The palace had not yet been cleaned from the prior battle. Scorch marks and burned out wrecks of Equestrian magical flying craft littered the grounds, crushing many of the lovingly planted gardens. Mana swirled about in glittering clouds, lifting up from glowing, pulsing lines of raw magic that hugged the walls of the central tower. So much magic in one place had nearly overwhelmed the leyline nexus that the city had been built on, which would have been disastrous for the defense of the Canterlot. And the structural integrity of the planet itself.

But despite the damage and signs of battle, Christie found the Royal Palace of Canterlot one of the most beautiful structures she had ever witnessed. Beneath the marks of war, white marble and banded granite had been magically infused during the shaping process, and gold gilded every window, along with every roof of every spire. The human had grown up on a service colony in the Jovian belt, on an asteroid colony that supplied the Titan terraforming project with ice water and precious minerals. Frequent flights had shown her the glittering station-cities among the belt, but this place…

“Hey, you’re up early,” Vinyl’s voice slurred from behind her.

Christie smiled behind her shakily, blushing; she had left a bed where she had been stuffed between a cuddly Earth Pony, a nuzzly Unicorn, and the warm wing-embrace of Luna herself. The alicorn was gone- she had explained the night before that she had to leave early to accompany her sister to meet the President; Octavia was still fast asleep, her hooves now occupied by a warmed pillow. Vinyl was sitting up on her haunches, rubbing her ruby eyes with a shaky hoof. The unicorn had not slept well- Christie had been woken up a few times by whimpers and weak twitches. She couldn’t blame the poor thing at all.

“I didn’t mean to wake you, Vinyl,” she replied quietly for Octavia’s sake, moving to sit down beside her.

The alabaster unicorn gently laid across Christie’s lap, tail swishing from side to side. She was very warm, like a space heater all on her own, especially when Christie began scritching her ears.

“Nah, s’fine,” she mumbled, clumsily spreading out her cybernetic hind legs over the sheets, “I should be up anyway. ...S… sorry, about last night.”

Christie sighed softly and leaned down to give Vinyl a gentle hug.

“After what happened, I would be surprised if you slept well, Vinyl,” she whispered to the unicorn quietly, shaking her head, “Don’t be sorry.”

Vinyl Scratch let out a weak breath, twitching an ear, “So uh… these… cyber-things… do a lot of pon- err, people, have them?”

“Yes, actually,” Christie replied, giving her a winning smile, “Sometimes to upgrade parts of themselves, even. I know a few people who replaced one or two eyes in order to see more, and to connect to the system-net.”

The unicorn had tilted her head in thought, “Heh… gotta look into that, maybe. Do my legs do anything special?”

“Well, those are medically produced, so not at the moment. They won’t ever break, though. And your implant can work with just about anything else on the market.”

Christie smiled sheepishly, “I think I might look into the procedures and science more, honestly. I… it felt good, helping you, Vinyl.”

The woman blushed as she ran her fingers through Vinyl’s mane- and meeped as a warm, fuzzy body hugged her from behind, Octavia’s muzzle resting on her shoulder.

“Trying to steal my mare, doctor?” she whispered teasingly, giving her a reassuring squeeze as Christie tensed.

Vinyl smirked back at Octavia and nuzzled into Christie’s hand, “I might just run off with Christie for her hands, Octy. Sorry!”

Octavia laughed softly and nosed Christie onto her side before pouncing onto Vinyl; Christie blushed and smiled over at the couple before laying her head back on the bed. She was not quite sure… what she would be doing for Princess Luna. Medical work? More cybernetics? She stared down at her hands thoughtfully, then back at Vinyl.

The unicorn had gently curled against her mate, enjoying a gentle tongue-grooming; her hind legs twitched softly, glowing a soft amber in the morning dimness. Christie smiled to herself. Whatever these ponies needed, she would do it. They deserved that much.

Much of Canterlot had been turned into a triage center, Equusians and humans alike being brought to its vast tent cities and prefabricated medical facilities, many of them brought down from the human support fleet. It was dusty and filled with a cacophony of the post-war- the cries of the injured and frustrated, the scream of engines rocketing overhead or from low-flying transport craft bringing new supplies to the medical staffs below. For the film crew on the ground, it was a lot of noise to cut out while filming, but they were well motivated to do so. Most had been apart of the Aegis teams, and seen the warfare up close. They could not film then, but they certainly wanted to catch the aftermath for history’s sake.

Julien Strange cursed under his breath as he led his team towards one of the newer medical tents; he had heard rumor that one of the Elements of Harmony had been brought to this area, and seeing as that Rarity was an Element… He and Rarity had been pen-pals through the Trade since it first started. It had been her advice that had gotten him through school and helped win his first placement in news. ...probably would not be too happy that he quit to come here, but.

Julien pulled the tent flaps aside as he peered in, ready to leap back if anypony challenged him. He certainly did not want to offend. The young man sucked in a sharp breath. Three ponies were settled inside; a very pink earth pony was curled up on a mat, sleeping fitfully- her right side was shaved down, parts of her barrel replaced with the shining silver and white of extensive medical cybernetics. A blanket had been thrown over her, but had been kicked off, bunched around her hind legs.

