skits, I´m sure you don´t want to present yourself like that when you´re introduced to your new co-workers."
Between sniffs, Twilight lifted her face, as her tears were cleaned by Graves. "You´re right." With that, she let go of the hug and prepared once again to finish checking the documents, doing her best to regain composure. "I should hurry up and finish re-checking these."
Graves gave a puzzled look. "What do you mean by ´re-checking´? I thought you didn´t even start."
Twilight lifter he face once more, he face calmer than before, as she released a thin smile. "I finished this yesterday, but there was a slight problem with one of these, so I had to give it another go."
Graves returned the grin as he prepared to head out of the office. "Very well, I´ll be waiting for you at the weapons research lab, join with me once you´re finished to begin the transfer, alright?"
"I will." Twilight was about to continue on her work, until she was interrupted by the man, who had half of his body out of the office.
"Twilight," he said, using a serious tone, "I swear to you, I will find a way to get you back to Equestria."
Twilight gave one small chuckle, then cleared her throat to speak. "Thank you for all of this, if one day we succeed, I would love for you to meet my friends."
Graves released a small laugh. "Just don´t let that Pink one close to me."
"No promises!" Twilight joked.
The doors her office were now closed, and she found herself alone once more, and resumed her work. She knew she had to remain positive, to have hope, but she couldn´t, not when the odds were against her. There was simply nothing on Earth, or with the aliens that could bring get her back to her world, at least not inside their ships. But there was another problem, Were here friends missing her? Or they just forgot about her? What if Celestia just found another student, another princess of friendship, and Spike? He is sure that it was him the one that would suffer her disappearance the most, her poor, little baby dragon.
Shaking the thoughts from her head, and trying to breath calmly to stop the desperation inside her chest, Twilight proceeded with her work, the sooner she finished the better.
Twilight had recently finished the documents, and headed out of her office. She made her way through the several hallways inside the building.
The place was rather peaceful nowadays, mostly because the aliens weren´t attacking anymore, as one year and a half, earth had succeeded in fending off the invaders.
After the attack had ended, the weapons research program took on a bigger role, and Twilight was full of ideas that could help Earth in case another invasion began. Sure they had won, but Earth´s forces were running low.
Soon enough the young woman could spot the big transparent walls of the lab´s entrance, her new job place.
Once she made it, she could spot Graves waiting for her, a scientist stepping to his right, she immediately figure he was in charge of the operations inside the lab.
Scientist seemed like a very serious guy, his stature matching hers. He had no facial hair, and sported a pair of glasses (the usual), hair was the funny part, it was large ad with a very unusual ´Elvis-like´style, lastly, he was a bit chubby.
Twilight finally arrived with the two men, and tried to release the friendliest of smiles.
"Twilight, this is Doctor Bernard, he is the head of the weapons research program, and your supervisor." Graves introduced the scientist, who proceeded to shake hands with the woman. The scientist face never releasing even the hint of a smile.
Finally they stopped shaking hands. "A pleasure meeting you Dr. Bernard." Said Twilight, the grin never leaving her face.
"The pleasure is mine miss. Sparkle, I must say, I had been eager to meeting with you, especially after those impressive stories about you keen intellect, which I hope are true." Bernard replied, his face serious but his words completely honest.
"Likewise, and I hope I can reach your expectations Dr. Bernard." Twilight said.
"And I´m sure you will." Twilight nods in confirmation. Bernard continues talking. "You start on Monday, and I hope you´re ready for the hard work. I´m telling you on Monday, because general Graves informed me that tomorrow is a special day for you."
Twilight´s smile widened. "Indeed it is."
"Very well miss Twilight, I don´t wish to entertain you with anymore chat, let me show you your work area." With that, he motions with his hand for her to follow him.
The scientist gives Twilight a tour of the lab, showing her the multiple rooms and safety zones, as well as the locker she will be occupying and finally her work area. Finally he introduces her to several scientist she will be working with on Monday.
A woman in her thirties approaches Twilight. "Nice to meet you miss Sparkle, I´m Jennifer, it´s nice to have you on board." She smiles, as she removes a few streaks of her black hair from her face. Twilight returns the shake.
"The pleasure is mine Dr. Jennifer, I hope we can work as good as we can for the sake of science."
"Likewise miss Sparkle."
The next one to introduce himself, is a colored man, his head was bald, and sported a short beard. His smile was probably one of the friendliest she´s ever seen, even rivaling that of pinkie. "Pleasure miss Twilight, I´m Dr. Dakarai, and I must say, you have one of the most beautiful eyes i´ve seen in my life, still not enough to surpass my daughter."
Twilight released a chuckle, a slight blush appearing on her face. "The pleasure is mine Dr. Dakarai, I´m sure your daughter must be the most beautiful girl on this earth."
"That it is, miss Twilight, but please, just call me Dak." Dakarai ads.
"And you may call me only Twilight." Dak nods in response.
Another scientist stands up, this one looks as serious as Bernard. "Greetings Twilight, I´m Dr. Daniel." He introduces himself, his accent slightly different from the rest of the scientists present. "I hope you can speak spanish." Finally he says with a thin smile.
Twilight returns the grin. "Don´t worry Dr. Daniel, I´m on my way there." The man smiles once again behind his large black hair, contrasting with his glasses. Twilight can´t help but to feel something familiar about him, she doesn´t pay it any attention though. Finally he sits again, giving way for the last scientist of the team to introduce herself.
This one is a tall redhead woman in her twentys. "Hello miss Twilight, I´m Dr. Lauren, just call me Lauren."
"It´s a pleasure meeting you Lauren. I feel like I´ve seen you before." Twilight says, releasing a puzzled face, matched by the scientist.
