Chapter 3: Office of Naval Intelligence

Sitting at a table in the barracks Natalie’s squad lived in, three things were apparent to Twilight; The creature she was sitting across from while she ate a salad was a Human. Two, she was sitting on a planet in a vast empire of Humans who were vastly more advanced than Equestria. And three, Lyra was right and Twilight was never going to live this down.

“So, let me get this straight,” Twilight says after swallowing a mouthful of cool lettuce, “you’re all a part of this United Earth Government, Earth being your home planet?”

“Yup,” Natalie agrees with a smile and a nod, “we spread out from our home planet after resources started getting a bit low. A few billion humans tends to make living space and food tight, you know?”

“A few billion… would yeah that would make it hard,” Twilight says slowly, “I don’t think we have anywhere near that many creatures on Equus. But then, it’s hard to really get an accurate census, not all nations are peaceful.”

“I thought you said your home was peaceful,”

“It is, to a degree,” Twilight sighs, “Princess Celestia worked hard over the past thousand or so years to make Equestria look like a poor target. Making other nations less willing to attack us because we offered them goods and resources they don’t readily have or can easily make.”

“What about force? You said your brother was a Captain in her Royal Guard?”

“The Captain, or he was, it’s more of an emeritus title now,” Twilight admits, “considering his current title and rank supersede it.”

“Right, uh, what was that again?” Natalie asks, smiling a little as Twilight sighs.

“His Imperial Highness, Prince Consort Shining Armor, of the Crystal Empire,” Twilight groans, “and no, that doesn’t make me anything more than a scholar and a friend of Princess Celestia.”

“Mhm,” Natalie hums, crossing her arms, “right. Anyway, humanity is somewhat peaceful, but as you might’ve picked up not totally? Some of the farther out planets decided they didn’t like their hard earned money going back to a planet they’d never seen or set foot on, and decided the best way to make the UEG and CAA stop taxing them was to point guns at them.”

“If not for the fact you are humans, I would swear you were Griffons for how warlike you are. We’ve only had one rebellion in the entire history of Equestria, and that was caused by Celestia’s sister getting possessed by a creature of dark magic,”

“Honestly, a lot of us don’t understand it,” Natalie shrugs, “when left to our own devices, outside of an overarching thing we find unfair, most humans act more like you describe ponies. We mind our own business, and live our lives.”

“And then someone comes along and stirs up trouble, and gets the herd mentality going?”

“Yup, that’s about right.”

Twilight goes quiet for a bit, eating her lunch while she processes the information she’d learned from her new human friend. This planet, Harvest as she had heard it called, was peaceful enough but the rest of the human empire? Clearly there was something going on, if civilians were being trained as soldiers on a planet meant to be full of farms and peaceful orchards.

The idea of space travel excited Twilight though, the vast expanse of space and the new fields of science and exploration it opened. Perhaps, when she gets home, she’ll have to look into getting something similar done for Equus? Natalie had said that Earth had become much more peaceful when space travel had become available to the vast majority.

As she finishes, Twilight looks over to Natalie again.

“So, you and the others are training under Johnson because local shipping has been attacked by these insurrectionists?”

“Pretty much, the local government is afraid we’ll get raided or something, and we need to be able to fight back. Perhaps even go up there on one of our few freighters and keep it safe,” Natalie replies, shrugging. “Personally, I’m getting this training because I want to protect my family’s farm. My parents and wife are too important to me.”

“That makes sense, I trained a little under my brother after… well after his wedding got attacked by a race of creatures that could shapeshift.”

“See, a race of shapeshifting creatures sounds properly alien to me. But you know a little bit about your home’s military doctrine, I bet if you ask nicely Johnson might let you sit in the classroom and listen to him lecture.”

Twilight’s ears swivel forward, “He actually lectures? On what?”

“Military tactics, squad movement, weapon maintenance, stuff like that. Pretty standard stuff we need to know not to shoot our own feet off,”

“Is that something that can happen?” Twilight asks with a frown, “I mean, I know military training can be dangerous. A colt in my brother’s class accidentally ran his own hoof through with a spear when he jumped into a trench and had to spend a week in the infirmary….”

“Saw a kid, oh perhaps fresh out of highschool accidentally shoot his friend in the back of the leg,” Natalie replies, shivering and shaking her head, “God I’d never seen that much blood in my life until then. Kid lived, bullet broke his leg though, walks with a limp now.”

