Equestria's Supreme Commander

Okay, so, where should I start here? After I got the training facilities built, which had a simulator in them, or the ACUs being finished? Aw, fuck it, my story.

This is our story too, Josh.

Maybe, Twilight, but which one of us was the first one with an ACU? Oh, that's right, me. But, still, where do you think I should start?

When we got the training.

Okay, fair enough.

Yeah, so that part of the story picks up a few days after the whole Celestia incident. The reason being was that  volunteers had to be found for the ACUs. Now, don't get me wrong, a shit load of crystal pony guards signed up, but I only had four ACUs for each faction, mine included in the count for the Cybran ones, and I had to screen a shit load of ponies for it to ensure that they wouldn't use it to attack me, or anyone, for that matter.

Regardless, the other three I had chosen for Cybran augments, which included Twilight, by the way, had gone through them well, with Twilight helping before the first one, her, by putting biology books into the data banks for ponies, unicorns especially, so they wouldn't lose any natural ability.

For Luna, and those under her command, as each faction would be separate, and Equestria, somehow, became, with a few alliances made within the week of Celestia, became as, I shit you all not, the United Equestrian Federation. UEF. I may be able to make this shit up, but I would not stoop to lows like that just to fulfill someth-

If I remember correctly, you suggested that name, Josh.

Shut it, Chrysi. Okay, sorry. Anyways, they would, quite obviously, use UEF shit. It was with Chrysalis and Cadence that things got. . .interesting, to say the least, as there was one faction left, but leaving every ACU from a single faction was not good for keeping peace, so I decided it best for the Aeon ACUs to be half crystal pony, Cadence being the leader there, and half changeling, Chrysalis there. It was meant to help with relations. It did, don't get me wrong, but I thought that they would try to nuke each other, intentionally or not, over a simple argument, and the rest of us had to intervene. That was an interesting week.

Again, sorry. So, there we, meaning me and the others for the Cybran ACUs, each wearing some variation of the suit from the Cybran opener from the original game, were in Canterlot, outside the Throne room. Twilight and I were at the ends of the chairs laid out for us. Now, I don't know why, maybe it's my pale skin, but the red lines from Gen 1 augments weren't visible on me, but on the others. Well, not really.

The other two ponies were both Earth ponies. One had green skin with brown hair and tail. His name was Shadow Specter, and, when his screening was in progress, I learned that his brother, Lone Shadow, was in the Guard, and one of the relative few who remained loyal to Celestia, along with his brother's marefriend, Azure Shadow. And his brother was a unicorn. Either genetics, or adopted.

The other pony had red skin, which is why I said 'well, not really' earlier, as his red skin hid the augment lines well, and he had black hair. His name was Ace Swift and, from what he had told me upon asking and what I know from screening, he used to be a card counter, but was laid off for some reason, and had joined the Crystal guard about a year ago.

"Wonder why it's taking so long," Shadow said.

"No idea," I said. "I haven't exactly gotten clearance to have radio set up for communication. Yet, anyway."

"I just wonder when Princess Cadence and Queen Chrysalis are going to get here," Ace said.

"Soon," Twilight said. The reason why she didn't say much was because, well, it's Twilight with an A.I. implant. Take a fucking guess. And don't sass me, Twilight.

You weren't wrong.

I figured that. And apologies if that sounds like something a jerk would say.

Anyway, as soon as she said that, and I mean 'soon', there was a green colored flash of light. I closed my eyes to prevent temporary blindness. When I opened them again, I saw Chrysalis, Cadence, and the other two pilots for the Aeon ACUs, a sky blue crystal pony mare with white hair and tail and a changeling with gray skin, or is it chitin, and dark blue frills. As I had used the Aeon Engineers from Ramses to build a few civilian structures for the changelings that lived in the Empire, brought on as a result of the current treaty, I had also built a few production facilities, which included one that made the Aeon pilot outfits. As such, the four wore Aeon pilot outfits. As a side note, why do they have to be formfitting?

"Took you long enough," Ace said.

"Shut it, Ace," the crystal mare said. Yeah, did I mention the two often served together? Her name was Amber Gleam. I didn't know the changeling's name. "So, how long until the other group?"

