Jet Force Twilight

After Max and his team had gathered the remaining workers Jeff informed everyone about the changed situation. The Wonderbolts and the royal guard was waiting for them outside once they came out. Spitfire immediately galloped up to Jeff.

“Hey, Tribal leader!”

“Please, just call me Jeff.”

“And my name is Spitfire, nice to meet you your majesty. But listen, we will have to cut our introductions short. I have a flier here that have some information that I think might be troubling to you.”

The yellow pegasus pony named Misty Fly came up to them.

“This is King Jeff. Misty Fly, tell him what you saw.” Spitfire ordered.

“Did a covert areal recon by the order of Spitfire and I saw a group of green ants. They appeared to be sneaking through the woods and take position outside of camp C.”

“Rouge drones!” Jeff blasted, suddenly alert. “They are getting ready for a raid! Those ones are sneaky, how did you see them!?” Jeff asked surprised.

Spitfire and Misty Fly laughed. “It will take more than sneaking to avoid a Wonderbolts attention!” Spitfire bolstered.

King Jeff looked dead into the air as he was thinking. It took him only three seconds to make a final decision. He tossed a set of keys to Max. “Take these keys and open up the armory, you will have to head over there and protect the Tribal families until they can escape!”

“Don’t you have security there?” Rainbow Dash asked bewildered.

“You mean Fernando? Only a few of Mizar’s blue drones he hired personally but they are going to be overrun quickly, these rouge drones don’t mess around!”

“What are they after?” Twilight asked.

“Tribals. They take us prisoners and use us for ceremonies. A horrible way to die, and those back at C are mostly families with children.”

“Then you can count on us!” Rainbow Dash blasted. The pegasus pony was known for her loyalty.

“And you too, Vela and Lupus.”

A crazy smile festered on Vela’s face. She turned to Pinkie Pie, who’s hair was curly and fluffy at the top of her head.

“What do you say party pony, shall we go and have some fun?” Vela winked and raised her hand of which she held a small mini gun.

The pink pony glanced at Vela with a spark of excitement in her blue eyes. She looked back and saw her other self. Agent Pinkie Pie was standing behind her, shaking her head disapprovingly.

007 refused to kill for fun, but she recognized where she was needed. She looked at Vela, a grin forming between her hanging, curly hair. She thrusted her hoof forward and brought out her PPK pistol. She then posed with it like a pink James Bond.

Party planner Pinkie looked at Agent Pinkie, then at Vela again. There were the sound of confetti popping.

“Then, LET’S PARTY!”

Agent Pinkie Pie looked nervously around whilst party balloons and confetti floated around her.

Not far from Vela and Pinkie the young and promising Tribal worker Max was saying goodbye to his family. The only parent Max had left was his mother. His father had been killed years ago by one of Mizar’s ant drones during the time when the space dictator was piloted by Jeff’s brother Barry. Max had three sisters, one of them barely out of her baby years. Max was kissing his mother on the cheek now, although he wished it had been someone else’s. That’s right, over his mother’s shoulder Max was watching the Tribal girl Carla leave with her family. His mother sensed where his attention was.

“Carla is going to be so happy if you come with us.”

Max laid his hand on his mother’s shoulder.

“I come back, I promise.”

Max turned around and walked away from his mother, who was failing to keep the memory of Max father walking away from her for the last time. She used her hand to wipe away the lonely tear.

After the groups had armed themselves they all headed out for camp C with haste. The gathering was a sight to behold indeed: One group of pegasus ponies called the Wonderbolts, one group of pony friends of varying kind - one being a pink pony, jumping happily up and down like she was on a trampoline - one human woman with braided blue hair, one genetically engineered dog with a gun fastened on his back, five Tribal miners armed with laser guns - or walking Teddy bears if one asked Rainbow Dash. Following these strange squads of misfits was a white unicorn stallion. Shining Armor had left the rest of the royal guard to escort Jeff and the Tribal families in case there would be more rouge drone’s out there that they didn’t know about.

Once they closed in on camp C the group were relived to find that there were no sound of laser blasts yet, and horrified, since that meant the raiders could be hiding anywhere. Since Max and his workforce knew the land they were leading the way. The camp laid just ahead. Shining Armor had a laser carbine hanging around his neck by the strap. Beside him he had his sister and her friends. They had all taken camp inside a large ditch behind some bushes.

“I don’t like this. It’s too quiet.”

