Fire & Rain: Applejack and the Queen of Knives

Chapters

For Want of a Nail
PRETZEL DRAGONFLY
In the Hall of the Mountain King
A Heart of Stone Can Turn to Clay
Voices from On-High
The Best Laid Plans...
The Problems are Compounding
Iðunn
Inside You, Forever Preaching
REVERB ARROWSMITH
Abomination
Fire and Fang
Μεγάλη Ελλάς
Face to Face
Holes in Hearts
The Minarchist and the Night-Watchman State
...Are Often Dead on Arrival

For Want of a Nail

ONCE UPON A TIME:

Sunset ran. She ran all the while unable to outrun the accusations and jeers of those she thought of as friends. Accusations for things she didn’t – would never, could never – do, but was held to blame for, nonetheless.

“I thought you changed, Sunset? How could you do this to us?”
“Darling, I thought we were friends. I guess I was wrong on that account.”
“Not cool, Sunset. Totally not cool.”

It was amazing in that mere months after the incident with the Sirens, and having redeemed herself in the eyes of her fellow students, that this Anon-a-Miss would come around and destroy everything dear to her. Worse, even though she knew she was innocent, the evidence pointed only to her. It was a brilliant setup, and one she couldn’t get out of.

And now the final insult had come: despite Sunset’s writing to Princess Twilight for advice, her friends spurned her. Rarity had ignored her, Rainbow had yelled at her, Pinkie gave her the cold shoulder…

Fluttershy slapped me. Actually slapped me!

And now here she was, two days before Christmas break, standing in the snow and before the portal that led back to her home dimension, Sunset felt frozen tears on her face as she pulled the book out of her backpack and wrote a single line:

Twilight, I want to come home.

But no answer came, just as there had been no answer for the past two weeks, and Sunset sat there, crying in the snowfall, her tears forming an icy mask on her face. No matter how much she tried, how desperately she pled, there was no answer.

There’s just no place left for me in this world….

One step became two. Two became four. And eventually the footsteps vanished in the snowy, frozen night.

The next day,Applejack would find Sunset’s diary, half-buried in the snow. Reading through it, the blonde was wracked with grief. Though she had suspected Sunset may have been telling the truth, reading the journal definitely changed her mind about Sunset’s guilt. Yet there was no sign of the girl to apologize to.

The rest would follow a week later, when on Christmas Eve, the culprits – the younger sisters of Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity – all confessed to being Anon-a-Miss and letting Sunset take the fall. They tearfully apologized, but the damage was beyond done. In the end, all three would be suspended from school for their actions.

But it paled beside the guilt of five older girls, writing in a beat-up diary, apologizing and pleading for Sunset to forgive them, to return, to make things right.

But no answer ever came.

ELEVEN YEARS AGO:

Walking onto the dais to receive her diploma, Rarity couldn’t help but look at the empty seat the students all agreed to dedicate to their lost companion. It was a cruel irony that having spent her first two years of high school terrorizing the student body, in the end Sunset became its victim.

Another irony surfaced in the girl’s mind as she briefly made eye contact with others in the crowd: despite having spent so long trying to break up their friendship with one another, it was now her absence that had finally caused it. The five had drifted apart over the past year or so, and were now barely more than strangers to one another. Not even Princess Twilight’s visit a month ago could undo the damage that had been done...the damage they’d done to themselves.

Once the ceremony was over, she left as soon as she could. Nothing tied her here anymore, and the sooner she got away from the chair that accused her with all its emptiness, the better.

SEVEN YEARS AGO:

Fluttershy walked down the street, a woman on a mission. Her fiancé had just proposed two days ago, and the chiffon-haired girl had, needless to say, accepted. And now here she was, taking an early look at bridal gowns. She giggled a bit at that; just years ago she’d told herself she never thought she’d be the marrying kind, but now? Of that there was no doubt – after all, she had landed herself the best guy in the world.

And now here she was, in the Shopping District of Cloudsdale, relaxing and just as giddy as could be. She wished some of her friends could join her for it, but they were all busy studying for the upcoming exams, something Fluttershy herself wasn’t having much issue with. And besides, right now she had earned a respite for herself, she thought, as she looked at the simple engagement ring now on her finger.

And now to do some shopping, she thought to herself.

On the first block, she walked past a store with a sports display, and there was a sight she hadn’t expected to see: Rainbow Dash, dressed in the uniform of the Canterlot Comets, endorsing a popular line of athletic gear. From what little Fluttershy knew, Rainbow had done well for herself, becoming the top striker in the Women’s National Soccer League. She had one of the highest-paying contracts in the business, and the brash tempestuous young woman already had a championship ring to her name.

Fluttershy moved on; there was no interest for her in this store, anyway.

She walked down the street a little further, until she passed one of those storefront comedy clubs, a place called DISCORD’s, complete with a (currently-off) neon sign depicting some sort of strange upright chimeraesque thing. The poster to the left of her, as well as the marquee, announced that for one night only, the world-famous comedienne and actress, Pinkie Pie, would be performing.

If Rainbow had done well for herself, Pinkie had done better. Her cable baking show BAKING WITH PINKIE had turned from a public-access cable show into a nationwide monster hit on HBO. She instantly translated that to fame on the standup circuit and a starring role in a recent movie that had garnered her an Academy Award nomination, a rare event for a comedy film.

Fluttershy moved on again. There was nothing here for her, either.

Finally, two blocks past that, she found the place she was looking for, a bridal store recommended by a friend who had gotten married to her beau last year. Fluttershy went in, mainly to just window shop for the moment, but the sales clerk was insistent; a few moments later, the chiffon-haired woman found herself in a gorgeous dress she absolutely loved, an off-the-shoulder number embroidered with the design of small birds that she just found absolutely adorable.

And then she saw the tag. It wasn’t the cost that bothered her; her parents were covering that and they told her to find something she loved. No, it was the designer label that bothered her.

“Excuse me,” Fluttershy asked, holding her frown in check, “but is this a Rarity original?”

The sales clerk smiled beatifically. “Why, buttons and bodkins! Of course it is! Everything in this boutique is a Rarity original! She’s just simply the best designer in the fashion business, so when she was asked to design some wedding gowns, she threw herself into the spirit of things!” The clerk prattled on for a few more minutes, squeeing about Rarity in a way that bordered on unhealthy.

Fluttershy’s smile fell, but turned away in a manner that prevented the clerk from seeing. “I see,” was all she said.

She left the store empty-handed, making a mental note to take a day trip to Cirrusburg next weekend. She could bring some friends along and maybe find something to her tastes.

Something that wouldn’t turn her wedding into a half-baked reminder of the past and its pain.

FIVE YEARS AGO:

“Okay, class,” Fluttershy said as she looked at her students. She had been teaching here at Canterlot High School for two years now and in some ways, it felt like she never left. “Are you ready for today’s pop quiz?”

In a sense she couldn’t: she’d inherited the Journal (the word always capitalized in her mind) and with it, the all-but-dead hope that someday a response would come within its pages.

Her students groaned, but that was to be expected; nobody liked science classes, and as one of the science teachers at the school, she was tasked with guiding the new future – the students – on, just as those before her had done so.

As she passed out the notes, she grinned; at least she could count on her classes being popular with the boys because of the hot teacher. She blushed a little recalling what one of her colleagues had said was graffito in the boys’ restroom, but it made her feel good to know that even in her mid-twenties, she was still attractive.

Her phone chimed and she gave a soft grin. “Okay, I need to take a call,” she told them, “but I’ll be just right outside the door, so no cheating, okay? I’ll know.” She gave them all the briefest bit of what her friends had once called The Stare, then stepped out.

She answered the phone, putting it to her ear. “Hi, Flash,” she said, a soft smile coming to her lips. If anything good had come of Sunset’s disappearance, Fluttershy’s relationship and marriage to Flash Sentry had been it. Of course, it had also helped that they knew each other from high school, attended the same university and had attended a few of the same classes during their freshman year, but still….

“Hi hon,” he said over the line. “We still on for tonight?”

“Let’s see: you, me, dinner, dancing, and a three-day weekend out of town with lots of fooling around? Sounds like a plan,” she laughed. “I’m just glad you were able to get the whole weekend off.”

“Yeah, well, color me surprised as well,” he told her. “Fortunately, it’s a slow enough day here at work, so the lieutenant didn’t have much of a problem with me taking off for a few. Besides, it gives the rookies something to do.” Flash had become a police officer with the Canterlot PD, and was, to her pride, one of the best on the force, with a bright future. Truth be told, it had surprised her that he’d decided to go into law enforcement for a career given his love of music, but when he admitted he did it so that no girl would ever have to suffer like Sunset had once done, she could hardly argue with him on that.

The grin on her face began wide. “Well, hope you’re strong enough to deal with a weekend with me, Officer, because I’m going to make sure you go back to work completely tired on Tuesday.”

She could practically see the grin on his face. “Just as long as nothing happ—”

BOOM

The sound rattled the building and she heard the shattering of glass in the distance. She suddenly felt herself knocked off her feet, and before she knew it, she was on the ground.

“What was that?” Flash asked.

“I don’t know,” she told him, getting back to her feet. “Earthquake?”

“Earthquakes don’t happen in this part of the country,” he began, but then in the distance, she could hear sirens wail – the Civil Defense system going live. “I’ve got to get off the phone. Something’s going on,” he told her.

“I love you,” she said to him.

“I love you too, Flutters. Stay safe.”

Fluttershy didn’t waste his time and instead hung up immediately; whatever it was, it sounded like a bomb had gone off and that meant something was seriously wrong. She then walked out of her office, in order to see what was wrong.

She walked across the corridor just as she heard the screams outside, likely from the students in PE class. Rushing out the door, she joined Vice Principal Cheerilee and Derpy Hooves, the literature teacher, as they looked into the sky. In the distance the Cloudstack, the famed skyscraper that was emblematic of the city, crumbled and fell to Earth. Fluttershy bit off a scream as she knew what it meant.

“What’s going on?” she asked Derpy.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” her colleague responded, as the sky suddenly turned black.

As they looked up, the sun had suddenly been eclipsed by what looked like a burning hole, an angry wound in the atmosphere. And soon after, inky, unnatural shapes boiled out of that maw: unnatural, inhuman creatures, all tentacles and teeth – things that looked like nothing they’d seen before except in Lovecraftian nightmares.

Things from another dimension.

Things, Fluttershy was sure, were not from Equestria.

PRETZEL DRAGONFLY

MEDITERRANEAN OCEAN
091630ZJUL30:

The USS Enterprise (CVN-80) steamed silently through the waters of the Mediterranean. One of the last surviving carriers in the world, it was a beacon of hope and a vital global asset in the war against the Others.

Surrounded by a convoy of ships from various nations, some of which that had once been allies and some that had once been foes or rivals, there was no such thing anymore – not with the threat to humanity.

At the moment, US Navy, US Marine Corps and Royal Navy jets flew from the steel decks, the latter complement of aircraft having been added to the ship’s arsenal after the recent sinking of the UK’s last carrier, HMS Prince of Wales.

Within the hull of the ship itself, a crew of American sailors, augmented occasionally by personnel from other services or nations, kept this bastion of freedom afloat and running, not just for the sake of the United States, but now for the world itself.

In the center of the aft weight room, a young woman pushed herself to the limit. Lifting weights via machine, she continued to do reps, sweat sliding down her taut and toned muscles, her blonde hair hanging around her face limply. Part amazon and part model, the combination of both gave her an alluring look even if she really didn’t care about that.

Finally done, she sat up, picked up a small towel and wiped the stinging sweat from her eyes. As she did, she noticed appreciative glances from various men and women in the room. In another time, she probably would have appreciated the gesture and even responded in kind to some of them. But here on a warship, there was no room for romance or relationships – especially when fraternization regs were still in place.

Near thirty, no love prospects and working out on a ship she barely understood: that was her life, and for Lt. Applejack Apple, United States Navy, it was just the way things were.

“There you are.” She looked up and standing there, lurching over her in wash khakis was her friend, Lt. Tempest Shadow. With deep brown skin, intense opal eyes and a taller, lither figure than Applejack, the pair were a study in contrasts, especially given Tempest’s dourer and more serious demeanor. The two had met years ago at OTC, and were virtually tied at the hip ever since.

“Couldn't sleep, so I decided to burn off the extra energy,” Applejack admitted. “What's up?”

“Was looking for you,” she said. “Captain needs to speak to you; he’s waiting in the ready room.”

“Okay, tell him I gotta hit the shower and I'll be up in five.”

Tempest shook her head, her magenta locks of hair battering the sides of her head. “Nope; now means now.”

“Seriously?”

“He had me run around the ship looking for you instead of grabbing a yeoman,” Tempest insisted. “He even said, and I quote, ‘Even if you have to pull her out of the shower. But if you do, make sure she's got enough soap covering her so I don’t have to see the apple tattoo she's got by her twat.’”

Applejack frowned. “You just had to tell him about that, didn't you?”

“Jackie, you were drunk. You told everybody,” Tempest reminded her. “Seriously, that is the last time I’m letting you drink that much.”

“Fuck you, Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”

“You just had to go there, didn’t you?” Tempest accused. When Applejack's response was a gleeful nod, the taller woman sighed. “So glad my parents renamed me after I was adopted. Being raised by two gay dads was hard enough at times, but growing up with a name like that would've been a playground death sentence.”

The two wordlessly went up two more decks and towards the ship's bow, Applejack ignoring the continual stares at her somewhat revealing sweat-soaked PT attire. Fortunately for her, she at least was not wearing a white t-shirt.

After a few more seconds, the two reached the ready room in question. Tempest opened the door and the two went in.

“Well, you two sure took your sweet time, didn't you?” a man with dusky skin and a thatch of mulberry-colored hair said as he leaned against the table, occasionally brushing his fingers against his wash khakis. Older than either of them, he was reedy thin, with a dapper pencil mustache that gave him the traditional “Latin Lover” look. Still, his slight movements gave him a feline demeanor, like a lion on the verge of pouncing if he caught you unawares.

This was Captain Capper Dapperpaws, Commanding Officer of the Navy’s legendary DEVGRU – SEAL Team SIX, the best of the best. “The Old Cat”, as Capper was nicknamed, was an old school operator – one of a dying breed, he often said. And in the business they were in, he very much typified the adage about why one should fear an older man in an occupation where youths died on a regular basis.

“Reporting as ordered, sir,” Applejack told him.

“Hey, Jackie, have a seat. You too, Temp. Bet you two are wondering why I called you for this little shindig, right?”

Applejack leaned forward in her seat the moment she sat down. “Does this have anything to do with PRETZEL DRAGONFLY?”

“Well, sorta. It has to do with your report,” he said, still focused more on his fingernails than her.

“Sir, I stand by what I put in my after-action. We engaged the Octos in Rome, as ordered and managed to evacuate as many as we could from the city before it was overrun. We were asked to back up the 9th Regiment, and we did so.”

“I know and I have no qualms with that, Lieutenant. But, you see….” He paused. “There’s that supplementary report from Chief Shipshape that I’m curious about.”

Tempest couldn’t help herself. Rolling her eyes, she said, “Oh, great – we’re going to talk about that.”

Capper looked at his other subordinate. “Do you have anything to add, Lt. Shadow?”

“Yes, sir. As much as I completely trust Lt. Apple, I highly disagree with her assessment. I certainly didn’t see anything and several of our junior woodchucks didn’t either.”

“I know what I saw,” Applejack stated. “I put it in my report and clearly, based on her report, so did Shippy.”

“Was that before or after you got dizzied by that plasma blast that threw you into a wall?” Tempest argued.

“I know what I saw,” Applejack repeated, gritting her teeth as she said it once more. She’d taken enough shit about it, but she wasn’t going to back down from the truth. “You know I don’t lie.”

“I know you don’t – sometimes I think you’re a little too honest for this job, Jackie,” Capper told her. “But you’re one of the best operators I have and I want to know.”

“As would I,” a new voice stated. At the sound of said tones, the three officers in the room stood up, just for the speaker to say, “As you were.”

“Well, hello, sir,” Capper stated smoothly. “Was just going over with my folks the after-action report.”

“I know. It’s why I’m here too. I want to hear this fun,” he said.

Applejack and Tempest briefly looked at one another; neither had expected this level of attention to the report. The pair looked at the speaker, who had jauntily grabbed a chair and sat down, reverse style, leaning forward against the seat’s back.

The person in question was Vice Admiral Storm King, Commander of Task Force 831, the international flotilla moving around Europe both as a strike force and to survive. Nicknamed “Wildcard”, he’d been a fighter pilot since the days of the First Gulf War and was known for his unconventional style. Surprisingly, it had actually managed to get him promoted up the ranks, whereas a lesser person would have likely been drummed out of the service at that point.

The admiral produced a folder. “You know, I’ve been reading this fascinating little piece of fiction here. Lt. Apple, you should have been a novelist.”

“Admiral, with all due respect,” Tempest interjected.

“I wasn’t asking you, Lieutenant,” King cut her off with a grin that implied a firm tone. “I was asking our little storyteller here.” He then turned back to Applejack. “Personally, I’m…curious…as to the full story. Wouldn’t you say so, Capper?”

Capper reached over and picked up a copy of the report, nodding. “It does bear a listen through, sir,” he agreed.

Applejack sighed; she didn’t want to talk about it. She wasn’t even really sure she believed it herself. But she knew what she saw – and clearly so did one of her own fellow operators.

She sighed. “Well, sir, it’s like this….”

***

When she had been younger, Applejack had always wanted to see Rome. During the summer where she lived with her aunt and uncle in Manhattan, she had been regaled of tales from their trips to Europe and Rome, in particular. Back then, during that small time in her life when she dreamed more of being a princess than a girl whose family owned a small farm outside the Canterlot city limits, she always imagined that her prince would sweep her off her feet and carry her to the Trevi Fountain, where she would kiss him and love him forever.

Well, she finally made it to the Trevi Fountain after all these years.

And as she pulled the body of a dead Italian special warfare operator – a member of the Italian Army’s famed 9th Paratroopers Assault Regiment – away from the firing line, she wondered if that little girl she’d once been had ever thought that the ageless, beautiful work of art would ever be destroyed and smoking, its pool stained red with blood, its volume once littered with coins from well-wishers now filled with the bodies of dead soldiers.

Tracers and thin beams of white energy filled the air, the former from her own side and the latter from the strange weapons carried by the Octos – a dysphemism for the Others, based on their generally cephalopodic bodyframes. In many ways, they resembled something like the alien weapons once described in the old book The War of the Worlds…but this was real life, and there was real death occurring here in Rome, one of the very few major cities left on Earth that had not been attacked by the Octos.

Until today, that is.

Four million civilians, crowded into the capital of Italy and the de facto stronghold of Southern Europe – and now the Octos were slaughtering everything they came across. Both NATO and UNIF – the United Nations Interdiction Force, a multinational organization made of nations that were not a part of already-standing military alliances – responded, and the Italian Army, immediately backed by NATO, American and Russian forces, struck back in a desperate attempt to evacuate the city and maybe save the so-called “Eternal City” from being turned into a smoking abattoir.

It was into this that DEVGRU Platoon Alpha, codenamed “the Amazons”, were sent in. They were known as the Amazons because due to the generally mostly-still male bastion that was SPECWAR, the Amazons were an all-female SEAL Team developed by the Navy. Whether due to political correctness or a genuine attempt to let women prove themselves, the initial unit, SEAL Team Four Detachment ONE soon proved itself above and beyond what people had expected, and was soon redesignated as the first platoon in a rebuilt DEVGRU, with Applejack given the slot of platoon Officer in Charge.

And now they were ordered into Rome to bolster the other forces present. Their orders were to play hard and nasty and that because the Octos weren’t playing fair and were killing everyone in sight, the Geneva Conventions were now in the past. Anything human, from the vilest criminal to the saintliest child, were to be protected at all costs. Any Octo that had given anything but an indicator of total surrender – and so far that hadn’t happened – was to be dealt with, with extreme prejudice.

And so they were sent into the hellish battlefield under the name of Operation PRETZEL DRAGONFLY, a stupid name created by stupid mission planners who selected operational titles based on the intent to not offend.

Because clearly that was the most important thing when the survival of the human race was at stake, Applejack mentally snarked.

“Doc, what’s the prognosis?” Applejack asked absently while she slammed another magazine into her M110A2. Around her, her fireteam returned fire. She’d been separated from Tempest’s group a while back and she hoped her friend was still amongst the living. The radios were already set for reduced communications, so it wasn’t like she could start an Instachat with her buddy.

The corpsman, a young petty officer by the name of Redcross, looked at Applejack. “Well, L-T,” she said, looking down at the cadaver with disgust, “I could’ve saved him if the Octos hadn’t put one of their laser blasts straight through his heart.”

“Fuck. Okay, you did what you could, Doc,” Applejack told her. “Let’s see if we can get the fuck somewhere safer.”

“Safer? In this fuckhole?” Redcross asked, disbelieving.

Despite the situation, Applejack laughed, leaning behind the remains of what had once been an automated taxi. “Hey, we’re at the Trevi, okay? You throw three coins in the fountain and it gives you good luck!”

“Who the fuck uses physical money nowadays?” was the reply. “All I have is my debit card!”

Footsteps came up as a voice said, “There’s an exchange machine by the fountain. You stick your card in and it’s like five euros to buy three tokens to symbolically toss in.”

Applejack looked over and saw her fireteam’s chief petty officer, Shipshape, moving towards her. Shipshape had originally been Army Infantry (an irony, she admitted, given her name), but had switched services when the Navy organized its first female SPECWAR team. Needless to say, she had a lot of experience she brought to the group and more than once, Applejack had tried to convince the grizzled older woman to “go mustang”, only to be told that she didn’t want to be saluted for a living.

Applejack poked her head over the ruined carbon-fiber hood of the taxi and loosed several shots into the distance before ducking back; a split second later, lasers filled the space where her head had been. “How do you know about that?”

“My first assignment was here in Italy back when I was a private,” Shipshape admitted. “Ended up sleeping with some artist I met here. One-night stand, fun times. Ah, the memories,” Shipshape chuckled.

“That’s nice, Shippy. So what’s up?”

Shipshape pointed north. “Octos are starting to corral us in. Comms are still down, but word’s being passed that we’re pulling back across the Tiber. They’re already setting up the Vatican as a hotzone for evac.” The look in Shipshape’s gray eyes were one of frustration. “We lost, Jack.”

“Fuck.” She didn’t even want to think of how many were going to be left behind, or how many dead whose bodies wouldn’t be buried. Thousands of people, whose only remembrance would be the smoking pit of what had once been the virtual capital of the world.

A second later, one of the petty officers spoke up. “Comms just came through, Lieutenant. We’re being pulled back to the Vatican. We’re going to get air cover soon enough, but we’re going to have to pull back soon.”

Applejack didn’t have time to respond to her radio operator, as a second later, there was a blinding flash of white light, and she felt herself lifted up by some unknown force. The wind was knocked out of her and her weapon was forced from her hands. A second later she felt the painful impact of herself being slammed against something hard, and a second later the spray of water. She blacked out for a second, feeling the same way she had when she’d been accidentally kicked by one of the horses on her family farm when she had been thirteen. Back then, she’d gotten a broken arm and a lecture from her grandmother on being careful not to spook the horses.

Now, she didn’t feel like she had been injured, but as her head spun from the blow and her eyes were recovering from the flash blindness she’d just received, her vision hazy and unable to see more than a few inches in front of her. She guessed by the fact that she was soaking wet that she’d been thrown into the fountain. She also guessed, given that she couldn’t see a thing and that she had no idea where her rifle was, that she was as good as dead the moment an Octo drew a bead on her.

Automatically, she went for her sidearm. If she was going to go down fighting, she was going to give as good as she got. She would never see her family again, but at least the Navy would tell them she went down doing her duty to the last.

“Okay, you sick sons of bitches,” she hissed, pointing her gun in the direction she hoped the Octos were. “You fuckers want to take me down? I’m not going down that easily you bastards!” she shouted.

It was then she felt a gloved hand on her own, gently pushing the gun down. “Let me take care of this,” an androgynous voice said. As Applejack’s vision began to clear, she looked at the person with her…and she couldn’t believe her eyes.

A figure, about the same height as her, stood there, dressed in what could only be described as a sort of modern take on medieval armor. A facemask covering the figure’s features, she (Applejack assumed it was a woman, based on the person’s bodyframe) had on what appeared to be a carbon-fiber body armor that covered her arms, torso and legs. She also wore a bright red cloak, giving her a strange appearance between a knight and a superhero. If Applejack didn’t know better, the figure looked as though she had stepped out of that sci-fi shooter game that she and Rainbow Dash played regularly back when they were teenagers.

Applejack opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Still, her lips formed the phonemes: what the fuck?

The figure chuckled. “I’m here to help,” was all the stranger said, and then with a flourish, turned to face the Octos as they came into Applejack’s cleared vision.

The pictures she’d seen of dead Octos didn’t do them justice. Shaped vaguely like cuttlefish, the creatures walked on eight legs, their six eyes covered with goggles of some kind. Unlike earth cephalopods, the arrow-like appendages on their heads pointed forward, as if they had some sort of demented mechanism that urged them onward. Their bodies were covered in some sort of coral growth that served as plate armor, and in their long, noodly tentacles they carried long silvery sticks that had a pulsating crystal, which she was sure were their weapons. She recalled hearing somewhere that attempts to reverse engineer captured copies of the weapons had backfired spectacularly; that the Chinese had attempted to do so, and there was now a massive crater in Tibet where a research lab had once been.

The Octos immediately saw the figure and opened fire, filling the air with silvery beams. Applejack had enough presence of mind to dive back into the bloody waters of the Trevi just before she became another casualty, but she watched the figure as she moved – no, danced – forward.

Moving with a grace that shouldn’t have been possible for what she wore, the stranger immediately started flinging burning knives of flame towards her opponents, each one flying through the air with impossible precision and burning through the armor of the Octos. Each knife that connected set its target aflame, causing a gurgling, unnatural scream that rang in Applejack’s ears. Within seconds the stranger had taken out six of the Octos and was pushing forwards, throwing the blades with abandon like some flamboyant ninja from Japanese comics.

Applejack immediately remembered that game she and Rainbow used to play and there was a class of fighter in the game, a mix of rogue, ranger and archer, that used a combination of various weapons, both modern and medieval, to vanquish alien foes for the sake of mankind. Though it had been well over a dozen years since she’d played any kind of videogame, at that moment, Applejack felt sixteen years old again and almost for a second wondered where she’d put her Dualshock.

That feeling intensified when she felt something tug within her soul, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Something so ephemeral, it almost made her wonder if it had actually happened, except for that that she knew it had. She looked down in her hand, and in it was a mote of orange light, faint but present.

She looked up at the vanishing figure, and her mind swam with the possibility.

A word finally came to her lips.

“Sunset?”

“C’mon, Lieutenant, we gotta go!” The moment ended as quickly as it came, as she felt Shipshape pull her to her feet. “We gotta get out of here while we still have the chance! Doc’s dead and half of our own gals are down!”

Applejack pulled from her grasp. “But we—”

“Look, Jack, I don’t know what the fuck just happened,” her fellow SEAL told her, “but whatever did just saved our fucking bacon and I’m taking that as a sign to get the fuck out while we still can!”

Applejack looked at the ruined scene, the dead Octos and some of her own troops grabbing the bodies of the Italian soldier and Redcross. As a general rule, Americans didn’t leave their dead behind and that wasn’t about to change now, especially when “the dead” included fellow human warriors.

“Let’s go,” Applejack said, feeling the moment – and the magic – pass as quickly as it had come.

***

As she finished her story, King looked at her quietly for a second and said, “You know, when I was a kid, I loved the Lord of the Rings. Filled with tales of knights and elves, magic and swords, that kind of shit. That’s the same thing I’m hearing now, Lieutenant.”

“With all due respect, Admiral, I stand by what I said.” Applejack told him. She, of course, had left out the magic part, as well as what she had said. In hindsight, there was no way it could have been Sunset. The last known place where she’d been had been at the portal, which meant that she’d probably gone back to Equestria. Given that in the years since the portal had been closed and that Princess Twilight had never tried to contact any of them, that was probably the reason why.