"No idea," I said. "Chrysalis, Cadence, good to see you."

"You too, Josh," Chrysalis said as Cadence and Twilight did, well, guess. "So, I see those augments went well."

"Yeah, Twilight's been going bat crap coo-coo over all the intel about the Cybran Nation, my government from before coming here, as well as the other two civilizations. That's to say the UEF, the original one from where I'm from, and the Aeon Illuminate, whose ACUs are the ones you four are piloting."

"I was not," Twilight pouted, crossing her arms.

"Uh-huh, sure you weren't," I said just as the throne room doors opened, and Luna, along with a pegasus, a unicorn, and an earth pony walked out, each in Equestrian BDU. Oh, did I mention that Rainbow and Applejack were the aforementioned pegasus and earth pony? No? Sorry about that. As for the unicorn, she had pink skin with light brown hair, and her horn had a pointed end.

"Princess," I said with a slight nod as the others and I stood up. "Can I just say I'm surprised two of the most stubborn ponies are among the first to pilot an ACU is a little surprising to me?"

"And me as well," Chrysalis said, getting glares from the two.

"Well, for y'all's information," Applejack said, crossing her arms, "we did so ta pratect our families."

"Fair enough," I said. "So, is everyone ready?"

"Indeed we are," Luna said. "But how are we going to get to your bases?"

"Twilight, can you get us to Alpha? And I mean all of us," I said.

"On it," she said before she lit her horn, which had a slight red tint at the edges due to the augments, and we all teleported to Alpha, which was under heavier guard with bomber patrols, of each tech, and assault bots.

"What's with the patrols?" Chrysalis asked.

"Been having multiple Zebras using some kind of potion that is on par with the top tier bombs my forces since Celestia went, as I like to say, bat shit insane, which leads me to think she's controlling them, as I have done nothing to the Zebras," I said.

"Do you have any proof as to that?" Luna asked.

"Nope," I said. "And note, the reason why we're here is because I had each ACU brought here, including mine by transport once the repairs were done."

"Why?" Cadence asked.

"Because Alpha's the most protected base I have," I said, accessing the ACU commands as I spoke. "And that is saying something." With that, I mentally had each of the ACUs, each but mine blank for personalization reasons, come from the tier three portion of the base to where we were now, the outside just out tier one. And by that I mean, the main accent for each but mine was gray, while mine still had its red accent, plus a little more i had the Engineers put on once it got here.

A few seconds later, the ground shook as the twelve ACUs approached. "And I would like to point out that they are the way they are aesthetically for customization," I said before they could question. "Luna, you and the others are in the more block-like ones. Cadence, Chrysalis, the ones that seem organic. Twilight, Ace, Shadow, take a guess."

Before I go on, I want to describe my ACU's new look. It still had the red accents where it would in the games, but I had red striped put over the eye things, like war paint, and stripes of red and cyan on the main cannon and proto-crafter, which is the in universe term for what allows an ACU to build. Why those colors? Well, before i came to Equis, I was a gamer, and, when ever I could, I would have those two colors on my avatar, cyan as the main, and red as the secondary. True, it was reversed here, but I figured, "my ACU, I should personalize it how I want."

"I would like to point out, though," I said as the others went to an ACU I had designated for them, "that you can name them as well."

"What did you name yours?" Twilight asked, the one nearest me.

"Devil Slayer," I said. "And I locked out the more advanced features until you're ready for them." With that, I made my way to my ACU, and began climbing once I was at the ladder.

Once I had finished the climb and was in Devil Slayer's cockpit, I strapped in, and opened a channel to the other ACUs, of which the only ones occupied were those whose pilots had wings, as the others had a hard time finding the ladders. "Twilight, would you mind highlighting the ladders with your magic so everyone can get up?"

"On it," she said, and I saw magenta glows coming from near half the other ACUs. After a few minutes, I got readings from the other ACUs indicating they were now occupied.

"Okay, now that everyone's in one," I said over the radio, surely freaking a few of them out, "I'll have the movement portion of the training go through now." Now, one thing I had programmed into each of the new ACUs was the movement portion of training. The rest would be handled in a simulator. Of which, I had one made at each base. After a few minutes of, admittedly, funny scenes of ACUs crashing into each other, they got everything there down, those with the augments first. I gave it a few more minutes until I was sure they had it down before coming on back over the radio.

