The magic that carried us back to Canterlot mountain faded. The four of us immediately fanned out, but the battle was over. Ponies everywhere were carrying others, sometimes without stretchers. Most of the ones being carried were visibly wounded. Still, the body count looked to be fairly low and the cultist army was completely gone.

Victory. I sighed in relief and collapsed against the back of my seat again. "Status Atari."

"About one quarter ammo left, armor in the yellow, still got a cool sword," Big Bear rumbled, sounding pleased.

"Armor yellow to red, legs still yellow," Ninja answered, sounding less panicked than usual.

"One quarter missile ammo, out of AC ammo, left arm busted, red armor, and a hell of a headache," Reaper complained.

"Right arm skewered, center armor gone, four missile shots left." Once again, the single ton of missiles I bring had been just enough. Sounded like I needed to squeeze another ton of autocannon ammo into the atlas though. "Back to base Atari. Good work."

"So now we get the shit out of here, right?" Reaper asked with no small amount of annoyance. The crowd of ponies made any movement slow.

"Depends on how long it takes to research that spell. I don't want them to rush it, personally."

"Blake. Damn I hate it when you have valid arguments."

"Oh suck it up and get some rest," I replied with a grin, "we're on contract until they get us home. Go enjoy the cafeteria."

"You crafty mother fucker, Omega. I knew I still worked for you for a reason."

I chuckled, but left the mic off. That went really well. No doubt the infantry had taken some losses, but from they way they held the pass it couldn’t have been too bad. Mostly a spellcaster stalemate. The cultist’s siege and titan assault never had a chance to break the line, and the defensive nature of the mountain trail had done it’s job.

My mind whirled replaying formations and movements, trying to find some fault in our work, and I couldn’t really see any. There had been losses, but not a massacre and not a fallen city. Compared to some of my missions this was cause to throw a party. I relaxed into my chair and let Midnight’s swaying walk soothe me. I’d done my job. It was hard to tell whether the paycheck or the success meant more to me.

Shining Armor stepped in front of the Tiger with his perfect captain's glare. "A word, Atari?" I flinched by instinct.

"What do you need, Captain?"

His voice softened considerably, and I entertained the concept that he had a heart. "Thank you for bringing my sister back safely." He even almost smiled.

"I...just doing our jobs, Captain. Happy to help."

"Drinks are on me." He stepped aside and saluted.

The Tiger led us through the scattered soldiers with skill. The ponies gave us a wide berth, but cheered and saluted us as we passed. At one point I heard several things slam into the top of Midnight, only to see the Wonderbolts fly away in formation, laughing as they went.

It took a good half hour to weave our way back to the hangar, and my men were only too happy to head back to our rooms as soon as they were down the ladder. I started automatically looking over my property.

Our machines were a sorry sight. Midnight was going to need a hell of a lot of work. The engine housing appeared to be crunched in by the titan's warhammer. I was lucky that the engine was still purring along. The arm assembly might be able to be fixed, but I guessed that both of the ppc's were going to be scrap. The trident still impaled in the arm would be a cool trophy though.

One of the atlas' arms hung limply and was dented, a victim of a demon hit I didn't see I guessed. Better the arm than the engine though. I mentally crossed a spare large laser off of my inventory. The Kodiak and the Tiger would need general maintenance, and the literal blood and hell fire had marred the pristine steel armor of all four machines. I began counting out the time it would take for my maintenance crew to overhaul our machines before I could agree to a new contract.

"Omega?" A female voice echoed through the hangar. Twilight Sparkle.

"Archmage," I replied as I turned around with a ribbing smile, "You're way more competent in a fight than you let on."

She looked away, embarrassed. "That's not the first despot we've had to fight off."

I shook my head in amused disbelief. "What do you need Twilight?"

"I guess I just wanted to say thanks, and...I'm sorry. I overreacted-"

"Twilight, please, stop. You were right, and I don't want you to think we are the good guys."

"But you helped!"

I nodded. "And we were paid well, and we killed a lot of ponies today."

"Ponies that would...have killed my brother," Twilight commented quietly.

"You are welcome for the help, but...don't change, y'know?" I grinned. "Let us be the monsters."

Twilight nodded and smiled back. "I have to know...how did you know he would be able to run back from Tartarus?" Ah. She was here because she wanted to know about Atlas.

