Twilight found herself alone today as she started heading out of the school to go home. Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie had their own things to attend to, so she decided to spend the evening reading after she did her homework. Her ears twitched as she passed by the music room, the sounds of a piano coming from within. Curious, Twilight quietly opened the door and entered, finding Facet alone and enthusiastically playing the piano. She stood in silence and listened to him play, a smile forming on her face as she enjoyed the improvised song.

Finally, Facet finished his song, and silence filled the room as the echoes of the last notes faded away. "Did you like it?"

Twilight flinched when he addressed her, since he hadn't even turned around. "Sorry to disturb you. I was passing by when I heard your music. It sounded beautiful."

"Thank you, Twilight," Facet said as he turned to regard her with that ever present smile. "Come sit with me. Let's talk."

"Okay," Twilight said before joining him on the piano bench, only to be confused when he didn't speak, instead playing a few notes on the piano. "I thought you wanted to talk."

"Playing the piano with four hands is a conversation. Just in scales," Facet said.

"But I don't know how to play the piano," Twilight admitted.

"It's easy," Facet said as he gently gripped her wrist. "Just take your hands and play these keys down here." He guided her hand to rest above the keys on the left side of the piano.

Twilight hesitantly played a few different notes, glancing at his smiling face.

Facet played a few notes himself. "Go on," he encouraged. "You just have to jump in."

Twilight played a few notes with a little less hesitation, this time using both hands even if she was just randomly pressing keys.

Facet then launched into a full blown song like when she had arrived. He smiled at her when she started adding her own notes to the melody, slowly gaining confidence. He closed his eyes and swayed slightly to the tune they were making. "This is officially my favorite pastime. Making music with you, Twilight."

Twilight couldn't deny that she was enjoying the melody. Nor could she deny that it really was a bonding experience to make music with another person. She lightly blushed when she felt his finger brush against hers while they played, but found she didn't mind the contact. All good things must come to an end however, and before she knew it, they were being ushered out by one of the custodians.

"That was really fun, Facet," she admitted as they walked down the sidewalk together. "Making music together really did feel like a conversation. I feel like I know you a little better."

"As do I, Twilight." Facet stepped a little closer to Twilight as they walked. "We can do it again whenever you want. But you know, there are plenty of instruments that you might enjoy on your own time. I have a couple of friends who work part time at a music store. I can show you if you'd like."

Twilight nodded with a smile as she looked at him. "Sure. I'd like that."

Facet returned her smile with closed eyes. "It's a date."

Twilight darkly blushed at that. "A-A date?!"

"Yes," Facet answered, still smiling. "Do you not like the idea?"

Once again, Twilight found his warm smile utterly disarming. "I-It's fine. Just caught me off guard is all. I'd love to go on a date with you."

Smiling wider, Facet led Twilight to a small music shop and entered. "Vinyl. Octavia. I've brought a friend with me today."

"What up, Facet?!" Vinyl greeted as she exchanged a fistbump with him. "That pilot girl, huh? Nice catch there," she complimented with a grin as she lowered her sunglasses to regard them with her magenta eyes.

"It's nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle," Octavia greeted with a smile as she shook Twilight's hand. "Facet hasn't played music with anypony in a while. Seeing about getting her an instrument, Facet?"

"Yes I am," Facet said as he led Twilight to different instruments. "Try them out until you find one that fits you."

Twilight started looking over different instruments. First trying a guitar, but not really feeling a connection to the instrument. She met similar failures with the ocarina and drums. Finally, she came to a cello. Picking it up, she put the bow to the strings and played a few notes. They were deep and resonated with her soul. "The cello. This is the one."

"A good choice," Octavia said with a smile. "I can teach you if you'd like."

"I'd like that," Twilight answered as Octavia took the cello and put it in a case while Vinyl rang it up. She went to get her wallet, but Facet stopped her.

"It's on me," he said as he withdrew his own wallet and paid for the cello. Once it was paid for, he picked it up to carry it for Twilight.