Twilight pales at that, ears turning to go flat against her head, “That’s horrible.”

“War is a horrible thing, and the weapons of it are equally so,” Natalie sighs, “I wish the universe was safer, but I don’t expect I’ll ever have to use the rifle they gave me. If I ever fire a gun in anger it’ll likely be at one of the predators ‘round here trying to get my livestock, and even then it’ll be my dad’s old rifle.”

Natalie then chuckles and smiles.

“But enough of that stuff, you’re a walking talking alien sitting in my barracks, we should be talking about other things, more fun and happy things!”

“Such as?” Twilight asks.

“Well…” Natalie starts, looking thoughtful, “read any good books lately? That’s always a conversation starter.”

The smile that spreads across Twilight’s face is all the human needs to see to know she’s asked the right question.

The next two hours are filled with the two talking about literature of the ponies and humans. Twilight learns a lot about the human’s history and Natalie even sets her up with what the humans call a ‘datapad’ which is a rectangular object with a sheet of what Twilight at first assumes is enchanted glass that shows images and words! Natalie has to stop her from taking it apart a few times, and by the end is able to show Twilight how to access the library program on it to let her read books from across human history.

Even with just a cursory glance, Twilight already saw quite a few books she would absolutely love to get her hooves on, and quite a few she would love to show to her friends back home. Something about the way Natalie described the poet Edgar Allen Poe made Twilight think Luna would absolutely adore his writing. And Shakespeare sounded right up Celestia and Rarity’s alley.

Partway through Twilight actually went into her saddle bags and pulled out the books she had bought and intended to give to her friends, only to stop and stare at them as her mood instantly fell. Holding them in her hooves, as her magic had not yet recovered beyond allowing her to levitate light objects, Twilight cannot help but pull them close to her chest and lean back in her chair, ears laying almost flat against her skull.

“I uhm, I bought these for Hearth's Warming presents,” Twilight says softly, “for uhm, for some very special ponies.”

“Hey, you’ll get back to them,” Natalie offers as she moves from her chair to come kneel next to Twilight’s, gently resting a hand against the pony’s shoulder, “I might just be some dumb farmer from some backwater farming planet, but I’ll help ya get home.”

“Why, though, you just met me,” Twilight asks.

“Hey, what are friends for? And you look like you need a friend, so why not me?” Natalie chuckles.

“Fair, where I’m from Friendship is Magic,” Twilight sniffles, smiling a little.

“Well, perhaps it still can be, even if it’s not literal,” Natalie offers with a ruffle of Twilight’s mane, causing the mare to playfully bat at the human’s hand, “but for now, our training has been canceled for the day, and my squad can’t leave the base until we’re debriefed. So, how about we find a nice shady spot outside, and get some fresh air while you start on that reading list you’ve put together?”

Nodding, Twilight rises from her chair, and stretches. A few pops and groans from the unicorn later, the two of them depart outside and find a shady spot under a large tree at the edge of the barracks compound.

As they walk, Twilight looks around, taking in the sights now that they’re not surrounded by the sheets of what Twilight learned were called ‘plastic’ to protect the base from any potential pathogens she might have been carrying. Now that the medic and the Illusionary construct called an AI had cleared her Twilight was mostly free to go outside so long as she didn’t disrupt anything.

Which is easier said than done. The ‘base’ comprises about ten buildings, six barracks buildings that Twilight swears look like converted worker houses like she’d seen around Applejacks Farm. The remaining four are administrative and medical buildings, with Healy actually running the medical building himself along with some volunteers from the militia who have some actual medical backgrounds or training.

Once settled beneath the tree, Twilight uses her magic to prop the datapad up on a little stand it has nestled inside it’s back housing, and uses a little quill-like object called a stylus to scroll through the library app. Natalie beside her simply folds her arms across her chest and sighs softly as she closes her eyes and relaxes in the warm afternoon air.

“I’m curious,” Twilight says without looking up from the book she’d chosen, something titled Moby Dick that seemed to be a nautical fantasy.

“Mmm?”

“For me, back home, it’s snowing, and you said there was a major winter holiday coming up too when we were talking earlier. Why is it so warm here?”

“Harvest’s seasons are a bit reversed. Back on Earth it’d be snowing for half the planet, but here it’s actually summer,” Natalie replies.