“I’m afraid I have to agree with Twilight’s brother on this one, don’t know if I want to risk sending any fliers up there either.” Spitfire said.

“Do you think they saw me?” Misty Fly asked worried.

“If so, I’m afraid to find out.”

Vela rose up and unsheathed her mini gun.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked.

Me and Lupus are going in loud. We draw their fire while you get around their flanks whenever you can.

“Roger that, and hey.” Spitfire got Vela’s attention. “Don’t die on us, we need you two on the road ahead.”

Vela smiled and posed with her mini gun. “Don’t have too much fun without me.”

Vela and Lupus left the bushes and walked toward the camp. There were the sound of low whistling. Lupus turned around and spotted Apple Jack.

“Be careful now little doggie.” She said.

Lupus made a small bark for an answer before continuing after Vela.

Minutes went, the ponies waiting. Their hearts thumped faster with every passing second of complete silence. One pony’s heart was beating in particular, although the reason wasn’t the same as for the others.

“This is so exiting! I remember the last time we had epic shootout with laser weapons with our very lives were hanging in the balance! They’re so flashy!”

“Shhhhh! Quiet Pinkie Pie, you’ll get us all killed!” Rainbow Dash scolded whispering.

It was then like Pinkie Pie had placed an order in advance. All above the treetops the entire forest was suddenly filled with the roaring sound of automatic laser fire and ants screaming. Pinkie’s smiling face kept on going as it went.

“That’s it, let’s go!” Rainbow Dash was grabbed from behind. It was Max the Tribal miner.

“Hold on, they don’t know we’re here yet, we wait for an opportunity to take them by surprise.”

“And who made you the boss?” Rainbow Dash asked irritated.

Max looked at the pegasus. He smiled challenging while raising his gun.

“I did.”

Rainbow Dash saw Max leave the ditch and crouch against the ground for the next tree cover. He seemed to listen, not just at the sound of laser fire, but also for other sounds. She saw him glance toward the deep part of the forest.

“His mother sure aint gonna to be happy about this.” A voice with the clearest S’s Rainbow Dash had ever heard said. She turned around and spotted Max’s three Tribal followers. The one talking to her now was the smallest one.

“The name’s Joseph.” Joseph didn’t sound proud of his name. His Tribal chin was lowered in submission. He had his gun raised like he was getting ready to set the entire forest on fire. The Tribal behind him laid his hand on it and lowered it.

“Not yet Joseph, they’ll show themselves soon.” The Tribal male had a dark voice that rumbled Rainbow Dash’s ears. Despite this, he was unusually thin for a Tribal. “Hi Rainbow Dash, the name is Isak. Cool name you have by the way.” Isak sounded polite, like he was getting ready to have a fancy dinner in the middle of the raging war.

“Thanks?” Rainbow Dash said bewildered, the sound of fighting still sounding in the background.

“That was so rad Isak, you should attend the rock throw contest and win over the Barry boys with it.”

“Shut up Konrad!” Joseph blasted while shamefully facing the ground.

Konrad seemed completely unmoved by Joseph’s outburst. “Buckle up Joseph, arguing with you is like arguing with a wall.”

“And arguing with you is like arguing with your mother.” Isak immediately started laughing at his own joke. Konrad punched Isak in the arm, who continued laughing.

“Shhh, quiet.” Max hushed as he jumped back into the ditch. Rainbow Dash quickly saw what Max had urged silence about.

All the Ponies and Tribals in the group lowered their heads while a group of green ants came sneaking through the forest. Twilight thought they were probably trying to flank Vela and Lupus, who was still holding of ants coming from another direction inside the camp.

“Oh, this is so exiting!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed in whisper range. Irritated, and absolutely horrified, Apple Jack punched her on the hoof. Max turned around and looked at the pink pony. How can she be so eccentric in a dangerous situation like this?

Soarin was the white colt pegasus of the Wonderbolts and had been a member for as long as Spitfire had. He watched Spitfire raise her yellow head now, probably to scan the situation. Hearing the sound of laser fire in the distance, he felt all the years working with her pass him by. He got up and urged her with his hoof.

“Boss, I really think you should…”

The blasts from the laser weapon was so close that Soarin never had time to hear it before it entered his flank. The massive plasma energy spread all over his inner organs within a millionth of a second. The energy made all his muscles jump, giving him no options beyond falling headfirst into Spitfire’s hooves. By the time the rest of his body hit the ground he couldn’t feel the tickling of the leaves lying there, not even the wound surrounded by third degree burns, just the largest muscle cramp that the stallion had ever experienced in his life.

