The dungeons of Canterlot were a grim place. Unlike the crystal cavern formations where Princess Cadance had once been imprisoned, the dungeons had been intentionally designed for the purpose of keeping ponies within and for extended periods of time. As Twilight entered she could appreciate little details that previously would have escaped even her attentive eye: for starters she could tell that the dungeons had been created a long time ago. The stone steps had not been carved so much as thoroughly worn out by decades, centuries even of horseshoes trodding the earth flat. Every few steps the walls had light fixtures installed, lanterns that appeared to be lit by magic not torches. Twilight could see from the way lichen and other photosensitive growths had developed that their light had been constant for generations. And the caverns themselves with their hollowed-out alcoves and irregularly shaped gates: these were formations as old as Canterlot itself. The royal sisters, or perhaps even the first tribes themselves, had cut corners and built the facility around the existing topography rather than build something new into it.
Twilight could appreciate all these things and more, now that she'd seen facilities of sorts across a dozen different world but as she crossed the gloom one thing stod out in stark contrast to the dungeons and cells and even the prison worlds of the Imperium: Canterlot prison had been designed to simply keep people in. It hadn't also been built to also keep everyone else out.
The Royal Guard led her into the darkness, his horn creating a searchlight that illuminated the steps before them. Something was amiss; these were not the ordinary cells, Twilight found herself getting disoriented and losing her bearings. The guard steadied her and, seeing her discomfort, took a hopeful second glance at his orders hoping that what he would see would be different to the orders he had read before.
The orders were not any different, and so he led on the maze-like path until they came to a stop at a cell. Twilight noticed the shallow bucket outside it, slid out from beneath a grating so narrow she calculated she couldn't stack one hoof over the other and press the two through. The royal guard pushed the bucket out of the way lest somepony accidentally step into it as they moved in the dark and flashed his light into the cell. When he saw a pair of blue eyes staring back at him he cast a tiny spell along the outside and a pair of glow-globes formed illuminating everything properly.
"Gutt day, jailer. Are you here to grant me my obligatory thirty minutes of conversation und pony contact for the day, or will you dispense with the pleasantries and limit yourself to simply providing my meal? I am in good health today, relatively speaking. You may see for yourself or pass along my samples to the doctor, as you wish."
The guard said nothing merely standing aside. When the prisoner saw that he was leaving her sight she was compelled to say "What? You are not here for my meal time? What is it then?"
That was when she beheld the alicorn, a new alicorn. There was no crown on her head but there was no doubt this was a princess.
"Haff I been in here for so long?" The prisoner asked, incredulous. Her eyes and nose crinkled, like a filly on the verge of tears. This was not what she had expected.
Twilight felt a wave of empathy but foremost on her mind was the pressure of limited time. That, and the warnings she'd been given.
"Do you know who I am?" The prisoner shook her head. "I am Twilight Sparkle, I am the Princess of Friendship. I have come to see you."
"Celestia no longer rules?" The prisoner couldn't help but ask.
"She does. I'm looking at your sentence. You've been imprisoned here for six years. Is there anything you wish to say first, before we begin?"
The prisoner looked aide then shook her head again. "I receive my meals, twice a day I think. I sleep well. The guards engage me in conversation - sometimes once, sometimes twice, sometimes not at all - each and every day. My waste is dealt with in a timely fashion. I... I wish the lights were on more frequently, I wish my water were fresher and made available to me in greater quantities. I iwish I could see the sky and feel grass upon my hooves again. I... miss companionship. In all other things about my captivity I have no complaints."
Twilight turned to the guard. "Did you get all that down?"
"Yes your highness."
"Thank you. Please excuse yourself then. We have need of privacy for the next... minutes, hours. Whatever it may take."
The guard bowed his head and moved along, taking the papers and the waste bucket with him and leaving Twilight alone with the prisoner."
When he was gone Twilight sat on her rear on the bare dungeon floor, outwardly no more comfortable than the prisoner within her cell, and began her interview. "Do you understand why you've been kept here under these conditions for so long?"
"I do."
