Project Harmony: Alpha Squad

Chapters

Project: Harmony, chapter one
Project: Harmony, chapter two
Project: Harmony, chapter three
Project: Harmony, chapter four
Project: Harmony, Chapter five
Project: Harmony, chapter six
Project: Harmony, Chapter seven
Project: Harmony, chapter eight

Project: Harmony, chapter one

Project: Alicorn
By: Hal (Wubwave) Holiday
Editing help by: Dthomash

“Hey Twilight wait up!” Rainbow Dash cried out as she flew around trying to find her friend.

“We know yall are excited about looking around the princess’ old castle now, but maybe ya can slow down for a moment?” Applejack asked as she exited the abandoned castle and entered a courtyard of overgrown Everfree plants.

“I’m sorry girls, but it’s just so much! Look at this place, the castle Luna and Celestia shared! She never told me anything about when she was young,’ the purple unicorn said, verbally jumping around with excitement, ‘I just wish she would have stayed to show us some of this stuff.”

“Well she has her hooves full taking her sister back…speak’n of which, shouldn’t you be resting after your fight with Nightmare Moon?” Applejack said while making a slow lap around the open atrium.

“Shouldn’t we all get some rest?’ Rarity began to complain, taping her hoof on the large rusted set of metal doors set into the ground, ‘not that this place isn’t lovely…or at least once was.”

“Oooh what’s this?” pinky yelled out as she had her nose deep into a large overgrown tangle of vines.

Twilight broke away from her bemusement and began to magically remove the vines, “I don’t know, it looks like a memorial,’ she stared before reading the plaque aloud, ‘To my little ponies that call this land home. For a long time, far too long, we have known only tyrants, and war, deceit and inequality. I vow, no longer shall we be divided; I am a living testament to the coexistence of pony kind, not simply in body, but in birth. It is for that reason that Equestria will be watched over by a princess, not because I desire to become another tyrant, but because I only answer to the kings and queens of Equestria, the pegasi, the unicorns, and the earth ponies. And it is through the sacrifice of many that I can declare us a free and peaceful race. Thank you for your sacrifice, your faithful subject Princess Celestia.”

Twilight gaped at the plaque and looked down at the bobbles of Equestrian past that ringed the memorial. After examining them closely she floated up one in particular, a helmet painted a drab grey/green. The plastic that would cover the eyes of a rather large pony had a deep spider web of cracks that ran through it. As twilight turned it over a splash of color caught her attention, a small representation of Celestia’s cutiemark decorated the side and below had Celestia’s name printed along the side.

“The council will come to order!” yelled the purple unicorn mare from her place at the center of the meeting hall. “I will not have this senate become a bar room brawl, you are all ponies, stallions and mares, not colts and fillies, now act like it!”
The shouting match between the unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi was smothered under the mare’s chastising orders. The purple mare looked them over and continued in a calm tone, “Commander Hurricane please continue.”

The blue pegasus pony flew from her chair and landed sternly in the center of the seats that lined the walls of the room. “As I was saying,” she said, trailing off and glaring at a white earth pony across from her, “the earth pony trade unions have been smuggling goods to the countryside rebels that have revolted outside of Hoofington.”

The white stallion returned the pegasus’ hateful gaze and ground his hooves on wooden banister separating the two ponies. The blue pegasus continued, “the rebels were quickly put down by our crack military fliers,” she said half bragging, “but not before destroying several government buildings, and killing a handful of earth pony police,” she said, losing all emotion in her voice at the last sentence.

“Minister Clover if I may,” the white earth pony said, no longer able to keep quiet, but still able to keep civil.
The purple unicorn nodded, “please take your seat Commander; I don’t need you and Heart Swan on the same floor today, not after that foalish display.” The blue mare returned to her seat among her other pegasus comrades, and Heart Swan left his earth pony allies behind to approach the no pony’s land at the center of the triangle shaped room.

Heart Swan threw his golden mane back and stuck his nose in the air, “Commander Hurricane seems dead set on portraying my trade union, the foundation for earth pony, unicorn, and even pegasus commerce, as a terrorist group hell-bent on overthrowing what you, Ms. Clover, and the other council members have worked so hard for.” The white unicorn next to Minister Clover rolled her eyes at the lame attempt at flattery. “The truth is,’ Heart Swan continued, ‘that these “weapons of war” included low caliber rifles, common for any earth pony farmer, fertilizer, which has been used to nurture crops many times more than it has been used to make homemade explosives, and a collection of hand tools. The trade unions deal with all types of commerce, some of which I admit are hazardous when used by the right set of evil minded hooves, but none the less necessary for the growing cities of Equestria.”

The white colored unicorn spoke up, “despite Hurricane’s accusations, this is not a trial Heart Swan. We are more concerned with the growing number of rebel factions, and the future stability of Equestria. You may take your seat councilor.”

Heart Swan nodded, “of course Princess Platinum. I would like to add, both Councilor Smart Cookie and Chancellor Pudding Head have been dealing with the domestic issues of rural rebellions with the utmost importance,” he finished proudly as he walked to his designated section of the hall where a pair of pink and orange earth pony mares nodded in agreement.

“Minister, Princess, if I may?” the quite third unicorn mare said, looking to her purple and white companions.

“Yes councilor Daisy, we shouldn’t keep out guest waiting, she is a very busy mare,” the purple minister unicorn said to a room of questioning ponies who were not informed of outside company.

“Why were we not informed that there was someone here for our top secret meeting?” a green pegasus stallion questioned.

“Relax General, I gave them the go ahead,” Commander Hurricane said still annoyed at her encounter with the earth pony.

Councilor Daisy walked to the door and disappeared into the next room, only to return moments later with another unicorn mare in tow. Daisy nodded to the nervous mare and urged her to approach the center room. The young light blue unicorn mare floated out a pair of glasses and a stack of papers and began reading her prepared speech, “Hello councilors, I am Shining Star, um, Doctor Shining Star, a researcher at the Unicorn Military Research Academy.” Both the earth ponies and pegasi shared an opinion, and gave doubtful looks to the unicorn pony occupying their time. Shining Star continued, her face buried in her own speech, “I have been conducting research on augmentation spells for increased performance of ponies-“

The grey pegasus stallion interrupted, “please, our pegasus soldiers attempted your spells before without measurable success, do not waste our time and ponies further.”

Shining Star looked up and gave a slight condescending smile, “no Admiral White Cloud this is something much different-“

Shining Star was interrupted once again, this time by Princess Platinum, “what you are about to hear is top secret military research that we were developing during the Great Pony civil war, be glad we found peace in that cave together Hurricane.” The princess added with a smile before turning back to Doctor Star ‘I’m sorry go on dear,” she finished waving a hoof at her to continue.

“Oh well, yes,” Shining Star continued, “a few years ago we discovered a transmutation process that creates, in essence, a super soldier. Now, we previously attempted the process on adult unicorns, but…it proved ineffective at best. However, after a few tests on foals-“

The pink earth pony known as Chancellor Pudding Head interrupted, “Foals?”

Shining Star stumbled over her reply, “oh, uh, we created them specifically for the tests. They biologically were foals, but didn’t have brains or souls…”

The Pegasi joined in on the questioning, “This is the kind of science you unicorns are performing?” asked the green General pegasus.

“Please let her continue,” Councilor Daisy said brushing her coat-matching yellow mane out of her face.

Shining Star quickened her presentation to avoid further chastising, “yes, and we were able to successfully fuse the traits of all three pony races into one subject.”

The room fell silent in awe at those last sets of words. “We have come to call this new hybrid an ‘Alicorn’. It...They, have the strength and size of earth ponies, even surpassing earth pony muscle mass and stature at times. They also possess a powerful level of magic beyond unicorns, as well as a large set of wings that enable flight.”

The room continued to stay silent until the orange earth pony mare spoke up, “but, why, why do we need them?”

Admiral White Cloud answered for the group, “I’ve been told by our pegasus weather researchers, that the average temperature of Equestria is dropping. You councilor Smart Cookie, Princess, Commander, Chancellor, and Minister know what this means.”

They all nodded in agreement, and Minister Clover responded, “The windingos, all of us including Private Pansy-“

Commander Hurricane interrupted peacefully, “I made her Sergeant before she was killed in action,” she concluded sorrowfully.

“Yes,’ Clover continued, ‘and unless we want another blizzard like the one that destroyed our last homes we need solutions. The pegasi military has done a fine job, but to keep hatred out of our new home, we need a smaller force to conduct operations silently, which is why I brought you here today. These creatures combine the elements of all of us, and will require the help of all of us.”

Commander Hurricane was the first to respond, “when can you begin, and how long until we have these soldiers?”

Shining Star took center stage again, “we can begin looking for candidates as soon as possible, searching schools and flight camps. They will be partially operational by 10 years old, and fully operational by the age of 16.”

Councilor Smart Cookie shook her head, “have mercy on us, 10 years old and fighting? That’s barely old enough for a cutie mark. Is there anything else we can do? Griffon mercenaries?”

Admiral White Cloud responded, “Griffons have their uses, but they’re unreliable.”

Minister Clover shook her head, “and we would still face the threat of windingos, when the climate information reached us, we could only think of one option.”

Chancellor Pudding Head interjected, “you knew? Why weren’t the earth ponies informed of this before today?”

Shining Star left as the senate room broke out into argument once again. Doctor Star felt sick to her stomach with nerves as she waited for the senate to reach a decision. She wasn’t sure if she was afraid of rejection or acceptance of her plan. On one hoof, she would be ensuring safety for the new pony homeland, and the millions who now lived here. But, she would still be a monster, a necessary one, but a monster none the less. If the public ever found the truth of the Alicorns, not only would it be a political nightmare, but Shining would go down in history among the “good intentioned, but crazy geniuses” that history all too often remembers unkindly. Damn it! I’m being so selfish! Shining Star thought as her eyes teared up a little as she thought of taking young fillies and colts from their homes and making them into soldiers to eventually die in combat one day. I’m not the one going to be hurt by this, they are.

As the hours passed the yellow unicorn stepped out of the council hall. “What did they say councilor?” Doctor Star asked. Daisy gave a slight smile, “They’ve agreed to begin the project, congratulations.” A stone of guilt hit Shining Star’s stomach at those words, but she swallowed and simply replied, “I’ll begin right away.

Shining Star was startled awake by the sound of the blaring claxon. An amplified voice rang out in the halls beyond Shining Star’s state room, “morning shift has begun sailors, if you want shore leave tomorrow you best not be late to your shifts.” Shining Star looked at the clock on the other side of her small private room, “yep, 5:00am like always.” Shining Star didn’t find the irony of pegasi beds all that amusing, even the bunks aboard a military skyship like this one felt like sleeping on a cloud, because you were. However, each day at the crack of dawn, the pegasi, and one unicorn, were thrown into the day of work, barely able to experience the comfortable embrace of sleep. Shining Star got ready for the big day ahead of her, and began to dread the task she would face. Doctor Star shoved the thoughts out of her head as she concentrated on renewing the weightlessness spell that kept her from falling through the floor and bulkhead made of pure clouds. She rolled out of bed and examined her unkempt mane before tying it back into a bun at the top of her head.

Shining found her way to the bridge of the relatively small floating craft. As she entered the room crammed with ponies in uniform, her gaze was drawn from the miscellaneous consoles and screens to the pony standing in the middle of the chaos. Shining Star caught a glimpse of the jet black stallion that had been accompanying her throughout the trip, and she tried the best she could to muffle a giggle. The stern, upright military pony she came to know was standing on the bridge, giving orders like he always did, but the itchy looking pegasus Sky Navy uniform Shining Star was still convinced he slept in, was replaced by a colorful button up shirt and a floppy hat covering his trimmed down red mane. “Lieutenant Commander, Ironwing sir, stealth drives are operating perfectly, the new onboard weather device has matched cloud hull’s water saturation perfectly with the surrounding storm clouds,” proclaimed a pegasus mare muzzle deep into her work console. Shining Star looked past the hilarious sight of Ironwing to view the grey sky in front of her that was turning orange in the rising sun, and from what she could tell the mare was right, she couldn’t tell where the grey hull of the ship ended and the clouds around it began.

“Are you preparing yourself for shore leave Lieutenant Commander?” asked Shining Star trying to sound as professional as possible while holding back laughter.

The black pegasus just now noticed her and sighed, “not a word of this to anyone,” returning an ever so slight grin, “you will have to get dressed up too, I personally asked the captain to pick out something as tacky as possible.”

Shining Star gave a playfully challenging look, “won’t be necessary, I planned ahead and brought my own thank you.”

Ironwing raised an eyebrow, and returned to work, “knew I should have made you cut your mane like the other mares aboard.”

The civilian sky chariot escaped from the floating ship carrying it’s two passengers. Rain from the storm hammered the windows of the enclosed vehicle. Shining Star continued to put on her disguise by applying a lady-like level of makeup to match her tasteful sun dress, and was eternally grateful she didn’t have to brave the storm, the pilot however pulling the chariot was not so lucky.

Ironwing scoffed at her attention to personal beauty, and continued the mission brief, “what should our child be named?”

Doctor Star looked up from the mirror she was floating in front of her and thought a moment, “Sun Sparkle.”
Ironwing twisted his face in disgust, “if anyone will believe we’re a unicorn/pegasus couple, we need to have a proper pegasus name for our child.”

Shining Star returned to her task of applying fake eyelashes, “What’s a proper Pegasus name? Steel Mane the Destroyer?”

Ironwing glared at her, “no, what about Storm Flash?”

Doctor Star accepted, “good enough, we just need the principal to buy it. You’ll do most of the talking to her. I on the other hoof will find the subject.” Her heart sank as she realized she just called an innocent filly a, “subject,” like some biological specimen they scrapped from the bottom of a pond.

“Ah, yes, my wife and I are planning on moving here later this year; it’s hard to raise a mixed family in Cloudsdale…” Ironwing continued laxly. Shining Star had excused herself from the meeting with the head of the school and began to trot around the small foal’s school. It must have been recess, which in a foal school was most of the day. Shining looked out at the yard full of fillies and colts galloping back and forth letting off energy they had being cooped up during the storm. Shining’s eyes caught a glimpse of the white filly that stood a head above everypony else, gracefully striding like little royalty. As Shining Star exited the building to approach the white unicorn, a scream let out over the school yard gabbing everypony’s attention.

“NO! She’s mine!” howled a dark blue unicorn on the other side of the playground as she fought a colt who was holding a ragged looking doll in his mouth, out of reach of the panicked filly, sobbing and trying to jump up to grab her stolen toy. The white unicorn galloped to help the small the foal in distress, her horn flaring and telekinetically pulling the doll from the attacker. The earth pony colt turned and stared at the large unicorn running up to him, but before he could react, a pair of hooves hit him from behind. The surprisingly powerful buck from the little timid filly echoed a loud thud that made even Shining Star’s head hurt from across the school yard. The white unicorn slowed to a stride as she looked at the blue filly, who just delivered such a powerful kick to the large colt, who was surprisingly still able to stand.

The brown earth pony staggered away crying, leaving the pair of fillies alone for Doctor Star to approach. “Quite a kick,” Shining said without judgment, “and quite a spell, I didn’t learn telekinesis until I had my cutie mark.” The pair of young ponies looked at her, fear in their eyes that they were going to be in trouble for their actions. “What are your names?” the adult unicorn asked.

“I’m Luna!” the blue filly shouted.

“And I’m Celestia,” added the white filly with the tri colored mane, “are we going to be trouble?”

Shining Star smiled, “I’m not your teacher, and I won’t tell on you.” They both smiled ear to ear as Doctor Star continued, “those are very pretty names.”

They both nodded in unison, “our parents are ast…ast…what’s the word?” asked the blue unicorn.

“They look at stars,” the white one answered avoiding the question, “that’s why I’m named Celestia, after the stars.”

“And I’m named Luna after the stars too,” the blue maned and coated younger one added.

"The moon isn’t a star,”

“Uh huh, it’s in the sky,”

“No it’s not-“

Shining Star broke up the argument with the wave of a hoof, “girls, girls,” they both stopped but continued to glare at each other. Shining focused her attention on Celestia, “I hear you can do other spells too.”

The white filly looked down at her hooves in shame, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that before…”

“What happened?” Shining asked feigning ignorance of the powerful magical event on the filly’s record.

The younger one answered for her sister, “I was there, her eyes glowed and she floated in the air and turned the class into- well not me, but everypony else into plants, and other stuff.”

Celestia began to tear up, “I’m sorry…” she whimpered.
Shining smiled, “it happened weeks ago, and it is very rare, it shows you have a lot of magical potential. Plus I heard everyone is ok now,” she said consoling the little filly.

“I have a game to show you, do you want to see it?” The two looked at each other and smiled, Celestia wiped the small tears from her face. “It’s a very simple game,” Shining Star pulled out with her magic two coins, “Luna, you get the silver one, Celestia, you get the gold one.” Both smiled at the opportunity for the coins, “but, you only get them if you guess right. I’m going to flip them, and you have to guess heads or tails for your coin before it lands, got it?”

Both of the fillies nodded and looked at each other, “bet I’ll guess right before you,” the white one challenged her younger sister.

“Nu uh!” she shouted back.

“Alright, ready? Go,” Doctor Star flipped the coins up in the air with the glow of her horn. “Heads!” the two foals shouted in unison as the coins came down, both landing sure enough on heads.
Shining Star smiled, “very good, I’ll leave you two to play,” she finished walking away from the pair.

Ironwing was standing at the door to the school waiting for her, “what was that supposed to accomplish?”
Shining Star frowned and blinked, “it proved that they think alike, we came here for Celestia, but…the sister should come too,” Shining Star wasn’t sure if her logic was sound, or if she just couldn’t find it in herself to separate two sisters for the rest of their lives.

“Are you sure?” Ironwing questioned, “We know what the white one can do, but the other one seems pretty ordinary.”
Shining nodded, “we should get back, and we still have a few more cities to go.”