"I highly doubt it Dr. Sparkle, although I feel the same." The scientist says. Without any other word, she shakes Twilight´s hand and sits again.
"It was a pleasure meeting you all." Twilight replies, getting a few cheerful nods as a response. Once done, Bernard accompanies both Graves and Twilight to the exit.
"It was a pleasure miss Twilight, I´m looking forward to work with you." Bernard says, shaking the woman´s hand, then turns to Graves. "Goodbye general Graves, you can rest assured she´ll feel right at home when she starts working at the lab."
Graves gives a simple nod, the two of them head out, and towards the exit of the building. The way there is quiet, but not in the awkward way, it is a peaceful silence. Graves could spot Twilight´s look from the corner of his eyes, telling him she was excited for the new position.
As part of the science committee, she did nothing more than to propose and move staff around, and he could clearly understand why she decided to change the position, the lab was her place, the domain where she could make magic... the scientific one at least. Graves could never take tat satisfaction away from her, if that made her happy, then he was happy.
The due kept walking until they came across the immense food area, and just as they were about to pass it, a woman reaches them from behind.
"Excuse me general Graves!"
The man turns around to give her a slight smile. "Yes? What is the matter?"
"We discovered an anomaly at the coast." The woman says, her face clearly showing a worried look.
Graves turns to Twilight. "I have to take this Skits, wait for me here, I wont be long." With that, he turns to face the woman and nods in confirmation before following her.
Twilight meanwhile decides to buy some juice from one of the bending machines. She moves towards the machine and inserts a coin, then selects an apple juice. The small can comes out from the machine and she proceed to crouch down ready to grab her, when suddenly she hears a whistle, but not a friendly one, this one sounds pervert.
She begins to sweat, just as she hears an all too familiar voice.
"yo! Sweetie! Has anyone told you you have the nicest ass around?"
Twilight releases a frown as she turns to face the man speaking. The guy is wearing a set of black pants, and a gray t-shirt. His hair is black and small, covered by a black bandanna. His face hold the expression of an animal in search of copulating.
Twilight calls him by name, speaking with annoyance. "Dylan..."
"Correction baby! Captain FUCKING Dylan of the EDF! BOOYAH!" Twilight simply rolls her eyes, and much to her dismay, he keeps talking. "Hey! How about we go to the barracks so I can present to you my good old shotgun!" He point at his crutch, the turns to face his other three friends sitting at the table with him, waiting for the laughs of approval, which eventually came.
"I´m sorry Dylan, but I have better things to do than to watch something non existent (referring to his ´shotgun´)." Twilight hears ´ooooh´s coming from his ´crowd´, and releases a small grin, until she hears steps coming towards her.
"Listen sweetheart," Dylan begins, "I like you, but I don´t appreciate you insulting me in front of my friends," Twilight narrows her eyes, "so, how about you repay me by giving me that sweet purple pu..."
"That´s enough Dylan! Cease this at once or you will be dismissed from the EDF!" Her salvation finally comes in the form of Graves, who sports a look full with fury, a look that makes Dylan take a few steps back before speaking with trembling voice.
"G-g-g-gen-neral!" Twilight releases a smirk, as she watches the look of fear Dylan has. "I-i-m sorry, it was just t-t-hat..."
"I don´t give a crap about anything you have to say, now give me two hundred push ups, and circle the entire base two times." Dylan does his best to nod, and proceeds to do as he was asked, only to be stopped once again. "I´m leaving, but don´t even think you´re saved, there are cameras all over the place, and if I find out past tomorrow you didn´t finish your punishment... you´re dismissed, are we clear!?"
"Sir! Yes, sir!"
With that Dylan starts his punishment, the same time both Twilight and Graves leave the area. On their way, Graves could swear he heard Dylan curse him, but he decided to pay it no mind.
"I don´t understand how you can accept people like him in the EDF!" Twilight finally breaks the silence, her face showing a frown. Graves sighs as he begins to talk.
"Whether we want it or not, Dylan´s good at what he does, even if he doesn´t have the best personality around."
"Actually, almost none of these soldiers have a good personality!" Twilight replies, getting a warm look from her father figure.
"Skits, if I had to dismiss every soldier with the same personality as Dylan´s, the EDF would not have any soldier at all." Graves spots the look of concern in Twilight´s face. "Don´t worry, I´m not going to let anything happen to you, are we clear?"
Twilight nods with a small grin on her face. With that out of the way, the duo exits the building, and prepare to go home.
Preparing for the Journey
It was a very peaceful morning at the EDF HQ on Earth. The beautiful rainy weather contrasted with the black building as the sounds of gentle drops of water fell from the sky.
From the enormous building, two silhouettes emerged, Twilight and Graves. They had just finished meeting the lab staff, and where ready to head home.
The sound of a starting chopper´s engine greeted the duo as they walked into the platform. Across these six years, Twilight had become amazed with the technology in this world, wondering about how much they could do, but at the same time she found it horrifying how many destruction it could cause as well. She had been to the human world before, even though, she entirely forgot about the fact the first time she arrived here, the shock of the sudden moment was too high. All in all, the one she visited wasn´t as barbaric as this one, deal, she knew not everyone was evil, not everyone was a certified asshole like Dylan, but this human race was capable of pretty awful stuff. Sure, maybe the alien invasion had changed things around the globe, but international conflicts were still a thing.
Initially, the EDF was supposed to put a stop at these problems with the idea of reuniting world´s armies, but instead they ended up full of douchebags.
“Come on Skits.” Graves´ words cut Twilight out of her trance to notice the general already up in the chopper, it seemed that she went out of reality a good amount of time. “Anything wrong?” He asked.