“That’s too bad, I was looking forward to some snow on Hearth’s Warming,” Twilight sighs, scrolling to the next page of her story.

“Stick around long enough, you’ll get some snow, I’m sure,”

“I honestly hope I’m not stuck here that long,” Twilight sighs before smiling sheepishly to her friend, “no offense, I just… Well, I don’t want to be away from my family and friends that long.”

“None taken, I get it. If I was suddenly ripped away from my home, I’d want to go back too,” Natalie chuckles.

“Doesn’t mean I won’t come back to visit, though, wherever this is, I bet I can get back,”

“I hope so, be boring around here if we didn’t have a sudden incursion of cute little alien ponies again,”

Twilight chuckles at this and then rests her head on top of her forehooves as she settles into reading the, admittedly, violent story about hunting a giant white whale. The two of them fall into companionable silence at that, Natalie actually falling asleep and taking a nap while Twilight descends deeper into the violent history of whale hunting. She actually pulls up a search engine and falls down the rabbithole of the brutal history of the whale hunting industry, and it’s eventual outlawing in the late twenty-first century to protect the majestic creatures.

About midway through a documentary about whales, narrated by an older human who has an accent not unlike Rarity’s, Twilight hears someone clear their throat in front of her, and she pauses with a smile and looks up at the newcomer. Her smile falters a little when she sees the newcomer is a tall female, perhaps able to look Princess Celestia in the eyes, with darker pale skin that makes and dark brown eyes. Her mane, or hair as Natalie had informed Twilight, is held up in a tight military regulation bun and situated beneath a white cap with a black bill that is complimented by her dark blue uniform with oak leaves on the collar.

“Private Rosewood, I see you are taking your duty to guard our guest seriously,” the woman states in an accented voice.

The instant Natalie hears the voice she is awake and on her feet, snapping to attention and saluting.

“Ma’am, yes ma’am!” Natalie says hastily, “I have been keeping our guest out of trouble.”

“And what, pray tell, is she doing with your datapad?”

“She enjoys reading, ma’am, I gave her access to my library app. Last I saw she was reading Mobie Dick,”

The female officer hums, and looks to Twilight, “And what were you watching? I heard a voice as I was coming over.”

“Uhm, a documentary on whales, Ma’am?” Twilight replies slowly, offering the same address as Natalie, “You’re the Commander of this base? Your uhm… your rank insignia is the same as the Commander of the Royal Guard back home.”

The officer smiles a little, her eyes taking on a somewhat mischievous glint at being offered new information for free.

“I am, Lieutenant Commander Jilan al-Cygne, the commanding officer of this little outfit,” al-Cygne replies, “I’ve debriefed the rest of Natalie’s squad, and was coming to get her when I found you two outside.”

“She isn’t in trouble, is she?” Twilight asks, and beside her Natalie pales a little.

“Why would she be?” the Commander asks, raising an eyebrow.

“She fell asleep while guarding me?”

“Who says she was your guard? Didn’t you notice the armed soldiers pretending to look busy throughout the courtyard?”

Twilight blinks and looks around, her ears lowering a little as she spots no less than ten militia soldiers standing around at various points in the courtyard, their weaponry held casually across their chest armor as they stand in the same sort of post as the Royal Guard that line the hallways of Canterlot Castle.

“Truthfully, I likely did, but I’ve gotten so used to guards like them all around me I must have subconsciously filtered them out,” Twilight admits sheepishly.

“Well, then you won’t mind if we borrow the Private here so she can be debriefed?” The Commander asks, raising an eyebrow.

“No, ma’am,” Twilight says with a lopsided smile, “I don’t think I could argue if I wanted to.”

“No, you couldn’t,” al-Cygne chuckles, “I am going to leave my second, Captain Ponder, here to watch over you while she’s away. He’ll bring you to me when I am ready to talk to you.”

In response to this, a male with short-cut regulation hair stepped forward inclining his head to Twilight who returned the gesture. However as he steps closer, while at the same time Natalie steps away to follow the Commander, Twilight’s eyes go from the man’s face to the fact one of his sleeves is rolled up and pinned closed.

The Captain pauses as he notices Twilight’s eyes lingering on his sleeve, and frowns.

“My arm offend you?”

“Should it?” Twilight asks, tilting her head, “I just, in pony society a lost limb like that is a very debilitating injury. Certainly not life-ending, but if my horn got damaged or removed I’d be in a world of trouble.”