Twilight found herself surprised by just how easily she took to the cello. In just two weeks under Octavia's tutelage, she had become rather skilled at playing. While she took pride in her new talent, there was another reason she enjoyed the cello: her now daily music sessions with Facet. After school and on the weekends, they'd get together and just play, with only occasional words spoken during them.

They sat back to back, him on the piano and her on her cello, the vibrant notes of the piano mixing in a dance with the more somber tones of Twilight's cello. Both had their eyes closed as they swayed to the sounds they made together. Twilight's fingers danced across the frets of her cello as Facet's danced across the piano keys. It seemed too soon that the last notes faded and left the music room in silence.

Sitting in silence for several seconds, they turned as one and looked into each others eyes. Still riding high on the emotions that music is so good at evoking, they began slowly leaning toward each other. As the inches dwindled down, their eyes slowly closed, before they finally felt the soft contact of their lips. Where in her dream of him, Twilight had felt flustered, here she felt only a wave of calm contentment wash over her as she lifted her hand to gently caress Facet's cheek. She blushed as she felt his hands slide around her waist and draw her into his lap as his tongue slid along her lower lip.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Twilight parted her lips, allowing Facet's tongue entry into her mouth, where her own greeted it in a slow, affectionate dance. This dance was only ended when they finally were unable to ignore their lungs any longer, a small string of saliva connecting their lips as they broke apart. "Wow..." she muttered, blushing up a storm as she looked into Facet's eyes. "You're a really good kisser."

"You too, Twilight," Facet answered, smiling at her as they got to their feet. "Let's get out of here before the janitor shows up. I'll walk you home."

"Thanks," Twilight said as she packed up her cello and picked it up. This time, when they exited the school, her fingers were twined with his.

"So what's it like living with Twilight?" Starlight asked as she and Cadance rode the in all but name ski lift down through a demolished section of NERV HQ that desperately needed repairs.

"It's pretty nice," Cadance answered with a smile. "Can't wait to see her face when Shiny finally gets back."

"Is she getting along with Spike?" Starlight inquired as she reached into the pocket of her labcoat and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and put one between her lips.

"The little pervert loves to tease her, but otherwise they get along great." Cadance suppressed a sigh as she watched Starlight light her cigarette. "You know that's not good for your health."

"The possibility of dying of cancer in twenty years loses most of its sting when I might die in an Angel attack tomorrow," Starlight retorted after taking a drag and exhaling the smoke. "On another topic. I hear that Twilight's been getting pretty close to Facet lately."

"You have no idea," Cadance giggled. "The look on her face when she's thinking about him. That girl's got it bad." She let out a small, happy sigh. "But that's a good thing. With everything she goes through to fight the Angels, it's nice to see her be a normal girl falling in love."

"And since the one she's given her heart to is a pilot himself, that could actually make them a strong team," Starlight added. "At least, once Unit-06 is finished. On that note, Unit-00 is almost ready for combat, and Fluttershy is back on active duty."

"But Unit-00 is just a prototype. Proof of concept," Cadance pointed out with a tone of worry.

"The Angels have forced our hand. We need every advantage we can get," Starlight replied before taking a drag of her cigarette.

"Wonder if they'll ever repair this part of the complex," Cadance said after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Maintaining and equipping the Evas takes top priority so... probably never," Starlight answered, taking one last drag and tossing the butt.

"They could at least spring for seat cushions..."

Cadance entered her apartment to be greeted by the sounds of Twilight's cello. The instrument produced deep, but very cheerful notes that originated from her ward's bedroom. Smiling, she walked past Spike, who was perusing one of her lingerie catalogs again as he lounged on the couch, and quietly opened Twilight's door.

Inside, Twilight sat on her bed with her eyes closed and a smile on her face as she played. Cadance could only imagine what was going through Twilight's mind as she played that beautiful melody. When it finally ended, she was given an ovation by Cadance, blushing as she put the cello back in its case. "How long were you listening?"

"The last five minutes," Cadance answered as she fully opened the door and leaned on the door frame. "You've gotten really good at that."

"Thanks. It's all because of Facet."

