A weapon for hire.

Third person POV

Celestia slammed both fist on the deck and stood up, "all units, the main objective is now almost complete, victory is within our reach and need only to be retrieved. Luna keep milliardo in check, rainbow, yours is the fastest unit we have go to feral resc-"

Twilight voice suddenly came in, "no need, I am already there!"

And indeed twilight was. As soon as the "elements bomb" had went off the twilight's exia who had been waiting on one of the reinforce catapult had rushed out and with both the catapult initial burst of speed and the exia force silhouette she was reaching the Adrastea at very high speed, the panic on the enemy ship slowed the reaction time of its defense and twilight was able to get rather close without being shot at.

But the adrastea gunner weren't blind and neither were the taurus pilots.

"Enemy screen attack, starting dodging maneuver!"twilight's teeth gritted as she executed high-G spin and strafing, doing her best to lose the least amount of speed possible, her focus was solely on fluttershy position but her mind was running at the speed of light as she noted, plotted all course and dodged each enemy attack through her screen and sensors alone.

Twilight was nervous but focused, this was one of the few things she did better than any of her friend, dash was precise and quick witted but had a tunneled vision, applejack could stay focused on her work for hours without feeling drained but lacked initiative and was a textbook pilot while rarity had a terrifying 'presence' and could surprise most opponents with her creativity but needed frequent rest. Pinkie was impossible to take by surprise and when serious a brutal fighter but she easily over-extended or over-committed running out of ammunition or option in mere moments, fluttershy could read others and despite the improbability of it all could sneak around enemies even aboard a MS and in a one on one fight was the doom of many aces, sadly against too many opponent and no effect of surprise she was quickly overwhelmed.

But twilight, she often got tunneled vision, she was very much a textbook pilot she didn't have a 'presence' that could make enemy doubt themselves, she didn't do well when confronted with the unexpected and could easily get pushed on her backfoot when against exceptional pilots. Indeed when it came to piloting twilight was at best a B+.

But right now none of the enemies shooting at her would agree as the exia seemed to fly through their defense screen, rounds and rocket utterly useless as if said projectiles where not even aimed at her, they simply were dodged as soon as they left there barrel or silo.

And under every griffin and ponies eyes the exia reached a taurus line through the hail of tungsten and explosive without a scratch. The turret stopped firing the range now to short and the likelihood of hitting a friendly taurus too high. Said taurus also dropped their rifles and drew their swords attempting to cut down this enemy that seemingly couldn't get shot. But just like before twilight and the exia seemed to never be where the taurus had striked. the taurus pilots were elites among the griffin only surpassed by aces and mobile armors pilot in their army and after one slash or stab realized too late, what the secret of twilight was as she stabbed at them with her arm mounted blade leaving behind almost intact carcass with their optic light flickering dead.
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Fluttershy POV

Fluttershy looked at the exia with a troubled face, 'such talent, yet she does not realize just how hard this 'trick' of her is to pull off.' she kept running closer to the exia as it battled waves of taurus leaving them to fall to the ground.

'they do not even explode, she stab the power source main line and the unit just shut down, as efficient as ever. To be able to predict all the enemy attack course from the very moment they become fixed.'

From the moment a bullets leave the barrel its course is set and she can read it, from the moment a weapon is swung its course is limited and predictable and she can evaluate not only the most likely path but also the minor change the enemy can do along the way using the speed it swung at and the room and posture and even the spec of the units. Of course all this require datas and the processing power to make head or tail of it all, and twilight was doing it, all the time in real time with everything. Sometime without even looking at her array of sensor and optic screen for more than a fraction of a second.

'as long as she has the data on their unit she can defeat all standard pilots. If she see an ace fight once she can escape him, she see him fight twice she can fight him to a standstill, and none dare face her a third time. Even the milliardo was never foolish enough to fight around her, but as always she is still used to excel, having to do things three time to get them done right is unacceptable to her.'

"B+ she say, what are 99% of pilots if she is a B+?"she panted out as tiredness started to set in, her talon where blunted and she struggled to find grip on the adrastea hull which was doing a number on her tights grafts while her ruined arm pulled on her wound drawing spurt of blood every time its dead weight dangled around. She needed twilight to secure the her and the VIP fast.

"You are not going anywhere, my order are to keep the princess either in the empire custody or kill her." she heard from behind her, she looked above her shoulder to see a custom leo coming at her from behind the adrastea command tower. It had a somewhat female design and while she could tell the speck where good the units had a hard time moving, she then realized who the voice belonged to, the griff who she had broken the arms off.

