Commander Twilight Sparkle slowly made her way down one of the many corridors of Canterlot Castle deep in thought. It had been a week since Princesses Celestia had given her authorization to create her own branch of the military and it had been a busy week. Twilight knew how to run an army, how to train soldiers, how to lead soldiers. What she didn’t know was how to explain this to people who know nothing of these, at least not know the proper way of doing it.

She knew the Princesses were old and had seen battle in their lives, probably not the same as Twilight but still actual battle, so they at least understood to an extent her plans. It was the nobility and everyone else that was the issue. None of them had even gotten off their pompous asses and done anything useful in their lives, well most of them anyways. Some were willing to help for the good of Equestria but still they knew nothing of a proper military and kept falling back on what they know.

And what they knew was the glorified police force known as the Royal Guard which was like comparing Special Forces to mentally handicapped children. They simply weren’t the same. And so Twilight spent most of this week, it had only taken her a day to draw up plans for her new branch of the military, trying to explain what she needed and why she needed it and what this or that meant. Twilight learned very fast she was not cut out for political bullcrap when she ended up grabbing one of the more annoying nobles and throwing him across the room. The Princess had stepped in before she could do any more to the stunned noblepony and suggested she take a break.

And thus Twilight found herself walking aimlessly through the castle deep in thought about her soon to be army. Even thought she was deep in thought Twilight still easily dodged around servants and Royal Guard patrols without breaking from her thoughts, just allowing her body to move on its own as there was little danger in the castle, though she still idly scanned for it.

“Hey Twilight!” Came the voice of Pinkie Pie behind her. Twilight stopped and looked back at her pink friend.

“Hey Pinkie, how are you?” She asked smiling.

“I’m good, though I can tell you could use a break and it has been a week since we all got to hang out.” Pinkie said smiling wise. “So how about we all get lunch?”

Twilight blinked. “The others are here?”

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. “Yup, yup! I invited them to Canterlot to hang out.”

Twilight blinked again. “You’ve been in Canterlot all this time? I thought you all went back to Ponyville.”

“Well the others did but I stayed in Canterlot in case you needed a friend to talk to and I thought after a week of meetings you’d enjoy a break so I invited the other back.” Pinkie said smiling at her friend. “So how about we go out to lunch?”

Twilight tilted her head as she thought about them smiled at the pink party pony. “Sure, I could use something to eat.” She said with a smile nod resulting in Pinkie excitedly bouncing around the Rebel soldier

Twilight and Pinkie met up with the rest of their friend at the castle gate before they could enter the castle proper. Twilight watched as Pinkie wasted no time in jumping over to them. “Hey girls! You are just in time to go out for lunch!” She said excitedly as Twilight stepped up beside her.

Rarity was the first to speak out of the four arrivals. “Oh, yes that sounds lovely, did you have somewhere in mind darling?”

Pinkie shook her head as Twilight stepped up beside her. “Nope, nope! I thought Twilight should choose as it’s her break.” She said and started to bounce around the group of friends who all looked at the armor wearing unicorn.

“Uh….I heard there is a decent dinner over on Celestia Avenue, how about there?” She suggested. She was not used to being asked where to eat and despite living in Canterlot for most of her life she had had her muzzle buried in books for most of it and never really explored the city.

“Perfect!” Pinkie answered for everyone and wrapped her hooves around all of them and somehow began to drag them down the road. Everyone of Twilight friends just ignored it but Twilight was mildly concerned by this do to the fact she weighed several time more than a normal pony and Pinkie didn’t seemed to be straining at all.

She soon pushed the thought to the back of her mind as best as she can but it still bothered her to no end even though she was used to Pinkie defying all logic. When they were about a block from the castle gate the pink pony finally let them all go much to Twilight relief. “So…where exactly are we going?” Pinkie asked as she turned to face the group, her ever present smile on her face.

Twilight’s hoof met her face. “I thought you knew where we are going when you started dragging us down the street.” She said as she lowered hear hoof and looked at the pink mare with some annoyance.

“Haven’t a clue, never really spent a lot of time in Canterlot, I know where Pony Joe’s is but that’s it.” Pinkie said happily.

With a sigh Twilight took the lead. “I think it’s this way.” She said lowering the visor on her helmet so she could use the compass. She had been very glad to learn it still worked even when in a totally different dimension then what it was built for. She remembered the one maid telling the other that the place was east of the castle itself. If not for the fact she had been trying to avoid her meeting with the nobles that day she would have come out of hiding to ask the two where the place was. Granted they may have had heart failure when she dropped from the ceiling but that’s beside the point.

After wondering the streets for a while they eventually found their destination. “Dot’s Diner? That’s an interesting name for a restaurant.” Rarity said as she read the name on the side.

“It’s not a normal restaurant. It’s a diner.” Twilight said as she opened the door with her magic and walked in. The diner was in the middle of its lunch rush so was filled with noise of ponies talking loudly to each other. A noise that promptly died out as all eyes fell on the purple mare dressed in dark green combat armor as she raised the visor on her helmet. Maybe her mother was right and she should find an alternative to wearing her armor everywhere as ponies stopping dead in their tracks to stare at her was making her skin crawl in a bad way.

