Jet Force Twilight

This takeoff would turn out to be not as exciting as the last one. This was mostly due to Soarin being fastened with his banded wing hanging limply beside his seat. The ponies could hear him moan in pain when the G forces hit them. It reminded them awaited if they made a mistake.

For every pony that was affected by Soarin’s suffering one pegasus was deep inside her thoughts for a different reason.

When the ponies had first taken off from Equestria Spitfire had exclaimed NOW WE’RE TALKING! Now though, as the planet of Rith Essa became more distant behind, it was more like, Eh, whatever.

Spitfire had her eyes swimming in a fog throughout the entire takeoff. After the ship left the atmosphere it was traveling through space in an even pace. Spitfire took short glances at ponies now and then, giving them a dwindling nod at best. Thunderlane and Surprise looked bewildered at one another. Misty Fly thought that a conversation might get Spitfire to open up. She proceeded talking flight maneuvers with Rainbow Dash and how the air on Rith Essa had affected her techniques. Spitfire didn’t seem to be interested. In fact, the more ponies that joined in the more she seemed to distant herself from them. In the end it was Shining Armor that finally raised his voice and accommodated the Wonderbolts for their bravery on Rith Essa. Spitfire unbelted herself and walked toward the armory. Only one pony was paying attention to her, one who was running her own family farm.

In her head, Spitfire could imagine all the unspoken praises that she wanted to give the Wonderbolts.

“Thunderlane, you really saved my and Soarin’s asses back there! That was a darn fine shot, taking out that drone hunter.”

“Rainbow Dash, you kept the team collected and game with your inspirational sarcasm, even as the lasers came whooing by and the hour looked the darkest!”

“Misty Fly, if it hadn’t been for your observations, hundreds of Tribals would have been sacrificed!”

“Wonderbolts, I am proud to call you my team!”

Spitfire knew that she needed to focus on her leadership, but all she kept hearing was Soarin’s screams.

“Spitfire?”

Spitfire turned around. The orange earth pony had followed her into the armory.

“Yes, Apple Jack?”

“I don’t mean to delve, but this isn’t like you.”

“Has it been that obvious?”

Apple Jack knew that Spitfire was ashamed, but even though she knew, she didn’t understand. All Apple Jack could think about was her honesty, and that honesty told her that if it hadn’t been for Twilight and Shining Armor stepping up on Rith Essa she and all her friends would be gone.

“What happened to you back there? Your team needed you as a leader, not a nurse. Why didn’t you let somepony else look after Soarin?”

“Close the door.” Spitfire urged.

“But Spitfire, I just wanted to…”

“Close the door!” Spitfire raised her voice. Apple Jack closed the armory door and turned to the Wonderbolt leader again.

"Keep going." Spitfire said.

“Keep going?”

“Keep telling me what almost happened down on that planet.”

Apple Jack had seen Spitfire mad before. She felt the nervosity slowly creep up on her.

“Spitfire, I don’t mean anything...”

“I am not threatening you Apple Jack. You have something you wanna say? Say it.”

“What I meant to say was that everypony back there...”

“Raise your voice.”

Apple Jack gained posture and made her voice firmer.

“Those ponies back there needed you as a leader, not a nurse. I don’t mean to…”

“Stop excusing me. Raise your voice!” Spitfire blasted, then adding softly. “Think about what almost happened to your friends.”

Apple Jack thought about what almost happened to both Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. This time it worked. Apple Jack’s country accent rumbled the armory.

“While you were busy beginning your nurse education from scratch, those ant soldiers were about to round our position! Thunderlane was about to turn tail and gallop! If it hadn’t been for Rainbow Dash, doing your job for you and denying him, that scared stallion would have brought the entire group into the open and have them becoming easy targets for those drone hunters!”

Spitfire knew what scolding she needed, but she hadn’t prepared for how angry this countryside pony was capable of becoming.

“If it hadn’t been for those Tribals, Tribals with families that waited for them to come home, risking their lives by charging the ants head on, your absence would have costed us everything! It would even have cost the life of Soarin, the reason you became absence to begin with!”