"Why are the empire soldiers so violent, do you enjoy killing so much that who you kill and why doesn't matter anymore?!"she let out while sliding away and beneath the leo's hand making a grab for her.

It seemed to recoil as if struck, and hesitated.

Fluttershy checked on twilight progress but sadly her friend had finally lost her initial burst of speed and still was a good 70 meter away from the adrastea, she also was now dealing with a good ten taurus that had formed a blockade and focused on defense keeping each other safe from twilight and stopping her from dealing more than superficial damage, she wouldn't be able to get close before she run out of stamina or blood, whichever came first.

Fluttershy thought. 'this is bad, twilight is unable to reach me before she get all the taurus or they will tear her apart on the way, wait... Her being unable to make it to me isn't a problem if i can make it to her. The taurus between us would then become a shield from the adrastea weapons while we retreat.' a plan so crazy and reckless hatched in fluttershy head, until it bloomed into raw intent and determination. Her eyes hardened. She changed direction and aimed her course for what was left of the middle front heavy caliber turrets of the adrastea.

This seemed to shake the young griff out of is inner thinking."i was ordered to keep the princess under empire custody, so this is what i am going to do." he finally said, more to himself than anything and rushing behind her.

But against all odds fluttershy pulled further and further away from him, her back alight with a slight pink hue. She jumped all the way atop the turret carried by an unseen wind and rushed along the middle barrel. She aimed at twilight and with perfect accuracy her right talon hooked the barrel tip and gave her all the grip she needed, with all her might she kicked herself forward under the eyes of every griff and twilight, then her back exploded in a flare of pink and two massive wing as longs as a MS is tall and as large as a MS is width sprouted from her back, made of pink fire that released amber of gold behind her. She flapped once and was flying above all MS, she flapped again and she had passed the taurus line she tried flapping a final time but her wings collapsed as if shredded by unseen blades as she fell to the ground, the taurus and custom leo tried to grab her but twilight reacted faster, she slashed all those who tried to stop her and extended her left hand, in the panic she didn't stop the custom leo from bumping her shoulder throwing her off course before himself reaching for her.

"Shy!"twilight voice carried deep worry for her friend wellbeing and fluttershy knew very well why as she felt her entire body scream in agony for her reckless use of pegasus magic. Through sheer willpower she stopped her body from seizing up. She then, in another feat of agility, used the custom leo's hand as a tremplin jumped again then she slided along its arm to finally jump at twilight's exia, putting gilda waist in a leg lock, she buried her sharp left claw deep into the exia chest as she crashed into it while tanking celestia to still have a working limbs with sharp enough claw to get a good grip.

"I got you!" she heard twilight said as the exia hand covered her and the VIP for safety.

"i-i don't feel so good twilight." she locked all her limbs in places and her consciousness faded.

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3rd person POV

the entire battlefield stopped when the pink flare was seen, the shape of the exia rushing back to ponyville pursed by taurus and a custom leo being the thing to wake them all up. the equestrian ships immediately opened fire and a storm of shells obliterated the pursuing taurus, yet the custom leo was undeterred in its hunt. it dodged and endured the assault. Even when it reached the jegan's weapons ranges. the bullets shells and beam soon forced him to dodge more and more until the exia was gone from its sight and already back in ponyville.

rainbow in the wing gundam ordered a ceasefire seeing that aside of the custom leo all griffin units were down or gone.

the leo was in a poor state, unable to move or fight, the cockpit opened and out walked a black and silver dressed griff barely out of childhood. her raised two bloodied arms in surrender.

"I am captain iron bloom of the griffin empire royal security forces. I surrender along with the princess units."

on the end of this day the result was an utter and complete victory for the equestrian remnant army. the two royal born from the griffon queen first wedding and their personnel units seized along with an entire units of knights captured alongside their MS and an army worth of MS scrap.

the units who had went with fluttershy successfully returned with news of the adrastea being sent into a frenzy, with the the princess gone and all the commanding officer in the ruined command center dead the adrastea limped away with the remnant of its forces and most likely dreading the emperor furry.

but all this was pushed to the background because the princesses and most of the important personnel of equestria where gathered around a agonizing friends in reanimation. the one who made this operation not just a successful defense but a tremendous blow to the griffin empire.

and while many knew there was reason to rejoice few felt like doing so for all ponies knew just what using magic in this new era implied and while most have never experienced the effect of doing so with such intensity for themselves almost all have seen what was left of those who did and many to this day did their best to repress the terrible memories.