Besides, Applejack knew that of everyone that had backstabbed her, it had been her betrayal that had been the worst. Of all people that Sunset – if it had really been her – could save, Applejack’s name would probably be somewhere beneath that of murderers, slavers and worse.

“I know you do,” was all King said.

The two looked at each other, with Tempest and Capper looking at both of them before Applejack finally found the words to ask a second later: “So what now, sir?”

King gave another mirthless smile. “In an hour there will be a COD here to drop off intelligence and pick up passengers headed off the ship. You’re going to be on that plane.”

“So, I guess you plan to relieve me for cause?”

“No,” the admiral replied. “You’re going to the Mountain.” He then dug into a pants pocket and pulled out something, tossing it to her. “Oh, and you’re going to need these.”

Applejack caught the object – a small box – and opened it. Inside were two golden oak leaf collar devices – the symbol of a United States Navy lieutenant commander.

A few hours later, Applejack sat in a seat onboard a Royal Navy CMV-22B Osprey headed towards HMS Cormorant, the British base at Gibraltar. From there, she would take a helicopter to the US Naval Station at Rota, Spain, then to the US mainland. She was now dressed in wash khakis, the only uniform she had that would accommodate the pins of her new rank.

She was leaving her platoon behind, though thankfully not for long. They would ultimately rejoin her stateside, as both Naval Special Warfare Command and US Special Operations Command believed that it was not in the best interests for the platoon to change commanders just yet. But for now, she was alone on the aircraft, headed back to a home country she hadn’t seen in three years.

She closed her eyes, hoping to get some shuteye for the flight. She was going to need it.

Applejack climbed off the guy she’d just slept with. She didn’t know him other than that he was German, hot and available; she vaguely recalled him saying he was married, but she didn’t care and clearly neither did he. Maybe if the war hadn’t happened, then she would’ve cared. But when you were a special operator, you lived for today, because tomorrow might not come.

Relationships had become meaningless to her anyway, given that either he or she or both would be dead after tomorrow’s mission. They had to hit an Other stronghold just outside of Berlin, and it was a combined SEAL/KSM operation.

“But it didn’t go well, did it?”

Applejack sat up in bed and looked at the teenager standing across from her. “No. He got his head blown off by a heavy plasma blaster, I was told. And when I went to the funeral, his wife thanked me, even knowing I slept with her husband, for giving him one last moment of joy before he died. How’s that for fucked up?” A sad look came over her face. “And now, he’s as gone as you.”

“I’m still alive, AJ.”

“No, you’re not. I’m imagining that someone I loved like a sister is still alive, but it’s my mind working through the dream. For one, this is a lucid dream, so I’m in control. And two, you’re still a teenager.”

“Dreams can be like that, you know.”

“Yes, you’re right – and then I’ll be awake and you’ll still be gone. Assuming that wasn’t you that saved me the other day.”

Sunset didn’t answer that. “You were never this dour when I knew you.”

“I’ve also left a trail of bodies behind me, both the bad guys and the ones I cared about. The latter ones never came back. One of them even proposed, did you know that? I accepted…and then the next day he got his heart literally blown out of him by an ISIS sniper.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“So am I. But I’m still here, no matter how much blood I have on my hands. And you’re probably in a better place.”

Sunset gave her a smile. “Maybe, maybe not. But that doesn’t have to be that way – for you, that is. We can save the world, AJ. We did it before, we can do it again. The key is my old journal in Canterlot. It’s the first step in bringing us all back together again.”

“Yeah, as if that book is still intact. You do know that most of that area is an Octo stronghold? Everything from Minneapolis to Hamilton to Buffalo is under Octo control. Assuming that your book isn’t buried under that weird organic coral and crystal they use to build their structures, what makes you think that it’s still intact?”

“Because I know it is. I can’t tell you how I know, but I know it is. Just like I knew you still feel guilty about what you did to me.”

“I loved you like a sister, you know that? When we found out where you lived, I had you come live with us, because we had the room. And when I thought that you were Anon-a-Miss, I kicked you out despite Granny’s yelling at me. And to find out I kicked the wrong sister out of the house? And nothing I could do would bring you back?” Applejack looked at Sunset again, and while she wasn’t crying her face was one of eternal sorrow.

“Forgive yourself, AJ. Forgive yourself and join the fight.”

“Fighting is what I do best, Sunset. Forgiving myself? Not so much.”

Sunset went over and hugged her old friend. “Then forgive yourself for my sake. Find us all. Start with the book, and go from there.” Sunset reached over and kissed her friend on the forehead. “The journey of a thousand miles always starts with the first step.”

Applejack woke up with a start, realizing a second later that it had been turbulence that had brought her back, not anything else.

Calling back from the cockpit, the pilot said, “We’re on last approach to the Rock, Commander. If you have anything against turbulence, you may wish to strap yourself in.”

“Thanks, Letenant,” Applejack replied, using the RN’s pronunciation of lieutenant for the sake of the pilot. “How long do I have before my ride to Rota gets here?”

“Control says they landed an hour ago and are just waiting on you, ma’am,” he informed her.

“Thanks.” She reached for the strap and began to buckle herself in. Whether that dream – or her mysterious savior – was really Sunset or not, it didn’t matter for the moment. Applejack had a mission she had to accomplish and that meant going to the Mountain…and the fact that she actually had to go there filled her with a mix of anxiety, pride and dread.

Whatever was going on, it was well above her paygrade.

Maybe that’s why the admiral promoted her, she mused.

In the Hall of the Mountain King

BLUEMONT, VIRGINIA
110930RJUL30:

Once, like Rome before it, Washington DC had been the virtual capital of the world. And now, like Rome, Washington had fallen. All that remained were destroyed, smoking buildings, wreckage and craters that were being filled by the Potomac River. Once the capital of the United States, the city, much like other American cities like New York, Los Angeles, Houston and Canterlot, were now memories of what had been in the days before the Others had invaded. Now, the ruined country was nearly split in half by the Others, its people scattered and reeling from the attacks five years ago.

Yet America continued to survive, to plan and work towards throwing off the yoke of its invaders and dispensing out justice in Red, White and Blue. The bald eagle would reach towards the its alien enemy and tear its throat out, and with it, free the world. It would be a matter of time, blood and patience, but if that was what it took, that would be what the United States did.

And the keystone to that was the Mountain.

Originally a weather station built in the 1800s, Mount Weather had, over the years turned into a Civilian Public Service outpost during World War II and then later a command center for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And now, since the destruction of the White House, it was now the home of the President of the United States, as well as the locations for many VIPs in the United States government. Officially just a collection of buildings on a mountain plateau just east of Berryville, Virginia, the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center was in truth a massive geofront, stretching down for a quarter of a mile beneath the surface, housing nearly all that had been lost to the US Government.

Down in Sublevel J, the floor used by the military, Applejack sat in a lobby just outside of an operations center. Across from her, a bored Army private sat, typing away at a computer and wishing she were elsewhere – just like Applejack was. Slightly rested after a couple of days in Spain, she’d had enough time to unwind and prepare while at the base, even going so far as to get herself a new dress white uniform, which she figured she’d need for her trip to “the Mountain”.

And now here she was, in new- and stiffly-starched dress whites, the neck collar choking her. Now she saw why most of her fellow officers preferred to wear the dress blues even on days when it made more sense to wear the whites – these things were murder.

At the desk, the soldier answered the phone, then hung up just as quickly. “You can go in now, Major,” she told Applejack. Applejack briefly thought about correcting the soldier, then changed her mind. The world was already insane; how much more so would it be if the Army actually started to understand naval ranks?

As she entered the room, she figured it for a typical CIC: screens everywhere, military personnel manning the stations or scurrying to and fro and in the center of the whole circus was a large round table where major figures from the government sat. Some she recognized; most she didn’t. But the man at the head of the table she did recognize: Sombra, the current President of the United States, the epitome of a scum-sucking politician if there ever was one, she told herself. He had been a wealthy campaign donor from Louisiana who had backed the election funds of then-President Kibbitz, and for it had been selected to be the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, a cruel irony given that his fortune had been made as a reputed slumlord in his native New Orleans. He’d been out of town when the Others had attacked, and due to his position as an unofficial designated survivor, he had been immediately made the President of the United States despite having been thirteenth in line to the office.

The fact that he’d been reelected to the office two years ago galled the hell out of her, especially given that she’d voted for his opponent, Senator Thorax.

“And here’s the lady of the hour!” Sombra said as he got to his feet and welcomed her. “Welcome to the Presidential Command Center. This is where everything happens for the sake of the world. Welcome back to the Good Ol’ US of A, Commander, and thank you very kindly for your service.”

Applejack kept a smile on her face, though she wanted to scream. Such a bullshit, pat introduction he gave, she could practically smell it rolling off of him. Small wonder the media had nicknamed him “the smoking president” – not just because he was attractive (even Applejack had to admit that for a man in his late fifties, he was, with his dark skin and slicked-back dark hair), but because “where there’s smoke, there’s fire”.

She shook his hand. “Thank you, Mr. President. It’s an honor to be here, sir.”

Still with a smile on his face, he said, “You know, anyone ever tell you you’re a horrible liar, Cmdr. Apple? But we’ll talk about that later. For now, I think I have some important people you need to know.”

He gestured around the room, introducing her to various people, mostly politicians, but more than a few general and flag officers as well, finally stopping once he’d circled the table. “Have a seat, Commander,” he told her. “Now, do you know why you’re here?”

“I take it because of Operation PRETZEL DRAGONFLY?”

He grinned and nodded sardonically. “Is that what we’re calling it? Funny, I thought the media referred to it as—” He gestured grandly, “—the Disaster at Rome. Did you know the New York Times referred to it as ‘Sombra’s Folly’, even though the Italians had most of the command on the ground there? Hell, the guys at CNN had even more colorful things to say about it. They called it ‘Sombra’s shitshow’.” He shook his head, chuckling. “I remember when the FCC used to enforce language violations on TV, but that’s neither here nor there, I guess.”

He then looked at Applejack. “Yes, we’re talking about what happened in Rome – and how you got your ass saved by that mysterious figure. Don’t get me wrong; you earned your promotion for everything you’ve done. But, Commander, from your own words you were as helpless as a kitten in a cornfield, and yet this stranger swoops in like she’s a fucking superhero and saves the day.” He looked at a colonel standing by. “Screen Two if you please, Col. Roughrider?”

On the screen in front of them, video clearly taken from a drone showed up onscreen. It showed the figure in the middle of combat against the Octos…and she was winning. “This was taken an hour after all forces were evacuated from Rome. That figure is still engaging the Others – and she’s kicking their asses. I spend all this money on the military budget and fuck knows how many billions more on the black budget and all of that is useless compared to one single person going in there and acting like the Goddamn Batman – a comic book character.” He pointed at the screen. “That person is very much real and very much a threat to the Others.

“You are the first person he or she had personal contact with, Commander,” Sombra told her. “So you want to tell me what you know about the Queen of Knives?”

Applejack looked at him. “The Queen of Knives?”

“That’s what they call her.” Applejack turned to the new speaker – Wind Rider, a USN admiral and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A storied fighter pilot, he’d once been the commanding officer of the Blue Angels. Applejack remembered that Rainbow Dash had once followed his exploits while he led the legendary fighter squadron and it was something that Applejack herself had recalled when she had joined the service. But she never thought she’d meet him.

“I’m sorry, sir?”

“She was given the name two years ago when she first appeared in the provisional Japanese capital of Gifu.” On another screen appeared the same image of a figure in red, throwing knives as she had when she faced off against the Octos in Rome, doing the same amount of damage and saving lives. “The Japanese media called her Naifu no Joō – the Queen of Knives – after one of the comic books there. According to reports, she saved the life of the Japanese crown prince, whose evacuation helicopter had been shot down.”

“Two months later, she appeared in Jakarta during the Octos’ offensive there.” The same person appeared on screen, this time swinging what looked to be an electrical staff, moving like lightning but tearing through the enemy as though they were paper. “She managed to buy time for the Indonesian and Philippine militaries to safely evacuate the town. But she vanished just as quickly as she appeared. Nevertheless, the Indonesian president promised the equivalent of twenty million dollars in US currency to the Queen of Knives as a thank you for saving their people. To this date the money remains unclaimed.

“Mid-last year, while you were involved in the defense of Berlin, there was an Octo assault on the main military base in Brazil. Once again the local forces were overwhelmed, and once again, the Queen of Knives appeared out of nowhere and sporting new abilities.” The screen now showed the Queen, wielding a bow of violet energy, firing energy arrow after energy arrow, shooting what appeared to be Octo aircraft out of the sky. “This comes from Brazilian intelligence, who claimed that the Queen went after their aircraft, doing what the Brazilian Air Force could not. Ultimately they lost the base because of overwhelming numbers, but apparently the Queen made sure it was a pyrrhic victory for the Octos.

“Lastly, back in January, the Octos hit the Russian Pacific Fleet at Vladivostok, clearly intending to take them out. Once again, the Queen appeared, and this time she was playing for keeps.” Video with Russian wording now appeared on the screen, with pictures of the Queen wielding what appeared to be two pistols made from black, smoky energy, and she fired as if she was a gunslinger from the old west, to the point where at one point she even twirled the pistols. Blasts from her pistols felled Octo forces left and right, and she moved like quicksilver, pirouetting around enemy emplacements to the absolute shock of the Spetsnaz troops that had been mounting a previously futile defense. “She managed to rally the Russians and when it was all said and done, they managed to capture one of their gunships. Shortly afterwards, she vanished again. We’re told there’s a Hero of the Russian Federation medal awaiting her in St. Petersburg at Government Center.”

“All those honors and sobriquets and they don’t mean a damn thing to her. She has the whole Goddamn world grateful and ready to kiss her ass and she just vanishes like it’s nothing. And yet after all that, she speaks to you like an old college buddy,” Sombra said. “You, of all people in the world, Commander. Right now, it’s clear that you know something. You are the either the most important woman in the world at this very moment, or someone I should have thrown in the deepest corner of the darkest fucking prison I can find. I’m going to take a bet that it should be the former. So I want answers, Cmdr. Apple, and I want them now.”

Applejack looked around the room at the variety of faces staring at her. All these years. All these years of a secret she’d kept and one she swore she would take to the grave, undone because of a potential coincidence. For all they knew, it wasn’t one Queen of Knives, but something like her platoon – a highly-trained group of women (or maybe men, there was no confirmation on the gender, after all) who was doing the clearly impossible. After all, before her unit had existed, there was the rumor of the White Tights, a mysterious group of highly-trained women that fought against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

But Applejack had once been the Element of Honesty. And the world was headed towards extinction. She hated the man who demanded answers from her. She probably didn’t care for many of those around the table as well, and truth be told, even though she admired Adm. Rider, she felt somewhat betrayed by him at the moment, even though she knew he hadn’t done a thing to deserve that.

Because she was Honesty, she knew that sometimes, telling the truth was the hardest thing in the world. But it still had to be done, even if it would come at a personal cost, because honesty was a valuable currency – and once lost, it was nearly impossible to regain.

So she told the group everything. From the day she first encountered a bratty thirteen-year-old girl attending Canterlot County Junior High, to the days they fought at Canterlot High, to the period Princess Twilight came through the mirror to retrieve her crown and faced off against a girl who had corrupted to the point that she became a demon. That the otherworldly alicorn-turned-human gave five other human girls the magic to defeat the demon and save the world.

“Wait – that video was real?” a woman in the room that Applejack vaguely remembered as being the Attorney General, asked. When they all looked at her, she said, “Look, my kid showed me that thing on YouTube way back when, but I thought it was a commercial for a videogame he wanted, okay? I had no idea!”

“I don’t think anyone who saw that did,” Sombra said, templing his fingers on the table and looking shrewdly at Applejack. “Please continue, Commander.”

Applejack then told them how they left the girl, who turned out to be a delinquent unicorn herself, in their care. About their years of friendship and how she too regained her own honor and courage, and fought to save a world she had grown to love. Protecting it from monsters like the Dazzlings or corrupted individuals like Juniper Montage and Gloriosa Daisy.

And how all that had fallen apart because Applejack and her friends had been too stupid to believe that Sunset had told the truth. That she’d vanished, gone back to Equestria, and that after they had briefly explained their parts to Princess Twilight, that the way to Equestria had been closed for good. That their magic had vanished and they went back to being normal girls, with more regrets than the average teenager and a greater responsibility to keep everything hidden from the world.

And that she hadn’t felt the pull of magic since…until the Queen had touched her.

Once she was done, everyone looked at her, and she felt so small and fragile, like a giant could step on her and crush her under his heels.

“If I had known this and been in politics back then,” Sombra said in a terse tone, “I would have every available force at my disposal crawling through every ass in Colorado probing for this so-called magic. Now, obviously I can see what she can do, Commander, but what do you have to back all this up? What proof do I have that you’re telling the truth?”

“Because I’m Honesty,” Applejack told him.

“Yeah, and I’m a unicorn obsessed with crystals who lives in a palace that looks a jewelry store vomited,” he commented back. “Put up or shut up – isn’t that what you military types say?”

Applejack said, “I can’t do it anymore, sir. I thought I did when the Queen touched me, but…I don’t know. Maybe I was just remembering Sunset and imagined it. Maybe I’ve lost my mind or something like that. Maybe none of that matters.”

“I see.” Sombra was quiet for the longest time, before he finally looked around the room and said, “Okay, NS personnel only. Anyone else, get out, go do your jobs and make sure my country is still running.” The room began to fill out, while only certain people remained in their seats.

Once the room had emptied out, the man glared at Applejack. “I don’t know whether to call you a hero or a traitor, Cmdr. Apple. For over a decade you had secrets that were vital to the United States’ interest. You participated in actions on behalf of a foreign government and you committed actions that you had absolutely no right to. Any sane politician would be willing to execute you right now or throw you in a supermax prison and melt down the fucking key. But right now, I don’t have that luxury.”

He got out of his chair. “I know you don’t like me, Commander. It’s clear on your face. Maybe you think you’re hiding it, but you are what you claim to be: Honesty, which means you’re an incredibly poor liar. Yes, I’m probably not the best politician ever, but keep in mind I never wanted to be one.” He leaned forward. “Do you know what they called me back in Nawlins? ‘King’ Sombra – Lord of the Slums. Yeah, I owned a bunch of rundown tenements and charged too much for rent from poor people, you don’t think I know that? But it got me rich and it got me right where I could get the ear of President Kibbitz. And do you know what I wanted? I wanted my Crystal Empire project to be cleared by the government. My own little fucking playground, where I could build an amusement park that would make me enough money to go piss right in the eyes of Disney and Cedar Park and all that shit!

“But instead, I got offered Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. A fucking joke! How Goddamn important is HUD? I’ll tell you – not fucking much. Look at the fucking stuttering moron I have in that position right now! Readybuild? You think he can run a fucking government? Man can barely tie his Goddamn shoes, much less keep his wife satisfied! And so I left town just before Decimation happened. And next thing I know I have the Secret Service running up to my doorstep on the day I was considering resigning, telling me that Washington no longer exists and that congratu-fucking-lations, I’m now the Goddamn President of the United States.” He laughed bitterly. “Let me tell you, I nearly shit my pants at that moment. I came from a poor Baton Rouge family, don’t even know my real father, and now suddenly I’m in charge of 330 million lives? What the fuck?

“So I’ve done what I’ve had to do. I’ve made deals with the devil in order to get where I am, and I’m going to do so again. Which is why I’m going to give you a personal pardon for whatever you’ve done in the past – and I’m ordering you to go find this Sunset Shimmer bitch, whether or not she’s the Queen of Knives, because 800 million lives depend on your little fucking unicorn.”

Applejack sat in her chair, her arms crossed. Finally, she said, “Permission to speak freely, sir.”

“That’s a negative,” Rider told her.

“No, I want to hear what she has to say,” Sombra told him. “So yes, Commander, you can say your piece.”

“You’re right, sir, I don’t like you. One of the properties you own outside of Louisiana was my family’s farm and you nearly drove us into the poorhouse a dozen times because of the fucking loopholes on the mortgage you had on the grounds,” Applejack hissed. “So for that, you can go fuck yourself. Sir. And no, I didn’t vote for you. In fact, I was hoping that Senator Thorax would stomp your ass in the election.”

Sombra laughed. “Thorax? He’s a good man. He really is. One of the best I’ve ever met, and that’s why he’s vice president now. Because he keeps me honest.”

Applejack blinked at that. “But I thought Nebbish was your vice president.”

Sombra shook his head. “We haven’t made it public yet, but he cracked under the strain. Secret Service found him dead in the underground bunker at the Greenbriar last month. Put a pistol down his throat and pulled the trigger. I asked Speaker Lawpasser to step in, but she turned me down – said she didn’t want to end up like Nebbish. And even though we don’t agree on a single thing, Thorax, as I said, well, he’s an honest man and a true patriot; he put aside our differences to step in. And that’s why he’s vice president now. We’re going to make the announcement next week, once the furor from Rome dies down. Our country – our world – doesn’t need any further chaos than it already has. And believe me, we’re in trouble.”

“I don’t understand, sir.”

“Before you came in this morning, the Indians lost the INS Vishal and her battlegroup,” Rider spoke. “There’s nothing currently in the Indian Ocean and neither the Chinese nor the Thai can get to the Octo base they’re building in Antarctica right now. The lone satellite in the area is North Korean and they have reason to believe that the Octos are trying to destroy the planet’s ozone layer in order to kill every living thing in the world. Now, I have no idea what that scum-fucking little weasel in Pyongyang is up to, but I do know that whatever the Octos are doing in the South Pole? Can’t be good for us.”

“Do the Thai or Chinese even have anything that can dent them? We’ve beaten them before, but it’s taken a lot of hardware and lives,” Applejack commented.

“We were counting on the Vishal and her escorts to nuke the fuck out of them, to be honest – we handed over several glowsticks in order for them to do the job,” Sombra said. “And yes, that’s another secret that the world doesn’t need to know, another deal with the devil that I made. The world doesn’t need to know that the United States is arming its former enemies with nukes that they’re not supposed to have, because it’s either that or we can bend over and wait for our asses to get fucked without the benefit of lube.” Sombra sighed. “I need a Goddamn drink. I really do. Too bad my wife is a saint who won’t let me.”

“So what now, Mr. President?”

“You,” he said, “are going to report to Sublevel P. As of now, you’re permanently off the books. You don’t belong to the Navy, or Special Operations Command or to anyone. You and your little platoon are going completely black – you won’t exist. Your chain of command from now on is me, then Wind here and the subordinate of his special little shindig he’s putting together. Anything you have to add?” When she shook her head, he said, “Okay, get out of here.”

Applejack nodded, saluted and said, “Fuck Six, sir.”

As the woman left, Sombra looked at Rider. “You going to explain that?”

“It’s a…term of art that DEVGRU has, basically ‘can do’.”

“Okay, but fuck?”

Rider couldn’t help but grin. “It’s an adulteration of phoque – the French word for ‘seal’.”

After riding up to the cafeteria briefly on Sublevel D to grab some lunch, she went back to her room to change into her NAVPATs. After spending a torturous time in a dress uniform, it felt great to throw comfortable clothing back on. She then went back to the elevator and rode down to Sublevel P, getting off the elevator and running right into two heavily-armed Marines, both of which checked her IDs and gave her a hard time until they found out she was part of the Rome evacuation, after which she got thorough apologies and was waved through. She walked down the hall, seeing a bunch of blank doors until she hit a cross corridor and the symbol on the floor explained everything: it was the crest of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“Cmdr. Apple?” Applejack turned to look at a man a decade older than her as he approached. Despite his hair having slight tinges of gray, he had a youthful face and a part of her started to think of things that she probably shouldn’t have, especially given that the man wore ACUs and had the rank devices of a US Army colonel.

“Yes, that’s me, sir,” she said, saluting. Normally, Navy personnel didn’t salute while indoors, as it was policy not to do so while not wearing a hat – a cover – indoors, but she thought it was polite.

“No sirs, please,” he said, offering his hand. “I’m probably not much older than you. Col. Shining Armor, Commander of Project FIRE AND RAIN. Have you had anything to eat yet? Heard they had you tied up with POTUS this morning.”

“Thank you, sir, but I already did before coming over.” She relaxed in his presence, feeling better, as he seemed to be the type of easygoing officer – which probably meant he was extremely lethal in combat, the kind of soldier she liked. “Ate at Cafeteria D.”

“You might want to try the small cafeteria on Sublevel M next time,” he told her. “Cook there’s a Canterlot native like both of us, so he knows how to make that famous Canterlot-style BBQ.”

“You were from Canterlot, sir?”

“You can just call me Shining. I guess you’re Applejack?”

“Jackie’s fine, sir – uh, Shining.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I know, I’m not as stuffy as other full birds. Some of my colleagues always wondered if I should’ve been an Air Force colonel instead. Anyway, yeah, I’m originally from Canterlot, like you. Was originally in the National Guard, stationed at the Joint Reserve Center just outside of town until Decimation happened. Lost my wife, daughter, parents and kid sister in that mess.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s okay – it’s in the past now,” he said with a slight catch in his voice that said it wasn’t entirely in the past for him. “Besides, my current fiancée makes me smile. Anyway, you know why we’re here, and now that you’re onboard, you probably know more than I do about all of this. By the way, good call on chewing out President Sombra.”

“You saw that?”

“I was in the back of the room when it happened. And yeah, I voted for Thorax as well, so I know how you feel.” He gestured towards down the hall. “Anyway, if things are going to happen, we need to head back to Canterlot, which isn’t going to be easy, safe to say. But since you’re a native like me, I will need your advice.”

“Shining, I’m a SEAL, not an OPS officer. I shoot tangos and break things, not come up with battleplans.”

“Trust me, I get you. I’m a field guy myself, but for this Project, everyone’s doublehatting. I’m going to be overall field commander, even though we officially report to the Admiral.” He opened a nondescript door, whose only marking was FAR PLANNING GROUP.

As they entered the room, a woman in a business suit strode up to him; she had long cerulean hair, piercing eyes the same color as Applejack’s own, and skin like dark honey. She handed him a tablet and said, “Okay, here are the current assignments I need you to clear. There’s also something that we just got back from the AO, so you’ll want to look at it. Oh, and lastly, I just came off my period, so we’re going to fuck like rabbits tonight, okay?”

Applejack laughed while Shining groaned. “Seriously, you couldn’t keep that part under wraps?” he asked the newcomer.

“Oh, but honey, you like it when I—” He started turning red from blushing and she grinned. “Oh, my dear, precious little boy scout – don’t ever change,” she said, kissing him on the cheek. She then turned to Applejack, offering her hand. “And you must be our unicorn hunter. Hi, I’m Chrysalis. I’m the CIA liaison for this project, as well as the INTEL officer. I also run – and sometimes run with – the Changelings.”

“Nice to meet you. Jackie Apple,” Applejack said, introducing herself.

“You can just call me Chryssie. Anyway, before you ask, yeah, the Changelings: the CIA’s wetworks group. We’re the nasty bastards, doing everything from spying to assassinations, poisonings to torture and all the stuff our government officially disavows. The President wants to put serious muscle behind this, so guess what? Your folks are the ones who break things, and we’re the ones who people will wish we broke things instead.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Applejack admitted.

“It’s only illegal if you get caught and Congress hasn’t approved it,” Chrysalis stated. “Anyway, now that you’re here, you guys are going to want to watch this. A couple of my Changelings managed to sneak a message out of Canterlot, and this is what we have. We have it onscreen over in the conference room.” She led them over to a small conference room, where she pressed play on a computer.

On the screen was a young man who looked like he’d seen better days. He was carrying an outdated rifle and the look in his eyes was of one who barely trusted authority.

“My name is Button Mash, and I’m speaking on behalf of the Canterlot Militia. Normally I wouldn’t bother with you assholes since you abandoned us, but maybe the thousands of people still trying to survive in the hellhole our city’s become doesn’t mean shit to you jackboots either.”

“What’s he talking about?” Applejack asked Shining.