“It wasn’t personal…”

“YES, that’s EXACTLY what it was! Do you remember Rainbow Dash after her first Wonderbolt show, after her stunt with the storm cloud!? You sure didn’t visit her at the hospital, did you?!”

Spitfire’s yellow pony ears laid flat at the side of her head. “He is my friend.”

“He is part of your team!”

“I put Soarin before my team!” Spitfire boomed.

“Yourself!” Apple Jack corrected. “I would have tended for him, but you couldn’t let go of your attachments. You put yourself before your team!”

“No.”

“YES! You did!”

The fire in Spitfire’s eyes had gone out. She still maintained the discipline in her voice. “I put myself before my team!”

“And what are you going to do about it?!”

“Lead.”

“Step up!”

“Yes.”

“I can’t hear you!”

“Yes!”

“Again, mean it this time!”

“I WILL STEP UP!”

Apple Jack watched the fire return inside Spitfire’s eyes. “Welcome back, Spitfire. Listen, everypony loses it sometimes, but some just cannot afford to lose it, and you losing it almost cost everypony here their lives.”

“I hear you, Apple Jack. Thank you.”

“Good!”

Spitfire looked into the eyes of the country farmer, something that almost turned out to be a huge mistake. Apple Jack may have been angry, but she wasn’t used to conveying the special, upfront decisiveness of a general. The friendly eyes of the orange pony tore a hole into Spitfire and lodged inside her shattered pride. It was the most panicked 10 seconds in Spitfire’s life.

Apple Jack walked away from there. Spitfire thanked Celestia, hastily raised her hoof and beat her chest with it. The yellow pegasus hadn’t cried for 15 years and she was not about to break that streak in front of Twilight’s friends.

The yellow hull of the giant cruiser reflected the light coming from the nearby star. The docking bay was located inside a hole that opened at the trunk-like end of the ship, making the entire construction look like a flying vacuum cleaner from afar. Its blue secondary color covered the upside and painted the inside of the corridors that formed the uneven surface of the veteran vessel.

SS Anubis had once belonged to Mizar and his ant drones – The time when Barry controlled the dictator - Once Barry was defeated the ships habitants had turned rouge, looking for helpless victims to plunder in space, of which no one could hear the latter scream. The role of the screamer had eventually befallen the pirates themselves though, when the Gemini Squadron arrived and turned it into their mobile base.

Juno was the human brother of Vela and the leader of the Gemini. The blinking lights from the panels in front of him reflected upon his blue and white Gemini suit. He wore black gloves and the shining rings around the leg part of his military armor indicated that his core still had power to absorb enemy laser fire. The human male had his feet lazily resting on top of the table in front of him. The command center of SS Anubis widened around him. The room appeared to press downward due to the brown roof combined with the vanilla walls. It was a horrible combination that the previous pirate owners had customized earlier before Juno and his team arrived. Some green blood still decorated a few overlooked niches of the room, meaning the pirates contributed some pleasant color to their shitty design.

Juno reached out and grabbed the steaming cup from the table in front of him. He took a sip. He felt the gag reflex dance inside his throat. This bland taste was far from what he preferred but it was currently the only thing that was available. It wasn’t even made from real coffee beans. Grown on Rith Essa, they had been genetically altered to stand the atmosphere there. Juno missed the earth coffee. Acrid, strong and immediately causing the legs to ache due to the caffeine.

Juno scrolled through the messages. His eyes festered on the last one.

Message from V
Private message sent: Suck my vagina, brother.

Juno reached out his hand, grabbed the coffee cup and swooped it. Indeed, he did miss his coffee, almost as much as he missed his sister it seemed. Juno had no idea if Vela was bringing the pony princess in, using her to get to Mizar or committing space bestiality with her. Neither would surprise Juno at this point.

Oh sister, why are you such a bitch?

Juno grabbed his perfectly formed chin, something he always did when he contemplated, and this one was a returner - like a beaten man returning for his nightly drink at the bar.