Smirking and scoffing softly, Ponder pulls out a cigar and holds it between his first and second finger on his remaining hand. “It’s a war scar, a reminder for me to do better.” He then puts the cigar between his lips and starts patting himself down with his good arm to find something in his uniform, shortly thereafter producing a lighter and clicking it open, though he clearly has a little difficulty getting it to produce a flame with one hand.

Standing, Twilight looks up to him, “I don’t normally approve of smoking, but would you like some help?”

Ponder stares at her for a moment, clicks his lighter a few more times, then sighs through his nose. “Yeah, sure. Just don’t try anything funny.”

In response, Twilight lights her horn, grimacing a little as her horn sparks and protests from the overuse a few hours earlier. In the end, though, she is able to light the end of his cigar with a quick glow of her magic around the end, and a subdued flash as she excites the air around it so it ignites.

“There, that should do it,” Twilight says, sweating a little.

“Impressive, though you being out of breath ruins the effect,” Ponder states as he takes a draw from his cigar and then holds it between his fingers again and exhales. “The after action stated you’d overused that magic of yours in your accidental, and explosive, arrival here?”

Settling back down in front of the datapad she had borrowed, Twilight nods, “Yeah… truthfully I’m tempted to nap again, but I know your Commander wants to talk to me… and I also don’t want to go to sleep yet, I… don’t trust all of you yet.”

“Nor should you,” Ponder deadpans, waving his cigar as if to draw in the air, “we’re war-like, fighting each other over God-knows-what catches our ire lately. And you’re an unknown, we might stick you in a cage, cart you away to be studied.”

“I am hopeful that won’t happen, and we can be friends instead,”

“That is yet to be determined,” Ponder muses, “personally, we have bigger things to worry about than you right now, anyway.”

“The Insurrection?” Twilight asks, folding her ears back as Ponder scowls and chews the end of his cigar a little.

“Yes. Cowards and murderers masqurading as freedom fighters,” He removes his cigar from his mouth and gestures to his missing arm, “It’s how I lost this. Bastard held his own daughter at gunpoint with a grenade in his hand. If it wasn’t for prosthetics I’d be out of the military by now because of it.”

“If you have a prosthesis, why aren’t you wearing it?”

“It itches,” Ponder grumbles, “and I don’t need it when I’m not in the field.”

“Fair enough,” Twilight offers with a friendly smile, “and you don’t need to loom over me, Captain, there is plenty of shade beneath the tree if you wish to sit with me, I don’t bite.”

Ponder narrows his eyes for a moment, then looks around and sighs. He then walks over and eases himself down onto the grass next to Twilight, thankfully down wind from her so the smoke drifts away from her, and leans back against the tree’s trunk.

“Healy’s data on you said your brother was a Captain?” He asks after a few long moments.

“Yeah, he led the Royal Guard in Canterlot for a number of years. Youngest Captain in the history of the Guard,” Twilight says with pride. “He’s one of the bravest, most loyal, and steadfast stallions I’ve ever known.”

“He ever mess up so badly he ended up demoted two ranks,” Ponder states, smirking a little sarcastically.

“No, did… that happen to you, Captain?” Twilight asks, looking at the Captain with concern.

“You don’t lose an arm from a successful mission, Sparky,” Ponder chuckles, drawing on his cigar again. “And I’m not wearing any real medals on my uniform, so you do the math.”

Not knowing what to really say to that, Twilight lowers her ears and looks back to her datapad, restarting the documentary with a flick of her magic.

The next hour is filled with more research into whales, as Twilight finishes the documentary and moves onto a fictional movie. It turns out to be about time traveling space naval officers who end up going back in time to save the population of a certain species of whales. They do this by going to a place on the planet earth located on the western coast of a nation known as ‘America’. San Francisco, if she heard the name correctly.

By the time she gets to the part where they return to the future, crashing their spacecraft in the bay of the city, she has to stop as Ponder gets a call on a device that looks to be some sort of communicator.

“Mmm? Are you ready for her? Be right there, Commander,” Ponder states into his communication device before looking at Twilight and putting the last little stub of his cigar out on a nearby rock. “Right, you ready?”

Nodding and turning off the datapad and placing it in her saddlebags, Twilight rises and smiles.

“I’m eager to talk to Commander al-Cygni, she seems nice,” Twilight says brightly as Ponder attempts to get up next to her. Seeing this, Twilight takes a few steps to her side and smiles, “here, use my back to push yourself up.”

