Jet Force Twilight

Rarity didn’t have time to get scared. She immediately galloped into action. She walked firmly up to the horrified pegasus. “You DARE mention that traitors name!?”

Apple Jack felt a glimmer of hope rise inside her stomach. She played along. “Rarity, I’m sure she didn’t mean it!”

“I’m sorry girls, I failed you.” Rainbow Dash wasn’t playing along. Inside her panicked mind she and the girls were already dead. Rarity had no choice but to make shameless use of it.

“Sorry? You’re SORRY!? Well, sorry you will be, my dear pegasus, when Fancy Pants hears about your rude behavior! Twilight Sparkle was our pride until she resigned and became the biggest disgrace the Canterlot royalty ever had the misfortune of having in its history books! Granted, her student was killed and other ponies lost loved ones when Mizar attacked, but that didn’t excuse rubbing my fiancés name in the dirt!”

Rarity looked pleading at Rainbow Dash, as if to say. If you don’t play along and reveal that I’m not really married to Fancy Pants, I swear, I am going to kill you myself and save these drones the bother.

Rainbow Dash still didn’t understand that their scheme was still going on. Her simple brute mind was completely numb with fear and guilt. Instead, her head now spun around in confusion about why Rarity was mad at her.

“I’m sorry, Rarity.”

Rarity saw that Rainbow Dash still wasn’t playing along. I pained her, but she simply had no other options.

“You’re not my friend! Get out of here, you’re fired!”

Rarity pushed Rainbow Dash away. She tried using her well-meaning eyes to signal that she didn’t mean it.

It didn’t work.

In Ponyville Rainbow Dash had been known for her loyalty. Much like the case with Equestria, that loyalty now felt million lightyears away. But neither Rarity or any of the other ponies thought about that. All they felt was relief when Rainbow Dash walked away from them, her ears lowered in sadness. Diamond Geezer seemed to fall for Rarity’s double bluff. He retracted his arm.

Twilight Sparkle saw everything through Juno’s binoculars. She breathed a sigh of relief. Juno was laying behind her with his sister by his side.

“I’ll head down and scan around the backside in case there are hidden drones that we need to worry about.”

“Be careful.” Vela urged her brother.

Juno laid his hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about me sister, I’ll be careful.”

“No, not you - The ponies - If you blow our cover you’ll blow theirs to and, right now, they are surrounded by hostiles.”

“Oh.”

“But if you were to die...” Vela stood up and started walking away in a sexy manner. “…Be sure to tell me first, so I know when I can start missing you.”

Twilight turned to Juno. She head-motioned Vela.

“How do you get along with that?”

“I don’t.”

After Juno had left for his recognizance Twilight took a good look around her. She noted all the positions that the ponies and Gemini warriors had taken around the cliffs. If things turned sour for her friends down there they had the capacity to quickly eliminate all enemy resistance in front of the base. The problem with doing so immediately was that Diamond Geezer could easily escape before they got to him. The plan was to lure Diamond Geezer out in the open where it would be easy for Twilight to use her magic and paralyze him. That’s right: Giving how the situation with Fernando and the Tribals were they had decided that it was necessary to kidnap Diamond Geezer and force his co-operation.

So far, they had the chance to tease him with the notion that Equestria might be open for a weapons deal. If they attacked him now and failed they would probably never get another chance like this, plus the humans would lose hope of ever striking a deal with him again as long as they were allied with the ponies.

If this happened it would make Equestrias relationship with the humans impossible to maintain. No, this mission simply could not fail, it was either win this battle or lose the war. In other words, this wasn’t going to be pretty. Twilight remember Juno telling her to hope for the best and plan for the worst. The worst that could happen was that none of them made it out alive. Even an almost perfect execution of this mission would probably end in Twilight standing over another dead pony. The mere thought made her head spin.

Once Rarity and her friends entered the building they were met with an entire squad of red ant drones. Diamond Geezer gave them an order via a series of beeping sounds. The leader ant looked at Apple Jack.

“Gruuuuuil.” He motioned her and the others to come with him.

“Your friends will be escorted to the visitor area. Don’t worry, you’ll be with them in a short while.” Diamond Geezer informed.

