A Journey in Steel

Chapters

Under Smoke and Rain – Part 1
Under Smoke and Rain – Part 2
Under Smoke and Rain – Part 3
Under Smoke and Rain – Part 4

Under Smoke and Rain – Part 1

Through rain smoke, a steel fortress chugged along. Within its belly six children and one alicorn trudged down Mount Canterhorn, the latter finding themselves unable to find footing as the fortress moved. She found herself placing a hoof on the wall as it lurched worse than normal, but it proved to be inefficient at keeping her up. Her balance had been thrown off, and she crashed onto the floor.

“Miss Twilight!” One of the children, a felinko with a ragged brown cape and even darker brown dress covering her, called out. “You okay?”

The child held out a paw to Twilight, the princess of friendship taking it. “Thanks Sheena.”

Sheena nodded and gave the best smile she could, only to then let out a yelp as the fortress lurched again. Alicorn and felinko held each other in support, doing all they could to make sure one didn’t fall on the other. It succeeded, Twilight finding herself still standing when all is said and done. Both of them let out a sigh of relief.

“Apologies. With our hasty retreat from Canterlot I choose to forgo comfort,” A voice called out over the fortress’ intercom. Sheena froze at hearing it. “I think we can safely assume who has the Tarascus. I noticed several design features that seem to draw heavy inspiration from my fated enemy.”

“So the Tarascus is the reason they are so advanced?” Another kid, a young berman garbed in something halfway between military and casual, asked. He nearly growled in annoyance at what the intercom had said. “How? There is no way they could get this advance that fast.”

“I doubt that the Tarascus is alone responsible, young Britz,” the intercom replied. “It is likely the Storm King’s militaristic advances were started before our arrival in Equestria. Their discovery of the Tarascus just accelerated it far beyond Equestria’s own.”

“Add on top of it that Tempest mare and how quickly she took out the princesses, and it is no wonder Canterlot was taken so quickly,” yet another kid said. This came from the eldest of the group, a caninu wearing overalls and a cap on top of his head. “We barely even made it to the Taranis with how quick it all was.”

Twilight winced, the pain that came from watching both her friends and that of six other children get taken too fresh in her mind. Malt, the caninu who had just spoken, was reeling from it more than she was, a fire lit in his eyes. One gain from the fact that among those who had made it, his five year old sister Mei was not among them. It made her shiver in fear, the slightest spark of fury behind it all.

The fact she wasn’t asking why she was letting these children, none older than thirteen, pilot the fortress they called the Taranis wasn’t lost on her. Typically she wouldn’t let anypony outside the royal guard near a piece of weaponry such as this, but none knew how to control this thing. Tartarus, nopony had even been able to get inside unless Malt or another of his friends was there. It was for that reason, and that reason alone, that Twilight allowed her morales to temporarily slip. Equestria needed the “Child Heroes of Gasco” as they had been dubbed, and that meant they needed the Taranis.

“It’s still so hard to believe,” a felinko named Hanna said, eyes and feet locked into facing the captured Canterlot. Twilight dared to look where she was, Equestria’s capital just visible out of the corner of the Taranis’ only window. “This place seemed so peaceful when we first arrived. Now it feels like we never left Paresia.”

“No, not just Paresia,” replied Socks, another caninu among their group. Twilight could see the terror that lay behind his glasses. “It’s like that night back in Petit Mona. The night we found the Taranis.”

Among all the children, only one refused to speak up. She was curled up on the floor, her face hidden behind her knees. Her child sized military helmet and the flower placed on it were all anyone could see. If the situation allowed it, someone would have long ago checked in on her, but the problems of the young lady known as Chick had been tossed to the side. They needed to escape the pursuing forces first and make sure the Taranis and Twilight didn’t fall into the paws of the Storm King’s forces. Then and only then could they focus on the fact her twin brother had not made it with them.

It was a situation Twilight couldn’t dream of being in mere hours ago. The stories of the otherworldly children who had suddenly appeared in Equestria had remained simple stories until then. She knew they spoke the truth, but it was unlike any situation she had ever been in before. Fighting villains like Sombra, Nightmare Moon, or Tirek were nothing to what the children had been through. She had chosen to fight those fights, but the heroes of Gasco had been given no choice. If they didn’t their families would have died, a god-like weapon of old would have been revived, and untold damage would be done to their world.

Now she was living an experience almost exactly like that. She had no choice but to flee, as did Malt and the other children with them. Tempest wanted the technology and magic both the Taranis and Equestria’s four alicorn princesses had. She had all but two of those. The damage that could do to not just Equestria but the world as a whole was horrifying. Especially with the knowledge that the Taranis used living beings to charge the massive cannon on its side.

How many would the Storm King use to fuel that power, destroying all resistance in his path?

The Taranis’ alarm suddenly went off, all eyes looking to the final figure in the tanks control room. Unlike all others present, the creature that stood before them was not made of flesh and blood. They were a creature made of blue light, seeming both similar yet different to the children. It’s form was feminine, but that was not its true body. No, it’s body was that of the giant metallic fortress that they all sat in, pushing with all its might down Mount Canterhorn into the Equestrian wilderness.

“I’m detecting multiple hostiles ahead. Tanks and air vehicles, all heavily armed,” Jeanne, the Taranis’ AI, explained to those around them. “They seem to be modeled after the Tarascus. I fear that the Storm King and his subjects have started to see it in the same light as General Hax and the Bermans.”

“Anyway around them?” Malt asked her.

None question how she was still present after the battle against the Tarascus in Paresia, but none of the children could imagine the tank without her. She had been with them since they had discovered the Taranis in Petit Mona, after all. If she controlled that piece of her that lust for battle against her ancient enemy, she was welcome. The information she provided was invaluable.

“No. The mountain path is too narrow,” Jeanne explained. “We will have to go through them. I’m sorry that you all have to fight once again.”

“It’s horrible, but we have no choice,” Hanna replied, rushing past everyone and out of the command center. Twilight went to call out for her, but was shocked to find Chick following them.

“There… there has to be another!” Twilight exclaimed, looking at Jeanne in horror and shock. “Surely we can settle this without forcing these children to fight.”

“The only other option we have is to plummet down the cliffside,” Jeanne told Twilight in a motherly, yet somehow still matter-of-fact tone. “I doubt anything but the Taranis and myself would survive the fall. I am sorry, Princess Twilight Sparkle, but this is our only choice.”

Twilight ground her teeth against each other, both admiring and hating the AI’s honesty. Nothing about this situation was fair, and she wanted to scream at Jeanne for putting Malt and his friends in danger. The only reason she didn’t is because they were the only thing that had saved her from being turned to stone in Canterlot. Jeanne understood as well as herself that without the Taranis’ original crew there was no escaping this. If the children didn’t fight, they would either be captured or die.

“Then I’m fighting too!” Twilight blurted out. “As a Princess of Equestria and the former Element of Magic, I refuse to let these children fight alone.”

Jeanne smiled and nodded at her. “A cannon is prepared for you. If you need any help figuring out how to use it, just ask.”

