The Seventh Element

Moon Base

Luna walked down the hallway and in to the room that was now the only way to the new lunar base. What was once a clean and sterile white walled room, was now an organized mess filled with machines and supplies of odd sorts with Gaians and members of the Star Swirl Society scurrying about. Luna looked in the corner and saw that Derpy and Alun were watching the falling muffin again.

"Princess Luna! Good timing, we just finished the life support in sector one and grav-gens are working, so you won't be floating off, as long as you stay inside the building and within their effective radius!"

Luna's brain was getting that itch again.

"That's good!... Right?"

Trixie joined the group.

"Very good, Princess! How did your trip to the Gryphon Kingdom go? Did you make any new friends?" She gave Luna a large smile and stared at her, fluttering her eyelashes in a goofy way.

"More friends than I expected... We lost some too..."

"Oh goodie! I love having more friends!-"

"Princess, what do you mean "we lost some"? Did something happen? And where is Sir Klass?"

The trio walked over to the portal, which had been magically doubled in size to meet the traffic demands of building an entire base on the moon.

"No need to worry about Sir Klass, he is safe with the gryphons. He will be joining us later, we have hit a snag though. Gaia, you said the base is almost done? Can you give me a short tour?"

"Ooh, yes Princess! This is going to be sooo fun! Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy are already on the moon, we can meet them there!"

The trip to the Gryphon Kingdom had taken a while and Luna was anxious to hear what had happened in Ponyville and here on the moon in her absence.

"Clearly you two have been busy here with the Moon base, tell me what else has happened since I've been gone. Have we recruited anypony else? How are we doing equipping our current soldiers?"

The two ponies looked at each other and smiled.

"Princess Luna... I think it would be easier if we showed you."

Luna looked from Trixie, to the portal, and back again.

"Just walk on through-"

"-and you'll end up on the other side." She nodded encouragingly as she said it.

She faced the portal and paused with a hoof in the air.

"Home sweet home."

And with that she jumped through the portal. As her face broke the surface she felt as though the portal yanked her through, it was like her entire body was being pulled through a small tube. It sucked the air from her lungs as scenery passed by her so quickly that all she could see were flashes of light that created the tunnel she was being sucked through!

And then she was on the other side, mid way through her jump. She landed gracefully and looked back behind her as Gaia and Trixie followed her through.

They were standing inside a large bubble made from a green magic radiating from that odd probe Trixie had thrown in when they first opened the portal. The landscape was very familiar, save for the small metal building to her left.

"That was weird..."

"What?- Oh! That. Yeah you get used to it. It seems like it takes a while for the pony going through the portal, but in reality your travel is instantaneous. Quite fascinating really, I'll have to show you our research files sometime! We have some-"

"Oh come now, you can talk about portals later, I want to start the tour!" Gaia was eager to show off her work and led the way towards the metal building to their left.

The walk wasn't long, but it took them past several other buildings in various stages of construction and what seemed to be an excavation site off in the distance.

"What's that over there?" Luna gestured toward the dig site.

"Oh, we're not entirely sure, but from what we've dug up so far, we think think that it's some sort of mechanical dolphin...."

Luna quickly looked away from the dig and locked her eyes on the metal building.

"Oh... Y-you don't say?"

Gaia gave her a legitimately confused look.

"Yes- actually I do say! Anyway, there seems to be a rattling coming from the dolphin, as if something were trapped inside. Actually they are supposed to be opening it now if you would like to go see." Trixie and Gaia stopped, but Luna picked up her pace, trying to put as much distance as possible between her and that crazy sphere she had trapped in the dolphin.

"Oh no, no, no- I don't think we should. We're short on time as it is!"

The two ponies turned to follow, but stopped at the sound of metal being wrenched apart in the distance as the dig site ponies opened the dolphin.

[size=9]"SPAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!"[/size]

"What was that?"

Luna began running and yelled over her shoulder.

"Come on, we need to hurry!"

"But Princess- Ugh!" She gave up and followed Luna to the structure ahead.

