Jet Force Twilight

One thousand, five hundred and eighty-one years. That’s the time it would take for her light to finally reach her. She had no brain, granted, but that did not mean that she wasn’t still existing in symbiosis with her, and that alone was enough for anyone to long for the good old days that only a happy family life would bring.

Zion System C and New Gaia had been born together. Two stars, both spinning next to each other within the infinity of space. New Gaia had been Zion’s binary star but after five hundred billion years of close sibling hood Gaia had entered an odd angle of her gravitation. This had caused her to gradually orbit further away from her sister.

Now Gaia had a family of her own of several planets and moons. This included the forest planet of Goldwood, the home of the Tribals. It was the biggest of Gaia’s planets and were roughly ten billion years old. New Gaia could still feel the emptiness that the connecting part of her gas surface had with Zion and all those years ago. The times when they played together fed bright memories, even though space around them remained as dark as can be. Much closer to Gaia’s light was the population of Goldwood. Right now, it was shining upon the blue hair of a female woman.

Vela pulled out of her dreaming. She needed to focus if she wanted to pull this feat off. Oh yes, she was no fool Vela. She knew from experience that her connecting emotionally with someone was not exactly her forte. In fact, the last time she tried to convince someone to abandon their worries and focus on the task at hand that someone, which in that case had been a Tribal, had been brought to tears and ended in an even worse state than before Vela shone with her psychological brilliance. That time Vela had saved the situation by doing something that she was much better at - finding a bottle of Goldwood rom, having her patient empty it and fall asleep on a pile of leaf’s in the middle of the forest.

But Twilight Sparkle would not be drinking tonight. Oh no, this time Vela would pull through and convince the pony unicorn to snap out of her sulking and get her head back in the game. She approached the hut where she had been informed that Twilight was. The wooden door was shut. Vela reached out her hand and pushed it. She saw Twilight sitting at the wooden table. Her horn gave her unicorn head a tripod while she had her face seemingly buried in the table made out of Goldwood corn.

Ever since Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy was captured by Mizar’s drones Twilight had been in a mental state that bordered between hysteria and passive aggressive silence. The ponies reason to go to Goldwood had been violently debated after the drone attack on SS Anubis. According to Geezers hard drive they needed Barry’s help to crack Mizar’s code. That meant traveling to Goldwood, talk to King Jeff and arrange a meeting with him. But they had no idea where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had been taken, meaning that if they wanted to find them again they needed to follow their trail while it was still fresh.

The ponies debated for rescuing Twilight’s friends while Juno with his squad meant they should go to Goldwood and not risking getting Twilight killed and sacrifice the freedom of the galaxy for the sake of two ponies. In the end Juno had taken the bold decision of approaching Geraldine, the soldier that he incarcerated earlier for disobedience and pardoned her. He then sent her along with Lupus, Thunderlane and High Winds to Ichor Military Base. Their mission was to look for clues regarding the whereabouts of Mizar’s prisoners.

But this hadn’t done much to comfort the former princess. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy was still kidnapped and, for everything she knew, at least one of them was probably dead. Twilight was like in a trance, constantly reliving the good times she had with them before she fucked everything up by rebuilding that flying dildo. She heard the door open. She allowed herself a look at the entering human female.

“Twilight?” Vela launched her phycological session.

The light from the planets three moons gave the Goldwood forest a light-blue fragrance. The sound of girl giggling filled the air. The camp fire rose toward the starry night sky and casted yellow beams across the bottles of Goldwood rom that stood on a nearby table.

“Wah!”

Something bumped the table and sent one of the bottles to the grassy ground.

“You ARE the dance partner I never had!” The unicorn blurted.

“You suck, Twilight Sparkle!”

“Bruath!?

Vela pierced the sky with her pointing finger. “You are a teeeeerible princess!”

“I am... Hugh ...almighty!”

Vela took a long slurp of her drink. “You are crazy.”

“Wahahahahaha.” Twilight’s laughter sounded like vibrating raccoon. “What? You mean that?!”