Chrysalis paused the video. “During the Decimation, any city with a population of over a million people was hit. We had to abandon a lot of people in order to protect the majority of the country, and needless to say, some of those that got left behind got a tiny bit pissed as hell. According to some intel gathering from the Changelings, there’s less than 7,000 left in the ruins of the city.” That said, she continued the video.

“Anyway, the reason I’m contacting you government thugs is because we have reason to believe that the Octos are doing something around the ruins of Canterlot High. I don’t know why, but they seem to think it’s important, and numerous rips have been seen there.”

“Rips?”

“The rifts they cause from their home dimension to get here,” Shining explained. “Technically they’re wormholes, but they look more like bloody rips in the spacetime continuum. I don’t know all the math. My sister was good at that stuff, but she never made it out alive.”

Mash continued. “I don’t know what’s going on there, but we’ve sent my best scout to check it out. Now all I need is for you assholes to come and smash the place before the Octos kill more of us! Also, we want people evacuated out of here for their own safety.” The look in the man’s eyes softened. “Some of the women here are pregnant, like my wife, and I don’t want Sweetie Belle—”

“Sweetie Belle?” Applejack gasped.

“You know her?” Shining asked.

“She’s the younger sister of a girl I used to know in school.” A girl who was once one of my best friends, she silently added. She thought about it for a second, then said, “Request permission to go on this mission.”

“We still have to plan this mission – and frankly, we need to get your people up to speed. The Changelings are already in position.”

“Shining, this is war, not spycraft – they might be good at what they do, but you know there’s violence and then there’s war. Besides, Sweetie Belle knows me. And because of that, I might be able to reason with this Button Mash guy. Show him that the military’s here for everyone, and we’re doing the best we can to protect the nation and the world. We could get in with their leadership, which is the real important thing, I presume. Besides, if this is going down at Canterlot High…that’s where the portal to Equestria is. We need access to that location.”

Shining was silent for the longest time before adding, “This is going down pretty fast, Jackie. Your folks might not be ready.”

“We’re SEALs – we were ready yesterday.”

“Okay, point made. Plus, if we can get this militia on our side, maybe it’ll make things better for us. Lord knows the war can’t get any worse. But if we’re going to do this right, that means we have to do more than just a military operation. This is going to have to be a humanitarian one. Chryssie?”

She smiled as her fingers danced over the keyboard. “Already on it. There’s a combat support hospital – the 10th CSH – seconded to the 4th Infantry Division. They’re down in a small town in Oklahoma by the name of Ponyville. They’re set for that kind of stuff and can probably field a small medical team to help us.”

“The Fourth? That’s Col. Spearhead. I know that guy,” Shining said.

“Bet he doesn’t have as cute a tush as you do,” Chrysalis said absently. “Anyway, they’re our best bet.”

“I’ll make some phone calls and send some emails out to get what we need to get started,” Shining said. “We’re also going to need someone with planning skills out here. You don’t have a problem if I go with an O-5, do you, Jackie?”

“Gotta have someone to argue with,” Applejack said with a grin. “In the meanwhile, anything I can do right now?”

“Yeah, get settled in and then get your folks ready. We got word from the Enterprise that they just left this morning and should be here by mid-next week. If everything pans out, I’m going to want us in the air and on the way to Ponyville by Friday.”

A Heart of Stone Can Turn to Clay

PONYVILLE, OKLAHOMA
120613SJUL30:

“Major?”

A woman in camouflage woke up, ignoring the aches and pains of where she’d slept – on her desk. There were so many people that were in worse condition than she was, that she could afford to deal with this. A young woman – the kind of young woman she was once – in military camouflage came in with a tray of food. It took a few more minutes before she realized that the girl had probably just barely graduated high school – literally the kind of sweet young thing the woman had been once, and certainly not the kind of person that should’ve been in uniform.

The war didn’t give us much choice, however, the major’s thoughts reminded her.

The private, unaware of her commander’s stream of consciousness, set the tray on her superior officer’s desk. “Ma’am, I grabbed you some breakfast from the chow tent. Also, the colonel would like to see you when you get a chance.”

“Thank you, Private,” came the grateful response. A second later, she remembered to append that with, “Dismissed.”

As the private left, she walked over to the mirror to make herself presentable, making sure her own uniform wasn’t too wrinkled. She re-tied her hair into a bun, then made sure her oak leaves were on straight; they were so new they still tended to slide around on the clasps. The girl she had once been looked at the visage of Maj. Fluttershy, US Army Medical Corps. She was long past the days when she’d been an idealistic young teacher ready to usher on the future of the world. That seemed like a broken dream now, a dream shattered that day five years ago when the Others came and in the span of days reduced eight billion lives on Earth to maybe a tenth of that. Since that day, there were no more science teachers with idealistic dreams or anything of the sort. There was only the militaries of the world and a desperate struggle for survival. There was no time to hope for the future, just the immediacy of now. Not for love (she hadn’t seen her husband in weeks), or birthdays (her thirtieth had passed two weeks ago without fanfare) or celebrations (her birthday gift from the colonel had been a fast-tracked promotion).

Nothing left of what had made humanity grow, not since that fateful day five years before.

Sure that she was now presentable, she walked back to her desk, quickly ate her food, then retrieved her gunbelt and sidearm. While they were mandatory at virtually all times, she liked to take them off when she was in her office. It reminded her of the person she was long ago, long before the Others…

...long before she betrayed a friend.

A short walk later, she arrived at the headquarters of the 4th Infantry Division. After the prerequisite salutes, she was finally directed to the conference room where the colonel was. “Maj. Fluttershy reporting as ordered, sir,” she said as she entered.

A man a decade older than her with two-tone blue hair and lightly-tanned skin gave her a smile as he looked up from his digital chart table. “Fluttershy, come in! Have you had anything to eat?”

“Thank you, sir, but I already did before coming over.” She relaxed in his presence, feeling better. There was an old Army saying that a commander was a father to his troops, but when it came to Col. Spearhead, he tended to be more of an older brother type. He had lost his wife and children in Chicago back during the Decimation and it had only been years of hard living that had brought him around to a semblance of his old self.

“I bet you’re wondering what I called you in here for,” he began. “We got a call from the brass; they’re going to execute an operation of vital importance – a humanitarian mission back to Canterlot. Since you’re a Canterlot native, I’ll need your advice. I’ll also need you to select some of your personnel for this mission, as well as an officer you recommend to lead them.”

“Canterlot?” The name felt like ancient history to her, a time long forgotten in the past. She’d lost so much that day and she tried to forget it.

“We just received this bit of intel this morning.” He looked at her. “This stays secret, understood?” She nodded and he went over to his desk and pressed a button on a projector. In the center of the room, a blue field of light was thrown against the wall as Button Mash’s message was played for the pair on hand. Fluttershy watched with vague interest until one particular name came up.

“Sweetie Belle?” Fluttershy gasped.

“You know her?” Spearhead asked.

“I knew her older sister back in high school,” Fluttershy said, though she chose not to elaborate further. She thought about it for a second more before saying, “Sir, request permission to go on this mission.”

“Denied,” Spearhead said immediately. “I need my most capable doctor here, and that’s you.”

“Sir, she knows me. And if we’re trying to make inroads with this Button Mash guy, having someone who knows Sweetie Belle taking personal care of her might get our foot in the door. Besides, those people might need a doctor, and as you said, I’m the best you have.”

Spearhead was silent for the longest time before adding, “You’re not field capable.” Fluttershy was just about to protest when he added, “But you bring up a point: if we can get this militia on our side, maybe we can take Canterlot back. I guess it’s worth a shot.”

“I agree. Anything else I should know, sir?”

He nodded. “Yes, check back in a couple of days; I’ll have more information on Monday. And that should do it for the first thing.”

“The first, Colonel?”

“Well, there is something else I think you might be interested in,” he said as he walked to the closet door and opened it.

Fluttershy gasped in shock. Then she lost all military decorum and rushed into her husband’s arms, kissing him passionately.

With a warm smile and a bit of hidden envy, Spearhead voiced, “Take off until Monday, Major. That’s an order.” He then stepped out of the room to give them some privacy.

“Flash!” she cooed when they finally came up for breath. “How?”

“I tried to get here in time for your birthday,” Cpt. Flash Sentry, US Army, told her, “but then I got dragged back to assist with the evacuation of Paris.” He looked at her sadly as he recalled the location where they’d had their honeymoon. “It’s gone now. The Louvre, the Arc d’ Triomphe, the Tower…. There’s nothing left but memories.”

“But I have you still,” she said, kissing him again. “Those memories will be alive so long as we are.”

He smiled at that. “And I plan to live to see the end of this war. And speaking of which,” he said, looking at her rank pins, “Made major, I see. I knew you would outrank me the moment you got into that medical program.”

“Yes,” she replied as she put her arms around his neck. “And as your superior officer, I have orders for you. I expect you to take me out to dinner in town, then back to my apartment and make love to me until we’re both exhausted. And I expect those orders to be followed to the letter, is that clear, Captain?”

In response, he swept her off her feet and said, “I’ll do my best, ma’am.”

Ponyville was a small town in Oklahoma that the 4th Infantry Division had relocated to after the destruction of Fort Cloudsdale. A small place known mainly for its apple farms and the fact that Interstate 40 ran a few miles to the south, it had somehow managed to survive untouched by the war. Still, half the population ran for their lives, and since then, the Army had taken over almost all of the abandoned buildings in town. Thus, Ponyville had survived, and was now even slowly growing as it was becoming more of a military town than the orchard paradise it had once been.

Dinner that night had been at one of the few restaurants still remaining in the “Armytown” side of Ponyville, a little Italian place called Bella Note. Granted, it was a glorified pizza joint that had crappy Italian food and the beer was watered down, but the dessert was okay. Plus, the person who ran it, a woman by the name of Chablis, was friendly enough.

But that wasn’t the point: for the first time in weeks, Fluttershy got to spend unadulterated time with the man she loved, and they lived that small segment of their lives for all it was worth. The night got even better after dinner as they took a walk in the moonlight and sat by the small lake, looking at the moon floating over the waters and remembering the better times they had, holding hands and acting like foolish children a decade younger than they actually were.

And now they laid in each other’s arms, sweaty and spent, just the two of them. Lying there, his arm draped over her breasts, Fluttershy could feel the intimate closeness of him and despite everything, she could forget just for a second that there was a fight for humanity on.

Flash was first to speak, breaking that metaphorical spell. “So, we’re going back to Canterlot,” he stated with the same reluctance she felt. “Are you ready?”

“You’re going?” she asked with surprise.

“Sorta. My mission is to provide security for the humanitarian mission going there, but I didn’t know that you would be in charge. I guess at this point, worrying about fraternization regs is pointless, or the Colonel would’ve put a stop to it.”

“Oh.” She was quiet for a few seconds – wondering whether this was the real reason the Colonel was reluctant to let her go on the mission – before she asked, “Do you remember Sweetie Belle?”

“Rarity’s little sister? Not really; I barely remember Rarity aside from the fact that she had a crush on me.” Flash paused, as if in thought. “But that guy, Button Mash? I remember him clearly.”

Fluttershy sat up, looking at Flash. “You knew him?”

“Yeah. One time, Rover tried to steal Button’s phone and I stopped it. Maybe he’s appreciative or maybe it set him in the direction of being an anti-government militiaman. I don’t know.”

“At least he’s on our side,” Fluttershy mused.

“No hon,” he told her. “He’s fighting a common enemy. That doesn’t mean he’s on the same side. I can only hope his words about Sweetie Belle being pregnant are true, and that he’s more focused on getting her to safety than getting us in his gunsights.” Fluttershy suddenly went silent and Flash asked, “What did I say?”

She looked at him with sad eyes. “Do you remember our plans the weekend Decimation happened?”

“I do. We were going to go away for the weekend, just you and me, why?”

Fluttershy got out of bed, her taut nude body glistening in the moonlight streaming through the window. As she ran her hands down her torso, she said, “That weekend I was going to tell you that I wanted to start a family.”

The following Monday, Fluttershy notified her subordinate that she’d be working on a special assignment until further notice. Her XO, Cheer Belle, took it in stride and said she’d hold the unit together until Fluttershy got back. It didn’t help, however, that she was to take a company’s worth of medics.

From there, she reported to Spearhead, who told her she had the next two weeks for her and her subordinates to do nothing but re-familiarize themselves with being soldiers and not just medical practitioners. It was going to be hard and arduous, but a necessary task nonetheless.

“And I’ll need you to be ready, Fluttershy,” Spearhead told her. “When I told you this mission was high priority, I didn’t realize how serious this is. We just got the call from the Mountain, and this mission has been given top priority. So much so, in fact, that if it wasn’t for the fact that we can’t spare the manpower, you wouldn’t be going – I would.”

Both junior officers understood the severity of that statement. “How much hotter are we talking, sir?” Flash asked him.

“The President has authorized the use of the SEALs for this operation,” Spearhead explained. “A group from SEAL Team SIX.”

The moment he said that, even Fluttershy understood what that meant. Over the past five years, the special operations community had thrown themselves into the worst of the fighting against the Others, and the number of casualties was immense. So oftentimes, the special warfare operators were the best of the best, and in a war where being a special operator of any service was likely to get you dead by your next breath, SEAL Team SIX stood at the pinnacle of that special warfare group. So sending troops from that group underscored just how serious the task was.

“Anything else I should be aware of, sir?” Flash asked him.

Spearhead nodded. “Make sure that you have your best people training your wife and her personnel,” he said, gesturing to Fluttershy. “I’m sure you want to make sure that she comes out of this alive.” A sad look crossed his eyes as he added, “You never know how much it will hit you when there’s not even bodies to bury.”

“With all due respect, sir,” Flash said, “I know Flutters is special, in ways I can’t even explain. And I know she can do incredible things when she puts her mind to it. It’s part of the reason I fell in love with her.”

Fluttershy in the past would’ve hidden behind her hair and turned twenty shades of red at the attention. But the woman now just gave her husband a loving smile, then turned back to the colonel. “Personally, I think I got the better half of the deal,” she said with a grin.

“Okay, you two, you’re making me jealous. Now get out of here; I’ve got work to do and you’ve got some refresher courses to teach our medics, Captain. Dismissed.”

As they departed the building, she said, “Okay, I’m going to round up my team and you do the same with yours. How do you want to handle this?”

“How do I want to handle this?” Flash asked. “Hon, you’re the one in command here. You outrank me, remember?”

“Yes,” she said with a lascivious grin, “but I can’t exactly order several hours of vertical pushups in the nude with you, can I?” He laughed and she got her point across. “Get a training regimen together, and we’ll start at 1000 hours. That work?”

“1000 hours – roger that, Major.”

Fluttershy had always thought herself to be in decent shape. A long way from the days when she struggled to run a mile, having to keep with others during PE. Since her semi-involuntary commission into the Army, she’d had to keep up with military regulations, and that meant physical fitness standards. She often wondered if the girl she was five years ago would look upon the woman she was now with mild envy; she was in far better shape than she’d been when she was twenty-five, nevermind when she was in high school.

Of course, that was before she’d opted to go run up the hill with 1st Lt. Sweet Bolt, a friend of hers assigned to the Headquarters Company. Now she felt like she did back when she was a student in Canterlot High, barely able to keep up with the others and only passing because of the friends she had at the time.

“Wow, Fluttershy, you are out of shape,” teased Bolt. The two reached the top of Evergreen Hill, a mere 1.5 mile run from the base of the village.

The woman stumbled over to the bench and collapsed in it. “Tell me about it. And to think I used to be worse than this.” Bolt passed over her water bottle and the older woman nearly drank it in one draft.

“Easy on the drinking, Major. We still have to get down the hill, you know.”

“No, you can carry my corpse down, Lieutenant,” she gasped. “And no, you can’t have my husband – I want him entombed with me whether he’s dead or not.” Both women laughed at the gallows humor.

They sat there for the longest time, watching the birds dart in and out of the tree, watching another infantry company run by, before Bolt asked, “You ever seen an Octo before?”

Fluttershy nodded. “I remember seeing one during Decimation. I was giving my class a test at the time, and then these black-and-teal cephalopod-like creatures with six eyes rained down from a giant tear in the sky. And the moment they reached the ground, they pulled out their weapons and started firing at everyone and everything. My boss, a woman named Cheerilee, was killed instantly; I think one of my friends, a fellow teacher named Derpy Hooves, was killed as well. But one or the other of them pushed me to the ground and so I got away, because I played dead.” Fluttershy was silent after that. “Shortly after that, we had to evacuate Canterlot and due to the urgency of the situation, any police officer who met the physical fitness standards was automatically drafted into the Army, and after a quick familiarization, Flash was assigned to the 4th Infantry. The rest of us civilians were pretty much left to our own devices at the refugee camp being built in Apple Corners, but when they found out what my degree was in, they offered me a commission if I’d go do a year of medical training to be a doctor. At the time, we were just realizing how badly we’d been hit, so we weren’t sure if I would be needed, but I said yes because I wanted to help. I studied for a year with a retired doctor who was a military vet and he taught me how to take my knowledge and training and reapply them. After that, I was assigned to the 10th CSH before we became permanently attached to the 4th Infantry. What about you?”

Bolt took a drink before she began. “Military brat. We were stationed in Germany and I’d already been approved for a commission to West Point. The Others hit Kaiserslautern with everything they had and pretty much destroyed the military community there. Most of us were evacuated from KMC immediately, and since I had already been tracked towards West Point, I had special classes set up there to finish up my high schooling before I started the Academy proper.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your family.”

“Yeah, but at least my kid brother survived. He and his family live in Omaha.” She chuckled. “When I was a kid, I remember reading somewhere that Omaha was the 44th largest city in the country. Now, it’s number ten.” She got back up to her feet. “Well, let’s get down the hill and we can work on weapons familiarization. I know you’ve trained on the basics, but I doubt you’ve kept up on them other than your pistol, haven’t you?” When Fluttershy shook her head, Bolt nodded sagely. “So this afternoon you and I can get some practice in so you don’t look bad in front of your medics.”

“I’d...rather not, Boltie. I’m somewhat of a pacifist when it comes to these things, plus I’m a firm believer in the Hippocratic Oath and the Geneva Conventions.”

“Major, the Genevas don’t apply to extraterrestrial combat, and you know it. And the Hippocratic Oath means ‘first do no harm’ to your patients, not to those trying to kill them.” Bolt sighed. “I understand your concerns, Flutters, I really do, but….”

“But?”

The younger woman opted for a different tack. “Mind if I tell you about my fiancé?” The older woman nodded, and Bolt began. “I met Brass Flare during my first year in the Academy. We weren’t supposed to date while there, but … he and I kinda got around that,” she giggled. “We grew closer over the years, and just as we were assigned to our first units, we got engaged. I was over the moon, because I was with the man I loved, and nothing was going to go wrong!

“Except that it did. On our first mission, we headed towards Seattle, or what was left of it. The plan was a focused effort to try to regain the area, then help the Canadians as we moved north towards Alaska. At least that was the plan. Instead, we got hit hard by the Octos, and their thrust vaporized the portion of the forest he was hiding in. I didn’t even have a body to bury. We were so stomped that our unit got disbanded and I was sent to work with the 4th Infantry.” Bolt sighed. “Did I ever mention that your husband has the same eyes as my Brass did? Makes me go all fuzzy in the good places.”

“Yes, my husband,” Fluttershy reminded her with mock-possessiveness.

“Eh, wouldn’t worry about it. There’s this guy in Charlie Company I’ve got my eye on anyway. But I’m serious about what I said. If you’re going with us, you need to know how to use a weapon, because there may come a time when pulling the trigger may be the only way to save your husband’s life – or any of our lives.”

That night, sleeping in her husband’s arms, she dreamed.

Teenage Fluttershy sat by the statue, dejected. It was the week before she would leave for college, and she hadn’t bothered to say goodbye to her former friends. Some that she was still friendly with, like Tree Hugger and Lyra Heartstrings, were definites. But not those she’d once been truly close to.

Not those she’d once shared magical adventures with.

And now that Sunset was gone, it was as though people were forgetting that magic had ever existed. And if that wasn’t enough, she remembered what Twilight had told them the last time she had seen them, after they had explained why she would never hear from Sunset again.

“I’m never opening the portal again,” was Twilight’s response. “I thought humanity was like us. I was wrong.” Still, she insisted that Fluttershy keep the book. “Prove to me that I wasn’t, Fluttershy.”

That had been the week before graduation. Fluttershy herself had tried the portal, but it was gone now and nothing was left but marble. Even Sunset’s old journal seemed to turn into nothing but a regular journal after that day.

And Fluttershy was here, for some inexplicable reason, holding the book to her as if it was a talisman. I’m so sorry, Sunset, she thought, squeezing the book closer and tears forming in her closed eyes. You didn’t deserve what we did to you and I can never apologize enough.

“You’ve apologized too much as is.”

Fluttershy’s eyes immediately opened. She tried to wake up Flash, but he wouldn’t stir.

“Wow, never thought you two would get together. I knew Rarity had her eye on him, but…well, I’m happy for you two.”

Fluttershy turned her head in the direction of the voice, and in the darkness of her apartment a glowing being sat in a chair by her table.

“Sunset?” the woman voiced as she got out of bed.

The glowing girl frowned. “Do you mind getting dressed? Granted, I know what girl parts look like, but I’d rather…well, you get the idea,” Sunset said with a smile. “Although you do look good for your age. Frankly, you look like you have the kind of physique I’d expect on Rainbow.” Sunset snapped her fingers and a t-shirt and sweatpants appeared on Fluttershy. Sunset read the t-shirt and smiled. “Army? That’s surprising.”

Fluttershy went over and hugged her old friend, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she sobbed, holding her friend for all she was worth. “I was cruel and unfair to you!”

“It’s okay,” Sunset said. “I got over it.” That was not enough for Fluttershy, who continued to hold her friend for the longest time, crying hysterically and refusing to let go. Finally, Sunset replied, “I’m not going anywhere, Flutters. Not after I did all this to come talk to you.”

At last, the woman released her embrace and looked at her youthful friend. Despite the golden aura, Sunset was still a teenager. “Why….?” the woman asked.

“I’m not ready to discuss that just yet,” Sunset told her. “However, I’m here because of you, Flutters.”

“Why me? And why are you still a teenager?” The answer came to her instantly. “Oh. This is a dream, isn’t it? This…this is a dream, and being here with your ex-boyfriend, my husband, is making me remember all the things I’d put aside.”

“If that’s what you want to think, that’s your call, Flutters,” Sunset told her. “But that’s not the point. The point is, well, to quote that old movie, ‘We need to get the band back together.’ We need to save the world, one last time.”

“I’m not sure we can,” Fluttershy admitted. “I don’t ever say it aloud, but…the day before Decimation, we had eight billion people on Earth. Now, they believe that we have 800 million, and even that might be a stretch. Humanity was murdered, and compared to that, what can we do?”

Sunset looked at her. “Do you remember what my favorite song was?” Fluttershy shook her head; after all, it had been a dozen years ago and very little music was being made nowadays, so keeping track of people’s tastes from years bygone was pointless.

Sunset chuckled at that and said, “You guys – Rarity especially – used to give me grief because I’d listen to the Classic Rock station; KSHZ 99.1”

That immediately made Fluttershy remember. “Oh, now I remember! 99.1 KSHZ – ‘The Only Rock That Matters!’ You used to be into a lot of 70s music, but I never knew why.”

“It was the only thing that played on the broken radio in the warehouse I lived in before I went to live with Applejack’s family,” Sunset explained. “But that’s not the point. What I meant was, do you remember my favorite song? Because if you do, you’ll know.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will, in time. But what’s truly important right now is…I need you to find the others, Fluttershy. I need you to find them and bring them together. We can save the world before it’s too late, but we need to come together.”

“But…how? I don’t know where they are or even if they’re alive, Sunset! We lost touch after you left and I don’t know about how they feel, but I grew to hate and resent them for what we did to you! I don’t even know where to begin!”

“Find my old journal. I’ll be able to speak to you through that.”

“But….” Fluttershy was going to say something, when Sunset raised her face to meet hers.

“I’m not asking the Fluttershy I knew back then. I know she wouldn’t have done it. I’m asking the woman I see now and hoping she remembers our friendship enough to do so.” Sunset smiled. “Maybe then you can get rid of that guilt you’ve been carrying for so long, and you won’t have to name your daughter after me to assuage it.”

“How did…?”

“Because you were the most likely to do so, thus it was an educated guess,” Sunset said. “But I need you to get the journal. That’s the first step. In time, everything else will follow.”

Fluttershy sat up with a shock, blinking her eyes. That was one hell of a dream. She saw the early rays of the sun stream into the apartment, and the clock said she had to get up in anyway. That was almost a dream I couldn’t take. I thought I’d….

The alarm went off, and as it did, the radio on the old clock went off. It was set to play the radio, in this case KLTM 102.7 – “Oklahoma’s Freedom Station”. It was a station that pretty much played whatever they wanted, because they were the only radio station left in this part of the state. At the moment, a song came on and it made her pause:

“You can do magic,
You can have anything that you desire
Magic – and you know
You’re the one that can put out the fire

“You know darn well
When you cast your spell you will get your way
When you hypnotize with your eyes
A heart of stone can turn to clay”

Tears welled in Fluttershy’s eyes. She’d forgotten – she’d put so much away, put so much of it because she wanted to forget. But in doing so, she violated the Hippocratic Oath – to do no harm. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t taken said vow at the time; she’d violated it with someone she’d cared so much about.

She looked at her sleeping husband, then to her uniform.

I took an oath to do no harm and I took an oath to protect the innocent. I failed on both counts, she told herself. But I’m not going to fail again!

If anyone had looked at the woman, they would’ve seen the brief corona of green flame that flickered around her.

Voices from On-High

BLUEMONT, VIRGINIA
150602RJUL30:

One thing that had always been a constant with Applejack was that as far back as she could remember, she’d always been used to hard work and she’d always been used to getting up before the first rays of sunrise. Even when others in bootcamp or BUDS or just daily training bitched about getting up at the ass-crack of dawn, Applejack was already ready to do it. She had done it when working her family’s farm, or bootcamp or whatever. She was used to hard work and very little sleep and one could argue her body was now just made for that sort of thing.

So now that she had the chance to PT outside of the geofront, she joined the FEMA security personnel, Marines and various hard cases whose job it was to be at the peak of physical perfection. The first day she worked out with them, they tried to take it easy on her, given that for the average female servicemember the physical fitness standards tended to be less than that of a male servicemember. That “handicap” vanished the next day as they soon realized that she was a SEAL, which meant she was required to have the exact same requirements as her fellow male SEALs – and those were much tougher than just about anyone present.

A week later, they were struggling to keep up with her, much to her silent amusement. A few others, however, actually did; the fact that most of them were Marines was to be expected. Shining doing so as well at first surprised her, until he reminded her that he was a Ranger – Special Forces himself, but not to the level that she was. However, the real surprise was Chrysalis, who kept up with the pair with relative ease.

“Why does that surprise you?” Chrysalis asked Applejack once they wound down. “I’m a Changeling – we’re trained much the same way as any SPECOPS person, because the amount of shit we do is pretty similar. Hell, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m happy working for the Company, I’d probably have tried to see if I could try out for your little outfit. Besides,” she said, leaning against Shining, “keeping in peak perfection is great for our sex life.”

“You just love telling everyone about that, don’t you?” Shining mock-accused her.

“With a body like yours against mine? Can you blame me?” she laughed.

“Okay, I’d say get a hotel you two, but don’t you have a house out in town?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah. In fact, we’re probably going to hold a welcome BBQ at our place tonight, both for you and the newbie when she gets here,” Shining told her.

“Oh, you got someone?”

“Yeah. Former fighter pilot, got shot down during Decimation and lost her left leg. They offered her the chance to medically retire, but she said she wanted payback, so she settled for sitting behind an operations table. She came highly recommended from Col. Rolling Thunder, and I got the Admiral to clear it, so we should be good to go.”

“What’s the name?”

“Lt. Col. Lightning Dash or something like that; didn’t exactly recall the name. Obviously, she’s not at our level of physical activity and she’s got an artificial leg to boot, so she’ll probably be minding the store whenever we’re out in the field,” Shining said to them. “But apparently she knows her stuff and she’s highly qualified, so I don’t think we’ll have a problem.”