Twilight nodded back and took a step away from Sheena. She gave the felinko a forced smile – which they returned with a genuine one – and rushed out of the control room, into the dormitory, and then the elevator. She never noticed that Malt or Britz looked concerned at her actions, both sighing as they looked out at the tanks before them. They were almost comically small compared to the Taranis, but they knew better than to think they didn’t pack a punch. The damage to Canterlot had shown the Storm King matched the Berman army in power.

“I was hoping to never have to pilot something like this again,” Britz whispered. Malt looked at the former-child soldier out of the corner of his eyes. “We feel far too okay with this.”

“I know what you mean,” Malt said, shoulders sagging as he looked back to their enemies. “All of Equestria is counting on us, however. We can’t let them down.”

As if to challenge their courage, Malt and Britz’s eyes went wide at the barely audible sound of a shot being fired. The latter tried to grab the radio to inform those on guns, but the impact of the shot caused Malt, Socks, Sheena, and himself to all fall to the ground. Jeanne looked on in surprise, having not expected the shot to come as soon as it did. She reached a hand out, only to remember she was incapable of helping the children to their paws. Thankfully, Sheena recovered exceptionally fast and did just as she had been hoping to do.

“The range of their guns is far greater than that of the Berman army!” She alerted, knowing that her words were coming far too late. “Raising defensive shields. Twilight, fire on the heavy tank as soon as I say we’re in range.”

“Thanks Sheena,” Malt said, giving his friend a reassuring smile befitting a leader. His hand reached for the radio, grabbing it firmly in his paw as he turned to watch Socks pick Britz up from off the floor. “Everyone okay?”

“Yes!” Hanna and Chick called out.

“Got knocked to the ground by the shaking, but the blast didn’t get through the armor,” Twilight explained.

A collective breath of relief could be heard from all present in the control room, Jeanne doing her best to mimic the acts of the children. When the next shot came, the Taranis’ shield completely absorbed it, causing nothing but a faint rattle like that of a low magnitude earthquake. Malt could see three tanks directly ahead, one heavy and two light air units. He then turned to Britz, and wordless understanding came between them both.

“Hanna, Twilight, as soon as the heavy tank is down you switch out with Britz and Sheena,” Malt called out over the intercom.

“Now in range! Fire!” Jeanne called out behind him.

Two seconds later, the Taranis’ cannon let out a boom. One second after that, a direct hit was scored on the heavy tank that had surprised the Taranis with its range. The enemy still stood, though the damage their hit had dealt to the front of the tank was clear as day. It fired back in retaliation, the shields taking the brunt of the impact for the Taranis’ crew. The same happened with the machine fire that came from the air units, none of the rounds making it past the shields that Jeanne had put up.

Chick was the next to fire, aiming the grenade launcher she had high. It went over the heavy tank and nailed the air unit that had been behind it, the explosion it caused showing the high reward for such a high risky target. Typically that would be Britz or Sheena’s target to take care of, all five children aware from their battle against the Berman empire how slippery they could be. Chick had been motivated, however, her heart and emotions boiling over from watching her brother get petrified before her very eyes.

“If you won’t give Hack back, I’m gonna steal him back!” She shouted, everyone within the Taranis going wide eyed or wincing at the volume and rage that Chick spoke with.

Another grenade round fired off, but this time Chick’s aim was off. In her anger, she had accidentally inched one of the Taranis’ grenade launchers too much to the left, causing the shot that followed to hit either tank. It collided with Mount Canterhorn instead, the shot that actually hit the heavy tank coming moments later from Hanna’s launcher instead. It still didn’t destroy the heavy, but the blow had dealt some serious damage.

The tank’s end came right after, a long hesitated cannon fire from Twilight ripping through the air. With no way to move left or right on the mountain path, the heavy tank was a sitting duck. The shot tore through its very being, an explosion of smoke and air visible before the eyes of the children and the Princess of Friendship. The latter let out a wavering breath at the sight of what she had just caused, but shook her head.

She had no choice. Twilight didn’t attempt to fire upon the final remaining air unit, doing her best to focus on breathing. The sound of a grenade launcher firing did not make that easier, only adding to the anxiety her actions were placing on her heart. She regretted what she had done, but the alternative was giving herself up to the enemy. The only choice before her was to fight, to forgo friendship even if only temporary…

… to kill.

“Princess.”

Twilight looked behind her, having not noticed Britz arriving from the control room. With an unsteady nod, they swapped places. Jeanne replaced the earlier cannon with a machine gun as Britz aimed at the enemy before them. Scared but unwilling to look away, Twilight watched as the sound of machine gun fire filled her ears. Where grenade fire had repeatedly missed the target, the volume and speed of simple bullets worked wonders. It tore through the metal that made up the air unit till its front had been littered with enough holes to make it look like an oversized cheese grater. It didn’t explode, choosing instead to fall to the ground, a manned machine of war turning into a piece of scrap metal.

“All immediate threats eliminated,” Jeanne called out, Twilight barely registering her. The princess’ eyes were locked on the dead metal husks they were approaching. “Tempest must have expected us or other civilians to try and escape this way. That won’t be the last.”

The metal contraptions that had tried to stop them left Twilight’s view as the Taranis drew right over them. In morbid fascination, she left Britz to his station and rode the elevator up to the Taranis top floor. Her head turned away from the observation room and to the door leading outside the tank. With a heavy heart she opened it just enough to see what she and these children had just done.

The tanks and air units were now unrecognizable, a combination of being ripped to shred by weaponry and crushed by the Taranis flattening them. Behind those was the form of Canterlot, not so far away the screams could no longer reach her ears. The smoke did, however, reach her eyes. The battered form of Canterlot Castle stood out among the ruined city, looking more like a ruin than a place she thought of as a second home. It was all too much, and Twilight couldn’t hold in the tears that fell down from her eyes.

“Don’t worry girls,” She whispered. “We’re gonna come back for all of you. I promise.”

It was so hard to think that, half a year ago, everything had seemed so normal.

Author's Note

Fuga: Melodies of Steel, a game that rips into your heart in the most heart wrenching ways one can imagine. I played the first game on twitch last year and fell in love with it, and the same is currently happening with the second game. It’s been on my mind, and with how I seem to have the most recent volume of Between Reality and Dreams, an original work of mine, I figured this would be a great way to relax. Something fanfictiony, and therefore a decent amount less stress.

Do not pay attention to the fact that “relax” and “Fuga: Melodies of Steel” don’t go well together. When the game can be affectionately describe as “Howl’s Moving Warcrime”, one doesn’t go about feeling relaxed for too long.

Lastly, please note that this isn’t edited. If you find any glaring mistakes, please let me know. I meant it when I said I was using this to relax and I’m kind of just letting words flow right now.

Edit 5-18-23: fixed the descriptions of how many of thr Fuga cast are with the Taranis, as well as corrected Hanna’s species. She’s a felinko, not a caninu.