The building was small and wide, it reminded Luna of the small rest stops on those long roads between cities and towns. The building was made of a dark metal and covered in piping, antennas, control panels and maintenance shafts that gave it a harsh imperialistic look. In place of a door was a smooth section of metal.

"Kinda small don't you think?"

"Haha! You're so silly Luna! That's only the entrance!"

Luna was confused, but followed the odd green pony to the smooth section on the building.

"So, how exactly do we get inside?"

No sooner had she said it then the smooth section split in two and retracted in to the surrounding wall. It was a door and it moved by itself! Impressive...

Inside, the floor was a grey metal, with an identical ceiling. The walls however were broken in to sections, so that every five feet or so there were large triangular panels which, according to the label, were used to store emergency weapons, armor and power cells ('whatever the heck those are'). Between the storage paneling vertical slots approximately two inches wide and three feet long that were cut in to the wall to reveal a light source behind it. This was a pattern followed throughout the room, which Luna was starting to realize was only a lobby of sorts, except there were no chairs and only one pony standing guard behind a desk next to a large metal cylinder built in to the wall. Maybe it was another door?

"Good evening, Sure Shot"

"Good evening Ma'am."

The guard pony was a darker shade of green than Gaia, with a dark brown mane. He was wearing an elegant, yet menacing set of armor that covered most of his body.  The armor was made of a dark metal that seemed to be modeled after the feathers of a bird and had small, intricate lines that curved their way from his shoulders down to his breastplate where they all met at a ruby that was only slightly bigger than the one on Celestia's crown. The lines extended from the ruby and traveled over the armor that covered his body. The helmet was not unlike that of the Canterlot Royal guard, except some sort of black material covered his eyes and instead of a plume, the helmet's armor extended back behind his actual head and ended in points, giving him a devilish sort of look. The metal seemed to absorb the light around it, making the pony look very intimidating.

They walked towards the cylinder which opened, confirming Luna's suspicions of it actually being a door. Trixie pressed a button on the wall and the door closed behind them as the elevator began to move. It was dark in the elevator, except for the lights that flashed through the opposite wall, which was apparently glass, at regular intervals.

"That was some impressive armor he was wearing back there. Glad to see Sir Klass' bits are being used well."

"Oh, yes they are, but not on that. No, we've had that model around for a while now -

"Don't forget Trixie's modifications!"

Oh, yes that was quite a bit of genius, Trixie!

Gaia gave Trixie a wink.

"Anywhosie we've got those bits going to things like supplies and research and development- oh! And the construction of this base, of course!"

"Not to mention that side project of yours."

"Oh- That little old thing?"

"Little? Ha!"

Luna felt as if she were missing an inside joke, "I'd like to know about this side-"

The dark elevator had suddenly been bathed in light, blinding the ponies for a moment as they tried to look through the elevator window.

The elevator had just entered a cavernous room that was so full of activity that it took Luna a moment to sort it all out. The elevator traveled down the back wall of the room, well "room" wasn't exactly the right word. It was more like a warehouse, a huge facility that was being used to train soldiers and house weapons, supplies and armor in massive amounts. The walls were lined with crates filled with war supplies. In the center of the room were hundreds of ponies wearing similar armor to the one upstairs, all marching in formation down the length of the room and following the massive hallway around the corner and out of sight. The ceiling and walls were of similar design to the lobby upstairs. The floor was a dark, almost black material that was sectioned off in to panels that could be removed for storage, maintenance, etc.

Luna couldn't help but stare, slack jawed, at the sight before her as the elevator brought her to the ground floor. The rebellion had only started three months ago and the Moon Base project had started a week later. How was it possible that they had this kind of support and resources?!

She regained some of her composure.

"You sure have been busy!"

"Our magic helped us out quite a bit. Interestingly enough, the moon has lots and lots of useful minerals and stuff we can build with beneath its surface, so we used that to create this place and a lot of our weapons and armor! It was a joint effort though, we couldn't have done it without the Star Swirl's help."