"You're spending a lot of time with him lately," Cadance noted.

"Yeah," Twilight answered in a blissful sigh as she lay back on her bed and hugged her pillow with a small giggle. "We had our first kiss today. It felt so amazing. Being there with him, so close together as we shared that feeling. Words just can't describe it."

The moment was broken by alarm klaxons going off. "Attention. A state of emergency has been declared. Please proceed to the nearest evacuation center."

"An Angel," Twilight muttered as she got serious and stood up. "Let's go, Cadance."

The crew of NERV's command center looked at the video feed of the Sixth Angel as it floated over the landscape. It was unlike the Fourth and Fifth Angels in every way. Where those two had vaguely recognizable forms, the Sixth was a giant, reflective blue octahedron. Every few seconds, audio monitors picked up a high pitched sound like sonar coming from it.

"The Sixth Angel has come," Celestia muttered. "Send out Unit-01."

Twilight had been prepped for deployment the moment she arrived at the command center, and now sat in Unit-01's cockpit, breathing slowly and steadily with her eyes closed as her Eva was prepared for combat. She took peripheral note of an anti-air rifle being put next to Unit-01 before the launch pad began moving toward the catapult. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes as the catapult rocketed Unit-01 toward the surface. She had her plan of attack: find cover and take potshots at the Angel while working to take down its AT-Field.

But no plan survives contact with the enemy.

"Target energy levels are rising!" Double Diamond reported.

"It's charging up?!" Starlight gasped. Unit-01 had just reached the surface.

"Look out!" Cadance screamed to Twilight.

Twilight gasped as the Angel stopped and began shifting its form like a fluid crystal. In mere moments it had assumed a shape roughly like an hourglass. In the middle of these points Twilight saw a glowing red object that she determined to be the core. All thoughts of attack were swept away when a cross shaped light emitted from the Angel's core.

Massive holes were melted in a row of buildings right before a beam of energy impacted against the center of Unit-01's chest. Twilight groaned and winced in pain as she felt her Eva's pain, her display screen beeping and flashing the words "Condition Yellow" as the LCL bubbled around her. The pain stopped as a blast shield was deployed in front of her, blocking the beam. She had little time to compose herself however, as the Angel shifted form again into a sort of three dimensional cross. A high pitched screaming sound reached her ears before the Angel fired an even more powerful beam. The first had been small and focused. This one engulfed the blast shield and Unit-01 together, soon vaporizing the shield.

Twilight screamed in agony as he entire body was awash with pain, feeling like she was slowly disintegrating even as Unit-01's AT-Field barely held up against the Angel's onslaught. The LCL bubbled even more as the screen in front of her beeped more frantically and flashed "Condition Red!" As the explosive bolts of the block were detonated, allowing her to drop back underground and away from the beam, Twilight coughed up blood and lost consciousness.

"Get a medical team, STAT!" Cadance screamed as crews brought Unit-01 back into its storage bay.

"Pilot's heartbeat is out of sync!" Sugarbelle reported. "Activating plugsuit defibrillator!"

Twilight's unconscious body twitched as her heart was shocked, resetting it and letting it resume a steady beat. After her entry plug was removed from Unit-01, the LCL was drained and Twilight removed from it. The medical team quickly stripped off her plugsuit and put her on oxygen before wheeling her into the operating center.

On the surface, the Angel had finally come to a halt over a section of the city. Its bottom point began rotating and extending downward toward the ground. As it made contact, the Angel's AT-Field turned the extension into an effective improvised drill that began penetrating the ground and going down toward the Geofront, slowly but surely.

While Twilight was being tended to, the command center staff were in the war room discussing how to fight the Angel. "Based on the data we gathered in the time the Target was attacking Unit-01, we've determined that it immediately attacks all hostiles within a given radius," Double Diamond said as a screen on the table demonstrated the sheer breadth of the Angel's attack range.

"So close combat isn't an option," Starlight muttered. "The Sirens have calculated that a large enough mass of balefire bombs could pierce its AT-Field, but an explosion of the required magnitude would destroy the Geofront."