Under Smoke and Rain – Part 2

Six months earlier…

A beam of golden light suddenly erupted from Mount Canterhorn, residents of the city below little out yelps or screams of terror. Even after it faded the panic didn’t stop, ponies storming around in a panicked frenzy. The royal guard immediately mobilized around the area the beam of light had originated from, investigating the disturbance in hopes that whatever it was wouldn’t lead to them needing the Elements of Harmony. No civilians were allowed inside the hole said beam had created, and for the first few hours nothing was told of what had caused it.

Then Princess Celestia and Luna arrived, both gawking at the massive hole that had been carved out of Mount Canterhorn. It reminded them of the power Tirek had briefly held in his hands before Twilight and her friends had defeated him. Celestia, face cold as stone, hid the fear that was placed within her as she trotted up to the captain of her guards, a unicorn named Captain Stonewall. He saluted the sisters as they approached.

“Afternoon captain,” Princess Celestia greeted. “Any news on what caused… this?”

“We do, your majesty,” Captain Stonewall explained. He looked to the newly formed cave behind him, and then back to his princesses. “Though, it might be easier if we were to show you instead of explaining it.”

A combined nod from herself and Luna later, and Celestia soon found herself traveling out of the sun and into the darkness of the cave. Captain Stonewall lit his horn, illuminated the area around them as they traveled further and further into the mountains. All the while both sisters glanced at the cave walls, an energy both magical and non-magical seeming to fill the atmosphere around them. It was something that existed inside all beings, typically unable to manifest into something solid.

“Sister, do you think the beam we saw was….” Luna said, only to be left silent as the energy grew heavier.

“Yes. It is will,” Celestia replied, eyes the left wall of the cave in concern. “Pure, raw willpower.”

“What in tartarus would be able to create a beam of willpower this powerful?” Luna whispered. “It is unnatural.”

Their answer came moments later, both princesses halting in their tracks at the pony-made thing that towered over them. A behemoth of steel larger than anything they had ever seen stood before them. On its side was a massive cannon unlike anything else on Equestria, power both pure and dark radiating from it. The willpower that had filled the cave seemed to surround the behemoth, Celestia’s eyes going wide as she realized what was before her. The beam of pure willpower had come not from some pony or long forgotten enemy, but this ungodly contraption.

“We found this here, at the end of the cave,” Stonewall explained, walking up and tapping the behemoth’s treads with a hoof. “It seems to be some form of moving fortress. There are doors on it, but nopony has been able to open it.”

“Then the beam of light, it came from that?” Luna asked, her sister frozen in place from both terror and fear. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Permission to give a theory, your highness?” Stonewall requested. Luna gave him a nod, and the captain proceeded to clear his throat. “This thing is far too advanced for pony kind or any other known parts of the world, and it doesn’t take a scientist to figure that much out. I believe it is possible that we are looking at a relic of an age before ponykind.”

“The first sign of a long dead civilization,” Luna muttered, taking a couple steps forward as she looked over the behemoth. “And to have a weapon that can fire solidified willpower. How advanced were they, and what caused a need for a weapon so sinister?”

A gasp drew Luna’s and Stonewalls attention back to Celestia. The princess of the sun was looking up at the top of the behemoth, ears folded against her head. Following where she was looking and stepping away, both her sister and the captain joined her in astonished horror. At the top of this steel contraption of war was something out of place. Something that should not have been there.

A child.

She resembled that of a diamond dog to some minimal extent, but it was clear she was something else. There was no way she could have been any older than four years old, dressed in a white nightgown. While ponies stared in horror at the fact a child was on top of this steel behemoth, she looked down at them in child-like awe. It reminded Celestia of the look Twilight got whenever she received a new book.

“Mei, get your head down!” Called a voice from on top of the tank, a young boy if Celestia guessed correctly. The young not-diamond dog was then shown down by a paw, leaving nothing but steel and stone in their view.

“Captain Stonewall, you're certain no civilians arrived before you did, correct?” Celestia said, looking at the captain in pure fear.

“Absolutely positive ma’am. I have no idea how they got in here,” Stonewall replied, clearly just as worried and perplexed as the solar princess.

“I do,” Celestia said.

Before the captain or her sister could inquire as to what she meant, Celestia teleported up to the top of the behemoth. She was greeted by twin gasps of shock, though one seemed more intrigued while the other had clear fear. She stumbled back for a moment, the density of the free willpower making the simple act of teleportation feel harsher than normal. It didn’t help that moments after something smacked into her head, though it barely bruised her.

When she finally regained herself, Celestia found two canine-like creatures before her. One was a Malt, and the other was the small girl that she had spotted earlier that he had called Mei. In Malt’s paw was a toy gun, a look of determination on his face as he pointed it at Celestia. He was shivering in fear, clearly just as terrified as the princess had been upon discovering their existence. Celestia swore she heard another voice call out from underneath her, but it was muffled by steel.

“Who are you?” Malt asked, gritting his teeth. “Are you with the Berman army?”

Celestia blinked, two oddities hitting her at the boys words. The first was the heavy prench accent that he spoke with, no doubt a foreigner with how thick it was. The second was the mention of the “Berman army”. Celestia had never heard of it before, but considering the fact the children before her had been found on a piece of technology from a different time, she felt the answer was simple.

“These Bermans, whoever they were, are no longer around,” Celestia answered, forcibly calming herself. She kneeled down so that she didn’t tower over the siblings, smiling gently at them. “You are safe, little one.”

For a single second, Celestia saw Malt relax. He then tensed up even more, the worry of who this unknown creature before him was taking precedence in his mind. He didn’t know Celestia meant no harm, nor did he know that they were just as scared as he was. The last thing he remembered before he had awoken in the Taranis an hour or two ago was the firing of the Taranis’ great cannon.

“Malt, I believe she is telling the truth,” the voice of Jeanne called out over the intercom. “I don’t see any Berman forces in the area. All my observations have shown this equine means peace.”

“Who… who is that?” Celestia asked, turning her head this way and that. She didn’t notice Malt letting out a breath of relief, dropping the toy gun and falling on the ground next to his sister.

“I assume you are referring to me, Princess Celestia?” Jeanne replied, her holographic form appearing between Celestia, Malt, and Mei. “That is you, right? The conversation you had and the way you carry yourself is certainly fitting of a princess.”

“Yes, I am Princess Celestia,” The princess of the sun answered, giving a barely noticeable nod to the AI. “You are?”

“Call me Jeanne. I’m the artificial intelligence built into the Taranis,” Jeanne said, giving a formal bow to Celestia. Her head turned to the caninu siblings present before them. “And these are but two members of my crew, as much as it pains me to admit.”

Celestia’s jaw dropped at the sight before her, unable to believe her eyes. She shook her head, then looked in Jeanne’s direction to find them still there. She was still there, and that meant what the alicorn was seeing was indeed real. Artificial intelligence was the realm of science fiction, its creation still far away from remote possibility. Yet there was one before her, having just bowed to her. The amount of questions she, and the many more Twilight would when she inevitably found out about Jeanne, formed from simply seeing her was too intense for her brain to properly organize them all.