Thunderlane wasn’t sure what drove him, but the black Wonderbolt stallion aimed and fired by pure instinct. The green shooter ant screamed and fell backward into the bushes. Soarin’s agonizing scream and cursing started sounding, along with the whooing zip of lasers coming from the depth of the forest.

“RETURN FIRE! KEEP YOUR HEADS DOWN!” Spitfire ordered while failing to let somepony else look after Soarin. She threw herself down to him, leaving the Wonderbolts leaderless.

“Soarin!”

“I can’t… I can’t feel… My right hoof, is it still there!?”

“It’s still there, old timer!”

“IF YOU LIE!” Soarin roared sobbing. The energy still circulated inside Soarin and cramped his muscles, making it feel like his back hoof was pulling out from his body and stretched everything inside him. His screams came in intervals.

“Boss! What do we do!?” High Winds wailed.

“If they flank us we’re done!” Surprised shouted.

Apple Jack quickly realized the real danger of the situation. She threw herself down to Soarin. “I’ll look after him!”

Spitfire didn’t look at the apple farmer. It was like Soarin’s wavering screams rocked Spitfire’s head and made her thoughts waver to. Her mind spun around in circles with the nagging question. Why did I expose myself like that!?

“Spitfire, your fliers need you!” Apple Jack retried.

But Spitfire wasn’t responding. How could she respond to somepony else when she couldn’t even respond to her own thoughts?

Twilight Sparkle looked back at Spitfire, then at Apple Jack’s hopeless eyes. The former princess quickly realized that she had to take lead.

“Wait until they need to cool their weapons down!” Twilight ordered the group.

“Roger! You heard the lady!” Shining Armor exclaimed.

At first, Twilight’s tactic seemed to keep the ants at bay. As the fight went on though more and more of the lasers started coming from the sides.

“If they make it around us we’ll be trapped, we need to fall back!” Thunderlane was already on his way. Rainbow Dash stopped him and scolded.

“It’s to open! They’ll shoot us in the back!”

“Fall back and leave me!” Soarin sobbed.

“No! We leave no pony behind!” Spitfire wailed over him.

“Spitfire! Leave Soarin to me!” Apple Jack retried in vain.

“We’ll ALL be left behind soon if we don’t do something!” Rainbow Dash rasped.

Pinkie Pie’s highly pitched laughter filled the air. Her pink head poked in and out again from the ditch, all while taunting.

“Where is pinkie Pie? HERE I AM! Where is pinkie Pie? HERE I AM!”

Since Pinkie Pie had her Pinkie sense she could just predict where the lasers would go in advance. She felt ashamed. It wasn’t quite fair she thought. She wished she could turn it off to give the ants a fair chance.

Max went back into cover again after firing toward a group he spotted ahead. He knew he saw them scatter, meaning the black pegasus pony had a point. If they flanked them this ditch would become their grave. He was about to tell his miners to fall back when he spotted the pink pony playing.

“Where is pinkie Pie? HERE I AM! Where is pinkie Pie? HERE I AM!”

Max felt a moment of wonder pass him by. If she can have fun at a time like this, why can’t we?

“Tribals!” Max got the attention of Joseph, Isak and Konrad. He smiled crazily at them while raising his weapon. “First Tribal to ten wins!”

Isak and Konrad looked nervously at each other.

“Your mother aint gonna like this.” Joseph said.

Max readied himself.

“Fuck mother.”

Max and his Tribal followers rocketed out of the ditch and advanced toward camp C. The suppressing green ants was taken completely by surprise by the daring move. Two lasers fired in panic went by Max before he raised his arm and riddled two of the ants. He glided against the leaf filled forest ground, taking cover behind a tree while the third drone fired at him.

“Two for me!” Max screamed.

“One!” Isak screamed while another ant did the same.

Three lasers suddenly rocketed by Max, one of them passing his head only by centimeters. They all hit the ant behind the tree and sent its limbs flying and body exploding into green slabber.

“Hey! Joseph, watch that trigger finger! You almost hit me!” Max scolded.

“Would it have counted if I did!?” Joseph smiled crazily behind the smoking barrel of his weapon. “Four!”