“Just so long as she understands she can look at the merchandise but not touch, then that’s fine,” Chrysalis commented.

“Little possessive, Chryssie?” Applejack joked.

“Oh, I’m not talking about Shining here – I’ll just kill her if she tries anything,” Chrysalis said with a straight face. “No, I’m talking about the computer systems we have. I spent forever making sure they’re just the way I want them, so we wouldn’t have any IT nutbars fucking with them. If she thinks she’s going to come in all ‘Let’s do this in Linux!’ Air Force style, she has another thing coming.”

“Well, I’ve got to do my daily shooting,” Applejack said, “so I’ll be there later.”

“Shooting? Mind if I join you?” Chrysalis asked. “I need to keep up my quals.”

“No, you’re just going to show off again, aren’t you?” Shining stated. When Applejack looked at him, she said, “She’s got the base record for a DMR. Pissed off some of the actual marksmen that are here, too.”

“Hey, when a girl’s gotta pretend to be a bubble-headed British girl in order to seduce a French officer so she can get into a particular hotel room so she can be in position to assassinate an Iranian operative planning a hit in the hotel across the street, you have to be good, because generally you only get one shot, especially when you have to dispose of the rifle immediately afterwards and go back to screwing the Froggie even though we’re talking ugly city, because you need plausible deniability, you do what you have to do.”

“That sounds suspiciously specific,” Applejack noted.

“It pays to be flexible in my occupation – at no time did I mention said commandante was male, did I?” Chrysalis shrugged. “Let’s just say I retired from that part of the job after I met Shining and call it that, okay?”

After about an hour on the range (to which Chrysalis, once again, showed off with her skills on a M38 SDMR), the two headed back to the office, where Shining was busy talking to a woman slightly older than Applejack. Unlike either her or Shining, she wore a flight suit, given that she still had some qualifications as a pilot even though she was no longer cleared for fighters. She had short spiky blonde hair in a hairstyle more often seen on guys and her honey-colored eyes scanned the room as if she had situational awareness perpetually turned on.

“Ladies, I’d like you to meet Lt. Col. Lightning Dust, formerly of the 601st Air Operations Center.”

“You can just call me Dusty or Dustball,” she said, pointing to her flightsuit’s name tag. Good to meet you.”

“Dusty, this is Lt. Cmdr. Jackie Apple, formerly of DEVGRU; and Ms. Chrysalis, our CIA liaison.”

“Hey, I heard about you,” Lightning said as she offered her hand to Applejack. “You were in that shitshow in Rome, weren’t you? We were directing some of the drones giving you air support. Glad to see you made it out okay.”

“Yeah, thanks. Though I’m honestly looking to get some payback for Rome. Those bastards killed too many good men and women and made us walk away with our tails tucked under our legs. I’m going to make sure that shit don’t fly a second time.”

“Yeah, I hear ya there. What I wouldn’t do to be behind the cockpit of a Raptor again, shoving ordnance down whatever serves for their mouths. Unfortunately….” She reached down and knocked on her leg, which sounded out a hollow noise. “Just ain’t in the cards anymore, I’m afraid. Still doesn’t mean I can’t tell people where to do the most damage – and believe me, I certainly intend to.”

“Well, as long as you’re ready for the purple world, we should be fine,” Shining said.

“Even if I’m not, I’m a quick learner,” Lightning insisted. “Well, I still have to do the rest of my checking in, so I’ll catch you guys later, okay? Nice meeting you two.”

“Yeah, same here,” Applejack responded.

“Well, let’s get back to the office,” Chrysalis suggested, “check on things, then we can go hit the commissary before we head to our place. Should give you enough time to head to your quarters to grab a change of clothing, if you want.”

“Thanks, I really appreciate that.”

As the pair arrived in the office, an alarm went off. “What’s that?” Applejack asked as Chrysalis darted towards her desk.

“I have a report coming in from one of my Changelings,” Chrysalis said nonchalantly. “They use a particular encrypted channel that we’re fairly sure the Octos aren’t monitoring.”

“Why’s that?”

In response, the spymaster turned her monitor so that the other could see it. “It’s on the same frequency as old AM band radio waves. There’s enough of that still rebounding in the upper portions of the atmosphere that the Octos probably dismiss it as electromagnetic junk. And for the most part it is…except if you know what to listen for.”

Across the screen was a bunch of radio signals, their frequencies and channels denoted by different colors and shades. Chrysalis slipped on a headset, then started clicking on each one, then removing them from the possible sources. Finally, she narrowed in on a particular signal. “Okay, I think I found it.”

“How can you tell?”

In response, Chrysalis reached over and turned on the computer’s speakers. A ragtime song rang out, both strange and oddly familiar at the same time.

“Well,” she said with a grin, “unless Portugal the Man recorded a 1920s ragtime version of ‘Feel It Still’, I’m pretty sure I have what I’m looking for.” Tapping a few more keys, she began to speak into her mic. “This is Queen Bee. We are on signal isolation.”

“Hey there, hot stuff,” a smooth voice on the other end said. “Like my newest tune? Gotta be the hit of 1926, dontcha know!”

“I’m sure it is, CH. What do you have for me?”

The voice on the other end switched from joking to businesslike. “Reports check out. This Button Mash dude has been trying to find ways to smuggle people out of the city, but they’re getting caught in the dead zone between the old city limits and the combat line just north of Apple Corners. Apparently his wife is close to term, so he’s desperate to get her out of here. I think he’ll work with us. Do you want us to approach?”

“No, do not approach,” Chrysalis cautioned. “If he finds out we have forces within the city already, it might set him off. Things are precarious, and I don’t want shit to go south because his precious fee-fees got hurt.”

“Well, you’re the boss lady; we’ll back your call.”

“Good. Anything else I should be aware of?’

“Yeah, some rumors about hunting creatures the Octos have brought back from their homeworld or something like that,” was the response. “Might not be anything…but if it means they’ve deployed a new weapon or something worse, we should look into it.”

“Then do so and be careful,” Chrysalis ordered. “I expect to see all of you alive when I get there.”

“So you’re finally coming back out to play, huh? Knew you couldn’t live without me.”

“More like you’re lucky I keep you alive, CH,” Chrysalis laughed. “Anyway, give my regards to the others and do what you gotta do. Secreta semper. Queen Bee out.”

“Secreta semper – CH out,” came the response, then the line went dead for a second before classical music replaced it, hiding their tracks.

Chrysalis slipped off her headset, then looked absently at the screen. “That can’t be good.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. If they’ve got some way of getting to the survivors, that means there has to be a reason they’re using it there, whatever it is,” Applejack commented. “I wonder if they’re trying to clear out the city?”

“Couldn’t they just level it?”

“Not if they’re looking for the same thing we are,” Applejack said grimly.

Chrysalis sighed. “Great, just fucking great. Okay, have a seat at a keyboard – you know how to type, right?”

“Not a yeoman, but I’ll do my best, why?”

“We need to get a report done quickly, and with staff still short, it’s going to be just you and me while Shining’s taking Lightning around. I want to make sure we get this to the intel community before we call it a day.”

CANTERLOT, COLORADO
150821TJUL30:

“Olympus, this is Athena. Do you read me? Over.” The voice came over the line as tinny and a little bit garbled, but was still overall understandable. Besides, the fact that it wasn’t in the best of situations gave the extra bonus of preventing them from being identified by voiceprint.

In a battered room, Button Mash flipped a switch, bringing his station to life. “Yeah, Athena, read you loud and clear,” he said into the microphone. “What’s the sitch?”

“The usual shit: we’ve got Octos crawling all up in our asses,” the person codenamed Athena replied. “Lost two people trying to recover the remaining medical supplies from Westside Hospital, but we managed to do so. But given that we gave as good as we got there, I guarantee the Octos are going to level the place soon. So if we’re going to get whatever’s left out of there, it’s going to have to be now.”

“Fuck.” Button Mash groaned; he did not need this shit this early in the morning. “Okay, I’ll talk to Zeus and Hera and see if they can deploy teams to back you up. Should be worth the risk, and hopefully we can do this without losing anyone else.”

“Fine, but I could just settle for a beer right now,” came the response. “You know if Pinch managed to get her mother’s old brewery working?”

“You know the rules, Athena – no real names or locations in the clear. We don’t know if the Octos can understand us or what they can get from our traffic.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. While we’re at it, who the hell chose Greek names? Why didn’t we go with something cool, like Cougar or Shark or something? Now as for me, I can see myself as a griffin or something, even though they’re fictional….”

Despite the situation, he laughed; leave it to her to bitch about the trivial things. “Sure, whatever. Anyway, just standby for further instructions, Athena. Olympus out.”

He cut the line and sat there for a few seconds in contemplative silence, running his hands through his hair. It was getting a little too long again, and he knew she hated that; she was probably going to insist on cutting it again. He smiled, however; she adored doing little things for him like that. It was just a part of their marriage…or what they would have, if they were technically married.

Doesn’t matter to me, though, he thought to himself as he leaned back in his chair. I’ve got her and I’ve got her for life. He then got up from his chair and walked over to another desk, one that had a battered laptop as its centerpiece. The laptop was still running lines of code for a project, and it had been a small miracle that the thing, state-of-the-art five years ago, hadn’t yet overheated, especially from the code it was compiling.

He would likely never achieve his dream of being a videogame developer, but at least he knew enough about code that he could put it to use to defend the lives here. And given the situation, life in Canterlot certainly needed defending, now more than ever.

“Button?” He turned to see a vision of loveliness approach: fair skin, pale mulberry and dusty rose hair in a short pixie style, and the most gorgeous spring green eyes he’d ever seen. He remembered meeting Sweetie’s sister Rarity, and while she was beautiful, elegant and refined, Sweetie was stylish and outright sexy. He was lucky as hell that he had her.

He walked over to her, embracing his love. “Oh, hey, honey, what’s up?”

She gave him a loving smile, patting her sizeable belly. “The baby kicked, and I just couldn’t sleep anymore,” she stated. She then pouted and added, “But I feel a little guilty about not being out there where I’m needed.”

“You don’t have anything to prove, love. I know you’re brave – everyone knows that. But sometimes remaining behind is the brave part. After all, someday our child is going to wake up to a world that’ll need peacemakers and people who forge the future. And someone once told me being a mother is the bravest thing of all.”

She kissed him. “You are such a bullshit artist, you know that?” she giggled.

“Hey, I managed to talk you into my life and my bed, right? Must be doing something right.”

She shrugged. “Hey, if you want the bloating, morning sickness and looking like a beached whale in the Rockies, I’ll be more than happy to trade with you,” she said with a grin before walking over to the workshop table, as something caught her eye. Looking at the laptop screen, she asked, “What’s this?”

“Coding compiling for the onboard firmware that Lachesis and I are working on for Hera,” he explained. “If this works right, she should be able to get out of her wheelchair, at least for a little while. She deserves to, given that she saved our asses.”

She frowned, not looking up at him as she continued to look at the screen. “Still with the codenames? We’re in private, Button – you know you don’t need to use them.

“Sorry, trying to keep in the habit so I can get the others to do so,” Button admitted as he walked over to the coffee pot to pour something for himself and his wife. “Zeus is insisting on it, given that we’ve been too lax with radio discipline as of late.”

“Fair enough,” she began. He was about to say something else, when she suddenly held her hand up. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

With the practiced, catlike movements of someone used to padding around, despite her girth Sweetie leaned up against the wall, pausing only to grab a pistol from a nearby shelf. Button took note of that immediately and rushed over to grab his carbine. As he joined her, she asked, “Can you hear it now?”

“Jet engine, or sounds like it,” he told her. “But there hasn’t been anything around—”

“—since Decimation,” she finished for him. She took a chance and peeked out the window, watching an arrow-shaped aircraft pass by in the sky above. “Aircraft of some kind.”

“WEFT?”

She grabbed binoculars. “Looks like a delta-wing with fuselage integration. Tail is minimal and based on the configuration, might be a ramjet,” Sweetie noted. “Too small to be a fighter. Drone, maybe?”

“Why would anyone send a drone out here, unless—”

The familiar whine of a plasma blast split the air, and a thick beam of energy lanced into the blue above, burning through the drone’s right wing and fuselage. The machine immediately plummeted from the sky, leaving a trail of thick black smoke in its wake as it headed towards the ground.

“Get to the radio,” she told him, going back to the binoculars. “Call the Moerae and have them check it out.”

“In broad daylight?”

“We don’t have a choice,” she reminded him, lifting the binoculars to her eyes once more. “Looks like it crashed in Greenvale Park – if we can get some of our folks there before the Octos do, we might be able to set up an ambush.”

“I don’t like this,” he told her. “I’m not sure we should bother chasing after a broken recon drone.”

“That drone had to be there for more than just recon, Button!” she told him. “The government had to know it would be shot down, otherwise they would’ve flown it at night or used satellites. I think they’re trying to get a message to us.”

“I hope you’re right,” he told her as he flopped back in front of the radio. “Olympus to Moerae. Are you in the field, over?”

A few seconds went by before a new voice came over the line. “This is Atropos. Was busy tryin’ to get some sleep before we went huntin’ tonight. What’s up?”

“We just had what looks like a drone shootdown in Greenvale Park. Need you to check it out.”

There was a rustle in the background, followed by the voice again. “Shit, if we get there in time, we c’n set up an ambush, even if it’s daylight. Great thinking! Okay, we’re on it. Find out whatever group is on patrol right now, ‘cause we might need some backup.”

He reached over for a notepad and looked at some scribbled notes. “Poseidon’s group is closest to you, so I’ll send him a note.”

“Ain’t Aphrodite or Bia on right now?”

“Yeah, but given the incident at the hospital it wouldn’t surprise me if Zeus is sending them to back Athena up.”

“Well, it is what it is,” was the response. “We’ll make do and report to you what goes down. Atropos out.”

“We’ll be waiting. Olympus, out.” He then went and grabbed his rifle once more, heading over to kiss Sweetie. “Okay, I’m heading over to talk to Zeus and Hera. I’m sure they already know about this, but we’re going to need coordination. You sit tight, okay?”

“I can probably get there faster than you, even while pregnant,” Sweetie protested.

“I’m not going to risk you or the baby,” he told her in a firm voice. “Besides, I have a feeling that I might have to get out there and take a look at that drone in person. Lachesis might know hardware, but I’m the software guy.”

She gave him a worried look. “Just…be careful. You remember what happened last week.”

“I’ll be careful, I promise,” he told her. “I’m not going to leave you as a widow, not now, not ever.” Kissing her one last time, he then headed out the door of their surprisingly-still intact apartment.

Sweetie watched as he went to the ruined street, then started moving through cover. They were uncomfortably close to where the Octos had their base, and if they realized that, it would all be over for them.

Her knuckles went white as she gripped the windowsill as she watched the man she loved risk his life – when she knew it was her job to do that, not his. She placed a hand on her stomach, briefly hating herself and Button for being stupid enough to bring a new life into this world, when there might not be a future for their child.

She recalled last week and the bawling, horrified pregnant woman she had to hold as she delivered the bad news.

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what Two-Tone told Eclipse the last time he saw her,” Sweetie said in a sad tone, trying to convince herself everything would be okay in the end.

She never could.

BERRYVILLE, VIRGINIA
151327RJUL30:

It was amazing, sometimes, how some parts of a house felt so sacred. Sure, houses were for everyday life and for people to live and love in, raise their families and grow old in. But there were some parts of houses that seemed to be altars of a sort, memorabilia of a life gone from this world or something from the past. Applejack had known that sort of existence when she lived on the farm; her grandmother had dedicated a small portion of the living room wall to Bright Mac and Buttercup, the parents that Applejack had barely known before the car accident.

And now, as she stood in the living room of the house that Shining and Chrysalis called home, she knew the presence of a de facto family altar when she saw one.

She reached over and picked up the portrait, an image from 2023, or what seemed like a lifetime ago. In it was a younger Shining, posing for a picture, with a beautiful young woman next to him, a woman with beautiful olive skin, expressive violet eyes and long golden, rose and violet hair. The two between them held a bouncing little child, an adorable little girl with slight curls of violet and arctic blue framing eyes of light blue. She had her father’s eyes and her mother’s features, and as the three sat in the picnic area of Greenvale Park in downtown Canterlot, the future looked so bright and cheerful.

“There isn’t a day that doesn’t go by when he doesn’t miss them,” a voice said behind her. Applejack turned to see Chrysalis, holding a beer for her.

“I’m….” Applejack began to explain, but the other woman shook her head.

“You looked as though you knew what that kind of experience is like. Losing someone before you’re ready to.” She took a swig of her beer. “I’m lucky. I grew up with a charmed life in Badlands, New Mexico. Only child, my parents were as fit as fiddles and I’m sure they were fine until Decimation; they weren’t happy about me joining the Agency, but I like to think they were proud in the end. But Shining….” She sighed. “He loved Cadance, more than he could ever say. And his daughter? Flurry Heart? I just look at her and…well, I know this is going to sound strange, but it makes me angry. Angry to see that I have a stepdaughter that I’ll never get the chance to know.”

“Complex much?” Applejack asked as she accepted the beer from her coworker.

“Sorta. I know if Cadance was still alive, Shining and I wouldn’t be together. Hell, if Decimation hadn’t happened, we probably would have never even met. But I’m not jealous – I don’t have a right to be, nor am I that petty. I don’t begrudge him the fact that he still loves them, and I know he loves me. After all, the heart is too big not to love what you’ve lost and yet still care for what remains. Maybe that’s what makes us human, which is more than I can say about the Octos.” She smiled sadly and asked, “What about you?”

“Raised by my grandmother,” Applejack told her. “When I was nine, my parents were killed by a drunk driver. She survived without a scratch, but my parents…well, I remember there was a closed-coffin funeral for a reason. The woman that did it ended up serving a dime in prison, but it never felt like it was enough. My brother and I barely knew our parents, it felt like – and my kid sister doesn’t even remember them. I’d like to think they’re proud of what I’ve made of my life, but it’s not like I can ask them or anything, you know?”

“Well, here’s to the dead: may they rest better than we do,” Chrysalis said, holding her beer up. Applejack clinked her bottle against the other and both downed it.

“So, you hungry or anything? Shining’s almost got the burgers done, and we should probably rescue him from hearing any more of Dusty’s tall tales of when she was a pilot.”

Applejack laughed. “Yeah, French whores always do that.”

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “French whores?”

“Navy nickname for fighter jocks, because they carry themselves differently from other aviators. Don’t know if the Chair Force calls them anything similar.”

“I’m sure we can ask,” Chrysalis said as she ushered the SEAL towards the backyard, where Shining and Lighting were already mock-arguing over which service was the best. Applejack decided to stay out of the conversation; after all, everyone knew the answer to that – it was the Navy, obviously.

Still, as burgers were had, friendships were established and old stories were told, Applejack’s mind went back to the picture of Greenvale Park and a younger Shining Armor, taking a picture with his wife and child and unaware of the horrors that were yet to come just two years later. Applejack had already long left Canterlot by that time; in 2023, she was already a SEAL and deployed to hot spots around the world, back when the enemies were still fellow humans and things seemed so much simpler than they were now.

But that in itself was a lie, she knew – she’d betrayed Sunset and had her own regrets.

There wasn’t really something “simpler” for her.

CANTERLOT, COLORADO
151727TJUL30:

Sitting by the wreckage of the drone, a USAF RQ-180 Wraith, Button was busy pulling open the broken bay doors. Sweetie had been right; this was a message sent by the assholes in the government. The payload had far better protection than the rest of the aircraft, a clear sign it was meant to be a cargo drop, not ordnance. He wished he could save the whole of the wreckage – Lord knew what they could do with kitbashing the electronics and firmware into something they needed, but with a ruin slightly larger than a minivan, that was a non-starter. Best to set explosives and take the whole thing out.

“Hey, big guy, want to give me a hand with this?” Button turned to look at Bulk Biceps. Though he’d been a mountain of a man in his high school days, that always hid the gentle giant that he truly was. Somehow, adulthood had made him even bigger, and paradoxically even more gentle, almost timid. In many ways, he was like that one chiffon-haired girl that had been in the same age group as Bulk. Shutterfly, or something like that. In any case, in the time before Decimation, Bulk had run a hair salon and was known for his gentleness with his expansive female clientele. Now, he served as muscle for the resistance, though it was a passive sort of muscle, given that he was practically a conscientious objector.

“Sure thing,” Bulk said in that strangely racking voice of his. In many ways, it was like that comedian from decades ago – Bobcat – but unlike that comic, in Bulk’s case it wasn’t an act or an attempt to sound off-kilter. It was just who he was.

“Careful with that thing, Bulk. Could be valuable,” a third voice chimed in. Hearing that, Button chuckled; figured of all people she would be the most likely to freak out about it.

He looked up into apple green eyes. “Bloom,” he said simply, acknowledging her.

Apple Bloom looked back down at him, her long red hair tied back in a ponytail via a familiar yellow bow. Funny that she was in her mid-twenties and yet still rocked basically the same hairstyle she’d had all her life, it seemed. But the cold look in the once-vibrant eyes told a different tale. It was the tale of a woman that had gone through hell, the same as the rest of them. The look of a girl who had once dreamed of being an engineer or scientist, and was now one of his most cold and calculating snipers. She’d put her knowledge to math to use in a way far different than she’d done before, and many an Octo had fallen to her shots.

Since Sweetie’s sister had gone long before Decimation and Bloom had stayed, she was the closest thing that his wife had to a sister – and thus he to a sister-in-law. Additionally, they were working on the exoskeleton that would let Hera walk again, so they worked well together.

“That th’ payload?” Bloom asked him.

“Yeah, funny how that worked. Those jackboots shielded and padded the thing in order to make sure that we’d get it,” Button told him. “We’ll have to open the box later when it’s safe, but I get the feeling that if they wanted to kill us, they would’ve just dropped a nuke on us now and wiped their hands.”

Bloom frowned; they’d had this conversation before. “Button, they can’t be all bad,” she reminded him for what felt like the umpteenth time.

“Bloom, no offense, okay? I know your grandpa was a state senator, but that was ages ago, long before you were even born – and back before those fuckers in Washington abandoned us! Federal government pulled out whoever would run away and just left the rest of us to rot! And now, suddenly they give a fuck? There’s maybe, what, ten K of us left in this festering shithole that used to be our hometown and now they want to play nice? Fuck that.”

With some strain, Bulk pulled the second of the cargo boxes free. Hefting one over his shoulder, he waved over a couple of guys to help with the second one. “Can’t carry both of them and navigate the terrain,” he apologized.

“Hey, big guy, th’ fact that you’re able to do so in the first place is a miracle in and of itself,” Bloom said with a grin. “‘Bout the only good news we’ve had today.”

“Something wrong?” Button asked.

“Yeah. Given that it’s late afternoon and the drone crashed this morning, ain’t it strange that th’ Octos really haven’t come out? Ah mean, sure, we’ve got a couple o’ slagged corpses over there,” she said, pointing into the slight distance where some of the other resistance fighters stood, “but that wasn’t our doing; that was just wreckage from the drone and they were in the wrong place at th’ wrong time.”

“Maybe there’s a holiday they’re celebrating?” Bulk suggested.

“Like what? ‘Yay we fuckin’ killed another human’ day or something?” Bloom drawled.

“I’m not sure that’s it.”

Button thought about it. “No, she’s right. Given that this was a major tactical issue, I would think the Octos wouldn’t ignore it.”

“Maybe you’re just thinking too much like a human would,” Bulk reasoned. “I mean, do we really know how they think?”

“Sugar, they’re tryin’ to kill us all,” Bloom snarled. “Ah don’t really give a fuck what they think.”

The trio was about to argue more when a voice came over the radio: “Hey guys, you’d better hurry – something is going down over by the main entrance to the Octo base.”

Button smiled grimly. “Up for killing more Octos, Bloom?”

She gave a laugh. “Hey, we gotta make up the slack since you knocked up Sweetie.”

A keening cry rent the air, a sad yet high-pitched tone like nothing they’d ever heard before.

“That can’t be good,” Button said. “Okay, let’s wrap this shit up! Bulk, follow the others and see if you can get this to the subway station; we’ll take the shit underground to camp.” He pointed to two others. “Okay, you three give them cover. Do whatever you have to do to make sure this shit gets to camp safely, am I clear?” They nodded and got into position.

Bloom looked at two others. “You two cover us while we install the explosives.” She then pulled out a small radio and hit the button. “Atropos, what’s th’ eye in the sky say?”

“We have our folks engaging what looks to be like….” The voice faded off into nothingness before it became frantic. “Holy fuck! Get out of there, now! Our guys are getting slaughtered over there. I’m going to provide cover, but you need to get out of there quicktime!”

Bloom and Button looked at each other worriedly. “Atropos, what’s going—”

“Not now, Bloom!” came the response, followed by gunfire on the other end. “I’m busy!”

That was enough to get the groups to spring into action. Bloom took off her backpack and opened it, pulling out pipe bombs, as well as some electrical tape. “What do y’ think, one or two?”

“All of them,” he told her. “We need to make sure nothing’s left.”

“Gonna to take a while to make new ones,” Bloom said.

“Yeah, but better that than letting this fall in Octo control. I don’t want them to get any more advantages on us than they already have. We’re hanging by a thread already, and if the fucksticks in Washington have finally decided to descend from the Mountain to help us proles, then we can’t let their stuff be exposed either.”

The strange cries rang through the air again. In the distance gunshots could be heard, as well as screaming.

The group worked faster.

The Best Laid Plans...

PONYVILLE, OKLAHOMA
181021SJUL30:

Despite the fact that what she held against her right now made her skin crawl, Fluttershy tried to relax. She braced the frame against her right shoulder, looking down the scope, trying to recall what she remembered from the last time she did it.

“You’ll be fine, hon,” she could hear Flash say behind her. “It’s mostly muscle memory.”

“You know it isn’t,” she snapped at him, a little harder than intended. “I’m a healer, not a killer.”

“You know I don’t like doing that unless there’s no other alternative,” he said to her gently.

Fluttershy sighed, then set down the rifle, a P-90 USG, and looked at him. “I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she told him. “I just…I don’t like guns.”

“I know you don’t,” he replied. “And if I had my way, you wouldn’t touch one. But that choice was taken out of my hands – both of ours.” He went over and embraced her. “I have always wanted to keep you safe, love, but I can’t do that all the time.”

She smiled and kissed him. “I know.”

“Then let’s try this again, okay?”

Fluttershy nodded, returning to the fireline and rehefting the weapon. Originally, it wasn’t a weapon that the US Army tended to use, but given the immense destruction of weapon systems around the world in the past five years, the armies of the world used whatever they could get their hands on and it was now just as common for the US Army to use the P-90 as it was for Russian Special Forces to use XM8s. The remaining weapons factories around the world were now working together to try to field a globally-uniform weapon system that could be used by all nations, but rumors were of it being in development, not actually field tested just yet, so everyone had to make do with what was available.

Aiming carefully, Fluttershy pulled the trigger and the gun bucked. A small lick of flame tore away from the muzzle as the round cleared. However, the bullet missed the target, instead embedding itself into the concrete wall at the back of the firing range, far from her intended mark.

She frowned as she set the weapon down. “I’m not that bad of a shot!” she groused, ignoring her husband while he laughed, collapsing to the floor in fits while his wife huffed.

“That was,” he gasped between gales of laughter, “the worst shot I’ve ever seen!”

“Be glad I love you or you’d be the next thing I’d shoot at,” she said in a hurt tone.

“Yes, but I’d be perfectly safe – the surroundings would be the objects at threat,” he replied. He finally forced himself to calm down and looked at her. “It can’t be that hard to shoot a gun, can it? I mean, you’ve been exposed to them before. I recall Sunset had that airsoft gun she used to shoot all the time at Applejack’s place.”

Fluttershy was quiet for the longest time, before she said, “I remember that. She loved using that thing for target practice.” For some reason, the unicorn-turned-teen had a fascination with firearms, and though she had never intended to use them on anyone, she shot whenever she could.