“I’m sure there are a lot of questions for you all, but if you wouldn’t mind I have other members of the Taranis crew who would like to step outside,” Jeanne informed Celestia, waking the princess from her self-imposed stupor.

“Oh, of course,” Celestia replied, hastily nodding. “How many of them are there, if I may ask?”

Jeanne’s face suddenly turned grim, eyes falling to her true body’s exterior beneath her. “Twelve, all children no older than twelve years old.”

Luna and Celestia looked behind them, disheartened at the group quietly following them. Where there should have been grown soldiers was instead a group of children. As Jeanne had said, none of them were older than twelve, Malt and his sister Mei taking up the minimum and maximum of their group. A look of skepticism was carved in his very being, eyes showing maturity no child his age typically had. Maturity brought about by Jeanne, or rather her other half that had guided them for most of the past few months.

She waited for the moment when the princesses asked the inevitable question of how these young souls had come to pilot the Taranis. That had all come from a part of her that she deeply despised, one which for so long had controlled all Jeanne was. It had made the monster the children had opposed at the end of their journey, and had wanted to turn them into the exact same. She wished to say it was gone, but Jeanne could feel the inner bloodlust that had been programmed into her. A bloodlust that told her one sickening, horrible truth: the Tarascus had not been annihilated.

Was it possible the Vanargand had survived as well?

“I’m surprised you can walk so far from your real body,” Luna said, cutting through the AI’s many worries. “I assumed you would be unable to leave that… thing.”

“It is called the Taranis, Princess Luna,” Jeanne corrected, doing her best to smile for the younger of the alicorn sisters. Her eyes betrayed the smile that she gave. “Yes though, I can. I did it the day I met Malt, his sister, and their friends. I only wish I had been in the right state of mind then.”

“I imagine the situation had to be horribly grim for children to be put in charge of a beast like that,” Stonewall said from the AI’s opposite side.

Jeanne’s head fell forward a bit, pain etched into her artificial soul. Her reaction caught Luna’s attention, the guilt that clung to the AI’s form feeling far too familiar. When she had been freed from Nightmare Moon, that same guilt had weighed heavy on her being for a long, long time. It was a feeling that remained a forever reminder of the grave mistake that had cost her one thousand years, and of how she had almost covered her subjects in eternal night. A night that would lead to a frozen death for all, including herself.

To see guilt on Jeanne’s face told her that something similar had happened, though she could only give the faintest hints as to the whole story. Whether it was a situation eerily similar to Nightmare Moon or something else entirely, the choice to put these children in charge of the Taranis was not one made in good faith, If she could forgive them for doing it would be decided when the full story came out. For now, it was a matter of leaving the inside of Mount Canterhorn, and giving these children the sun and air they had likely been robbed up for however long they had commandeered the steel behemoth.

What few murmurs there were among the children died as soon they reached the surface, all twelve of them staring out at the great beyond. Their eyes didn’t even register the numerous soldiers looking at them in shock and worry, believing that the children had snuck past them somehow. The feeling of wind across their clothes and fur told them what this was all real. A vast, peaceful beyond, without a hint of war anywhere near them. This was not Gasco, at least as far as they had last seen it. The land looked like it had never known the horrors that those children had seen.

“Malt, where is Paresia?” Mei asked her brother.

Malt peered into the beyond at a small town in the distance. His face trying to express both relief and horror at the same exact time, creating a thousand yard stare. He knew why Mei was confused, but he found himself unable to answer. A tear managed to escape his left eye, doing his best to process how alien everything looked when mere hours ago everything around him had been smoke and fire.

“We… we got him, right?” Asked Hack, Chick’s twin brother. He looked between his friends, the only ones able to look his way being Britz and his sister. “He got Hax and that thing. We had to!”

“I… did we?” Britz asked back, looking up at the mountain they had just climbed out from.

“Of course we did! We wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t," came the voice of Kyle, the former city kid. His clenched paw betrayed his words, showing even he wasn’t positive about what it was he was saying. “We saved everyone. We stopped Hax and saved all those the Bermans imprisoned.”

“But now we aren’t gonna see our families again,” Chick whispered.

“Mom said she was gonna make pawbuns for us all too,” Said the big bodied, big hearted, felinko standing at the end of the group. He, Boron, rubbed his tummy sadly. “I’m never gonna taste it again.”

“This is some twisted way of thanking us for saving everyone,” yet another kid, Jin, replied with his arms crossed. He had wanted to sound angry, but in the end he sounded even more defeated than those around him. “Though, at least we are still alive.”

“Y-yep, and we should be thankful for that, my minions,” the red-headed Wappa replied, doing her damndest to try and sound inspiring. She pointed a finger into the air and faked a confident smirk. “The enemy wins if we let this stop us.”

Her words did nothing but make every child present even more aware of the reality before them. This land was not Gasco, and Britz would have told them if they were in Berman or not. It was somewhere else, completely foreign to each and every one of them; somewhere that wasn’t home. The only one of the group to step forward was Sheena, one paw held out while the other clutched her doll tightly.

“I can still feel nono in the air, but something about it is different,” she told everyone. “We must just be somewhere else. Maybe some sort of magic triggered when the soul cannon fired.”

Celestia, Luna, and Jeanne all looked back to the large group of children staring out into the world. Then, sister looked to sister, wordlessly asking how they were going to approach the topic that had been avoided up till then. Knowing that the alicorn of the sun would do far better than her when it came to talking with these children, Luna nudged her head to them. Celestia immediately understood what her younger sister was getting at, and took a step forward.

“I’m sure you all have many questions, as do I have questions for you,” Celestia spoke, grabbing the attention of the Taranis’ crew. “I would like to do anything I can to help you all return home, wherever that may be. For that, knowing how you ended up here in the first is vital.”

Eyes both canine and feline went from Celestia to the eldest of the group. Malt gulped, but understood perfectly well why all eyes were on him. He was their de facto leader, and one of the six who had been there since the beginning. Next to Hanna, he was their best choice for retelling all that had happened. With a heavy heart and the burden he had placed upon himself as their leader, he stepped forward and looked to Celestia.

“Our home, Gasco, was invaded by an opposing country,” He explained. “Six of us – Hanna, Kyle, Sock, Boron, my sister and myself – lived in a village called Petit Mona. We thought the war wouldn’t reach us, but one night….” He had to stop for a moment, thinking back on that first night and everything that had happened. “One night the Berman’s attacked our village, took our families, neighbors, and friends captive. We probably would have been taken if not for Jeanne.”

Celestia turned to the AI, noting the shame that was present on their face.

“That was you, wasn’t it?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, or rather a piece of myself,” Jeanne answered. “It had done millions upon millions of calculations, all with the goal of finding the perfect crew to battle my counterpart, the Tarascus. It had caused the invasion, led the forces to their home, and called out to them.”

“Wait, the reason the Bermans found Petit Mona was you?!” Hanna asked in terror. Jeanne gave a somber nod to the felinko. “Oh God.”