Project: Harmony, chapter two

Chapter 2

The sky chariot carrying Shining Star landed on the bumpy, improvised, and overall unfinished landing strip. The chariot and its two pegasus pilots slowed and stopped, as the cloud of dirt the landing kicked up caught up to the group. Shining Star coughed and trotted to the grassy field that offered the most protection from the cloud of dust. The large open field held more than just relief; it also offered a sight that put the aerial view to shame. Formations of troops from the various races marched about or flew overhead the cleanly cut grass. At the far end toward the forest the Earth Pony Corps of Engineers were laying concrete to replace the impromptu runway Shining just landed on, toward the main facility they were erecting large wooden pillars and digging the firing range. The gravity of the area set in, it’s actually happening isn’t it? Shining thought, still taken aback by the fruits of her and the whole project team’s labor. The main facility could be seen sticking up from a rocky butte over the tree line, a small castle like facility sat atop with ascending cables into the clouds above. Wait no, cloud singular. The fortress on the hill made up only half of the complex. A large cloud ship hovered over the castle, casting the whole area in shadow.

“The Hearts and Hooves,” said a familiar voice from behind Doctor Star. The well groomed black pegasus fluttered down next to her. He didn’t wear the heavy Navy dress uniform she was accustomed to seeing, and instead chose the sky blue camouflage drab, no doubt a great comfort in the heat of noon. However no matter what he was dressed in, the badge embroidered on his flank was always the same, a black storm cloud and the words, Lightning Bolts, strike from the clouds.

“That’s our research lab?” Shining asked, making a mental note to continue to practice her weightlessness spell. “Does it include private quarters for the research staff?”

“No, well at least not ones you would find up to your standards. Hospital ships aren’t designed for comfort, plus most of the rooms were turned into medical labs.” Shining’s heart sank a little. “But I can arrange for you to visit the cloud barracks we’re flying in for Naval staff, I know how much you liked the cloud beds,” Ironwing said throwing a glance in her direction.

Shining Star hid a smile, and quickly added, “Keep yourself professional Ironwing.”

“Oh I….yes ma’am,” Ironwing stuttered to correct poorly worded statement.
Shining got a great deal of joy from making Ironwing uncomfortable. Although, it wouldn’t be a terrible shame if…nah, she pushed the thought out of her mind. Plus, even though Ironwing was head of project operations and eventual would be team leader, Doctor Star was still the boss for now; she even had the wonderful job of writing reports to the council every day to prove it.

The pair made their way up to the hill top complex, the sign of its previous job still seen above the gate,
Everfree ship yard
Property of Pegasus Sky Navy
Trespassers will be prosecuted
Waiting for them was the pair of white and yellow council members. “Councilor Daisy, Councilor Heart Swan hello,” Shining said to the group of diplomats and their entourage of unicorns and earth ponies skulking about.

“Progress is coming nicely, do tell your engineers I give them my thanks for their haste Heart Swan,” Daisy said to her earth pony companion.

“Yes, their work is much easier now that your unicorns erected the shield around the work site, the local fauna hasn’t been, agreeable,” he said; only keeping the slightest thread of patience and civility to hide his annoyance and stress the job was causing him.

“Commander Ironwing sir?’ asked a pink earth pony stallion adorned in his army dress uniform, ‘Sergeant Lollipop, reporting…I was drafted and decided to stay.” Lollipop had obviously been asked many times about his name in the past to have a prepared speech ready for meeting new company.

“And you are?” Ironwing asked indignantly.

“He is Master Sergeant Lollipop, Earth Pony Army, and he is here on my personal request,’ Heart Swan replied for his soldier, ‘with the amount of unicorn scientists, and the fact that Project Alicorn falls under pegasus Navy SNI doctrine, I felt that the earth ponies were being poorly represented.” Ironwing backed off realizing the political quagmire that stood in front of him should he question the council colt.

“I am here as head physical trainer, and survival expert sir,” Lollipop said trying to prove he was more than just a political puppet. Daisy also brought company, besides her stood a figure Shining Star recognized immediately, which was easy considering the few zebras that lived in Equestria.

“Deja!’ Shining squealed, ‘I’m glad you accepted the offer.”

The striped zebra mare returned Shining’s smile, “The academy was dull, I wanted to perform my magic in full. I was told that you needed help with fillies and colts, a hard job even for the Lightning Bolts,” she said in her typical sing-song way looking to Ironwing.

Ironwing scoffed, “Well then please follow me everyone, we will be meeting the rest of the instructors,” Ironwing said flying towards the door leading to the rest of the facility. The small compound outside did not properly represent the scale of this place. Shining Star assumed that because it was a pegasus facility, it would be mostly made of clouds up above, and that this place was just an anchor point for the large floating ships that used to pass through here. That however, did not prove the case. The relatively small stone and concrete spire above disguised a large tunnel system, refurbished with sleeping quarters for staff and students. The group entered a large warehouse room that served as the central hub, and from the signs warning about explosive dangers and a large loading elevator to the surface, once held ammunition for the large guns on the pegasus craft.

“Commander?” Shining Star asked.

“Yes?”

“No, I mean since when did you get promoted?”

“Oh, well when the heads of the Sky Navy Intelligence bureau decided to put me in charge of the project, they wanted someone with a little more pull, and I was already up for promotion,” Ironwing said simply, trying to sound as humble as he possible could.

A large shadow was cast by the hanging lights high above, and the figure flew past the rock walls of the sparse room, landing at the group’s side. The large figure’s talons clacked on the hard ground as it landed and gave a salute with its wing before folding them back against its fur and feather covered body.

“Helga Darkbeak, Griffon Auxiliaries. She is in charge of teaching hoof to hoof combat, well, talon to hoof,” Ironwing said sharing a chuckle with the hybrid creature.

“Doctor Star, councilors, it’s a pleasure,” the somewhat frightening nonpony proclaimed.

“Do you have everything you need for your class?” Ironwing asked doing everything he can to earn his job as operations leader.

“Wings, talons, ready and willing,” she said flashing a smile across her beak and giving a confident nod.

“Great, and remember what we talked about, they may be young, but they’re soldiers now,” Darkbeak gave a grim salute and flew off before Ironwing continued, “Lollipop, the corps of engineers is setting up the drill grounds in the field we cleared at the base of the butte, however until they finish the permanent landing strip, we will need you to drill here in the warehouse. We don’t need the landing sky chariots and students occupying the same space.”

“Yes sir, running and push-ups for now,” The pink earth pony responded assuredly.

“Shining Star, your magic school is up in the old control tower top side, you said you needed a view of the stars and that’s the only place around here to do that-“

Shining Sparkle interrupted Ironwing’s presentation, “but, most of the students aren’t unicorns, and won’t have magical abilities for years.”

Ironwing gave a sideways glance to Dr. Star for the interruption, but responded politely, “Flight class and magic class will have the appropriate students performing demonstrations and taking hands-on tests, the rest will study from books and their peers until they can perform on their own. Lollipop, I also want you to have the earth ponies lead in the dirt pounding and drills.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem sir,” Lollipop proclaimed in excitement.

“Well then, prepare your yourselves, the subjects arrive in 48 hours.”

2-2

“You are all being called upon, to serve your country. Equestria, is in danger, and you all are responsible for the safety of everypony that calls this land home…”

Celestia paid little attention to the dark pegasus who was addressing the room full of other young ponies. Instead, Celestia was more focused on comforting her sobbing sister next to her, and examining the darkened chamber and adult ponies that surrounded them. Luna was not alone in her sorrow, the other foals were sobbing as well, all except for a blue pegasus with a short yellow mane who was wide eyed and listening intently to the military pony speaking. Celestia wondered if the colt’s mane was that short on its own, or if it was cut off like theirs when they arrived here.

“I should introduce myself, you will be seeing a lot more of me in the years to come,”
Years? The realization she might never see her school or mother again almost brought Celestia to tears as well, will I get my cutie mark in this awful place?
“I am Commander Ironwing, of the Pegasus Sky Navy Intelligence bureau I will be your commanding officer during this project.”

The dark stallion removed himself from the microphone when he finished his speech, and a gentle looking blue unicorn mare approached to take his place. Wait, I know her! Celestia thought, remembering the odd encounter at school a few weeks ago. Celestia looked down to see if Luna had noticed the familiar mare, but face and muzzle were buried into Celestia’s side, soaking her fur with tears.

“You all know me, or better to say recognize me by now,’ she said, sounding like she herself was ready to cry, ‘I am Doctor Shining Star, of the Unicorn Military Research Academy,” she let out a deep sigh, “all of you will become more, all of you will have a potential for greatness beyond that of anypony else...”

Celestia watched as the various ponies, one griffon, and even a zebra who sang more than spoke, introduced themselves in front of the group of frightened foals the last being a pink stallion, who did not offer the same words of hope and opportunity the others did. Finally, the lights in the massive rock walled room came up, and the speech and introductions were over.

“Now,’ the gruff, pink stallion named Lollipop said as the soldiers rounded up the foals into a group in front of the commanding figure, “75 laps around the room.”

The group stayed silent in disbelief as they wiped away their tears, finally a green pegasus filly spoke up, “this room?” she asked eying the massive space.

Her question was answered by a magical electric wand, zapping her haunches from one of the soldiers corralling the colts and fillies. She let out a squeal of pain and dropped to her knees. Two more soldier ponies walked up holding some sort of saddles in their mouths and wrapped them around both the green and blue pegasi Celestia had seen earlier.

“No flying, either. Now move your asses before I make it 80 laps!” the fiery pink stallion yelled beginning to chase after the group. “Move, move, move, this isn’t foal’s school anymore kiddies.”

That fact was becoming more and more clear to Celestia with each lap around the cavern. Finally, their pink sadist blew the whistle around his neck, beckoning them to stop. Celestia fell to her knees in exhaustion. Luna sauntered over to Celestia, fairing the miles of running much better than her big sister.

“Water break,” Lollipop commanded as he grabbed a small paper cup in his mouth and took a drink for himself. Celestia did have to admit that the pony chasing them around the track suffered as much as they did, she wondered how he could still keep shouting. The white filly tried to get to her feet, but the brief rest had convinced Celestia’s muscles to stop working altogether.

“I’ll get it sister,” Luna said, striding to the water cooler being swarmed by the other foals. Luna bumped into a large silver colored earth pony in her rush to help her kin. The filly looked down at her, and Luna began to slink back before the black maned pony could speak.

“Hey sugarcube, I’ll get it for you don’t worry,” the silver pony said in a thickly accented but kind voice. She was older than Luna, and judging by the fact she had a lasso shaped cutie mark older everyone else.

“Oh, um, thank you,” Luna replied meekly, all too often the dark filly’s small size would attract the opposite effect from the bigger ponies in a group.

“Sure thing little one,” the filly said in a friendly tone, “I’m Sapphire, what’s you’re?”

“I’m Luna, and that’s my sister Celestia,” she said pointing her horn to the white filly collapsed on the floor.

Sapphire seemed to stare off into space for a moment before returning to the conversation, “sisters huh? That’s good that you have family here-“

The blue pegasus jumped in between them, “my name is Cloudsoar! And that’s Crystal,” he said throwing a hoof at the green on green pegasus pony who took the first abuse from Lollipop’s soldiers.

“And I’m Candice,” said the final earth pony filly, her contrasting white mane stood out sharply from her light red coat.

Luna smiled and repeated herself, “I’m Luna,’ she threw a hoof back to point at her sister, ‘that’s-“

Her blind hoof swung around and hit Celestia in the face as she approached the group to finally get the water she was promised. Celestia looked down at her smaller sister, raising an eyebrow and giving a slight smirk at the well intentioned filly. A cup of water levitated from the table as Celestia quenched her exhausted thirst. “I’m Celestia,” she finished for her sibling.

“Alright, enough talking, time for pushups,” Lollipop shouted, the group of foals let out a collective sigh, but not wanting to feel the wrath of the pink soldier they obliged even if unwillingly.
2-3

Physical training was finally over for the day, after hours of exercise that left even the strong earth pony fillies in the group weak and ready to collapse they were finally free of their pink drill sergeant. Celestia and the others were escorted by Pegasus guards who flapped after them with the same electric wands they saw the results of earlier. However, as one last act of cruelty, Lollipop ordered them to climb the stairs to the surface to begin their academic training; despite the fact the large cargo elevator was going unused.

The steel door to the control tower matched the unwelcoming and bare concrete walls of the upper facility. Celestia had hoped that when she got to the surface she would at least be able to get a glimpse of outside, after hours of travel and time underground she had no idea what time of day it was. One of the camouflage clad escorts knocked on the heavy door with his hoof. Luna backed up a little, no doubt imagining a terror worse than Sergeant Lollipop as the door opened. The sight was more than welcome, the light blue unicorn faced them with a big welcoming smile on her muzzle, and sunlight came through the many windows behind her, washing away the feelings of dread that plagued them all.

“You can go corporal,” she ordered the head escort as she beckoned the foals inside, and closed the door behind them. The room was set up with tables in the center, and book shelves that blocked one wall of the 360 degree glass covered room. The desks that once supported control and radio equipment were now turned into school desks that faced out to the glass walls and gave a beautiful view of the surrounding forest and distant mountain range.

“Please take a seat where you would like, this is arcane science and practical magic class. You all know me, and should recognize my assistant,” she said nodding to the zebra who called herself Deja, ‘now, to begin with I will be asking recruit Celestia, and recruit Luna to help in practical demonstrations. The rest of you will be expected to follow and show a proficient knowledge in the potions and elixirs that Deja will teach you, as well as take written exams on all the subjects that are demonstrated.”

“But,’ the light red earth pony named Candice asked, ‘why do we need to know magic if we can’t perform it?”

Shining Star stared at her for a moment, “because one day you will.” The class began to murmur and question, but Doctor Star finished the commotion, “I will also ask you to not interrupt, or I will be forced to have Sergeant Lollipop help teach my class.” That quickly stuffed a hoof in the mouths of the foals as they decided they would rather have a nice boring class on magic instead of trying to study while being forced to do sit ups. “Now first lesson, ethereal elements,” she said as her horn emitted a magical diagram for the class to see.

The instruction on magic was far and above Celestia’s and Luna’s grasp of the magical, and the fact she would need to actually perform a real test on it filled Celestia with dread. That dread however was superseded when the familiar pink stallion entered the room at the end of their class to escort them to the courtyard for their next lesson. Celestia gave a content sigh with the rest of the group as they walked out into the fresh air. Celestia thought she might try to escape at the first opportunity she and Luna had, but this was certainly not it. The courtyard was surrounded on all sides by the thick concrete walls of the fortress, each of which was topped by guards. The pegasi might be able to make a break for it, but their wings were still tied down in anticipation of that foolish plan.

The black pegasus named Ironwing waited for them with a group of armored pegasi, each fully covered in some sort of flight suit, “recruits welcome. How many of you remember my name?” he asked kindly.

The blue pegasus colt Cloudfsoar raised his hoof and called out excitedly, “Ironwing!” That question however was a trap; their pink escort stuck his large muzzle into the colt’s face and screamed at him.

“You will address him as sir! Or if you earn the right, you will call him Commander, you have not yet earned the right of referring to him by name you little shit!” two more instructors joined in and began surrounding the foal all on all sides with conflicting demands and orders. Ironwing sat back and watched as the colt was made an example of before waiving off Lollipop and his goons.

“I am your tactics and flight instructor. I will instruct you on personal flight techniques, which all of you will be expected to memorize, every pegasus recruit is required to know the basics of flight science and airborne combat, and so will all of you. I will teach you how to operate the flying machines of today’s joint military, everything from a sky chariot, to that,” he said pointing a hoof up to the massive cloudship above, ‘at the end of the week you will all be expected to perform a practical test on pegasus glide insertion. Gliding is the first thing taught to pegasus foals, isn’t that right?” he asked the blue colt still shell-shocked from the verbal flank bucking he just got.

“Sir, yes sir,” he said meekly.

“You will each train with a Lightning Bolt glide soldier, and at the end of the week you will make a tandem glide jump with them,” he said nodding to the group of armored pegasi, the sun glistening from the golden visors that covered their faces as they inspected the students. “Now, first lesson,’ Ironwing continued as he fluttered to one of his troops, ‘we will begin with the standard combat harness…”
2-4

Celestia’s mind and body hurt from the day of learning and exercise, but as the sun set they were being shuffled off down stairs once more, hopefully for sleep. However her hopes were dashed as the group was lined up for yet another set of classes, this time the griffon got her turn at the foals. The menacing eagle eyes of Instructor Darkbeak scanned the group as she flew past each of the ponies, throwing insults as she went.

“What’s your name,” she demanded to the little blue pegasus.

“Cloudsoar ma’am,” he replied sternly, learning his lesson from earlier.

“Cloudsoar? You look more like an eye sore to me.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said not daring to respond.

Instructor Darkbeak moved on as she landed in front of Celestia, ‘holy horse apples, how tall are you?”

“3’10 ma’am,” Celestia responded, hoping she could fly under the radar of the griffon.

“Gee, I didn’t know they stacked shit that high at your age,” she said moving on to Celestia’s younger sister, “what’s your name pipsqueak?”

“Luna, that’s my sister,” she whimpered and moved to Celestia’s side, hoping for some protection.

“Did I ask who your family was?” she said putting her beak to Luna’s muzzle, “are you royalty, is your family somehow important?”

“No ma’am, I-“

“Then why would I care who your family is?” she shouted, almost bringing Luna to tears once again.

The griffon moved on and continued to speak, “I am an expert in both arial and ground based combat, and I will teach you the ins and outs of physical fighting. How many of you are tired?’ no one said anything, ‘good because you can never predict when you will need to fight for your life, you might be tired and hungry, you might have the runs or be puking your guts out it doesn’t matter. If you know your stuff, hooves and claws can beat wings and horns any day of the week,” she boasted.

Darkbeak scanned the foals before setting her eyes on little Luna, “you,’ she said pointing a razor sharp claw at the dark filly, ‘fight me.”
Celestia couldn’t let her sister face such a terrible creature, “no I’ll do it,” she said reflexively before she could stop herself. The truth was, she really didn’t want to find herself at the end of those claws either, but certainly didn’t want her younger sister be the plaything of this new Sergeant Lollipop with wings.

“I didn’t ask you, Luna get over here before I drag you over here,” Instructor Darkbeak said with a snarl. Luna made her way shakily over, fear emanating from every part of her, just mustering enough courage to keep from cowering and running away.

“What spells do you know?” Darkbeak asked.

“N-none…”

“None, what kind of unicorn are you? Fine, use your hooves as a weapon. Now attack me.”

Luna was taken back, “w-what?”

