"Darling I really don't see wh—"

"Just aim the gun at the dummy and pull the trigger." Wrex pressed a button on the device he had and, on the far side of the room, a creature unlike anything she had seen appeared... it had the lithe body of a feline predator, but it was reptilian, with huge fangs on its lower jaw. The upper body was darker, either deep dark blue or black, with thick scales, while the lower body was clammy white.

It started running towards her, slavering and growling, and behind it three more materialized, taking off after the first.

"Meeep!" Rarity took a step back as the carnifex quickly floated in front of her and she squeezed the trigger, barely aiming.

The shot went wide, missing the creature as it jumped at her.

Rarity scrambled away and fell on her back, before she released a shot again—point blank—into the creature's head. It exploded into light, but she had no time for that, as the other three were fast approaching. Rolling onto her hooves, her magic took hold of the gun on her hip as well, and both guns flew in front of her, cracking a shot each into the body of the two creatures on the side, before they shot again into the body of the third, which stumbled and skidded down all the way to her forelegs before it too disappeared in a flash.

Heart pounding hard against her chest, she swallowed and tried to speak, but no sound came out.

Twilight Sparkle walked into the shooting range.

"Wrex."

"Sparkle."

"What was that?" Twilight spied the device in Wrex's claws. "Did you... did you make her practice on Varren holograms?" she whispered.

Wrex shrugged. "What? It seemed like the best way to get her into it."

Twilight shook her head. "Wrex, we've talked about this, Rarity is a civilian, she has no killer inst—"

"That. Was! The best thing ever!" Rarity squee-ed, hugging the guns close. She turned to Wrex, eyes glistening with excitement. "Let's do it again!"

Wrex smirked.

Twilight rolled her eyes, but she couldn't hold back a smile of her own. She raised an eyebrow at the guns. "The Carnifex and the Paladin?"

Wrex shrugged. "No one else uses heavy guns."

Twilight shrugged, acknowledging the point. "What about Vinyl?"

"She took the Punisher," Wrex said, activating the hologram again and letting Rarity have a go at some collector drones, before looking down at the list of weapons in his omnitool. "We'll have to make sure to procure more ammo."

Twilight nodded, "I figured as much. Has anyone tried to get into the bunker where they found you?"

Wrex shook his head, ignoring the sound of Rarity shooting her guns. "Sun-butt has the area very well secured with dozens of spells, and the automatic defenses are up..." He shrugged. "I'm not worried."

Twilight leaned back on the door frame, eyebrow arching when Rarity jumped over the disintegrating body of a holographic collector and shooting at others. "Fair enough. One day you'll have to let me go in with you."

Wrex chuckled. "Sure thing, Sparkle."

"In the meantime, I've been trying to figure out how to get Derpy to formally join us, but that mare's life is so simple there's nothing I can offer to fix that will guarant—"

"Well, that is not a problem right now," Octavia interrupted, marching into the room. She blinked as Rarity slid under the spread legs of a collector before shooting it in the back, then proceeded to run towards the ones that had just generated. "Okay," Octavia cleared her throat. "Clearly somepony is having fun."

"Tavi!" Twilight grinned. "Welcome back, why did you say that Derpy wasn't a problem right now? Did you figure out something we could do?"

Octavia shook her head. "No, I figure it's time for my loyalty mission, as you call them."

Twilight tilted her head. "But don't I already have your loyalty? I mean, you swear you're mine forever every time I—"

"Not the same thing!" Octavia interrupted, blushing under her coat and looking away. "No, I have something big going down, and as much as I want to be with you, I can't unless that is taken care of first."

"Tavi," Twilight slowly approached the mare, and carefully lifted her chin up to have her lover look at her. "You know that you can ask of me anything, it doesn't have to be a loyalty mission for you... I already..." she trailed off, looking to the side where a starry-eyed Rarity sat next to Wrex, who was eating some sort of snack. Even the holograms were hanging out, just looking at the pair.

"Oh, do carry on dear!" Rarity giggled. "Please!"

"I-I already—" Twilight cut off and growled. "Let's go to the other room."

"Aww! But it was just getting good!"

"Shut up and keep shooting sentients, Rarity!" Twilight called over her shoulder as she and Octavia left the room.

"Ehehehe," Wrex chortled, fist-bumping Rarity's hoof.

"So what's the problem?" Twilight asked, closing the door behind them.

Octavia was silent for a moment before sighing and walking up to the sofa, laying down and looking at Twilight. "I... have a bit of a secret past, Twilight."

Twilight arched her eyebrow. "Oh?"

A nod. "Yes... I'm sorry I haven't told you, I was afraid that it would... affect our relationship."

Twilight shook her head. "Oh, Tavi, you know it would have to be something pretty big to shake me, and even more than that to give up on you."

Octavia sighed, punching one of the pillows in frustration. "I know! But it's just... digging up things from my past that I would rather nopony I know find out about."

Twilight nodded. "I understand, but unless you're secretly the daughter of some criminal overlord, or you were some sort of assassin, I doubt I'd be surprised," she teased, nuzzling Octavia, who had gone rigid.