How many times had he reprimanded his own sister for her over-ambitions? Why hadn’t he kicked her out of the Gemini Squadron yet? His loyal team ensured him over and over again that he had their support regarding the family dilemma that stood in the way of treating his sister fairly.

Juno didn’t believe them.

Juno was a proud general. He knew where his heart was, but better how his iron fist hurled. If he would be given no choice he would kick out his own sister without even blinking, maybe blinking was the one thing that Juno couldn’t do? How long had his sister struggled to get his approval over the years? Juno remember asking Vela that same question a while ago, but the only answer he ever got was that she knew where she needed to be. Bullshit. Vela were an opportunist. She knew that her brother's love stood in the way of giving her the same treatment as his fellow soldiers. Vela was probably on her way to force Twilight to removing Mizar’s magic and kill the robot herself.

Juno remembered a time not so long ago when things had looked up between him and his sister. Was it twelve, or maybe even fifteen years ago? Both them and Lupus had been shattered from the rest of the squadron and went out to fight Mizar alone. For the first time since their parents were killed he and Vela had finally worked together as equals those days. When he raised his gun, she raised hers to. When he headed for certain death, she followed him. Sure, he was still captain, but it truly felt like they were working as one back then.

Then the time came to face Mizar, once and for all. It all went down on the surface of that asteroid. Lupus and Vela was both wounded before the battle even started, leaving Juno and Floyd to fight Mizar. After Mizar was defeated and Floyd sacrificed himself to blow up the asteroid all three returned to earth as heroes, cheered on by the people who would have lost everything if Mizar’s asteroid had reached earth. Him, his sister and their mascot had each received a medal of honor for their bravery. All done and well.

And then everything went to shit.

First earth was hit by an asteroid - No, not that asteroid, but another asteroid – Like a bad joke that killed millions of people and sent earth into a decade long period of black clouds, covering the surface in gray duskiness and dirty rain. It was then like the duskiness fell over him and Vela’s medals as well, along with everything they had accomplished together. The situation sent them both back to the way they usually dealt with siblinghood: An endless cold war, only lightened up by sex jokes.

Floyd.

The name sailed by inside Juno’s mind, like a forgotten chore, and stayed there. Why did Floyd have to sacrifice himself? Granted he still saved millions of people, seeing that the one that hit earth anyway was way smaller. Still, having him present would have been a mending factor between Juno and his sister. Juno can still remember that time on Tawfret when he installed Floyd’s last part. Juno remembered it had been his propeller.

Propeller? Floyd?... NO!

“You disappoint me, Juno.”

Juno already had his hand grasping the sheathed pistol.

“On a scale of one to hundred, how probable is it that I would come alone and not send one of my doubles to talk to you?”

Mizar’s resonating voice accompanied the small rotating sound of his propeller. Juno was one arm movement away from scrapping this flying robot.

“We have a common problem.” Mizar began.

Juno withheld his urge to burst out in incredulous laughter. “We have nothing in common.”

“Your sister is bringing the unicorn to you. Upon arrival that troubled mare will have already caused the Tribals on Rith Essa to shatter by showing her mule together with your sister.”

Mizar told Juno about the breakup between Jeff and Barry.

“Thanks to that girl, Jeff and my previous builder’s relationships have grown worse than ever. They have both taken their Tribal subjects and left the mines of Rith Essa unmanned.”

“So, you care about the Tribals now?” Juno tightened the grip around his pistol, still facing away from the dictator.

“Fernando is furious. We may be enemies my old conqueror, but neither you or I will benefit from Fernando being angry.”

Juno rolled his eyes without actually rolling them.

“You will.”

“Maybe, with some lucky shots of wordplay, but it would be so much better if you simply brought Twilight Sparkle to me.”

Juno’s mind went to all the Gemini warriors that lost their lives while chasing after the robot that Twilight so foolishly re-built, or cleverly re-built to conquer the universe, depending on which pony fool you believed in. The magical stone sure gave the later hypothesis heavier weight.