"Sorry, I have a hard time believing you. You were imprisoned for inciting violence and contributing to incidents until they escalated into conflicts with neighboring nations. You were relocated, twice, and each time you fell into the same behavior. Your crimes include violence against gryphons, zebras and diamond dogs among others. You have years of abusive aggression against cows as well. When you were arrested the EUP discovered scrolls that documented a conspiracy to sabotage the upcoming peace summit with Yakyakistan. When you consider that that's a nation that offers alliances or enmity for a period of exactly one thousand moons this could not be taken lightly."
Twilight was hoping to see some spark of understanding, some sign that she'd struck a chord with the prisoner and gotten to see things in a new light. Otherwise she was hoping to see defiance, some sign that the lesson Celestia had tried to teach for almost ten years hadn't taken hold. Defiance was a sign of stubbornness, of more work to be done but at least Twilight understood that if the lesson hadn't yet taken there was the hope that tomorrow she might yet be made to understand.
But there was no defiance and no understanding in the prisoner's face, just a sense of boredom at hearing something tiresome for the nth time, the last in an infinite succession of repetitions, droning on words that had long since been rejected. If any Twilight had any reason for hope these hopes were dashed as soon as the prisoner spoke.
"You hope I have seen the light and come to realize the error of my ways. I have not. Like your predecessor before you, you are still wrong. And I am still right."
"Do you really believe in this... I don't even know what to call it."
"Call it what it is: superiority. Equestria is the greatest nation upon the earth, it's people are the dominant people. We control the sun and moon, we control the stars, we push the boundaries of magic, science, and exploration. And yet we are naive: our leadership is the same as ever, and our safety is in the hooves of the EUP who move with spears and show armor in the era of bullets, bombs, cannons and tanks. Do not get me wrong, there is a place for martial arts - but so long as we rely on inferior tactics and inferior technology we will be at the mercy of whatever foe should choose to strike at us."
"What are you so afraid of? We're at peace. And if as you say we're at the top of the chain in culture and technology what do we have to be afraid of from everyone else?"
The prisoner was silent for a while but in a lower voice she added "Things change. All my life we have been superior but in my lifetime I have seen ponies grow lazy and complacent. And in Canterlot, decadent. Things will not stay this way forever: either we must become stronger, or our enemies must be made weaker. One, or both. There is no other way. Ponies have endured for a thousand years, several thousand. I would see ponies endure another thousand more."
Twilight closed her eyes. This was hopeless. "I see."
Twilight pulled out a scroll and broke its seal. Solemnly she added. "I see you leave me no choice. I wish it were otherwise."
The prisoner brushed off her words, she seemed indifferent to it all. Or perhaps she was relieved? "So you have the gumption to do what your predecessor did not. Good. I am an enemy of your state, all is as it should be. Death."
"No. not death."
The prisoner arched a brow. "Banishment? I do not believe this. When Celestia sentenced me she did so declaring that my views were half-truths, my conclusions unnecessary. She claimed exposure to me and my views would be uncomfortable but were I to 'corrupt the youth' the damage could be irreparable." She smiled. "She was right of course. Foals can only accept one doctrine in their youth, one view through which the world can make sense to them. The princess could suffer no challenge."
"The princess didn't want dominance, only peace." Twilight answered angrily, defending her mentor.
"As do I. It all comes down to what you extend when you mean to enforce that peace."
In a forced tone that the prisoner found satisfactorily regal Twilight read aloud "By the authority of my crown and title and that of the Royal Susters" The prisoner looked confused: Royal Sisters? Didn't she say the ruler was still just Princess Celestia? "I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, do hereby alter your sentencing that your strengths and special talents may be better put to use for the good of the realm, for the good of Equestria and ponies everywhere."
"Of course. Forced labor it is then. I look forward to it. I presume we'll be leaving just as soon as the guard comes back with his key."
Twilight was annoyed and making a show of magic she illuminated the area unscrewing bolts, latches, hinges and joints. The prisoner's cell door didn't open as much as it was reduced to its basicmost elements. The guard came galloping back into sight, a tray of warm tea and breads abandoned where he'd dropped them along the way, just in time to regard the princess eyes aflame with power.