“With you all properly motivated by the capture of your families, that other piece of me took action,” Jeanne continued, noting how Celestia and her shadow drew away at her words. To her surprise Luna seemed less terrified and more understanding, though why she didn’t know. “It called out to Malt and his friends, leading them to a cave, and gave them access to the Taranis.” She looked the alicorn of the sun dead in the eyes. “I am the cause behind everything.”

Author's Note

Fun fact: the characters of Fuga canonically speak french, thus why the game has a french dub. Choosing it will also change the language that two of the songs are sung in, and while the japanese dub is good I vastily prefer both those songs and the character's voices in french.

Also, for anyone interested, at 1:00pm EST on the day this chapter goes live, I will be streaming Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 over on my twitch channel (located here) if anyone is interested. We are technically a bit into the story at this point, but for those who are unfamiliar with Fuga and want to see what it looks like, here is your option!

I'm also gonna try and finish up the rest of Under Smoke and Rain before the next chapter comes up. Unsure whether it will happen, but we shall see.

Under Smoke and Rain – Part 3

Present…

Twilight watched as an area on the Mount Canterhorn suddenly exploded, awakening her from her daydreaming. She stepped away from the door, Jeanne closing it to avoid even the slightest possibility of a shot making it through. It didn’t shield her ears from the sound of explosions all around them, one or two rattling the Taranis from the side. The shaking once more caused her to fall, having to hold in the urge to swear at how often it was happening.

“What was that?!” Twilight screamed. “I thought we were in the clear.”

“One of the Storm King’s airships has moved to intercept us,” Jeanne told her, sounding just as shocked as Twilight was about the sudden bombardment. “They were so far out of range I didn’t think they were a threat. How did they manage to hit us?”

“Then Hax was not half the military leader that I was.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as the voice of Tempest suddenly came through the Taranis’ intercom. Jeanne disappeared in front of the princess of friendship, reappearing a second later in the command room. Twilight joined the as soon as possible, being greeted by a transmission of the mare responsible for Canterlot’s swift defeat. The broken horn unicorn grinned mockingly at her, letting out a chuckle at her.

“The princess of friendship, abandoning her friends,” Tempest said tauntingly. An involuntary twitch in Twilight’s eye let her know she had hit a vulnerable spot in the alicorn’s psyche. “Ironic how war shows a ponies true colors. It seems your title is just for show.”

“I didn’t abandon them!” Twilight shouted back, stopping a hoof furiously on the metal ground of the Taranis. “If they hadn’t taken those petrification orbs for me, if they hadn’t helped us reach the Taranis, you would have won completely. You left me with no choice!”

“Oh you had a choice, princess,” Tempest said, unperturbed by Twilight’s defiance. “All you had to do was hand over your magic and that weapon of yours. It would have spared us all so much trouble.”

The sound of paws drew Twilight’s attention away from Tempest Shadow. Britz, Hanna, Sheena, and Chick had all returned from their guns. Tempest could help but laugh at the sight of children playing grown up. These were the children who had defeated the Tarascus and General Hax? Incompetence didn’t even begin to describe how she viewed the Berman General. No child could be smart enough to outwit a military pony like herself.

“Give me back my brother!” Chick ordered her.

“Then hoof over the Taranis and the princess,” Tempest told her, inclining her head. Her smile fell away, looking at them all with hate and malice. “This isn’t the school playground. If you want to get out of this alive or unpetrified I recommend a complete surrender.”

“We were told to do the same thing when we decided to save our families,” Socks replied. “We beat them. We can beat you too!”

“If anything, we would ask that you don’t give us reason to turn the Taranis on you,” Malt said, glaring daggers at the mare looking down on them all. “You don’t know what this thing is capable of, and I would prefer no one here in Equestria had to see it at full power.”

Despite her initial misgivings, Tempest couldn’t help but feel impressed at the resolve of those who stood before her. She had expected the princess of friendship to be the confident one, the children around her scared out of their wits on what was to come. Instead it was Twilight Sparkle who seemed unsure of all she was getting wrapped up in, the confidence she tried to exhumed barely as deep as her coat. These alien children before her were not like that, however, seeming more than ready to fight and lay down their lives as if they were grown soldiers. Perhaps they were more competent than the poultry resistance the princesses and their guard had put up.

The only way to find out was to try and break them.

“Well, I did say I like it when ponies make things difficult,” Tempest muttered, voice just loud enough where it was clear she wanted the Taranis’ crew to hear it. That malicious smile she had worn earlier returned. “To be clear, I’ve seen first hoof what your tank is capable of, and while I would love to test myself against it, the Storm King’s newest piece of property needs oversight. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure something else tests your loyalty.”

With that final slightly odd sentence, Tempest ended her transmission. It was just in time for another shot to land on the Taranis, this time coming not from an airship but from straight before them. A medium and light tank stood just within firing distance, Jeanne barely putting the shield up in time to keep the latter’s next shot from hitting them. Malt turned to Hanna and Socks, both nodding and rushing back to their stations. Twilight nearly rushed off to join them, but the Taranis AI’s voice intercepted her.

“The Taranis’ cannon wouldn’t be as effective against these foes, Princess Twilight,” Jeanne explained, her words more than enough to keep. With the alicorn halted, Jeanne turned to one of the children still present. “I think we could use some of your magic, Sheena.”

The felinko gave a nod and ran off, Twilight getting out of the way so she didn’t block their route out of the control room. The princess of friendship trotted up to Malt, Hanna, and Britz, Chick still starring in anger at where Tempest had once been. She watched as a shot bounced off the Taranis’ shields, followed by the suddenly tingling of magic being drawn upon. Her head snapped to the right, the follow of an odd yet familiar magic pool outside of her field of few.

Twilight had spent more than enough time with Sheena since the magic-wielding felinko arrived to recognize her signature, which meant she knew who the cause of that pooled magic was. She was a powerful mage, even if her self-confidence was still somewhat of a work in progress. It made the sudden beam of energy that ignited from her machine gun both terrifying and incredible. The damage it did to the light tank was immense, tearing away what armor it had and given that very same armor to the Taranis. It repaired and replaced what was damaged, making it seem good as new while that which it had previously belong to became scrap metal.

Thus was the power Sheena had, and of the personally coined “Syphon Beam” that had aggravated more than a couple enemies.

Before Twilight could put her astonishment into words, Socks and the medium tank fired at the exact same time. Hanna meant to fire immediately after, but the enemy tank’s shot hit her own grenade launcher. It left the gun too damaged to fire, Jeanne immediately starting the Taranis’ repair protocol to make sure it would remain that way for long. While that happened, Sock’s own grenade connected with the tank responsible for said damage. While it did not destroy, Malt, Britz, and Twilight could all notice how the medium tank seized up in a show of sparks.

All it took was some machine gun fire from Sheena for both tanks to be destroyed. If only that was the end, but Tempest wasn’t gonna let them escape without a wave of bodies both metal and flesh behind them. Two more medium tanks and an air unit came into view, having been not too far behind. Shots immediately were traded between them in the Taranis, Hanna’s now repaired grenade launcher nailing one of the medium tanks dead center.