“It´s nothing.” She answered, as she set foot inside the aerial vehicle.
Once she stood inside, Twilight took sit and placed one hand under her chin. Graves knew what was the problem. Twilight was a pure girl, one that used to think that friendship was the highest power. Graves chuckled internally ´It´s not like friendship has saved us from the past years full of shit´ he thought.
It had certainly been several rough years, not only had the invasion left a lot of death and destruction, but it also made a black hole in the monetary system, plenty of labor positions were lost, along with the money used to repair several cities, still, they all had managed to continue and restore balance, or at least as much as they could.
The engine began to run, shortly after, the chopper ascended into the air, getting ready to get Graves and Twilight to their destination.
The general returned to his thoughts, thinking about the economical crisis that ensured after the attack. Of course, much of the money was invested into the EDF to ensure it was upgraded with the latest technology in hopes of avoiding so much losses in case the invaders returned. Graves shuddered at this thought, even if they had him, another attack would be catastrophic, even with the advancements made.
His thoughts returned to Twilight. She had lost everything the moment she set foot in this planet and he didn´t want her to live a war, it was a good thing there were no signs of them returning. Still, he had to know.
“Skits?” He asked, getting Twilight´s attention. “I need to ask you something.” Graves gulped. “How prepared would you feel if there was another attack?” The young girl cocked her head to the side. “Do you think you could manage yourself if Earth was invaded again?” Not that he would leave her on her own luck, but this kind of situations had a tendency of separating people from their loved ones.
On her part, Twilight sighed, she really didn´t like the war subject, still, she had been in this kind of situation before, maybe not on the same scale, but certainly something alike. “I know if something like that happened again, you wouldn´t leave me.”
“That is not what I asked.” Graves replied, his tone serious but with a hint of concern. “Do you feel like handling yourself if something like that happened?”
“Why ask? Did something happen?” Twilight insisted, getting a look from the man.
“Skits, answer the question.”
Twilight remained silent a few seconds, she knew Graves was a very disciplined person and he wouldn´t let her get away before answering his questions. Finally, she lowered her head for a moment and took a deep breath. “Yes, I have managed myself before and I know I can do it now.” Graves nodded, however, twilight still wasn´t finished. “But why? Was it because of the anomaly? Do you think they could invade again?”
Graves scratched the back of his head, sighing as he formulated the words in his mind. “I know nothing about what the future could bring, but if something was to happen and if for some reason I wasn´t there to protect you, I want to at least know I can count on you to resist, Twilight.”
It were not many times he would call her by name and when this happened, she knew he was dead serious. “I can handle myself, you don´t need to worry about me.”
“But I do.” He answered. “That is why I asked and to answer your other questions: No, I don´t think they will come back, the anomaly just seemed to be the activation of one of their ships, probably activated by someone being curious, that´s all.”
“Hmph.” Twilight crossed her arms and gave Graves a look..
Graves chuckled. “Don´t worry, Skits, if something happens, I will try to remember using you as a shield to get out of the mess.”
“Hah, hah! How funny.” Answered Twilight, giving him an amused look. “If only you could catch me.”
“I´m not that old.”
Twilight let out a laugh and muttered under her breath. “Yes you are.”
Graves crossed his arms. “I heard that.”
Quickly, Twilight lifted her hands in a defensive position. “That was not me, it was the pilot.”
As soon as the word left her mouth, the man piloting managed to released a loud ´what?´, making Twilight chuckle. As soon as the moment was over, she turned to face the large seas, deep in thought.
“Don´t worry, Skits.” Graves said, getting Twilight´s attention. “Nothing is going to happen. Juts relax and enjoy your vacations”
The young woman smiled. “I know I will. I have been inside the facilities for three months, I really miss home.”
“We´ll get there, finally.” Trying to comfort the former princess, Graves placed his hand on her shoulder. “The amount of work you have done for the EDF deserves some rest and you can use this time to enjoy yourself, you deserve it.”
Twilight smiled. “I hope I can, thank you.” With those words, Graves nodded in response, while getting himself comfortable on his seat.
He was right, Twilight had been under so much pressure and it was already time for her to rest from all of her work, still she couldn´t help but to think about his words. She wasn´t as terrified about the possibility, she had been in those situations before. Of course, if something happened, Twilight would be more than prepared.
The chopper flew into the horizon, getting the two of them home.
A distant noise was heard amongst the military camp, each second getting closer to the place and it wasn´t long before a chopper made itself visible. None of the soldiers were alarmed, though, as the vehicle held the EDF insignia, as such, the chopper landed without any problem.
As it settled itself on the ground, the two passengers prepared themselves to get out.
“You can get now, sir.” Said the pilot, receiving a nod from Graves.
“Thank you, soldier.” The old man turned to stare at Twilight. “Lets go Skits. Mind the head.” The former alicorn nodded. Graves got off the vehicle and gave a helping hand to Twilight, who took immediately. Once on the ground, Graves turned to look at his surroundings, getting a familiar air.
Just as the two of them prepared to walk, a soldier approached them. “General! Good to have you back, here!” Graves extended his arm, receiving a bunch of keys. “You car is exactly where you left it.” He released a smirk. “We did our best to avoid driving it.”
Graves chuckled in response. “At least you tried, thank you, soldier.” With a nod from his head, the young man proceeded to leave, giving another greeting nod towards Twilight, who answered with a smile of her own.
Giving a deep breath, the former princess turned to look at Graves. “I was dying to get out of that facility.”
“You weren´t the only one, come.” They had been aboard the HQ for three months, were enormous amounts of work were the order of the day, not that Twilight was lazy, on the contrary, she was a rather active person when work was in the line, but having at least some time to enjoy herself out of her duties was something refreshing.