“Goddamn it recruit if I have to repeat myself again so help you. Buck me, kick me, fucking do something to keep me from strangling you out of frustration!” she yelled stomping on the floor in anger. Luna lowered her head, swung around and gave a light kick to the griffon’s side. “Are you fucking kidding me? Harder,” Darkbeak yelled. Luna repeated but this time with enough force to stumble the griffon, “so you were holding back on me, harder!” Darkbeak commanded growing impatient. This time Luna’s back hooves made a satisfying thud against the griffon who stumbled back.

This griffon is insane, Celestia thought as she watched Luna kicking the instructor who only responded by demanding more abuse. Celestia knew how hard little Luna could hit, on a couple occasions she had overstepped the line and found herself the target of a good bucking from her younger kin.

“HARDER!” the griffon yelled as Luna finally broke down into frustrated tears and sat on the floor crying her eyes out. Darkbeak looked down disgusted and limped over where Luna sat, no doubt putting on a tough face to disguise the pain her display caused her. Darkbeak lifted Luna’s head up with her claws and looked at her face. An unexpected look of compassion washed over her as she looked down at the filly. She used one of her talons to wipe away a tear on little Luna’s face. Luna sniffled and stopped crying. But before Celestia could appreciate the griffon’s surprising kindness she turned back into the monster she was before. Darkbeak let out a sigh, and ripped her hand away from Luna’s face, slashing her once comforting talon across the filly’s cheek. A small stream of blood trickled down Luna’s dark blue fur.

Project: Harmony, chapter three

Project: Alicorn Chapter 3

Shining Star sat among her peers enjoying a well-made salad. Despite the stress of working with military personnel and having the leaders of your home country directly supervising your work the job did come with the benefits of good food, a luxury that made the last few years of teaching and training more bearable. Doctor Star had also grown to enjoy her company, even growing to call them friends after the months and years they have worked together on Project: Alicorn. Due to the busy schedule of the students and in turn the busy schedule of their teachers, dinner became the only time when all of the instructors could meet at once turning the late night dining hall into a conference room.

“Lollipop, how have the students been progressing?” Shining asked her pink companion as she continued eating her dandelion and lily laden plate of food. Sergeant Lollipop had already finished his meal but stayed to continue the unofficial meeting out of respect and Shining guessed stayed for friendly faces as well. Doctor Star didn’t envy the aging drill instructor, his job required him to be hated by his students but they would hate him as a group and work together to a single goal which benefitted the foals but must have taken a lot out of him emotionally.

“Very well ma’am, with the new paving on the road to the training ground we can get the morning run in to and from the practice field without worrying about twisted ankles or cracked hooves like we were getting from the old dirt road. Also Ironwing and I have been coordinating on a project, sir?” Lollipop gestured to the black pegasus who had his mouth full of food to see if the senior officer wanted to finish the presentation. Ironwing waved Lollipop on to continue and finish the presentation for him while he quickly consumed his evening meal. “The SkyNavy Lightning Bolts will be preparing a special ambush drill during the morning trot tomorrow to put the students through their paces and test their reactions to a surprise attack.”

“Do you think they will prepared?” Shining asked, not overly concerned due to the fact there was little actual danger involved. The only injury Shining could foresee would be a scrapes and bruises if the stun rounds hit a student while they were at full gallop and they fell unconscious while still on their hooves.

“No ma’am, but that’s the point. However they will learn quickly, the oldest one, Sapphire, has taken up the role as team leader from what I can tell. She has been leading in marches and drills even barking out cadences like a regular ground-pounding earth pony soldier. She has been helping train the other students during workouts since she always seems to finish her exercise quotas first,” Lollipop said with pride in his star pupil.

“Well she was the only athlete here, junior rodeo champion 3 years in a row,” Shining said, still memorizing each cadet’s personal file.

“Also Crystal got her cutie mark today at the firing range,” Lollipop added.

Shining smiled at the news, glad that her students could at least experience one adolescent milestone in a pony’s life, “really? What is it of?”

“The girl has a big ol’ bulls eye on her flank,’ Lollipop said excitedly, ‘she isn’t much of flier from what I can tell, or at least doesn’t try and cheat the runs by flying like Cloudsoar does, but damn that little filly has some of the keenest eyes I’ve seen and knows her way around a rifle. I don’t think I’ve seen her without a gun saddle since we started weapons training.”

“Now that only leaves Luna to get her mark,’ Shining turned her attention to Darkbeak who was the only one at the table eating meat, “how is your combat class going?”

“Very well Doctor,” the Griffon said, ‘Luna has quite a kick, and I’ve been doing everything I can to toughen her up. She has spent her life protected by her big sis, and if they are to be the soldiers you need them to be we can’t have Luna calling for help at every obstacle. Same goes for Celestia, many times she has interrupted my training of Luna when she thought I was being too hard on the foal, she needs to learn to step back and let Luna fight for herself.”

Shining gave a sigh and the familiar stomach ache of guilt hit her once again, “I know, but it just seems like….I’m not even sure to tell you the truth.”

Darkbeak gave a sympathizing nod, “I have a few chicks of my own back at Cloudsdale and a sister back in the griffon lands, and I would die to protect them. But it would be even crueler to not push these ponies, and then throw them into a situation they can’t handle where their lives depended on it.”

Shining however replaced her sorrow with anger as she remembered what she wanted to talk about and turned her attention to Ironwing who just finished his meal. “That reminds me, what’s this I hear about the bomber chariot drill?” she said scolding the stallion.

“You signed off on it, teach the trainees how to work as a group, pegasi piloted it, unicorns maintained the needed weightlessness for the foals to pull it, and the earth ponies loaded the dummy bombs,” Ironwing replied in surprise.

“Yes, but I didn’t sign off on you having Lightning Bolts firing live rounds at them while they were doing it.”

“I told them to aim for non–critical parts, which didn’t matter anyway your magic students got a shield up before a single round hit. Plus Cloudsoar was able to perform the advanced evasive maneuvers he has been studying in his down time and lost the attack squad in the cloud cover. No harm no foul.”

The others at the table shared an amused glace. “We will not be able to keep pace, so we will give you two your space,” Deja mused as the others left the two of them to argue.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shining asked defensively.

“I want you two to kiss and make up afterwards, just not in the pegasi barracks again, wouldn’t want you to lose focus for your floaty spell and fall,” Darkbeak laughed as she flew off from the table.

Shining and Ironwing were a poorly kept secret and a quickly growing joke between the others, especially Darkbeak who was the one to first catch Shining in the SkyNavy cloud barracks on one of her and Ironwing’s nights away from the facility. More like Loudbeak, Shining thought, that griffon couldn’t keep a secret if her life depended on it. That dark griffon snuck about the base like a grey feather covered cat, well she is part lion afterall. Shining was slightly glad for the griffon’s tendency for gossip when Darkbeak brought news the growing bond between the two pegasus students to her, she wasn’t prepared to step in just yet, so far it hadn’t caused any trouble but eventually the two would need to be told that they can’t become too attached to each other.

“Are you ready sis?” Celestia asked eyeing the various ponies that stood on the elevated platform above the warehouse floor. The giant freight elevator was turned into a makeshift fort with crates for cover and was suspended on the four large pillars that carried it to from the surface. The practical lesson of today’s combat class was teamwork, get the flag in the center of full grown soldier ponies and get back to where you started with it. Every one of the fillies and one colt took their positions and planned their next move from the long shadows cast by the open freight door on the roof that connected the warehouse to the keep’s courtyard. Victory was a must or else they would all be attending Darkbeak’s “private training lessons” that were the consequence of failure. From what Luna, a regular attendee of these sessions told her sister it was mostly an excuse for Darkbeak to buck your horseshoes off, and judging by the bandaged cuts on Luna’s chest, an excuse to test her talons as well.

“Absolutely sister,” Luna said, locking eyes with Darkbeak who joined the opposite team of Lightning Bolt special forces. Darkbeak was hated by everyone, even Lollipop had one fan and that was Sapphire who spent most of her time training with him. Celestia grew to hate Darkbeak like everypony else, but no pony hated and resented Darkbeak as much as Luna. Celestia did have to admit she was glad Luna toughened up, she loved her sister and would always protect her, but it was nice to know that filly can protect herself if need be.

Crystal and Cloudsoar flew overhead, and would help keep the other pegasi from dive bombing the group. Each pony had a job that they were unofficially assigned based on skills and interest. Every night before bed the foals got “free time” to study what they wanted, Sapphire trained with Lollipop out on the practice field, Crystal would join them and flutter off to the firing range, Celestia and Candice would head to magic class and study spells and potions with Deja and Shining Star, while Cloudsoar would fly aerial patrol for the night shift under the command of Ironwing. Luna was the only one who didn’t have a teacher to mentor her; she would spend her time alone practicing on the bucking bag and staying out of sight of the wrathful griffon that would patrol about the warehouse.

“Alright, Celestia use that sunshine spell that got you your cutie mark to blind ‘em,’ Sapphire ordered, ‘Crystal, look for any surprises, if Darkbeak thinks half like Lollipop she’ll have something special planned,” she said remembering the many early morning jogs that turned into dodging the stunning bullets of enchanted weaponry from hidden snipers along their route. “Luna, while yall’s sis distracts ‘em you sneak in and grab the flag with your levitation. Cloudsoar you’re the fastest, when she gets the flag she’ll hand it off to you and you can fly back before they know what hit ‘em. Candice, you and me charge ‘em head on, show them pegasi how we do it the earth pony way.”

The miniature battle began as Crystal gave a shout, “get down!” Celestia hit the floor as a stun bolt from a magical rifle shot passed over their heads. The platform began to descendsignalling the test has begun. Celestia moved quickly as her horn flashed with a brilliant light, soft at first but grew to blinding as the rest of the team charged with their backs to it keeping the guards from getting a good shot in. Celestia couldn’t see the battle as she shut her eyes to keep from blinding herself, but she could still hear the shouts of her opponents and from what she could tell it was all going to plan.

“Where the fuck are they-” one of the soldiers began to yell as a combat scream from Sapphire and the sound of her colliding with her full force into the pony cut him off. The sound of trotting ponies stomping on the hard concrete floor from both sides mixed with the staccato of gunfire was all she could hear. However her magical trance was interrupted by a hard stinging thud against her fore hoof.

“The spell is down!” one of the military ponies guarding the flag yelled as he got a lucky shot in. Celestia opened her eyes and began to move to a safer position only to trip over her own limp leg. Celestia stumbled to her knees, looking down she could see the blue dust the magical stun rounds left on their targets. A second round hit the floor a foot away from her, telling her she could no longer sit and collect her thoughts as the battle went on.

Celestia caught sight of a dark figure moving about behind enemy lines. Luna! Celestia thought looking for Darkbeak who sure enough noticed the stealthy filly. That griffon is designed to single out Luna like a damned bloodhound. Celestia used the last of her concentration to cast a stunning bolt of magic from her horn that slashed across the room, sending the now unconscious griffon skidding to a halt in front of Luna who starred at her sleeping figure in surprise. Celestia felt another impact against her chest, and her vision became a tunnel, with the sight of Luna bucking a guard and capturing the flag growing farther and farther away. Celestia saw Cloudsoar successfully grab the levitated flag in his mouth as he passed over before she finally passed out.

Celestia awoke in the dorm room the foals shared. “Uh, here comes the stun round headache,’ Celestia said to herself. She rolled over in her bed and jumped as she saw Luna standing by her bedside completely silent. Celestia gasped in surprise, ‘Luna, don’t do that, one of these days I will have to put a bell on you, or you could always just tell me when you’re there.”

“Good, you’re awake I was growing concerned,” Luna said indignantly with an air of irritability and anger.

Celestia knew her sister well enough by now to know she was pissed and not just regular pissed, if you can tell she’s upset it means Luna was already on the verge of bucking you in the muzzle. “Look, I’m sorry I was hit, but the plan worked….at least I think so.”

“Yes the plan went perfectly,’ she said sincerely but still clearly upset, ‘Doctor Star treated us with a cake, which Lollipop made us run off afterwards, I saved some for you by the way, just don’t let the Sergeant find out you ate it.”

“Well then what’s wrong?”

“She was mine…” Luna finally let out with a growl of frustration.

“What?-“

“Darkbeak, she was supposed to be mine I was supposed to take her out. Damn it Celestia! She was mine.”

“Luna…what about the rest of the team, they couldn’t have you being beaten by Darkbeak-”

“What makes you think I would have lost? What, you’re the only one capable of fighting for me?” Luna yelled.

It became clear to Celestia that she had taken her sister’s new stoic attitude for granted, and that below her calm exterior was the same filly that would be on the edge of tears at the slightest provocation. Celestia sighed, “Luna, I’m sorry I know what-“

“You have no damn idea what she is! She deserves worse than just a stun spell!”

Luna was beginning to push the boundaries of Celestia’s patience. The tall filly sat up in her bunk, “That’s enough Luna! She is still your superior, and I will net let you put the team at risk for a personal vendetta that you have, especially one you have against a comrade.”

Luna steamed with those last words, Comrade, “…fuck you, sister,” she said simply as she stomped out no longer willing to convince Celestia she was right.

The rest of the week was a session of “mid-terms” as Doctor Star put it, which Celestia still didn’t quite understand the meaning of the word. Each class challenged the group with a test, Ironwing had the foals giving orders and guidance to the crew of The Hearts and Hooves from the control tower at the airfield, Deja sent the class out to gather ingredients for potions out in the forest, and Doctor Star had a written exam, the most boring part of the entire week. The only one left was Lollipop, Celestia judged that since they were all being carried out over the Everfree Forest by a sky chariot transport that this test was going to be the most difficult.

“How many of you remember the way back home?’ Lollipop asked the group in the middle of a forest clearing where they had landed, ‘no one? Good,” he said as he trotted back into the sky chariot. “You have until morning of tomorrow to get back, 9 AM specifically before we come searching for you,” and that was the last thing he said as he left the group in the middle of nowhere.

“Fan-bucking-tastic,’ Cloudsoar complained as the rain started coming down, ‘why aren’t the sky clearing teams controlling the weather.

“I don’t like this,” Crystal said looking to the sky.

“No one likes this,” the blue Pegasus replied as he flew under the tree tops trying to stay dry.

“No I mean I don’t like it because they are controlling weather.”

“Come again?” Cloudsoar asked.
“ Do you remember Ironwing’s presentation on pegasus cloud snipers?”

Oh course he remembers, Celestia thought, his cutie mark is the Lightning Bolt badge for heaven’s sake, which Celestia wondered if got it from mastering the Immelmare turns and Split Horseshoe maneuvers of the combat flyers, or if his special talent was kissing Ironwing’s flank during every flight exercise and presentation.

“Yeah, oh…” Cloudsoar got the picture as he dropped to his hooves to try and stay hidden. “Did you see any low level cloud nests for a sniper up there?”

Celestia wasn’t overly concerned, the forest would prove as much of challenge to a sniper as the sniper would be to them. The only way a pegasus could get a shot off would be to have scouts flying over, none of which were spotted by the team. However Celestia knew that the overly paranoid Crystal would be hiding under trees and bushes the whole way there and nagging Cloudsoar to stay on the ground.

"No, but that’s the point. With the overcast it would take forever to see one. So you shouldn’t be flying around.”

“Fine, I’ll just stay on the ground here with you,” Cloudsoar said smiling at her.
Celestia decided to step in before the two of them made her sick, “we might be able to draw a sniper out though, and get a weapon to use.”

“Do you think we’ll need one?” Crystal asked growing even more concerned.

Sapphire decided to step in, “…it’s Sergeant Lollipop he would probably mark us down for not taking everything possible. Remember when he marked you down for not wanting to eat the bone marrow from that animal skeleton? ‘Wasting the carcass’ as he called it.”

Celestia focused her magic and soon a blinding flash escaped her horn, one bright enough to illuminate the clouds overhead like a bolt of pink lightning. Celestia ran for the cover of the trees once again and waited to see what Crystal found. “Anything yet?” Celestia asked.

“I didn’t see a scope flash or a cloud nest for a sniper….oh, here comes the scouts,’ she said happily as she spotted a formation of fliers coming in, ‘but there’s sniper nearby for sure.”

“Alright, while they’re distracted with us Cloudsoar will be flying about looking for the nest.”

“Are you sure he’ll be alright?” Crystal asked nervously from her spot in the trees, her green coat blending in perfectly with the foliage.

Celestia sighed, “don’t worry your boyfriend will be back with a nice rifle for you to use,” she mocked.

“He’s not….. A boyfriend,” she said meekly.

Celestia was growing concerned along with the rest of the team about Crystal’s relationship with Cloudsoar. Celestia obviously knew why Crystal was doing it, most of the group was going through the growth spurts and other changes that came with becoming mares and stallions, however from what she was told by Doctor Star they would be members of the military for many years to come, and during that time they would live a life unlike their parents, family, and the other soldiers around them. Celestia didn’t know exactly what that meant, but she had come to accept challenges and it would certainly be one.

After hours of hiking and the small engagement with the sniper who was now lying unconscious on a cloud somewhere, the group finally reached the road that lead to the facility. They laid down in the drainage ditch on the side of the road that sliced through the forrest like a deep wound, and watched as armed war chariots pulled and manned by pony soldiers went by.

“Are you sure they will be hostile to us?” Luna asked Sapphire.

“No doubt, a hike through the woods wouldn’t be much of a test, even if it was the Everfree,” Sapphire responded looking at her timer to count the time in between patrols.

“Plus,’ Crystal whispered, ‘those Chariots had stun weapons, and why would they be using those unless they were going after us? We should go around and take the river bed to the south.”

“But…’ Cloudsoar proclaimed, ‘one of those would make the trip back a lot easier.” The group looked at each other and smiled back and forth.

“I’ll be in the clouds,” Crystal said as she flew off to set up her new rifle in the overcast storm cover.

“I’ll go with you!” added Cloudsoar as he flew off after her.

Sapphire sighed, “Them two are more obvious than the Commander and Doctor Star.” The remaining fillies shared a laugh.

“Wait, Doctor Star and Ironwing?’ Luna asked naively, ‘but that’s against military regulations.”

“So’s sneaking into the mess hall to steal extra food rations,’ quipped Celestia, ‘didn’t stop you now did it?”

“None of you were complaining when I got back to the bunks.” Luna replied proud of her theft.