Juno could still remember it like yesterday. Him and his squad hadn’t known about Mizar’s alicorn blessed abilities at the time. The entire squad threw a giant feast several yards away to celebrate his apparent destruction. Juno promoted the Gemini warrior that preformed the heroic deed, a deed that had her take on, not just an entire squad of drone ants, but also Mizar himself alone.

It had been during Rebecka’s speech, of which she dedicated to Juno for promoting her, when Mizar grabbed the cake knife, hoovered up behind the poor girl and slit her throat. Juno can still remember the red inferno of blood that spurted all over him and his colleagues that evening. No one had shown any reaction. How could they? They had all seen Mizar destroyed earlier They had been absolutely sure that it was all a bad dream. By the time they snapped out of it Mizar was gone.

“And why would I bring you Twilight?” Juno asked, his voice bathing in hatred thinking about Rebecka’s fate.

“The unicorn may have lost her ability to threaten me by resigning from her duties, but she still has magical properties that I can make use of. Vela wants to help Twilight get vengeance for her friend but your squad will never trust Twilight, and you don’t want to fire your own sister. Having the unicorn here will only shatter your squad, just like Twilight shattered the Tribals. I am running a campaign that are going to liberate space, but space is a big place and my drones are few. Bring Twilight Sparkle to me and I am willing to end the campaign on earth and leave your kind alone.”

Juno grunted. Of course, Mizar was lying when he said that Twilight wasn’t a threat to him.

“Twilight hates me.” Mizar continued. “She is going to gallop straight into me. When she does I am going to kill her and there will be no more bargain like this ever again.”

“We are still going to fight you, murderer.” Juno snarled defiantly.

“And I wouldn’t want it any other way. Both our times will come, but Twilight’s will come much sooner, to the despair of human kind and the bore of me.” Mizar’s voice darkened upon saying ‘Bore’. “Bring Twilight to me and I will keep this war of ours, raging or cold, however you prefer it, deep in outer space.”

Juno rapidly unsheathed his pistol. He faced Mizar and took aim. “How about having the war here, right now?”

Mizar’s robot pupils became smaller before going back to their normal size, that being creepy black. “So be it. Still, think about it.”

Juno’s pistol pulled backwards when he fired. Mizar exploded into seven parts that plummeted to the floor with several metallic bangs. Juno walked up to the remainder of the flying robot. He had heard several of his soldiers use the name ‘Floyd Robot’ earlier. Juno thought it was an affront to the brave robot that sacrificed his life to save mankind. He spotted all the internal parts spread all over the floor. There were no magical stone in sight, meaning this robot had been yet another one of Mizar’s doubles. Juno sheathed his laser pistol. The lies that the Mizar double told him still circulated his mind, along with a familiar face.

Oh sister. What have you gotten yourself into?

“What have we gotten ourselves into now!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed with agitation in her blue eyes. Her curly pink hair was all fluffy like cotton candy. She grabbed Lupus and pulled his dog face closer. “Tell me Lupus!”

Most of the time Lupus spent with Vela the opportunities for games were limited at best. He felt the energy of Pinkie Pie flow through his veins and pour into his every muscle.

“Ah, look, the puppy wants to play!” Pinkie Pie awed.

Fluttershy approached them. “He is not a puppy Pinkie Pie. But he is happy to see you.”

Lupus wiggled his small tail and walked up to the light-yellow pegasus pony, who giggled.

“Hi Lupus. Oh dear, you sure need a bath.”

Lupus remember all the moments during his adventures when he had been forced to cross lakes. Every such memory felt like the water merely touched his skin. In the present it made spine shudder. Lupus saw Vela walk by not far from there.

Fluttershy looked bewildered at the leaving dog.

Rainbow Dash walked up to Fluttershy. “I don’t think he took that well.”

“Maybe he is afraid of washing?” Fluttershy asked worried.

Well, he sure as hell couldn’t have been afraid of you. Rainbow Dash joked inside.