"We wouldn't even be here without the Gaians."

The two smiled at each other as the elevator reached the ground and opened its doors. Gaia led them out past a pony that was creating a lot of sparks and wearing a metal face mask while he used a thin piece of metal that had fire coming out of it on a breastplate like the ones she had seen other ponies wearing. They had entered a normal sized hallway that led to a room filled with bits of armor and ponies using the same fire spitting metal device that they had seen the other pony using on the armor.

"This is where we make the basic armor. Until we put in the power crystals, it's just a big ol' hunk of metal!"

"What exactly do the power crystals do?"

"We'll get to it, don't worry Princess."

They continued through to an adjacent room where odd shaped things were coming out of the wall on a conveyor belt. The unicorns in the room were picking up the devices, pointing one end of them at a target on the opposite side of the room and then they would make an odd noise as a short beam of red light flew out and hit the target, causing it to sizzle. The unicorn would then put it in a bin labeled "Operational".

Luna walked up to a conveyor belt to examine one of the odd contraptions.

It was a long hollow tube with two handles on it. One near the closed end of the tube and another somewhere near the middle. The middle handle was shaped like a crescent moon and gave a comfortable looking spot for a hoof. Luna picked one up with her magic and hovered it in front of her, pointing it the same way the unicorns did. Trixie watched anxiously.

"Princess, those are dangerous, you need to be careful!"

Luna ignored her as she played with the device. She sat back on her haunches and placed her front left hoof on the crescent moon handle and her right hoof directly in front of the rear handle. It was a bit heavy and a little awkward, so she changed her grip.

*PEW*

Light erupted from the end of the tube as Luna accidentally fired the weapon.

The weapon was suddenly surrounded by a light blue magic as Trixie tried to take it from Luna.

"Please Princess, Trixie doesn't want you hurting anypony."

Luna wrenched it free from Trixie's magical grip.

"Now hold on Trixie, give me a minute!" She looked like a kid that had just bought a fancy new toy and was too proud to read the instructions.

Trixie gave her a concerned look, but stopped trying to take the weapon.

Luna readjusted her grip, being sure not to pull back with her right hoof, since that seemed to be pressure sensitive and the way to fire the weapon. She pointed it at one of the targets and pulled back with her hoof.

*PEW PEW*

She missed pathetically, leaving scorch makes on the wall behind the target.

"Princess? Do you see that curved part near the back?"

"Yes."

"Well, we call the whole thing a blaster rifle, and the back part is the plot. It's supposed to go against your shoulder, then you look over the top of the rifle and aim that way."

Luna put the plot of the gun against her shoulder and raised it to eye level. She pointed it downrange towards the target and pulled back.

*PEW*

She hit the target dead center as Gaia stomped her front hooves on the ground, clapping.

"Oh goodie! You've got some skill Princess! Did you have fun?"

"Yes! That's a weapon, right?" She handed it off to one of the unicorns.

"Yes Princess, it's a smaller version of a- Well a very large one we have. It won't kill, but it will be invaluable in the field. Think of it as firing magic for earth ponies. This way even non-unicorns can fight long distance."

"So this is where the bits have gone?"

"Not quite, Ms. Impatient! That's last on the list!"

They left back the way they came and went to a door across the giant staging area. The door led the to a staircase that took them to a glass tube that was clearly meant as an observation level. Below them at the center of the room that their observation hall circled, was no less than a full battalion of troops all being trained in different ways. One platoon was doing target practice against moving targets and getting bulls-eyes on every one. Another platoon was practicing their hoof-to-hoof combat against each other, some doing kicks, others doing takedowns and one poor pony was the designated dummy for the others who were practicing knocking him to the ground. The third platoon was going through an obstacle course and the fourth was waiting.

"Maybe I should just expect to be surprised every time we go through a door, it would probably be easier that way... What is that group doing?"

Luna pointed to the fourth platoon who was just standing around.

"Oh! They're getting ready to test our modified armor, Gaia!"