Diamond Geezer showed Rarity into a dining area that seemed to be connected with a kitchen. It was more of a tool shop though as the cooking desk was covered in repair tools instead of food. Behind the desk was a cooking stand and refrigerator. But Geezer didn’t come here to cook food, he came here to cook liars. He turned to Rarity.

“I know about you and Twilight.”

Rarity played confused. “Twilight?”

“I know you came here to lure me out.”

“Darling, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rarity put on a bewildered smile. Geezers artificial eyes diminished into dots. He made a beeping sound of aggression.

“You could have been dead already but instead I choose to lead you here. Either you co-operate now, or never.”

Rarity felt their entire plan of kidnaping Diamond Geezer turn to liquid in her brain. Worse, Twilight wasn’t here. Diamond Geezer was the only hope of finding Mizar, save the humans, the Tribals and Equestria from future terror. Now Diamond Geezer was about to either kill them or disappear forever, meaning their entire cause now fell solely on Rarity’s back. She put on a regretful face and changed her voice into a more serious tone. “Talk was all we ever wanted, Diamond Geezer. Tell me, are you going to help us stop Mizar from enslaving the universe or not?”

“Where is Twilight Sparkle?”

“Out looking for Mizar, me and my friends came her on our own.”

“Liar.”

“Excuse me Mr., Did I come all the way here on Twilight’s behalf to be insulted?”

Diamond Geezer pulled out a laser pistol. He held it halfway in the air, ready to point it at Rarity. “You told me you were married to this ‘Fancy Pants’ and considered Twilight a traitor.”

Rarity’s heart thumped in horror. If Diamond Geezer knew that Fancy Pants wasn’t really married to her and she tried to lie to him again Rarity would surely die in this kitchen. The question was, would Diamond Geezer still kill her even if she admitted lying? Rarity was about to put on an angry face and stand ground. But then she was hit with the words that Diamond Geezer spoke to her outside.

I know the warm air must be hard on your complexion - I might have a scientific way of making that right for you. Please, come inside.

The words may have been spoken with a static robot voice, but Rarity knew that he actually meant to be polite. Her blue eyes sparkled with sadness.

“I did lie to you Diamond Geezer about Fancy Pants being my fiancé and I am so sorry. You treated me like a lady and I repaid you with deceit. I was just so scared to tell you about my friendship with Twilight because I know how dangerous Mizar is.”

“Where is Twilight?!” Geezer demanded.

“She’ll be here any minute. Out plan was to bend the reality a little, just to arrange a private conversation between you and her, that’s it.” Rarity ensured.

Diamond Geezer raised his pistol and pointed it straight at the unicorn’s head.

“Lie again!”

Rarity’s hooves turned to gel and her brain went into complete lockdown. She could try and convince him that working for them was better, but that business discussion would only make Diamond Geezer feel outmaneuvered and anger him more. She had no choice but to reach for his heart, if one was to find inside his metal body.

“I lied to you and still you were nice to me. You have been wronged, not me. Please, Diamond Geezer, I beg you. I came with Twilight on her journey to protect my best friend from her own hatred for Mizar. If you kill me she is going to come after you too.”

“Is that a THREAT!” Geezer put the gun closer to Rarity.

Rarity became hysteric. Tears formed in her eyes. “No, it’s a pledge! Princess Celestia may have taken Twilights alicorn powers away, but she still sees her as a daughter! She is praying that she’ll come home alive every day! At first, I came to have revenge myself, but the truth is that I just want all this to end! Please, Diamond Geezer, I heard you outside, you’re a good robot! I’m just a lady and, right now, you’re scaring me!”

Diamond Geezer saw the crying unicorn. It was the same one he had seen outside, but this time it was different - Or was it?

“You cried outside too.”

“That wasn’t crying, that was whining! I was a damsel, a lady, a diva, but I was also a friend, that is, until I treated you unfairly!” Rarity’s teary eyes stared dead into the air. Rainbow Dash. “Geezer, you’re a good robot, please, don’t let that part of me be the last my friends saw of me!”