She turned to him and levitated the note she carried onto his outstretched spear before engulfing herself and the prisoner in a bubble and disappearing into the flash of a teleportation spell.
--
Within seconds they'd arrived at this new location, unusual in every way, a loading dock and arming bay of plaster, steel and plastics. The prisoner had never seen anything like it but the sights, the feels, the smells of the place - they made her giddy. This was a place devoted to industry. It lived about her.
"As of this moment you are to consider yourself conscripted into the service of Equestria. You will train, struggle, live and eventually fight for this greater good."
The prisoner looked smug in satisfaction. "How pleasing, and how ironic. I was told I was all wrong, that i would never have a place within the EUP."
"You don't. Whatever else you think don't mistake that: this isn't the EUP and you have no place here, not among my soldiers. Not until you've earned it."
The prisoner looked surprised but Twilight wasn't lecturing anymore. Instead she led them both along through workstations and charts and around laborers and machine-smiths until they were standing before a desk loaded with maps, photographs, charts and blueprints.
Blueprints, and the stripped down chassis of an Imperium Rhino standard-template vehicle. The prisoner's eyes went wide.
"Is that-?"
Twilight nodded. "They called it the Rhino. It's a tank."
The prisoner shook her head. "Neigh. Neigh, neigh NEIN! That ist not a tank. Look at this! It is too broad, too tall, it's treads too exposed, it's sides too straight and boxy. Is this what Equestria has meddled into? This is a show-howitzer, meant to fire confetti at children s birthday parties or housed within a frame of wire and paper mache to drive down to road in a county fair parade!"
Twilight facehoofed as the comparisons hit a little too close to home.
"Where are the guns, where is the armor, where is the power source that creates the locomotion? Un again, why are these plates so straight! Celestia's beard, look at this! If I throw something at this vehicle it will hit with the impact of an angry little bird against the broad side of a barn, which it is almost as broad as! Armor should be sloped, diagonal, so that incoming fire is deflected either up into the sky or down into the ground. Like proper armor, you do not design a breastplate to deflect into the weak areas like joint. You design it to catch the veapon or deflect its path away from anything vital. Ach, it is the Royal Guard gorget argument all over again. What possible advantage could this simpleton vehicle have?!"
In response Twilight levitated a dozen different schematics across the prisoner's eyes, stopping long enough for her to recognize the different makes and weapons systems: the Predator autocannon system, the Razorback multimeltas, Whirlwind artillery rockets, and the Vindicator's Demolisher Cannon among many, many others.
"I see... it is not a tank, it is a ratchet set: pop in a different head and you torque the many-sized nuts with the same socket wrench. Mass-produced garbage, but then as Veronika always boasted: Quantity has a quality of its own. So, you wish for me to optimize this army-knife, make it better?"
"If you can. More than that I want you to adapt its use and techniques for our forces." She handed her a book, a large book. It looked as thick as the rhino's armor plate. "This is the field manual. Some of it's good, some bad, and some is quasi-religious propaganda. I want a proper military primer derived from it in two months. Repairs, maintenance, combined arms tactics, tank warfare strategies, sieges, defenses, all of it."
"Why are you trusting all of this to me?"
"I'm not. As we speak other ponies are going through copies of this document the same way you are. Ponies I trust, ponies whose hooves I'd trust my life in."
"Then why?"
"Because two months isn't a deadline I decided on arbitrarily. That's the amount of time we have, then we have to go out there. I don't have a choice in the matter. So, I can have ponies who I trust who might develop an aptitude for this material and the stomach to use it... or I can use a pony with leanings towards these weapons and the willingness to use them. I know I can't trust you, not yet. maybe... maybe if I had another seven years I could make you understand."
The prisoner scoffed but then Twilight got in very close, muzzle to muzzle, and told her very simply. "I need you to follow orders. I need you to trust others' judgement over your own. I need you to do things you can't understand and make sacrifices you ordinarily wouldn't."
"For training soldiers and building vehicles?"