They watched the fourth platoon as they split in to two groups, all wearing that same armor Luna had seen around base. One group went to stand in a line as the others grabbed rifles. All of the other ponies training stopped to watch.

"They're going to test it on each other?!"

"Don't worry silly! Trixie and I made this stuff! It's going to be just fine!"

Luna watched as the commander of the group lifted a hoof in the air and dropped it sharply! The target ponies hit the gems on their breastplates as the other ponies each fired two shots at their fellow soldiers. The lines carved in to the armor began to glow red, green and blue as the different enchanted gems gave their armor some sort of power that absorbed the lasers before they impacted the ponies.

The commander ordered another round. The ponies fired with the same effect. He gave the fire at will command and only called off the volley after a solid minute of shooting. The armored ponies stood there unharmed. The soldiers began cheering as the commander looked up at Trixie, Gaia and Luna and nodded with a smile on his face.

"I told you Trixie!"

"Trixie thinks the Sapphire was a bit more effective at absorbing the shots."

They began walking back to the staging area.

"That was amazing!"

Luna was at a loss for words as she walked with the two ponies, wondering what she was going to show them next. At this rate all they would have to do is show up to the battlefield and say "boo!" and they'd win! For the first time since this whole thing had started, Luna was actually glad for the war. At first she thought it would be a blood bath, ponies dying on both sides, but with the technology of the Gaians, the bits from Manearola and the magic of the Star Swirl Society, Luna was beginning to think it was going to be a quick fight.

They walked down the massive hall that the soldiers from earlier had marched down and took a door to the left. They went down a hallway and walked in to a conference room with a large circular table in the center of it. The NLR's logo was on a banner behind the biggest chair, that was clearly meant for Luna, and examples of the Solar Empire's propaganda posters were along one of the walls. Sitting at the table was Applejack with her front legs crossed on top of the table and her face buried inside them, flanked by Rarity and Fluttershy.

Applejack looked up at them as they entered. She wiped her face with a hoof and straightened her hat.

"Well there y'all are! It's good t' see ya again, Princess."

"And you too Applejack. I see that Rarity joined us."

"I did my best, Princess."

"That's all I could ask for Applejack."

Princess Luna took the seat at the head of the table and looked around the room.

"So, what news do you have for me?"

"Well Princess, as you can see, the Solar Empire has started spreading the word of your rebellion, which is both good and bad. Many of the citizens believe her, but knowing that there is a rebellion, the few that don't, have attempted to seek us out.

Celestia has also kicked her new regime in to high gear! She is creating soldiers faster than I, the great and POW-"

*cough*

"I apologize, Princess. Old habits... Anyway, she has huge numbers of troops and they're only getting bigger as the days pass. By this point, we can assume she knows about the battle at the wall, so she knows we have gryphons on our side, but she may not know about Colonel Mustang joining us."

"Speaking of Colonely Mustang, he should be here pretty soon, Princess! Him and his soldiers are going to help us train and we're going to upgrade their armor and weapons! Oh! And the gryphons! They're going to be here too! It's going to be a big party here on the moon!"

"Yes, well... She's right, soon everypony will be here on the moon. We've been recruiting in outlying towns and it's bolstered our numbers quite a bit, but at the rate Celestia can turn them out, we're going to be pretty evenly matched. I believe though, with our technological advantages, this will be a quick fight and hopefully we can take control with minimal casualties."

"Excellent news!" She turned to Applejack. "Applejack, I'm interested in what happened to the others. Did they join Celestia?"

The others looked away awkwardly, they had already heard the story...

Applejack smiled as a fresh tear rolled down her cheek.

"Princess, the others- They didn't want to join. Pinkie Pie is still in Ponyville, but Twilight went to Princess Celestia with- With..."

"With Rainbow Dash. We saw her fly off, I know Applejack."

Applejack tried to keep the smile, but couldn't stop the tears. She sat back down and assumed the same position she had been in when they had entered.

Fluttershy put a hoof on Applejack's shoulder as she began to sob.