“One question…” Geezer lowered his gun slightly. “Your friends are still looking for Mizar. If I let you live, what will you do now?”

It was almost like Rarity sensed her own pleading. It felt like it was embracing something inside Geezer. Could a robot really have a heart? But that wasn’t just Rarity’s only hope, it was her element. She said the one thing that she would be happy with if they were to be her last words.

“Please, Diamond Geezer. Help me save my friend!”

Diamond Geezer raised his gun. The crying white unicorn closed her eyes and held her breath.

Ever since Geezer started selling arms for real during the reign of Barry’s Mizar robot he had made a name for himself as one that puts business before everything. He recalled all the other fools that had failed to respect him, others that had cried in front of his pistol, all of them being tears that fell before he pulled the trigger. It was either make square or make fair, all in-between that was business as usual. But now, somehow it felt like he was pointing the pistol at himself, or was it because he saw potential in being friends with Twilight Sparkle, the symbolic daughter of Celestia and a chance to exploit the magic of the alicorns for weaponization?

As good of an excuse as any. Diamond Geezer thought to himself and lowered his pistol.

“Oh, stop crying for goodness sake!”

Rarity opened her eyes again.

“Go out and tell Twilight that she can come to my base. Tell her I’m ready to make a deal that will end Mizar.”

“Geezer I…” Rarity was amazed she was still alive. “I don’t know what to say, I can’t thank you enough!”

“Don’t thank me, just go before I change my mind.”

Rarity turned around and started walking toward the exit. There were two doors. The chock of almost being dead made her wobbly. Little did she know that she was about to make even further acquaintance with that feeling.

“It’s the right door.” Geezer instructed the groggy unicorn. Rarity went left. “No. Right. I said Right!”

Rarity wasn’t really present in in the moment, but she eventually found the door that Geezer was constantly reminding her of.

“Right, right, right, right…”

Rarity put her hoof on the handle. “Yes, Diamond Geezer, I found it.”

“Right, right, right, right…”

“Diamond Geezer?”

Rarity turned around bewildered. Slowly, she started walking back toward the dining room. Her blue eyes hardened in shock.

Diamond Geezer’s rockets still held him airborne while a sharp metal pipe pierced his body. It entered his back and came out through his left eye socket. His last uttered word wavered in frequency.

“Right, right, right, right…”

Rarity heard the small rotating sound of a propeller. A dark corner of the room lit up with two red eyes. The bouncing sound of laser fire filled the kitchen. The same pistol that killed Starlight Glimmer and scarred Twilight’s face flashed of blue. Rarity barely had time to put up a protection spell. She wasn’t as good with magic as Twilight. The plasma energy still entered Rarity though through her own spell. Moaning in pain she threw herself behind a counter.

“Mizar! You may kill me and Diamond Geezer but Twilight will make you pay for killing Starlight Glimmer!”

Mizar hovered closer to Rarity’s hiding place. “You are way in over your head, fashion pony!”

There was a blast, but this time it was not the pistol that maimed Twilight. Mizar’s severed robot arm still held his gun as it sailed away from him. He hovered around and faced his attacker. The metal pipe was still stuck inside Diamond Geezer. He had stopped repeating the same word over and over again. His remaining eye showed no sign of regret before pulling the trigger of his pistol. Mizar made beeping sounds and exploded into seven parts.

Rarity looked out of her hiding place. The light flickered inside Diamond Geezer’s remaining eye. His static robot voice came out un-even.

“White… unicorn… Not… Much time.”

Below Geezer laid the magic rock that Twilight had built Mizar around. It flashed repeatedly. One by one the seven pieces gradually started rebuilding the evil robot. Geezer opened the hatch under him.

“I…will…drop…my…hard drive…and die. All the…Information…You need… Is in there.”

“No, Geezer.” Rarity shook her head.

Geezer made small beeping sounds. “Thank you…White unicorn. You showed me… Something better… Than… Money.”

Geezer closed his remaining eye. A releasing sound followed. A large metal box fell out of his hatch. Diamond Geezer stopped functioning and his pierced chassis plummeted to the floor.