“I dunno. Maybe it has something to do with you chasing the most dangerous robot in the universe?”

“I’m not crazy, I’m just eccentric like HUGH!” Twilight’s horn lit up and amplified her hiccup, causing it to rumble the camp. “...Like Pinkie Pie.”

Vela tried to stand on her legs as she continued her phycological session.

“You really need to get your head in the game.”

“Oh, I am game. I am the has been, but still in a large way, but not overly stated, the princess of friendship and the protector of all the friendships of Equestria.”

“The universe.” Vela corrected and took another sip.

Twilight’s head swayed silently back and forth as she gazed into the air, her eyes half closed. “Oh, right.” She blurted.

The night went on, although it appeared to stand still in the mind of the human and the unicorn. They played a drinking game where the loser needed to take ten sips in a row. Twilight had a spell that allowed her to conserve the alcohol in her body so that it didn’t reach her blood in the same amount.

She couldn't remember it.

“How did you become a Gemini soldier anyway?” Twilight drunkened.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, I don’t mean to be rude, but you with your brother being all queasy on you?”

Vela smiled. The fun of seeing the lavender pony drunk was stronger than her anger.

“My brother is a dickhead. He would kick me out anytime.”

“Anytime?”

“Anytime. You see what happened to Geraldine? Granted, she disobeyed orders, like me if I’d been emptying all of yours tonight as well, but there is no way that she’d been both locked up and sent away on a boring recon mission if she had been one of his male soldiers.”

“Really?”

“Really. The only reason Juno allows me to stick around is because I am his sister.

Twilight’s rom bottle made an arch through the air. It spilled some of its content before Twilight took a big gulp of it. “That doesn’t seem fair. Didn’t you save him by killing those pirates that killed your parents?”

Vela bent her neck backward and looked up toward the sky. She raised her bottle and heaved herself a big swoop. Most of the content missed her mouth and ran down at the side of her head.

“Urmh, Yea, I passed the test. Not much of a test, I would have felt sorry for them today if I knew that their sacrifice would amount to…” Vela hesitated.

“What?”

“He’ll never treat me as an equal.” Vela looked down at Twilight. Her eyes sparkled with sadness, but her face seemed to look forward to everything. “I’ll never be enough.”

Twilight shrugged. “At least you enjoy the challenge.”

Vela gave out a deep, drunken laughter before emptying the remainder of her rom.

“I live for it.”

I live for it. The words seemed to spin around inside Twilight’s head, even though the night kept on going. Now and then she could remember small portions of it but mostly it came down to whatever her eyes registered at the time. Twilight Sparkle wasn’t stupid. She knew from her extensive reading about alcohol that everything after I live for it would be one giant gap in her memory after she woke up tomorrow, but that insight was buried deep inside her cerebellum. For now she simply blurted out what her senses picked up.

“Apple Jack!”

“Twilight.”

“Come! There’s some for you too!”

Apple Jack didn’t know what to think. All she knew was that she would not take a single sip of the poison that Vela had fooled into Twilight.

“Twilight. What in tarnation do you think you’re doing?!”

“Apple Jack, you’re a farmer. Tell me and Vela about farming!”

Apple Jack saw five empty bottles lying on the ground. The only reaction she could possibly have was her honesty.

“Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are kidnapped, we are about to ask a fellow who thinks you’re a demon for help, Rarity is devastated over Rainbow Dash and, on top of that, we could be attacked any moment by one of Mizar’s ant parties! But all you can do, in the wake of all this, is to fool around here drinking your mane off!”

“I’m not drinking my mane off. Can’t you see its still on my head?!” Twilight laughed at her own joke. Vela allowed herself a couple of steps toward the orange earth pony.

“You must be Apple Jack. Twilight told me you were the honest one.”

“Darn right, she is!” Twilight bolstered about her country friend in the face of the latter. Twilight and Vela laughed. Apple Jack wasn’t laughing. Her broad accent bounced upon the atmosphere around the camp.

“Enough! It is time for you to hit the hay Twilight! King Jeff needs you clear headed tomorrow.”

