Redemption

“Not used to getting hurt, are you? Fighting your own battles is much harder than having others fight them for you!” - Lieia Aladara Grisova to Warmaster Sel'Kainar, at the Battle for Archilo Harbour, during the campaign to retake Arietis II.

The grey alicorn let out a yelp as she landed, her wings and legs flailing frantically as she tumbled across the ground and came to a stop.

“Motherfucker!”

Lieia gave an exasperated groan as she stood back up, shaking her head to rid her mane of dirt, her wings giving an irritated flap as she eyed the laughing shades perched among the trees.

“Oh, come on! Can't you even give me a little advice?”

...no. We cannot aid you with this task. You must learn to fly by yourself...

“Figures...” The six wings opened and Lieia closed her eyes, concentrating – after a couple of moments, she could feel something. Small eddies and currents that tugged at her wings and her wings automatically adjusted for those minor disturbances in the air, making her hum thoughtfully. With a couple of powerful flaps, she was airborne once more, hovering as she reined her impatience in. Shifting her wings a bit, she set off carefully, the Lost Children dissolving back into shadows as she gained altitude...

She pulled out of the steep dive, adrenaline coursing through her veins. This was totally amazing! Of course, her genetically-enhanced body - her human body, that is - allowed her to do some wicked jumps – coupled with the bionic left arm and various other cybernetics implanted throughout her body, she could pull off some serious feats of agility and strength, but those all wilted away in front of flying under her own power – she could feel the air rushing around her newly-found wings, filling her with glee. It had taken her a while, but she'd learnt the fundamentals of flying, and all by herself, too! She banked around, and was about to head back into the forest when her stomach grumbled in complaint.

Ah. Of course. When's the last time I ate?

...there is a farm where you may acquire some fresh fruits...

By acquire you mean steal, right?

...unless you have any local currency...

Now that I do not have. And I doubt they'd accept Coalition credits, too... I hate stealing things.

...was the Ragnarov Titan actually yours, then...

Touché, kiddos. You win this time.

Rainbow Dash smiled as she and her weather team finished steering the clouds around – in a couple of hours, the Sweet Apple Acres would receive a meticulously-prepared storm, much-needed in this weather. If it worked – and she had no doubt it would – Applejack could look towards another bountiful harvest. Humming to herself, she flew down to the farm, having ordered the rest of her team to go back to Ponyville.

Applejack hummed happily to herself, and waved in greeting to the cyan-blue pegasus as she alighted at her side.

“Hey there, Rainbow!”

“Hi, Applejack. The storm should be in position in a couple of hours.”

“Nice t'know.” The two fell silent as they trotted alongside each other, when they heard a faint voice.

“...bull-motherfucking-piece-of-shit...”

The two mares froze and frowned at that. Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow and turned to look at Applejack.

“Well, sounds like somepony's had their cereal crapped in.”

Applejack rolled her eyes at the rude, but apt statement.

“Sure sounds like it.”

“...fall down, you cocksuckers... gonna blast your fruity asses to oblivion...” The faint, but undeniably-livid voice could be heard again.

“Huh. Sounds like it came from there.” Applejack pointed to where a copse of apple trees sat.

“Think it's a thief or something, Applejack?”

“Maybe. We’ll see, I guess. Wanna go an' check it out?”

The two of them sat in a bush, eyeing the strange display a ways off – a grey alicorn was jumping up and down at a tree, wings flapping, teeth snapping and gnashing at the tempting fruits hanging above her.

“Grrrr...!”

Rainbow Dash chuckled muffledly at that.

“She looks like she's having some trouble... Why doesn't she just use her magic?”

“That all you can think of right now? You ain't concerned 'bout why there's an alicorn in front of us? Tell me, how many of 'em have you seen, th'Princesses aside?”

“Wait, you mean this one's also a Princess? That's unlikely, given that she keeps cursing all the time. And, she has six wings. None of the Princesses do. I'm kinda feeling jealous, though. I could go far with wings that size... Pegasi like big wings.” Applejack rolled her eyes at that.

“Big wings or not, this doesn’t exactly happen every day. We need to tell this to Twi. She’ll know what to do.”

Right then, the foul-mouthed alicorn stopped, her hooves hitting the ground with a couple of muffled thuds, her sides heaving as she glared hatefully at the source of her ire.

“You… damn… tree!” The alicorn hissed balefully, and closed her eyes. Her long horn lit up in a magical aura and the two spectators stifled gasps of shock – the alicorn’s magic curled around her horn, black and red, bubbling and coiling venomously, with both hues seeming to fight for supremacy on the horn as the alicorn let loose a shrieking blast of magic at the tree, roaring angrily.