Ponder looks at her for a moment, then places his hand on her back and together they get him standing again. He grunts and straightens his uniform once he is up and looks to Twilight, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!”

The two of them then set off towards one of the buildings at the back of the military base, various militia and civilians moving to and from the building with purpose. Often they’re carrying papers or other objects used in administrative duties, and Twilight is quite happy to walk into a building full of such administrative activity.

Moving quickly through the building she passes by Natalie who inclines her head and gives an encouraging smile, Twilight returning it with one of her own.

And then, she is ushered into a room with no windows and a heavy metal door that she notes has reinforcements on it. In the center is a large table with an overhang coming down from the ceiling to provide what appears to be light and also to project images onto the table itself. al-Cygni stands before the table, with the form of Mac pacing standing in front of her with his arms folded and his hat tipped back.

“Now, Commander, ah know you’re worried, but Loki an’ just ain’t finding anything out there, insurrectionists or… otherwise,” Mac states, uncrossing on arm and gesturing with it at the Commander. “She really did just pop out of thin air, no ships or ‘nything up there.”

“And Sif?” the Commander asks, looking to a spot beside Mac.

At the question, Mac looks a bit uncomfortable but steps to one side as a human woman with long blond hair, a dress that would make Rarity jealous, and red poncho materializes on the table and smiles to the commander.

“My air traffic sensors have not discovered anything, Commander,” she informs al-Cygni, her voice reminding Twilight of the time her and Celestia had visited the Vinland colonies, where Rockhoof was born.

Humming, the Commander looks up to Ponder and Twilight, and nods.

“Captain, close the door,” she states firmly, then looks to Mac, “I need to talk to your brother, could you ceed control for a moment?”

Mac makes a disgruntled sound, and then offers a sad but hopeful look to Sif before his image flickers and suddenly Mac’s dirty work-stained avatar is clean and his posture takes on a more military bearing.

“Commander al-Cygni, what can I do for you?”

“Loki, I need you to seal this room, electronic and conventional intrusion, Miss Sparkle, Ponder, Sif, and I need to have a conversation that is not to be overheard by the rank and file.”

The sound of heavy locks being engaged and a sudden feeling of all the fur on Twilight’s back suddenly standing on end as if Pinkie had put a statically charged balloon next to her causes Twilight to start a little.

“Room is secure, Commander,” Loki states before turning to look at Twilight, a small smile growing, “Miss Sparkle, my brother has told me so much about you, I am eager to get to know you.”

“I… am flattered?” Twilight replies slowly, then looks to the Commander, “permission to approach the uhm… holographic table, Ma’am?”

“Permission granted,” al-Cygni chuckles, “and while I appreciate you asking, you’re not under my command, nor in the UNSC military, Miss Sparkle. You don’t have to address me as Ma’am.”

“Habit, sorry,” Twilight says softly as she rears up to put her forehooves on the table opposite the Commander so she can see the table. Ponder goes around to stand next to his commanding officer with Sif walking over towards Twilight and looking her over.

“So, having interviewed the squad that made first contact with you, I am inclined to believe you are not a threat,” al-Cygni states calmly, “however I and my superiors find it hard to believe you simply teleported here magically. We would like a demonstration of your magic, however I have been informed by our medic as well as the squad that you are suffering from… what did you call it?”

“Magical burnout,” Twilight supplies.

“And what is that, exactly?”

“It’s uhm… hmm, you know when you over-work something? Like your back or your legs? They get really sore and stiff and it hurts to move?”

“So it is like that? You’ve overexerted yourself?”

“In a way, yes. Magical manipulation is like any muscle, with the added risk of overuse causing backlash which is a sort of… like…” Twilight starts, growing thoughtful until she spots a stack of papers with a rubber band atop it, she reaches out with her magic and everyone’s eyes go wide as she casually levitates the rubber band over to her and holds it up, “magic fields are like rubber bands! You can stretch them and do things with them, but if you over-do it…” she stretches the rubberband in her magic, a small grimace forming on her face as her magic protests, her horn sparking as she brings the rubber band to its breaking point, causing a loud snap. “That happens.”

“Like a feedback loop in any system of energy,” Loki states, walking over and folding his arms behind his back, eyeing the broken rubber band critically, “a fascinating weakness. But just how much power were you… using to create the explosion at your destination?”