The fabric of space glimmered around the hull of the military cruiser. Vela’s transport ship was slowly approaching the docking bay. Twilight could see the vessel from the view of the cockpit. She remembered the last time they entered a cruiser like this, and that time it had almost costed Fleetfoot her life. Vela spun the pilot chair around and faced the worried unicorn. Vela returned it with an equal emotion.

Indeed, this time it was no lie. Vela and her pony crew had been caught in a tractor beam. Vela remember when she had first delivered the news to the ponies’ downstairs. Pinkie Pie had slowly spun her pink head around, her curly hair gradually lowering while the blue eyes of 007 shoot a warning to Vela. Vela had then been forced to take Pinkie’s double personality up to the cockpit and show her the monitor that proved the jammed communication between the controls and the engines.

“Who are they?” Twilight asked.

“Enemies. In fact, this one will probably be the worst enemy that you will ever face on this journey.”

“Really?! That doesn’t sound good.”

“It isn’t. Get down to the others.” Vela ordered

Twilight headed downstairs and took seat next to Pinkie Pie. “Take seat ponies and be quiet.” Vela urged the rest.

Spitfire trotted up to Vela. “Excuse me miss.”

Ever since Spitfire’s conversation with Apple Jack she had decided to judge at each situation abstractly, rather than focusing on specific events like she did when Soarin got hurt. Spitfire glanced sideways at Nurse Redheart. She was sitting next to the pegasus stallion now. Fleetfoot had been feeling much better since the drone cruiser shootout. She was sitting next to Soarin and looked at Spitfire with ready eyes. Apple Jack was right: The time had come to step up.

“We mean no disrespect ma’am, you’ve done a lot for us, but this here situation seems all too familiar for me and my flying crew!” Spitfire boomed.

There was a flash. Twilight teleported herself next to Spitfire. Twilight’s horn shimmered repeatedly as each Wonderbolt and royal guard pony magically received a laser weapon by the former princess.

“With all respect Vela. This time we will not sit down. Step up and tell us how to face this threat together!”

Vela smiled. Indeed, she did enjoy a good fight, even though this one would result in the death of all the ponies if it went down. “I admire your courage pony, but trust me, this is not a threat that you want to face.”

“Is it that bad?” Spitfire asked.

“Worse.” Vela’s word was accompanied by the opening of the ship door. Outside stood an authoritarian human male with a group of fighters at his side. He held a yellow shotgun with one hand.

“Who is that?” Twilight asked.

Vela walked past Twilight. “The worst enemy that you will face on this journey.”

“Mission report!” Juno blasted immediately upon seeing his sister exiting the transport ship.

“Mizar escaped. The princess is safe.”

“And!?”

Juno was furious about the events that transpired on Rith Essa. He couldn’t wait for his sister to explain that one.

“And you’re a dickhead.”

“And?!”

The sound of held in laughter could be heard from Juno's soldiers. Juno coughed. “Ignore my last ‘and’.”

“That will be the most difficult mission of the day.”

“It wasn’t difficult for you to show Twilight Sparkle to Jeff and Barry. Despite countless briefings about their disagreement on the ponies’ role in Mizar’s return you had to send the signal that Gemini was favoring one side of the argument and cause the already fragile Tribal union to shatter. Who will work inside those mines now sister, tell me!?”

“Fernando can lift his rich ass.”

“Discipline!”

“He can piss of.”

“He was OUR ONLY ALLY!” Juno’s shouting echoed inside the hangar. “His money funded our entire resistance against Mizar. What were you thinking!?”

“I was looking for Diamond Geezer.”

“Who is paid by Fernando!”

“Correct, and those money would have favored Mizar the longer we dragged out the inevitable. Fernando would never back us forever brother, because we are fighting a war that cannot be won. You know it as well as I do. As long as Mizar has the ability to rebuild himself we can only delay our defeat. With Twilight on our side we stand a chance.”

Juno laid one hand over his face and sighed. He knew his sister was probably right, but neither he or she knew about Twilight’s intentions. Mizar may have tried to murder her, but if Twilight controlled Mizar with her magic that entire murder attempt could have been faked. Twilight might try to lure them and the remaining human resistance into a trap.