“I used to be worried that she would do something stupid with those guns, but thankfully they were just for fun.” The two were silent for the longest time, reminiscing over someone common to their lives long gone and likely dead now.

After a few more awkward seconds, he said, “Okay, let’s try this again.” He walked over and grabbed a sidearm, setting that and the magazine on the table. “Make the shots and dinner’s on me, okay?”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then dinner’s on you – which it should be anyway, since you get paid more than I do,” he reminded her.

“But you’re my husband. You’re supposed to spoil me rotten because you love me,” she said with a smile, and he just shook his head, chuckling at the silliness of her words.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy picked up the sidearm and magazine and slid it into the well. She thought of the fun times she’d had with Sunset, long before it had all gone south. Though she’d never herself fired Sunset’s airsoft gun, she did remember how it came together.

The memories brought a bittersweet smile to her face. But from where he stood, Flash then looked at his wife as she started to glow with a green aura. “Flutters?”

She turned back to him and the glow stopped. “Yes?”

He wondered if he’d just imagined what he saw. “Everything alright?”

“I was just…reminiscing,” she admitted. “But I guess I should focus on what I need to do.” She set the gun down momentarily to slide on her safety glasses and ear protectors, then picked up, aimed, and fired. The pistol barked its tinny report as the woman fired, the weapon briefly buckling as each spent cartridge ejected away from the weapon.

When she put the gun down, she looked at her husband with a smile. “Let’s not go to the pizza place tonight, okay? Getting a little tired of that.” She then went to return the pistol to the gun rack, so the rangemaster could take care of it.

Flash jogged out to where the target was, and looked on with a shock. Perfect bullseye for the whole magazine. How the hell’d she do that?

He went back to ask her when one of his men rushed up to them. “Captain? Col. Spearhead is looking for you and the Major,” he said. “Said it’s urgent and for you to drop everything. I brought a car so we can get there soonest.”

Flash and Fluttershy looked at each other; whatever other weapons familiarization planned was now on hold. “Okay, Sergeant,” he said. “Let’s get going.”

“Thanks for coming, you two,” Spearhead said as they entered his office. “We just got word from the Mountain that they’re sending along some heavy hitters for this operation. They’re not just sending SEALs from SEAL Team SIX, but we’re getting their top platoon as well: The Amazons.”

“The Amazons, sir?” Fluttershy asked.

“Naval Special Warfare Development Group Platoon Alpha, codenamed ‘the Amazons’,” Spearhead clarified. “Their lone all-female team, their most effective squad, and, as I understand it, they’ve been in the worst of the fighting out there. These gals apparently know their shit far more than anyone else, which is why they’re taking the lead on this.” He reached over and handed them two folders. “But they’re not the only ones coming along for the ride.

“The President is worried about another Boston, so he’s authorized the use of the Changelings – a CIA wetworks group. The SEALs are there in case the Octos act up.” Spearhead shook his head. “The Changelings are there in case the locals act up.”

“What?” Fluttershy gasped.

“You heard me, Major. Personally, I don’t like it, either. And the more I hear about this, the less I like it. But I suppose I can bring that up with the project leader, Col. Shining Armor. I know Col. Armor; he’s a good man. But if he’s along for the ride that means that he’s had some say in all of this – but whether that’s as a voice of reason or as the fall guy, I don’t know.”

“Sir, I have to protest,” Fluttershy told him. “I don’t know much about the CIA, but even I know they’re not supposed to operate within the US—”

“Those are the old rules, Major,” Spearhead said. “With the Octos now trying to kill everyone, those rules went out the window. Nowadays, the only difference between the FBI’s intelligence group and the CIA’s is that the FBI are generally considered the nice folks.” He set down the folder. “In any case, that’s unimportant. I’m more concerned about whether or not your folks are ready to go.”

She looked at Flash. “Your call on that one, Captain.”

“Yeah, sure, make your husband do all the hard work,” he grumbled.

“Knock it off, you two,” Spearhead told them. “As it is, I’m already pushing several regs by sending you both on this mission. While I know you two are just joking, the fact is, many people won’t, and they’re not going to care that it’s just husband and wife banter. You’re a major, Fluttershy. Sentry reports to you as that, and for right now, only that.”

“Understood, sir,” she said, taking the hint. “In any case, from what I can tell, my people are good to go. We’ve been working with Flash’s company and although we’re not fighters, we’ll do our best not to be a burden.”

“And your assessment, Flash?”

“My senior cadre has been working with hers and they’re as good as we can make them. While they won’t be dyed-in-the-wool light fighters, they should be able to deal with the situation at hand.”

“That’s the most I can ask for. In any case, we have word that they will be here tomorrow. Afterwards, we’ll work things out with Col. Armor and figure out where to go from there. Chances are, we’ll be moving fast, so I expect you two to have your folks ready to move at a moment’s notice, got that?”

Fluttershy finally decided to put the elephant on the room on notice. “Request permission to speak freely, sir.”

“Granted, Major, though I already know what you’re going to say.”

“You don’t want to do this, do you? Send us, I mean.”

“No, and not just because of regulations. You two….” He sighed. “You two remind me a lot of my wife and I way back when. Happy as clams, living a peaceful life and not having to worry about aliens or anything of the like. You two were dragged into this because you’re both from Canterlot, and if what little we know so far is true, I may be sending you two – a pair who deserve much better than this – to your deaths. So, no, this isn’t easy at all, Fluttershy, and I don’t like this one Goddamn bit. Only solace I can take is that you’re going in protected by the best the government has.”

Flash looked at him, then his wife uneasily, not comfortable with the fact that as an accomplished soldier – and a police officer before that –he was still having to rely on someone else to do what needed to be done.

She then made her next request. “Sir, I’d also like to have Lt. Bolt come along with us. She’s worked hard to get my group up to snuff and she can serve as a company XO for me.”

“I think I can arrange that,” he told her, “just as long as you’re sure about it. Lt. Bolt is a communications officer, not infantry.”

“Then it’s more important that we have one of those along for the ride,” she told him. “If we’re going to succeed at this, sir, we’re going to need every chance at success.”

Spearhead looked at her and for a second he wondered he saw a mouse about to roar. “Then it’s best to make sure that I do so,” he said, templing his fingers against the desk. “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow, once it all starts. Dismissed, you two.”

As Flash and Fluttershy departed the colonel’s office, she commented, “We should probably look for quarters for the incoming SEALs. We can probably commandeer one of the abandoned apartment buildings that the town hasn’t used yet.”

“I’ll talk to my first sergeant and see if he can have the quartermasters get involved. As it is, we’re probably going to need some for their noncoms and enlisted troops.”

“A platoon, though? That’s smaller than your company. Will that be enough? Even for Special Warfare?”

“The President seems to think so. Plus, I once had the chance to train with some Green Berets. If the SEALs are anything like them, a platoon of them should be more than enough – hell, they’ll probably be more effective than my own people, and that’s saying a lot.”

She crossed her arms. “Also, there’s another thing we should consider.”

“Which is?”

She playfully jabbed a finger in his chest. “You promised me you were going to take me somewhere else tonight, right? I made the shots, so you owe me dinner at a decent restaurant, got that?”

He laughed. “What happened to the sweet, gentle girl I married?”

“You married her – that was the problem,” she said with a grin.

“Okay, get a room you two.” Bolt rushed over to meet them, briefly saluting both. “Flutters, are you sure about this?”

“I need someone I can trust,” she said to Bolt, “and I know I can trust you.”

“Thanks. I’ll try not to blow it.”

“Well, you can start by doing our work for us,” Flash suggested, looking slyly at his wife, who caught it immediately.

So did Bolt. “I just showed up at the worst time, didn’t I?”

“Yes you did, XO,” Fluttershy replied. “Now the Captain here is going to give you an assignment, and he and I are going to go work on procuring weapons for our company in the meanwhile.”

Bolt’s eyes narrowed. “Since when did ‘procuring weapons’ become a euphemism for ‘going back to the apartment to fool around’?”

“It didn’t – we really are going to go check on weapons for you guys,” Flash told Bolt.

“Yes, we use different euphemisms for sex,” Fluttershy said, leaning briefly against Flash.

WINCHESTER ARMY AIRFIELD, VIRGINIA
181837RJUL30:

Once upon a time, Winchester Regional Airport had been nothing more than a small municipal airfield, a place where cargo and hobbyist aircraft flitted in and out of, on its way to destinations elsewhere. But since the destruction of Washington DC and most of the military bases on the Eastern Seaboard, several municipal airports had been repurposed into military facilities in order to accommodate the war. The Air Force took over the Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport, turning it into Springwind Air Force Base; the former Leesburg Executive Airport was now busily being expanded as Naval Air Station Leesburg. Winchester Regional, with its proximity to the Mountain, had been no different; and as a result, had become Winchester Army Airfield.

At the moment, the majority of the “FAR Group” (as Lightning had nicknamed them) was meeting in a conference room inside the terminal building. Applejack had already introduced Tempest, Shipshape and her other senior personnel to them, and Tempest had arrived with new information: due to them now being semi-independent of DEVGRU, they were being assigned the official designation of SEAL Team SIX Detachment ONE. Additionally, an aircraft from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron FOUR SIX was now assigned to them, flying one of the new HV-22C “Super Osprey” aircraft specifically designed for special warfare use.

They were now going through the initial order of battle, though further planning would have to commence once they arrived at Ponyville.

“Look, all I’m saying, folks, is that we’re not going to be able to crowd in everyone into our craft,” Lt. Splitdown, the pilot of the aircraft, stated. “It was meant to carry a SEAL platoon, so we can probably squeeze in a couple of others, such as my aircrew, Ms. Chrysalis and the Colonel here, since we’re just doing a straight flight to Oklahoma. However, once we get ready for the hot zone, we’re not going to be able to carry a company of groundpounders and medics as well. And if we’re talking medical supplies and all that? Sorry, I’m flying a plane, not a destroyer.”

“We’ll work on that,” Lighting stated. “As it is, once we get this ball rolling, I’m not sure working out of rented CIA offices is going to cut it for us anymore.”

“Oh, and here I thought we were going to get some good coffee for a change,” Tempest said with a smirk.

“I’ll get right on that as soon as I can,” Lighting responded with equal humor. “Seriously, though, Colonel, if what Cmdr. Apple has stated is true, then we’re looking at having to move around the world at a moment’s notice.” She looked at Applejack. “You said you weren’t the only one who worked with this unicorn girl, right?”

“That’s true. But I have no idea where they are or even if they’re still alive,” Applejack answered. “And quite frankly, I don’t care. They were my friends once – but we ruined one of the best things in my life and each other in the process. Some things are meant to stay buried and some things are just best left behind.” The look in her eyes was one of uncomfortable pain and anger, something that the others hadn’t seen before and something that Tempest had only seen rarely.

Shining looked at his subordinate, then at Lt. Shadow and decided that she would be best to take care of it. He didn’t know Applejack as well as her subordinate did, and mission or not, Canterlot native or not, he figured it was best left between friends. Besides, being from Canterlot himself, everything he’d heard her say at the briefing with President Sombra, combined with follow-ups made him put two and two together in several places, as strange as it had seemed. The construction accident at Canterlot High School which he’d heard about, explained away simply as the result of so-called “concrete cancer” accrued over the school’s decades of operation; people had reported that demon, but at the time it had been dismissed as just special effects for a student film. Then there was the fireworks show in Greenvale Park during CHS’ high school talent contest, with pyrotechnics that somehow had sown chaos; people had reported seeing a giant winged unicorn, but that was later attributed to mass hysteria. And then there was the intramural games between his alma mater, Crystal Prep, and again, CHS, where things had once again gotten out of hand. He hadn’t found out what had occurred, other than that Crystal Prep was issued its first draw; and that the longtime principal, Abacus Cinch, had been fired over something that had occurred between her and a girl named Moondancer.

Both he and his wife agreed it was a good thing his sister had been sick with the flu that week, or likely Cinch probably would’ve roped her into whatever it was. As it was, Cadance couldn’t really remember for some reason, save that the board had promoted her to dean of women’s issues after the whole thing.

But now…now he knew that magic – magic?! – had been behind all of that, and that his subordinate had been a part of that mess. And now, without any understanding of what it was or the ramifications of what it would do, they were going to rely on it to save the human race. And clearly, Applejack had almost no interest of reinvolving herself in those affairs, which made him wonder exactly what it was that she had done as a teenager…and what had happened to make her shun it like no tomorrow.

Somehow, he wondered how much of the seventeen-year-old girl was still there in the twenty-nine-year-old woman, hating whatever it was that had happened a dozen years ago.

PONYVILLE, OKLAHOMA
181937SJUL30:

“I like this place,” Fluttershy said, looking at the décor of the restaurant. They were at a place deep inside the civilian sector of town, out where the military personnel rarely ventured, as it was more family-oriented, with bars and other venues catering to the Army at a minimum. “How’d you find it?”

“Boltie said if I didn’t take you here she’d frag me,” Flash said blandly. When his wife looked at him oddly, he grinned and added, “Seriously, there are flyers all over the main drag. Apparently a bunch of restaurants in this part of town are about to go out of business, because there’s not enough civilians still in town left in order to keep them afloat. None of them want to leave, so they’re trying to reach out to us. When I saw the flyer, the owner of this place was walking by and she insisted that we come here.”

“So…you did it because she’s throwing free food at us and not because you actually searched.”

“Well, if you put it that way,” he said, shrugging.

She giggled and picked up her hamburger, taking a bite out of it and savored the taste before setting it back down. “Hey, so long as the mission gets done, no one cares about what shortcuts are taken, right? That’s the Army way.”

“I’m so glad you approve, Major. I can die happy now.”

She took another bite and looked around. “You know, this reminds me of that old place we used to hang out at after school – Sugarcube Corner.”

“I remember,” he told her. “You were there so often it’s like you all had one of the seats reserved just for your group.”

She nodded. “Those were the days. But then we all fucked up and split apart, and I retreated into myself. Didn’t come back out of my shell until you ran into me at Cloudsdale U.”

“I remember that. You seemed so happy to see someone from CHS, even someone you didn’t hang around with before. And you weren’t the only one who was hurting by Sunset’s loss. She was my girlfriend, and then left me and then she came back…changed. And we….” He shook his head. “You know, what? Forget it – it’s in the past.”

“Is it?”

“How long have we been married now? It’s in the past, and I’m far surer of our marriage than I ever was of my relationship with Sunset. And in the end, it’s you and me.” He reached over and took her hands in his. “We’re going to make it out of here, we’re going to end this war, and then we’re going to start a family like you wanted.”

She smiled, falling practically in love with him once again. “You promise?”

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s a promise.”

WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA
182256RJUL30:

Even though she wasn’t familiar with the area, Tempest knew it wouldn’t take long to find her old friend.

“Figures…all I had to do was find the apple trees in the area, and I knew you’d be there,”

Applejack gestured at the apple tree. “Akero. It’s a cultivar that’s hard to find outside of Northern Europe. It’s the standard variety in Sweden and Estonia, if I remember.” She looked back at the abandoned house, surprisingly still in good condition. “Found this place one afternoon after borrowing a car and just deciding to take a drive. I was going to ask the Reclamation Authority if I can take ownership, but if we’re going to be moving away from the Mountain, I guess I shouldn’t count on it.”

Tempest looked around appreciatively. “Looks nice. Owners must’ve really liked this place.”

“I just like the fact that it’s twenty minutes away from the Mountain. I can relax in peace.”

“Bullshit. People like you and I don’t get peace. Not yet, anyway.” Tempest hopped onto the hood of the JLTV and lay on it, looking at the stars above. “You know, this really reminds me of where I grew up.”

“You never really told me about that.”

“Two-bit place in southwestern Wyoming called Kludgetown. Part mining town, part art enclave, all weird. My dads thought it’d be a great place to grow up – they were a bit idealistic about that sort of thing. We got insulted a lot, but they went out of their way to take it in stride; said that in the end, namecalling were just words that let them have power over you only if you let them.” She raised her hand to the air. “Sky just seemed to stretch on forever.” She then leaned up on her elbows and looked at her friend. “So, Jackie, want to cut the bullshit and tell me what’s wrong?”

“I’m not looking forward to returning. I left Canterlot because I destroyed everything I had there, and when I left, I thought I was going away for good and would never look back. But here I am, a dozen years later and headed back to my failures.”

“Everyone has regrets. I told you how I got the small scar under my eye, right?”

“Yeah, but you were in the right, as I recall. I drove away someone I cared about like a sister only to find out that it was my own flesh-and-blood sister that was the guilty party. We were all friends, all six of us, and in the end despite everything we said about our friendship being strong and sure, we didn’t even give Sunset a chance to prove she was telling the truth.” Applejack stared at the ground as if it would give an answer she’d been searching for years for. “I am – I was – Honesty, and yet I couldn’t get past my own prejudice to see she was telling the truth.”

Are you worried you’re not going to find her?”

“I’m more worried that I will – and I won’t know what to say. Did I tell you I had a dream the other night about her?” Applejack then went over her dream and how she seemed to have had a conversation with the wayward unicorn in it. “And in the end, she told me to forgive myself…but I don’t know if that was really her, or me just trying to convince my own guilty conscience.”

“Twelve years is a long time to be a martyr, Jackie.” Tempest shifted slightly. “I’ve known you for years and I’ve never known you to be this down on yourself. You’ve always bounced back before. Why not this time?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s the kid in me that wants Sunset to actually forgive her, and the adult I am now is just too jaded to believe it.”

“Or maybe you just need to hear it from her in person. Either way, that’s not going to happen until you step up and start pushing the dominos.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t have the luxury of that choice anymore,” Applejack reminded her. “I stepped into this, now I gotta step forward.”

Tempest gave her friend a grin. “Fuck Six, Jackie.”

Despite her mood, the blonde laughed. “Yeah, Fuck Six it is.”

CANTERLOT, COLORADO
182103TJUL30:

The cargo recovered from the downed drone turned out to be far more of a treasure trove than Button or the others had even imagined. Within the two crates were six military-grade hardened laptops running the latest edition of Windows, as well as enhanced solar panels and a few other things that had been developed or advanced in the outside world since they’d been cut off so many years ago.

But the biggest surprise had come on an accompanying tablet: a message recorded by Sombra, President of the United States (wasn’t the president Kibbitz? Had something happened to Washington?) Seated in what looked to be a location that didn’t look like the Oval Office, he faced the camera as he gave his speech:

“To the brave people of Canterlot: we know you’ve suffered, that you’ve put up with a lot to protect your homes and loved ones even as the war has raged on. But America has not forgotten you and now we aim to keep our promise to come back for you. Enclosed on the computers within are part of the plan to return to Canterlot and take back the city. We hope you’ll be there to join our forces when we do. Until then, Godspeed, and God Bless America.”

“Well,” Button said with disgust, “that has got to be the biggest line of bullshit ever. Wonder how many takes it took him to say it with a straight face? Goddamn jackboot.”

“And yet they supplied us with the stuff necessary to contact them,” Bloom told him. “He might be telling the truth, you know.”

“No way in hell he is. He’s a politician and you know how you can tell a politician is lying?” Button seethed. “He opens his mouth.” He looked at the rest of those assembled. “Well, you heard our dear President. How many of you out there actually believe he gives a damn about us?”

The group was currently in the remains of the cavernous Downtown subway station, the only place large enough to fit all of the resistance fighters, as well as those of the survivors who wanted a say in how things were done. The underground structure had thus become a central meeting hall as well as the defacto City Hall, given that the original building was a burnt, ruined husk. Between Downtown North’s labyrinthine corridors, walkways and platforms, it had become the true heart of Canterlot in this desperate time: part military-base, part gathering location and part market for those still working to survive in this hell.

For her part, Gilda looked at the face of the president on the large screen Button had displayed the message on. She took a drag of her handrolled cigarette, then threw away the rest. “Fuck that bastard,” she said. “Fuck them all. Where were they when our families were getting killed? Where was he when my kid sister Gabrielle died in my arms?” Her eyes narrowed, becoming amber pinholes of rage. “I’ll take the Octos over those fucking thugs any day – at least the Octos are clear and honest in their need to try to kill us.”

“I really doubt the government would contact us just to kill us,” a kid with a shaved head and messy clothing commented. He was the latter because he’d been one of the ones that had barely survived the earlier assault, and was waiting to give his grisly report. The former was because his dreadlocks, that he’d had for years, were now a liability and if he was going to cut them, he might as well go all the way. “I say we get in touch with them and take our chances.”

“There was a time when we couldn’t trust you,” one of the older adults in the room pointed out. “Stupid stoner kid now suddenly thinks he’s hot shit because you’ve killed a couple of aliens. Why the hell should we listen to you?”

“Because I grew up,” Sandalwood stated, giving the older man a glare. “Can you say the same?”

The older man stormed towards Sandalwood. “I oughta smack the smug off you, kid.”

The younger man closed the distance. “Bring it on, fossil. I’ll dust you like I did the Octos.”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” a clear, commanding voice rang out. “WE ARE NOT EACH OTHER’S ENEMY – THE ALIENS ARE!” Everyone in the room turned to look in the direction of the voice, and at once, the room turned to face the speaker.

Zeus and Hera were present, a sad look in the elder’s eyes. “We are the survivors of Canterlot! We rest on the bones of those who were sacrificed so that we could live! We vowed to take our city back and to honor those who fell – and you wish to squabble between yourselves? Do you forget that is what the Others likely want? For us to turn on one another, so that we may finish the job they started?”

Zeus glared at the older man first. “Old Book! You should know better than anyone else that these aren’t the kids that were in school when you were the Chief Librarian. These are adults with their own minds and own opinions, and you should respect that.”

Sandalwood was the next target. “And you, Sandalwood – you should know better. You’ve heard your respect as a grown man, but you need to do the same for others as well. Old Book has knowledge that you don’t, and it has been vital to our survival. Do you want to grow up in a world where your daughter has no respect for her own father, because he has never shown any to others?” Chastened, he backed down.

Firm eyes fixed on the group. “Everyone, this is a hard decision, I know. We’ve lost friends, family, loved ones…. We’ve lost too much. We can’t afford to lose ourselves as well: not as Canterlotians, not as people. We have to trust once more: not just each other, but the outside as well, or else the Others win, whether or not we free our world.” Zeus put a comforting hand on Hera’s shoulder. “As much as I understand the rage and the anger, we need to think about our children and our future. We can’t have that future if we become what we hate.”

The room was quiet for the longest time. Button himself sighed, kicking up dust, looking at his wife. He didn’t trust the government at all – but he did trust Zeus. Everyone did. And if that’s what Zeus wanted…

“It’s for our baby,” Sweetie told him softly.

“Fine,” he said softly. “For our baby.” He looked at Sweet Transmission, who was seated at one of the laptops, listening for a signal. “ST, let them know we’re here.”

Transmission looked up at him and nodded. “To any government operatives listening in on this channel,” she began. “This is the Canterlot resistance – we are reaching out to make contact. Repeat, to any government operatives listening in on this channel, this is the Canterlot resistance – we are reaching out to make contact….”

The Problems are Compounding

PONYVILLE, OKLAHOMA
200156SJUL30:

Applejack dreamed again.

She was back on the farm, sitting at the dinner table and doing her homework. She seemed to be the only one present in the house, even though it looked lived in. She paused and looked at herself. Though she couldn’t see her reflection unless she went to the bathroom, something told her she was her teenage self once more.

“A recollection of happier times.”

Applejack turned towards the stairs, seeing Sunset walk down them. She looked calm and at ease, and she wore the clothing that she had the day before everything went south – the day before the sleepover that Bloom and her friends had ruined and had cost everyone everything.

Applejack smiled. “You know,” she said, gesturing to the paperwork, “it was you that got me interested in math. I really never cared for it until you showed me how it worked in ballistics.” Even as she spoke, she wondered why she spoke with her current vocal affectations and not the one she’d lived with for most of her life. “Maybe you knew, before everyone else, I was always meant to hold a gun.”

“I never thought that, AJ.” Sunset walked over to the chair and sat down. “We were family. I just wanted you to do well.”

“Some family I was.”

“I thought we agreed that you would let go of the past.”

“I did – until I ran into Fluttershy. That bitch is here, and I have to go to Canterlot with her. Did you know—”

“—that she married Flash?” Sunset finished for her and Applejack looked at her, shocked. “I just know these things, you know.”

“Magic, right.” Applejack was silent for the longest time. “How can I forgive her? Forgive what we did to you?”

“It’s not your duty to forgive her, AJ; that’s mine – and I already did. Besides, I need you to work with her to find my book and then find the others. I need you all to come together.”

“Sunset, what if…what if I can’t? Fluttershy didn’t even know I was still alive. What if the others aren’t? Or they’re in a coma or something? What if I fail? Fail you?”

Sunset went over and hugged her foster sister. “You won’t fail,” Sunset told her with a smile. “Because I believe in you. And I believe in her. Work together and we’ll work from there.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Sunset gave Applejack another smile.

“This above all: to thine own self be true, Honesty.”

Applejack sat up in the bed, running a hand over her face to try to dispel the tiredness from her eyes.

“I wish you’d just come back and talk to me again – in person,” she said to the empty room.

CANTERLOT, COLORADO
200208TJUL30:

In the dim candlelight of the room, a young woman with long cerise hair in a braid that went over her shoulder worked out on a bench press. Ripped like a bodybuilder, she was proud of her muscled form, especially given that she’d been frail and weak as a child, and had been a late bloomer in high school as a result. Not the case now: between her form and her beauty, she caught the eye of just about everyone available. Not that it mattered much to her; her life wasn’t defined by the attentions of men or women.

Finally sitting up, she draped a towel over her breasts; though she was wearing a sports bra at the moment, her shirt was being fixed – a necessity, given that because of her build, typical women’s clothing no longer fit her and she more often than not had to wear men’s attire. It didn’t matter much anyway, she knew – the other person in the room hardly cared how she was dressed.

“You done sewing my shirt yet?” she called out to her partner.

“Yeah, almost done,” he said, sewing the last stitch in place before biting the end off and tying it in a knot. Finally, he threw the shirt over to her. “See if this works,” he said.

She removed the town then slid it on. “Like a charm,” she said with a smile. “Thanks, Grady.”

“No problem,” he replied with an equal grin. “So you’re going to actually stay up all night?”

“Don’t have much of a choice,” she told him. “With Sweetie down, Bloom and I have to do double work.”

“And yet I’ve never seen her do that. In fact, she’s probably in bed right now, snuggled against whoever it is she’s with tonight.”

“Grady, I wish you’d lay off her, okay? She’s a friend of mine.”

Gradient moved over to his bedroll and looked at Scootaloo. “Are we going to have this conversation again? Because I swear, it always ends the same way and you never listen anyway.”

“Look, I keep an eye out on all my friends, you included.” She gave a soft smile. “It’s too bad you’re gay, otherwise you would be the only guy for me, you know that?”

Gradient shook his head. “Gay or not, you have to be desperate if you want me.”

Scootaloo laughed. “Same old Gradient – always puts a smile on my face. See?”

He ran his hands through his long, shaggy cobalt-blue hair; at one time he considered himself a debonair metrosexual, but now, with survival more of a priority he had to admit he’d let himself go a little from those days. “Well, if it makes you feel better, you’re more of a match for me than most of the guys I dated back before Decimation.” He pointed at his chest. “Hell, I’m wearing the t-shirt you gave me at that concert we went to the week before it all happened.”

She turned, her purple eyes looking at what he wore. A lazy smile came over her face. “It is! I remember that shirt! We went to the Broken Desktops concert that year. You were annoyed that they didn’t have a pink shirt for guys, so I got you the largest woman size they had.” Her eyes filled with nostalgia. “Good times.”

“Yeah. I’m going to sleep now. Mind if I shut off the candle?”

She shook her head. “Naah, I can use the night vision goggles if need be.” He reached over, snuffed out the candle, leaving the two in the darkness, save for the starlit skies above.

After a few minutes, she asked, “Grady?”

“Yeah, I’m still awake,” he said with an unconvincing yawn.

“When this war is over, let’s get married, okay?”

“You’re joking – I can tell you’re joking,” he commented.