“Oh, I don’t know if I could translate the amount of power to anything you would understand,” Twilight offers, frowning, “I might be able to… with enough time to study your units of measurement and attempt to convert what I know over to your own systems.”

“We would appreciate it if you would do that,” al-Cygni offers, “in return we’re willing to allow you to remain here on Harvest, considering your ties to your race’s leadership we would rather you be comfortable.”

“And by ‘we’ I am sure you mean the intelligence group that is hounding you?” Twilight asks with a smile, which grows as al-Cygni frowns and Loki laughs. “Commander, I am the sibling of a military officer who led an entire branch of my nation’s military, I’m not unfamiliar with military intelligence.”

“They are not hounding me, I am in fact a member of the Office of Naval Intelligence,” the Commander says, continuing to frown, “and you are being very free with your information to a race whom you have just met. I am curious as to why.”

“I trust you,” Twilight answers honestly, “your race, despite its inherent violence over the centuries, has overcome a great deal and shown that you are willing to cooperate with each other, and seek out peaceful means to move forward.”

“I sense there is more,”

“And, you’re my best bet to get home, I would rather trust you than be secretive. Friendship is magic where I come from, it would be better to be friends, rather than cordial acquaintances.”

al-Cygni is quiet for a moment, her arms folded across her chest as she looks down at Twilight, a quiet frown on her face. As it stretches on, Twilight's ears lower a little and she starts to worry, but never loses her smile, causing Sif and Loki to look between her and the Commander.

After a while, al-Cygni sighs and shakes her head, “I can think of no reason to not grant you permission to remain on the planet as a free person, you don’t seem to be a threat, and seem cooperative.”

“Thank you!” Twilight says warmly, ears standing straight up and her tail swishing behind her.

“However, you’ll need to report to an ONI handler regularly, to help us understand your ‘magic’ and also to make sure you are not getting into any trouble,”

“I can do that, do you know who I will need to report to?” Twilight asks happily.

“I am currently the only ONI operative in the area that isn’t tasked to a mission that requires theri full attention, so…”

“I’ll be reporting to you? Okay, I’d like that,”

Crossing around the table, the Commander looks at Twilight, “That leaves one rather major thing, though, where are you going to house you? We don’t exactly have the facilities here to house you, I think.”

“So long as there is a bed, food, and indoor plumbing I’m sure we can make it work?” Twilight offers, shrugging.

“We could potentially house you with the militia squad that discovered you, as they seemed to react positively to you, though that would mean your accommodations will be very spartan.”

“I’m not a fancy pony, I once lived on a cot in a library for a year, I can make due with a soldier’s berth.”

“If you’re sure, we’ll just have to figure out what to do with you while they’re training, you can’t just stay in the barracks all day after all.”

“I could go with them?” Twilight says slowly, smiling sheepishly, “I well, as I told Captain Ponder I am not unfamiliar with military tactics, my brother was the leader of the Royal Guard for years. I’d be… interested in seeing how humans conduct war?”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, but if Sergeant Johnson allows it, I won’t get in his way,” al-Cygni sighs, “Lord knows I couldn’t if I wanted to, that man does his own thing when it gets the objective he has in mind done.”

“I’ll ask him before I tag along, I promise,” Twilight states with a smile.

“Very well, just know if you do this, you’ll have to adhere to our rules. They exist for a reason, and I won’t have them broken,”

“Very well, ma’am,” Twilight states, offering her best salute.

“We’ll see. And see if Johnson can’t get you to work on that salute,” al-Cygni smirks, “dismissed.”

Twilight lowers the salute and Loki chuckles, the loud sound of the locks disengaging echoing through the room, the door swinging open.

As she leaves, she can hear Ponder talking to the Commander behind her.

“You sure, ma’am? Let her participate if Johnson allows it?”

“Avery knows what he’s doing, he’s one of the best, I trust him,”

And then she is back in the noisy office spaces of the administration building, head held high and tail swaying behind her as she happily makes her way out and back onto the parade green.

She makes her way to the barracks, and drops her saddlebags off in the common room, currently having no room of her own, and then goes out to look for Johnson and the squad.

It takes her a bit, and asking a few of the sentries around the base for directions, before she finds herself approaching firing range for the human’s powder projectile weapons, which they call ‘guns’.