Twilight heard the argument between Juno and Vela from inside the ship. The words Celestia spoke came back to her: We still do not know why, but it appears that you aren’t the only one who is blaming you for Mizar’s return. Apparently, a large number of humans that make up the Gemini Squadron sees it that way too, some of them even belonging to the leading ranks.

Twilight started walking toward the open door. Worried voices could be heard.

“Twilight. No.”

But Shining Armor was too late. Spitfire nodded to her Wonderbolt comrades before they all followed the princess.

Juno and the Gemini fighters looked up toward the ship. The pony princess was standing on top of its open door with her raggedy mane slightly wavering. The tension in the air could have been sliced with a knife. The Gemini fighters raised their guns.

Juno wasn’t taking a single glance away from the unpredictable unicorn. If the rumors about this unicorn were correct she could wipe out the entire squadron with one spark of her horn.

Vela saw the fear in his brother’s eyes. Normally Vela would have looked forward to a fight but this one she had a feeling that she would come to regret if it broke out. She kept eye contact with Twilight while shaking her head. Twilight looked at the human male.

“We have a common problem.” Twilight began. She heard hooves behind her. She motioned the Wonderbolts to stand back with a slight turn of her head. Spitfire rogered. “You must be Juno, the leader of Jet Force Gemini.”

Juno stepped up. He placed the yellow plasma shotgun over his shoulder.

“And you must be Twilight Sparkle, the sworn enemy of Mizar.”

Twilight sensed the sarcasm in Juno’s voice. “Building him was a mistake.”

“Oh, I bet it was.”

Twilight walked down from the ship. Her hooves sent co…clocks over the cruiser floor. She stopped right in front of Juno. The top off her head barely reached up to the chin of the tall human.

“He lied to me. He gave me a fake name and a fake identity, told me he needed a friend.”

“And you gave him one. That’s so sweet of you.”

“Then, after I helped him, after I trusted him, he returned to murder me.”

“Wow, how ungrateful of him.” The flatness of Juno’s voice bannered out his distrust. He started walking around the unicorn. “And what are you going to do once you find him?”

“Take away the alicorn gift I gave him.”

“Oh, really? What gift?”

Twilight looked at Vela, who returned a nervous look.

“A magic stone. It was a sign of my friendship with Floyd, now I have come to claim it back from Mizar.”

“Floyd?!” Juno walked in front of Twilight. His eyes of distrust sparkled with a slight interest.

“The identity Mizar gave…”

“And you believed him?!” Juno cut Twilight.

“Before he betrayed me!”

Juno kept walking around the lavender unicorn. He let the barrel of his shotgun streak over her mane. It sent chills across Twilight’s spine. “Your sister told me that Floyd was a real robot.”

“Tell me, abdicated princess from the land of Equestria, how did the robot that called himself ‘Floyd’ look when you found him?”

“A computer-chip.”

“A computer-chip.” Juno’s voice bathed with incredulous. “I saw Floyd fly into the asteroid with the particle bomb attached underneath him. I saw Floyd’s GPS signal go out the moment that asteroid exploded: Finding a working chip after that is like finding a blooming tree inside the crater of an atomic bomb.”

“Actually! Finding a tree inside a weapon-of-mass-destruction-crater isn’t that unprobeable…!”

Quiet Pinkie!” A country accent cut the highly pitched voice coming from inside the transport ship.

“I didn’t know about Floyd’s fate at the time.” Twilight lied.

“No, of course you didn’t. You knew nothing about this robot. All you did was follow your duties as the Princess of Friendship.”

“Exactly.”

“You knew nothing about him, and yet you gave him a magical power that put him above all other drones and humans in the universe.”

“I felt sorry for him.”

“Sorry? I give you sorry...” Juno told Twilight about Rebecka. “…Rebecka died like a criminal underdog because you felt sorry?”

“I feel sorry you loved her.”