“No, I’m serious! You haven’t really dated anyone since forever, and with all my personal issues, I just never got around to the dating scene. So we’re perfect for each other.”

“No, it means we’re pathetic, Scoots.”

“Hey, you’re a guy, and it works regardless,” she said, joking. “Plus, in all seriousness, you’ve always been there for me. If there’s one lesson I learned in my life, it’s stick by your friends. Believe me, I’ve learned that lesson the hard way.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he told her. “Look, if you want me to relieve you in a few hours, that means I need to get some sleep, okay?”

“Yeah, I gotcha. Night, Grady.”

“Night, Scoots.”

Now seated in a lonely vigil while keeping an eye out for anything unusual, it gave her time to think – something she wasn’t entirely comfortable with. For starters, the bombed-out area she was in had once been Southside, the more rundown part of town. It had been where she’d ended up after all the fallout from the whole Anon-a-Miss debacle had occurred, after she’d been expelled from Canterlot High and ended up having to transfer to Southside High.

That had the add-on effect of her missing out on college, which meant that her parents kicked her out of the house at eighteen, making her live on her own. Fortunately, she was able to move in with Gradient, who had graduated the year before and was taking classes at Canterlot Community College. Between that and a thrilling job with Canterlot Collections as a sanitation engineer (aka waste manager, aka garbage collector), she was finally able to put her past behind her, especially given that due to distance, her friendship with Sweetie and Bloom had faded away.

Then Decimation came, and changed everything: Gradient’s boyfriend had been killed, their home and life decimated, and through it all they had not been successfully evacuated, instead being abandoned by the government when they could no longer hold the line against the alien invasion. Hundreds of thousands had died that day, and those who had been unfortunate enough to remain behind in Canterlot now had to eke out a life that was part modern, part medieval.

That had been her life for the past five years. And though she’d found out, much to her surprise, that Bloom and Sweetie had survived and had been trapped here as well. And now the three of them rekindled their friendship and forged that into a weapon, a trio of surprisingly capable snipers who had ended plenty of alien lives at the end of their rifles. And even though things weren’t as they were, Scootaloo allowed herself to feel comfortable once more with her friends.

But now things were changing. Sweetie was married and pregnant, bowing out of their battles as a result. Bloom had found herself a guy to call her own, and they were slowly but surely moving on with their lives as much as they could given the situation. And that meant Scootaloo would once again be on the outside looking in, left in a dead-end life while being in love with a guy she absolutely knew could never return her affections.

As if to add insult to injury, at that exact moment, the radio beside her crackled to life. “Olympus to Moerae. Are either of you up? Over.”

Scootaloo picked it up. “This is Atropos, go ahead.”

“Good! I…I just needed someone to talk to right now,” Sweetie said over the line. “Do you mind switching to channel 17? Over.”

Scootaloo twisted the knob on the radio just as Bloom’s voice then came over the line. “Sorry for takin’ so long. Was…a bit tied up.”

“Oh?” Sweetie said, her voice holding an impish lilt.

“Yeah, and Ah think he’s the one this time.”

“Really? Spill, Bloom, spill!”

Bloom sighed. “Fedora. Yeah, he’s a bit older, but he’s a sweet guy and just mah style.”

“Bloomie, we’re adults. Age ain’t nothing but a number, you know.”

Scootaloo wanted to say something but then was cut off by Bloom’s words: “He ain’t that old, Sweetie. Yeah, he’s about five years older than me, sure, but he makes me smile. Anyway, why’d ya call?”

“Well…the baby kicked and I didn’t want to wake Button. He’s been working night and day, so I wanted to give him a break, but I wanted to share the news with someone.”

“Well, that’s great! Maybe when the war’s over, we c’n do a double weddin’ – a real weddin’, where we can be brides as pretty as pictures!”

“Yeah, and Scoots can be our maid of honor!” Sweetie said. “I mean, she’s not tied up, right?”

Silence ran over the line for a few seconds before Sweetie suddenly realized she’d picked the worst words to say at the worst possible time.

Sure enough, Scootaloo got the unintended message. “Battery’s dying,” she lied. “I’m going to cut the call.”

Bloom, to her credit, tried to immediately salvage things. “Look, Scoots—”

“Atropos, out.” She switched to the main channel, knowing that even the two of them would have enough sense not to bother taking their argument there. She was sure enough anyway that once morning set in and Scootaloo went back to her apartment, Bloom would be there to apologize and try to make peace. And of course, in the end, Scootaloo would forgive her friends for that.

Because, sadly, maybe that was all she was really good for, anyway.

PONYVILLE, OKLAHOMA
200536SJUL30:

Two figures jogged up Evergreen Hill, running past the apple trees that lined the main pathway. The cloying scent of the fruits filled the crepuscular air and it made Fluttershy think of happier times. As the first rays of dawn poked over the horizon, starting the day, she had to wonder if others she knew were seeing this same morning and thought like she did…

…or if the aliens saw the beauty of the waking world as well, instead of just a place to slaughter.

Reaching the crest of the hill, the pair stopped. “Well, you’re getting better at this,” Flash said to his wife.

“Yeah, thank Boltie,” she said. “I wouldn’t have done it all without her.”

“You know, you’re supposed to keep in shape,” he reminded her.

“Yes, but I always took the swimming portion of the endurance tests, not the running. And with there being no pool here, I’ve had to adjust,” Fluttershy admitted. “In any case, I needed to get better so we can go back to Canterlot. It’s not going to be easy there.”

“Not by half,” a voice behind them said. “And this is almost literally a walk in the park for me.” The pair turned to see Applejack standing there, having jogged up the hill not in PT attire, but instead her NAVPATs. “Next time you run, you should get used to running in your ACUs. The more weight you can handle, the better. They’re not just for show.”

“AJ? But I thought—”

“I can’t do this alone. I would rather do so, but I can’t. Even I need to acknowledge my own shortcomings…to be honest with myself.” She looked at Fluttershy and the gulf between the two, wide as ever.

“I know,” Fluttershy spoke. “I had a dream last night where Sunset told me I wasn’t being kind to you. That I was so busy focused on my own pain that I didn’t acknowledge how you were feeling about all this.”

Applejack looked surprised. “She spoke to you last night as well?”

“She spoke to you, too?”

Flash looked at both women and asked, “Ladies, is there something I’m missing?”

“No, but it’s something we are,” Applejack said. “Look, I…I don’t trust you. Either of you. I can’t, not after what happened. But for her…. For Sunset, I need to learn how to do that again.” She offered her hand to Fluttershy. “She needs us.”

“I still think you’re a self-centered bitch for what you did, and I’m not sure I can forgive that either,” Fluttershy admitted. But she took Applejack’s hand in her own. “But we started somewhere years ago.”

“Yeah, we have done this dance before, haven’t we?”

“And we were just as stupid then,” Fluttershy said, nodding. “All that time and we never bothered to check to see if the messages to each other were really from one another. And ultimately we found out it was just because Sunset used lookalike numbers on Google Voice.”

“We were such idiots back then, weren’t we?”

“Absolutely.”

Watching from a distance, both Chrysalis and Tempest grinned. “She really needed that,” the spymaster said.

“Absolutely. I’ve known Jackie for years and she has a habit of carrying around guilt like an albatross around her neck, especially when she doesn’t have to.” Tempest’s eyes slid over to look at her friend from the side. “Kinda like someone else I know.”

“Temp, I’m the spymaster, which means I’m the one who gets to play mindgames, not you,” Chrysalis said, mock-pouting.

“We girls gotta stick together, you know,” Tempest said, turning away from her point halfway up the hill. “Besides, today’s a day for us to relax before it’s go-time, right? So go spend it with your guy. Because you don’t know what will happen.”

“I know,” Chrysalis said under her breath as she and Tempest jogged back down the hill. “And that’s what I’m afraid of.”

Meanwhile, in Spearhead’s office, two colonels were having a meeting. And one of them was definitely not happy about it.

“This is bullshit, Shining, and you know it!” Rising from his chair, Spearhead held the printed documents in his hands. Orders that had come in a few minutes ago and ones he was dutybound to follow.

Shining, seated in a chair across from him, nodded. “Spear, we do what we have to. Even my hands are tied on this one.”

Spearhead’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, really? You act as if you’re completely surprised. After all, you’re the one that sent out the message to the Mountain after our meeting, and lo and behold, I now have orders to transfer Cpt. Sentry and Maj. Fluttershy to your command, effective immediately.”

Shining looked at his colleague. “Those were my orders, Spear. From the Admiral, no less.”

“And you didn’t feel the need to tell me beforehand?”

Shining looked at the papers in Spear’s hand. “I have yet to actually read those documents. The only reason I even know they exist is because one of your sergeants told me about it and said she’d bring me the documentation later.” He sighed. “Look, I know what you’re thinking: that I’m taking your best doctor and one of your most promising company officers, is that it? Because if that’s the case, I can call the Mountain and have new officers here to replace them by the end of the week.”

“No. You, more than any person here, should know why.” Spear slapped the papers on the table. “They don’t deserve this, Shining. You know as well as I do if you take them, one of them or the other – probably Fluttershy – is not going to make it back.”

The smile vanished from Shining’s face. “I know. Believe me, Spear, I know. But they’re both from Canterlot, and my orders are clear.”

“Shining, those two are….” Spearhead sighed. “Flash doesn’t need to be like us. He doesn’t need to know what it’s like to lose the woman he loves the most. I still grieve over losing Rosevine, Sugarstripe and Blueblaze. And you’ve told me before how empty you feel without Cadance and Flurry. Do you want him to end up like either of us?”

“No, no I don’t. And honestly, when Jackie had reservations of working with them, my gut instinct was to agree with her. But they knew this unicorn girl as well. And that means that the safety of the world has to take priority over your feelings and mine. Besides, this is settled and it’s going to happen.”

“I just hope you’re not making a mistake that’s going to cost a life, Shining. I really don’t.”

“Yeah,” he said softly. “Same here.”

CANTERLOT, COLORADO
201441TJUL30:

Sure enough, the moment she arrived at the apartment she shared with Gradient, there was a note for Scootaloo to join Bloom at her assigned location over by Blackdot Avenue. Patrols by the Octos had increased there as of late, and Button and Zeus wanted to know why – and it was a big enough priority to split the Moerae for the time being.

“Look, you know she didn’t mean it,” Bloom told Scootaloo.

“Yes she did; she just didn’t mean to say it like that,” Scootaloo grunted. “Look, I really don’t want to have this discussion to begin with.”

“Ah c’n see that.” Bloom turned away from her weapon and looked at her friend. “Look, we want you to be happy, you know. And Ah’m not sure that stayin’ with a guy you love who can’t ever give you what you want is a good thing for you.”

Grabbing her own weapon, Scootaloo settled in; if she was going to have this argument with Bloom now, she may as well be of some use. As she got into position, she noticed a patrol moving two blocks beyond Blackdot, over on Treeline Parkway. From the way they moved, she could easily take one down, but unfortunately there was no real way to tell which one was in command – or even if a decapitation strike would be effective.

“Scoots, Ah’m being serious here,” Bloom told her. “Y’ might love Grady, but he’s never gonna look at you like that.”

Scootaloo closed her eyes, swore under her breath, and then looked at her friend. “You don’t know that.”

“How long have you been livin’ with him now? Ah mean, you told me that he had a live-in boyfriend when y’ first moved into his place. He ain’t dated anyone since, an’ you don’t tell us how things are goin’ in the smoochin’ department.”

“Maybe I like to keep that part of my life private?” Scootaloo hissed. “I mean, I really don’t need to hear conversations about how Sweetie rode Button until she got pregnant; or for that matter, how your guy hits your G-spot. You know, some of us like to keep our private lives private?”

“Scoots, Ah’m serious! You’re just hurtin’ yourself!” Bloom pled. “Ah know y’ love him. It’s obvious. But he can’t love you.”

“Yeah, whatever.” She turned back to her scope.

“Stop bein’ ornery and listen, will ya?”

“I did listen. I found someone I love. And maybe he doesn’t love me the same way. But in this world…at least I know I have someone. Probably the best I can ask for.” Letting her anger and frustration override her common sense, Scootaloo focused on the lead Octo, then pulled the trigger. Her rifle barked out, flames curling away from the muzzle as a single 7.62 NATO round sliced through the air, crossing the half-kilometer and tearing its way through one of the eyecoverings of the Octo. It went down with a scream and the others reacted, starting to change their colors to match the surroundings. But Scootaloo was quicker, having pulled the trigger once more. A second bullet speared forward, and a breath later a second dead Octo hit the ground, its dark green lifeblood staining the cracked and shattered street pavement.

“Guess that ends the argument fer now,” Bloom said, scrambling to her feet. It was time to scatter. “But Ah ain’t gonna let this one go, Scoots. Not at all.”

“Everything that had to be said has already been said,” Scootaloo said, slinging her rifle over her shoulder. “Anything after that is just words.”

The moment they left the building, they were greeted by the sizzle of energy blasts striking the location where they’d been; the Octos had quickly triangulated where the fire had come from and were responding in kind. Above them the office space where they had been detonated in a shower of fire and pulverized concrete. Chunks of building materials rained down on the two, sending both scattering, which the enemy took note of immediately.

Thin beams of white energy crossed the street, headed towards the pair but thankfully missing. Both Bloom and Scootaloo returned fire, but given that they were using sniper rifles, their weapons were not optimized for the kind of battle they now found themselves in – once the Octos sent in enough extra numbers, it would overwhelm the pair pretty much instantly, and given that they were an area of concern, that probably would happen fairly soon.

Cueing her radio, Bloom called out, “Moerae to anyone in the vicinity of Circle Square – we’re pinned down by the Octos and need backup!”

“This is Aura,” a voice called over the line. “My troops and I are nearby. How much opposition are you facing?”

Bloom looked at Scootaloo, who immediately peeked her head out from cover and a second later ducked back down, shaking her head. Bloom hissed into her radio, “We’re not sure.” A second later the ruins of a storefront behind them went up in flames and she said, “Isn’t gonna matter though if you guys don’t get here in time!”

“This is Ixion,” a gruff, male voice chimed in a few seconds later. “We’re nearby as well and on the way.”

“We’re moving as fast as we can! We’ll try to give you cover. Aura out.”

Initially, Scootaloo tried moving into a firing position that would let her longer barreled weapon fire. In the confined location that they were in, she was forced to use her pistol instead, which meant reduced range and power. With any luck, the Octos wouldn’t realize this and would either stay away, increasing their chances of survival; or close the gap and get into the range of the pistols. “You know, when we were younger I never thought I’d be in this situation,” she said, trying to make small talk.

Also in the same situation, Bloom pulled out her pistol as well. Unlike Scootaloo’s weapon, however, Bloom’s was a typical “Apple Bloom Special” – in this case a 3D-printed gun based on various blueprints she’d found on the internet years ago. She’d kept them out of curiosity, and now was using them to make her own weapons. Sure, they didn’t hold up as well as the ones everyone else used and she had to replace the plastic regularly, but in the ruins of Canterlot, plastic wasn’t exactly something that was hard to obtain.

Plus, there was an additional advantage that she had over Scootaloo’s sidearm: longer barrel, meaning longer range. The round spun true through the air, tearing a small hole through a third alien and dropping it to the ground. But with half the original patrol down, that was all but assured that there would be a retaliatory response. And less than a second later, it came: three white bolts came within striking range, and while Bloom was lucky enough that they weren’t close enough to kill, one of them hit the muzzle of her pistol, melting it instantly. She dropped the useless weapon as the scent of vaporized plastic filled the air.

“You okay?” Scootaloo asked, returning fire.

“Not at the moment, no,” she said. The redhead then pulled out her emergency weapon: a revolver that had been in her family at least since her grandfather. She never inquired as to where it had originated, but she found it fascinating enough that when it became time to take arms, she made it hers. Of course, it made it a burden to reload where needed, but at least she had enough plastic left over from her work to make enough moon clips.

She then opened fire, her revolver barking out a tinny sound as the bullets left the weapon. She wasn’t sure if her rounds had made the mark, but it would at least keep the bastards at bay a little longer, and right now every second counted.

“How much longer until reinforcements get here?” Scootaloo asked.

“Fuck if’n Ah know!” Bloom replied, dumping her spent cartidges and slapping another moon clip in. She had several on hand, but even those were going to run out sooner or later as the battle dragged on. “Ah’m sure Cotton’s movin’ as fast as she c—”

A massive beam of energy tore into the space between the two of them, slagging part of the car and sending both flying out of the way. Burnt metal flew everywhere, and one of the two screamed. A second later, flames and smoke filled the air, as well as the scent of burnt ozone, as if a lightning strike had just charbroiled the local surroundings.

Grunting, Scootaloo forced herself back to her feet, ignoring her rifle for the moment. “Looks like the fuckers brought out their heavy guns,” she groaned. “Reinforcements or not, we can’t stay here, Bloom. We need to get moving.” Silence. “Bloom?”

Scootaloo turned to see Bloom, on the ground, gritting her teeth and with a large piece of shrapnel embedded in her right leg. “Looks like Ah ain’t goin’ nowhere,” she grunted.

“Don’t pull it out; that looks like it might be near an artery.”

“Ain’t gonna matter, Scoots,” the redhead told her friend. “No way Cotton’s gonna get here in time.” She reached behind her, pulling out her remaining clips and offered both those and her revolver to Scootaloo. “Leave me your rifle,” she said. “Ah c’n cover for ya, an’ at least one of us’ll get out of this alive.”

“What? Why are you….” A second later, the realization sank in. “No! What the fuck are you even thinking, Bloom?”

“Ah’m thinkin’ Ah’m a dead woman one way or ‘nother,” she admitted. “At least one o’ us has t’ live for Sweetie’s sake. Can’t leave her baby without an aunt.”

“Oh, no, don’t you dare pull that shit on me!” Scoots snarled. “I’m not leaving you behind!”

Bloom was going to respond, but then a keening cry sounded in the air. “Great, those bastards are loosin’ whatever it is that’s makin’ that sound,” she grunted. “Definitely can’t be good. Y’ need to get out of here, Scoots!”

“I said no! I’m not leaving you behind, and that’s final!”

“Awww…you two are so cute,” another voice said behind them. The two of them looked to see a girl their age with short sky-blue hair and lilac eyes looking down at them. “Should I go find you two a hotel room?”

“Classy as always, Cotton,” Scootaloo said, glad to see the woman.

“Well, she can do classy. As for me, you two are buying me and my folks a round or two back at the bar,” a heavy-set man in his forties with thinning teal hair grunted as he scooted right next to Scootaloo. “So, I see you made some friends over there and they want to share the love.”

“Yeah, Build Up,” Bloom grunted. “As y’ can see, they love me soooo much. Don’t know how much more lovin’ Ah can take.”

“I can tell,” Cotton said, signaling for two of her own guys, who immediately fired on the Octos. “We’ll get you out of here, but it’s gonna be a long haul. You going to be able to walk?”

“I can carry her,” Scootaloo said, without hesitation.

“Lucky you,” Cotton cracked to Bloom. “I can’t get my husband to do foreplay right and you’re getting the whole romantic treatment.”

“Fuck you, Cotton,” both Bloom and Scootaloo said to their snarky ally.

“Yeah, but I’m straight, so you’ll just have to dream about it,” she said with a grin.

“Cotton,” Build Up said, cutting her off. He then waved two of his folks and gave them orders to clear an escape route. Looking back to Scootaloo, he said, “Run down 43rd, then make a turn at Rainbow Ridge. The emergency shelter should be open, and the guards there can escort you the rest of the way. We’ll call ahead for a medic.”

“We’ll buy you as much time as we can, but you’re going to have to move fast,” Cotton added. The unnatural howls got louder and she said, “Those things – whatever they are – are getting closer and I’m pretty sure none of us want to find out what they look like, especially if they made mincemeat of our other people earlier!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Scootaloo said, slinging her rifle around her shoulder, then scooping up Bloom as if it were nothing. “You just make it back, okay?”

“You’re buying the brews,” Lightning Flare, one of Cotton’s gunners, snarked.

“Yeah, and I drink a lot!” Plum Star, one of Build Up’s, added. “See you two back at HQ!”

“Don’t need to tell us twice!” Gingerly moving so that she wouldn’t aggravate Bloom’s injuries further, the two beat a hasty retreat away from the area.

“Well, we don’t have the dead weight to worry about anymore, folks,” Cotton ordered, “so we don’t have to be nice! Cut those sons of bitches down!” She and her patrol immediately fired as one, filling the space in between the two groups with gunfire. The Octos gave as good as they got, forcing the humans into cover. Tracers and plasma beams filled the air and the stench like burnt hair filled the immediate surroundings. Though the Resistance took down several Octos, Plum Star and Rainbow Writer died immediately, with the former taking a laser blast almost literally right between his eyes and the latter having part of her head blown off by the Octo’s heavy beam.

The keening noise grew louder, now accompanied by weird-sounding snarls. “Cotton, we need to get the fuck out of here!” Build Up told her. “They should hopefully be far enough that we can do a staggered retreat and lead them away in the opposite direction, towards 45th and Grassglen.”

“No shit!” she shouted back as a beam sizzled its way past her arm. “Okay, we’re getting out of here while we still can! Grab the lost weapons and rig Plum and Rainbow’s bodies – we’re not going to let them be used for whatever sick shit the Octos do with our dead!” While Build Up his troops out of the area, she set the charges on her fallen, fighting back the tears – Rain had been her best friend since high school and to see her go like this ripped Cotton’s heart out, but she couldn’t give up now.

She took her dead friend’s hand in hers as she set the charge in the other one. “Guess I’m the one naming my daughter after you, Rains,” she said softly. “Can’t cry now – I’ll do it when I’m safe.”

“Cotton, we gotta go,” Equinox Voyage, another one of her guys said.

“Yeah, I know.” Setting the timer on the charges for three minutes, the two of them grabbed Plum and Rainbow’s rifles and then beat an orderly retreat down the street, scooting behind safety and returning fire as quick as they could. Thankfully humans moved much faster than the Octos did, so they wouldn’t be able to keep up easily, and as long as they were lucky and didn’t sustain any more injuries, they would live to see the next day.

In the distance, she heard gunfire, likely from Build Up’s group. Chances were, he ran into a group of Octos trying to flank them, but the gunfire stopped quickly, and with no sounds of plasma weapons going off, it sounded as though he’d gotten the drop on them and they were free and clear. Additionally, she noted the Octos giving them chase were now backing off, which meant for the moment that they had succeeded.

“Okay, looks like we’re in the clear,” Cotton told her people. “Let’s hustle it up and get back to base!”

“Yeah, I can practically taste them brews!” one of her guys said.

“Yeah,” she said limply. She continued to force Rainbow’s death out of her mind. When she made it to safety, only then could she cry her heart out and properly mourn her friend. But for now, Button had put her in charge of her patrol, and it was her duty to make sure that that they made it to safety.

Breaking into a jog, she turned the corner onto Grasglen Boulevard…

…and became witness to an abattoir, as unnatural beasts howled and rushed towards them, teeth and sinews on full display.

PONYVILLE, OKLAHOMA
202307SJUL30:

She couldn’t sleep. Chrysalis got out of bed, leaving Shining behind in it. They’d went to bed early, opting to skip out on the pre-deployment celebrations so they could spend time together as a couple before things got professional again. That seemed like it happened all the more nowadays, and that there was precious little time they spent together as lovers and too much time as colleagues.

Her hands traveled down her toned belly, wondering what it would be like if she’d been pregnant. She hadn’t told Shining yet, but she was the kind of girl who wanted lots and lots of kids. She was, admittedly, an only child, but that was more because her mother’s illness prevented her from having any more children; her mother had plenty of siblings, as did her mother, and her mother before that.

Chrysalis chuckled silently, remembering that her father, a tenured entomologist at Badlands University, had once joked that the women in Chrysalis’ maternal family “bred like insects”, and that was hard to argue. She herself wanted lots of kids with Shining; maybe not the nineteen and counting that family on TV years ago had (even she had to admit that was going too far), but the proverbial “baseball team’s worth” sounded fine by her.

But the future could jeopardize that. What if they were to arrive in Canterlot to find that Shining’s wife had somehow survived? He was technically still married; he had never had her legally declared deceased because the legal mechanisms to do so just simply didn’t exist. In a desperate attempt to survive, no one simply worried whether anyone was truly still alive or not; for all intents and purposes, they either were, or they weren’t.

But even still, there was always the chance that she was; just a month ago Chrysalis had read a news article about a soldier whose wife was believed to have been killed during Decimation, but by a minor miracle, during the Boston debacle, she turned up alive…even though she’d ended up being one of the ones who started the riots. Fortunately, she’d been arrested rather than “pacified” by the Diamond Dogs, and though husband and wife united, she would have to sit in prison for her crimes while he continued fighting (President Sombra deciding to be “benevolent” and sentenced her to prison for the rest of the war instead of executing her for treason).

So it was possible that they could stroll onto the streets of downtown Canterlot, Cadance could run up and reunite with Shining…and Chrysalis would lose the man she loved more than anything. In many ways, that would hurt worse than if he’d died in battle.

Part of her wanted to go find a doctor, have him yank out her IUD, then for her to run back and climb back on top of Shining until she got a bun in her oven…but she knew that was just stupid. She was a professional, and they’d agreed to wait on children until after they married, which neither had really rushed plans for. A wedding just seemed like a frivolous thing at the moment, and given that they’d been together for a couple of years now, she partially felt married to him as is.

And like all wives in love, she worried that she would lose him. Not to war, but to his actual wife.

Silently, she went back to bed and crawled back in, snuggling next to him and feeling the warmth of his body and the strength of his muscles as she tried to go back to sleep. Maybe tomorrow would bring her worst fear, but for now, at least, she had him.

For now, at least, she would never let him go.

CANTERLOT, COLORADO
202047TJUL30:

“How’s she doing, Healthy?” Sweetie Belle asked Healthy Life, the current doctor on duty. Mostly self-taught, Healthy had been working on her pre-med studies when Decimation had occurred. Given that only a handful of people had survived with any sort of medical training, by virtue of her classes Healthy had become the de facto chief medical officer – and even she had to admit she was well in over her head.

Healthy gestured to one of the medical beds and on it, Apple Bloom, hooked up to an IV and mercifully asleep. “It was very close. A little more to the right and the shrapnel would’ve severed an artery and we’d have lost her. As it is, it’s going to take a while for her to heal, so she’s off the combat roster until further notice.”

“You mean permanently,” Sweetie told her. “When my husband hears about this, he’s going to insist that she come off for good. She’s our top engineer and technical guru – we can’t afford to lose her.” She sighed. “I know she’s going to hate that, but that’s not my call to make.”

“Well, to be honest, it’s not her I’m worried about. I’m more worried about Cotton. She was the only one who survived whatever the hell hit them, she’s severely injured to the point that she’s going to be permanently scarred, and I don’t mean just physically. I’m not a psychiatrist, but whatever the hell it was that she saw…it’s snapped her mind.”

“Well, if there’s anything I can do to help, Healthy, just let me know.”

“Yeah, but I suspect you can’t exactly conjure up miracles on a whim, can you?”

“No,” Sweetie said, recalling a girl – several girls – who once could…and the end of that at her own hands. “No, I can’t.”

Meanwhile, back at their apartment, Button looked over some computers, with Zeus, several patrol leaders and Scootaloo standing behind him. “We lost two patrol teams,” he growled. “I want to know what the fuck hit us that hard.”

“Well, fortunately, that was in a part of town that CPD and the CSP had covered with closed-circuit cameras, due to the proximity to the state capitol,” Tech Type, seated at one of the laptops, said. “My team checked them last month and they were still working, so we had them recording on a loop, feeding data to the mainframes at the capitol building. So with any luck, we should have a recording of whatever this new threat is.”

“Not sure of what would be worse,” Scootaloo said, folding her arms. “A new type of alien or if they had some sort of special warfare soldiers.”

“You saw the bodies of our dead,” Button told her. “Whatever it was that killed them, it wasn’t anything less than an animal. Say what you will about the Goddamn Octos, but even they don’t act like wild animals.”

“I know. That’s what scares me, Button.”