"Whatever we do, we don't have a lot of time." Double Diamond brought up a diagram of the Angel's drilling. "The Target has just penetrated the second armor plate. At the rate it's progressing, it'll breach the Geofront about six minutes after midnight."

"What about the research institute's prototype positron cannon?" Cadance suggested with a grin.

"That thing isn't finished yet," Sugarbelle answered. "It can fire, sure. But it doesn't have a targeting system."

"Then we use Unit-01 as a sniper," Cadance answered.

"That's... actually crazy enough to work," Starlight muttered.

Twilight sat alone in her bedroom, illuminated only by the setting sun as she played her cello, immersing herself in the soothing notes.

"What will you do now?" A soft voice asked, startling Twilight out of her song. Across the room beside the closet was Fluttershy, the mysterious Unit-00 pilot. She was wearing a yellow sundress that accentuated her lovely, almost motherly, curves, and her flowing pink hair complimented her forest green eyes. "What will you do now, Twilight Sparkle?"

"What will I do?" Twilight asked in confusion.

"Indeed." She looked to her side to see Facet sitting with her on her bed. "That last sortie was the closest you've come to dying while fighting the Angels. Will you keep fighting? Or will you flee from these powerful foes that view you as little more than an insect?"

Twilight's eyes snapped open. She found herself staring at the sterile white ceiling of a hospital room. Slowly sitting up, she felt warmth on her right hand. Looking at it, she saw it clenched in Facet's left hand as he looked at her with a worried expression. "Facet..." Any further words were cut off by him pulling her into a deep kiss that conveyed quite clearly how relieved he was. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, seeking the comforting warmth of his embrace.

"Don't ever scare me like that again," Facet said after breaking the kiss, staring deeply into Twilight's eyes. "I was so worried."

"I'm sorry," Twilight muttered as she hugged her coltfriend close and rested her head on his chest. "I couldn't do anything. I was stuck on the catapult, only barely protected by Unit-01's AT-Field. I thought I was going to die."

"You won't," Facet muttered reassuringly. "Now that we know how the Angel works, we've got a plan in place. You and Fluttershy will be working together in the operation. Unit-00 will be covering Unit-01 as you attack the Angel with a positron cannon powered by Equestria's entire power grid. At midnight there's going to be a nationwide blackout to give all the electricity to the cannon."

"I don't know if I can do this," Twilight muttered. "When I fight, I'm the only one at risk. Everypony else is safe underground. It's like I'm a shield more than a sword."

Facet released Twilight and levitated over a change of clothes. "Let me show you something, Twilight."

Twilight clutched Facet's hand as they rode the elevator downward deep into NERV HQ's depths. "Where are you taking me, Facet?" She asked as they left the normal shaft behind and started passing through a transparent shaft, the area around them looking more like the innards of a brain than a military base.

"Level EEE. Where the Angels' target is located," Facet answered as the elevator stopped at the bottom of the shaft, opening into a corridor that was dimly lit with orange lights. He led Twilight in silence to a locked door. Sliding a keycard through a scanner, the door slowly opened, a number of spiraling bars coming undone as it did to reveal the room behind it.

Twilight gasped at what she saw. Nailed by its hands to a massive red cross, and impaled through the chest by a double pronged spear, was a white, faceless entity with no legs. At the waist was a deformed mass of what looked like pony legs that twitched, while a stream of what she recognized as LCL was pouring down the cross from behind the figure. "What... is that thing?"

"That is the source of all life on this planet, and the key to its destruction," Facet replied. "The Second Angel, Faust. If an Angel should get past our defenses and reach this level, the entire facility will self-destruct. Every single agent of NERV knows this, and is prepared to sacrifice everything to prevent the Third Impact. You are far from the only one at risk, my love. You, Fluttershy, me, the other pilots. We're the only ones that can directly fight the Angels by piloting the Evas. We've been entrusted with ponykind's future."

Twilight looked at Facet in silence, doubt still clinging to her stubbornly.

Facet smiled at her and held out a small recorder. "A little something from the PR department."