There would be a time were she complained about not having enough things to do as a princess, but now that she had her hands full without being royalty, she silently wished she could be a princess again.
The two of them made their way towards the military camp, entering the administration where they could see the parking lot at the other side of the transparent doors.
As graves and Twilight passed, every soldier they found saluted them, or at least their general. The way his men treated him, talked a lot about what kind of man he was and it sure did say many good things.
Graves had always been a very righteous man, even though he could be very disciplinary at times, still, it did not take away his goodness. Twilight smiled at the treatment he got, she had been student to a very powerful and wise entity, yet she felt like she could learn a lot more about this man, who wasn´t even an all powerful being. Maybe the greatest treasures came in small packages and that small package had made her stay in this world a very pleasant ride. Going out of her thoughts, Twilight proceeded behind Graves, as they got out of the administration and towards the parking lot, were their car was waiting.
A standard gray van was visible amongst the enormous amounts of vehicles scattered across the lot. Graves was a man of simple tastes, nothing to gaudy appealed to him, something that Twilight shared immensely.
On his part, Graves was happy with what he got, he did not need to live in the Taj Mahal to be happy and it showed.
Inserting the keys into the key hole of the car´s door, Graves gave a deep sigh. “Been dying to drive this.”
“Can I drive?” Asked Twilight, getting a scared look from the old man. “If you want us to end in the hospital just a few minutes after we arrived, then sure, go ahead.”
Twilight grunted and crossed her arms. “Come on! I´m not that bad of a driver.”
Graves chuckled as a response. “You really insist on me having this bad memories.” Another few laughs followed.
Twilight was very good in several things, however, driving wasn´t one of them; Graves learned this a little too late and now, everytime she slipped by into the wheel, his face would start to sweat cold and with enough reason.
However, contrary to Graves´ fears, Twilight wasn´t convinced. “Come on, I´ve been getting better.” She said, getting herself on the passenger sit, alongside Graves who had the seat belt already on.
The old man closed the door and turned to look at Twilight. “The last time you said that, one Sanborns and a clothes store went down in history as the receivers of your wrath.”
Twilight fumed in silence, as she crossed her arms. “One day I will slip into this car and you will never notice.”
“And when that happens,” Graves chuckled, “I will take the decision of hanging myself in the bathroom to avoid looking at the ensuing apocalypse.” Regardless of the old man´s laughs, Twilight´s face gave a very angry and grim expression.
“Don´t say that!” This caught Graves by surprise, who directed his gaze towards an angry Twilight and even though her frown hid it pretty well, there was hint of fear and sadness in the face.
“It was just a joke, Skits.” Answered the man, causing Twilight to sigh and lower her head.
“Just, don´t say that.”
Graves understood this, Twilight had suffered a lot of loses in her life and the subject of death was a delicate topic for her. He figure she didn´t want to be left alone. Releasing a comforting smile, Graves placed his hand under her chin to lift her face and get in eye contact with her.
“Don´t worry, Skits, nothing is going to happen.” Twilight´s frowned calmed. “We are finally home, lets enjoy the vacations.”
Closing her eyes, Twilight nodded in response. “Yeah, sorry.”
“No, I´m sorry.” Graves said, getting a thin smile from the former alicorn, then placed the key inside the hole to start the engine and placed both of his hands on the wheel.
Just in that moment, Twilight´s belly started to ´talk´. “Can we go eat something? I´m kind of starving.” She said, giving away a sheepish smile.
Graves began to drive the vehicle towards the exit and without taking his eyes from the upcoming road, he talked. “You sure you don´t want to try Duke burger?”
Twilight released a disgusted look. For obvious reasons, she had never been a fan of meat, not even when it was referred in a simple topic. The thought of someone eating someone else was something she could not stomach, however, she knew Graves was just messing with her, this didn´t stop from the man from noticing Twilight´s face from the corner of his eye and released a few chuckles.
“You know?” Twilight said. “Next time we go to Polaris, I will make sure to destroy that establishment of Tartarus.”
Graves laughed once more. “I´m sure you don´t need a nuclear missile to do something like that.”
Twilight deadpanned. “Why do I get the feeling you think of me as some kind of super powered item of destruction?”
Graves smirked. “A super powered item of destruction that talks with cows.”
“I told you I thought they were the same as in Equestria?” Twilight replied, letting out a rather comic frown.
Graves was simply enjoying himself at this moment and it showed. “And I had a lot of thinking to do to avoid getting you into a mental asylum.”
Contrary to Graves laughs, Twilight held a serious look. “Not funny.” She wasn´t angry in reality, she was just playing along.
“It is kind of funny.” Graves replied.
With this, the vacations began, shaping up to be a breath of fresh air for both the man and his little girl.
The vehicle sped up to descent levels, loosing itself on the horizon and going each time farther from the military camp, deepening itself into the upcoming city.
Twilight always ha a thing for huge, advanced placed, but she much preferred to bask herself in the beauty of most simplistic environments, still, the city she and Graves lived in was something rather impressive... Las Vegas, a city full of light.
The movement in this place was rather intense, not only for the numerous amounts of people living the nocturnal life, but also the countless casinos like The Lady killer, or impressive sights like the Duke dome. For Twilight, the social life wasn´t something she desperately needed, even though friends were important for her; sadly for the former alicorn, she didn´t exactly made any in the sleepless city, contrary to the EDF facility were she made fast friends with most of the scientific work staff.
The travel from the military camp to their home, went rather quiet, as both of them opted to enjoy their resting time, however, it wouldn´t be too long before Graves put a stop to the silence. “Okay, Skits, your decision.” Twilight turned to stare at him. “Either we go eating somewhere or we head back home and call a veggie restaurant. Personally, my bed is telepathically calling me.”