The chariot was easy to commandeer once the soldier pulling it hit the ground unconscious from the stun round fired from the clouds by Crystal. After a few hours of trading off pulling the cart they reached the outer edges of the fortress they called home. As night fell, it became clear that the troops that guarded the place were on the look-out and were prepared to tranquilize the foals the first chance they got.

“Any plans?” Sapphire asked

“I can snipe them,” Crystal called out excitedly.

“Nah, as soon as the first one drops they will be on us in an instant. If we do someth’n, we need to do it quickly and powerfully, shock and awe,” Sapphire responded stomping a hoof to emphasize her plan.

Celestia unscrewed the bolts holding the stun round loaded machine gun onto the chariot they rode in on. She levitated the heavy weapon to her side, “this might help”

Sapphire smiled, “I reckon it would, but we still face the problem of them counter attacking.”

“What if,’ Luna said finally speaking up, ‘when you are attacking I sneak in and help disable as many as possible?”

Celestia gave a worried look to Sapphire, hoping she wouldn’t agree to such a dangerous plan.

Sapphire considered, “Well, you are the only one who can do it, an’ I spose if Crystal gave you covering fire….”

Before Celestia could think of a reason to not let her sister be put in danger the plan was in motion. Cloudsoar swooped from above drawing their fire while Celestia sent a hail of suppressing fire at the guards in the form of the stun round machine gun and bolts of magical energy from her horn. Crystal took pot shots at the lights around the gate house, and Candice bucked smoke bombs she had time to make during the cart ride from the ingredients she learned from Deja and gathered while stuck out in the rain. Sapphire had given herself the job of securing their flank, and judging by the sound of gunfire and hoof strikes from the trees around them she was doing a fine job.

The gate around the complex went dark from the lights having bullet imbedded in them and the smoke that filled the air. Luna crawled forward and soon was in the middle of the blinded soldiers.

“Shit, Cupcake get the backup lights on!....Cupcake where the fuck-“

The soldier was cut off as a heavy hoof struck his head. Another soldier cried out as his screams were replaced by the sound of a bone cracking. A good deal of the soldiers had fallen to the stun rounds, but those that were left felt the wrath of Luna who crept through the darkness felling full grown stallions and mares with her hooves alone.

Finally, after a few long minutes for Celestia, her sister called out, “all clear,” Luna shouted happily as Celestia let out a sigh of relief.

The foals found Sergeant Lollipop waiting for them in the courtyard as they entered the facility. Many of the foals, Celestia included readied their weapons, expecting Lollipop to surprise them with a garrison of additional troops. But instead he surprised them another way.

“Fantastic work, all of you,” he said, showing them a smile for the first time.
Ironwing landed next to him from his position high above, and beamed with pride, “I can proudly say, that you have all passed your final test before becoming a full-fledged SkyNavy unit. I am planning on informing the admiral of your progress and my recommendation that you all become an official enlistee of the SNI combat brigades. You are no longer cadets, you are now full-fledged soldiers,’ Ironwing looked to the large silver earth pony, ‘I am also recommending that you, Sapphire be promoted to Sergeant”

“Me sir? A NCO?” she asked unbelieving.

“That’s the proper rank for team leader, yes.”

The entire group beamed with happiness and relief. Cloudsoar gave the biggest smile Celestia had ever seen by receiving the approval from his commander. Celestia looked to Luna who appeared to be physically and mentally exhausted from the day. Luna sat on her haunches trying to wipe off a few spots of crimson blood staining her coat. Celestia noted another strange stain on Luna’s flank that she hadn’t notice. Wait, that’s not a stain at all, Celestia thought and smiled herself.

“Luna!” Celestia shouted.

“What is it sister?” Luna asked concerned.

Celestia nodded to the black mark on Luna’s rear. Luna looked down and noticed the black symbol emblazoned on her side. A dark night sky accented by a moon showed the filly what her talent was. Luna gave a bright smile and let out strange squeaking sound in glee as she finally got her cutie mark in stealth warfare.

Project: Harmony, chapter four

Project: Alicorn chapter 4

“Doctor Star has begun prepping the labs aboard the Hearts and Hooves Councilor,” Lollipop said putting his pink muzzle to microphone of the radio set. He gazed out over the dark emptiness that was the Everfree Forest at night, the only light cutting through the darkness came from the cloudship parked over the main facility almost a mile from the airfield control tower he was occupying.

Heart Swan’s voice replied back through the crackling speaker of the long range radio system, “yes, Councilor Daisy informed us that augmentation will be starting tomorrow morning. Is there anything else?”

Lollipop had grown to hate his unofficial mission of reporting progress on the project to Heart Swan for the last few years to insure the pegasi and unicorns didn’t conceal anything to the earth ponies about the alicorns to be. Despite the fact it was a necessary job he still felt guilty, he knew he was just making sure everypony was holding up to their part of the bargain. He didn’t think of himself as a spy despite the fact his nightly “patrols” would take him around the control tower to steal away like one.

“Nothing official sir,” Lollipop said, trying to end another lack luster report.

“What about unofficially Sergeant? What do you know about the others representing their races?” Heart Swan asked begging for some form of political leverage he can use against the unicorns or pegasi at the next council hearing.

Lollipop would do his duty even if he felt guilty about it, but there was a big line between reporting treason and blackmailing his colleagues, “Nothing sir,” Lollipop lied again; he always tried to avoid the question during his clandestine reports for good reason. It was an important note that if he reported Ironwing’s and Shining’s relationship they would most likely be kicked off the team, which creates an overall unstable environment for the project, a risk he wasn’t willing to take for something so minor. I didn’t sign up to be a fucking tabloid reporter, Lollipop thought, the foals don’t deserve to have the project shutdown or changed now, and they will have nowhere else to go.

“Well….that is good Lollipop,’ Heart Swan said with a bitter tone of disappointment, ‘keep me appraised if anything does come up. Heart Swan out.”

Lollipop entered the mess hall for military personnel on base which now included the foals who were gathered around talking about the final part of the project, a detail Doctor Star chose to finally share now that they were fully enlisted. At the sight of him, each jumped and gave a salute with their fore hooves and stood ridged until they were allowed to return to their speculation.

“At ease soldiers,” Lollipop felt strange saying that now that they were finally fully trained, and felt even stranger when he saw the dog tags around their neck like a hard flanked, dirt pounding soldier that would have served next to and trusted with his life.

“Sergeant?’ Candice asked pointing a hoof to a complex medical diagram she laid on the table, ‘Celestia and I were looking over the augmentation process, and wondered what the effect would be on the specialized cells that we will be producing to grow wings and horns, do they still use our standard DNA template or will our genes be altered to allow for the replication of these new cell?”

Lollipop whinnied at the question admitting to himself Candice definitely deserved the bandage she had for a cutiemark, “That’s a question for Doctor Star I’m afraid.”

“She and the commander are nowhere to be found,” Sapphire said holding back a smile.

“They’re probably discussing the changeover in command…Sergeant,” Lollipop said to the newly promoted squad leader, not aware the rumor of the two had already made its way down to the foals.

“They’re changing positions?” Luna asked innocently. Cloudsoar gave a slight giggle and caught the sideways glances from his peers.

“Yes, Doctor Star’s job is finishing once the augmentation is complete, Ironwing will be taking over and be top dog,” Lollipop stated, as Cloudsoar continued to giggle at his own jokes he was thinking up. I know I don’t use metaphor much but it can’t be that funny, Lollipop thought growing accustomed to the occasional giggles he would get from the pegasus during training, not even PT’ing that colt until the brink of death could ruin his sense of humor.

Doctor Star was in fact with Ironwing, but they were spending their time drinking in the old control tower Shining had been using as a class. Well more precisely Shining Star was drinking and telling stories of her “wild days” as a young mare at the military magic academy, and Ironwing was humoring her slurring speeches.

“That constellation there….that’s Canis Major, not minor,” Shining said as she wobbled looking through telescope at the heavens above.

“You’re not….. going to be performing the augmentation spells tomorrow are you?” Ironwing asked as Shining used a sloppy telekinesis spell to reposition the telescope.

“Nope,’ she said indignantly, ‘I’m a researcher, I just sit back while the medical unicorns do the work….then I’ll be back in Canterlot working for Councilor Daisy again. Do you know she offered me a job as magic advisor?....The bitch!” Shining said hammering her hoof down for emphasis, “Everypony will be sent off to their own parts of Equestria and never see each other again,” she said lowering her head in sadness and taking another drink.

Ironwing sighed, “I know I’ll miss you too,’ even though both Ironwing and Shining had agreed that they would one day have to separate and not become too attached to each other, it still didn’t make it easier for them, ‘And I’m actually keeping some of the Lightning Bolts on for a special unit, high commanded insisted we needed a battalion sized force for the team’s support. By the way, do you have any ideas for a name? Lightning Bolt support battalion 14 doesn’t have a nice ring to it.”

“How about, Ironwing’s Lightning Bolts?’ Shining asked waving a hoof in a grandiose fashion in mockery. Shining caught the unamused glance of Ironwing and replied, ‘….I don’t know, how about the Thunder Bolts?”

“That might work actually, I don’t think there’s a SkyNavy SNI unit named that yet,” Ironwing said scratching his chin with a hoof as he thought.

“Really? You would think at least one other pony would think of it.”
Ironwing continued on, “I’m sure you’ll get a job on another project Shining, hey I could put in a good word for you with Admiral White Cloud, maybe-“

“No!’ Shining yelled sending Ironwing’s ears back in shock, ‘I will earn it!...but thank you.” Shining left her telescope and wobbled over to Ironwing, “thank you soooo much, it’s the nicest thing anypony….” She trailed off as she stumbled to the floor.

“Don’t worry sister, I will be here when you wake up,” Luna said patting her sisters hoof while she laid on the gurney. A red and white medical unicorn watched on, floating Celestia in bed keeping her from falling through the cloud floor of the Hearts and Hooves while she had the procedure performed.

“But…I’m going in before you,” Celestia said raising an eyebrow to her sister who simply returned a reassuring smile as a brown pegasus nurse pushed the floating bed into the operating room.

Luna watched her sister disappear behind the doors to the magic surgery room and returned to the group waiting for their name to come up. Crystal, Cloudsoar and Luna were the only ones still waiting their turns under the horns of the doctors. Luna decided to wander about the ship, not wanting to break up the private conversation of the two pegasi who were reassuring each other and trying to keep from panicking.

Luna made her way to the gymnasium aboard, hoping to get more than just a work out for her weightlessness spell. It was empty besides a few pegasi clad in the new black uniforms of the “Thunder Bolt” support teams. Luna smirked as she saw the bucking bag going unused and trotted up to it. The cloud lined walls of the ship absorbed the sounds of the heavy hoof strikes Luna began throwing at the bag.

“Hey,’ a brown coated Thunder Bolt pegasus said, ‘you’re one of the students aren’t you?”

Luna turned to the mare that stood with her comrades leering at her, “Yeah, I am, and you are?” she asked sincerely.

The mare and her friends dodged the question as they got up and strode past the exercise equipment that now went abandoned, “You’re Luna right? Yeah, I had a friend guarding the base on the last test and I hear that you,’ she said poking her hoof into Luna’s chest, ‘you broke his wing, docs say he won’t ever be able to fly like he used to, might be discharged from the SkyNavy.”

Luna looked up at the mare’s stern face realizing that talking likely wouldn’t fix this, “I’m sorry,” she said halfheartedly.

“Yeah, see I don’t think you are brat,’ she said growing louder and stuffing her muzzle to Luna’s nose, ‘but we’re going to make you.”

Luna decided to hit first, from all she had learned from Darkbeak the lesson she valued most was strike first before you get hit by those talons. She dropped down and swept her leg under the mare, sent her buckling forward, Luna dove forward and speared her horn through her shoulder effectively taking the fight out of her. The two other stallions however were not phased and jumped on Luna, smashing their hooves down on her as she was pinned beneath them. The dark filly managed to free her back leg rolled and sent a hoof into the jaw of one of her attackers. His mouth burst with blood as his teeth cracked and Luna freed herself from the injured pegasus’ grasp only to pin the remaining soldier herself.

The satisfying pop from the wing of the last pegasus told the filly the fight was over. Luna and the stallion fell from the air as his wings failed him; his plan of flying away with her on his back didn’t go the way he wanted. With a magical flare of her horn, Luna lightly floated to the cloudy floor tossing her growing mane from her face. The Pegasus however fell like a sack of bricks, the floor giving an amusing “poof” as he hit the fluffy white floor.

“Subject Luna, please report to the medical wing for surgery,” came a voice over the public address system as Luna examined her handy work.

The filly looked back at the injured ponies as she trotted away, “I’m sorry….” She whispered to herself as she left them behind to tend to their own wounds.

Celestia had felt pain before, from the shock-batons the soldiers used to use to train her and the others, to being stung by the spasm inducing poison from a manticore tail. But what the white filly woke up to redefined torture. She had mercifully been asleep for the actual procedure, but when she awoke; her agony shook the room with magical force beyond that of any unicorn.

Celestia gave a horridly pained scream followed by a wave of magical energy echoing from her. It felt like her bones were on fire, her blood felt like it was ready to burst from their veins and her muscles tore themselves apart. Celestia threw her head back with another scream and found the tip of her long horn hitting the magical field the staff had erected around her. Celestia bucked and hit her back on the roof of the bubble, No not my back, she realized with surprise, my wings! Celestia had been told she would have wings and was excited to see how Crystal and Cloudsoar lived their lives but now they were just another part of her that hurt.

“Celestia,’ came a familiar sweet voice from Doctor Star, ‘please get back into bed, you can’t be thrashing about.”
Celestia fell to her knees and squeezed her new wings around herself to try to physically fight the pain she was feeling. She ground her teeth together and opened her mouth to let out a soundless yell. She couldn’t bear trying to get back onto the hospital bed in the small room, so Doctor Star would have to be content with her laying on the floor to wallow in a puddle of her own agony.

Celestia sat still trying to keep the destructive pain and magical spasms from growing or changing in anyway. After hours of agony she could finally tolerate it enough to walk. Celestia stood and calmly asked the tired looking unicorns that imprisoned her for the safety of the ship to let her go. Celestia walked past the pair and realized that the ponies who were probably taller than her a few hours ago were now almost 2/3rds her vertical height, the tips of the ears just reaching the base of Celestia’s long neck.

The private room Celestia had spent her torturous hours opened into a common room for low priority injuries. From what Celestia was told this wing of the hospital ship was sectioned off for her and Candice, while the other levels held everypony else. However, Celestia and Candice weren’t alone apparently; the common room had 3 of its beds occupied by pegasi soldiers who suffered traumatic damage.

“Candice…” Celestia strained to speak; her jaw felt like it was locked in place and whole muzzle felt out strange on the rest of her face. Celestia rubbed her nose with her hoof and found her face was longer than it was once before, an unexpected change that she noticed with Candice too.

The light red filly towered over the pegasi resting in their beds. Candice was the first to go in and first to come out, taking the chance to look over the new patients having their joints put back in sockets and bones splinted. Candice looked so alien, she was still shorter than Celestia but her white mane split around a giant horn,and she struggled to keep from knocking over IVs with her new set of large wings.

Candice looked to the white filly in awe, “wow, you’re….well you’re like me.”

Celestia nodded, “I’m glad to see you’re ok.”

“Well, the spasms have stopped. Hey, later can you teach me how to levitate stuff? It would be a lot easier to stick needles into patients with magic so I don’t have to use my mouth-“

Candice was interrupted by an announcement over the PA, “All medical staff to level 3, hurry we have an emergency,” yelled a panicked pony from the other end.

“Celestia….Luna and Crystal are one level 3…” Candice said in a worried tone that struck Celestia to the core.

Level 3 was full of medics trotting about, carrying bags, bottles and other tools in magical fields or their mouths. Celestia caught sight of Doctor Star who was talking feverously with a unicorn doctor on the other side of the large room. Celestia got a nice view of the scene with her new height and saw that she was blocked by a wall of ponies from reaching her teacher. Celestia realized through her panic and concern for her sister that she was longer using the weightlessness spell that kept the unicorns aboard safely and instead benefitted from the same traits the pegasus had. Celestia gave a powerful flap with her large wings and positioned herself above the unicorns stuck with their hooves on the clouds and tried to dodge the pegasi buzzing about. She was able to quickly get across the room with little trouble, not counting the nurse she accidently kicked in the head with her new elongated legs.

“Doctor Star!’ Celestia yelled over the rabble of the medical ponies as she hit the floor with enough force when she landed that a puff of white material burst and floated away from her hooves, ‘What’s going on?”

“Celestia…’ Shining Star gasped at the results of her years of effort, ‘oh, an accident happened during the augmentation process….”

Celestia felt her eyes water, “was…..was it Luna?” the short pause in between question and answer felt like ages, ages for Celestia to think about what her life would be like if she had lost her sister.

“No,’ Shining sighed, not nearly as relieved as Celestia was, ‘it was Crystal. She’s alive, but in bad shape, the capable ponies here will pull her through, I’m sure of it.” She wasn’t sure of it at all, and she couldn’t bear the thought of losing a student to the spell she had created.

Celestia instantly felt guilty for feeling relieved that Crystal was the unfortunate one and not her sister. After the unicorns had thinned out and Candice finished helping the doctors she joined the waiting Shining Star and her white coated companion to prepare them for what they were going to see.

“She’s ok, well, she’s stable. But… you should see for yourself,” Candice said in a tired and concerned way that made Celestia feel simultaneously bad for Candice and the wounded Crystal at the same time.

Celestia muffled a gasp as she saw Crystal, or at least what she was told was Crystal. All of the team was different, and looked a little different: they had longer faces, skinny bodies and longer limbs, but Crystal had changed beyond that. The beautiful green on green filly was horribly warped by the augmentations. Celestia had felt like she was being torn apart when she changed, but Crystal was the physical manifestation of the pain of becoming an alicorn and looked like she was actually sundered by the process. The only thing that reminded Celestia of what she once was her blue green mane, but now the silky strands of her hair appeared to have melted and fused together into green sheets and thick locks with ragged holes mixed in where the stands hadn’t melted together. Her coat still looked green, or at least had a green tint to her naked black leathery skin. Her bulls-eye cutie mark was now gone or covered up Celestia couldn’t to tell from the bedside.