Beside her, a larger orange-and-blonde earth pony was holding tightly onto a white-and-purple unicorn mare, both of them crying softly into each other’s fur. Bandages covered a good bit of their bodies, and they were terribly thin- but Julien knew the three diamond cutie mark by heart.

“Rarity?” he whispered- the young man hated to ruin a moment, but emotion was welling up in his own heart.

The unicorn froze for a moment before whipping her head around; her blue eyes were bloodshot, face a mess of stress lines and little sleep, but the shaky smile that grew on it showed the alien beauty Julien remembered from photos. The earth pony mare blinked over at Julien in surprise, but grinned as well, rubbing her eyes clear with a fetlock.

“Julien! Darling, you’re here!” Rarity gushed, voice still thick, and turned to rush to Julien, hugging tightly to his legs.

The ex-newscaster laughed shakily as he rocked back, trying to keep his balance, and reached down to gently hug her neck and withers. She smelled distinctly of gunpowder and smoke- it did not suit her.

“Of course I’m here,” he replied softly, not wanting to wake up the pink pony, “Had to make sure you were alright. These your friends?”

Rarity blushed and stepped back, clearing her throat daintily before waving a hoof back at the pair of mares, “Yes, in fact. This is Applejack and Pinkie Pie. I wrote you about them, I do recall.”

“An’ she’s talked plenty about you,” Applejack added with a faint chuckled, doffing her hat slightly, “Nice ta meetcha.”

Julien smiled. Rarity had indeed talked about Applejack, more than a few times. They had been prepping for Rarity asking her farmer friend out during the last Trade, before all of… this. She had not mentioned Pinkie Pie all that much, but… well. He was here now. And as his team hurried in with their gear and supplies, Julien was having an idea.

“Rarity, Applejack? What do you guys know of human television?”

The sleek, matte black corvette zipped through the clouds of Equestria with only the quiet roar of its twin Heidelmann drives marking its presence in the dark of the night. The Shadow-class craft had been developed by the Office of Solar System Intelligence, or OSSI, for missions just like this- black-ops, seek and destroy, or, such as now, find and capture. Though they typically called for crews of five to ten, they could be piloted by as few as one. Nathan Hallen was leaned forward in the pilot’s chair, eyes locked on the controls- and his brain focused on the readouts from the various sensors placed across the craft. All OSSI operatives were given military grade brain-to-network cybernetics, allowing for quick access and processing to most systems; field agents like Nathan were also given enhancements to the eyes and ocular nerves, and reinforcement for bones and tendons. Coupled with field agent PPA, a superior version to the Terran military class, and OSSI agents were an expensive but powerful asset.

Nathan suppressed a smile at the thought. Expensive indeed, which was why he was alone for this mission- to find and capture one of the Seraph commandos that had been launching raids on aid stations and Aegis sites. The rest of the OSSI agents in-system had been spread around to protect key sites. Nathan couldn’t blame command- everyone had heard of the three Aegis craft lost around Appaloosa, and the one site nearby that had managed to kill their attackers. These things needed to be studied.

His sensors focused instantly on a section of ground as they picked up the unique energy signatures left whenever Equusians used magic- Nathan was still waiting for the scientists to figure out just what the hell was magic. There surely had to be some kind of scientific explanation for it all. Zooming in, he spotted three unicorn mares back to back to back, horns glowing brightly- every few moments, Nathan’s readings would spike as they cast spells, fending off… off…

Nathan’s heart leaped as he saw what they were fighting. A single Seraph- tall, a good seven meters, encased in gold armor. Gold. He had seen the fight with one just like that, between a gold Seraph and a Terran Assault Trooper, that the trooper had lost handily. No one else had reported seeing golds since…

“Activate auto-pilot,” he snapped firmly, pulling his mind back from the sensors and rushing back to his drop pod.

Sliding inside, his body was quickly encased by the powered arms in the pod, sliding the armor into place and activating their seals. OSSI armor was sleeker than Terran trooper armor, with no wrist rockets- they relied on railgun slugs and whatever weapons they brought with them. In this case? Nathan held out his hand, gripping the boxy rifle as it was pressed into his palm. He was going to try a weapon full of the amusingly named “taser balls,” an electrified gel that worked to great effect as crowd control in the distant past. It had not been a popular weapon by any means, but OSSI had kept it- just in case.

“Prepare to drop.”

Nathan let out a breath, stretching- his black hair was cut short, tucked into the tight fitting helmet. With a soft buzz and flash of light, the HUD appeared, tracking his vitals, the amount of ammo in his various weapons, and linking him to the sensors of the Shadow. With a jerk of weightlessness, the launcher opened- then propelled Nathan out with a kick of propellant.

“Never gonna get used to that,” he grumbled, baritone voice echoing in the helmet, before turning on his thrusters with a mental command.