"For going to war. Because I trust my friends, because two months isn't enough to turn them into the people willing to do what these manuals say they must do if we're going to win this war. Because I expect, like it or not, ponies like you are what's needed."
The prisoner nodded. "I vill obey your orders... but I cannot do this. Not on my own."
"All right then."
"You vill do this for me? Why?"
"I told you, I'm not sending you out to a battlefield to serve as a substitute executioner. I need you to succeed."
"You know who I am going to ask for then." It was a statement not a question.
Twilight nodded going through her notes. "Your accomplices. Kyrie, Franzisca."
"Ya. I could work with anypony... but I would prefer my friends."
Twilight looked off-put, even disgusted by that statement. "You're telling me even somepony like you has real friends?"
The prisoner shrugged. "We all love those who love us and hate those who oppose us. We all look out for our own: Isn't that the same for everypony the world over?"
Twilight walked away, trying not to think too hardly over that one for now. It was just one more thought, one more collection of words to be put away in a little compartment in the back of her mind to be mulled over when the time was right.
The pleasantries of their reunion were brief, the joy they all felt however was not. Kyrie was a pegasus, Franzisca a unicorn and together they had all gotten to work as a hive mind, Twilight found it remarkable to watch actually. She could see a lot of passion, intensity, focus. Discipline of a sort even, probably bordering on fanaticism. I would've made her feel inspired herself if she didn't know the crimes the mares in question had committed in the past and to what ends their passion was being applied.
'Humanitarian' was a word new to Twilight's lexicon. This trio weren't just unfamiliar with the word and its definition , they lacked any sense or semblance of the emotion as well. For that reason Twilight kept her distance and it wasn't until Franzisca stepped off to the side for some other plans or details and the prisoner snuck a chance to close in and steal a kiss from Kyrie that Twilight decided to step in.
"Do you have progress for me?"
Kyrie looked surprised, blushing heavily as she dropped something just o bend over and pick it up and scoot out of sight while Twilight's real target straightened up and gave her briefing.
"Progress is progressing, very good. You said these were copies? That is good, we've taken to just scratching a line in ink when we see Omnisiah this and Omnisiah that. We hardly even notice when we do it anymore. Some things are... less obvious. We do not know every time if plungers are depressed as superstition or to re-inject oil into something, the same way we are not always sure if rites and rituals exist not because they do anything but because they take so long it is enough for a flooded chamber to clear the fuel naturally. We are purging the superstitions and replacing them with stopwatch timers. As we move forward we expect to purge other unnecessary minutia as well."
"Good." Twilight answered, ready to move away.
"Princess, if I may?"
Twilight turned back and gave a signal, allowing the prisoner to follow her as she walked. "If it's a question I hope it's brief. I have other matters already waiting for me."
The prisoner hurried up and caught up with her, trying to walk by her side as she talked. "Thank you princess. For everything I mean. To be honest it's been two weeks since I last saw you and when you released me I thought the entire time you would breathing down my neck."
Twilight gave her a look and she rephrased quickly. "Micromanaging me I meant to say. The trust, the freedom. It has been... nice. Pleasant, yah?"
Twilight felt put off, then she got a naughty look on her face and quipped back "I know what you mean. They told me you were so extreme you'd like to see your minions lock away anypony with a coat duller than yours is."
She laughed. "Neigh, that was a joke." Twilight looked at her incredulously. "Ok, not a joke. Exaggeration. I am not so naive; everypony knows that the fur color of foals has nothing to do with the colors of their parents. There are no genetics for it. Anyway" she decided to change the subject because lingering on her would lead to potentially undesirable territory and the termination of her conscription. It was a prospect she'd come to dread - not because she was afraid of going back to prison, but because she'd come to genuinely enjoy working on on this project and with these ponies. "We've been working on these plans for the Rhino, the general transport variant, and after all these times and redoing calculations for all the figures we really do need to ask: what exactly are we transporting that we have such specific number from you? You have specific quotas for cargo space und ammunition. We have crunched the numbers multiple times, even factored in variables you've described including worlds with variable gravities. It is our conclusion that the numbers are inflated far too high. No pony weighs this much, in fact, no creature does."