She slept and from what Celestia guessed she hadn’t seen herself yet. She looked horridly peaceful as she napped, her mouth open and snoring exposing the two large fangs that protruded from the top of her palate. She was an alicorn like Celestia, but she looked like a nightmare of what Doctor Star had intended. She was tall, large and lanky like Candice and Celestia but her limbs had large holes cutting though them around her hooves, she had a magical horn but it was twisted and knotted like a sickly tree branch, and her once graceful wings were replaced by a disgusting membrane like the wings of a bug.

“What happened?’ Celestia asked, pained for her friend, ‘why? Why did she?”

Doctor Star did something Celestia had never seen from her mentor, she cried with heavy pain and guilt in her heaves and tears, “I…I just don’t know what went wrong…” she continued muffled behind the hoof she forced against her own muzzle to keep from openly sobbing. “I….” she didn’t finish her sentence, and instead galloped out of the room tears splashing to the floor behind her.

Cloudsoar rushed into the room as soon as he could, still limping from the pain of the augmentation.
“Oh….’ Cloudsoar said under his breath, clearly shocked at the sight of his close friend as well. Cloudsoar flew over to the bedside and put a hoof on Crystal’s hollow looking limbs, ‘Is….Will she be ok?” the blue alicorn asked.

“We don’t know the long lasting effects, but she’s alive, Cloudsoar I’m so sorry…” Candice said looking down at the mutated alicorn still unconscious.

“We should leave them alone yall,” came the unique voice of Sapphire from beyond the door of the medical room that was becoming cramped with the large size of the alicorns, beckoning them away with a head shake.

“Luna hey,” Celestia said quietly to her sister lying on the bed. She was awake, but the contorted expression her face and eyes snapped shut told Celestia that she was still experiencing the aftermath of the treatment.

Luna’s eyes opened and widened at the sight of her sister, “wow, sister you’re….’ she said giving into the welcome distraction of her only family visiting. ‘is this normal?” she asked strained, wincing in agony.

“Yes, but give it an hour,’ Celestia smiled, realizing just how much she was grateful Luna made it through, ‘Did you already get past the magic spasms?” Celestia asked, realizing that it may not be safe to visit her sister if she was a magical time bomb.

“Yeah….that was the worst of it right?”

“Yes. You know,’ Celestia said leaning her long neck to meet eye to eye with her sister, ‘I still remember when you were first born. When you were a new born you used to go through magic quakes, you would cry and cry and let out bolts of lightning that would keep me up at night,” Celestia laughed.

“How do you still remember that?’ Luna chuckled, ‘you’re only 3 years older than me.”

“Well, mom and dad would tell me most of it.” Mom and Dad, Celestia realized she hadn’t thought about their parents in months, they wouldn’t even recognize us, especially now. ”I’m glad you’re Ok Luna…”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked as a new wave of pain twisted her newly elongated muzzle.

Celestia sighed and removed the smile from her face, “Crystal, she…”

“What?’ Luna asked, concern replaced the pained look on her face, ‘is she…..?”

“No,’ Celestia said solemnly, ‘but, she’s hurt, bad. I want you to rest sister; we need to be our best for her when she wakes up-”

A terrifying and pained howl echoed from the room next door, telling Celestia Crystal had finally woken up. “Get your rest sister, I will comfort her,” Celestia said, dreading the task she must face.

“Look at me! I’m a fucking bug!” Crystal shrieked, her voice added a strange new reverberation and flanging to everything she said. Crystal flapped her tattered wing to attempt to fly again, she flapped them faster and faster to try and stay afloat. The beating wings carried her high in the air, but unlike the graceful wings of a pegasus or an alicorn these thin sheets buzzed like a storm of angry insects.

Celestia looked around at the alicorns there, and noticed that all but Luna and Cloudsoar where there to help. “Crystal, we-“ she began to say.

“Don’t call me that!’ she said franticly and disturbed, ‘Look at me, I’m not Crystal anymore I’m….I don’t know what I am!” Crystal tore the dog tags from around her neck with those new fangs and flung them to the floor.

“Crys- girl, come on down here,” Sapphire demanded, careful to avoid provoking her more. Crystal obeyed the new Sergeant and landed, still rightly upset. Sapphire smiled and put a hoof on her shoulder,”Look, we’re gonna help you get through this, just like you helped us all those times. Right yall?” she asked looking to the others in the room.

Celestia and the others gave a reassuring nod and smile, which seemed to help the troubled Crystal.
Doctor Star had overcome her own feelings to help her student in need, “Crystal?’ she asked meekly entering the room of ponies that now towered over her, ‘Is there anything I can get you?”

Crystal looked at her twisted hooves and the floor, “Where’s Cloudsoar?”

Celestia had hoped that her visiting with her close friend would cheer Crystal up, but the opposite seemed true. Cloudsoar was friendly and put on a happy face like always, but cold and Celestia obviously wasn’t the only one to notice, after a brief awkward conversation between the two, Crystal slinked off looking even worse.

Once Crystal left, Sapphire dropped her mask she was holding to comfort her wounded soldier and turned on Cloudsoar, “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Sapphire asked jabbing Cloudsoar in the chest.

Celestia didn’t feel like joining an argument with Cloudsoar, or listening to one, instead she decided to talk with Luna again to make sure she was still alright.

Lollipop returned to the control tower once night fell and queued in the proper channel for this week of conversations. “Councilor, are you there?”

“Yes Sergeant, I was beginning to wonder where you were,” the haughty earth pony on the other end said.

“I’m sorry sir, but there was a lot to deal with, three pegasi are in the hospital, apparently Darkbeak planned an unofficial test with Luna at the last minute, one she passed easily. Also one of the foals didn’t take the augments well she’s alive but heavily mutated,” Lollipop said with a sigh.

“Really? Daisy had said that there was an accident, but that it only caused ‘minor complications’, was she lying?” Heart Swan seemed to buzz with excitement at the idea of having a new piece of political dirt to use.

“I certainly wouldn’t call it minor sir, she should be able to perform as an alicorn but the doctors have been examining her unique physiology-“

“Sergeant, we must know what those medical files say if she offers any advantage, we must know of it.”

The pink pony closed his eyes and contemplated for a brief moment, “yes sir, I understand I can get them by the end of the week.”

“Make if five days Lollipop. Heart Swan out.”

Project: Harmony, Chapter five

“Welcome councilcolts, and senatemares to the 425th meeting of the Equestrian parliament," Minister Clover proclaimed as the ponies took their place in the triangle shaped meeting room, "Unfortunately we must have another private meeting to discuss a pressing matter. Another rebellion has taken place in the remote hillsides of the White Tail Woods, this time the earth ponies.”

The room gave a collective sigh of disappointment, “Another? That’s the third one this year,” Councilor Cookie said shaking her head in disbelief.

“We’re still rebuilding after the bombing on the cloudship Rainbow Swag,” added Commander Hurricane.

“Hopefully this will be a lesser conflict. The White Tail Woods are strategically a low priority, much of the area is earth pony farmers who are self-sustaining, however we feel that if these backwoods ponies spread their rebellion to the surrounding area or the region’s capitol of Fillydelphia we might have a bigger conflict on our hooves,” Minister Clover continued.

Admiral White Cloud stood, “I have discussed it with the minister and we feel that this is would a perfect opportunity to test the effectiveness of the new alicorn soldiers. They have completed their reorganization, and I am happy to say they are the first combined arms unit the pegasus SkyNavy has."

“I’m glad to see you are making use of our new gunships admiral," Councilor Daisy interjected, "I hope this calms the fears of the pegasi, and proves our dedication for an Equestrian wide military force.”

“Yes well, the main combat roles of the battle will fall to the pegasus. Your unicorn pilots will be for transport and close support, it has proven…difficult, to transport earth ponies aboard our skyships. We appreciate the unicorn’s attempt to help in combat, but the pegasi have the role covered well enough I assure you. This nation is founded on checks and balances please stay to controlling the days and nights and leave Equestrian defense to us,” the admiral said with an air of disbelief of the unicorn’s claim.

“…If that is what you wish admiral,” Daisy responded showing little regard for the admiral’s stubbornness.

Minister Clover changed the subject, trying to avoid another unnecessary debate, “Hurricane, have your weather researchers given any new information on the Equestrian climate?”

Hurricane sighed, “yes minister unfortunately they do. They say that the climate has been lowering by point five, to one degree a year, but the last few months have been setting record lows. Pretty soon we will need the Sun Circle to lengthen the summer to maintain the pre chill climate.”

“I will discuss it with them, but they are very set in their ways,” Daisy responded.

“You’re the council, are you saying that you are the puppets of a trio of old unicorns?” Commander Hurricane mused, trying to get a rise from her colleagues.

“You have no idea how persuasive their whining can be,” Princess Platinum said, letting out a high pitch to mimic them.

“‘tis tradition, isn’t that right councilors to let those old dust bags run your society? If we hadn't formed a senate they still might be telling you what to do,” Chancellor Pudding Head mocked, smiling to the honorary princess.

“We tend not to question them, they are powerful enough to control the days and have centuries of experience,” Daisy responded, taking the issue very seriously.

“Plus they’re a bunch of old grumpy mares who live in the caves below Canterlot, the only one able to tolerate them the last few years is Daisy,” Princess Platinum of the unicorns joked.

“Goodbye my little ponies,” Doctor Star said looking up at the faces of the towering alicorns as they saw her off. It began to rain again for the third time this week, but the hanger they all stood in offered protection from the storm.

“Goodbye Doctor Star, if I’m ever in Canterlot I will try and get some shore leave,” Celestia offered sincerely, though she realized she had no idea if, or how she would get shore leave as an alicorn.

“Ma’am, are you ready to go?” the pilot of the flying contraption asked. From what Celestia was told Councilor Daisy personally sent a vehicle for her new assistant. The machine lacked the simplicity and elegance of a sky chariot but it did have the benefit of being fully enclosed for the pilots and at least a squad of ponies, and also featured a pair of magical weapons attached to the hull along with a pair of fans control it while in air. Celestia judged by the inadequacy of the propellers and unicorn pilots that this vessel was only used by the unicorn military and likely required a levitation spell to keep in the air.

“Yes…of course," she replied before turning to Ironwing, "be careful with them Commander, give them time to adjust to their new bodies.” Shining gave farewell smile to the silent Ironwing.

“Doctor, wait," interrupted Sapphire as she used her newfound magical abilities to lift a small box out of her raincoat, "I saw that in all the time you were with us, you never had a pair of these, and, well shucks it just didn’t seem right to me,” she said smiling and waiting for Shining to open her gift.

Shining took the small case and opened it with a flare of her magic, “Oh my," Shining exclaimed with a giggle, "thank you, the Unicorn Military Research Academy never gave these out.” Doctor Star floated out a pair of shiny metal dog tags in front of her. Along the side of each there was etched her name and a simple title that brought out a flood of emotions from the light blue unicorn, it simply said, “Team Mom”. She gave a grateful smile and floated them around her neck, taking care to tuck them under her raincoat.

“Well, I asked Lollipop to put the order in with ours, we all thought it would be mighty nice to let yall know that no matter where you are or what you do, your still one of us,” Sapphire finished, gathering agreeing nods from the other alicorns.

Ironwing finally broke his silence, “So are you going back to the academy?”

“No, Daisy has me working on something else,” the tone in her voice told everypony that she wasn’t inviting further questioning on the subject.

“Well I hope you enjoy whatever it is you do,” Ironwing said giving a rare smile.

“As long as I don’t have to attend anymore council meetings," Shining chuckled, "I never asked, are you and Commander Hurricane the same rank?”

“Nah, she’s a diplomat now, her rank is purely honorary,” he said as the two began another conversation, much to the dismay of the waiting pilot.

“Come on yall," Sapphire whispered to the other alicorns, "let’s leave them alone. Plus we need to get practice with the new gunships in,” the silver alicorn beckoned her teammates away from the hanger.

The group set their hooves onto the black asphalt that made up the airfield. The rain began to wane enough that training didn’t seem too intolerable, and luckily their practice would take place inside a hanger, Celestia thought.

“You sure you can handle flying? The unicorns aren’t exactly meant to fly,” Cloudsoar said as he flew alongside Celestia and her sister.

“You realize that it requires a competent knowledge of levitation to fly right?” Luna responded crossly.

“Alright, touché," Cloudsoar said with a smile, "but that’s what the co-pilot’s for, I fly and they keep me in the air.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but smile at the blue alicorn, something about him always brought out a smile, “well you’re not getting Luna, I’ve already called her for co-pilot.”
Luna smirked and shared a confident hoof tap with her sister.

“Pfft, I already have a co-pilot in mind.”

Celestia noticed a sideways glance from Crystal who flew ahead.

“Hey, Candice want to fly with me?” he asked flying ahead of the trotting group.

Celestia had hoped that gunship training would be easy, learn the basics so you can fly it if you needed to, then back to base for rest before the upcoming battle. However Lollipop’s habit of surprises had rubbed off on his star pupil Sapphire. Celestia had her turn learning to fly the crazy machine, even though it handled like a brick (a floating brick but a brick none the less) she had hit close enough to her target that she passed the piloting portion of the test. Now came the surprise, the alicorns took turns switching between flier and target.

Luna proved a worthy target, capable of dodging every one of the amplified stun bolts Celestia rained down on her sister from the armored cockpit. Perhaps choosing her as a “co-pilot” wasn’t the best choice, Celestia admitted to herself. Celestia stretched her long legs and flapped her wings, she began to think that she would not be nearly as quick and agile as her kin.

(ZAP!)

A blue bolt of magical energy blasted a small crater under Celestia’s hooves, tossing her and a good amount of dirt into the air. Celestia spread her wings and righted herself, deciding the trees of the Everfree would no longer provide adequate cover. No real point in trying to hide from Crystal I guess, she thought, banking hard to the right as another bolt slashed the air after she escaped the tree line.

The black alicorn who controlled the craft followed Celestia, easily rotating the floating craft and funneling her magical energy into the amplifiers that cast the bolts, a task each had to learn and was normally a job for two. Celestia, although nowhere near as skilled at flying the contraption did have the benefit of small bit of extra experience on account of her going first. The unicorn made machine had many benefits a sky chariot didn’t: it could strafe in any direction, rotate on a dime, and hover, but it couldn’t move nearly as quickly.

Celestia flew as fast as she could to get distance between her, the machine, and its eagle eyed pilot. The all too familiar glow of the targeting spell that made Celestia glow like a light bulb was still locked on to her, but the bolts of stunning energy stopped harassing her as the gunship disappeared behind her.

“Don’t run away Celest, I’ll be gentle,” teased Crystal over the radio.

Runaway? You wish, Celestia smirked to herself as she began to climb hoping to hit Crystal from above. Celestia looked down as she rolled and began to plunge toward the craft silhouetted against the green forest below. Celestia concentrated, knowing she couldn’t shake the targeting spell she instead decided to make her glow much brighter. Her horn flared, the bright artificial sunlight bathed the forest top in a brilliant glow making her near impossible to hit let alone see. Celestia reached out her hooves to land on top of the craft, she closed her wing and prepared to land, only to fall through the craft completely.

Celestia scrambled to open her wings and avoid hitting the trees below. She looked up at the mirage that deceived her. But where? The canopy below Celestia exploded upwards as the expertly controlled gunship knocked her up in the air from below. Celestia bounced off the top of the metal skinned vehicle and rolled to the cockpit in front, sprawling her hooves to catch herself on the window.

The dark green eyes of Crystal peered from the pilot’s seat and offered a happy smile, “I just learned it, pretty cool huh?” she asked excitedly.

The evening after flight training was marked by the announcement from Ironwing who officially informed the rest of the battalion sized mob of ponies that filled the warehouse that they were going to war. The alicorns stood head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd, giving them a perfect view of their Commander who sternly faced his soldiers both veterans and the highly trained, but little traveled alicorns.

As the ponies filed out to their quarters to begin gathering their gear preparing for the battle ahead, the alicorns found themselves oddly without anything to do. Well it will be easy to pack since we don’t own anything, Celestia thought.

“I’m going up to the library, wanna come Celest?” Crystal asked as she carried herself on her buzzing wings. Celestia and the others had grown used to Crystal’s new appearance, which was making Crystal feel less alien herself, all except Cloudsoar who was still distant and becoming a real pain in the flank for everypony else.

“Sure, I want to check up on more environmental spells that might give us the advantage. Do you want to come Luna?” Celestia asked.

“…..No, I’ll catch up later,” Luna said, sounding mentally occupied but dedicated to whatever was taking away her attention.

“I’m going to go get a haircut," Cloudsoar said without prompt, "some of you should consider it too, your manes are almost down to your shoulders.” Cloudsoar gave a forced cough, slipping Sapphire’s name into his simulated hacking.

“Shut it Cloudsoar, it’s still an inch away from being out of regulation,” she replied. Despite the fact she was right, her hair was the longest of the group, but she had convinced Ironwing to to allow her to braid it as long as it stayed out of the way

The only way I can keep my damn mane out of my face is to cut the whole stupid thing off. No matter the length it always covers at least half of my face for some reason; Celestia thought, involuntarily running her hoof through her hair.

“What about you Candace?" Sapphire asked as she began to leave the conversation, "I know how yall likes to talk with the other soldiers; I’m head’n down to the earth pony barracks to get a game of chess in with Lollipop. I will need somepony to convince him I can’t use my magic to cheat.”

“There’s a spell I can teach you Sapphire,” Celestia joked as she followed Crystal to the library.

“What do you think Cloudsoar would like more Celest?” Crystal asked as she buzzed between the book shelves, holding an unread book in a telekinetic field.

Celestia should have known Crystal didn’t actually want to study, instead she spent the last few hours talking and interrupting Celestia. Please don’t call me that, Celestia thought, being polite enough to not say it aloud. Celestia sighed, “I don’t know, I thought you reading about insect life.”

“I was I was," she said beginning to read from the book she floated in front of her aloud to prove it, "some insects like the butterfly, change their life cycle by entering the pupa stage, also known as a chrysalis,” she stopped and thought for a moment, “huh maybe I will read more of this.”

Thank the heavens, Celestia happily thought. Celestia continued to read about the ‘Sun Circle’ who were the group of powerful unicorns who maintained the sun’s orbit and made its rotation consistent.