"I didn't." The look on her face shifted from friendly inquiry to horror. "He smiled at me. I figured whatever he had up his sleeve was no good. So did Reaper. I thought that would end the battle, I didn't know that was his fallback plan all along." Twilight nodded silently but didn't interrupt. "Your first impression was pretty close to correct, we are dangerous men with dangerous machines. This world is..." I looked out of the hangar at the setting sun in breathtaking blues, oranges and peach. "...really nice. I'm glad you don't need to solve problems our way most of the time."

"Sometimes we do though. I'm sorry that I got mad at you." Twilight looked up at me with shimmering eyes.

I looked around the hangar, nothing here that wouldn't keep until we left.

"I am glad that your friends made it through this safely, Twilight. Allow me to introduce you to an ancient ritual to put this horrible experience behind you."

She looked up at me as I waved for her to follow. "What's that?" She trotted up beside me.

"It's called 'getting blackout drunk'." I put a hand on her head and messed up her mane.

She looked at me in a new kind of horror. "That's dangerous!"

"Would you rather try to sleep tonight?"

The only sound was our footfalls on the hard packed dirt for a moment.

"I could just read all night instead," she replied weakly. I chuckled.

"I won't force you, but don't spend tonight alone. Besides, your brother owes me a drink, I'm sure he'd buy."

"Shiny doesn't drink," she corrected, confused at the concept. A terrible grin spread slowly across my face.

"Oh. Then you definitely don't want to miss this. You'll learn something new about your brother."

"My Bbbff tells me everything!"

I laughed. "That's what you think."

"He does!"

"If you say so!"

---

I met with my lance that evening, and the steward was kind enough to direct us to the officer’s hall. The four of us were greeted by the lounge with cheers and a clipped yell to military attention. Shining Armor stepped forward and cleared his throat. The smell of a hundred unwashed ponies and alcohol hit me once I breathed in. "Christophe Black, Atari,” Shining armor greeted us stiffly. “The Equestrian army lost twenty-three good soldiers today. We were assaulted by an army of hundreds. Your crazy plans and your terrifying war machines brought almost the entire damn Equestrian army home." His voice was manic. The room was quiet except for the captain's breathing. He raised his glass after taking a moment to compose himself. "To our lost brothers and sisters." An enterprising young unicorn brought the four of us glasses. The room drank with scattered sniffles and 'hear-hear's. "And to Atari, for bringing the rest of us back!" he shouted with the first smile he'd given me. The room cheered and rushed us, bringing hugs and shots of alcohol.

The party devolved into chaos from there, as the young officers tried to deal with the day and the old ones huddled in a corner to avoid the inevitable. I found myself next to the colonel telling him about the events of my young career and buying drinks.

The room went quiet an hour later, over nachos. Everyone looked over to the door. "The hell?" I asked. Nobody had to answer. Twilight Sparkle stood in the doorway looking very lost. At least one mug hit the floor.

"Twily?" I heard Shining Armor ask.

"Chris said I shouldn't spend tonight alone."

"We walkin in," a familiar female country twang asked from behind her, "or we gonna spend the night starin through th' windows?" Applejack unsubtly coaxed Twilight through the doorway. The room was still silent until Pinky Pie walked in.

"Are we gonna hang out with our mouths open all night, or are we gonna PARTY!"

I knew I liked Pinky Pie, but it wasn't until then that I realized that it was because she had good taste and an excellent sense of timing. "Three cheers for the Elements of Harmony!" I yelled, and the room erupted. Poor Fluttershy had to be dragged back in by Rainbow Dash.

I don’t remember most of what happened next. I learned that Shining Armor was an emotional drunk. Foxfire and I drank for a while. The colonel and I shared a shot of something that tasted very expensive. The last thing I remember was learning that the bar stocked sake, and I introduced Twilight Sparkle to sake bombs.

---

Rarity begged Hiro for another concert, which after our near-hero status was a packed house. He played brilliantly as always. He even finished off with a DC victory song that sounded amazing without hundreds of conquered worlds worth of propaganda behind it as subtext.

With the battle won, the peace delegation was sent south to the Forbidden Jungle. Twilight was of course selected, but Celestia asked for my presence as well. It struck me as an odd gesture until the actual negotiations. The country seemed more a collection of villages than a pre-industrial country. The delegates were somewhere between horrified and apologetic about their renegade royalty and the inadvertent support their kingdom had given against such a preposterous idea. Celestia called for some trade inspections but no real damages. We gave back our prisoners of war, which numbered in the hundreds, had a delightful feast, and went home.