As she approaches, ears lowering back against her head with each loud whip crack from the guns, Twilight observes the makeshift firing line and how it resembles in many ways the archery ranges from back home for the Royal Guard. The only difference being that she can’t see any straw targets at the end of the range, only steel and paper targets in the shape of fellow humans.

Coming up behind the firing line, but staying far enough back that she isn’t interfering or interrupting the practice, she watches one of the militia she had interacted with, Red if she recalled correctly, lining up a shot with a different weapon than the one he had been using when they had found her.

“Alright, Private, I know it’s hard for you,” Johnson shouts loud enough to be heard by everyone, “but I want you to treat that rifle in your hands like that lovely, lovely woman you pretend you don’t sneak off to see on the weekends! Treat her well, and she’ll treat you well in return!”

In return, Red squares his shoulders and leans forward a bit, his breathing slowing as he tries to line up a shot. Twilight watches closely, wincing when the shot finally comes and folds her ringing ears back against her head, missing the distant ‘plink’ sound as the round hits the target.

“Congratulations, Private, you hit the target in the wrong spot! That was a glancing blow, at best!” Johnson shouts at the private, causing him to flinch a little, “A horse could do better! Hell, I bet if we ask her real nicely the horse gawking at your incompetence behind us will do better!”

Twilight jumps a little when she is mentioned, and smiles and waves as all the militia on the line turn to her. Most of them are surprised, though Natalie and a couple others aren’t.

“I uhm, I didn’t want to interrupt your practice, Sergeant,” Twilight offers, “but I wanted to find you and tell you that the Commander has assigned me to the squad here, since I don’t really… well have anywhere else to go?”

Johnson frowns at that, and shakes his head, “I swear that woman does this stuff to mess with me.”

“What was that, sir?” Twilight asks.

“Nothing, Sparks, my threat to the private here was empty, but if she really did assign you to me? Well, if I can teach you how to shoot a gun, there might just be hope for this sorry bunch of farm kids.”

Stepping forward slowly, Twilight has a couple second thoughts about actually training with the humans. She had thought, perhaps, to do some marching and hiking and such like she’d heard her brother had done. But handling a weapon? That was a bit much. Still, a part of her trusted Johnson, he hadn’t tried to hurt her when he’d found her, so perhaps learning how to shoot would be okay?

Moving up to the long table the squad is using as the firing line, Twilight takes the spot on the end on the other side of Red, rearing up and placing her hooves on the table so she can see down the range.

“Alright, pretty little pony,” Johnson starts, “what’s your flavor of death? Fast and loud, slow and steady, or ‘fuck everything’?”

As he talks he puts three weapons on the table in front of her.

The first ‘fast and loud’ looks to be some sort of weapon similar to the ones they were using when they found her though not quite the same. First off, while it’s still black it’s not as rounded as the weapons they were using earlier, and lacks some of the glowing displays the earlier weapons did. In their place are what seem to be long rail-like pieces, with little bits of black metal slotted onto them that look a bit like the sights on crossbows.

The second, ‘slow and steady’ is a lot like the first, but longer and has a small looking glass like object fitted onto the rail. It’s also tan, and also has the rails but they currently don’t have anything on them.

The last is simply a tube of some sort with a crossbow-like stock attached to the end and what seems to be some sort of sliding piece on the bottom that serves some sort of function she can’t quite figure out.

Twilight looks the assembled instruments of death over, and frowns, ears lowering a little and tail going between her legs. She isn’t really overly keen on using a deadly weapon, but at the same time the part of her that wants to know more reminds her the best way to gain new knowledge is sometimes to get hooves on. With that in mind, she reaches out for the longer tan looking weapon, and then stops with her hoof midway and looks to Johnson.

“Slow and steady, sir? With my depleted magic I think that’d be better for me,”

“Alright,” Johnson starts as he pulls out a box-like object she’d seen the militia using attached to their weapons. “Now, this is the magazine, it holds ten rounds of Seven-Six-Two by Fifty-One milliliters of pure death just waiting to be unleashed on the poor soul on the other end of your rifle. Specifically, these rounds are known as Full Metal Jacket Armor Piercing rounds, means they’re hard, go through stuff.”

Twilight nods, staring at the magazine with a combination of interest and fear.

“I need to make this absolutely clear, I will load the weapon for you, and you are not to fire or turn off the safety until told to,” Johnson states seriously, looking at Twilight, “I need to make sure you can actually hold and fire this weapon before I can clear you hot. Understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Twilight replies, picking the weapon up in her somewhat restored magic, having rested a bit since her appearance earlier.