"Did. Did you look up information about me?" Octavia asked, pushing Twilight back. "Did you look into my past?"

Twilight blinked. "A little. I mean, you're under my command. I had dossiers on all of you."

Octavia sagged, leaning her head onto Twilight's shoulder. "So you know." She chuckled, nuzzling Twilight back. "Thank Celestia, I thought I would have to tell you about the Family and being a hitmare for the mafia... but since you know, I—"

She stopped when she noticed Twilight had gone stiff.

"Twilight?"

"You... were a hitmare for the mafia?"

Octavia's blood went cold and she pulled back, looking at Twilight in the eye. "Wait. You didn't know?"

Twilight shook her head.

"B-but what about the dossier?" Octavia babbled, shaking Twilight by the shoulders. "You said you had them done on all of us! My background is hidden but any serious investigation would have produced at least a picture or something!"

"I just... I—"

"Where did you get the dossier on us?!"

Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it as her eyes widened and she brought a hoof to her face, muttering.

"I'm sorry," Octavia deadpanned. "care to repeat that?"

Twilight's shoulders sagged and she lowered her head. "The Royal Guard."

Octavia closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. "Of course." She shook her head, looking at her lover. "Well, there goes all the serious research. You know this effectively means you know nothing about our pasts other than what we've told you, right?"

Twilight flinched.

Octavia started sliding off the sofa, but a hoof on top of hers stopped her. "Tavi..."

Surprisingly, Octavia felt her heart flutter, and she didn't pull away. "Yes, Twilight?"

"You were a hitmare for the mafia?"

"Yes, Twilight."

"That's... so hot."

Despite herself, Octavia couldn't help but chuckle.

Clearing her throat, Twilight looked up, a reassuring smile on her face. "Tell me what you need, Tavi. I won't let you down."

Octavia's eyes watered a little. "Is the door locked?"

Twilight nodded.

"Well, then I need something else before I tell you all about it," Octavia whispered, leaning up to Twilight so she could see her eye to eye.

That night, Twilight Sparkle looked across the table at the others.

"Well, Twilight, what have you got for us now?" Vinyl Scratch asked.

"Yeah! Is it a mission?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying pirouettes over the group. "Tell me it's a mission!"

Derpy hovered in place, looking a bit uncomfortable. "If it is, I need to make sure that it doesn't take too long I only have a few days off accumulated."

"Oh, come on Derpy! Chill a little!" Rainbow Dash chuckled.

"Well, what is it then?" Wrex finally asked.

Twilight looked to Octavia, who nodded. Nodding back, Twilight faced the others. "What you're about to hear is considered top secret. And more importantly, very private to one of us. As such, your discretion is very important, as well as your promise of secrecy and understanding—"

"Oh my!" Rarity gushed. "Is Octavia pregnant?!"

"What?! No!" Octavia slammed her hoof on the table. "Where the hay did you get that from?"

Blushing, Rarity fanned her face. "I'm sorry dear, it's just you both spend a lot of time... well... together."

Twilight slowly dragged a hoof down her face. "No, Rarity, Octavia is not pregnant." She paused, then looked at her lover, who tilted her head. Twilight cleared her throat. "No. This is a different thing, and as I was saying, despite how appealing that might sound..." she grinned when Octavia hid under the table. "I need your promise of secrecy and understanding for what is a very personal matter to her. I would extend this to any member of our team, so if you cannot keep your mouth shut, I will ask you to leave."

All eyes turned to Rarity, who rolled her eyes. "I'll have you all know I can keep a secret. In fact, I'll Pinkie Promise to not share anything said here without Octavia's consent."

Twilight was about to say something when Derpy, Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch all crowded around Rarity.

"You can't do that!" Rainbow Dash hissed. "You know what happens when you Pinkie Promise!"

Twilight arched an eyebrow.

"Rarity, think about it... you really don't want to risk it," Derpy added.

"Girl that's some crazy talk, we'll take a regular old promise. Tavi trusts you," Vinyl insisted and turned her head to look at Octavia. "You trust her, right, Tavi?"

"I—"

"Of course you do!" Vinyl turned to Rarity. "See? No need to Pinkie Promise."

"Oh, nonsense, girls," Rarity waved them away. "I'm sure it's not something I'll feel the need to say to anypony anyway, and it should prove that I really mean what I say."

"But!"

"Rainbow Dash, I appreciate your concern, but," Rarity took a deep breath. "I solemnly promise not to share any information about Octavia shared tonight with anypony without Octavia's permission. And to make it official, I Pinkie Pie swear on it. Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye."

The three other mares gasped, but Twilight simply blinked. "Is that it? Flapping your forelegs around, putting a hoof on your eye?"

"Well, now that that's out of the way," Octavia hesitantly spoke up. "I do trust you, Rarity. My hesitation is not because I doubt any of you, but because this is very personal..." she took a deep breath. "You see, several years ago, I had a nickname... I was called 'Strings'... and I was a hitmare for the Cacio family, in Chicacolt..."