Apple Jack turned around and started walking away from the party of two. Twilight and Vela exchanged drunken smiles. Apple Jack turned to them again, raw honesty swimming in her serious eyes.

“I wasn’t joking about Rarity, you know. Ever since she told Rainbow Dash to bugger off on that fiery planet she thinks ponies are angry at her. She thinks you’re avoiding her, Twilight.”

“Whaaaaat! I’m not avoiding her!” Twilight blurted.

“She thinks you do. To be perfectly honest with you Twili, ever since Mizar lied to you you’ve stopped listening to you friends. Getting revenge for Starlight is one thing but what good is that when the one pony that brought us together forgets why we should listen to one another? Rarity needs you as much as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy right now, and you just met her a couple of hours ago.” Apple Jack scolded.

Twilight’s eyes became sad. Apple Jack walked up to her and reached out her hoof.

“Let’s go and talk to her. Shall we?”

Twilight raised her hoof to touch Apple Jack’s. She had it sail skyward in an arch

“Prrrrft… Hahahahahaha!” Twilight’s drunken eyes turned teary. Apple Jack frowned. “Wahaha, if you know all this then why didn’t you talk to her yourself?!”

Apple Jack realized it would be hopeless trying to talk to Twilight in this state. She continued walking away from them. Twilight and Vela exchanged laughter’s like two school fillies that had just pulled pranks on their teacher. Twilight’s chuckles were rapidly cut when a rope lassoed around her neck and pulled. Her hooves dragged against the ground when Apple Jack pulled her drunken friend out of there like a stray cow. Vela raised her hand and waved.

“See you later, princess.”

I live for it.

The last words of Vela drilled the back of Twilight’s brain while the bright light of the morning burned her eyes.

“Ungh." She moaned in its wake.

Twilight could tell that immediately upon exiting her hut that she had slept for at least 11 hours. On her way she noted that the other Tribal families had already left their homes and headed off for work. Only the elderly Tribals could be seen outside their homes. One had her fury hands dipped in a casket of soap-filled water. Twilight avoided stepping in a stream of it while the Tribal granny made the clothes ready for the family’s return later that day.

Observing the everyday life of the Tribals was like following Apple Jack at her farm - If she had also had a job at Rarity’s boutique in Canterlot.

One time of the day the Tribals were doing their dirty work in the mud like any earth pony-farmer would. Then, when their workday was considered over, they would put on nice clothes made out of beautifully crafted animal fur and live a surprisingly civilized lives. They would even use titles, much like the Canterlot elite, and give even the most unwashed scoundrel a small tip of the head and a polite greeting.

Of course, there were always room for exceptions.

“Hi there.” Twilight greeted with a tired voice.

The Tribal woman glared at Twilight. It was then like she was trying to make up her mind before rapidly facing down and returning to her washing duties. Twilight ignored the rude behavior. She closed her eyes and grinned. The hangover pierced her front lobe.

“Aaaaah.”

Twilight knew she was probably late for the meeting with King Jeff. She made her way through the main village. Much like the case with the Tribals at Rith Essa all the houses had been built under the cover of trees. Twilight spotted a row of dead Murrils that had been put on a stick to dry in the sun. They were a local squirrel species and a delicacy among the Tribals. Whether it was her vegetarian reaction to this or the alcohol that twitched her stomach Twilight wasn’t sure. At least she managed to gallop away from the public road before a gallon of rom rocketed out from every exit that was orally possible.

After gaining her bearings Twilight proceeded past some kind of landfill. Old clothes and rotten rodent carcasses tossed into a big pile of dirt. Since the Tribals only used material from mother nature to craft what they needed they could just dump all their waste and let the molding process do the rest. Twilight decided that she would pass by Velas hut and see if they could walk together. She would feel a lot safer. The Tribals around here, although loyal to Jeff and not his brother, still seemed suspicious of her.

The hut turned out to be empty. Twilight was about to make her leave when she spotted a pouch lying on a nearby table. She immediately recognized it. Vela had been wearing it for almost all the time. Twilight was about to leave it alone when she noticed a pointy thing peeking out from the half open zipper. Twilight let the magic flow through her horn. She magically pulled out what appeared to be a figure of a human woman. She felt a laughter form on her face when studying it.