“Bullshit, how can you have four already!” Konrad screamed, contemplating lying about his zero.

Wonderbolt colt Sliver Zoom watched the Tribals. “Those Tribals are crazy!”

“Yes, and their crazy just opened a door for us!” Twilight looked back at Apple Jack tending Soarin. “Apple Jack!”

“I’ll carry Soarin!” Apple Jack rogered.

Twilight waited for the lasers to start raining. She moved a little to the side before peeking out, letting her horn shine a bright light as she did. Blinded, the green ant kept firing at the same spot, giving Twilight ample time to aim. The ant was hit in the shoulder and fell screaming into the bushes.

“Now!”

Twilight let her horn shine while leaving the ditch, her friends following her. She did not need to worry about blinding her allies since her spell only amplified the light in front of her.

“The ponies are advancing!” Isak exclaimed, then adding. “Five!”

“As much as this is a party, I think we should follow them!” Max proposed, then adding. “Seven!”

“DID SOMEPONY SAY PARTY!” Pinkie Pie came sailing via the highest jump Max had ever seen a four-legged creature do. Incoming lasers seemed to hit everything except the pink pony. Joseph aimed and finished the shooter.

“I win, by the way, sorry I forgot to mention... twelve.” The flatness of Josephs voice came off extremely creepy giving how many drones he had slaughtered.

“There is no way you have twelve kills already!” Konrad complained, then lying. “Five!”

“He has, I saw him, and you shouldn’t lie Konrad, you never get better if you never play by the rules!” Pinkie Pie teased happily, then adding bolstering. “I used to be a judge for the Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack competition, you know.”

Half of Pinkie’s competition came galloping through the woods.

“Well, then you can come back and ‘judge’ me down by the camp, the others are waiting for us!” Rainbow Dash blasted grumpily.

All around the group the silence laid itself inside the woods, along with the tension inside their bodies. Rainbow Dash took no chances. “The enemy may have retreated, but who know when they will be back.”

The Tribals walked past Rainbow Dash, all except Max, who stopped and turned to the pegasus pony. He spoke with a slow, teasing voice.

“You colorful little ponies truly are more than meets the eye.” He raised his gun and grinned. “I only hope that your own eye just saw what we Tribals here did for you, my little pony.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Max, then at jumping Pinkie Pie. The recently uttered words went on repeat inside her head.

You colorful little ponies truly are more than meets the eye, my little pony.

Rainbow Dash felt the shame over her playful friend creep up on her. She looked at Max again and hid it with a challenging face. “I sure did, my little Teddy.”

Max saw that he had gotten through to her. He smiled meanly. He was halfway with his fellow Tribal friends when he turned to the blue pegasus again.

“Oh, one more thing. Vela and Lupus have probably evacuated most of the camp already. Would you do me a favor my little pony? Before we head back to Jeff, would you mind make another sweep of camp C, just in case there are Tribals left?”

“Why me?”

Max walked up to the blue pegasus. He put his finger in the air and empathized every word.

“You… Must… Rescue… All… the Tribals.”

“All of the Tribals?” Dashie asked.

“ALL the Tribals.” Max eyes became bulgy. Joseph, Isak and Conrad laughed in the background. There was a highly pitched input coming from the jumping pink pony.

“You heard him Rainbow Dash! You won’t finish the game unless you find every Tribal, even if they are hiding in the most obscure places or if you accidentally shoot one of them!”

Rainbow Dash’s face twisted in anger. Max smiled before heading after his Tribal work force. Rainbow Dash reached out her hoof and prevented Pinkie’s next jump.

“What are you doing Pinkie Pie? This is no game!”

“It is for some.”

“It is for you. Soarin is badly hurt, if that laser had hit a few inches higher we would be having his funeral by now, over by that ditch! Heck, we could be having your funeral, but all you can do, in the wake of all this, is to fool around smiling!”

Pinkie Pie looked sad at Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry, I just wanted to lighten up the mood.” The smile returned to her pink face. She started jumping happily. “At least the Tribals were having fun. You should have seen them. They were all really good, but it was Joseph who won by scoring twelve points. Twelve points, HA! Can you believe it!”

Dashie’s angry eyes gained a misty core of incredulous. “They were KILLING enemy combatants!”

Pinkie Pie stopped jumping. Dashie’s scolding echoed between the trees.

“Living creatures, individuals!”