“What do you think about insecticorn?” Crystal asked suddenly

“Excuse me?”

“Well, I’m not an alicorn, not really. I’m more of and insecticorn.”

“You’re not a bug Crystal,” Celestia was quick to correct, despite the fact that Crystal no longer seemed upset over her appearance.

“I'd like to be a bug.”

Celestia looked up from her tome, very confused but was met with a mischievous smile from the black “insecticorn”.

Crystal returned to her book, but the silence was short lived as she spoke again, quickly finishing the section she was reading. “Did Cloudsoar say anything about me?” she asked taking her nose from the book.

“No,” Celestia replied just barely hiding the frustration in her voice.

“He hasn’t been himself lately….actually I haven’t been myself lately,” Crystal corrected herself, the disappointment swelling in her voice. Celestia sighed and continued to read about the terrain they will be facing. “Celestia," Crystal continued, "do…do you know any shape shifting spells?”

Celestia looked up and frowned, “Crystal, no," she said sternly, "you don’t need that. What happened to the insecticorn?” she asked trying to make her teammate feel a little better.

“The first of my kind I guess,” Crystal said giving a weak smile and looking everywhere but Celestia’s face as she flew about.

“Look I know you’re not the kind to hold anything back, but let’s just find out some more about these ‘White Tail Woods’. The Commander said it’s only a few miles from the Everfree, I find it incredible that there’s ponies living that close to this place,” Celestia said as she floated out a collection of maps on the region.

“Well we’ve lived here most of our lives didn’t we?" Crystal said, visibly happy that the subject changed, "But I guess that was because the SNI didn’t want anypony wondering into the base.”

“Yeah…" Celestia trailed off as she thought of her own question to ask, "Do you ever think about…you know the rest of Equestria?”

Crystal looked a little dumbstruck at the question but smiled, no doubt happy to be the able to be on the other side of the questioning, “You mean like geography, and politics?” she joked.

Celestia couldn’t help but smirk at the feigned naivety, “you know what I mean. Do you think they remember us?”

“Who?”

“Our families, do think your father thinks about you while he does his deliveries? Does Sapphire’s baby sister even remember her? Is Cloudsoar’s dad even alive? Has Candice’s two moms adopted another kid when she went missing? Does….” Celestia stopped short of her train of thought as a sudden lump filled her throat.

Crystal smiled wide enough to expose those two fangs of hers as she hugged Celestia. The hug felt alien, not because of Crystal’s misshapen hooves, but because Celestia realized she hadn’t been hugged in years, and even then she was the one who comforted her sister in her times of trouble. Celestia smiled and whispered, “thank you."

“And remember, you do have family here.”

Celestia pulled away and wiped a small tear that threatened to push itself though, “Luna?”

“Well, yeah. But I meant the rest of us too. Come on I saw that the mess hall had a stock of ice cream for special occasions, what do you say we get that sister of yours to break in and grab us some?” Crystal said buzzing her way over to the door.

“I don’t know, she seemed pretty determined to do something earlier.”

“Ah come on, she’ll listen to anything you say.”

““Sure, I want to check up on more environmental spells that might give us the advantage. Do you want to come Luna?” her older sister asked.

“…..No, I’ll catch up later,” Luna said before trotting off through the underground tunnels of the base.

Luna had seen almost every part of the base, except the one office she didn’t dare enter. Darkbeak’s private office went unused most of the day, but it still carried a strange dread to it that seemed to chill the entire hallway that lead to it's challenging door. However, she needed to do this.

Luna was simply put, afraid. She feared the battle ahead, despite her training and years of knowledge, it was her first fight, it would be her first kill, and quite possibly her only death. Ironically, there was only one soldier who could make her feel better, and that was Darkbeak.

Tap tap tap) Luna knocked her hoof against the office door. No one answered, Luna’s mind began to wonder, maybe she’s no here, I should -

The grey griffon opened the door and raised her eyebrows in surprise, “Luna? What are you doing here?”

Luna still had trouble looking Darkbeak in the eye, but being nearly as tall as her now did help a little, “I was looking for some advice, but if now isn’t a good time-“

“No, come in” she said without her typical confidence and sternness. She turned and flicked her tail to beckon the alicorn in.

Luna had never been in this room, she half expected it to be filled with torture devices and an oven to bake ponies, “…Do you have any advice?”

“For what?”

“For war,” Luna said meekly, beginning to think that this would be a mistake.

“I already taught you everything I know about hoof to claw combat, but I have a feeling you mean something else. Luna, I did everything I could to toughen you up,” she turned and gave a sincere smile to her student, "but it’s ok to be afraid,”

Luna did not expect that. This whole conversation didn’t make sense to her. Noting in here makes sense, she thought as she saw the framed picture of a younger Darkbeak with two small griffons climbing on her. “But, you said that fear is what led to death.”

“It does, the moment you let the battle beat you is the moment you let the enemy beat you. But there’s a time and place for fear," Dark beak took a seat at her desk adorned with what looked like foal made (or chick made) art projects, and noticed the alicorn starring at the picture, "they make their mother proud, both are top of their class in flight school. The eldest wants to join the pegasus auxiliaries.”

“I-I…what?”

“Luna, you’re a soldier now, it’s time that you learn that nopony, or griffon is as hard assed as they would like to think. Hell even Ironwing was had a soft spot…you didn’t hear it from me but he was screwing the doctor,” she said with a wink.

“We know, Crystal saw them together-I mean, saw them sharing a drink in the library.”

“We all feel fear, and I did my best to instill fear in all of you so that you can be prepared for the real thing when your's and your friend’s lives depend on it. Want a drink?” she asked impromptu pulling a bottle from her desk.

“I’m only 15…” Luna said.

“Yeah well you’re about to go and fight for Equestria, you flew an armed gunship today. I think you’re responsible enough to handle it,” she responded pouring a glass.

“Alright, but the battle ahead, I haven’t felt this afraid since…”

“Since you were the foal I used to kick the shit out of?”

“Well, yeah”

“I’m sorry about that you know. I don’t wish that I didn’t do it, but I do wish you weren’t needed to do that. I’m sure I was the bane of your existence for most of your foalhood, but it would have been cruel and selfish to hold back on you when you needed to know what fear and pain looked like,” Darkbeak said with conviction.

Luna snickered, damn it, she’s right.
So I want you to remember, whatever you face out there, who ever they are, they’ll never be as scary as me,” Darkbeak said smiling.

Project: Harmony, chapter six

“I can’t see a damn thing,” Sapphire complained as the troop bay went dark.

A faint glow snuck into the darkness from Celestia’s horn as she levitated her helmet from the bench next to her. The faint yellow glow of her magic bounced off the visors of the other helmeted ponies around her, the pegasi Thunder Bolts each had their muzzles covered by the breather mask, and manes flattened down by the protective flight helmets of the glide troops. Celestia rotated the helmet over, exposing the painted on copy of her cutie mark that set it apart from the other pegasi helmets, along with the special hole and groove cut in the blast shield to fit her large horn. She slid the armored helm over her long horn, and strapped the mask over her mouth.

“Everypony up, we’re at the drop point,” The chariot load master said pushing the large glowing button at the front of the cabin that triggered the door on the opposite side. The back of the massive air bus opened onto a deceptively beautiful scene. The unobstructed stars and glowing moon illuminated the trees below that were accented by faint lights from the sparse farmhouses below.

Celestia strained her muscles to stand as the heavy gear she wore tried to hold her to the bench. She gave a practice flap of her wings before folding them back to keep from pissing off the others she shared the cramped quarters with.

“Alright yall, you know the plan. But we have a secondary objective-“ Sapphire began

“Since when?” One of the Thunder Bolts interrupted.

Sapphire seemed to glare from under her helmet, “Since I spotted that farmhouse we just flew over. Once we set down, we see if we can commandeer the building. Now hurry up and get ready to jump, we have a schedule to keep.”

“Alright, ready? Go!” the load master yelled, as Sapphire disappeared beyond the large open door.

Celestia moved into position at the threshold into the night air beyond, spreading her wings and feeling her feathers rustle against the back draft.

“Alright, go!” the pegasus commanded as Celestia felt her hooves leave the metal floor behind.

The armor and protective gear that kept her coat covered robbed Celestia of the feeling of flight she was growing so accustomed to. She wanted to flap her wings, fly and swoop through the cool night air but began to feel helpless when she couldn’t muster the strength with the heavy pack on her belly and saddle bags on her flank. The Lightning Bolt glide soldiers are elite, because they are the only pegasi Skynavy unit that does not fly. They drop to the ground and fight their way with the enough weaponry to fight their way back to the air, the words of Commander Ironwing rushed through Celestia’s mind, remembering the hours of and days of training that seemed so long ago.

“Sunflower!" one of the Thunder Bolts barked through the radio, "you’re glowing!”

(Zap!)

A bright lance of magical energy from the forest arced past Celestia, and was soon followed by the burnt corpse of a pegasus falling past. Celestia acted quickly, those many morning ambush drills she faced at the hooves of Lollipop finally paying off. Celestia caught a brief glimpse of where the bolt came from, and with a flash of her horn erected a yellow, hemispherical barrier between the descending fliers and the shooter.

A second bolt splashed harmlessly against the barrier, and was followed by silence. That will surprise those fuckers, Celestia thought fantasizing about the surprised unicorn on the ground starring dumbstruck the magical shield from a seemingly defenseless pegasus.

“I saw where the bolt came from, permission to engage?” Celestia asked, already sheathing the release on her heavy pack with magic telepathy in anticipation.

“Permission denied," Sapphire responded, "we’re already one pack down, we can’t afford for you to drop yours. Everypony hurry up and get your hooves on the ground, this mission just got a lot more complicated.”

Celestia was grateful to see the ground coming up to meet her, even if the trees began to block out the beautiful night sky. There was a small break in the woods that the group aimed for. Celestia could see the dark shape of Sapphire landing less than gracefully, and soon prepared to follow. With a heavy thud, Celestia touched her hooves against the grass of the clearing. The heavy pack thrust her forward with added momentum sending her sprawling on her knees. Another thud came from Celestia’s left as one of the Thunder Bolt support troops hit the dirt, followed by a crunching of branches as another soldier landed in an unseen tree.

“Everypony spread out and make sure we’re clear, I don’t want any more surprises like that,” Sapphire commanded as she trotted to the tree line. After a few minutes of securing the area Sapphire designated a set of sentries to keep watch while they dragged their gear out of the open and began tending to the pegasus that broke her wing when she collided with the tree.

“Celestia, what’s the e.t.a on the communication gear?” Sapphire asked as she illuminated a large map with her magic.

“Juph abouth der,” Celestia mumbled with the screwdriver in her mouth, "alright, it’s put together.”

“Great," Sapphire said tuning into the agreed upon frequency, "this is drop zone alpha, do you read bravo?”

After a few silent seconds Candice’s voice responded from the device, “This is bravo, we hear you alpha we saw the shots you guys took from where we are. Were there any casualties?”

“One, the shooter used a targeting spell, meaning they have proficient military knowledge. How are things on yall’s end?”

“We encountered no resistance, me, Luna, and the Thunder Bolts are ready to move to the rendezvous.”

“Negative," Sapphire replied, "I’m changing the landing zone, this unicorn could be real pain in our flanks, and I don’t want anypony landing that close to the town. I spotted a large homestead south of your position, the coordinates are…”

As Sapphire filled the other team in on the new plan, Celestia got to work unpacking the heavy bags she dropped with. Her saddle bags held ammunition, the regular allotment of grenades and other standard gear. But glide troops weren’t regular soldiers, Celestia took the heavy bag in her teeth, and threw the pack of path finding and demolition gear that burdened her flight, onto her back ready to march.

“Maybe I’m getting too used to flying about”, Celestia commented to herself as the packs kept her wings down.

“Everypony ready?" Sapphire asked as the Thunder Bolts returned from their patrol, "Alright weapons at your side. Corporal will you be ok to fight?”

“Absolutely ma’am,” the injured pegasus with her wings comically splinted and sticking out from her body responded as they began to slog through the dark woods.

Celestia looked out across the dark void of the homestead’s field that separated the dark tree line from the small beacons of light of the farmhouse. From across the opposite side of the field came a small burst of dark blue light. That’s the signal, Celestia thought as she responded with a similar signal from the light of her horn.

“Alright, friendlies coming in,” Celestia said to the pegasi standing guard over their squad’s position in the foliage.

The field filled with dark shapes as the ponies of bravo moved quickly across the empty land to meet their comrades. Celestia swept the horizon looking for any threats that might try to take advantage of the vulnerable state of her sister’s team as they approached. However the pegasi moved quickly enough without their wings to keep from being seen by anypony who might be looking for them.

“I’m glad to see you all made it ok,” Celestia addressed the (relatively) small armored figure.

“I saw the bolts and…" Luna began to say, "we need to investigate this combat unicorn that has made his home here, they have a life to pay for,” she finished angrily.

“That’s exactly the plan," Sapphire interjected, "and that’s why we’re gonna go have a nice civil talk with the farmers on this homestead and have them let us land our soldiers here, and hopefully they will volunteer to give us information on the ponies ‘round these parts.”

“What?" Luna asked quizzical, "what makes you think they will allow that, or help us? Hell, they might shoot at us on sight; this is an insurrection after all. For all we know this farm house could be the base for the rebels, and we’re just gonna knock?”

“We could use a place to treat that pegasus’ wing though,” Candice began.

“Don’t you worry you pretty little head Luna, I know my way ‘round a farm and know that farmers just want peace and quiet. I just need to show them that helping us is a mutual interest,” Sapphire mused as she began her way to the farmhouse.

“You’re going to offer peace and quiet by making their crops into an airstrip?” Celestia asked.

“Eeyup, now you coming? Everypony else set up a perimeter around the farm…just in case.”

(knock knock knock)

Sapphire knocked her hoof on the simple wooden door as Candice, Celestia and Luna caught up to her. The home beyond the doorway was silent, and it was clear that the light they had seen from the air and across the field was coming from a small lamp on the short decorative fence around the building and not the home itself.

“They’re not answering…” Luna tensed in suspicion at the disconcerting silence.
“Well it is…3 am" Sapphire said checking the watch on her fore hoof, "most ponies aren’t out on night missions you know.”

She has always been the one to stay up late…such a night pony, Celestia amused herself as the group waited

Finally after a second and third set of knocking, hoof steps accompanied by the creaking floor echoed within as a voice called out, “Who in their right minds would wake us this early?” asked a very loud and irritated stallion.

“Alright, you’re on Candice,” Sapphire ordered as the door began to be unlocked.

“Me? I-“ Candice was interrupted as the dirt brown buck opened the door.

“What do you want?-” the brown pony stopped in his tracks and took in the sight of the alicorns in front of him. His eyes widened and his jaw slackened as his gaze traveled up to meet Candice’s armored visor above him.

“Oh…hello!" Candice said unsure, "I’m sorry to bother you this late…or early depending on how you look at it, but um, we require your help my earth pony friend.”

The pony in the door starred upwards and seemed to visibly falter once he saw that these giant horned mares also possessed a set of wings.

“Who is it Cake?” came another voice from inside the house, this one belonging to a middle aged unicorn mare who trotted up to meet the late night visitors. She quickly skidded to a halt when she saw the four, armed and armored soldiers that paid them a visit.

“Well I’m Candice, this is Sapphire," the alicorn said pointing a hoof to her team mates, "this is Luna and Celestia. We are here on behalf of the Equestria SkyNavy.” Candice removed her helmet and gave the slack jawed ponies a welcoming, if halfhearted smile. “Do you mind if we come in?”

Sapphire didn’t wait for a response and trotted into the humble home, however she followed Candice’s lead of being friendly and removed her helmet, letting her braided mane fall down to her shoulders. “We are here to investigate insurrectionist activities in your community," she starred at the unicorn mare of the house, "a unicorn huh, anymore of you in town?”

“What are you asking my wife?” the angered earth pony asked as he stomped forward to defend his mate.

A brave little pony, Celestia thought as the head of the household seemed to bristle at the intrusive late night questioning.

Sapphire simply smiled, “I apologize, and we don’t suspect your wife or your lovely family. However a unicorn is responsible for the death of one of my soldiers, perhaps you saw the light show? There can’t be a whole lot of you here.”

“He, he killed somepony?” the mare asked.

“Specialist Sunflower, 20 years old,” Sapphire said, tossing the recovered dog tag out of her front pocket.
The unicorn mare looked down at her hooves then met the uncertain gaze from her husband, “I…I know who it is,” she said remorsefully.

“Are you sure you want to do this Lilly?” the buck asked wrapping a foreleg around his wife pulling her into a supportive hug.

“He’s a killer and they would’ve found out eventually,” the unicorn said as tears welled in her eyes.

The alicorns glanced to each other in confused determination. Candice broke the other’s gaze and strode up to the mare that was on the verge of a full sob fest. The red coated alicorn put a delicate hoof on the mare’s shoulder; her white mane draped down and brushed the muzzle of the upward looking unicorn as Candice offered a confiding smile.

“I told him that it was crazy…suicidal, but the damn stubborn…" the orange unicorn stomped her hoof in anger, "there’s only 3 unicorns in town, but only one who hates the Equestrian government enough to enlist a gaggle of other crazies. My brother Peri used to be such a good colt, but after the military he just…hated everything. I used to believe the horse apples he spewed, but this is too far. We moved out here to get away, but that wasn’t enough for him, turned his whole farm into a castle. Now he’s gonna get those stupid friends of his dead too,” she was able to say before breaking down in tears, “Please, please don’t kill him, I can’t…I can’t.”

“We won’t kill him,” Sapphire proclaimed

We won’t? Celestia asked herself silently.

“But-“ Luna began before Sapphire could finish.

“We won’t kill him, but he will spend a very long time in prison. However if we face resistance I can’t say the same for his friends.”

Celestia stood at one end of the large farm field and joined the other alicorns at opposite ends as their horns sent beacons of light into the early morning sky.
Celestia’s ear piece crackled as Crystal called down from the sky, “This gunship Charlie, we see your signal and are preparing to land, boy is it-” the signal ended as the copilot of the craft switched the channel off.

Six hours of flying with Crystal, I do not envy that poor pony.

