You're Going To Fit Right In

Queen Twilight sat on her throne, shivering as her body was wracked by unimaginable pain. Several hours ago, she had felt the magical essence of the Timberwolves ripped from her very soul. Another one gone, Twilight thought bittersweetly to herself. One step closer to seeing you again, girls.

That’s all she wanted, to see them again. The six that were stolen from her. The six she had loved more than any other. The six, those two had murdered before her eyes. Even if it cost her own life to do it.

“Hi, my name is Pinkie Pie!”

A pink furred earth pony stood before Twilight excitedly waving in her face, though where she came from, Twilight couldn’t actually say. One moment she wasn’t there, and the next, there the pink filly was giggling and laughing at her surprised reaction.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Twili- Hey where’d she go?”

Freezing, Twilight became aware of a rubber K-Bar pressed against her Jugular. A cheerful giggle behind her whispered chillingly in her ear.

“You need to be more alert, if this was wartime, I would have slit your throat before you could even know why you died.”

Twilight blinked and then jumped in surprise; Pinkie was now standing right in front of her. Twilight shouted out in surprise.

“How-What?”

Pinkie just grinned, clearly proud of herself. Just then another voice called out, causing Twilight to look up.

“Don’t mind her, she does that, sometimes.”

Glancing up, Twilight stared in awe at a group of six pony fillies approaching her, led by a unicorn filly with lilac-pink fur with a satchel on her side. She gestured to herself.

“My name is Starlight Glimmer, I’m the leader here, are you here for trial week?”

Twilight found herself suddenly tongue-tied before the oddly shining Unicorn. Where was that choir that was suddenly singing, anyway? She stumbled out.

“My name is Brightlight Starkle- er- Twilight Sparkle! Yes, I am.”

Starlight stared at her for a moment, before chuckling.

“I like you. You’ll fit right in here.”

“What?”

The Staff Sergeant pointed at Twilight.

“Your scores are the lowest we’ve ever had; you are being moved to the nursing branch starting tomorrow.”

Twilight was at a loss, she did her absolute best, and yet it was to no avail. Always last in the daily trek, always last in push-ups, sit-ups. Always last. She hung her head in shame. Was this it? Was her dream dead?

“Wait.”

Twilight raised her head in surprise. The stallion glanced up from his clipboard.

“What is it, Private Glimmer?”

Starlight stood in front of Twilight, as if to shield her, stating.

“Sir, please give me one week with her. I promise to have her in the top 10, easy.”

“You really think you can do that?”

Starlight grinned.

“Sure as my mom’s name is Stella, sir.”

Three days later, Applejack stood next to a barrel of caustic acid, dipping her hoof in it, before withdrawing it with a wince, only to repeat the process again. Next to her, Rarity furiously beat a wrench against a metal framework in frustration looking at a blueprint, before using it to quietly turn another bolt, her focus absolute.

Fluttershy stood in front of Pinkie Pie, her eyes narrowed like a hawk. Pinkie smiled lovingly, before slowly drawing her rubber K-Bar from its sheath, licking the edge of the rubber blade.

“First to three, okay?”

Fluttershy stood completely unarmed and smiled coyly back. Her soft words barely carried on the wind.

“Sounds good to me.”

In an instant Pinkie rushed her, with Shy drawing two training pistols strapped to her sides and locking onto Pinkie with seemingly the greatest of ease. Unloading round after round of rubber bullets, Shy watched as Pinkie dodged effortlessly, weaving in between rounds and getting closer.

Just as Pinkie was in striking distance, Shy tossed aside her pistols and drew her own K-Bar clashing against Pinkie’s in a surprising shower of sparks. Pinkie cackled, while Shy just smirked.

Colts nearby panted in disbelief, having just finished one hundred sit-ups; twenty minutes behind the fillies.

“Monsters. They’re just monsters.”

Over on the track, panting and wheezing, Twilight collapsed to the ground. Next to her, shouting, stood Starlight.

“Are you a quitter, Sparkle? Is that you? Don’t you dare give up on this!”

Struggling to rise, Twilight shouted out.

“I-I can’t!”

Starlight leaned down and roared.

“You can and you will! Or I’ll be cutting your rations in half for a week, now rise and get back to running, soldier!”

Swiftly, Twilight rose to her hooves shouting out.

“Sir, yes sir!”

Seven days soon passed, and Twilight stood nervously before the Staff Sergeant as the Stallion went over her mental aptitude test results. Much to his surprise, they were good. No, not just good, they were phenomenal. To see such a turn around in one week was completely unheard of.

Little did he know that Twilight had gotten non-stop advice, commands and assistance from all of the fillies for the past week, each specializing in a different aspect of physical and mental training. And all that was left was the physical exam. The final exam, the last chance to prove herself worthy of being in artillery.

“Alright, Sparkle, your test results are in order. Head outside immediately to test your physical qualifications-”

“Honey!”

Twilight woke up from her daydream in a panic, snapped from her memories back to the present, shouting out.

“Yes, sir, ma’am, I mean- sir!”

Velvet broke through her confusion.

“Honey- we have a problem.”

Instantly snapping out of her fog, Twilight spoke out, sitting up on her throne.

“What do you mean by ‘problem’?”

Velvet detailed the outburst of Daybreaker and the moments leading up to it. Twilight mused pensively.

“Her daughter? I see, so they already developed such a bond. How wonderful…Well, Daybreaker has always cherished unwavering loyalty-”

Glancing over at the spear-wielding Rainbow Dash standing without so much as a flinch, by her throne, Twilight smiled.