Pinkie’s smile slowly faded. Her realizing eyes became shallow with shame. Dashie shook her head and hung the rifle over her neck by the strap.

“Your smile may be fun and game at your parties, but sometimes, Pinkie Pie, it scares me more than the enemy does.”

“Thank you all so much for coming! As you all know, this is Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake’s birthday and I am so happy that you all could be here!”

Pinkie Pie put on a welcoming face while her friends entered Sugarcube Corner. They all looked around in confusion at all the balloons, colored roller strings and randomly placed party hats. Pinkie Pie laughed.

“I know those faces, you probably weren’t expecting a party so soon. Don’t worry, this will only be a short one.” Pinkie Pie then added reassuringly. “I’m sure Vela and Lupus can wait an hour longer before takeoff.” She put on the largest party smile she could. “Now, let’s PARTY!”

Confetti popped up and balloons came sailing via Pinkie Pie’s hidden party cannons. With one push of her back hooves she jumped over to the music player, turned it on and spun around in a pink hurricane of cheer that only Pinkie Pie, the greatest party planner in Equestria, could muster. Pinkie Pie pulled out of her party ecstasy and saw that her friends were still looking at her slightly bewildered. Pinkie put her hoof over her mouth, laughed and added embarrassed.

“Oh, right. The birthday fillies.” Pinkie Pie turned toward the Kitchen and called. “Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake!”

Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake was the children of Mr. and Ms. Cake, the owners of Sugarcube corner. The two foal ponies came walking on their small little hooves, one a filly unicorn and one a colt pegasus. They stopped in the middle of the room. Their big eyes looked worried at Pinkie Pie’s friends. The party pony giggled.

“Oh, I forgot, you should probably remove your robes so they recognize you.”

Pinkie Pie’s two friends reached out their bug arms and removed their robes that covered both their bodies and head. The robes sailed to the floor, revealing only emptiness. Pound Cake turned around and looked at the huge party cake. He opened his mouth wide and screamed.

The Cake towered with its walls made out of cream, colorful ornaments and candles. On top of it a blue ant head had been placed. His black bug eyes stared dead into the air.

Pinkie’s smile widened until her mouth reached outside of her face. She turned and looked at Pumpkin Cake with hardened blue eyes. Pumpkin Cake started crying. She pointed her hoof at Pinkie and shouted.

“Pinkamena Pie!”

“No! I’m not her! I AM NOT HER!”

Pinkie Pie felt the condensed air wetting her face. The lake gulped while its small waves hit the bed. Pinkie Pie’s I’m not her! still echoed around the area as she studied her reflection on the surface.

“I’m not her.” She whispered.

“No, you’re not.”

The party pony turned. Pinkie Pie the double 0 agent had joined her on the lake bed. She was cleaning her PPK pistol. “You will never be her, my forever bound friend.”

“You are wrong.”

“You will never be her, the only pony you will ever be are your own mad self, desperately trying to run from your own reflection.”

“Why are you here?”

“You know why I’m here, and Soarin too.”

“It wasn’t my fault.”

Pinkie 007 turned her cold, blue eyes and glared at Pinkie the party planner. “Yes, it was. I could have sensed that laser, I could have finished the shooter before he even had time to aim for Spitfire.”

Pinkie’s eyes filled with shame. When the pegasus stallion had been brought into the camp he had been in a rough state. After nurse Redheart had taken a look at him the cramps had finally lifted. Now the pegasus was lying inside Vela’s transport ship, unable to use his right wing.

“Now that poor Wonderbolt might have to retire for good, all because of you.” 007 scolded.

“Are you abandoning me?”

“I’m asking you to take a break. This is no place for you, let me handle things from here.”

“You are not my master.”

“I’ll be if that’s what it takes.”

“My friends don’t know you. My friends won’t recognize you. I might lose them forever. I can’t risk it.”

“Their lives you could risk.”

“Shut up.”

“If it hadn’t been for me, all of them would have died at the gala.”

“Shut up!”

“If it hadn’t been for me, you and Starlight would have been stuck inside that Goldeneye movie forever.”

“Don’t you dare mention her, shut up!”

“Wow, look who’s turning to Pinkamena.” 007 teased.

“I… Said… SHUT UP!!!”

“Shut up who? Yourself?”