Nathan was not much of a flyer, to be honest. His specialty was groundwork, or flying a ship. His instructors had not really enjoyed the attitude of turning the PPA into a powered landing gear or something to make jumping easier, but no one could speak ill of Nathan’s record on the zero and full-gee courses during training. His thrusters launched the agent down towards the surface, sensors still focused on the fight below. One pony was down and weakly moving against a tree, with the two standing protectively in front. The Gold Seraph was standing several feet away from the trio, seeming to study them. It did not have the plasma weapon that had taken down the trooper, as far as Nathan could tell.

The agent landed at a run, snapping up his rifle and firing- only to curse as the Seraph jerked out of their path and dashed for him. A golden blast of light slapped into the side of the alien and sent it skidded to one side; several more gel balls followed it, sparking on its shield.

“It’s too fast!”

“Stand with us, quick!” The two unicorns, mares by their body type and voice, scrambled to stand on either side of Nathan, horns glowing gold and a soft blue respectively.

Nathan kept his sights trained on the Seraph, frowning; it was glaring back at them, panting softly- but focused on his weapon. Shit.

“We can’t hurt it,” one of the mares, a yellow mare with a mix of red and golds in her mane, whispered, scowling angrily, “That shield is really strong.”

“And it’s really strong,” the other mare, a more periwinkle coloring with a three tone mane, added, looking nervously back at the collapsed two-tone blue pony.

“I’m going to take it alive,” Nathan replied quietly, having turned his speakers on low, “Can you use this weapon? I’ll get it’s shields down; when they do, spray it with this, and try to hold it with your magic.”

The mares stared at Nathan like he was insane for several seconds- until the Seraph began to move- golden magic wrapped around the rifle as Nathan let out, bringing his wrist-railguns up to bear. Two slugs slammed into the Seraph’s chest-level shield- and it kept coming. Nathan jerked and twisted under the Seraph’s claw swipes, putting two more slugs into the back of its legs- and a light blue glow punched into its face. A screeching snarl roared through Nathan’s audio receivers; he winced at a squeal of feedback, and quickly stepped back- avoiding another powerful swipe.

Damn thing, he snarled in his thoughts, skipping back and firing another two shots into his shield; the slugs sparked and flung molten metal into the grass.

The beast smirked; there was too much intelligence in its eyes, and it chilled Nathan to his core. The alien snarled as it launched itself forward; Nathan began to twist- and grunted as its claws dug into his shoulder-armor, pain lancing through his left arm. With barely a thought, the agent smashed his helmet into the creature, at the same time as his right gauntlet fired point blank into its stomach. The shield popped, the force of which sent the human sprawling onto his back.

Nathan had to admit, the ponies could follow orders. He heard the crackle and pops of the gel rifle the moment the ringing in his ears dimmed, and the Seraph was down on his knees, snarling. A large tree branch, wreathed in blue magic, lifted high into the air, and then slammed down into its spine. The Seraph was slammed forcefully into the dirt, twitching once before finally going still.

“Fuck,” Nathan growled, racing over to place his hand on the creature’s deck.

He had not cracked a bone, probably, just to kill the damn thing… But thankfully, his suit could pick up the heartbeat of the creature. It was alive.

Thank god for that, he grumbled to himself, then glanced up.

The three mares were standing in front of him, though they were all eying the Seraph warily. ...couldn’t blame them there. The blue one was swaying on her hooves, bleeding from her snout and several slashes over her side. There was a gentle golden glow around her barrel, holding the injured pony upright.

“Is it still alive?” the golden mare asked quietly, still aiming the rifle down at it.

Well, one has potential.

“Yeah, it is,” Nathan replied quietly, nodding to her, “Thank you, by the way. Heh, all of you. This thing could save alot of lives.”

She nodded, passing him back the rifle, “No problem. I uh, I’m Sunset Shimmer. This is Starlight Glimmer, and Trixie Lulamoon.”

Nathan blinked a few times. Yeah all three of those names had sent up alerts on his HUD. Two apprentices to Princess Twilight Sparkle herself, and a mare wanted for debriefing for one of the Aegis attacks a week prior? ...well, well. Today really was looking up.

“Nathan Hallen,” he replied, holding out his hand to shake each of their hooves, while sending alerts with flicks of his eyes, “What were you all doing out here?”

Starlight Glimmer chuckled softly and shook her head, looking embarrassed, “We were trying to be heroes.”

Sunset rolled her eyes, “We’ve been coordinating the defense of a refugee camp north of here. Trixie told us about these Seraph. Heard about attacks out here, and… well, tried to stop it. Didn’t know it could fight like that. ...thanks for jumping in though.”

Above them, the Shadow began to descend, thrusters firing as its limited AI piloted it down to a nearby glade; Nathan couldn’t help but grin at Starlight’s startled gasp. ...hrm.

“Come on, all of you, help me get this inside. Then we have a few meetings to make. Might finally get some questions answered…”

Author's Notes:

Whoo, new chapter! Let me know what you think in the comments!