Twilight walked up to the counter where a unicorn waitress stood staring like a deer caught in headlights at her. “We’d like a table please; there is six of us, preferable away from any windows.” Twilight said and the orange coated mare continued to stare in an annoying way. Twilight lifted her hoof and slammed it on the counter hard enough for the resulting CRACK to echo through the diner.

That snapped the waitress out of her shock as well as the other ponies in the diner. “Oh…um…excuse me what did you say?” She asked blinking several times.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Six of us for a table, away from a window. Thank you please.” Twilight said and smiled at the waitress. It was the smile reserved for a significantly lower ranking soldiers that had annoyed her, it had the effect of telling them ‘I hope you enjoy PT training cause you have at least a week of it.’

Granted Twilight had no idea what effect it had on the mare behind the counter but whatever it was she quickly grabbed six menus and hurriedly lead the group to a booth in the corner. Twilight not able to see the looks her friends gave her as she followed waitress.

Once they were showed them to their booth Twilight eyed it a bit uncertainly, she would be a little restricted in movement but worst case she could just tear the table from the floor. Satisfied with the assessment she took her seat and her friends followed suit with Pinkie Pie sitting right next to Twilight, beside her sat Fluttershy and across the table sat Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

The group opened their menus and began looking over the listed food. Twilight frowned when she saw they only had pony food listed but she guessed this diner didn’t cater to other species often enough to warrant other food, so that meant this meal would be without meat. Twilight had been enjoying her stay in the castle as it was used to having guests from all over Epuus which meant they had a heathy supply of meat products, though after the first time she ordered it she got strange looks from the servant taking the order and ended up sending it back as it was given to her raw. The cook only made that mistake one other time before he had an angry mare kicking down the door to the kitchen and explaining to him that she did not eat meat raw and she will not accept it being served raw again.

Needless to say the meals had been very good after that. As Twilight read over the menu she began to hum one of the songs from her music folder and idly taping her foot to the imagined beat. It didn’t take her long to setter on a basic salad.

After a bit their waitress returned to take their orders, both Twilight and Rarity got a salad while Applejack ordered two apple fritters. Rainbow dash ordered a daisy sandwich as did Fluttershy and Pinkie ordered a hay burger. All of them but twilight ordered drinks.

“Hey Twi not going to drink anything?” Applejack asked once their waiter left eyeing the purple mare.

“Oh I brought my own drink.” Twilight said as she undid her helmet and removed it, setting it aside.

“You did? What the hay did you bring?” Rainbow asked and the other all looked at Twilight with curiosity.

A bottle of amber liquid appeared in front of Twilight on the table. “Whiskey of course. “She said with a wide smile. “I haven’t had a proper drink this entire week and that’s practically a crime!” She said with a chuckle as she undid the stopper.

The mares around the table frowned as the strong scent hit them. Rarity covered her nose with a handkerchief. “Oh my, Darling that smells dreadful, nothing like the whisky some of my clients enjoy.” Rarity said thinking of some of her more high class clients who enjoyed a drink every now and then.

“That’s because that is piss flavored water.” Twilight said producing a round of frowns again from everyone but Pinkie who seem to force a smile and Fluttershy who gasped and hid her mouth behind a hoof. Twilight ignored them and lifted the bottle. “This is the nectar of the gods, real proper 100% whiskey!” She said happily and took a drink, enjoying the burn as it went down.

Rainbow scrunched up her muzzle when Twilight finished her drink. “How much of that do you have?”

“Six full bottles, the General gave them to me before I went on the last mission, as a going away gift. Though I plan to make more.” Twilight said with a smile as she remembered the man.

“You’ve mentioned this General fellow before Twi, who was this pony?” Applejack asked.

“Well first off he’s not a pony, he’s a human.” Twilight said and sighed as she looked down at the bottle before her and swirled its contents. “He was our leader, the man who started the entire Rebellion when he tried to seize control from the corrupt government. He failed, he had a large force backing him but the Feds had more soldiers and equipment and he was forced to abandon the coup, at least partly.” She said and took another sip of her drink.

“He didn’t give up his dream of bringing down the corrupt leaders though and continued to fight from the shadows and slowly more people joined him. The rebellion had been going on for five years when I joined up.” Twilight said and looked at the five mares she sat with. “He had to be one of the most courageous and uncompromising people I ever met. Even facing overwhelming odds and knowing what awaited him if he lost; he never gave up fighting for freedom.” Twilight said and took another drink.

“Well…it sounds like you respect him a lot darling.” Rarity said.

Twilight chuckled. “He was my superior and my friend and he saved my life once.” She said smiling softly. She lifted the bottle a bit. “To you General Tomas Clancy, may your dream be realized and may the Feds burn in the fires of hell.” She took a drink. Her friends glanced at each other, they understood Twilight wanting to toast someone like that but the way she spoke the toast was a bit…different than they were used to.

Shortly after that their own drinks arrived and they gave their own toasts to the General much to Twilights delight.