Who? Yourself?... The words echoed inside Pinkie’s head while she was looking down at the lake. The morning sun reflected upon the surface. A small streak of red came floating. Pinkie Pie lifted her hoof and looked at the pointy rock she was holding. Her left hoof was dripping with blood. The cut she had made with the rock went horizontal over it. Pinkie Pie gasped and dropped the rock.

“No... No, no, no, no.”

“Pinkie Pie?”

Pinkie Pie flung her head around in panic toward the familiar voice. Twilight Sparkle yawned and exited the tree line. “What are you doing up this early? We’re leaving tomorrow.”

“Twilight.” Pinkie said blankly.

At first, Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie with half open and tired eyes. They quickly widened in panic.

“What are you…?” Twilight galloped franticly up to Pinkie Pie and looked straight into her regretful eyes. Twilight shook her head. “No!” She went down on her hooves and discovered what Pinkie Pie had felt had been useless to hide. “No! No! Not this again!”

“I’m sorry, Twilight.” Pinkie Pie whispered hopelessly.

Twilight stood up shook Pinkie Pie.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?! You promised me Pinkie Pie, you promised!”

“What is happening to me?” Pinkie Pie asked weakly.

The former princess became more hysterical by the second. She shook her head and started trotting back and forth. After just a few laps Twilight started walking back toward the camp.

“Twilight, where are you going?”

“I’m going back to Vela. She is going to fire up that ship of hers.”

Twilight’s voice was edgy and final. Pinkie Pie galloped up to her and blocked her path.

“Twilight, please.”

“No, you are going back to Equestria. I am taking you to see a psychologist!”

“You really care that much for me?”

Twilight’s eyes filled with incredulous. “Of course, I care for you! And not just me! Rarity, Apple Jack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, we are your friends, we all care for you!”

“Then don’t leave me alone in Sugarcube Corner. Please, without you I’m no longer Pinkie Pie.”

Twilight’s worried eyes gained a tinge of scolding.

“Exactly! You need us to be with you, not because you care for who we are but because you need to remind yourself of who you are.” Twilight laid her hoof over Pinkie Pie’s mane, who’s blue eyes had started to water. “Don’t you see, Pinkie Pie?! You are not well! This double personality you have going on is tearing you apart, and its tearing me apart. I don’t want you to suffer, I don’t want you to die!”

Twilight’s eyes filled with tears. She put her lavender hooves around her friend and hugged hard. “Don’t die! Don’t die! After all we’ve been through, don’t die! Please, don’t…!” Twilight’s voice drowned in crying. Pinkie Pie gradually went from sad to relieved. Why was she relieved? Her friend was crying for Celestias sake.

But Pinkie Pie wasn’t in the dark. She knew the answer to that question as well as she knew herself. The words she said to herself a moment ago came back to her. My friends don’t know you. My friends won’t recognize you.

Indeed. All this time Pinkie Pie had waited for her to love herself, when in reality she had needed her friends to confirm their love for her, something that she should have known all along. Twilight was right. She had been selfish.

“You are right, Twilight.” Pinkie Pie said softly. She put her pink hoof over Twilight’s head and embraced her. “I may have hurt myself, but I never knew how much I have hurt you. I will go home and seek treatment, if that is what will keep me from hurting you again.”

So far, Twilight had been discreet about Pinkie Pie’s self-hurt, something that she had now come to regret. Pinkie Pie had not proven herself to get any better and had now admitted that she needed help. Twilight gathered the rest of her friends and told them about what she found out after the gala attack. Her friends were shocked and not at all happy about Twilight’s silence until now. Especially Rarity saw this as a personal as well as a group tragedy.

“I don’t mean to be judging darling, it’s just hard for me to understand why there hadn’t been a single word about Pinkie’s problems until now.”

Another pony who had been deeply regretful was Rainbow Dash, who now felt that she had contributed to Pinkie Pie’s behavior at the lake.

“Pinkie Pie, I just wanted you to know that am so sorry about what I said in that forest. I think you are an amazing pony that can be so optimistic, even in dangerous situations.”

“On top of that.” Fluttershy broke in “…being both agent Pinkie Pie and party planner Pinkie Pie, both completely different ponies and shifting between them, I can’t imagine how strong and self-aware you must be to be able to pull that off!”

“Yea, I completely agree.” Rainbow Dash said and looked at Fluttershy, who smiled while looking sideways at her.