“Alright, shoulder the weapon here,” Johnson says, manipulating the rifle in her magic and pressing it firmly against her shoulder. He then gently positions her head so that she’s looking down the scope. Once that’s done, she repositions the rifle a bit with her magic, and assists her levitation by leaning against the table and using her forehooves to help stabilize it.

Once that’s done Johnson puts the mag into the gun and shows where to pull to put a round into the chamber.

“Alright, Sparks, you got a good bead on that target down there Red missed?”

“Mhmm,” Twilight hums softly.

“Good. Knob on the left side of the rifle, twist it so the lever is pointed down,”

Twilight does so, a soft click echoing in her ears, “Okay.”

“Also, before I forget…” Johnson states, walking away for a second before coming back and putting something on Twilight’s head, covering her ears and instantly dulling all the noise around her. “Don’t want you going deaf, you won’t be any use to any of us if you can’t hear.”

Twilight flicks her tail in response, being unable to do so with her ears, and sticks her tongue out a little as she continues to concentrate on keeping the weapon on target.

“Fire when ready,” Johnson’s softened voice barks, and Twilight squeezes the trigger with her magic, the entire weapon jumping hard into her shoulder and she has to strain her magic to keep it from flipping out of her hooves and over her shoulder. Her horn sparks with the effort, and by the time the rifle settles into her hooves again, she can hear the distant pink of the round striking the target.

“Not bad for your first try, Sparky,” Johnson grunts, “you actually hit the target.”

Twilight smiles sheepishly to Johnson at that, and chuckles, “I did, didn’t I?”

“Now do it again!” Johnson shouts, looking at the other humans, “well? You all going to stand there staring? Or are you going to let a tiny horse show you up in marksmanship!?”

The chorus on ‘No sir’ from the others barely meets the Sergeant’s satisfaction, as he shouts about how he works for a living, and then resumes the firing exercise.

The next few hours after that are filled with the sounds of gunfire, followed quickly by a march around the surrounding farmland and base, along with various other things to try and get the squad up to, or keep them at, a level of readiness and physical prowess to allow them to actually fight in combat. Twilight herself has a fair bit of trouble with the firearms at first, her magic waning and getting back towards burnout range due to needing more time to recover towards the end of the firearms training, but she has little to no trouble with the marching and the hike. Of course, that is likely due to the fact the militia is in full armor, and she is not. A point she knows will be needed to be figured out sooner rather than later, and she mentally places an item on the checklist in her head to talk to Johnson and possibly Natalie about rigging up something to hold weights or at least make the field a little more even.

Still, she is a scholar at heart, and by the time she is back at the barracks with the others she is ready to fall over and sleep until Hearth’s Warming. She had hoped, praying even to the Sun and Moon, that Johnson would let her watch but he had decided to have her participate fully.

Knowledge in this case, it would seem, would be earned and not given.

Dragging her hooves into the common room, she finds her saddlebags have been moved, and a note on the table giving her directions to her room. Finding it, Twilight isn’t surprised to find it isn’t really much more than a small room with a cot like she’d seen in the other rooms, and a bedside table and a chair.

Her saddlebags are hanging over the back of the chair, and after a quick glance into them to make sure everything is there, Twilight levitates the photo of her and Princess Celestia over to the bedside table, then her saddlebags to a hook near the door, and collapses onto her cot.

It’s not much. It’s not home. But for now it was safe and it would do.

Staying awake long enough to look out the small window near her bed, she quietly wonders if the star Harvest is orbiting is one of the billions she saw in Luna’s night sky. And, as sleep claims her, she wonders if Luna will be able to find her in her dreams.

Author's Note

This one might be a bit rushed, I'm not sure. I'm likely going to do an edit pass later for grammar and spelling, since some stuff likely escaped me. But I wanted to get this out tonight, July 31st, because my birthday is tomorrow xD And I wanted to put this out as a birthday gift to myself!

Anyway, Twi meets ONI as well as the two other AI who run the planet alongside Mack! And she got to learn how to shoot a firearm a little, something I am sure she'll find utterly and totally useless on a peaceful planet like Harvest!

Anyway, next chapter things shall kick off for real, but for all of you who enjoyed the slice of life feel, I hope this chapter continued to scratch that itch.