“Okay, looks like the cameras picked up something,” Tech said to the group. “Let me bring up the footage and…what the fuck?”

Onscreen, grainy timestamped video showed the fight between their forces and the new assailants…and what they saw horrified them. The creatures acted like animals, ripping off arms, tearing out throats and assaulting the militia without a care for their lives. Even though gunfire tore apart the new creatures easily, there were simply too many of them as they appeared through rips created by the Octos. Both patrol teams were eventually overwhelmed by the beasts. Eventually it devolved into an orgy of blood, with the beasts feeding on their dead, slaking their hunger before eventually following a signal sent by the Octos, heading uniformly towards a rip just as much as if they had been trained to follow a dog whistle.

After several minutes, slowly, painfully, Cotton started to move, crawling down the street covered in blood and leaving a severed leg behind. The people watched the lone survivor painfully crawl out of camera view before Tech Type turned off the camera, then ran for the nearest window in order to throw up.

“What the fuck was that?” a voice said.

“See if you can bring up a better image on those…things,” Zeus said, his blue eyes taking on a hard cast.

“Yeah,” Button agreed, looking at the computer. “Tech, are you up to it?”

“No,” she said, wiping her mouth and feeling the tang of bile in her throat still, “but we lost good people from those…things. We need to know how to stop them.” She sat back down at the computer and brought up the footage again, this time focusing on the creatures.

“Can we clear that up?” Zeus asked.

“Yeah, let me see what I can do. We are talking technology that’s nearly a decade old, after all.” She fiddled around with the settings a bit, ran it through some filters and police-grade equipment until she got the computer systems to give her a composite. Pointing to another screen, she said, “From what the system can identify, that thing is the leader – the alpha, if you will.”

On the second screen was a nightmarish figure that looked quadrupedal…but quadrupedal was a relative term. If anything, it looked like a severely deformed human that was made to walk on its knuckles, like an ape. The face was small, scrunched and reminiscent of a rat; the ears were pointed and enlarged on the side of a head that barely had a neck and almost seemed to merge directly into the body. The hands were large and splayed, while the feet were small and flat, with the toes apparently having merged together. The creature wore no clothing and was biologically like a human woman; even if technically nude not a single one of the guys felt anything less than revulsion.

Lastly two more features stood out: the creature had avocado-green skin, as if a mockery of a human; however, she had long, ragged blue-and-lilac hair that draped down from top of her pointed, semi-cylindrical head. Similar tufts of hair adorned her forearms and shins, as well as her pubic hair. Lastly, receded orange eyes were sunken into the face, with the sclera not present and the pupil being a long bar, similar to that of a goat.

The group looked at the mockery of a human on the screen. “Did they…did they try to create their own humans in order to kill us off?” Scootaloo, horrified by the creature on screen, asked.

“I don’t know,” Zeus stated, “but I hope to God we don’t find out.”

Iðunn

PONYVILLE, OKLAHOMA
210506SJUL30:

Five in the morning, a time when most reasonable people were asleep. However, in a farming community like Ponyville, that was reasonable for most people, and so the civilian population was up, attending to their farms and businesses, and generally readying for the day.

They weren’t the only ones. On the other side of town, the makeshift army base was alive with energy as well: on the tarmac, a Navy HV-22C sat, warming up for its flight, alongside two Air Force CV-22Bs and a C-130K. Not too far from them were their escorts: four heavily-armed Army RAH-66 Comanches. The crews of the aircraft were busy working on their equipment, readying for their imminent mission, with support personnel lending as much of a hand as they could.

Meanwhile, in another building, a conference was taking place. On a conference table littered with documents, tablets, coffee and breakfast sandwiches, Shining, Spearhead and several other planning officers met. Joining them were Applejack, Bolt, Flash, Tempest and several senior enlisted personnel from the three involved units. Splitdown, representing the pilots, was also present; and finally, several others were piped in via teleconference, one of which was Lightning Dust.

“Thanks for everyone’s attention,” Shining, leading the mission, began. “I know this isn’t going to be easy, but we’ll have little time to plan this once we arrive just outside of Canterlot, so we’d better do it now. We’re going to set up our entry into the city limits, as well as set up a distraction so our forces don’t meet heavy resistance. Fortunately, my executive officer’s been working on it.” He turned to look at Lightning’s image on screen. “Colonel?”

Onscreen, Lightning gave a terse nod. “The 489th Attack Squadron is going to give us a hand on this one. Once we’re ready to roll, they’ll hit it with every drone they have, as well as a couple of F-22Cs for pinpoint strikes. We should be able to cause enough of a ruckus there for our forces to move in from the south. I’ll also have a couple of units stand by as CAS for our ground forces.”

Shining looked at Flash. “I believe that’s your field, Captain.”

“Yes, sir. Under cover, we’ll move into the southern neighborhoods, looking for survivors and engage any Octo ground forces. That should leave room for the SEALs and a small group of combat medics to meet up with the Resistance brass, which is located here, in downtown.” He pointed on an old map of Canterlot. “We know they’re concentrated in the three central-most subway stations, so with luck we should be able to lend a hand quickly.”

“No,” Applejack cut in. “I don’t think that’s the right call.”

Spearhead looked at her. “Is there a reason you think that, Commander?”

The blonde looked back at him. “People are people regardless of nationality, race, whatever; culture aside, they have three main concerns, one of which is the safety of their home and hearth. While the subway stations might serve as a unified base and whatnot for the Resistance, I have a feeling we won’t find them there.”

“I’ll have to agree with that assessment,” Tempest added. “Every place we have been to, we’ve had to practically force people to evacuate their homes. In a disaster, sure, they’ll leave, but when it comes to fighting tooth and nail against invaders, well, old habits die hard, and humanity’s had those habits since sticks and stones.”

“Additionally, looking at these satellite images,” Applejack said, “there’s something about the eastern residential areas that the Octos haven’t touched. Granted, they have a heavy amount of infrastructure there, but there’s not much activity. I think there’s something there, protecting them.”

“Like what?” one of the other officers spoke.

But Fluttershy figured it out instantly. “CHS! That’s brilliant!”

Spearhead looked at her. “Care to fill us in, Major?”

“With all due respect, Colonel, I’m not sure everyone in the room is cleared for that,” Shining said. “Commander, would you run it past the base S-2 and see what they can come up with for us?”

“Already thinking along those lines, sir,” Applejack answered. “In any case, once we link up with the Resistance, then we can work on coming up with a plan to clear out Canterlot while Chrysalis here does her dirty work.”

That was Chrysalis’ cue. “As I said, I already have personnel in town, staying clear of both the Octos and the Resistance. They’ve already been doing some scouting, but once we’re in town we can start doing what we do best: sabotage, planting bombs, all that good asymmetrical warfare stuff.” She looked at Shining. “Once we’re given the word, we can pop the party favors.”

“Fair enough. What then?”

Applejack smiled. “Then we do what we do best…and those sons of bitches are going to pay.”

“Okay, finish up everything you need and get ready to roll,” Shining said. “I want us to be airborne no later than 0615 hours, got that?”

Immediately after the meeting was over, Applejack went and paid a visit to the base S-2 officer. While he hadn’t been able to attend the meeting due to other issues, he had already been briefed somewhat on what was going on. Even still, the naval officer’s question came out of left field for him.

“Uh, sure I can do that for you, Commander,” the intelligence officer told her, “but this is a little out of my league. I don’t have those kinds of assets available to me.”

“I know. I’m asking you to get a hold of Lt. Col. Dust at the FAR Group on the Mountain,” Applejack explained. “You’re an intelligence officer, Captain, and you can probably explain what we need better than I can. She’ll do the rest.”

He looked at her skeptically. “This is going to take some time, you know.”

“No it won’t. She’s got the authority to clear everything and get it as fast as possible – but I need you to work with her on that. Clear the decks for us and get me that information, got it? I need it before we have boots on deck.”

“I’ll do my best, ma’am,” he told her. He then turned to the soldiers under his command. “Okay, you heard the lady! Start digging up this info! I want it all and I want it now! Get moving, people!”

Finally the moment came and Applejack, carrying all her gear and walking towards her aircraft, found Fluttershy waiting for her. “AJ, do you have a moment?”

Applejack sighed. “Really not the time for this, Major,” she chided.

“As the medical officer on this mission, I’m making it the time,” Fluttershy told her with a frown. Her countenance then softened as she asked, “Are you ready for this? Ready to go home?”

“When I left Sweet Apple Acres, I never looked back and home’s been where I put my seabag,” Applejack responded. “But I get what you mean. Are you ready?”

“I’m not sure. I mean, the last time I saw the place Flash and I lived in was the day before, when Zephyr came by to try to borrow a few hundred from us for his latest crackpot plan.” Her face contorted into a frown of sorrow. “I mean, my brother was a lazyass and always had his head in the clouds, but I hope he made it out okay.”

Applejack placed a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “I’m sure she did.”

Fluttershy nodded, then asked, “Do you…um…still have your ‘abilities’?”

“No. I thought I did – at least I thought they came back when I was in Rome when I met up with the Queen – but no, I probably was imagining that. You?”

“Mine vanished shortly after Sunset left.”

“I suspect that happened to all of us. That’s part of the reason I started lifting weights; I mean, I’ve always been stronger than the average girl, but when you’re one of the first female SEALS, merely being ‘stronger than the average girl’ isn’t going to cut it. So I’m a mass of muscles now – I think I have more muscles than your husband.”

Fluttershy grinned. “Don’t tell Flash that – he’ll be jealous.” A thought then crossed her mind. “Speaking of which, do you have someone?”

“What’s with the question and answer session? We need to get in the air.”

“Sorry, I’m just…well, I want things to be back as they were,” Fluttershy told her. “We were friends once, AJ. I’d like that again.”

“Well…yes, I’m actually engaged,” Applejack admitted. She then reached under her shirt and withdrew an engagement ring attached to her dogtag chain. “Wildstyle and I hit it off, and I absolutely love him.”

“That’s great! When’s the wedding?”

In the distance, Applejack noted as Chrysalis waved to her, a sign that they needed to wrap up their impromptu conversation and report to their stations.

“There’s never going to be one,” she said sadly. As she walked away, she added, “He died six years ago while we were fighting ISIS.”

As she approached the Osprey, Chrysalis looked at her. “You okay, Jackie?”

“Yeah. Was just reminded about my fiancé,” she said to her friend. “I told you about what happened to him, right?”

“No, but we’ve got a flight ahead of us and I’m willing to listen,” the older woman told her. “That’s what friends are for, you know.”

“Thanks, Chryssie.”

Chrysalis merely gave a silent grin as she gestured towards their aircraft.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy jogged over to the C-130, where her unit was. She heard a voice call out, “Think fast!” and barely managed to catch the pack thrown at her in time.

“Seriously, Major, you’ve got to think faster,” Bolt laughed.

“I should make you ride on the outside of the plane for that, Lieutenant,” was Fluttershy’s semi-humorous response.

“Well, that would be awkward. In any case, hope you kissed your husband goodbye before you got on the plane.”

“Did that before we left our place,” Fluttershy responded. “He complained about PDA in uniform and fraternization, but I told him I’d let it slide as long as he made a habit of it.”

“Don’t you mean ‘Don’t make a habit of it’?”

An impish smile came to Fluttershy’s lips. “I know what I said.”

Bolt nodded with approval. “Gotcha.”

SOMEWHERE OVER SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS
210802SJUL30:

Seated towards the frontmost of the aircraft, three women had as much of a private chat as they could, given the environs and the other people on the aircraft. Given that Shining rode in the C-130 in order to talk to Fluttershy and Flash, it left Chrysalis, Tempest and Applejack to their own devices.

“I’m sorry to hear about that,” the spymaster said once Applejack had finished her tragic tale. “It’s never easy losing loved ones. Though I’m surprised you didn’t tell me about it earlier.”

“It’s not something I like to remind myself about,” Applejack told her. “My parents’ deaths are far enough in the past that it doesn’t bother me as much, but Wildstyle’s? Still a little too close to the bone, if you get what I mean.”

“What about you, Temp?”

Tempest grinned. “Haven’t found anyone who’s tied me down yet. Not for lack of trying, anyway.”

At this point, Splitdown called back from the cockpit, “Hey, hate to break up your impromptu Ladies Night, but we have Ponyville S-2 on the line for you, Jackie. We’re getting an encrypted broadcast now, if you want to take a look at it.”

Applejack got up from her seat and popped into the spare seat in the cockpit, where an open terminal sat. She then sat down at the console, turning on the screen.

“It’s encrypted, so it’s going to take a few seconds to go back and forth like an old radio,” he told her. “They’re using the callsign Orchard. Ours is Calico Four. Everyone else is set for the standard ones.”

“Thanks,” she said, slipping on the headset. The noise filters on the headset kicked in, decreasing the cacophony in the cockpit. “Orchard, this is Calico Four. You got something for me? Over.”

“Calico Four, this is Orchard. We got you loud and clear, over.”

“Okay, gimme what you have, over.”

“Roger that. Standby for S-2 Actual.” There was a pause and a different voice came online. “Commander? This is Cpt. Digdeep. We got that information you wanted, and I have no idea how you came up with it, but you were completely correct, over.”

She gave herself a congratulatory smile. I knew it. “Thanks for confirming the info, over.”

“Not a problem, Calico Four. Also, Orchard Actual has informed us of what’s going down, so we’ll be on standby at all hours until further notice. Best of luck and good hunting, over.”

“Thanks for the help, Captain. Calico Four, over and out.” She looked at Splitdown. “Can you put me in touch with the C-130? I have some info I have to pass to the Colonel. Also, if there’s a way for you, Chrysalis and Temp to listen in, you’re going to want this info, Splitdown.”

Splitdown looked at his copilot to indicate that he needed to take over. “Sure thing; let me dig up two more headsets for your folks and we can get this conversation underway. Callsign for the C-130 is Blackcat Seven.”

“Roger that,” Applejack said, while waiting for everyone else to be patched in.

FIREBASE APPLE CORNERS, COLORADO
210837TJUL30:

The aircraft group soared over Hunts Peak, the farthest north anyone was allowed to travel without permission, before making their descent to the landing strip, once a part of US Route 285, but now the main landing strip for Firebase Apple Corners. A few miles south of the Canterlot city limits, Apple Corners had been a sleepy bedroom suburb for the state capitol, and where most of the rurally-inclined folks of Canterlot County resided. Now, however, it was the last stop before the huge terra nullius that lay between the former city limits and the southernmost ruins of what had once been Canterlot.

The huge cargo aircraft touched down on the ground and landed with ease, rolling along a quarter of a mile before coming to a crawl in the heavy rain, following the aircraft directors as they ushered it towards the other craft present. Elsewhere, the Comanches pulled away, headed towards a different location on the sprawling tarmac. Finally, the two Ospreys came to a landing, alighting vertically like great birds coming towards a roost.

As Applejack looked out the window, she saw how much things had changed from when she’d last been here. Makeshift buildings and various structures were on either side of the facility, covering a wide swath of what had once been relatively empty roadway cut into the mountain pass between Apple Corners proper and Canterlot.

As she stepped off the Osprey, she could see the lettering painted onto the newly-built terminal building: WELCOME TO FIREBASE APPLE CORNERS with Pomum Ligni Quod Est Fortis in smaller type beneath it.

“‘Strong as an Apple Tree’,” Tempest quoted as she stepped off behind her.

“Wasn’t aware you knew Latin, Temp,” Applejack told her.

“I learned once back in high school because I was a total nerd back then,” she admitted with a shrug. “Kept it up because it generally screws with people.”

“Well, home sweet home,” Applejack commented, gesturing towards everything. “My family’s farm is what Apple Corners is named after. Though I don’t know if I’ll want to visit.”

“Then you should go home, see if there’s something still there, assuming that’s still your family’s farm.” Applejack turned to see Chrysalis as she stepped off the plane.

“Oh, you can bet your bucks it is, unless it’s been declared part of the DMZ. Apples don’t give up the land unless there’s no choice.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Family’s important – they deserve to see you again.”

“I haven’t spoken to any of them in ages,” she admitted. “I dunno. I left home on bad terms with my family and stopped speaking to them over a decade ago when my grandmother died. My brother called me an ungrateful cunt who couldn’t bother to come home to see the woman that had raised us after our parents died, and…. Well, I never answered the letter, and nothing’s been said since.”

“Then it’s even more important that you do so,” Chrysalis said jabbing a finger on Applejack’s chest. “Go see your Grandma’s grave – I’m sure that’s bothering you. Don’t let way late become too late. This is your chance to make things right, so don’t blow it, Jackie. Trust me, you don’t want the guilt on your shoulders”

“Hey, while we’re at it, I can see if your brother’s single,” Tempest added.

Chrysalis merely gave the blonde a look that said, See?

Applejack gave her friend and subordinate a glare and Tempest laughed. “Like you wouldn’t say the same thing if the situation was reversed.”

Meanwhile, as Fluttershy and the others stepped off the C-130 and onto the asphalt, Fluttershy looked around. “Never thought I’d find myself here again,” she said to herself.

Bolt joined her. “Home sweet home for you?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Not for me. Flash and I went to the Cloudsdale U., and stayed in the area. But this is someone’s home.” She pointed into the distance. “Cmdr. Apple’s family home is just a few miles south of here.”

“Think she’ll go home?”

“I don’t see why she wouldn’t; family has always been important to the Apples,” she said wistfully.

“Well, you should go with her, then. If you two are old friends, her family would probably enjoy seeing you again as well,” Bolt suggested. “But if you go, I wouldn’t recommend leaving your husband behind.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because he’s got a hot ass and I’m sorely tempted,” Bolt said with a wink. “I suspect that one lieutenant was thinking the same thing.”

“No, Temp has the hots for my brother.” Both turned to see Applejack walking towards them.

“Well, I remember when I had a thing for him,” Fluttershy admitted with a slight blush. “Too bad it didn’t work out.” She then saw her husband approaching and added, “Not giving you up though, even if you were the runner up.”

“Gee, thanks,” he drawled.

“Well, if he’s that good looking, can I come along?” Bolt asked.

“No, I’ll need some of you to stay here and actually prepare for the operation.” Shining approached the group. “Jackie, I don’t mind you and Fluttershy attending to some unfinished business here – I’ll probably be doing that myself – but I need those who aren’t local to do the immediate heavy lifting. That means both you and Lt. Shadow will be busy, Lt. Bolt.”

“Yes, sir, can do,” Bolt replied.

“Jackie, Chryssie told me about your family situation,” he told her. “I can’t order you to go see them, but given that I lost everything myself….”

“I’ll go, sir,” Applejack told him. “You’re all probably right that I need to. First, though, we need to check if I can get some wheels for the ride.”

“I think I can arrange that,” he said with an affable smile.

The operation got everything set for the next day, stowing everything in preparation for what was to come; after that, Shining gave the troops downtime, with orders that liberty would end at 2359 the following day. That gave Applejack enough time to secure a vehicle from the motor pool, as well as to give Shining information as to where they would be in case anything changed. Finally, in the early afternoon, Fluttershy, Applejack and Flash got in and went southbound, off of the base. What they saw surprised them.

Driving, Flash commented, “This road wasn’t here before.”

“Yeah, I spoke with the light colonel in charge of the base – turns out that they couldn’t keep 285 shut down forever, so they redirected it through the old Rhubarb and Carrot family farms before it goes back north. Ended up having to cut through the mountain, but it is what it is. In fact, they turned the old Carrot family house into a public relations center, so that the base can work with the townsfolk and vice versa. According to Col. Range, it’s worked out pretty well.”

“Townsfolk?” Flash asked.

“The old Carrot House? Golden Harvest’s old place?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah. Apparently, the house was abandoned, so you know what that means.” She grunted. “Goldie and I never got along real well, but at least she and her family didn’t deserve it.”

They passed a regional vehicle security stop and chatted for a few seconds with the soldiers before continuing on their drive. “Seems so long ago that we used to live just thirty minutes to the north of all this,” Flash said. “Almost feels like a different life – like I never lived any of this.”

“When’d you become a poet, Flash?”

“I was a musician, AJ, remember? Poetry is in my soul.” He cracked a smile. “Maybe when this is all over, I’ll get out of the Army, open up a music store and be that cool old man who can rock a guitar harder than Purple Haze.”

“You presume we’ll live that long,” Applejack told him, “and you also presume kids know what 1960s music sounds like nowadays.” She pointed to the sign. “Well, here we are. You ready to do this?”

“That’s what I should be asking you,” Fluttershy told her friend.

“Point a gun at my head, shout something in Arabic and threaten to rape and/or kill me,” Applejack muttered. “That would be easier to deal with than this.”

Eventually, they reached the town of Apple Corners, proper. Except, it wasn’t a small town anymore, but instead a small city. “When did this grow up?” Applejack wondered.

“This is the sort of thing I’ve had to see over the past five years,” Fluttershy told her. “No offense, AJ, but while you were overseas doing what you do, I had to watch the nation melt down from the inside. Places like Ponyville are ghosts of themselves, and the cities are wastelands. Meanwhile, new towns have sprung up – life goes on and people can’t live as refugees in tents forever.”

Flash nodded. “Yeah. Not that it matters much anymore but I’ve heard they moved the Canterlot County seat to Leadville shortly after Decimation and the state capitol is now Pueblo. They probably would’ve moved it to Denver, if it was still around.”

“What happened to Denver?” Applejack asked, not having heard anything about it.

“An Octo ship actually crash-landed there in the middle of town. Since they didn’t want us to capture it, they blew it up – and Denver along with it,” he said in disgust. “No one made it out of there alive, and where it used to be is nothing more than a crater now.”

Eventually, so lost for directions due to the city that had (to them) literally popped up out of nowhere, they were reduced to using GPS via the maps function on Flash’s phone. After a few more minutes, they found their bearing and ended up driving onto the grounds of Sweet Apple Acres, the address of which was no longer 3447 County Road 57, but 100 Founding Family Road.

As they pulled up, they noted a paved parking lot and a whole bunch of other trucks. “There’s…a lot of vehicles here,” Fluttershy mused. “Did we arrive during a party?”

“Yeah, sure more than I ever expected to see here,” Applejack commented, only for Fluttershy to get her attention, tapping her on the shoulder.

“No, look,” Fluttershy told the blonde. “Farmhands.”

Applejack looked in shock. “But that’s…that’s impossible! We never had that kind of money; that’s why Granny had to take the day job at CHS, so we could pay the mortgage on the place! That’s why we had to have friends and family over all the time to help us take care of the orchards, because we barely had anything after burying Ma and Pa!”

“I think you’re going to find that a lot of things have changed since you were last here,” Flash told her as they all got out of the vehicle.

The door to the house then swung open, and a gravelly voice said, “Ah, sorry – didn’t know Ah had a meetin’ with Col. Range t’day. Now what can Ah do fer y—” The voice gulped and said, “Applejack?”

Applejack flinched, then with a look of fear on her visage, she turned to look at the person who had just spoken to her. “Hi, Mac,” she said in a soft voice.

Fluttershy and Flash looked at the man as well, seeing how different Macintosh Apple had become.

The years had changed him much. Dressed in a red flannel shirt, blue jeans and wearing a stained baseball cap, he looked at the trio with deep green eyes, poking out from sandy blonde hair occasionally threaded with lines of gray. His face looked worn and aged, the look of a man who had known farm work all of his life, and from the neatly-trimmed beard he had, adulthood had given him a refined layer. But he looked at the blonde standing there in the camouflage, wondering if it was a dream.

“Yeah,” Applejack said softly. “It’s me.”

A trigger went off and he immediately burst forward, taking her in a huge bear hug and bawling; a second later, so was she. Their words devolved into incoherent blubbering, but Fluttershy swore she heard the words “I’m sorry” come from either person at one point or another. She wiped her own eyes and smiled, happy for this moment.

“Long time coming?” Flash said, blinking and wondering where the sand in his eyes had suddenly come from.

“Too long,” she said as she leaned against him.

The house looked different, much different than what Applejack recalled. Maybe it had been so long, or maybe the passing of time allowed Macintosh to put his imprint on the house, but she recalled the old place looking more homespun and less IKEA. Still, some signs remained: Granny’s collection of old souvenir plates. Her mother’s valuable collection of Pocket Dragons. Her father’s hunting rifles, mounted on the wall, though they looked as though they never saw any use.

“Army gave me a couple o’ surplus M4s in case o’ trouble,” the man admitted, then looked at her. “So, all grown up an’ in th’ Army?”

“Navy,” Applejack clarified. “I’m a Navy SEAL, one of the first women SEALs. I’m also an officer.”

He patted her on the shoulder. “Looks like y’ done good fer yerself. An’ Ah remember Fluttershy,” he said to the aforementioned woman.

“Hi, Mac,” Fluttershy said, hugging him. “Actually, I’m in the Army – Medical Corps.”

“Which one o’ them y’ with?” Macintosh asked Flash, offering his hand. “An’ Ah remember ya – y’ used t’ date Sunset, right?”

“Well, officially I’m here as part of my own unit in the mission,” he replied, shaking the other man’s hand. “But as for personally? Fluttershy and I have been married for seven years.”

“Well, looks like you’ve done well for yourself too, Mac,” Applejack said.

It was then that he realized…. “What happened t’ yer voice?”

“Long story, bro, long story. Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

“Nothing much t’ say, really,” Macintosh replied as he stroked his beard in thought. “You left, Ah took over th’ farm when Granny passed away, Bloom graduated from college—”

“Where is she?” Applejack asked. “I know out of all of us, she was the one who didn’t want the farm life most of all, but….”

“—got married, an’ had two kids, an’ after this all started and th’ town started buildin’ up, people picked me t’ be the new mayor o’ Apple Corners. Ah do that more’n th’ farm nowdays, but fortunately the wife helped t’ figure that whole mess out,” Macintosh finished, as if he had never stopped.

“You’re married, Mac?” Fluttershy asked.

“Eyup, an’ you know her, too,” he said, as they heard a car pull into the parking lot. “In fact, here she comes.”

Walking in the door was a woman not much younger than Mac, with coffee-brown skin, soft violet eyes and short white-and-blue hair. She was in a business suit and at the moment she was taking off her heels by the front door. “Mac, honey, we need to talk about the farm’s cider press. Old Man Doodle wants to raise a complaint again and he’s talking about going to the County over you because you own the farm and so ‘abuse of mayoral authority’, yadda yadda yadda.” She sighed. “And I thought I was the only one around here who was overdramatic in performance.” She then looked up. “Oh, I see you’re already talking to the Army.”

Macintosh smiled. “Not what y’ think, honey, not what y’ think.”

It was then that Applejack got her first look at her sister-in-law…

…Trixie Lulamoon.

“And so after college, I realized I really wasn’t good enough to do my magic act professionally, as much as I wanted to – believe me, it was a sobering reality check. I mean, I still perform on holidays and special occasions, but otherwise, not really. So I decided to go into law instead, and I’m much better at that – it certainly pays the bills, in any case,” she said with a grin. “Anyway, one day I get a call from my aunt Cheerilee, who tells me about a potential client, the grandson of one of her co-workers that had recently passed away. Being a CHS grad myself, I should’ve put two and two together, but I was more focused on the ‘new business’ part and less on the ‘do I know him?’ part. So I’m thinking, ‘Great, some dork who probably screwed things up worse after using one of those pre-made legal form websites’. So when this absolute hunk walks in the door and has these…eyes!...that are just…wow, and I spend the rest of the meeting literally trying not to reach over the table and kiss him!”

Macintosh laughed his ass off. “Meanwhile, Ah’m too busy tryin’ t’ save the farm t’ notice the gal across th’ table from me, makin’ googly eyes.” He put his arm around her and smiled. “Fortunately fer me, we hadta put a lot o’ time together, an’ Ah eventually got the hint, as well as realizin’ she’d been in th’ same grade as y’all.”

“Hey, I didn’t bill you for those hours!” Trixie told him.

“Just through t’ dates,” he said with a smile.