Twilight took the recorder and put it to her ear. It released a beep before playing a message.

"Twilight. This is Rarity. I just want to let you know that we're with you in spirit in the bunkers." Another beep was heard.

"Hiya, Twilight! Pinkie here! I just know you're gonna beat that Angel down! I'll have a victory cake for you after you win!" A third beep.

"Twilight. It's AJ. We all believe in ya, sugarcube. You teach that Angel not to mess with ponies, kay?"

Twilight smiled as she heard her friends' voices. As she lowered the recorder from her ear, she looked at Facet and nodded, her confidence restored. "Let's go."

The pair were met at the surface by Cadance, who stood leaning on her car with a smile. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Twilight replied with a nod. "We've got an Angel to kill."

As Twilight got into the car, Facet held out the keycard he'd used to Cadance. "Thanks for letting me borrow this."

"No problem," Cadance said, smiling as she pocketed the card. "Let's get moving."

On the drive to the operation site, Twilight never let go of Facet's hand, looking out into the distance at the drilling Angel, determined to pay it back for nearly killing her.

Starlight was waiting at the site with Fluttershy, which was a beehive of activity. Ponies ran around making sure things were in place, and the Evas were ready for their roles as well. "Alright. Twilight. Fluttershy. You both have a specific role in Operation Hurricane. Twilight, you're the gunner in Unit-01. Positrons are affected by gravity, the planet's magnetic field, and its rotation. So don't forget to compensate for those factors."

"Right," Twilight relied with a nod, already running calculations in her head. "For something this scale, there can only be one termination point for all the electricity, so retreat isn't an option. I have to do this in one shot."

"Exactly," Starlight confirmed before looking at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy. Your role is to defend Unit-01 in the event that the Angel fires back at our position."

"Yes, ma'am," Fluttershy replied in her practically emotionless voice. "I'll protect Twilight with my life."

"Get changed you two," Cadance ordered once Starlight was done with her explanation.

Twilight went with Fluttershy to the provided changing room and stripped out of her clothes before she picked up her plugsuit. "You know. There's a chance of us dying out there," she said as she stepped into her suit's legs and pulled it up as her arms went into the suit and sealed it. A press of the wrist button expelled the air in it and conformed it to her body's curves.

"No we won't," Fluttershy replied. "I'm going to protect you."

Twilight nodded and headed out of the changing room, going straight to Unit-01. As she climbed into the entry plug and settled into the pilot seat, she took to her breathing exercises as the plug was sealed and placed into Unit-01. She closed her eyes and kept breathing as it was flooded with LCL, letting her sync with the Eva as her display lit up and showed the outside world.

"Twilight." Starlight's voice came over the radio. "Unit-01 has been fitted with type-G sniper equipment. So we'll be able to calculate the shot and compensate for errors from out end. All you have to do is pull the trigger."

"I understand," Twilight said as she waited for the operation to begin. She watched as the blackout began, Canterlot plunging into darkness as a satellite feed showed her the progress of the entire country going dark. "It's almost time..."

In the mobile command center, Cadance watched the clock with Starlight, Sugarbelle, and Double Diamond. Finally, the clock hit midnight. "Commence Operation Hurricane!" Cadance ordered.

All across the country, circuits were closed and began channeling electricity toward Canterlot from all across the country to converge on Canterlot. Twilight opened her eyes as she listened to the radio chatter of connections being made and confirmed stable.

"Stage 3 connections stable," Double Diamond reported.

"Send a message to fortresses four and five," Cadance ordered. "Commence operation as scheduled. Order all scouts to pull out."

Twilight watched as several missile silos in the mountain fortresses opened and fired a massive salvo at the Angel. As they came closer to their target, the Angel shifted its form into a multipronged carousel sort of shape that rotated at high speeds before emitting a beam of energy and swinging it around, detonating all the missiles before a cross shaped light burst from it and vaporized the mountain the missiles were fired from.