In retaliation for their fallen comrades, both ground units let loose hell. Three shots from each came crashing down on the Taranis, all but two managing to make it through the behemoth’s shields. Twilight was happy to find that she had found the proper way to brace herself that time, staying in her hooves instead of face planting on the metallic floor. To make it just a bit harder for them to do the same thing twice, Socks’ next grenade hit the ground right around both medium tanks, a wall of smoke surrounding them.

Combined fire power from Sheena and Hanna was enough to take out the air unit before it could fire off a single shot. The medium tanks proved to be no threat at all, their gunners unable to find the Taranis in the smog until it was right on top of them. Like an unnoticed ant, the Taranis barged through the wall of metal weaponry, the crews of both enemy tanks unable to escape before they were crushed by its treds. Their screams went unheard, and the pain only lasted for a few seconds before they were turned to red paste inside their steel graves.

“All immediate threats are eliminated. Most of the other units in the area are either in Canterlot or far out of range,” Jeanne explained, her holographic form looking in the direction of the Storm King’s airships. “That felt too simple. Tempest must be up to something.”

“We got a minute, though, right?” Malt asked. Jeanne turned back to the caninu and gave a nod. “Then we should take stock of what we have. We did have a chance when first heading out.”

Another nod, and everyone but Chick and Twilight dispersed throughout the Taranis. While the alicorn would love to explore the Taranis’ every nook and cranny, it was not the most important thing at that moment. Instead, Twilight made her way to Chick, lifting the hat with her magic so it wasn’t covering the young caninu’s face. A face that was covered in tear trails, the young child attached to it doing their hardest to not break down.

“Chick, are you okay?” Twilight asked, though she obviously knew what the answer was.

“I’m fine. I have to be fine,” Chick blubbered out, pulling her hat back down. Twilight raised again right after, and the young girl did nothing to stop her. “If I’m not fine, then I’ll slow everyone down. I have to be strong so I can save my brother.”

Twilight used a hoof to wipe some of the tears off Chick’s face, smiling despite her inner pain. Before her was yet another reminder that these weren’t trained soldiers helping her, and that they were reeling from everything as badly, possibly worse, than herself. They were all doing their best to act brave for her sake, and for the sake of many others. As soon as they were truly out of danger, Twilight was certain every one of them would cry. In that, the alicorn was no different.

“You're already plenty strong, Chick,” Twilight reminded the caninu. “Crying won’t change that. So if you need to cry for a bit, that is completely okay.”

That was all Chick needed, hugging the pony before her as tightly as possible. Twilight sat down and wrapped a hoof around them in turn, allowing the child to use her coat as a towel. As she did, Twilight felt tears that had started to fall earlier return worse than before, and she found herself joining Chick in letting her turmoil out. Neither were sure how long they sat there, letting emotion run wild, but when it was all done Twilight needed to wipe the water out of her eyes in order to see.

“We’ll save him. We’ll save everyone,” Twilight told her.

With a determined look and calmed heart, Chick gave a nod. “Yeah. We’ll show the Storm King not to mess with us!”

Twilight barely managed to hold in a chuckle, watching as Chick went off to check on the Taranis. Jeanne walked up to her, unsure whether to smile at what Twilight had done or frown because of the knowledge she was half responsible. That line of thought was cast aside as she remembered all her talks with Princess Luna, the alicorn of the moon aiding her in her regrets up until then. The idea that an AI needed to learn how to deal with guilt was perhaps odd, but she was in many ways human. Smarter and more calculating than a normal human, but still more than a series of ones and zeroes.

Emotions were quite the tricky thing, and something even her darker side had trouble understanding. That first night with the children – the first time they had fought General Pretzel to be specific – was one such instance of that.

“I have to wonder how you always seem to do it,” Jeanne commented, gaining Twilight’s attention. “You or one of your friends seem to always know the right thing to say. You can do something that I doubt I’ll ever be able to.”

“It isn’t that special,” Twilight told her, voice quiet. The mention of the other former element bearers hurt the alicorn’s heart, even if Jeanne didn’t fully understand it all. “Besides, we mess up too. We’ve all said things we regret, especially myself. I didn’t think friends were that important a few years ago, now I can barely imagine life without them.” Her ears folded against her head as if hung. “Which is why we have to succeed at finding a way to stop the Storm King. I can’t do this alone, and neither can these kids.”

Ten minutes passed as everyone aboard the Taranis checked every corner they could, hoping to find they hadn’t completely emptied it. With them moving out of it for more comfortable and less foreboding abodes, they had taken everything of value out. That ranged from blankets to food to clothing and anything else that wasn’t bolted to the ground. With twelve paws and the help of a few ponies, they had believed nearly everything of value was removed.

Everything except for the fishing rod that Twilight found herself inspecting. It seemed completely ordinary, and that was what had made it intriguing. Kyle had told her how he devised a way to obtain scrap for repairing, upgrading, and trading with townsfolk during the war. She had expected it to be made of something incredibly durable, but it was standard as standard could be. For a fish it would hold up just fine, but nothing showed it would stand up to the abuse of dragging up large metal pipes and boards.

“I just don’t get it,” Twilight mumbled, turning the fishing pool this way and that in a desperate attempt to see what she was missing. “Even if the line held, the neck would snap from abuse. How is it not broken?”

“I have… no idea,” Socks said, rubbing the back of his head as he stood next to Twilight. Neither paid attention to the environment around them, finding the fishing rod a more intriguing and pleasant sight than that of the city they were leaving behind. “It held up fine that whole time though. Don’t think it’s gonna be that useful here, however.”

Twilight sighed, placing the fishing rod down as she headed inside from the small outlook on the back of the Taranis. With a casual stroll past maintenance, Twilight joined Hanna and the rest in the kitchen. She sat down, sighing and doing everything she could to not have a panic attack in front of six children who were around her. Jeanne did not join them, allowing the group their solace and quiet that they needed to reflect on everything that had just transpired.

“So, how bad is it?” Twilight asked, looking between Malt and Hanna.

“We got no food in the kitchen, or at least anything I would consider edible,” Hanna answered. “What we left is no longer good, and we had gotten rid of any of the MREs from back in Gasco a long time ago. We really thought we wouldn’t be in a situation like this again.”

“All our stuff for crops is gone, so we can’t even make a garden like we did back then either,” Malt explained, eyes stuck on the floor. He banged one of his hands against the kitchen walls, wincing in regret as his nerves flared in pain. “Then there is the matter of ammo.”

“Equestria put all the technological advancements achieved in the last six months into everything except military,” Britz continued on, sitting down with his back leaning against the island countertop. “We’re working with what we still have after defeating the Vanargand in Paresia, and that isn’t gonna last us long if Tempest tracks us down. Any replacement ammo is gonna come from scavenging tanks that attack us, seeing as any still standing garrisons are more likely to have spears and shields.”

Twilight sighed, knowing that she was part of the latter problem given her status as a princess of Equestria. In a land of friendship, forgiveness, and seemingly endless second chances Celestia and Luna didn’t see the need to invest in military advances. Them being the alicorns of the sun and moon were typically enough to ward off invaders, and that was before the elements of harmony came into the equation. Add to it Celestia’s impressive history of diplomatic negotiations and funding weapons research hadn’t seemed like it was all that important.