Celestia continued to project the magical strobe from her horn as the buzzing from the three unicorn made fliers filled the dawn air. The tall stalks of young wheat swayed as the ducted props lowered the metal beasts down until their bellies flattened the plants beneath them.Celestia ceased her signaling spell and trotted to meet the others who landed. A large shadow cast by the rising sun landed next to Celestia and let out a throaty sigh.

“Ugh, I should have been with you guys, escort duty was boring,” Cloudsoar complained as he floated off his brightly colored helmet.

“That’s a good thing Cloudsoar,” Celestia corrected.

“Yeah well I could’ve used the adrenalin," he said yawning, "it would at least make me forget about the wing cramps I will be getting. The unicorn pilots only had to keep their levitation up, we’re the ones who have to flap our wings for hours,” he said huffing and stretched his wings as his fellow escort pegasi set down all around the field.

The large door at the rear of each of the craft opened up and ponies dressed in green leaf camouflage and loaded with heavy weapons poured out. It was easy to spot Lollipop as the pink earth pony shouted orders, “Machine gun teams set up on the road, I want the entrance to the farm shut down and the road barricade half a mile up in each direction from where the drive way connects.”

The famers and their family of 2 colts and one filly watched with mixed reactions as the military rolled onto their property. The father continued to comfort his wife as the foals looked on in awe. The filly had grown quite attached to Luna in her time there, a fact that amused Celestia and annoyed her sister to no end.

The filly tugged at Luna’s tail to get her attention, “hey can I try on one of your helmets?” the little turquoise unicorn asked.

“No,” Luna sighed, unable to contain her growing irritability.

“Pleaaaase,” the filly begged.

“No…and leave before I gobble you up!” she teased, hoping to scare the foal away.

“You can’t do that-“

Before Luna could respond, Sapphire floated her helmet over to the foal and asked her to go show it to her brothers who looked on from a safe distance.

Lollipop approached the group, “Can’t say it was what I would have done Sapphire, but a local friendly might be helpful.”

“The farmers have been very helpful; they let us set up a command center and field hospital in their barn. They even gave us leads on the location of the insurrectionists,’ Sapphire said defending her decision, ‘some of the Thunder Bolt fliers are reconnoitering the area. With any luck we will have the major players captured by sun down.”

“Any contact with the main town?”

“Negative, we came under fire while landing and I don’t think it would be a good idea to march down Main Street with the possibility of civilians getting caught in the crossfire.”

Lollipop raised an eyebrow and smiled, “good call Sergeant, I would like to get out of here before these humble folk,’ Lollipop began to mock, ‘have the battle roll onto their farm.”

Celestia looked at the farmhouse that stood like a bastion in the middle of the empty plot. The foliage around the tree line cast concealing shadows over Celestia’s white coat as she floated a pair of binoculars to get a better look at the enemy “stronghold”. It appeared that the ponies inside expected company, boarding up and barricading the farm home and even building a makeshift fortification around the house that hadn’t been completed in time. They placed snipers around the whole area, one had even managed to shoot and kill a pair of pegasi scouts.

Nothing here makes sense, how did they prepare themselves so quick, and how did the unicorn know the Thunder Bolts were landing? Celestia gave herself time to think as she watched the home from a distance, I guess if they watched the skies 27/7, but that seems completely paranoid, then again sane ponies don’t hoard weapons and turn their farm into a compound.

A small glint flashed from the barricaded window set into the slanted roof as the sun reflected off the enemy sniper scope. Celestia broke from her inner dialog and prepared to act.
(Bang)

The shot rang out through the farm, startling a flock of birds who took flight from the nearby tree tops. The cedar shingles on the roof were misted with a cloud of crimson as the bullet tore through the window killing the sniper inside.

Good shot Crystal,” came Sapphire’s voice over the radio as she complimented their sniper’s aim.

“I might not be able to shoot from the clouds anymore, but the forest works just as well. By the way, Celestia, I saw the other sniper’s position near you. I need to move," she stated as she began to pant into Celestia’s ear bud, signal she was indeed running to a new spot, "he’s dug in some sort of make shift bunker, in the tree line, north of the shed.”

Celestia scanned the area roughly 50 feet away from where she was prone but couldn’t see anything from this distance through the thick forest cover. She had to trust that Crystal’s eyes were working their magic again, “alright, I’m on my way,” she said as she high crawled through the brush.

Sure enough, a short distance away the concrete bunker sat buried in small berm that lay at the base of a small hill. However Crystal’s eyes couldn’t see the whole picture from her vantage point, the sniper nest was indeed there, but up on the hill was a second bunker. The over watching fortification lacked the sturdy concrete design, and instead was a simple hole dug into the crest of the mound and buffeted by sand bags.
(pop, pop pop)

A cacophony of rifle fire rained down from the hillside fortification. Celestia didn’t see the sniper’s defenders until they shot, but that didn’t make her careless. She had feared that the hill may be used to get the upper hoof on her, just didn’t plan it would be such a well-defended attacker. The tree Celestia hid her large form behind splintered with each impact.
I can’t teleport them out from behind cover, I could blind them and rush them but they could still shoot. And then what? Celestia mulled over the options in her head before settling on one plan that would work. Celestia gulped in dread as she thought about her next steps …but you have to do it, it’s the only way.

Celestia flared her horn and disappeared from behind her cover. With a bright flash she teleported next the opening in the hill, and threw herself onto the dirt to stay out of her aggressor’s firing arc. The pony taking shots from inside the bunker couldn’t react in time, and paid dearly. Celestia charged her magic again, but this time sent a billowing plume of flame into the opening.The screams from within the hillside, the smell, the rolling flame, all of those would haunt Celestia’s dreams for weeks.

Project: Harmony, Chapter seven

“Don’t you trust me?” Celestia asked her sister as the sound of gunfire continued to ring out through the forest.

“…Yes, but you can understand why I’m a little hesitant right? This seems like one of your crazier plans,” Luna shuffled her hooves, not convinced of her sister’s guarantees that the scheme will work.

“Yes, but it’s just like the unicorn warp troopers, except I’m the one teleporting you in.”

“No, the difference sister is that they have an idea where they are teleporting to, you don’t. For all I know you’ll teleport my flank into a wall of another pony.”

“As long as you keep your shield up you should be fine, even if you are teleported into an object the shield will make sure the wall takes the brunt of it. Plus you’re the only one of us who can pull it off,” I’m sure it will be fine…pretty sure, Celestia finished to herself.
Luna sighed and slumped her shoulders in defeat, “Fine, but only because you aced that teleportation theory test Doctor Star gave us. ”

Celestia and Luna looked from their defended position as the battle for the farmhouse was in full swing. A pegasus recon chariot circled above, the gunner operating the heavy turret from the rear of the craft rained a firestorm of bullets down. The trio of earth ponies next to Luna and Celestia watched the battle from afar, accepting their orders to stay back and watch for enemy reinforcements. The ammo carrier had shook off his saddle bags of ammunition belts and was keeping watch over the other two. The gunner of the team watched through the scope mounted on the heavy caliber gun that was attached to the back of the bored looking gun carrier who lay down in the dirt, him and the gunner positioned in a seemingly uncomfortable and awkward position.
(Pow pow pow pow)

The gunner let off a single burst at the farmhouse, keeping the embattled ponies inside from returning fire under threat of losing their heads to the hail of fire.

“So you know the plan right?’ Celestia asked, ‘find the head pony, and teleport him to me, I’ll have a shield ready.”

“Are you sure I can’t just cast a ‘want it need it’ spell on a few grenades and have you warp them in like my original plan?” Luna asked rhetorically.

“Don’t worry sis-“

“Here take some of these,” Candice interrupted tossing a satchel of medical supplies that hit the unsuspecting Luna in the face.

“Eugh! Hey!" Luna cried out, "…aren’t you supposed to be treating the wounded?”

“All the wounded are on the enemy’s side, Luna. So the quicker you get a move on the better, no doubt they have a hurt ponies over there,” Candice replied as she threw a hoof towards the enemy position as she turned and began picking herbs from a bush nearby.

“And remember Luna," Sapphire added as she trotted up, "soon as yall get in too deep, flash out and we’ll charge in. I would prefer to do this quietly and take Periwinkle alive, but I’m not trading one of ours for him.”

Celestia began to feel even more anxious about her plan than she did before seeing the concern the others seemed to show, “are…are you sure you don’t want to have me go instead?”

Luna glared at her sister, “I can do this Celestia," she said sternly, "…plus you’re too gangly, you might trip over your own hooves,” she finished with a smile as a magical shield clung to her contours with the flash of her horn.

“Go get ‘em!" Cloudsoar yelled as he landed on his back legs and thrust a few quick air punches into a nonexistent opponent, "I can see the look on their faces now, blam, pow.”

“How was your flight doctor?” the yellow unicorn mare asked as she trotted up to the powering down aircraft.

“Very good councilor,” Shining Star responded drearily placing the pair of dog tags she was gifted into the duffle she floated beside her as she set her hooves on the fine cut grass of Unicorn Military Research Academy.

“My goodness dear," Daisy began with a tone sincere concern, "you look like you have been crying.”

“Oh I-“

"Don’t worry dear, your job here won’t be that bad," Daisy said with a comforting smile, "plus you are free of the pegasi. I’m sure you’ll appreciate the more refined luxuries and mental stimulation of home in no time at all.”

“Yes…of course.”

“I would love to chat more, but unfortunately I have a council meeting later, and an academy to run so I’ll have to make it quick. Please come follow me, there’s plenty of ponies who are looking forward to hearing about your work,” the Councilor said as she trotted off, throwing her yellow mane back to address Shining Star.

Shining quickly raced after Councilor Daisy as fast as she could in the morning dew covered lawn beneath her hooves. She closed the distance across the landing field as Daisy began to speak again, stopping to let a gaggle of academy students run past on their morning jog.

“Unfortunately you will need to attend a few council meetings as part of your official job,” Daisy said eyeing the bustling ponies that continued their morning physical training.

Official job? Shining thought quietly to herself, you only have an “official” job when –

“However, I didn’t call on you to explain magic to a bunch of politicians," Daisy said as she continued forward to the doorway of the administration building, "once I show you your lab, I’ll explain more. But first let me show you your new office and introduce you to your assistants.”

After many hoof shakes, greetings, and a private elevator ride down to the subbasement Doctor Star got to see her new lab. The cargo lift left the confined walls of the shaft as it began to lower through the roof of a massive crystal lined cavern beneath the academy.

“Wow…” Shining whispered to herself as the light from the buildings that dotted the cavern glinted of the roof like a perfect mimic of the night sky.

Daisy gave a sideways smile as she looked at the bedazzled unicorn mare, “I figured you would wipe off that frown you had on your face when I told you that your office would be in the subbasement.”

“I heard about the crystal caves beneath Canterlot, but…wow. How were they formed?” Shining asked still gaping as the lift stopped.

“Always the scientist…the crystal caves were formed from underground magma chambers from the volcano Canterlot is part of," Daisy explained as she led Doctor Star through the alleys of prefabricated buildings beneath the surface, "this is the largest chamber, more akin to a giant geode than a cave really. It is home to our most important projects including the Circle of the Sun.”

Daisy hoofed the keypad that allowed access to one of the underground structures. Shining squinted her eyes as she entered, the sharp fluorescents and shining walls providing a sharp and painful contrast to faint light of the cave.

“This will be your lab, for safety, we ask that you don’t cast any spells unless you inform the other staff here, the crystals of the cave amplify magic. Since we share space down here, we don’t want other spells being interrupted and ending the day early because of an accident caused by trying to float a coffee cup over,” Daisy smiled, leading Shining further into the lab.

“This is quite the facility. What exactly am I going to be working on? Does it involve the Circle?” Shining asked as she tried to get her bearing in what would be her new office.

“…Sort of, but I’ll spare you having interface with them directly. We recently, and by recently I’m going by scientific standards,” Daisy said before coming to a halt in front of a large metal blast door.

Scientific standards, so a couple years, Shining took notice of the heavy doors in front of her, only the best science occurs inside protected bunkers….Uh, I’ve spent too much time in that pegasus bunker.The doors opened into the main laboratory, the fixture of the building. Consoles and equipment were wrapped around the room, with two stone objects making up the center of the room.

Daisy strode to the artifacts in the room and took position next to them preparing her presentation, “A few years ago, a team of archeologists were excavating old Griffon ruins and came across the second artifact here. The other one has been in the possession of unicorns forever but it never did anything impressive until the second was placed with it. Each seems to be a totem to values and traits. Originally we thought they were just decorative, however, this no longer seems the case. Some of the ponies here have taken to calling them, the elements, but as to the elements of what we are unsure until we find the rest.”

The basement of the fortified farm home was filled with metal shelves now stripped bare of the weapons they once held. With a sudden flash one of the shelves exploded and ripped apart as Luna teleported into its metal skeleton. The dark alicorn dropped four hoof lengths to the floor as she was warped into thin air above the ground. Luna looked around the dim basement that was illuminated by her skin clinging shield and the bits of metal turned to slag from her magical entry.
Luna had hoped that with the battle occurring in the home above that nopony would be lurking here. However the pony impaled by a metal piece of debris and the pair of ponies dazed and confused from the flash showed that this was not the case. Luna moved quickly to get the upper hoof of the situation, as the unfortunate passersby in front slumped to the floor from a stunning bolt as Luna charged the other. The last earth pony fell with a bone breaking crack from the alicorn’s hooves.

What in the hay were these ponies up to? Luna gasped as she took the basement in. Although it was an apple cellar at one point, the massive hole in the concrete foundation that led into a long, dimly lit tunnel that snaked off into the darkness betrayed its benign origins. Luna looked down at the compass strapped to her foreleg to get the bearings of where the tunnel went. Off east away from town, Luna tried to remember the map as she began to tap the buttons on the radio clutched to her chest before deciding against it, I’m not going to risk underestimating these guys, if their leader had military experience he would be listening in, at least that’s what I would do.

She floated out and placed a satchel charge at the doorway of the tunnel, taking care to hide it behind one of the many wooden supports lining the passage. Fifteen minutes, should be long enough. The dark alicorn stepped past the unconscious earth ponies on her way up top to find their VIP. Luna felt a confident smile cross her face before she stopped short. She felt a sticky wetness as she stepped over the ponies, looking down she could see that her hoof was covered in the dark red ooze of blood. The once severely injured soldier that was the unfortunate recipient of the teleport induced debris laid dead, his crimson blood pooled around his fallen friends and left a sticky spot on Luna’s hooves.

Luna starred at the cold expression on the deceased earth pony’s blood matted face, I-I didn’t mean to…Luna stop he’s an enemy, he would have killed you, it was you or him, she argued with herself, mentally changing the scene to allow her to apply first aid then dash off. Luna looked down at the pony with a mix of shame and anger before turning and leaving her first kill behind to wallow in his own gore, taking the mental image of his final agonized expression with her.
The stairs creaked slightly as she trotted up them, however as her ears met the bursts of gunfire from the living room beyond she felt confident that the embattled enemy would hear a thing, them seeing her however, was a different matter. Despite the small squad rebels firing from the window, there was still a room full of others patching up the wounded that would see her if she tried to trot by.

“Damn it!” the blood covered medic cried above the screams of his patient. The frustrated earth pony tried his best to apply his obviously limited first aid knowledge to his far gone friend. The buck applied a tourniquet with his mouth, leaving a streak of his friend’s gore across his muzzle as the dying pony squirmed in agony as he continued to yell, “Do we have any more morphine? Anyone?”

Luna felt ill, not just at the realization that the Equestrian soldiers outside killed the colt, or that the shot that tore through his thigh and femoral artery could have come from an alicorn or even Celestia, but it was the “what if?” Luna hadn’t played through her mind with the pony below. Luna was trapped at the moment, which left her plenty of time to ponder. Could I do it? Try and save an enemy, could I do that after condemning them to death, could I sit and watch as they bled to death? Luna began to delve deeper into her morality as another flash lit up the room.
(clink clink clink)

A trio of grenades teleported into the room and rolled across the floor. Damn it no! Luna screamed silently in anger at her ally’s devious attack, not like this, they deserve better. The grenade went off, filling the room in a thick cloud of expanding smoke. Luna sighed in relief as she felt a slight burn tickling her throat and nose. The mare scrambled with her magic to close the visor on her combat helmet and place the breather mask on. Tear gas, Candice must have found the ingredients while picking flowers…how could I even think Celestia could do that? She’s not…me, Luna felt a jab of shame as she remembered her plan of doing exactly what had just disgusted her.

“Fuck, I can’t see a thing cough cough,” was all Luna cared to hear as she snuck past in her protective gear to head upstairs.

Celestia stood ridged in anxious anticipation. She looked out at the farm home as it seemed to turn eerily silent in the middle of the standoff. Damn it Luna where are you? The captured unicorn Periwinkle continued to swear and berate his captors as Celestia felt a heavy lump of fear and worry swell in her gut.

“What the hell are you freak?” Periwinkle barked insultingly at Crystal who buzzed her armored body about on her insect wings, filling the air with a malicious humming. The insecticorn was “sweet as sugar” as Sapphire put it, but could easily be a terrifying thing of nightmares when she wanted to, as long as she didn’t start talking.

“I’ll let that slide, but don’t test mah patience especially when it comes to my friends. Do you want some water? Yall’ve been through a lot,” Sapphire asked taking her part in the "good cop, bad cop" routine, removing her helmet and floating a canteen over to the bound pony.

“Fuck you-eughh!” Periwinkle squeaked as Celestia tightened the magical over-shield around him.Celestia continued her spell as the field interrogation went on, but stayed focused on the fear and concern she felt for her only family, who still hadn’t teleported back. It was clear that she had accomplished her mission by teleporting the VIP out, but whether she was magically drained, hurt or dead she hadn’t returned with her target leaving Celestia to run through the possibilities on her own.

“Please stay still so I can help you,” Candice said with a tone like honey as she tried to patch up their prisoner’s wounds.

The lavender unicorn relented and let the large mare apply the required herbal and medical treatments, “that other one was quite a fighter, shame,” he said with a wicked snarl.

Celestia perked her ears and stepped forward, jamming her armored muzzle against Periwinkle’s face, “what do you mean?”

“She had guts, but do you really think she can just pull that shit and walk out? I just hope I was worth it.”

Sapphire grabbed Celestia’s tail in her mouth and pulled her back, “if anypony can pull it off, it’s her. And she’s not alone, you’re going to help us Periwinkle.”