"Okay, first off, fast improvement. Second, the next part is going to be done out of the ACUs, and in the simulation building, of which I have one at each base. That one will be at the next location. So follow me." With that, I turned Slayer around, and towards the gate way. You know, I just remembered. In season three, more accurately "Keep calm and Flutter on", a reformation spell was mentioned. I wonder if that was a modified version of Celestia's spell, or vice versa. Which also begs the question as to how fucked up the minds were if Twilight thought a reformation spell was "morally sound", even on a villain. Which reminds me, if I meet any displaced who have not gone through that yet but will, tell them to burn that book.

Now, once we made it to the gate, I stepped through, and didn't arrive in Ramses, but Washington. Look, the way I see it with the UEF, they name their forts after historical military figures (I.E.: Fort Clarke from FA, named after General Samantha Clarke from the game series who dies in the opening cutscene), so I went with what I knew. Okay?

This one was built differently from the others. Why? Well, because of the faction. UEF mobile units have more health than their equivalents from the other factions, and I built around that. The base was in a square fashion, built with the important facilities, the extractors, generators, and factories in the middle, resource storage in the back, and a mix of SAMs, Ravager point defense, basically a laser gatling gun, and Klink Hammer, yes, that's the actual name, T2 artillery stations. The wall segments, in the corners of the base, were open to allow me to swap out T3 Demolisher mobile artillery or T3 Spearhead mobile missile platform for defense, while the very center of the base had a T3 Omni sensor. Where was the gate, you may ask. Well, I had smaller areas in similar builds around it, most economic production or storage, but a few were unit production or, in this case, travel. For each including the main one, I had T3 heavy shield generators to the point where their fields overlapped when there were more that one, allowing for max defense that the base would allow. Though, only the main area had nuke defense. I also had large patrol groups going around the base.

"I assume this is the base you requested my permission to build?" Luna asked once each ACU was through.

"Yep," I said. "Now, if each of you will exit your ACU, and go toward the only building with a roof and a door." Yeah, this outpost base also had the simulator. "That will be what you use for the final parts of training. Twilight will help each of you, as she volunteered to get in the first one to see if it worked. That is, if you don't mind, Twilight?"

"Not at all," Twilight replied. "But what about you?"

"I'll view the feeds from here," I said. Now, I don't have a sixth sense, but even then, I still felt that something was about to happen. "Besides, then I can add something in to see how well they adapt."

"Fair enough, I guess," she said, and she and the others left their ACUs, while I remained in mine. Note, the sim here looked like an administrative structure, in case you were wondering. Anyway, as they made their way there, I connected Slayer to the simulators systems, so that I could add stuff to it, as I was going to see how well each could adapt. Oh, and it would put them in a free for all skirmish match. After all, the best learning is on the job. And you must admit, if that was the canon, it would explain the skirmish matches in the games. For an example of that, look at 343 industries and Halo. Though not everyone enjoys how they're handling the series, I personally couldn't care, you must admit they put in a canon explanation for the multiplayer for their games: that they are training simulations.

Yeah, I am going to enjoy watching this.

So, an hour later, believe me, nothing happened in that hour, the others got in the sim. Before you ask, it has to do with first time prep, the details of which are classified to the public. . . I'm joking. Honestly, the preparations were all Twilight, and she never told me what they were exactly, and I never went through them. That, as Twilight told me, is because of my implants having a "natural dock" for them. i imagine it's because of ye old Merchant that sent me here.

And I thought I was the only one to speak like that.

That, Luna, is because A: the way I used it is just in a manner of speaking, and B: I like talking like that sometimes, and can understand it.

Sorry about that. So, anyway, after they all go tin, quite confused, I imagine, I started up the simulation director, which, in one of my moments of creative slump, was QAI. Fortunately, without Seraphim tech. Why fortunate? Well, short version, that allowed the Seraphim to tun him against his creator, Dr. Brackman.

Basically, it got them started on base building, and after that, told them that a hostile commander, was near, without telling them who, with prerecorded messages from the games and random names showing up from the same sources.