Twilight chuckled at Graves´ response. She wasn´t a going out person and actually, going home seemed like a most appealing option. “Actually,” she said, “I´m with you on that one,” The former alicorn shifter her gaze from the old man to the world outside the window, releasing a melancholic expression, “there is no place like your own home.”
With the decision taken, Graves directed his car towards their place, ready to enjoy a little bit of silence.
Soon enough, their home was visible amongst the numerous houses in the small neighborhood and wasn´t long before Graves set the car in the entrance of the average size place.
A white, medium sized home with red rooftop greeted the duo, who had just settled the vehicle outside and had started to place their feet on the ground. Twilight used the time Graves wasted in searching the right key for the handle, to smell the air of the familiar sight.
After a few seconds, the man walked towards the entrance and introduced the key, opening the wood door shortly after.
Going inside the small, white colored hallway, Graves gave a deep breath, followed by a certain young woman, who had a rather happy look on her face...
They were home, at last.
Graves took off his jacket and placed it on the living room´s brown sofa, then directed his steps towards the kitchen. “Have a little rest, Skits, I will call that veggie restaurant you like, then after they arrive and we eat, I´m going to have a serious meeting with Morpheus.”
Twilight couldn´t help but to chuckle at this, then she gave him a slight nod with her head and proceeded to go upstairs towards her room. Just before she ascended the stair case, the young girl released a smirk and turned to look at Graves, who was already looking for the number on the fridge. “You sure you don´t want a pair of good eyes to search for that number.”
Without looking behind him, Graves reclaimed. “Not that old.”
Twilight laughed once more and continued her way towards her dorm. A white wooden door with the emblem of her former cutie mark at the middle, greeted her. She took a few seconds to admire the symbol that had given her so much promise and a higher role that she could have ever imagined, but it was also the image of what he would never be again. It was in moments like these, were she did not know whether to loose hope or remain positive. In the end, she shook the thoughts of her mind, as she was eager to meet her room.
Carefully opening the door, twilight made her way towards the middle sized room. A small bed with rainbow colored sheets adorned the middle of the dormitory; in front of it, a rather big brown desk sat stuck to the wall; a lamp, a few books and a purple laptop rested on the wooden desk. Alongside it, a large bookcase found itself on the side of the window, its numerous books adorning the giant of knowledge.
Twilight grinned at seeing her room again and directed her gaze towards the desk once more to spot a few photographs. Getting closer to them, the former alicorn grabbed one and inspected it. It was a photo of her and Graves at the top of the Duke dome. Twilight gave a warm smile at the picture, she remembered this moment.
Three years ago, Graves took her to admire the sight of the restless city atop of one of Las Vegas´ greatest monuments. That day she had a huge letdown, as the staff team behind a teleportation program, gave her the false hopes of her returning home. Graves didn´t think it would hit her as hard as it did and he didn´t want her to feel depressed.
Twilight felt grateful with him. If it wasn´t for Graves, she didn´t know where he would find herself right now. The smile did not leave her face, as she placed the photo back on the desk, then turned around towards her bed, thinking about a moment. Casting another glance at the window, Twilight noticed the rainy day, then she took her decision. “Nope, too good of a day to let it be wasted.” With those words, she stepped out of her room and proceeded to descend the stairs, heading towards the kitchen.
Graves had just finished calling the restaurant and was already serving himself come cola. Turning around in time to spot Twilight, Graves cleared his throat to speak. “Already called, just thirty minutes before they get here.” Far away from what Graves was expecting, Twilight launched herself to hug the man with force, leaving a perplexed but smiling general, not exactly knowing what to do and simply opted to return the hug. “Wow, Skits, didn´t know you were that happy to return home.”
“Thank you for everything you have done for me.” Twilight answered, a huge smile painted on her face. “I it wasn´t for you, I don´t know what could have happened to me.”
Graves smile warmly at this. “Don´t mention it, Twilight, I could have never left you alone in this world.”
It was a rather weird occasion for the old man, sure, Twilight was such a sweet girl, it was her nature, but it was on rare occasions when she was this sweet. He had to admit it, having Twilight in his life made it less dark and more lively than it had ever been and not even crazy, would he change this last six years which, in his mind, had been some of the best in his life.
Soon enough, the man broke contact. “Okay, Skits, enough. I need whats left of my air to survive.”
Twilight laughed at this. “Come on, I didn´t even hugged you that strong,” she released a smirk, “Or is it your age that makes you weak?”
Graves rolled his eyes, a huge smile on his face, as he turned to grab his drink again. “Not that old, cow talker.”
“Hey!” Replied A frowning Twilight, making Graves chuckle.
“You started it.”
As the old man returned to his cola, Twilight grinned warmly. After all these years, she now felt like part of the humanity she was now in. Twilight loved the life she had here, even though, she still missed her past one.
The former alicorn once more wondered about what he friends have been doing all this time, did they forget about her? Or they, at least tried to search for a way to get her back and then, finally gave up? Whatever the case and whatever happened, Twilight knew she wanted her pop alongside her.
Setting the thoughts aside, the young girl prepared for the upcoming day and the travel she was about to make tomorrow.
Outside the Earth´s surface, a huge space ship cloaked itself in the vacuum of space. Inside, the horrors and nightmares prepared themselves for what was about to come.
It was a floating city, a moving world and from one the bridge´s windows, a single eyed creature stared into the blue oceans and brown colored spots of the planet.
The time had come.
The crazy taxi had arrived at its destination just outside the airport. Its door opened to reveal Graves and a rather excited Twilight.