“Vela? Why?”

“Why what!?”

Twilight gasped. She faced her announcer.

“So? Creeping again, are we?”

“Vela. I didn’t mean.”

“Are you always snooping into the private affairs in Equestria?” Vela caught sight of the woman figure that Twilight was holding. “You’ll forget this.”

“Forget what?”

Vela brought out her gun and pointed it at Twilight.

“If you dare mention this to any of the Gemini warriors, or your pony friends, this picture here will be the last thing you’ll see, do you understand!?”

Vela reprimanded Twilight for snooping for the second time since they met. That time Vela had been calmly sarcastic and subtly irritated. Now her hardened eyes burned with fury.

“You’ll forget this!” Vela ranted.

It was like Twilight was a furniture herself. She wasn’t scared, wasn’t sad, she was paralyzed. She released the spell and let the doll fall. There was a tucking sound when the figure hit the floor. The light from the window sent flashes against the glittery princess dress that the doll wore.

“You’ll forget…!”

Vela’s voice dwindled. Her Twilight riveted eyes gained a dreamy depth. She lowered her gun.

“Get out.”

Twilight didn’t move a muscle. Vela faced away from the unicorn. Was she flinching?

“Vela?”

“GET OUT!”

“Where could she be?” Fleetfoot asked, turning to Soarin.

“Probably still in her sleeping hut. Didn’t you hear Apple Jack earlier? She must be so out.” Soarin answered.

Spitfire turned to her squad. “Yea. She did drink a lot last night.” And who can blame her?

Spitfire wasn’t at all surprised about Twilight giving in to the booze. In fact, she thought she had earned a break after everything she had been through.

The yellow pegasus looked around the chief’s hut, which were bigger than any other building in the Tribal village. The interior was lined with burning candles and comfy fabric that hanged down from the tilting walls. The meeting was about to begin, if all invited attendances would find their way there, that is.mThe souls gathered right now was Spitfire herself, Soarin, Fleetfoot, Misty Fly and Silver Zoom. Present were also Juno and four other Gemini male soldiers. In the middle of it all stood King Jeff with his robe, necklace and staff. He was talking to a green frog-like dude. The frog stood on two legs and were slightly lower in height than Jeff. His green ears protruded at the side of his head. He was holding a wooden cane while wearing a fancy purple jacket. From what Spitfire understood he was the Goldwood ambassador.

“Hey. The others are gone now to.” Soarin remarked.

Spitfire saw the empty space were Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie had recently been.

“They’re probably out looking for her. Stand fast.” Spitfire ordered.

“There she is!” Pinkie Pie screamed.

“Twilight! Come on, the meeting is about to begin.”

“I hear you Apple Jack. Where is Rarity?” Twilight looked around for the fashionista.

“That is why we wanted to find you before you arrived Twilight. Rarity is gone. This morning was the last time me and Pinkie saw her.”

Pinkie Pie’s smiled at Twilight with her teeth pearly white.

“Slept well, sleepy head?”

Twilight held the giggle inside her. Now was not the time to reveal her feelings for Pinkie Pie in public.

“Right. Then we got to go and find her. Does anypony here have any idea where she might have gone?” Twilight asked.

The three ponies thought silently for a moment. Pinkie Pie only managed for a second. “Wooo, look at all those fancy new dresses that the Tribals are wearing! But who am I kidding!? That can’t possibly be a clue to where Rarity might be. Am I right?”

Twilight and Apple Jack caught sight of what Pinkie Pie seemed to deem perfectly normal. Without so much as a pre warning the village road started filling with Tribals that seemed to wear outfits imported directly from Discord land.

One Tribal wore an improvised tree trunk with diamonds imbedded in it. One Tribal woman had a big leaf-cape that had been brooded with acorns and glitter. One fellow had an improvised suit made out of sticks that had been sewed together with swamp weed. They all looked down at their outfits with embarrassing faces and dim eyes that said it all - They weren’t just contemplating their new outfits, they were contemplating every day of their lives which had brought them to this moment.