The apple tree didn’t stand a chance as it was blown to shreds – no, its trunk dissolved into dust, its top half falling down with a thud. Without further pause, the alicorn leaned down and snatched up a fruit in her teeth – which were sharp. That fact unnerved the two mares even further as the grey alicorn greedily ate, eyes closed, but her ears swivelled this way and that nonetheless.

“Whoa…” Rainbow Dash muttered out in equal parts of awe and fear. Immediately, the alicorn’s head darted up, her blue eyes darting about alertly, suspiciously.

“Huh? Who’s there?” Her voice was hard and decisive – whoever this pony was, she was used to getting her way, and wasn’t used to being denied, that much Applejack could tell from the tone that was used. Nevertheless, the two of them froze and fell silent as the alicorn stood up to her full height and warily trotted back towards the forest.

Applejack let out a quiet sigh of relief as the hate-emanating alicorn slowly walked away when she heard a polite cough. Her head swivelling around, she saw a charcoal-furred foal sitting right bucking beside her, staring at her with a pair of amber eyes. Then it spoke, and the voice sent shivers down her spine.

“…good day…”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-“

Lieia’s ears flicked at the horrified shout and she turned around, growling.

“Knew it. I fuckin’ knew it.” She quickly strode back to where a pair of smaller mares were screaming in shock at a very familiar being.

A shadow fell over Applejack and she froze, looking up at the alicorn looming above her and Rainbow Dash, her face emotionless and utterly unreadable. The foal dissolved into several smaller clouds of shadows, and reformed into strange, two-legged beings – they reminded her an awful lot of the humans that Lyra Heartstrings always went on about. But something told her that these ones were anything but human.

“Well?” The hard, demanding voice snapped her back to here and now and she looked up hesitantly at the grey alicorn. “You know, spying on others isn't exactly considered good manners.”

“Wha-?! Look who's talkin'! You're the one stealin' from me!”

That got a grim smile out of the alicorn.

“You've got guts, lady. I'll give ya that. Only a couple of people could get away with stuff like that. Well, quite a few, actually. I'm not like that Alexi bitch. But anyways, back to the crux of the matter, hmm?” Without waiting for an answer, she continued. “Yes, I stole from you. But I really had no other choice. I have no local currency. And I doubt I could just stroll up and ask if I could have some free food.” The shadow things drew her attention for a moment and she spoke, giving a sour chuckle. “Yes, I suppose that is rather ironic.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash cocked and eye in surprise.

“Long story short, I used to be a queen. I could pretty much get anything I wanted. And now I can't even buy any food. That's some industrial-grade irony right there, hmm?”

“I... guess?” The cyan pegasus frowned and nodded hesitantly.

“Hm. So, now what?”

“Well, ya did jus' disintegrate half an apple tree that I own.”

“I did, didn't I?” The alicorn gave a soft chuckle. “The apples were pretty damn tasty, though.”

“Heh. Well, Ah'm not one t'brag, but apples are my family's business.”

“Hmm.” She looked at the shadow things again. “They think I can fix that tree right back up. Just give me a moment...” The farmpony nodded warily and took a step back, followed by Rainbow Dash. The alicorn hummed to herself as her horn lit up in that baleful red-black aura again, flowing out towards the devastated apple tree and the farmpony froze up – the alicorn’s magic just… felt wrong. There was a bright, but decidedly unnerving glow as the tree reassembled under the alicorn’s power. Several long moments passed before the glow faded away and she gasped quietly in shock – the apple tree proudly stood there, good as new. She trotted up to it and placed a hoof on its bark, humming thoughtfully as she examined it. She couldn’t find anything out of place and turned to look at the quiet alicorn.

“Well, Ah’ll be. It’s like nothin’ happened to it!”

“Aside from being half-disintegrated by a short-tempered nutjob, it’s good as new.” Rainbow Dash coughed politely at that.

“So, uh… what sort of an alicorn are you?”

“Alicorn?” The mare in question cocked an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Far as I know, there are only three alicorns around. And they’re all royalty.” The alicorn turned to look at the shadow things, glaring at them.

“You told me I would fit right in with this form!”

The shadow things fell over, ghostlike laughter echoing from them, directed at the fuming alicorn.

“Oh, that is so not funny…!”

“Heheh… It kinda is, you know.” Rainbow Dash chuckled, then gasped. “This form? What are you, a changeling?” Unease started to creep across her. The alicorn reacted differently, however.

“What the hell is a changeling?”

“Um... It's a bug pony.”

“What.”

“And they feed on love.”

A glass pane shattered somewhere nearby.

The alicorn fell back on her flanks and rubbed her forehead sullenly, muttering something about fierce fornication with a particular species of water fowl before looking back at Rainbow Dash.

“Bug ponies.”

“Yeah.”