Rarity tried to not think of Geezer as she galloped out from the kitchen, carrying the hard drive with her horn magic. She was immediately faced with three of the Diamond Geezer-paid ant drones. The one up front was the one that spoke to her with the necklace earlier. He gained posture to stop the unicorn.

“Gruuuuul!” The necklace lit up “Not another step!”

“You have to let me through, Diamond Geezer is...” The sound of laser blasts filled the building. The red ant raised his weapon and fired toward their attacker. Mizar made a couple of evasive maneuvers and dodged. Having taken cover behind a pillar he leaned out his robot arm and returned fire. Violet blood spattered the walls before the red ant crumbled to the ground. Rarity managed to put up a protection spell to repeal the lasers that went for her. She picked up the pistol of the fallen ant and returned Mizar’s generosity.

The other three ants went for cover and helped Rarity in keeping Mizar at bay. It worked for a short while. That is, until two of Mizar’s blue ants appeared down the corridor and came to their commanders’ aid. The red ant beside Rarity was hit and fell backwards.

“Rarity!”

Rarity turned around. The pink pony came galloping on three hooves. The recently fluffy and curly mane was hanging limply down the side of her head, meaning that she was no longer looking for that kind of party. 007 laid down a couple of lasers before taking cover beside Rarity. Rarity did not waste any time explaining the situation.

“I saw the magic stone, it’s the real Mizar! Get Twilight so she can use her magic on him and finish this!”

“No Rarity, we’re being attacked out there, Mizar’s blue ants ambushed us!”

One of the allied red ants got his legs shot off. Mizar executed him as he laid on the ground. 007 leaned out and fired three lasers toward the flying robot. They all missed but one of Mizar’s blue minions was hit, who managed to raise is wounded arm and force agent Pinkie back into cover. Rarity waited for his lasers to stop coming before leaning out. She felt the heat of the pistol warm her hoof as she watched the wounded blue ant scream, twitch and fall sideways while the wall behind him smeared with green blood. She saw the remaining blue ant open the heavy metal door at the end of the corridor, allowing Mizar to fly into what seemed to be a base-connected cave. The ant closed the door behind his commander and fired his automatic death bringer at the ponies and the last of Geezers drones. Rarity and Pinkie Pie felt the heat from their stone-wall cover intensify as the lasers streaked and created small cracks on its surface.

Rarity’s horn lit up. She used her magic to hover the laser pistol, allowing her to rain blind fire from across the corridor. The blue ant seemed to believe that there were more enemies after the move. He fired toward Rarity’s hovering pistol. It was hit and exploded into a pulse-wave of plasma energy and metal parts. By the time the wave faded 007 had already pinky sensed the entire event in advance, leaned out and taken the shot. The blue ant fell down to his knees. Agent Pinkie finished him by shooting of his head.

“What about the red drones?” Rarity asked as the silence laid inside the building.

“Gruuuil.” The red ant beside the ponies answered.

“Oh, sorry there, didn't realize I was being ignorant.” Rarity apologized.

“They’re allies now, but... What is that?” Agent Pinkie Pie looked at the metal object Rarity was holding with her horn.

“It’s what we need. Its Geezers hard drive, containing the data to reveal Mizar’s robot doubles.”

“What about Geezer?” 007 Pinkie Pie asked.

“Dead. Mizar killed him.”

“We needed him!” 007 cursed. Her voice was low and didn’t sound at all like the playmate her party planner self was. “Come on, we need to head out and help the others!”

While agent Pinkie stood up Rarity caught sight of the self-made cuts on her hooves. Rarity blocked her with one hoof.

“You’re tearing her apart, you know that?”

007 looked coldly at Rarity. “We don’t have time for this. Our mission now is to help our friends!”

Upon exiting Diamond Geezer’s base Rarity’s ears was quickly filled with the blur of laser fire. The usually brown and red air of Eschebone flashed of blue. Diamond Geezers ant drones had taken position around the base perimeter. Joining them were the Gemini Squad, the royal pony guard and the Wonderbolts. Mizar’s blue ants had taken position above the cliffs. They fired the same weapons that Geezer probably sold to Mizar earlier. Geezers red drones grunted while the ponies and humans shouted. Rarity spotted Twilight and Shining Armor firing from a military defense stand. She and 007 joined them. Twilight turned to Rarity, her eyes widening in relief.