As the young woman basked herself in the image, Graves turned around to give the driver his pay and immediately noticed the man staring at Twilight´s behind. Coughing to get the driver´s attention, Graves gave him a kill look, one which made the man inside the vehicle, quickly grab the money and press the accelerator.
Staying behind, the old general rolled his eyes at this action, ´not everyone is brave´ he thought.
Finally returning to the ´mission´ at hand, Graves turned around to spot Twilight waiting for him at the entrance, chatting with a policeman who looked rather spooked and eager to kill himself to avoid the former alicorn´s eternal talk. Graves couldn´t help but to release a thin smile at the scene. Making his way towards the agony scene, the man could start to make out part of the conversation.
“Did you know that the Louvre was originally a military fortress in the 13th century? No wonder why it is so big, it even has a Mc Donalds, even though I´m not really fond of the meat, nevertheless it also...”
“Skits?” Twilight stopped her ramble and turned to stare at Graves, a wide smile on her face. “You should really let the poor man do his job, unless you want to miss that plane.”
The young woman released a sheepish smile in response, while scratching the back of her head. “Ups! I kinda let myself go.”
Graves smiled. “You can let yourself go once we arrive, now lets move.” Twilight nodded in response and proceeded to enter the airport, Graves following behind. The man gave a side glance to notice the security guard giving him a silent thank you. Graves couldn´t blame him, he knew first hand what it was to become the primary target of Twilight´s speeches.
“We should really hurry, Skits.” Said Graves, as he finally caught on with Twilight, who gave him a weird look.
The former princess cocked her head to the side. “Why? We are still on time? Besides, we should really take the time to buy something for the flight, I heard the food cost aboard was getting high and you always get hungry once you are up in the air.”
“Nah! I eat before coming here and its not always that I get hungry in those situations.” Graves exclaimed, making Twilight roll her eyes.
“Don´t say I didn´t tell you.” The former alicorn replied, as she proceeded to head towards the cashier.
Behind her, Graves started his to make his way to the same spot, until he felt his belly betraying him. ´Damn it, Skits, you know me better than me´. He thought, as his gaze was shifter towards Twilight, who was still on the move.
The excited girl did nothing to control her emotions and ran wild towards the entrance. At last she would have the opportunity to meet France. However, she forgot about her companion, who raised his hand in an attempt to stop her.
“Skits, stop!” Thankfully for Graves, Twilight actually heard him and stopped in her tracks, instantly turning around to spot the man. “Maybe I should really get one of those snacks.” After hearing the words, Twilight released an amused look and crossed her arms, making Graves roll his eyes. “Yeah, yeah! You were right... As alw...”
BOOM!
Out of nowhere, a missile impacted against the airport´s ceiling, causing and expansion wave that obliterated several stores and most of the floor.
Twilight went flying away from the explosion´s sheer force and as soon as she dropped to the floor, her conscious did its best to betray her and force her into slumber, however, a distant voice would keep her from the dark.
“Skits!” Graves found himself struggling against the debris, pushing away metal and stone. He had much to think about what had just happened, about te several bodies on the floor and the many people running away from something, however, in his mind was the safety of his girl. “Skits!” He tried again and same as last time, no response came. Even at his age, the general still managed to use his strength at its fullest and even though he was getting tired, he cared more about finding her. Finally, managing to jump some of the debris, Graves found the young girl, instantly shouting at the top of his lungs. “Twilight!”
The former princess did her best to raise her head, but she was too banged up to move, thankfully for her, a pair of arms grabbed her. “Twilight, answer me!” She blinked, trying to stay in reality. “Twilight!”
Finally, she managed to utter. “I´m okay.”
“Stay put, I´m going to a way out.”
The former princess barely nodded with her head and soon after, she felt her body raising, as she was being carried by Graves, who had just started to move, searching for an exit from the now the demolished place. Outside, several sounds of explosions could be heard, making the then a peaceful place, a hellish war.
Graves stopped in his tracks, trying to get a sense of direction, then as soon as he saw a possible way, his eyes turned to stare at Twilight. “We´re almost out, stay conscious.”
The run continued and step after step, Graves was getting closer to a huge hole on the wall. The old man kept running until he heard another explosion several meters behind him, followed by the sounds of weapons being fired. Taking a moment to look at the source, Graves tried to get a look at what was happening, sadly for him, another close explosions would force him to continue.
On the way, he was beginning to make assumptions about what was happening and his face gave away a grim expression, trying to negate the answer he was almost sure of ´not again, not now!´ he thought.
Soon enough, Graves found his way towards the hole and stepped outside, Twilight in his arms. He wide opened his eyes...
They had returned.
There weren´t only a few cruisers, it was a whole fleet towering and shadowing the city. Multiple ships went out of the enormous frigates, attacking and destroying everything in their path.
The sounds of blasters and shotguns resounded across the streets and it was just a matter of time before the EDF arrived. He had to get Twilight to safety in the mean time, then take control of every soldier available to counter attack the invasion. ´Invasion´ Graves thought, not exactly being a word he would have liked to use or hear again.
Soon, his train of thoughts were cut short again by several pig snorts getting closer to his position. Not wasting any moment, Graves saw a clear path amidst the shattered streets and away from the human carnage ensuing in that moment.
Making haste, the general stepped down the airport´s stairs and ran towards the bridge, where the debris made a cave-like area under it.
It was almost comical, he had been talking about this ´impossibility´ just yesterday and now, here he was, running away for what he hopped he would never see again.
Soon enough, Graves made his way towards the bridge and entered the debris cave, then placed Twilight down and proceeded to take a peak outside.
Bzz... gene...bzz... general?”