“And if you don’t we’ll get Crystal here to eat you,” Cloudsoar added with a chuckle before the unicorn could protest.

Sapphire raised an eyebrow to her companion before returning to her negotiation, “I tell yah what, you help us, and I’ll make sure the SNI goes easy on yah-“

“No way,” Periwinkle protested.

“Let me finish…and I’ll make sure those that surrender get the same. It’s over Periwinkle, don’t waste your life, or the lives of your friends because of your stubbornness,” Sapphire said hoping to appeal to the prisoner.

“I’m supposed to believe that?”

Crystal landed with a thud, and exposed a toothy smile that still seemed to offer the proper comfort, “I promise that they will be safe, you have my word, and their word too.”

She’s just going to wait for them to give up? Celestia turned away and tried to get some privacy with her leader out of ear shot from the others, “Sapphire we need to talk, now... ma’am,” she finished correcting tone.

“What is it? And since when have you called me ma’am?” Sapphire asked as she seemed to miss the seriousness of Celestia’s tone as she strode to meet her.

“We need to get my sister out of there.”

“We will as soon as we get Periwinkle to talk them down-“

“We can’t wait just for a chance of them to surrender, we need to attack now,” Celestia whispered stomping her two front hooves.

“The plan is to hold out until-“ Sapphire started.

“Luna doesn’t have time to hold out!” Celestia could feel tears in her eyes as she felt on the edge of dropping to her knees and begging.

“Celestia, I know how you feel girl but…I promised that pony I would wait.”

“Then lie," she hissed, "you also promised to protect our lives over theirs. We can’t risk one of us dying on our first mission just because we promised the enemy something they don’t deserve, what would Lollipop and Ironwing say?”

Sapphire seemed visibly wounded by the situation, “Lollipop would say the same thing, but…damn it yall are right. Ok, I’ll call the gunships in, hopefully we can muster enough for a final assault. Get Periwinkle out of here, I don’t want him to see this," Sapphire turned to the group of alicorns around the prisoner, "Cloudsoar come here, I need your flying skills.”

Luna felt a painful sting against her abdomen as a rifle round impacted her side armor, her enemy’s shot going wild with the tear gas that still hung in the air. The mare dove around the corner as another round impacted behind her. The dark blue alicorn panted and winced as she touched her side before trying to teleport again. Damn it! Why can’t I do it? Celestia could do it.

Luna took the trigger bit in her mouth and rounded the gun barrel attached to her side around the doorway of the bedroom, returning bursts of automatic fire with greatly improved precision. She heard a yelp of pain from beyond as one of her three assailants thudded to the floor. A cacophony of hooves could be heard approaching below to replace the one pony down.

Luna had neutralized the few unarmed ponies that accompanied the unicorn, and managed to hold out in the upper level until it became clear the confusion had worn off and that the battle had moved inside the home. Luna looked around the spartanly decorated bedroom as the tacky purple wall paper glared back.Luna stared down at her hoof watch, a minute and a half, I can hold out until then. The thunder of gunfire from outside grew louder and soon the hurricane wind of bullets and other weaponry began to batter the house. What in the hay is going on out there?

Luna slid along the wall to get a better view of the outside as the battle began to move into an all-out attack. Earth pony Rangers laid down covering fire from the trees as shadows from the pegasi danced across the open field as they flew above. What are they doing? I’m still in here! Luna yelled silently to herself. The trapped alicorn felt an irrational burning anger well up in her, of course they know I’m in here, they’re trying to fucking rescue me! They don’t think I have this under control! Do you Luna? She asked herself. Well I sure as hell will, and I’ll prove it to them.

A loud bang, and a ground shaking rumble tore through the building as the insurgent outside the bedroom yelled down to his colleagues below, “what they fuck was that?”

“The tunnel, they destroyed the tunnel! We’re trapped” an unknown voice yelled running back down the stairs.
Luna decided that now was the time to strike while they were distracted, she flew out of the doorway and over the mezzanine of the upper stairway, angling her rifle to hit the pony that shared the upper level with her. Cries of panic shouted from below as she flew over the ponies in the living room. Luna acted automatically, with a flash of her horn she was gone, only to reappear below as her attackers fired at nothing.

Luna threw her head forward and speared the left most earth pony in the side, following it with a burst of telekinesis to worsen the wound and drop her target. Luna felt furious, not at her enemy but at her comrades who failed to trust her, and at herself as she delayed enough for them to do so. Luna struck out with her wing and made a light strike to a nerve cluster in trailing pony’s neck, staggering him long enough to aim her rifle and sending a trio of hot shells into him. The lead pony was the last to turn, the furious alicorn sent a magical punch to his mouth, knocking the firing bit and a hoof full of teeth out of the way.
(bang)

The last insurgent in the room fell at Luna’s hooves as she breathed heavy pants from under her helmet. The reality finally cut its way through the adrenalin as Luna viewed her work. This time, it was your fault, no doubt about it…it couldn’t have been helped. Yes it could have, you regained your magic, you could have just left. If you weren’t so damn stubborn you could have just radioed for help, Luna fought her nagging guilt in mental battle that was raging silently among the dying gunfire.

The dark alicorn stepped away when she began to feel like she was going to vomit in self-disgust. Luna tapped the call button on her chest radio, “this is operator Luna…the main building is clear, I’m coming out.”

Celestia felt an unrelenting wave of relief as her small sister strode from the home’s doorway. Celestia slowed her trot as she noticed the red stains on Luna’s camouflage uniform. The realization that her sister shared in being a killer like her offered little comfort to the white alicorn. The memories of the bunker that became her enemy’s pyre returned to Celestia as she saw her sister standing there.

“Luna..I-“ Celestia tried to offer her best comforts to her kin who was no doubt feeling the same way she had at the beginning of the battle.

“Where’s Sapphire?” Luna said quivering behind her stoic helmet.

“She’s with the others…come on, we’re done here,” Celestia felt pained and depleted from the day, hoping the coming night would hide her memories along with the rest of the world. She gave a flap of her wings and returned to the tree line.
Celestia spotted Sapphires dark mane from the air and thudded to a halt next to her and Candice who were gathered around a patch of dirt. Celestia craned her neck to get a better look, a pair of earth pony rangers were laying on the ground receiving magical and medical treatment from the pair of alicorns. It took Celestia a moment to recognize the ponies, they were the machine gun carrier and gunner she saw earlier, both badly wounded from the assault.

“Is he going to be alright? Why won’t you tell me? Sunny are you ok?” the gun carrier shouted as Sapphire applied bandages to his wounds and kept him from thrashing about with a magical field. Candice worked on his partner, the pale yellow gunner laid silent, his blood coating Candice’s equipment and slicking down her coat as she tried to help. Celestia came to a realization as the blood blended into Candice’s fur; Our medic’s coat is the color of blood, that’s either macabre or fitting.

Celestia looked about for the ammo loader who should be with them and spotted the sheet covered pony shape at the far end of the clearing.

“Sunny!...please talk to me," the wounded ranger began to cry, his tears running down his face and soaking his bandages, "damn it, no.”

Sapphire gave a sniffle as she held back her own torrent of sadness. She looked away from the grizzly scene as she finished helping her patient, getting to her hooves and walking away. Celestia noticed her wipe her eyes and mouth the words, “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.”

Project: Harmony, chapter eight

“I don’t know if I’m cut out for leadership sir...” Sapphire sighed in shame as she sat down before her mentor Sergeant Lollipop.

“Hello to you too Sapphire," Lollipop looked up from the map sprawled across the improvised command center set up in the farm home of friendly locals at her surprise entrance, "what’s wrong?”

Sapphire looked around and found the room to be inhabited by onlookers who sat at the far end of the room and were talking among themselves, or more precisely one was talking and the other was trying to ignore her, “Luna can you take the filly outside to play or something?” she asked crassly, inciting a displeased look from the fellow alicorn.

Luna looked at the young filly that shared the home with her family and who had been talking her ear off for the last few hours as she tried to rest, “….fine,” she grumbled as she escorted the other pony outside under the guise of showing her around the camp.

“I’m turning in my rank Lollipop, I’m not ready for NCO,” Sapphire said immediately as the pair left, shifting her hooves is discomfort trying to dodge any form of eye contact.

“What makes you think that I can do that? I’m not an officer you know, in case you didn’t notice I work for my living,” Lollipop joked as he rolled up his paperwork dismissively and took out another roll of maps in his teeth.

“I’m serious sir!" the alicorn shouted in frustration, "I can’t be held responsible for pony’s lives.”

Lollipop sighed and sat next to his student, removing his hat and stroking his shortly cut mane back, “I heard what happened, and I’m sorry," he said honestly, "but I would be lying if I said there was nothing you could do.” Sapphire bit her lip at those cutting words. “But…" Lollipop sighed, "Have I ever shown you my cutiemark?” the pink pony asked unexpectedly, getting to his feet and removing part of his uniform.

“Um, no sir but…”

“My parents ran a candy shop, that’s why they named me Lollipop," the aged Sergeant pulled up the back of his uniform to expose his pastel colored flank, "I found out my special talent was business, everypony in my family had candy as their mark. I do too, but I’m the first to have money mixed into the image, and the first to join the army. War is a lot like selling candy you know.”

Sapphire gave a confused look as she tried to decipher Lollipop’s cryptic statement.

“War is about spending lives, the lives of your ponies and the lives of your enemy’s. No way around it, nothing in life is free and all that, but you can only hope that what you’ve invested pays off in the end. I hate to say it Sapphire, but you did trade those Ranger’s lives for Luna’s. But you can’t think of it like buying a cupcake with a few bits you had lying around, because that’s not what happened, those Rangers gave their lives so that Luna could save ponies even farther down the road,” Lollipop finished taking a seat.

Sapphire didn’t feel any better and the grim reality of what Lollipop had said didn’t make a lot of sense, but at least she could pretend to rationalize what happened at least for now, “What about Periwinkle? Did he give up any information?” She desperately wanted to change the subject.

“From what the Commander has told me he refuses to cooperate, but the pegasi back at Cloudsdale have their ways of getting information,” Lollipop returned to his hooves and continued his work, "however we have a lead without him. I’ve been talking to the farmers here, and apparently a cloudship visited The White Tail Woods a few days ago, a trade union owned weather vessel to help the crops along.”

Sapphire cocked her head, “and? Rain ships are all over Equestria.”

“Yes they are, but they only operate for large-scale farms that are owned, hired, or leased by the earth pony trade unions,” Lollipop leaned eagerly hoping star pupil would catch on.

Sapphire nodded knowingly, “no trade unions operate out here.”

“Not only that, but according to Mr. Cake, they didn’t even send a downpour, they did however set down at the lake in the valley,” Lollipop said pointing a hoof to the map.

“Maybe they were just refuein’ for the next operation?”

“Except the lake would be dry if a ship of that size was reloading its supply of rain water, instead they just touched down for a few hours, then left without taking a drop with them.”

Sapphire smiled at the good news, something finally made sense, “sir, what’s the plan?”

“Ironwing is talking to the admirals, but as a precaution tell your troops to get some sleep, either way tomorrow we’re leaving…and I tell you what, if you still don’t think you’re not cut out for leading by the time we hit Cloudsdale I’ll tell the Commander. But I want you to keep in mind, I was the one who recommended you…so try not to make me look bad,” Lollipop gave a slight smirk as daintily placed his cap back on.

______

Luna walked across with the open farm land which had become a tent city of military personnel who were beginning to take apart and repack their gear just as quickly as they set it up. Luna trotted rapidly, hoping her dark coat would allow her to lose the filly that galloped after, keeping pace despite her short little legs.

“Whoaho there! Luna where are you going so quickly?” Cloudsoar asked swooping from above as the dark alicorn ran about. The surprise arrival of the airborne alicorn made Luna skid to a halt as the filly caught up with her.

“You almost got away!” the unicorn filly laughed.

Luna sighed, “Cloudsoar you’re good with kids, and do something with this one.”

“What’s it like to fly? And do magic, where’d you come from, are there more of you, can I be one of you, do you have a secret base?” The little filly shot a machine gun of questions to the witless Cloudsoar.

“I’ll leave you two to it," Luna smiled to herself, "Have you seen Celestia?” Luna asked, stretching her wings, Why am I running from the kid when I can just fly?

Cloudsoar sighed and landed, “Yeah she’s with Candice in the barn. Alright, slowly this time, what did you want to know?” Cloudsoar asked hovering close to the little filly that looked at the blue alicorn in awe.

“Great thanks,” Luna replied coldly as she took off for a brief flight, leaving her friend and the foal to talk on their own, hoping the filly would start bothering him instead of chasing her tail all the time. After a quick glide to the end of the farm Luna arrived at the barn which was being filled and emptied at a regular cycle as the medical unicorns moved about treating all manner of wounds on friendlies and enemies alike. Luna looked about the sanitized and converted barn for her sister, who was easy to spot since she stood a head above the unicorns and was even taller than Candice who helped in the treatment of patients.

“Celestia, I want to talk,” Luna commanded sternly as her sister finished her bandaging.

“Sure thing," Celestia hadn’t picked up on her sister’s serious tone as she followed sister, "what’s up?”

“Do you remember what you asked me before you teleported me into the farm home?” Luna asked driving to a halt outside the field hospital.

“Um, no.”

“You asked, ‘do you trust me?”

“What’s this about Luna?” Celestia asked quizzically, realizing this is more than just a friendly conversation.

“Do you trust me? Do you Celestia?” Luna asked calmly, trying to keep her temper under control.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” The white alicorn gasped at her sister’s question, what did I do wrong? She asked herself.

“It seems that you don’t trust me enough to make the right decision Celestia. I talked to Sapphire earlier, she said that you asked her to rescue me.”

“Luna, I thought you were in trouble, or dead. I had to-“

“I understand, and I’m grateful," Luna interrupted earnestly, "but a few nights ago I talked to Darkbeak.”
Really? She went looking for Darkbeak, on purpose? Celestia wondered as her sister spoke.

”She’s not a bad pony…or Griffon, you know what I mean. Everything she did was for me.”

“Are you sure?” Celestia asked disbelieving.

“She was torn up by what she was ordered to do, but…" Luna chuckled, "but she was proud of what I became. My point is Celestia, you need to let me fight my own battles, because I want you to be proud of me too.”

“I-I am proud of you…" Celestia felt mixed feelings of confusion, sadness and dread but managed to force a smile, "but you’re right Luna, that doesn’t mean I’m leaving you somewhere on the battlefield though. But I want you to promise me something, I want you to always be able to ask for help. Don’t let pride get you killed just because you want to be independent, alright? I am proud enough of you already, I don’t want to be proud at your funeral,” Celestia caught a lump in her throat.

Luna blinked, but after a moment of silence she relented, “Ok…I promise-“ Luna’s sentence was stopped by a pair of long white legs wrapping around her in a powerful hug.

“I also want you to promise me not to scare me like that again alright? Or I will kill you myself” Celestia said as a stream of tears dropped onto her grappled sister.

“Alright- just stop squeezing me so hard…” Luna squeaked tapping her sister’s shoulder under the pressure of her powerful grasp.
_______

“Welcome councilcolts, and senatemares to another meeting of importance,” Minister Clover said scrawling down notes with a field of magic.

“Every meeting nowadays is of great importance,” Councilor Heart Swan added amused.

“Can we get on with it?" Commander Hurricane tapped her chair arm with a hoof while she slumped in boredom, "it’s obviously not important enough for everypony to be needed.”

“All the other councilors are in Cloudsdale overseeing the coronation of the Twilight on the Horizon, and hopefully we will be able to adjourn early,” Minister Clover finished her notes and turned her attention to the white earth pony Heart Swan, "assuming we can reach an agreement. I called the three of us here to gain the approval of a search and seizure, one that involves your trade union Heart Swan.”

“That’s a shocker,” Hurricane scoffed sarcastically, "This is going to take all afternoon.”

“Well Hurricane the pegasi are involved in this as well. The civilian rain ship, Thunderhead has been connected to the incident in The White Tail Woods. Our operators there have a reason to believe it may have supplied the rebels there. It is owned by the earth ponies, and operated by the pegasi,” Clover projected a magical hologram on the council room floor depicting the flight path and schematics of the vessel.

“And you want to search the vessel once it hits port?” Heart Swan asked hoofing the pages of his manifest to find information on the vessel.

“Yes, in the name of cooperation we and peace we would like to cut off any supply lines the rebels may have.”

“Hmmm, very well then,” Heart Swan said closing his book.

“Uh,” Clover stumbled a moment, "hmm, I expected more of a fight from you Heart Swan.”

“ I will have my lawyers draft up a contract agreeing that the military will pay for any damages, it is obvious that the crew were acting on their own accord as they were not supposed to touch down there,“ he said coolly.

“On their own accord, right…” Hurricane scoffed.

“Well I should hope they’re on their own accord, for your sake Hurricane, they are pegasi citizens who call Cloudsdale home port,” Heart Swan said with a confident smile.

“Well then they fall under our jurisdiction," Hurricane said arguing with nopony in particular, "the alicorns are the closest assets we have-”

“They just finished an operation, are they ready to jump into combat again?” Clover asked.

“Of course they are, they’re damn super soldiers if anypony can it’s them.”
_______

“I hope everything is to your liking dear,” Councilor Daisy said sauntering around the state room, turning her nose up at every surface possible.

“Oh yes it is rather nice, not like a pegasus ship at all,” Doctor Shining Star said tapping her hoof on the enchanted metal deck plate.

Daisy let out a sorry sigh, “if you say so, but it won’t be long at least, we’re just staying until the coronation is over then…well do call me if you need anything, oh and I want to take you to lunch tomorrow with the other councilors, I hear Cloudsdale has a very nice downtown,” Daisy said over her shoulder as she walked out and left Shining alone to get some rest after the long flight to the floating city.

Shining threw herself on the bed, “No cloud beds…” she said to herself remorsefully. She rolled over and starred at the opposite wall, examining a small map of the Twilight on the Horizon, examining the map to see which areas are made of weightless metal and what parts are clouds. She rolled onto her side and began floating the miscellaneous object out of her duffel bag.

Shining tossed her spare clothes and books out of the way until she found the trinket she wanted. The dog tags floated to her side and were slung around Shining’s neck with a glow of magic. I wonder where you ponies are now…