“Rarity! I’m so glad you’re alright! What’s the situation!”

“I got Diamond Geezers hard drive.”

“And Geezer?!”

“Dead. Mizar showed up and killed him. Geezer managed to scrap him but he escaped before me and Pinkie Pie could get to him.”

“Scarp him? You mean he rebuild himself again?!” Twilight felt the urge flow through her muscles. If the Mizar robot that attacked Rarity back there had Twilight’s magic stone that meant that he was the real Mizar. They had a chance to end this, here and now.

Shining Armor read Twilight’s intentions. “Sister, I advise you against that. We need you here.”

Twilight pulled herself together. “Of course, one fight at the time.” She agreed. In that moment there was a sudden flash. Twilight screamed and staggered when a laser hit the metal cover only centimeters from her. Shining Armor aimed his rifle and fired. It was single fire but Twilight’s brother had familiarized himself with it pretty well. The ant on the other side of the cliff fell backwards while his gun went spinning through the air.

“Twilight, are you alright!?”

“Yes!” Twilight reassured her brother.

“Pony down!” A voice shouted. Nurse Redheart came galloping behind two Gemini soldiers. Twilight saw High Winds drag a royal guard into cover before the nurse arrived to help him.

The group had their covers but the enemy had the high ground. This wasn’t looking good. Twilight spotted most of the enemies above a cliff. They had a huge rock to hide behind and a hill line of which they could rain down fire at the unlucky soul that happened to peak out at the wrong time. Most of the red outlook ants had already been killed by Mizar’s blue ants. Twilight told herself she could easily teleport herself and launch pest control from behind the enemy, but the former princess had received strict instructions by both Spitfire, Shining Armor and Juno not to take any insane risks.

Rainbow Dash laid fire with Fluttershy and AJ. “We need to do something to break this stand. The enemy have us totally pinned!” Apple Jack felt life pass by every time she peaked out of her cover.

“We should fall back indoors!” Fluttershy pleaded to her pony friends.

“No! If we do that they’ll smoke us out! We need to stand ground!” Rainbow Dash laid down fire at the big rock. There was a swoosh, followed by a huge explosion. A slabber of bug limbs and blood splashed from behind and over the rock.

“Huh?”

Rainbow Dash spotted Juno. He was advancing along the top-side of the cliff. He was holding a bulky launcher.

Juno aimed Jerry, which was the name of his homing missile-launcher. The targeting screen locked onto a group of drones. The launch was so loud that it could have been heard several miles away. The rocket homed in. Half the bolder blew up while the splatter of five drones smeared the Eschebone night sky. Another drone group saw Juno and returned fire. But now another fighter had seen his chance.

The blue ants looked up in horror. Lupus was using his hover boots to fly above the drones. The dog dropped a blue grenade like a bomber. The bug splatter imploded like a globe and smeared the war dogs belly green before he landed on all four. He then proceeded firing his standard Gemini pistol, decapitating one ant and riddling another four times, like adding a blue cherry and the last creamy treat on top of a birthday cake.

One drone aimed and was ready to shoot the war dog in the back. Instead there were six rapid blasts riddling his own. Vela still had the trigger pulled on her mini gun while she turned her arm. The weapon shook violently, but Vela had experience. Almost all of the plasma lasers hit their target. One ant lost his arm and his head. One was riddled eight times and almost cut in half. The same story went for the third, the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eight…

Rainbow Dash watched in T-awe - as in ‘Totally awesome’ – the three heroes doing their daily chore. The Gemini squadron cheered.

“Jet force! Jet Force! Jet Force! Jet Force!”

The red ants looked at each other and shrugged. They may have lost their commander and their pay but they certainly felt glad that they had fought on the side of the humans tonight. They joined in on the cheers.

“Spitfire, look! Jet Force! Jet Force! Jet...!“ Dashie's halted her chants when she saw that Spitfire wasn’t joining in. Looking into her soul, she watched the red eyes of the leader of the Wonderbolt swim in a fog, like if they were picturing something they had seen before. Rainbow Dash felt her belly drop to her hooves.