"It's okay. You know her, she'll come back to us! She'll see what a big ol' meanie head Celestia is and come right back!"

"She's right darling! We'll make sure she stays safe, don't worry AJ."

Being called AJ made her cry harder.

Luna was slightly confused.It sounded as if Applejack was only worried about one of her friends. She stood up and pulled Gaia and Trixie to the other end of the room so she would be out of earshot.

"Did I miss something?"

"Well, Princess... She knew that all of them wouldn't join us, Applejack had prepared herself for that. She's still worried about Twilight and Pinkie, but she had known somepony wouldn't come with her. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were more than just friends... You can't really prepare yourself for a loss like that, especially when it puts you on opposite sides of a war."

Luna's heart sank. She hadn't known it was like that, she felt terrible for splitting the two apart. There had to be something she could do for her. Some comforting words were the best she could come up with, so she walked over to the trio at the table and sat next to Applejack.

"Applejack. I'm sorry, I didn't know what she meant to you. I promise you that she will still be there for you when this is all over. I will protect her with my life for you if I must. We're going to win this with as little death as possible, there is no way she can stand up to us with all the ponies and advantages we have! You needn't worry Applejack."

Her face was still buried, muffling her voice.

"-ouldn't -orry?"

She lifted her head.

Luna had said the wrong thing.

"Shouldn't worry?! Why shouldn't I worry!? This is war, we can't just march in there an' expect 'em to roll over for us! Y'all talk like it's gonna be easy- You said it yerself Trixie! We're going to be evenly matched! Even if we have an a'vantage or two, it's war! You think some fancy armor or one of Gaia's crazy inventions would save us, even if those things worked in the firs' place?! Two armies against each other and you think we're just gonna win? Ponies are gonna die! I could' die, you could die, Fluttershy, Rarity, Gaia, Twilight, Pinkie and my Dashie could die! So don't you try an' tell me this'll be easy! That I shouldn't worry! If you haven't worried abou' it then we've already lost and you put us through this for nothin'!"

Applejack was nose to nose with Princess Luna, glaring with tear stains in her coat and hate in her eyes.

'Honesty'

Even as she said it, Luna knew she was right. The tour of the base and Gaia and Trixie showing off their technologies had done nothing but make Luna overconfident. She was certain that the war would be easy after all that they had accomplished, but she hadn't stopped to think of what they were up against. Celestia knew about the Lunar republic and was no doubt preparing for it. There wasn't going to be any element of surprise, or fast acting coup, this was going to be a war of attrition. They were going to kill each other in such numbers that one side would give up or run out of ponies.

"I'm sorry Applejack. You're right, I wasn't thinking rationally. I can't keep the promises I made, but for what it's worth, that doesn't mean I won't try."

Applejack glared at her a moment longer before turning and running out of the room.

"I-I'm sorry Princess. She's just upset."

"It's okay Fluttershy, she's right."

Rarity and Fluttershy went after their friend.

Luna let out a long sigh.

"She sure put us in our place didn't she?"

"Her element is honesty..."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Luna broke it.

"Well... Is there anything else?"

Gaia seemed unperturbed by Applejack's outburst and kept her same old bubbly attitude.

"Oh, well this is a fun one! Come on now."

Luna followed Gaia down the path the marching soldiers had taken earlier. They walked down this enormous hallway for perhaps twenty minutes before they reached a large viewing window that extended left and right for as far as Luna could see.

Gaia walked to a nearby console and entered a password before pressing a button labeled "LIGHTS"

On the other side of the glass Luna saw, and heard, lights turning on starting from the far end of the room and coming towards her. As they came closer, Luna saw that they were illuminating a gargantuan building. The building was painted a midnight blue and was too large for Luna to see all of at once, in fact all she could really see was the large chunk of metal visible through the glass. It was a very odd shaped building...

"Gaia, why is there a building in there?"

Gaia laughed loudly. It was the kind of laugh that hinted at crazy... And genius...

The last light turned on revealing, in huge purple letters:

LOVE