“Bug ponies that feed on love.”

“Mhm.” The cyan pegasus nodded in affirmation.

“What sort of fresh hell is this?”

“Well, you're in Equestria right now. Sweet Apple Acres, to be precise.” She got an absent-minded nod in return. “So, if you aren't a changeling, what exactly are you?”

“Aheh... It's kind of a long story. How about we start with introductions, hmm?”

Lieia hesitated for a moment, though – the mistrustful sentiment of Skrugg Invasion still lingered in her mind, but she chose to ignore it. These ponies weren't three metre tall warmongers-slash-priests hell-bent on eradicating humanity and their allies, after all. Still, she couldn't help but draw on the memories of the Lost Children – the ponies were clearly the dominant species of this world. Returning her attention to the two mares, she spoke.

“I am Lieia Aladara Grisova.”

“That's quite a mouthful.” Rainbow muttered out, cocking an eyebrow.

“Ah hear that.”Applejack chuckled.

“Well, in any case, you can just call me Lieia. Or Lee.”

“'kay, then. Ah'm Applejack, and this is my friend, Rainbow Dash!”

“Nice to meet you both. Wish it were under better circumstances, eh?”

“Totally.” The cyan pegasus chuckled. Even though she was still suspicious of the alicorn, the tension had dissipated considerably.  “So, you aren't a changeling, but you can change shapes? How does that even work?”

“It's a long story, Rainbow, believe you me. But I have more important matters to take care of.” She sighed deeply and looked at the two. “Do either of you know anything about artefacts named the Elements of Harmony?”

Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack froze at that.

“The Elements? What do you want with them?”

“So, you do know about them?” Lieia leaned forward, hope burning a tad brighter in her chest.

“Whoa, slow down, pardner! What do you need the Elements for?” Several long, anxious moments passes before an answer was given to the farmpony.

“So I can finally pay for my crimes…”

Celestia trotted along through the castle gardens, mind heavy with burdenous thoughts.

“Why hello, Celestia!” A particular reformed god of chaos winked into existence at her side, sitting in a rowboat that was floating through the air as he followed her. The diarch sighed.

“Hello, Discord. How are you?”

“Good, good! But I have to ask – why the long face? What weighs so heavily upon your mind that it stifles your sunny mood?” He chuckled, sipping on a glass of chocolate milk. Most of the time, his antics would lure a give a slight smile out of the alicorn. Or, at the very least, it irritated her. Today, however, she simply sighed heavily and trotted ahead.

“Look, Celestia, we haven’t always seen eye to eye. But this dour mood does not suit you. At all. So, how about you talk to me?”

“Why do you care?”

“Because frankly, you and Luna are in charge of Equestria. That and Fluttershy said I should make more friends, let bygones be bygones, and so on and so forth.” That got a chuckle out of the alicorn.

“Sounds like something she'd say. She is a smart pony.” She sighed softly, then turned to look at Discord. “Reach out with your magic. The Everfree Forest, specifically.” The draconequus cocked an eyebrow, but did as instructed. A couple of moments passed and his usually-cheery expression changed drastically – he muttered out quietly, somberly.

“Oh, this is not good at all. Whoever's responsible for that has more power than Luna did during her tantrum a thousand years ago.” Celestia's gaze hardened for a moment.

“That 'tantrum', as you put it, was my fault. I should have paid more attention to her. But that is beside the point. Do you notice anything else?” The draconequus hummed thoughtfully.

“Hmm... Who is this mysterious being, anyways?”

“Twilight wrote to me – she says that it's an alicorn.”

“Ah. So, you're worried that she might try something untoward?”

“That, too. But I am more worried about that guilt she's harbouring – I have a feeling that she has committed unspeakable atrocities...” The god of chaos nodded slowly, rubbing his chin.

“And you wish your subjects to avoid that same fate.”

“Indeed. I have to say, you're being awful serious about this.” The alicorn eyed Discord curiously.

“Oh, I can act serious. I simply choose not to, most of the time. Makes things simpler.”

“Hm. Well, now you know what worries me.”

“That I do. But if I know you, you're already thinking of something.”

“That I am… Urgh… I still worry about my ponies.” She received no answer and when she turned to look at Discord, he was already gone. She rolled her eyes at that. “Figures…” She looked at the far-off Everfree Forest, a small, black line in the horizon, and shivered slightly.

“I don't know, Spike... I sort of felt like that foal could either hug me, or slit my throat, and he'd have no qualms about doing so... I just... Eergh...”

Knock, knock, knock.

Twilight left the mortified baby dragon and trotted over to the door, opening it. Her heart skipped a beat or two as she saw who was visiting her – Rainbow Dash and Applejack, but they weren't the cause of her distress. The grey pegasus mare was. She was smaller and lacked a horn, but she'd recognise that steely-eyed gaze anywhere. She spoke in a level, but subtly-anxious voice.