Graves´ radio tuned in a transmission, something the man made thank himself for having brought his radio communicator. Quickly picking it up, Graves spoke to the transmission. “This is Graves.”
“General, the EDF its on... bzz... Way, rendezvous point outside the Duke burger tower!”
Graves grunted. “Can´t you arrive at the airport?”
“Bzz... Negative... Bzz...ral, section´s too crowded for our choppers to land.”
“Great!” Graves replied, taking a few deep breaths after. He didn´t care about risking himself with a little action, but he didn´t Twilight hurt either. Taking one look at the hurt young woman, Graves sighed then returned to the transmission. “Very well, how long we have before you arrive?”
“Bzz... Three hours at best.”
“Understood, on my way now.” With those last words, Graves ended the communication and walked towards Twilight´s place, positioning himself on one knee. “Skits?”
The girl barely lifted her head and released a thin smile. “Have we arrived to France yet? That flight was sure a blast.”
The man couldn´t help but to release a small chuckle at Twilight´s response. “Good to see your sense of humor is still working.” His expression turned serious. “But I also hope your guts are still in place, because we´re about to have a suicide travel.”
Twilight sighed. It had been shaping up to be a great week, a week to relax herself and keep her thoughts away as possible from her and although she now had a reason to keep her thoughts in check, it wasn´t exactly the kind of thing she had been expecting to happen.
In the past, Twilight had only seen a few illustrations and a couple of stories about these invaders, and from what she learned, the former princess didn´t exactly have any wish to meet them.
She knew about Earth´ close collapse and massive destruction, she remembered the first time she appeared in this world, seeing the several pigcop´s and assault trooper´s corpses lying on the floor, mixed with many unrecognizable limbs of both EDF soldiers and what Graves loved to call ´lizard bastards´.
She wasn´t exactly sensible to this type of brutality, but then again, she had never seen anything even remotely close back in Equestria. ´Equestria´ Twilight thought, her mind flashing images of her past life, she was thankful none of her friends were living what she was about to go through now.
“Skits?” Graves´ voice interrupted Twilight´s thoughts, bringing her back to reality. “Skits, I need you to focus and recover your strength, we are heading towards the Duke burger tower, there will be a chopper there waiting for us.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, several screams followed by an explosion, scared the young girl, who gave a terrified look at the cave´s entrance. “Do not worry about it, just follow my lead and we´ll be safe sooner than you think.”
“Didn´t they almost destroyed the entire planet before?” Twilight asked, making Graves sigh in response.
She was right, they were not going to be exactly safe, even at the EDF´s hands, but still, they now had the technological advancements to fight back. “The human race is not weak, Skits and now you are part of it,” he got up and handed one hand to Twilight, who looked at him with a grim expression, “trust in me.”
Sighing, while grabbing the general´s hand, Twilight got up. “I hate war.”
Graves chuckled. “War hates you.” Twilight rolled her eyes in response.
Setting foot at the entrance of the debris cave, Graves took a peek at the outside. The sounds of explosions and shootings were still audible, but they seemed to be far away from their current position. The general looked from left to right and as soon as he noticed there were no enemies close by, he motioned for Twilight to follow him.
“Listen, Skits.” Graves said. “We head towards towards the Lady Killer casino to resupply, and from there, Duke burger should be just up ahead. We should probable head to the parking lot, grab the car and head to our destination.”
“Isn´t grabbing a car a way to ask for their attention?”
Graves sighed. “I know, it´s a risky move, but the faster we arrive the better, I´ll try not to take the most dangerous paths, but if it comes to it, we´ll have to travel by foot.”
As the general kept seeing for any oncoming danger, Twilight lowered her head. “I can´t believe this is happening.” It all had happened rather quickly and there was very little time for her to react, plus, the adrenaline was still going strong, as for now, they had to make it towards the rendezvous point.
Graves understood this, sure, Twilight claimed she had been through these kind of situations before, be he was sure as hell she had never lived anything like she was about to. Still, for him, this was all surreal, there wasn´t any indication of an upcoming attack, and the actions of a certain man had left a pretty deep hole in the invader´s forces, but then again, everything was possible in this horrible reality called life. “Try not to think about it, for now we only need to arrive to Duke burger.”
“Ugh! Duke dome, Duke burger, why does this guy keeps naming things after him? Talking about an ego boost.”
Graves chuckled. “You have no idea.” His stare went from the empty street to Twilight and released a concerned look. “How are you feeling, Skits?”
The young woman rubbed her back and gave away a painful expression. “Been worse, but I can manage.”
He nodded in response, then looked once more outside the bridge. “Come on.”
At a rather quick pace,the two of them went out of their hiding spot and made their way towards another small mountain of rubble, where both Graves and Twilight settled in order to search for any hostiles. The former princess wasn´t exactly made with war material but she wasn´t a helpless damsel in distress either, still, always relying on magic or science made her less adept to the kind of travel she was about to have, thankfully for her, Graves was right alongside her.
The general took a peek out of cover, then took notice of the parking lot up ahead, noticing some kind of movement around the several cars either destroyed or simply forgotten, then spotted his own vehicle.
Graves turned to look at Twilight and motioned with his head to follow him, making their way closer to the lot.
Oink!
The sound, even though, it didn´t caught Graves by surprise, it had certainly been enough to stop his advance mid way, action followed by Twilight, who hid alongside the man behind a tall column.
From there, Graves spotted two pig cops fucking around the several cars, then turned his gaze towards Twilight. “Stay here, I need a weapon.”
The former princess did not answer, instead giving the man a concerned look, one which Graves did not take into consideration. Just as he was about to head towards the couple of pig cops, Twilight grabbed his arm, silently asking him not to go. Graves grabbed Twilight´s hand. “I´ll be right back, don´t worry, I´m not as old as you make me out to be.”