Twilight smiled. "I see you want to know the secret. All right, I don't blame you. Follow me, I'll show you what you're loading in these transports." Slyly she added. "Your friends can come too."
The prisoner gave a look over her shoulder and with a flick of her mane Kyrie and Franzisca came out from 'looking inconspicuous in the background' and followed after Princess Twilight. It didn't take long until they reached a security airlock.
"Does this mean you trust us now, princess?" Franzisca asked.
"Sorry, no. Security protocols are in place in case any or all of you try to escape."
The prisoner laughed. "Ah princess, this is too much. Look at me, I am just a humble mud pony, yes?"
Twilight didn't take the bait as they entered a solid security hallway. "Not one pony here believes that."
"True."
They crossed the last threshold and before the door finished opening the three white-furred mares were left with their mouths agape. Twilight had led them into a factory, a moving assembly-line lines with ponies, parts, feed chutes and more assembly machinery that the last three things combined but it was the product not the machinery that caught the mares' eyes. Bolt by bolt, fiber by fiber, plate by plate, the three of them watched enthralled from one machine to another as auto-reactive pieces of power armor were produced for the pony army.
Boots sorted and packed by fours, barrel pieces loaded into packing crates. More shoulderpads than they'd seen in their lifetimes. Helmets were visibly absent but they were so caught up with everything else at this stage that they paid them no mind.
Twilight led them forward, pulling and shoving in some instances, until she got them to the next airlock and through the testing areas into the real testing areas. "Well, what do you think?"
The prisoner watched on with an expression Twilight hadn't seen before, couldn't recognize on her face. Her friends of course could, and they shared in her emotion. Ponies by the dozens, nay by the hundreds, were marching in power armor and performing weapons drills. Their necks turned, their hooves stamped, their weapons hit their armored shoulders in near-perfect synchronization. The sounds they made echoed. Nopony could hear anything else, not even voice orders were being echoed, every command was fed directly into the earbuds.
"What do you think?" Twilight asked, curious and excited but also apprehensive.
"What are they called?"
"They're power armor. There are several names for the several makes in existence but for our purposes this is our first generation of mass-produces suits. As I'm sure you've guessed already the designs were adapted from a species called humans. Unfortunately, they're just one of the forces we'll be forced to engage. They called their first mark 'Thunder Armor'. With that in mind I've agreed to name out first mark Storm Marines."
Twilight didn't know what context the word Storm held for these ponies, it was a cruel irony lost on her.
"So, what do you think?" Twilight repeated.
"It is beautiful." She answered. For the first time in seven years, Aryanne Hoofflower was overjoyed. Everything she saw would make hearts swell with pride if seen in even an ordinary military parade. "Are my stallions among them?"
Twilight's brow furled. "No. The victims of your propaganda crusade were relocated. Nopony you inducted into your 'army' will ever serve in this crusade."
"Vill I be leading them?"
Twilight was stern. "No. You'll be guiding them but others, loyal, with level heads I can trust will be the ones in command."
"We will be ... subdued." Aryanne promised, still visibly pleased. "If that is what it will take."
Twilight didn't miss a beat. "Regardless of what happens you an your friends will never receive a suit of power armor. You will never be cleared for its identification systems, you will never be trained in its use or maintenance, you will never be cleared for its weapon systems. It is too much personal power for you to wield."
"I understand."
"You will have nothing to do with our infantry. Instead you will be supplied with a proper command vehicle. A Damocles variant if they're available by then. In time, if it's necessary and when they're ready, you will command tank legions in battle. In the future air, and perhaps space flotillas, will fall within your purview as well. I want you to prepare for this because I will need you to plan and counter for these eventualities as well. Land, sea, air and space superiority are in play. We have to catch up on all fronts."
Aryanne turned to the princess, clapped her rear legs together and saluted for a brief half-second before bringing her hoof to her forehead. Twilight caught the gesture but tried not to be put off by what it meant. Behind her Kyrie and Franzisca did the same.
"For Equestria, we are yours to command."