“I thank you so much for your support Fluttershy. And Rainbow Dash, don’t blame yourself. You were right back there, laughing isn’t always ok, and I haven’t been strong, I have been weak and self-absorbed. I should have spoken to you all sooner about my feelings and my conflict with my other self, but instead, I locked myself inside a bubble, pretty much the opposite of what I usually do.” Pinkie Pie almost laughed.

“Exactly, and hearing you say this makes our final decision even more final.” Twilight said and smiled at Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie and Twilight exchanged looks.

“You mean that I get to come with you anyway?!”

Twilight had at first felt that Pinkie Pie needed help from an expert. But after hearing Vela say how time was running low she had instead decided that she would keep an extra eye on Pinkie Pie, something that her friends had agreed on helping her with. Pinkie Pie promised all her friends that she would come and talk to them if things got rough instead of taking it out on herself. After the ponies’ conversation had ended there were now little time to socialize with the Tribals. King Jeff already had a ship that would take his own kind back to the forest planet of Goldwood. The Tribals approached Rainbow Dash now.

“See you around, my little pony.” Max teased before leaving with his family.

“Yea, se you around, my little Teddy.” Rainbow Dash teased back.

“Don’t let him bully you, Rainbow pony. You’re a cool broad.”

“I wouldn’t take anti-bullying advice from Joseph if I where you.”

“Shut up, Konrad!” Joseph blasted. Konrad laughed. Isak waved the ponies good bye in a way that he considered tacky.

When the ponies got back to the transport ship Vela was waiting for them. She quickly got Twilight’s attention. Vela then lead Twilight upstairs to the cockpit. Lupus was waiting for them.

“What’s this about?”

“Floyd.” Vela said simply.

“Wraf.” Lupus barked.

Twilight felt a shudder at the mention of Mizar’s fake identity. It reminded her, once again, about the weaknesses that her duties as the Princess of Friendship had befallen her, and why she wanted to take that flying metal banana, fry his circuits and shove him up Barry’s element of harmony. Twilight looked into Vela’s eyes, which seemed to rehearse her entire speech. Twilight realized the truth before it started.

“He was a real robot, wasn’t he?”

“Juno found him on Tawfret.”

“Tawfret? You mean the planet King Jeff used his magic the wrong way?” Twilight recalled Jeff’s argument with his brother.

“Jeff tried to save a group of Tribals, ended up turning the entire planet into a zombie drone apocalypse.”

“Zombie drones?” Twilight giggled. She couldn’t wait for that to be turned into a franchise.

“Floyd saved an entire Tribal group from being executed by Mizar’s ant drones, who made an example of him by shattering him into pieces and putting his head on top of a pole. My brother found the pieces and rebuilt him. Floyd then helped us defeat Mizar.”

By now Twilight was no longer laughing. Her purple eyes stared at Vela with both revelation and confusion. “Wait. So, you are saying that Floyd, the identity that Mizar gave me, was not only a real robot but his backstory was also real?!”

“The way you’re putting it, it sounds like it.”

Twilight looked down at the floor and whispered to herself. “That is so strange.”

“Well, we’ll have plenty of time to talk later. Get down there and buckle up, we’re heading for a planet called Eschebone.”

“Eschebone? What’s there?”

“If my recent reports are right, Diamond Geezer and….” Vela paused for a dramatic effect. “…Mizar.”

Twilight imagined Mizar rushing his vain Sorry! before she pinned him to the ground and put so many lasers in him that the only thing left would be a burnt hole in the ground. Vela saw the hatred in the unicorn’s eyes.

“Hey.”

“Yes?” Twilight replied and turned to the human who she felt herself grow closer to with every passing moment.

In tone, Vela sounded like a cynical version of Fluttershy. Both her jokes and threats were usually delivered with the same low and edgy, almost sexy voice. The fact that somepony weren’t always able to make out if she was joking, flirting or threatening made her both interesting and funny from Twilight’s view. But now Vela’s voice was about to gain an unusual tinge of caring, much like Fluttershy.

“Don’t get careless Twilight. Mizar is still the most dangerous robot in the universe, even if he has the chassis of Floyd.”

Twilight wasn’t sure what to answer, mostly because she wasn’t sure what she would do once she saw him. The only thing she was sure of was that she would make him regret every single pony that his drones killed at the gala.

“You know that he’s probably waiting for you, don’t you?”

Twilight turned and walked back toward the others.

“In that case he is making a fatal mistake.” The unicorn said darkly.