“Like another pony I happen to know. Alright, Mom, take the Shadow Bolts and do your best to de-escalate the situation; this mission has just become a crisis. Daybreaker’s rage will eliminate all in her path.”

“What are your orders, my Queen?”

“Mom. I am tasking you to stop the on-coming genocide of Brutalight’s Dimension. By any means necessary.”

3 hrs earlier

Chrysalis stepped cautiously out of the portal and looked around nervously. She seemed to be in a warehouse of some kind, stacked with odd wooden crates. Outside the building, the sounds of gunfire filled the air, and to make matters worse, she was alone without any sight of Nightmare Rarity. Desperately she whispered out.

“Sister?”

Nothing. No sound, no hoofsteps or anything. Chrysalis sat down to think about her situation. Her sister was gone, she was stranded on an alien world, in a dimension she was unfamiliar with. And she only had one thought.

Mom’s gonna kill me if I get Nightmare killed. I need to find her.

“I’m telling you I heard something!”

Chrysalis’s blood froze. Stiffening, she felt her heartbeat rapidly. That voice sounded off, distorted as though two were speaking at once. Just then a more joyful, somewhat carefree voice chimed in.

“Shimmycakes, there’s no one here.”

A moment of silence, before the first voice answered.

“Alright, let’s go then.”

The sounds of what Chrysalis could swear were bipedal creatures leaving the building were heard, along with a metal door sliding shut. Chrysalis breathed a sigh of relief. She used her hooves to grab the boxes and leverage herself up off the ground, only to slip and down came all the boxes in a loud clatter all around her. Gasping in panic, she heard the sudden opening of that metal door, and then silence.

Chrysalis waited quietly in the pile of boxes and hearing nothing else, silently pushed them off. Standing up, she took a step when suddenly, the sounds of sparkling magic all around her, along with two glowing eyes. A joyous feminine voice called out, along with a male’s flamboyant sing-song tone of introduction.

“Oh hi!”

“Magic Mare!~”

The eyes became a head, and a body soon followed; a bipedal, blue-skinned creature with white and pink hair. A female that wore a magical cloak, and a t-shirt with stars and moons on it. Swiftly, she reached out a blue hand and grabbed Chrysalis by the neck.

“And what have we here?”

Struggling, Chrysalis found herself being lifted off the ground to stare into the cold eyes of the joyful stranger, who tickled her chin playfully with the other hand.

“Aren’t you a cute one, wait until Shimmycakes sees you. And off we go!”

In an instant, both vanished from sight.

At a window in a small wood-paneled room stood Painset Shimmercakes, her heterochromatic eyes of red and blue twitched in annoyance. Whirling around in fury as a flamboyant voice sang the announcement of Magic Mare, Painset prepared to lay into her for abandoning her, when she noticed Chrysalis.

“And who is this?”

Chrysalis blinked at the blatant jealousy dripping from her voice. Magic Mare however, took it in stride and sauntered over to Painset, wrapping her arm around her in a loving embrace from behind and whispering silkily.

“One of Brutalight’s girls.”

Painset’s eyes widened, with the rage fading from them, and they twinkled with excitement.

“Her squeeze? You got Brutalight’s squeeze?”

Chrysalis opened her mouth to object, only to find a rope suddenly wrapped around her muzzle, preventing her from uttering a single sound. Painset cackled.

“Oh, this is just perfect! We kidnap her, and Brutalight will have to come rescue her. And when that happens, we can finally kill her. Magic Mare! Find a spot for our little guest.”

Nightmare Moon snorted peacefully into her pillow both Nightmare and the host fast asleep. A light knocking on her door jamb caused the Nightmare’s eyes to twitch beneath her closed eyelids.

“There better be a damned good reason to disrupt my slumber.”

The air grew as cold as the arctic, and Velvet suddenly found herself having trouble breathing as the air grew thinner. She choked out.

“Princess, we need your assistance.”

Nightmare Moon slowly sat up, her bright seafoam green eyes snapping open, the coldness in the air vanishing in an instant. She gestured towards Velvet and the others with her.

“And what could the Shadowbolts and my queen’s mother need with my unparalleled might?”

The sun shone brightly into the bedroom as Nightmare Moon listened with growing irritation at the situation described to her. Rising majestically to her hooves, Nightmare Moon’s horn suddenly glowed midnight blue and on her body appeared a platinum and silver armor plating. Her eyes narrowed as a domed horned helmet appeared on her head. She growled in fury.

“Let’s go.”

Walking past the stunned group of mares, Nightmare Moon thought angrily about Chrysalis being taken hostage; her sister losing her calm was nothing new to her, but she understood. Nightmare Rarity was well-able to defend herself, but Chrysalis was an infant in comparison to her sister.

The two sisters had adopted Chrysalis. And neither would willingly let her go. As far as the sisters saw it, she was now their baby, and she had been taken.

The air itself turned to ice and an unholy darkness enveloped the hall. Nightmare Moon’s rage swirled around her, though she seemed determined to control herself. Daybreaker had once joked about how horrifying Nightmare Moon could get to Velvet. Only now, Velvet saw as she shook in abject terror, it had been no joke. A chilling breeze blew through the hallway as Nightmare Moon spoke, her voice crashing like thunderous waves against jagged rocks.

“My daughter is waiting. ‘Tis Death on the wind.”