Twilight tried to argue, but the man was already on his way, with the only thing she could do, being watch the scene.
Slowly approaching the pig cops, Graves watched his surroundings, quickly finding a sharp metal part of a car. Seizing it, he made his way behind on of the invaders, who were looking around for survivors. It was a good thing both of them were giving Graves their back, made things easier for him.
Once he was a few feet away from one of them, the man used the metal part and penetrated the pig cop´s throat with it. It screams and squeals of pain alerted his partner, who wasted no time to look behind him, sadly for the pig cop, Graves was already armed with a shotgun and fired directly into the alien´s face, painting the floor red with the pig´s blood. He gave one look around him, searching for any other kind of danger and once he saw there was none, Graves returned to the place he left Twilight.
On her part, the former princess had witnessed the whole scene. It was hard for her seeing the man that had kept her safe and had given her a place in this world, doing this horrible things, still, she knew Earth had a history of numerous violent wars, but she never imagined something as gruesome as this. Maybe reality did surpass fiction.
Back in Equestria, even the most horrible villains were spared, but unlike them, here, these enemies would not hold back.
“Skits, come on, we have to move.” Graves´ voice interrupted Twilight´s train of thoughts again and proceeded to follow the man towards the parking lot.
On their way, she took a look at the two killed pig cops. “Did you really have to that to them?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay! I got the sarcasm, its just that... Nevermind.”
Graves placed his hand over her shoulder, calming her nerves. “I know this is new to you, but these guys aren´t joking around, right now the situation has turned into ´kill or be killed´.”
The former princess sighed in response. Graves was right, but still, she couldn´t shrug of the feeling that all of these was starting to affect her. It was in these moments, were she just simply missed her home. “I just... I just wish there was another option to achieve peace.”
Graves turned around to head towards the car, then gave a deep sigh. “We all wish the same, Skits, but Earth has does not work with friendship.”
Twilight begged to disagree, for her, it didn´t matter what world it was, friendship would always be the highest power.
Just as Graves opened the car, Twilight took the time to inspect the two bodies, taking notice of their features and complexion. Even though, it was a gruesome scene, she was still fascinated with meeting new life and maybe. She took notice of the pair of mouth horns, the pig-like head and their body muscles.
“Skits! Come on, we have to go!” Screamed Graves from the already running car.
Without a second thought, Twilight stopped her studies on the two fresh corpses and proceeded to stepped into the vehicle. Not too long after, the old man pushed the accelerator, sending both of them towards their destination.
The car flew past the airport´s entrance and towards the streets of the city.
It wasn´t too long before silence endured inside the vehicle, the sounds of war threatening to shatter the windows, regardless, the only thing that mattered, was arriving safely.
Taking a peek outside the vehicle, Twilight noticed the several dead bodies lying around the destroyed streets, adorning the ground with a red carpet made of blood. Several limbs were scattered, sad reminder of a brutal death. Twilight couldn´t but to grimace, her body flinching once she witnessed one of these scenes.
How many of these people had families? How many could have been her friends? She tried not to think about it any longer and directed her gaze towards Graves, who had the eyes on the road.
He had placed his shotgun just alongside him, just in case something happened. Not that it surprised her greatly, but the mere fact that his face showed almost no expression made her wonder the kind of things he had gone through. Graves surely had a lot of experience in the matter, no wonder his soldiers held him in high regard, yet it was depressing to see how one man could carry all that weight and still be able to smile.
Finally, Twilight cleared her throat to speak. “Did the same thing happen the last time they came?”
Graves gave a quick glance at the former princess, before returning his sight towards the road, then sighed. “Almost.”
“Why do you mean by ´almost´?” Twilight asked.
Graves inhaled deeply, formulating the words in his mind, as he took a look on the outside, noticing death surrounding them. “They have never been this brutal.” This got Twilight´s attention, who fixated her perplex stare into the old man. “Years ago, their initial intention was to steal every woman in the world and use them as a source to breed their kind,” he gave a side glance at the streets, “but now, it seems they only seek to annihilate us, maybe they got tired.”
“Tired?” Asked Twilight.
“Time and time again we kicked their asses and the last time we forced them out of our planet, it looked like they had just given up.” Graves sighed. “Guess we were wrong.”
It was a fact, Graves found himself surprised upon analyzing the words in his mind. They (humans) were originally used to help them expand, nothing more, but they had just passed from being alien food to a true threat. Graves didn´t like this a single bit, if in the past the losses were major, he didn´t want to think about what this could mean now. These aliens were not fucking around anymore and for all the weapons they had created, they still needed the ace in the hole.
For Twilight, she had seen invasions before, amounts of Changelings swarming a certain kingdom, but she had never been witness to the kind of brutality these aliens provided. The Changelings paled in comparison to these invaders and she shuddered to think what could happen if they were to invade her world. However, for much of a threat they posed, the EDF had grown enough to withstand another attack.
“Aren´t we going to be able to repel them? We have advanced so much since then.” Twilight asked, getting a chuckle from Graves.
“You have made those advancements possible, Skits, but while we have the firepower to protect ourselves, I fear their change in tactics may be enough for us to even the odds.”
Twilight gave a perplexed look. She knew the organization held many secret weapons, she had seen all of them, yet Graves seemed to be talking about something she had never seen before. What kind of super weapon he could have under key? “How?” She finally asked, trying to uncover this new mystery and thankfully for her, Graves was more than happy to answer.
Releasing a somewhat suspicious smile, the man cleared his throat. “As soon as we arrive, I´m going to round up the forces, then... I will contact him.”
Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Who?”
Graves released a smile. “You´ll see.”