Now that line of thought felt as idiotic as breaking a pinkie promise.

“So we’re on the run with no food, low ammo, and an entire army tailing us,” Twilight summarized. “At least tell me we have beds.”

The silence was already enough to give her an answer, but Chick vocalized it anyway. “We, uh, might have taken those out as well.”

The urge to smack her head heard with her hoof was immeasurable, but the anger that was building up inside her was not appropriate for children to hear. Getting up and making her way to the kitchen elevator, Twilight left the Gasco children in silence. Even with her gone no one dared to speak for a time, the uncertainty of what to do weighing heavily on each of their minds. They knew what they wanted, but saving their friends couldn't take center stage when surviving took all their attention.

“Do you think Ponyville is okay?” Sheena asked, clutching her doll tighter than usual.

“Who knows. Given how close it is to Canterlot I doubt Tempest would have just left it alone,” Britz replied, shrugging.

“But Ponyville isn’t anywhere near as big, and almost everyone was in Canterlot from the festival,” Socks said, doing everything he could to not sit down and curl up into a ball. He had fought against several Berman generals and won, he wouldn’t let despair claim him now. “Perhaps it is undermanned. We could take it back for a bit, save those in town, and perhaps gather things from the castle or Sweet Apple Acres.”

“But we might not have the ammo to do even th–”

Suddenly, the Taranis’ alarm went off, all eyes looking upwards. Those who had been sitting down got to their paws as quickly as possible, and one floor below Twilight found herself scared half to death by the sudden loud blaring in her ears. She had started to allow her panic and anxiety to let free, and hearing that alarm go off did nothing but make it worse. She pleaded silently that it didn’t mean what she thought it meant, and that she would be spared for just a little bit longer from having to fight again.

Of course, she knew that plea would be denied.

“An air unit is closing in fast. Detecting high levels of magic around it.”

Author's Note

That section with Tempest with so much fun to write.

Under Smoke and Rain – Part 4

Six children and one alicorn on the verge of a mental breakdown climbed their way back up to the control room of the Taranis. Jeanne was standing there in horrified silence as she watched what seemed like an ordinary if rather large air unit fly in. There was a large cylinder sticking out of its center, multiple tubes pumping glowing red energy into the tank itself. Twilight could tell from a simple glance she was looking at magic, the cylinder likely some sort of storage device for it.

While it wasn’t the fastest piece of machinery Jeanne had ever seen, it was certainly far faster than any tank. It was rapidly approaching them, the twin guns mounted to it rotating faster and faster by the second. Having more than learned her lesson from the previous two surprise strikes, the Taranis’ AI quickly activated its shields. It proved to be just in time as machine gun fire descended upon them from above, sparing them the brunt of the initial attack.

“This must have been what Tempest was talking about earlier,” Malt muttered. “The thing she called a test.”

“The energy that thing is exuding….” Sheena said in terrified awe. “How much magic is powering it?”

The magic-powered air unit flew in front of them, matching Taranis’ pace as the tank continued to move along. Twilight couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but there was something about the machine in front of her that scared her. The magic was familiar, oversensitized everything around it yet somehow feeling dulled. She couldn’t get a proper idea of what was causing it, and the idea that she couldn’t understand it infuriated her a little. Once it was inevitably trashed, she would tear it apart to find out how.

“Attention Taranis,” a low, thundering voice shouted inside the enemy air unit. “Equestria is under the rule of the Storm King. You have already lost. Surrender, and you will be allowed to live in chains among the rest of your kind. Refuse, and you will be annihilated.”

“Really nice options, but I think we’ll choose to escape with our freedom intact,” Malt replied, looking with pure rage and hatred at the machine before him. “Besides, I doubt you really stand a chance against the Taranis.”

“Yes, for your own sake, it would be best to not try and fight us,” Britz said with a nod of agreement. “We had to take down far worse than you.”

“And as long as we work together as friends, nothing can stop us!” Twilight exclaimed. “Not you, not Tempest, and not even the Tarascus! That is the power the magic of friendship has!”

The Gasco children all pumped a fist into the air following the alicorn’s speech, giving a determined “yeah”. Jeanne smiled brightly and nodded her head, fully believing in each of those before her. The pilot of the air unit didn’t respond, instead treating the words of the Taranis’ crew as a go ahead to fire. Soon machine gun fire trailed in red light was pounding against the Taranis’ shield and front, the former proving more ineffective against whatever was powering the machine. None of it managed to pierce through in that immediate burst, but Jeanne knew it was only a matter of time until her true body’s metallic exterior gave way.

Thankfully, Twilight and the Gasco children had already started to make their way to the guns, Britz, Sheena, and Malt taking their places while the rest stood ready for whatever was to come. In an attempt to match what the air unit had thrown at them, machine gun fire rained down on where it was. Except, by the time it reached where the air unit was, it had become where it wasn’t. At a speed no heavy air unit should have been able to move at, it effortlessly dodged bullet after bullet, making the precious bits of ammo wasted.

As it then returned fire onto the Taranis, Malt noticed it had gone rather still. His cannon fired, striking dead center but doing absolutely nothing to the tank. In fact, Twilight seemed to have a more clear reaction to the hit, feeling her heart leap in her chest. She paid it no mind, even as something in her being started to shake as Britz and Sheena landed a few hits of their own. It was only when the air unit had stopped firing and moved moments after Britz and Sheena had started firing again did that odd feeling leave her. It left her with an odd sense of relief.

Malt took a risk and fired where he believed the heavy air unit was gonna be, but he had fired too far behind. The heavy air unit had already passed that point by the time the shot had gotten anywhere close. Gritting his teeth, he tried again and was met with the same exact result. He was going to fire again, but Hanna put a hand out in front of him and took his attention away from his target.

“We don’t have the ammo to afford missing. Firing blindly isn’t gonna get us anywhere,” Hanna told him. She then looked at the ceiling. “Jeanne, do you have any way to keep it still?”

“No. My influence is limited to the Taranis alone, and it has been that way since arriving here,” Jeanne explained. “I also forbid any of you from stepping foot near the soul cannon unless absolutely necessary. I will not see any of you die here today.”

The enemy brought the attention of Jeanne and her crew back to the battle before them, Malt and his friend using what limited time they had to attack back. None of it gave ample time to penetrate and break through the thick layer of armor protecting it, but some small dents and scrapes. It didn’t amount to serious progress, however, and before long it once again stopped firing and returned to zipping around too fast for anyone to have hopes of hitting.

It was then that Twilight, though a little shaken up by the repeated odd sensation she got each time the tank was hit, got an idea. For any other unicorn it would have been dangerous, but it was clear that Tempest wanted her to be brought back alive. That meant they wouldn’t fire on her, even if she was standing out in the open. Without the steel walls, her magic could reach out, grab a hold of the heavy air unit, and keep it still. It was an idea that would work for any other units that tried, but she was in a clearer mind set now than when they had just escaped Canterlot.