“Which, you, as a gentleman, insisted on!” She kissed him on the cheek, then continued, looking at Applejack. “So technically I run the farm now, and it’s a fairly profitable business. As for our personal lives, well, that’s been absolutely, well…magical, pun intended,” she said with a wink. “We have two lovely children: Toffee Apple, and Golden Star. They’re the sweetest little kids, AJ. I hope you get the chance to meet them. They could certainly use more family in their life.”

“Honey….” Macintosh started.

“No. Knowing you, you didn’t say anything, did you? Your sister is home for the first time in a dozen years, and you haven’t told her.” She sighed. “Macintosh, I love you more than words can say, and I am thrilled and proud to be your wife. But that means I know the good and the bad about you. And the way you shut down whenever there’s bad news?”

“What are you trying to say, Trixie?” Applejack asked. She was still trying to wrap her mind around how the egomaniac she knew back in high school now being well-adjusted and her sister-in-law.

“She’s gone! She’s gone, okay? She’s gone an’ it’s mah fault!” Macintosh shouted, catching everyone else off-guard. Looking into his sister’s eyes, he said, “After ya left, Bloom…she done got her degree in engineerin’, but by that time, Granny was gone, an’ well, she was an adult. We fought a lot. An’ when th’ Decimation occurred, she yelled at me fer bein a coward. Maybe Ah was, but mah focus was on savin’ th’ farm, not t’ mention that Ah was still more than a mite sore at her fer what she did t’ Sunset, so Ah told her t’ get out. She did – an’ Ah haven’t seen her since in th’ past five years.”

“So you’re saying…?”

“Our children were born after we lost her,” Trixie replied. “At least they’ll know one of their aunts.”

Applejack stood up from the table. “Excuse me….” she said in a sick tone. “I have to….” She immediately ran out of the house.

Fluttershy looked at the grieving man and his supportive wife, then to her own husband. “I’m going after her,” the woman announced as she followed her friend out the door.

“I’ll hold the fort,” Flash told her retreating form.

Applejack stood in a rose garden that faced the orchard. Nearly a separate plot on the grounds, this one was tended year-round, and cared for just as much as the apple trees were.

After all, roses and apples come from the same family – and those that are here loved them both, Applejack looked at the Apple Family Graveyard. Generations of her family had been buried here, dating back from Admiral Apple, the man who had moved to America after years at sea under the nation of his homeland. He’d settled here in the then-American frontier, anglicized his name to “Apple”, married a gal and started a family whose name was as American as apple pie.

And I’ve been the first to return to the other family trade, one we’d forgotten, Applejack thought to herself. The life of a Sailor, born to battle. She sat down in front of the newest graves: that of Buttercup and Bright Mac Apple, and next to them, Granny Smith. There was also a blank one; Applejack knew who that one belonged to as well.

“Ah don’t know whut t’ say,” she began, sitting down in front of the graves and using her natural voice for the first time in a while. “Ah had t’ leave. Ah probably shouldn’t’ve. Ah know that this all falls on me – it’s mah fault. Ah chased away Sunset when she needed me. Ah ran away when mah family needed me. An’ now, mah baby sister’s dead, b’cause Ah wasn’t here t’ talk sense inta her.

“Ah just wanna say: Ah’m sorry fer failin’ ya. Ah wuz a damn liar an’ selfish, an’ now Ah’ve lost jest about everyone Ah love. Ah don’t know how t’ make it right, save that Ah’m followin’ Flutters. Somehow, Sunset’s still alive an’ out there an’ needs us, even with all this. An’ Ah need t’ find her. Mah last sister left.”

She reached over and hugged her grandmother’s tombstone. “You were right, Granny. Sunset was family, even if she wasn’t an Apple. An’ Ah ruined that. An’ now Ah have t’ make it right.”

“They know.” Applejack turned to see her friend standing there. “They know you’re trying to make this right.”

“I…lost both my sisters, my grandmothers, my parents. I lost everything. I have a brother, a sister-in-law, a niece and a nephew,” the naval officer said, switching back to her daily speech. “I don’t want to lose anything else anymore, Flutters.”

Fluttershy offered her a hand. “You haven’t lost me.”

Applejack smiled. “And I appreciate that. But tomorrow’s going to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. Are you ready?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Going into battle? No, not the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Losing a patient?”

“Very hard, but not that either,” Fluttershy said. “No, the hardest thing I’d ever done was to look inside and see the kind of person that drove Sunset away – the person I’d become then and didn’t like. The person I’ve spent years trying not to be. And I hope when we see her again – really see her – that she knows I didn’t mean to be that person.”

“Yeah,” Applejack admitted in a sad tone. “I know what you mean. I gave up on myself. Took Wild to bring me back from the brink, and when I lost him, I went straight back to the edge, because it was the only thing that made me feel alive. But since I came across you again, I’ve realized something: I’m lying to myself by being there, even though I want to be. It wasn’t what I should be doing.”

“And now?”

Applejack felt something on her cheek and as she wiped at it, she hadn’t even realized she was crying. “Time to be honest with myself. And maybe then I can forgive myself for the woman I’ve become.”

Applejack and Fluttershy hugged, holding each other for the longest time.

After a few minutes, the two released each other. “So what now?” Fluttershy asked.

Applejack grinned. “I’m going to go in the house and bake the biggest apple pie I can. Need to flex them old Apple muscles, you know.”

Fluttershy giggled. “I want the first slice.”

The two women laughed away their pain into the night, and for the first time in a while, green and orange reached towards the sky.

Author's Note

Just to let you know: the story's going to go on break for a few weeks while I work on my novel for Nanowrimo. But it will be back right after that, promise!

Inside You, Forever Preaching

PRIPYAT, UKRAINE
212113BJUL30:

Night descended on hell.

Seated underneath the rusting ruins of the Ferris Wheel, Vytrachena Syhareta burned off the rest of his cigarette, then flicked it away. He knew he wasn’t supposed to smoke after dark – a sergeant had once told him the light of a smoke could be seen from miles away by people, much less the zalupa that were the Octos – but to be honest, he didn’t really care much. They had already ruined his life to begin with.

He had been a writer, working on his local newspaper the day Decimation came. The day when the aliens invaded and the so-called vaunted militaries of the West and the East crumpled like paper. Neither Washington, Moscow or Beijing was going to get the world out of this one, and unsurprisingly, when the world had started to gather its wits about them, 90% of humanity was dead.

Amongst that was his sweet Kvitka, his beautiful flower, whose face he would never see again. He still held onto the ring he was going to use to propose to her, that he wore around his neck. And since then, sure, he’d spent time with other women – he knew Zlata stayed with him only because she was afraid of being alone, pathetic thing that she was – he could never forget the woman that he truly loved, even after all this time.

At least Zlata was pregnant with his child, he mused grimly, fishing another cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it. He guessed she figured that now that he was going to be a father, he would stay with her. She was probably right, but only because the government had put a priority on better housing for soldiers with families, and if he were to leave her, he would probably have to move back into the barracks.

Not that that would be any better, not here in hell, anyway.

There was a time, fifty years ago, when this town had been important. And then Russian stupidity had doomed hundreds of lives and caused untold damage because those bastards couldn’t run a nuclear power plant to save their lives. The plant had been buried in concrete and steel, and the town, a radioactive hell, had been evacuated. International observers had been assigned here to make sure “it would never happen again” and in time, everyone forgot about Chernobyl.

Then Decimation came, and everyone ran for their lives. Now, people were living in the crumbling remains of Pripyat, not giving two shits about radioactivity – after all, the Japanese did okay after the Americans bombed the hell out of them nearly a century ago, right? Never mind the fact that Chernobyl was still within its concrete tomb, a dragon slumbering until disturbed and the world would suffer once again. People would die once again and this time there wouldn’t be anyone to give a damn, because the world was too busy fighting for its life while aliens were busy trying to kill everyone.

He took a puff from his cigarette and groaned; he needed a drink right now, but the still was broken and Arkhitektor, that bastard, insisted that they couldn’t fix it until replacement parts came from Kiev. Which was bullshit, he knew, because Kiev was a smoking crater. He knew; he’d been one of the refugees from there before he’d been drafted by the Ukrainian military, such as it was.

He was tapped in the shoulder and turned to see a flask held out to him. “Here, drink before I decide to finish this damn thing off myself.” Syhareta turned to see his old friend, Tsynizm, holding it out for him. Tsynizm had already been in the military when Syhareta had been drafted, and the two had become fast friends, sharing drinks, smokes, even a prostitute once. Syhareta, however, drew the line at sharing his girl with his friend, though; some things went just a little too far.

He took a swig, then handed it back. “This is good shit. Where’d you get it?”

Tsynizm laughed. “Mayor’s daughter. She’s a saucy little thing. Spent some time with her and she gave me this from the mayor’s private stash.”

“Mayor’s daughter? He finds out you’re fucking her, he’s going to cut off your dick.”

Tsynizm laughed all the more. “He’ll go after the Colonel, first, I’ll tell you that – the Colonel’s fucking his wife!” The two men laughed at that, then sat down as Syhareta gave his friend a cigarette.

Tsynizm took a drag and said, “Vytra, my friend, you need to go. We’re all dead here. No one’s going to notice you deserted – no one cares.” The look in Tsynizm’s face was bleak. “If the aliens don’t kill us, being here will. You’re going to be a father soon. There’s no life for a child here. Take your wife and go.”

“Tsycha, where the fuck am I going to go?”

“Why not Germany? You told me once you spoke some German.”

Syhareta took another swig from his friend’s flask. “That’s assuming Germany is still standing. Maybe the NATO bastards would welcome someone like me, but that’s assuming anything’s left. You remember what the Major said – even the Americans have fallen. And if they’ve shit their beds, I can guarantee Berlin’s a smoking fuckhole at this point.”

Tsynizm ran a hand through the blue curls on top of his head. “I’m just looking out for you. Trust me, I’m thinking about it, too.”

“Oh? What, Mayor’s daughter thinks that because you dicked her that you’re going to stay with her for life? I know you, my friend. Moment you get bored of her, you’ll find some other beauty with big tits and a wicked smile.”

“Maybe,” he said, nodding. “Or maybe I will stay with her. I stay long enough, might get me some points with Daddy and might be a way up the promotion ladder. Only way to make sure I stay alive.”

“You’re a cynical bastard, you know that?”

“My mother didn’t name me for nothing, you know. What about you? Thought about what you’re going to do when this is all over?”

Syhareta stared into the darkness for a long time, listening to the crickets in the distance. Somehow only the insects had survived the nuclear hellhole this place had become and though animals had long since returned to this place, they still gave Pripyat a wide berth. Maybe they were smarter than the humans that had returned, he mused darkly.

“Don’t know. I don’t love Zlata; I only hooked up with her because she was stupid enough to spread her legs for me. But now, with her pregnant, she’s all I have left. I don’t love her at all – but I probably should.” He finished off his cigarette and flicked the butt away again. “Isn’t that a laugh? I’m going to be a father soon and I really couldn’t care less.”

“Oh, you’ll care enough if she gives birth to a girl. Then you’ll be the father and I’m sure you won’t let her end up like—” The bray of a wolf sounded in the distance, and was immediately cut off with a yelp.

“What the fuck was that?” both men said as they went for their rifles. They stared into the darkness, pointing their guns and waiting for something. After a few seconds, there was no response.

“Hopefully it was nothing,” Syhareta said, unconvinced.

“Yeah, but I’d better call it in, just in case,” Tsynizm stated, reaching on his belt for his radio. “The major will have our asses if we don’t.” Bringing it to his head, he clicked the button and began. “Base, Patrol 1. We think we may have fo—”

Tsynizm never finished his sentence as a blast of white cut through the air and hit him straight in the head. His head, hand and the radio exploded in a spray of blood, bone, flesh and plastic, his body wobbling unsteadily as impulsive motions occurred. What was left of him took three steps towards Syhareta before it fell to the ground, spraying blood all over the remaining soldier.

Syhareta screamed in panic, falling to the ground and scooting away from his now-dead friend.

It was the one thing that saved his life.

Three beams cut through the air where he’d been a second before, and one more towards the ground a second after that. Knowing he was now in danger, he ran behind the safety of the ticket booth; hopefully he would be shielded from the alien rays long enough to get away. Panicked, he gasped out in deep breaths, his mind caught up in fear.

His mind flitted between shards of terror as he felt icy cold fear pour down his back. He immediately thought of Zlata, and the fact that he would never get to play with her body again; or the child she carried – he would never see it be born. His child would grow up without a father and would either turn out to be a bastard like him or the kind of woman that dallied with same.

No more beams came, and he risked taking a peek on the side of the building.

There, standing a distance away like robotic beasts of the damned, were a group of Octos. They looked armed and from their posture, it was clear that they had either thought they’d killed him or he mattered so little that he was no longer a priority. He watched as one of them walked over to Tsynizm’s corpse and poked it a couple of times with their energy rods before wandering away from it, uttering a watery, unnatural sound that must have been its native language.

If they were here, there had to be more. And given they had killed his friend without so much as a thought, they would easily do the same to the civilians.

He forced down his panic and picked up his radio, readying to call.

That was when he heard the first of the explosions in the distance. He turned to look towards the ruined city and the great concrete sarcophagus and it was alight with fire and detonation. The aliens had begun their attack on the city and the power plant.

He then realized if they destroyed the sarcophagus, the radiation released would be worse than the initial disaster. Everyone around would be killed instantly, and who knew how much else. And this time there would be nothing to stop them.

He tightened his grip around his gun, a weathered and battered AK-47 that had already been obsolete back well before Decimation. Now it was all that the Ukrainian Ground Forces had and needless to say, it would likely be no match for alien armor. Still, he had to do something, as the screams and smoke in the distance began to sound and the fires rose higher.

He would die, but at least he would die defending the Fatherland. Taking his final breath of life, he stood up, screamed and aimed…

…only to find the aliens dead and standing amongst them, holding a staff that seemed to be made from pure electricity, was a strange figure. Dressed in what looked to be some bizarre body armor based on medieval plate. The whole thing looked like a mix of carbon-fiber, light metals and various other things. But the strangest thing was the cape, which the figure wore as if it was some sort of American superhero.

He looked at the figure blankly, along with the dead aliens at its feet. Whatever had happened, the newcomer had destroyed the aliens quickly and without mercy.

The hooded stranger looked at him and spoke: “Ти поранений?” It was a woman’s voice, soft and cultured, so much so that he couldn’t put together the juxtaposition of brutal lioness with the gentle voice.

He stared at her and she spoke again: “Ти в шоці? Вам потрібна медична допомога?”

He then realized she was speaking to him. “I…no. I’m fine.”

The stranger nodded. “Good,” she said. “We have work to do.” She flexed her left hand and the energy staff went away as if it were nothing.

“What…what are….”

“A friend.” Her words were now terse. “We need to get to the center of town before it’s too late. If they destroy the sarcophagus, they’ll have easy access to the solar station.”

He’d forgotten about that: there was an automated solar power plant that had been built back in 2018. It had been fully automated since 2022, and even now after Decimation had served as a vital energy source for Ukraine. “Why would they want…?”

“They don’t,” the woman told him as she started running towards the town. Despite her armor and trailing cape, she moved as if it weighed nothing at all, and he found himself struggling to keep up with her. “They plan to use the destruction of the sarcophagus to kill everyone here, then destroy the solar station. Without anyone present, there won’t be anyone to repair the solar plant.”

Magenta eyes opened in shock. “What? But the people here are refugees! They know nothing about repairing complex machinery!”

“The Octos aren’t inclined to care,” the stranger said, as they reached the center of town. Around them, buildings were burning, people were screaming and bodies lay still on the ground. Above them, an Octo ship opened fire on the sarcophagus, burning it with great beams of energy.

“Here’s where we make our stand,” she told him.

He looked around – they were out in the wide open, with no cover around them. “Are you crazy?”

“Yes. But I’m getting better every day,” was her only response. She looked at him once more, her face unreadable behind the silvery mask. “I want you to evacuate everyone you can – leave the aliens to me and fire only if you must. Is that your weapon?”

“Um…yes?”

“Worthless antique.” She ripped it out of his hand, throwing it into one of the burning buildings. She then somehow magically called something from nowhere, putting it in his hands. “Use this instead.”

He looked at the weapon she’d given him. It was like nothing he’d ever seen before: a sleek and futuristic bullpup rifle, its black-and-cobalt color scheme looked more like something the Americans would use than anything else. Hell, if he had to guess, it looked like something out of Japanese science fiction. He almost wondered if he could point it at the enemy and fry them in laser fire, just as they had done to his friend.

She pointed. “Go. Save your people,” she ordered.

He turned to do so, then turned back and looked one final time at his benefactor. “Who are you?”

He swore he could feel the woman smile, despite the fact that he couldn’t see it.

“Королева ножів.”

She then rushed towards the nuclear power plant, moving even faster than she had before. He in turn moved towards the survivors. He had his family to save, and then after that, the town.

Coming to a stop before the toppled brick wall that had once been the perimeter of the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, she looked around. Groups of Octos were fighting a pitched battle against the Ukrainian soldiers that had been stationed here to prevent the breach. The Octos were on the verge of victory, both on the ground and in the sky, where their starship floated, unopposed, firing down on the steel structure. Amazingly it had withstood the plasmafire, but it couldn’t hold out forever.

The Queen looked at the odds and decided it was time to change them.

“Computer,” she told her combat gear, “Music selection, if you please.”

{{QUERY: MUSIC REQUEST?}}

“Something…classical,” she said, as she called blazing fire to her hands. A second later, a fanciful revolver that looked more like a work of art than a weapon appeared in her left hand, and she pointed it.

The trigger was pulled and as it did, music began to pulse in her ears, thunderous guitars and chunky bass that accompanied the blast of burning starfire that slammed into the side of the alien ship. A second later, it cored through it, sending the alien ship listing towards the Earth, smoking from the massive hole that had been torn through its hull.

All eyes – human and Octo – looked at her.

She stepped forward, into battle.

“Hey you, hey you, Devil’s little sister –
Listening to your twisted transistor
Hold it between your legs
Turn it up, turn it up
The wind is coming through,
Can’t get enough”

The Queen rushed towards her opponents, who immediately began firing on her. Bolts of white-hot plasma began to tear through the air towards her, yet somehow missing. As she got closer to them, she leapt into the air, spinning like a ballerina of war as she began to glow with that same fiery energy again.

“A lonely life, where no one understands you
But don’t give up, because the music do!
Music do!
Music do!
Music do!
Music do!
Music do!
Music do!”

A storm of fireknives boiled away from her, rushing towards the enemy like warbirds in flight. Each knife that hit an Octo incinerated the alien on contact, and within less than a second, a dozen of them simply ceased to exist, felled by the literal power of the sun. The Queen landed amongst the remaining members of the first group, and with a scream, summoned two knives of burning violet energy…

…then vanished.

“Because the music do
And then it’s reaching
Inside you, forever preaching,
‘Fuck you too!’
Your screams will whisper
Hang on you
Twisted transistor”

A figure of smoke zigzagged between the remaining Octos in the first group. In each case the figure coalesced into the figure of the Queen, slamming her opponent with explosive power before turning into smoke and going after the next one. Time after time the Octos fell to her blades, and by the time her spell stopped, most of the first group had been removed.

She turned and looked at the shellshocked soldiers and screamed at them, “БОТИ ДО ОСТАТОРИ!”

One by one they moved into action, stirred by the incredible figure before them. A second group of Octos began to move toward them, firing at them, filling the area with sulfuric white plasma bolts as the two sides traded fire.

“Hey you, hey you, finally you get it
The world – it can eat you if you let it
And as your tears fall on
Your breast, your dress
Vibrations coming through –
You’re in a mess”

With a cold fury, the Queen summoned an amethyst bow made of the same dark energies as her long knives. Without a concern, she immediately drew back the energy bow and fired.

“A lonely life, where no one understands you
But don’t give up, because the music do!
Music do!
Music do!
Music do!
Music do!
Music do!
Music do!”

Several blasts of energy slammed into the Octos, anchoring them in place, tractor beams made of spellfire. Held in place by the energy tethers, the aliens could only move slowly, unable to fire and or do much more than scream in rage. Sensing the advantage, the Ukrainian soldiers fired in their would-be assailants, cutting them down with countless rounds of depleted uranium.

The Queen turned and tethered a second group of them, deciding to go after them herself. She bolted towards them, calling forth her staff, lightning tracing a path up and down the length of the electric-blue staff. She tore into the center of them, sending pieces of aliens flying, attacking without any mercy whatsoever.

“Because the music do
And then it’s reaching
Inside you, forever preaching,
‘Fuck you too!’
Your screams will whisper
Hang on you
Twisted transistor”

Within minutes, the tide of the battle had turned, and the invading Octo forces suddenly found themselves repulsed by both the Queen and the rejuvenated Ukrainian Ground Forces. They would hold the line, prevent the destruction of Chernobyl and save the lives of the refugees hiding in the ghostly buildings of Pripyat.

Stories had been told about the Zone of Alienation, from the truth to the fanciful, from poachers to stalkers. And now, it would tell of heroes, as the defenders fought to the last, men and women bringing their might against the Octos.

“ZLATA!” Syhareta raced towards the building that she and he had been living in. It was on fire and there were several aliens around it, trying to burn the structure to its foundations as if it were all one great campfire.

Without even thinking twice, he raised his new rifle and fired. The weapon complied without so much as even bucking from recoil, sending out a lick of gunfire. Across the yawning distance, an Octo went down in bloody chunks, cut down by the gunfire. Emboldened, he continued to fire, not giving them even the slightest chance to return fire.

As he reached the door, the flames had begun to climb to the second of three floors. “ZLATA!” he screamed. “WHERE ARE YOU?”

“Vytra!” He heard the voice behind him and turned. Once, she had been this alluring sweet thing, with a perfectly fuckable body, smoky gray eyes and long gold-and-violet hair. Now, her hair had been cut short, and her belly was swollen, preventing him from getting between her thighs anytime soon.

She had never looked lovelier to him than in that moment.

She moved forward, holding him, crying on his chest. He held her close, stroking her hair as he slung his new rifle around his shoulder. Strangely enough, even though it didn’t have a sling, it adhered to his back without so much as moving.

“I thought…I thought I’d never see you again!” she sobbed. “I thought you’d leave me behind or you’d died or….”

“No,” he told her, and within his heart, he knew it. Despite everything, he knew he would never leave her. “You are my wife,” he told her gently, lifting her face up so his magenta eyes looked into her gray ones. “The mother of my child. I would not leave my beloved behind.” That made her cry all the more, and he held her closer for it.

The aliens tried to take everything from him – from both the Ukraine and from him personally.

He would see to it, thanks to his mysterious benefactor, that they would be very mistaken.

The Queen moved amongst friend and foe, acting with calculated efficiency. To her fellow humans, she offered words of encouragement, strength and support. To her enemies, she offered the slings and arrows of war, each aimed with a cold cruelty towards those who would slaughter mankind.

Each wave of Octos that came was met with a fierce response, and as the hours wore down, the waves became less and less, spaced out more, and though a brave defender or two fell occasionally, it paled beside the numbers of the alien dead that littered the grounds of the derelict power plant.

Finally, the first rays of light began to peek over the horizon and the alien starship, having been heavily damaged earlier, returned to the scene, and as one, the aliens began to vanish, clearly teleported within the vessel. Finally, the large ship moved away as the scream of Russian Air Force Su-57 stealth fighters sounded in the air above. Though the fighters immediately gave chase, they could not keep up as the alien ship breached the atmosphere, heading into the inky darkness of space.

A few moments later, additional sounds could be heard: the sound of helicopters, as forces from the Russian and Belarusian militaries moved in to relieve the beleaguered Ukrainian forces. But the reinforcements had arrived at a time when they were no longer needed, as the valiant defenders threw up cheers of victory and prayers for those lost in battle. In the end, the bodies of both victors and assailants would have to be buried, the dead honored and plans made to continue to protect Chernobyl. Now more than ever, its defense had to be carefully maintained, now that they knew the risks and the potential for disaster.

Walking through the fields of the dead, checking to see which of the downed somehow managed to remain alive, she methodically executed any that did, while she called for medical attention for the wounded humans that had miraculously lived through the battle. Many of them would have injuries that would be lifelong, but at least they would live to see another day.

As she finished up and the sun rose in full, her armor glittered in the light, giving all the impression of an angel amongst them – an angel of war, having come down from the heavens to punish the wicked and save the faithful. Several people rushed up to her and gave her thanks, chittering along in Ukrainian, Russian and even Turkish in one case.

She gave them all her thanks in their native languages, much to the surprise of those present, answering their questions patiently and carefully. No, she wasn’t Russian – or American or Chinese or anything like that. Yes, she was using magic. Yes, she was human. Yes, she was single – but she was planning to stay that way. No, she couldn’t stay; others needed her help as well and she had world to defend.

Finally, as she began to wind up, she encountered Syhareta. He had a fierce, protective look in his eyes, and the woman holding onto his arm was likely the reason why.

“I see you survived,” the Queen told him.

“I did. I presume you’ll be wanting this back?” he told her, offering the gun.

She looked at him, then shook her head. “No. The Ukraine needs brave soldiers like you, effective ones.” She then glanced at the woman, adding, “ones that know what to fight for. That weapon will help. In fact….” She moved her right hand as if performing a slight-of-hand trick and produced a glass disc, handing it to him.

“What is this?”

“It’s a 5D Memory Crystal,” she told him. “They were experimental a decade ago – hopefully someone should be able to read it now. The designs for that gun are on that disc. It will help in the battles to come.”

“Should I give up my gun as well?”

She shook her head again. “No – that one is yours. It will only be yours. The disc will create others.”

“I see,” Syhareta said, confused but taking the disc nonetheless. “I will do what I can. You have my word.”

“I know,” she said, then turned. “It is time for me to go. Others need me as well.” The Queen started walking away, and dissolved into motes of light, and was gone by her third step.

“An angel,” Zatla said to Syhareta. “She had to be an angel sent to help us.”

Syhareta looked at the crystal in his hand and his promise to the Queen. He would not fail her. “We need to go.”

“Go?”

“This is no place for our child, amongst this radioactive hell. This is no place for you. Our world is in peril and we have been given a chance to save it. We need to take this information to the government. They’ll know what to do.”

Zlata looked at him. “I go wherever you go,” she told him.

He put his arm around her, holding her close. In a matter of hours, his world had completely changed. As the days wound on, how much more would change?

APPLE CORNERS, COLORADO
220921TJUL30:

“Roger that, Colonel. We’ll be back by 1200.” Applejack closed her phone, ending the call. She looked at Flash and Fluttershy. “Change in plans: Col. Armor wants us back after breakfast. We need to move up the mission timetable.”

“Why?” Fluttershy asked.

“There was an attack in the Ukraine yesterday – the aliens tried to hit Chernobyl.” A plate shattered in the background, and the three military personnel turned to look at Trixie, who was at the stove, making breakfast for everyone and having dropped the plate in shock.

“Chernobyl?” the woman said with shock. “Isn’t that the place where that nuclear accident happened?”

Applejack nodded. “Apparently the Octos were trying to set whatever off again. But they were stopped…by the Queen.”

Macintosh, who had went over to help his wife clean up the mess, looked at his sister. “I get the feeling we’re not supposed to hear this.”

“It’ll be public soon enough,” Applejack told him. “Given where the attack happened, it’s not going to stay quiet, and given that the Queen stopped it, there’s no way that the Ukrainian government can keep it quiet. If they don’t say something, the Russians will – they owe her.”

Flash looked at Applejack, his face an unreadable jumble of emotions. No doubt he wondered if his former girlfriend was behind the mask and armor, leading a one-woman war against the aliens. “Do you think it’s her?”

“I don’t know,” Applejack told him. “But I have to believe. If it is her…I can’t let her do this alone.”

“We can’t let her do this alone,” Fluttershy reminded her friend.

“Yeah.” Applejack rose from her chair, pushing away from the table. At the moment, she was dressed in a simple T-shirt and jeans. She would have to head back upstairs and change into the all-familiar clothing she spent most of her time in – her NAVPATs. Throwing herself into the grind once more, as befitting her life’s calling.

She just hoped there was a light at the end of the tunnel…a dying light, preferably.

Author's Note

I'm back!

REVERB ARROWSMITH