“We need to talk.”

Kshhhhk. Kshhhhk.

What… Where… Where am I?

Kshhhhk. Kshhhhk.

Pain coursed through my body and I weakly cracked my eyes open. I saw white ceiling.

Kshhhhk. Kshhhhk.

The hell is that noise?

I tried to lift my head up, but I simply didn’t have any strength. I felt like I’d been put through the proverbial meat grinder.

Kshhhhk. Kshhhhk.

Was there something stuck inside my chest? Then, I heard a door open. Someone had arrived.

“Oh, you are awake, Sergeant. That’s good to know. We were worried you wouldn’t make it. But you’re a persistent one.”

Kshhhhk. Kshhhhk.

I weakly opened my mouth, and tried to speak. No words came out, however faint. No breath, either. What the hell had happened to me?!?

Kshhk. Kshhk. Kshhk. Kshhk.

“Please, calm down! I can explain everything, but you must calm down. You’re stable, but in a fragile state.”

Weakly, I nodded, willing my heart to… to…

I couldn’t feel my heartbeat!

I looked at the doctor pleadingly, mouth opening and closing soundlessly. He seemed to understand and walked out of my angle of view. He typed away at some keyboard or another and a moment later, the – now, I realized – bed whirred quietly, propping my upper half of body upwards some. The motion, however slow made me wince in pain and I tried to raise my left arm to... to...

My blood ran cold for the second time as I was struck by another revelation – my heart wasn't the only thing I'd lost.

“Now, when you were brought in, you were a hair's width away from somatic death. Most of your ribs were broken-”

-the wet, fleshy snaps of muscle and skin tearing, the dry cracks of bones being broken like twigs-

“-both of your lungs were crushed and barely functional-”

-an immense pressure on my chest, mostly from the left side, squeezing my breath out from my lungs in a fountain of blood-

“-your heart was nearly crushed by the lungs-”

-a jolt of utterly searing pain, making my limbs seize up-

“-all of the aforementioned injuries were caused when you took a disintegrator bolt in your left shoulder. It flash-vaporized most of your arm and-”

-my world turned into a white blaze of pain as my reckless charge to avenge Faye Dunbar's death came to an abrupt halt – the amiable student from Galanthus, shot dead by the damned Vasari cowards-

He sighed and looked at me, face concerned-

-I lay in a puddle of mud and blood, gazing listlessly at the war-torn horizon. I see back-hinged legs, trudging up to me. I hear the whine of a weapon charging. And then...

A spray of green, luminescent blood and I see two Vasari collapse on the ground, choking pitifully, neat slits drilled into their armor. I see tall, shining beings stride across the battlefield, energy shields rippling around them as they open up on the Vasari fortifications. One of them notices my gaze and hollers to others.

“Quick, get a stasis unit here! This one's still alive!”

As I succumb to my grievous wounds, I see the logo on his shoulder, the insignia of one of the most feared troops in Trader space.

The flame-wreathed shield of the 4th EXO company.

I look at the doctor, who's still waiting patiently. My eyes convey the question plainly enough and he shakes his head slowly.

“This equipment is currently keeping you alive, oxigenating your blood, and circulating it around your body in lieu of your heart and lungs. Nevertheless, this is only a temporary solution. We have our finest scientists working on replacement organs as we speak. The wounds caused by Vasari weaponry facilitate the need for new ways to save the lives of our soldiers. We're expecting them to present with the prototypes in two weeks.”

Wait a minute. They wanted to insert untested tech in my body? I frowned a little, weighing the cons and pros and eventually came to a decision.

I didn't want to remain like this. I didn't want to live out the rest of my life as a cripple. I wanted to make those Vasari bastards pay. I wanted to avenge my family. Faye. And everyone else who had been enslaved or killed by those alien fucks.

I wanted revenge.

I nodded slowly at the man, and he nodded in return.

“Now, we have a lot to do. We'll have you back up to one hundred percent. Well, as close as one can get to said percentage in your condition. Get some rest and we'll get to it tomorrow.”

Eh?

My confused expression made him chuckle and rub his face.

“Ah, of course. How could I forget?” He pulled out an envelope from his pocket. It bore the logo of 3rd EXO company – a fist crushing a Vasari skull.

“You have been invited to join the 3rd Company, Sergeant. That you lasted that long in that condition is nothing short of a miracle. And, you know full well that only the strongest can join them.”

My mind raced at that announcement. The most prestige soldier corps in the Trader Navy wanted ME to be part of them? This was truly a godsend.

“So, does that steely, baleful gaze means 'yes'?”

You bet your ass it does.