The picture came into perspective, the one Rainbow Dash had seen in Spitfire’s eyes. But she wasn’t looking into Spitfire’s eyes anymore. The apathy had completely fallen over the gathering of Wonderbolts.

In front of them laid one of the rocks that they had used earlier to observe Diamond Geezers base. Against the rock laid one of the royal guards. Further away laid another guard in the middle of the dusty ground. Between the dead colts, by the warm wind of the hot lava planet, wavered the yellow mane of Wonderbolt mare Surprise. Both her and the guards had tried to escape, most likely when Mizar’s minions first showed up. Rainbow Dash saw that Surprise had been sliding against the ground before she died, her yellow wings laying spread. She had probably tried to take of in panic when she realized that she had no cover from the flanking drones.

Twilight Sparkle stood beside Spitfire. She had the ability to show a slightly distinguished face. She may have slightly foreseen this, but it still didn’t keep the emptiness out of her heart. Here she stood, yet again, over another dead pony because of her mistakes, because of her over-faith in friendship, because of Mizar.

The thought kept pounding the mind of the lavender unicorn, even as she stood over the metal coffins, the ones that the Gemini Squadron used for bringing their dead back to their home planet. Surprise, High Leap and Everbold Hoof would be kept at SS Anubis until they could be safely brought home to Equestria for burial. The ponies now held a small ceremony. They had each laid something personal on top of the coffins, tears being the offering of some. Twilight had not given anything yet. Much like the case during Starlight Glimmer’s funeral, Twilight was completely swallowed within her own imagination of what she would do to Mizar once she found him. She now regretted that she hadn’t chased after him and stopped him from exiting the cave that he used for his escape, which had run out on the other side of the mountain. The other ponies looked at Twilight, noting her hardened pupils and absent mind. One pony noted it more than others. One pony also remembered the same look during Starlight’s ceremony. One pony felt she had enough. One pony walked up to Twilight.

“Twilight!”

Twilight snapped out of her dreaming. Two cerulean blue eyes glared at her. “Can you see what you have done here!?”

Twilight didn’t answer Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus breathed heavily with anger. The others looked silently on, even Shining Armor and Spitfire. Fluttershy raised her wings. “Can you see that your hatred is doing more damage to your friends than Mizar!?”

Twilight felt her mouth hang in apathy. Fluttershy closed her eyes and lowered her head, as if she was thinking something through. She raised her hoof and smacked the former princess over the muzzle, causing her to tumble the ground in a cloud of dust.

“Can you see what you have done here, Twilight!?”

Twilight made no attempt to gain posture or rise up. She simply looked in apathy at the yellow pegasus. A small streak of blood ran down from her facial scar, which had opened up after getting smacked. Fluttershy walked away from the crowd, crumbled to the ground and exploded into a river of tears. Rainbow Dash made her way over to her.

Spitfire stepped up in front of the coffins. She felt the sorrow for Surprise overtake her, but thanks to Apple Jack’s earlier scolding she now knew how to take that sorrow and use it as fuel instead of letting it drain her.

“None of us could have prepared for this!” She looked at Twilight on the ground and added. “None of us.” She eyeballed the entire group before continuing.

“Surprise was brave flier and High Leap and Everbold Hoof were fine soldiers of Celestias royal guard. None, I repeat, none of us could have prepared that they wouldn’t be with us anymore.”

Spitfire lowered her head in sadness. “That being said - we gave it our best shot. We have Diamond Geezers hard drive. It will lead us to Mizar. We will follow it, we will finish what we started, and we will not let ourselves get distracted. This is the first time we ever faced war together, and in war we honor the brave, and Surprise, High Leap and Everbold Hoof were brave ponies and we will honor their memories with bravery of our own! We have the Gemini Squadron on our side, the best fighters in the galaxy!”

Spitfire paused before finishing.

“With that said, I can honestly tell you all, earth ponies, pegasus ponies and unicorns that I couldn’t feel any braver than by having you fighting by my side. We will find Mizar and we will finish this!”