It was about an hour after the whole thing began, after Rainbow had done the tactic I hate most, mass bombing, basically sending a shit ton of bombers, T1, mind you, against a single target; I'll admit, it's a little more effective with Scorchers, but, in my mind it's a huge waste of mass and energy, as any competent commander, or a lucky one, would either have a shit ton of air, like one of my favorite defensive formations for turrets, or not be targeted by the bombers for, say a single extractor, which, if nothing's around it, means you wasted all those resources on a single, isolated target. Now if it was T2 or T3, I would understand, as those have more health, but still.

Sorry, got carried away again. Anyway, after she had used that tactic to the rare good effect by making Applejack go boom, I got something from the Spy planes in the north, near Ramses and the Empire. "Main feed, Seer one. Move over signal source." Now, what I got was the signature of teleportation. That meant a few things then, but none were certain, which is why I had the spy plane move over the source of it, which was in the Empire. It automatically zoomed in on a single part of the place, and, to start off with, I didn't see anything. But then-"Camera, focus on what I'm looking at." What I thought I saw was indeed what I was seeing.

What was it, you may ask. Well, what I saw were two unicorns, matching the descriptions of Lone and Azure Shadow, dragging an unconscious Rarity between them, with Sweetie Belle on Azure's shoulder. Now, you may be wondering why Rarity and her sister were still in the north. Well, from what I know, she was there for the, ahem, "fashion" and Sweetie was there to, well, be with her sister, Luna herself having brought her there. As for why they didn't just teleport out? The jammers were active, but only prevented teleportation from going out, not in. An experiment Twilight proposed and had me help with showed that, and it must have gotten to Celestia somehow.

Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything, as they soon exited the jammer range, and, with the two unconscious unicorns in tow, teleported away/.

I activated my radio to broadcast into the sim. "Guys, we have an issue."

"What?" Twilight asked.

"Celestia's kidnapped Rarity."

Badlands-Loyalist camp-Celestia 3rd

Celestia, still in her armor, was in her tent, the group had to resort to stealing to survive, even with the Zebras giving them some supplies, the tents being part of those, meditating in a circle, surrounded by the few Seraphim artifacts she had been able to bring with her when one of the guards spoke from outside. "Princess? I hate to interrupt, but Captain and Lieutenant Shadow have returned, with the Element of Generosity, and someone else."

"Who else?" Celestia asked.

"Generosity's sister, highness," the guard replied, to which Celestia smiled slightly.

"Good," she said as she stood up. "Where are they?"

"The center of the camp, Majesty," the guard said. "Also, the prisoners are awake, and had to be restrained, as well as gagged and have an inhibitor ring placed on their horns.

"Noted," the solar alicorn said as she left the tent. "Tell the two that they have the rest of the day off."

"Yes, princess," the guard said, bowing, before rushing off as Celestia strode to the center of the camp, where she saw Rarity and Sweetie Belle, bound and gagged.

"My, I did not expect this," Celestia said. "Tell me, Rarity, what happened," she said in a mocking tone, to which, while Sweetie Belle was only confused, Rarity was quite livid. "Oh, wait, I remember. I had two of my still loyal guards get you, and your sister, it would seem, so that I could free you from the Demon's control." With that, the alicorn lit her horn, making Rarity struggle even more, but it was ultimately useless, the ropes binding her and stopping her from moving, and the solar alicorn touched her horn with, surprising Rarity as well as terrifying her, Sweetie Belle's, making the fillies eyes roll back after the glowed yellow like the sun. "Such a shame that it brought somepony so young under its thrall," Celestia said, removing the ropes and gag from Sweetie Belle, who began to stir. "As well as an Element," she said before lighting her horn again, and touched her horn with Rarity's, the same effect happening. A few seconds later, the binding and gag on both mares having been removed, the white mare woke up with her sister.

Both stood, looked around, and, upon seeing Celestia, bowed, saying, "Thank you, princess."

Celestia smiled. "Of course, my little ponies. Tell me, do you wish to help me free everypony else in Equestria?"

"But of course," Rarity said.

"Then perhaps you can help me charge a spell," Celestia said, as her thoughts went to who would next be "freed". Oh, I know, she thought with s small, but sinister grin. My former student's parents, so that she can know what it is like to be betrayed.