“I’ll stop it. Once I do, I need you all to hit it with as much firepower as you can,” She called out.

Before anyone could stop her, Twilight teleported onto the Taranis’s top, in clear view of the enemy before her. Technically she would be able to do what she was about to do inside, but she wanted to make sure her grip on the target couldn’t be weakened by anything. A trail of machine gun fire just barely missed her, the result of her enemy having started to fire before she had teleported. The welling panic inside of her tried its best to escape, but Twilight found the power to hold it in for a later point. Her focus had to be on stopping the enemy’s movement alone, and nothing else.

Her horn glowed, magic lashing out and grabbing a hold of the heavy air unit. It tried to struggle against her grip, but one did not simply break free of an alicorn’s spell. Like her friend Applejack and the ponies of Appleloosa, Twilight refused to let it simply escape her magic-made lasso. With a yank of her head, she tipped it forward and threw it off balance, Twilight able to see the top of the cylinder. There was a decent chance that it might simply crash into the ground if she let go, allowing the Taranis to simply crush it under its treads, but she hadn’t thought about it at the time.

“Alright, take it down!” She shouted.

While she didn’t hear it herself, she could only imagine that Jeanne had delivered her message for her. When the first cannon shot hit she nearly lost her grip in surprise, that strange feeling causing her mind to wander. The more and more shots that came, the harder and harder it was to focus, especially with the consistent machine gun fire coming from the other two gun spots in the tank. It was hard for Twilight to maintain her focus, and each explosion that hit the captive enemy made her heart lurch in fear and terror. The reason why its destruction hurt to watch evaded her.

Then, a cannon shot hit the cylinder feeding the heavy air unit and burst it open. As if willed by some unknown force, Twilight made to call out. The only thing that stopped her being the fact she had no idea who it was she was calling out, and the implosion of the highly concentrated magic right in front of her. She couldn’t maintain concentration, finding her entire being lurching back, hooves seeming unable to stop their movement. A tear fell down her face for an unknown reason, watching as the similarly stunned enemy before her continued to be bombarded from the Taranis.

No longer did the heavy air unit’s damage seem to affect her mind, proving that it had something to do with the magic. Her eyes looked behind the enemy, and a figure suddenly caught her eye as they fell to the ground. Unfortunately, the sudden explosion of the heavy air unit blocked her from being able to swiftly notice who or what it was. With her hooves no longer moving backwards, Twilight took a tentative step back towards the front of the steel behemoth she was riding atop of.

All the while, the kids below celebrated their victory.

“That’s what you get for underestimating the Taranis!” Chick cried out happily. “You Storm King bastards can’t take us out!”

Multiple other cheers called out, no one noticing that the Taranis had stopped. Everything in Jeanne told her that they had to keep moving and get as far away from Canterlot as possible, but the part of her coding that was more human than machine took over. It was something that became very, very easy for her since arriving in Equestria thanks to the help of the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses of Equestria. Emotion was still odd to her in some aspects, but through their teachings of friendship she had learned when one needed to stop.

So when the AI had noticed a pony erupt from the destroid cylinder, she nearly yelled out herself in disbelief.

“Um, Jeanne?” Sheena called out, the first to come down from the high of victory. “Why aren’t we moving?”

Her words caught the attention of the other children, allowing them to notice exactly what Sheena had noticed. The Taranis had indeed halted its retreat, leaving them confused and worried. Hanna was the first to find out the answer, traveling up to the Taranis’ command room so that she may see clearly why it was. Her eyes widened, paws going to her muzzle as she tried to hide the gasp of terror and pain that had crept its way up her throat. It wasn’t long until the others joined her side, all of them sharing similar if slightly different reactions.

“Oh… oh no,” Britz muttered.

“They… that’s where the magic was coming from?” Socks asked, looking at Sheena. “Did you know?”

“No, and I don’t think Twilight knew either,” The felinko answered, distraught. Her eyes couldn’t look away from the blood covered cyan body that law below the Taranis. “It’s like what Blutwurst was trying to use my people for.”

The mention of the alicorn momentarily snapped Malt out of his own despair-induced stupor, looking around the command center. “Wait, where is Twilight? Don’t tell my that she's–”

His answer came as a more lively form than what they were staring at flew down from the Taranis’ top. Multiple of the kids cried out to Twilight over the intercom, pleading for her to return back inside the Taranis, but her course never changed. The Princess of Friendship’s ears might as well have not worked, not even the sound of nature reaching her as she touched the ground and slowly made her way over to the figure before her. What had once been a single tear on her face had already turned to many, many more. As she stared down at the pony that had come out of the cylinder, she hadn’t expected them to be moving or even breathing.

Yet, with the shallowest of breaths and cloudiest of eyes, the pegasus under her looked to the princess. “Hey Twi. What… what happened?”

“R-R-Rainbow?” Twilight whispered, her voice cracking as she tried desperately to pull at least some tiny part of herself together. “Rainbow, are you… what did they do to you?”

“I… I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rainbow replied, a weak cough erupting from her throat, blood splattering onto the ground below her. “It hurts… pretty bad though. Guessing those creatures did something horrible to me.”

“D-d-d-don’t worry about it,” Twilight said, her magic wrapping around her dear friend and lifting them onto the alicorn’s back. “We’ll get you some help, don’t worry. There has to be something in the Taranis that can help.”

She started to dash back, only to stop as she recalled what Britz and the others had told her earlier. Everything but the ammo, of which Equestria had no use for, had been stripped from the Taranis long, long ago. There was nothing in there that could help Rainbow, and she knew that a long distance teleport to some place like the Crystal Empire would be too much for her friend to handle in this state. She would die mid transport, and if she couldn’t get Rainbow anywhere then… Twilight felt what cake she had eaten during the festival start to rise from her stomach and horrid acknowledgement of what was coming.

“No. No. No no no no, Rainbow no I can’t… oh Celestia,” She said to herself, hooves moving in a thousand different directions, leaving her doing more of a dance than actually making progress in going anywhere. She looked back to her friend, who was grinning at her in some feign show of happiness. “Rainbow… I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Those kids got to it, right?” Rainbow asked, Twilight letting out a loud and shaking exhale in response. “You all got to the Taranis, right? That’s why you fought… whatever that thing was. Right”

“Y-y-yes,” Twilight said, trying to put a smile on her face, doing her best to ignore the fact she could feel Rainbow’s blood starting to pool on her back and stain her coat. “We got the Taranis. We’re gonna stop them, don’t worry. We’re gonna get everypony back and we will all stop them.”

Rainbow closed her eyes. “Then… it was worth it.”

Her final word was said so quietly Twilight nearly didn’t hear it, eyes going wide in terror. She lifted Rainbow off her and lightly shook her friend with her magic, trying to get some response. All she got was the lifeless nodding the pegasus’ head toward her.

“Rainbow? Rainbow?!”

Deep within the Everfree Forest, on a tree made of crystal, a red gem cracked. The others with it lost their shine and started to slumber.

Author's Note

This hurt to write. This really, really hurt.