Juno rapidly raised his weapon. The sound of energy loading up hissed before a loud blast echoed inside the hangar. The energy from Juno’s plasma shotgun spun around like two glowing orbs across the room which caused a metal crater ahead to so split. Twilight subdued her gasp. She couldn’t break down now. After all, she was not a princess anymore, just an ordinary unicorn on a foolish mission. If she were to stand a chance out here she could not rely on the victim card. She let her sadness about Juno’s girlfriend turn to dark humor as it fed her lust for vengeance.

“What is it, big boy? Afraid of a little magic?”

Juno stopped and faced Twilight, fury burning in his eyes. He raised his plasma shotgun again. Twilight’s horn sparkled with a bright light. Juno watched his shotgun disappear out of thin air. It was the first of twelve weapons Twilight had counted in advance. The rest of Juno’s squad saw theirs disappear as well.

Juno felt himself be taken over by an invisible force. He felt his body hover until he had Twilight behind him. All the guns hovered mid air while pointing straight at him. His shotgun came sailing. He felt the barrel of it press up underneath his chin.

“Nice weapon you have here boy. Mind if I use it to vaporize Mizar? Listen, I am sorry about your dick teaser, I really am, but my old student was killed in the same attack that would have claimed my life in Canterlot if it hadn’t been for Starlight Glimmer saving me before Mizar shot her.”

Juno grunted when the shotgun pressed further up his throat.

“I feel sorry?” Twilight continued. “You feel sorry? My sorry ran out long ago. The only ones that will be sorry in this universe are Mizar and every Human, Tribal, Drone, even Pony that are dumb enough to stand between me and him.”

All the guns sailed into hands of the human squad again. Juno felt himself land on the floor, facing Twilight.

“So? Are you going to help me take his magic away and kill him or will my journey here be a complete waste of time?” The shotgun hovered into offering position for Juno. “In that case you might as well kill me here and now, leave my friends back there mourning and lose your only hope of stopping Mizar.”

Twilight looked challenging at Juno, who returned hesitantly. She placed the shotgun in Juno’s hand. “I am your friend Juno! I resigned, left my home, my parents, my privileges and my princess tutor disappointed in me. I am in no position of taking over the universe. I am only here to kill Mizar and slaughter every ant drone that stand in my way. So, are you with me?”

Twilight walked up and faced Juno’s squad. She amplified her voice. “Did you hear me, Gemini warriors?! I will take away Mizar’s magic and scrap him, once and for all!” Juno’s soldiers glanced at each other. “Are you with me!”

“We are with you, princess Twilight!” Shining Armor appeared out from the transport ship with his royal guard. Twilight looked at Juno, then at the Gemini warriors.

“I said: are you WITH ME!?”

Vela saw his brother exchange looks with his squad. She knew her brother would be too stubborn to admit verbal defeat and his squad would never agree without his approval. Vela walked up to Twilight.

“Let me talk to him.” She whispered. Twilight nodded. Vela approached Juno and spoke to him so that the others couldn’t hear them.

Vela told her brother about what she witnessed at the Grand Galoping Gala. She told him how completely devastated Twilight and her friends had been over the dead body of Starlight Glimmer. She told her brother about Twilight’s eyes when Celestia had entered the mingling room. Vela gave Juno the final ‘And!?’ part of her report

Those eyes could not have belonged to anyone else but someone in complete disbelief over Mizar’s violent ways, and that there was no way that Twilight could have had that reaction while at the same time plot to help Mizar with his space conquest. Twilight was, without reasonable doubt, innocent and had been misled by Mizar.

Lupus came running out of the transport ship. He became joyful when he saw Juno and Vela together. The others could hear Juno greet the tail wiggling dog. “Hi there, Lupus, how’s it been old pal?”

Juno took a minute to think. Vela asked him again to trust Twilight. The squad leader looked at Lupus. Despite not speaking his language Juno could register an agreement within the dog’s enthusiastic ways. Juno patted Lupus before rising up and walking back toward his squad members. After exchanging a few words with them he turned to Twilight.

“While it is too early to say that my men here will die for you, for now, you have my permission to stay here on SS Anubis and you have our full support, if that means finding Mizar killing him as quickly as possible.”