Following the walking bayou the pony friends eventually found its source, an eroded old cave that had been remade into some kind of shop. Twilight used her horn to pull away the drapes, entering something that looked more like a fortune tellers backroom than a clothing store. The dark parts of the room had eyes in them. The improvised mannequins consisted of tree trunks with faces carved into them. A Tribal came wandering in a manner of mental grogginess. He had a giant mushroom on his head. He appeared to be looking nervously for the exit. While the Tribal slithered out behind the ponies they caught sight of a white patch among the plant clothes.

“Rarity? What are you doing?”

They white unicorn turned to Apple Jack, her eyes covered in dried out tears above her crazy smile.

“Hello friends, welcome to Rarity’s SWAMP INSPIRATION!”

“’Swamp’ inspiration?” Apple Jack asked dumbfounded.

“AWESOME!” Pinkie Pie screeched.

Rarity glanced at her friends before frantically going back to work. Twilight thought that she avoided looking at her.

“Eh, what was it that was awesome again?” Pinkie asked, suddenly confounded. Rarity’s ears twitched.

“Ah, a CUSTOMER!”

Rarity frantically galloped outside. The ponies then heard her speak to someone in an aggressive sales voice. Once she returned she had a confused Tribal with her.

“Don’t worry, it’s all on the house!” Rarity ensured her customer/prisoner before bringing out some of the strangest clothes that Twilight had ever seen.

After the scared Tribal had left with a vest made out of tree sap and bark Twilight turned to the clearly stress-sewing diva.

“Listen Rarity. We all miss Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, but Thunderlane and High Wind are out to find them. We need to focus on breaking Mizar’s code.”

Rarity looked at Twilight like she was about to apologize to her mother.

“Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy? Yes, they’ll make it back here, her and Rainbow Dash, especially Rainbow Dash.” Rarity’s eyes started to water. “I mean, it’s not like I am a selfish idiot for worrying about her not wanting to see me when, really, I should worry about ever seeing her again!”

“Why in the world would she not want to see you again?! Listen Rarity, I know a lot of bad things have happened, awful things, but trust me, we must not blame ourselves. This is because of Mizar.”

Rarity’s crying stopped. Apple Jack’s face contorted in disbelief. Twilight’s scar that ran across her face almost appeared to get redder as she ranted.

“Mizar killed Starlight Glimmer, he killed those ponies at the Gala. His drones murdered Blaze, Surprise, High Leap and Everbold Hoof. Mizar may also murder me but he will never murder our friendships! I swear, if it’s the last thing I do I will maim him, take away his self-reviving spell but leave just enough magic in him to keep him alive. Then I will toss him out in space where he will float, not for measly twenty years, but for a thousand years!”

Apple Jack casted a glare at Twilight from behind, her orange face formed in anger. Rarity’s mouth remained slightly open while her eyes was shrouded in mist. Pinkie Pie remained silent which, giving her usual mood, said more than her sad expression. There was so much more to say but somehow those polarizing words would come to be the last ones ever spoken inside Rarity’s Swamp Inspiration.

The awkward silence seemed to follow the ponies, even as they made their way outside. While heading for the king’s hut Twilight’s friends walked ahead of her. Apple Jack had her hoof around Raritys back. She seemed to run through some kind of comforting routine with the white unicorn. Pinkie Pie walked between Twilight and the others. Once in a while she looked back with sad eyes at Twilight, then at Apple Jack and Rarity. She seemed to have a hard time deciding which one she should give attention.

But Twilight did not notice Pinkie’s dilemma, nor the hanging unease that still needed absolving. Twilight was too occupied with looking at the landfill from earlier. It was still covered in mud and clothes, with one more item that someone had deemed unnecessary to have.

Twilight walked slower. Her raggedy mane wavered in the wind, as did the princess dress around Velas doll, its silvery beauty covered in mud as it laid in the landfill, tossed away with the other junk.