Another volley was fired by a battery of AA guns that were deflected by the Angel's AT-Field after it morphed into a shield shape before turning into a shape more resembling a cannon and firing back. As the Angel was subjected to a relentless barrage, its shape constantly changing to return fire, Twilight pulled back a lever on the positron cannon to slot in a fuse. As the final connections were being made, Unit-01 deployed a scope and one above Twilight's head slid down to let her see through the sight of the targeting computer. Once the computer was locked on, she pulled the trigger, sending a beam of positrons at the Angel's exposed core.

The Angel froze for a moment before letting out an ear piercing screech as it expanded into an erratic spiky form that was black and started falling back as blood spurted from the wound. "Got it," Twilight muttered with a smirk. Until she noticed the cracks in the Angel repairing themselves, followed by it reverting to its default form. "I missed?!" Then the Angel's form shifted again. The entire side caved inward and fanned out in a star shape before settling on a reversed five pointed star on the third flare out, with the core hanging in the middle of an upright five point star shaped opening, which began glowing as the Angel released a prolonged screech. "Oh shit..." Twilight groaned before the Angel fired.

The shot disintegrated half the mountain behind Twilight and sent Unit-01 flying back along with anything not bolted down. It was several seconds before the shot finished. "Ow..." Twilight muttered as everything stopped tumbling.

"Twilight! Are you alright?!" Cadance's concerned voice asked.

"I'll live," Twilight answered. "How's the power system?"

"Still online. Looks like it's already recharging," Double Diamond replied.

"And the positron cannon?"

"Still intact with minor damage that looks superficial," Sugarbelle supplied. "Not sure we'll get another shot out of it though."

"We have to try," Twilight said as she grabbed her controls. "Moving back into firing position, and discarding type-G equipment. Switch vital firing system controls to manual. I'll make the calculations myself." She picked up the cannon and balanced it as she took aim at the Angel.

"Target has breached the Geofront!" Double Diamond reported.

"Let's make this quick!" Twilight replied as she ejected the burned out fuse and loaded another one.

"Fuse exchanged. Barrel cooldown complete," Double Diamond reported.

"New firing solution has been entered," Sugarbelle reported. "All further error compensations will be left to the pilot's manual control."

Twilight switched to the targeting computer zoom and started lining up her shot when she saw the Angel's core glowing again. "Oh you son of a-" The Angel fired and she averted her gaze as she braced for the impact, only to not feel it. Opening her eyes, she saw Unit-00 standing between her and the beam with its shield. "Fluttershy!" The shield was holding for the moment, but quickly deteriorating under the Angel's barrage. Gritting her teeth, Twilight looked back through the zoom screen and resumed lining up her shot, ever conscious of the time pressure she was under. After a number of tense seconds, she locked on and pulled the trigger.

The positron beam pushed against the Angel's beam for a few seconds before powering through and continuing on to the Angel. This time the Angel snapped shut into its default form and funneled an explosion out the opposite corner. It again burst out in a black crystal shape with a screech. Only this time, a pair of depressions formed in the flat area, the core soon afterward bursting.

Twilight sighed in relief as the Angel collapsed into blood before seeing Unit-00 fall. "Fluttershy!" She tossed the cannon aside and rushed over to Unit-00, lifting it out of the bay and drawing her prog knife to force aside the Eva's cover on the spine and let the entry plug extend outward, venting its LCL. Gently setting the plug down, Twilight quickly exited Unit-01 and rushed down to Fluttershy's plug, using her telekinesis to pry open the emergency exit to the plug. "Fluttershy! Are you alright?! Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Twilight. "I'm alright," she said with a nod.

"Good," Twilight said as she sighed in relief. "For a second I thought we'd lost you. Don't ever scare me like that again. I'd hate to think one of my friends died because of me."

"Friend?" Fluttershy asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yes. You're my friend, Fluttershy," Twilight replied. "So how about a smile?"

Fluttershy slowly curled her mouth into a smile and nodded. "Alright. I'll smile for you, Twilight."

Facet watched the exchange from a nearby hill with a smile, hands resting in his pockets. "You underestimate your ability to form bonds with others, Twilight Sparkle."

Author's Note

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