“Actually Rarity there was something I wanted to ask you.” Twilight said after a long silence and after their food arrived.

“What is it darling?” Rarity asked looking up at the mare across the table from her.

“Well….I need a uniform made. I can’t keep walking around in my armor and I’ll need something for the soldiers to wear when not on duty.” Twilight said and the effect was instant as Rarity’s eyes lit up.

“Oh say no more darling! I’d be honored to design a uniform for you! You’ll look simply divine and will be the best dressed ponies in the military.” She said excitedly, here head already dancing with ideas.

“It will need to be something simple, preferable dark green.” Twilight said and Rarity looked at her a bit confused. “We will be the first and last line of defense in the event of an extreme emergency. I don’t want my soldiers standing out if they are forced into combat while off duty. I want the uniform to mark them so everyone knows they are part of the army but yet not stand out that it makes them unable sneak up on their enemies.” Twilight said and thought about it. “Actually I may need several different versions for them to wear based on where they will be stationed.”

“What do you mean Twilight?” Rarity asked perplexed.

“Well if I’m able I plan to set up bases all over Equestria and some of those areas dark green would stand out a lot, such as the frozen north. So I’ll need different version of the same uniform in different colors so they can’t blend into their surroundings if need be.”

“Oh…yes I suppose I can do that.” Rarity replied some of her enthusiasm as she wasn’t allowed to make them look fabulous.

“Jeez Twilight what do you expect to happen that you’ll need so many places built?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That’s classified.” Twilight said, Princess Celestia had told Twilight she did not plan to tell many ponies of the possible invasion so as to avoid a panic which Twilight agreed with. She didn’t even plan to tell her own soldiers, at least not the rank and file, key officers would be read in of course but all the grunts will know is they are the ones sent in to handle what the Royal Guard cannot. Which based on past experience will still give them plenty to do.

After Twilight’s request the conversation steered more towards normal topics such as what her friends had been doing the past week and so on and so forth.

Once they finished eating their waitress brought their bill and Rarity reached for it but Twilight picked it up in her magic. “I’ll pay for this.” Twilight said with a smile. Finally something she could buy on her own and not have someone else pick up for her. She looked at how much the bill was and pulled the exact amount of Credits she needed out of her Storage Locker and froze staring at the grey piece of plastic with a single black strip down one side. “Celestia-damnit.” She exclaimed before face hoofing.

The group of mares gasped in shock and then frowned and Rarity sniffed in indignation at Twilights choice in curse. Twilight looked at them. “What?”

“You just used the Princess’ name as a curse.” Rarity said giving the other unicorn a disapproving frown.

“Not the first time.” Twilight said producing deeper frowns that she ignored and sighed looking down.

“Um…what is that Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “If you don’t mind my asking that is….”

“This,” Twilight said lifting the card higher. “IS a Credit, it is money, or at least it is where I was, here it is a lump of plastic that I down there is an exchange I can go to trade it for bits.” Twilight sighed again and put the card that only had value to her back with the others.

“How much of those ‘Credits’ do you have?” Rainbow Dash asked out of curiosity.

“CrT10,000” Twilight replied and the group of mares went wide eyed.

“How in tarnation did you get so much money? Did they pay you for your work where ever you were?” Applejack asked eye brows high on her face.

Twilight snorted. “We were Rebels; we didn’t get a pay check for our time served.” Twilight smirked. “I won it all playing Blackjack against the other soldiers.” Twilight said proudly.

The mares didn’t know what Blackjack was but based on how she said she won the currency it didn’t take them long to figure out what type of game it was.

“Let me get this straight egghead, you won money gambling against others?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I was one hell of a Blackjack player, it was about the only card game I was good at actually. “She said scratching her chin with a hoof as she thought about all the games she knew how to play. “Though now I’m sitting on a large cache of Credits that are worthless to me here.” She sighed.

“Oh…don’t worry about it darling, I’m sure if you talk to the Princess she will exchange these ‘Credits’ for Bits for you.” Rarity said reassuringly.

“Yeah I guess you are right.” Twilight sighed again. “In the meantime would you guys mind covering this meal I’ll pay you back when I can.” Twilight said not letting her annoyance into her voice.

“Yes darling, don’t worry about it.” Rarity said taking the bill from Twilight’s magical grasp.

As she counted out bits to pay the bill Twilight got an idea how to pay her back and make her day though Twilight would most likely regret it. “You know….the army will need dress uniforms to where at special ceremonies and such. And since they will be worn rarely….there is no reason they have to be functional like the normal uniforms.

Rarity stopped counting out bits and stared at the purple unicorn a smile slowly creeping onto her face. Yup. Twilight thought. What did it, what have I gotten myself into?

Author's Notes:

first off WOOHOO over 100,000 words in this story, longest story I've ever written.

anyways, checking in on Twi and she seems to be having a rough time dealing with the nobles of Canterlot, which is an issue as she needs them to get her army off the ground.

luckily Pinkie is there to get her mind off her problems and we get to see the Mane 6 talk about semi-random things. and Twi is getting a uniform finally!