In the end, their reactions seemed a bit hollow to me. Celestia simply nodded when I relayed my thoughts. "I thought you might say that, but they seemed to be telling the truth to me." She promised to keep her eyes and ears opened to the prospect of another attack or plot. I wondered if I had done one mission too many for the Capellans.

---

Twilight Sparkle was tasked with researching the spell to send us home again, with Princess Luna's assistance and expertise. Mostly this involved her disappearing entirely into her tree house library. Except for the day that the tree house itself disappeared, but it came back about half an hour later. Hiro busied himself with music. He was really enjoying his local celebrity status. Rolf surprised me by being social and happy, shopping around the districts of Canterlot and returning with a new bag every day or so.

Dan could never seem to take the gratitude offered to him. What I hadn't seen, and what princess Luna and several dozen soldiers related to me after the fact, was that he had crawled out of his hospital bed and convinced the pegasus medic team to take him to his atlas when the cultists showed up. The night guard held the line, but Dan pushed them back and held Atlas off until the princess arrived. This rightfully made him the personal hero of several ponies who tried everything to show the gratitude or make it up to him. Several of them actually tried worshipping the ground he walked on.

He would get up, radio me to ask if we were leaving, then retire to the cafeteria to complain to the head chef about whatever he was making that day. I finally got annoyed enough to ask Celestia to find him a job in the meantime. She suggested drilling the soldiers. Dan was a lot happier after that.

I spent my days in Ponyville reading in the library, or helping out around the Apple family orchard, or helping out in the Sugarcube Corner bakery. I spent a couple weeks in Canterlot debriefing the military on tactics and plans for future battles. I abused my position as foreign military advisor to hang out in the throne room and subtly annoy the nobles that looked like they were getting on Celestia’s nerves.

---

I was sitting in the shade of the Apple family barn drinking apple juice. As picturesque as my dream of a quiet life on a farm was, farm work was hard. Applejack and Big Mac were terrifyingly strong and outclassed me at apple orchard care, so I ended up doing mostly cleanup and repair work. Still, they appreciated the help, and I liked the simplicity of it. Apple trees don’t have political aspirations.

“Hello Chris,” Twilight greeted me from behind.
I spun around and smiled. “Hi Twilight. Too much theoretical magic research for one day?”

She shook her head. “I’ve completed the experiments I had planned for the day. I’m waiting on Princess Luna’s conclusions tonight. I actually came by to talk to you,” she said, losing self confidence mid sentence, “if that’s ok.”

I shrugged. “Sure, what’s on your mind?”

“Well, as you may know, I have been tasked by Princess Celestia to study the Magic of Friendship.”
“I’m aware.”
“I am attempting to write up a report on what I have learned of friendship from the events of the cult of the earth. I find myself...stuck.”
How...grade school. “What are you stuck on?”
“How do you deal with the possibility of losing friends and family in war?” I think my jaw went slack. “Sorry.”
I shook my head and took a drink. “No, it’s a valid question.”

She sat down in the shade. “I’ve been thinking about it since the battle. Academically I understand that sometimes political struggles come down to a show of might, but I don’t know how to deal with the concept personally.”

I nodded. “I don’t know either.”
“Really?”
I shrugged at the pony in my face. “I told you I’m mortal. Or at least implied it heavily at this point. I’ve never really gotten past losing my Commander. She was one of the first people to really show me compassion and help me in life. All I can do is follow her advice.”
Twilight thankfully sat down again. “So...what about your friends?”

“I give them everything I can. I give them the best equipment and the best mechanics we can afford. I find us missions we can succeed at. We train together constantly. After that...you just have to trust each other and trust your training. Maybe someday this will all come crashing down on me.”

“Hmm.”
I stood up. “I’ve got a cart to repair. Dwelling on it just makes things worse, I’ve found. Trust your friends and have their backs, and pray the gods are on your side.” I took a step away, turned and smiled. “Of course, you actually know they are.”

Twilight nodded, lost in thought. “Thanks Omega.”
“Anytime, Archmage.”

---

I buttoned my entire shirt off by one button one morning before I spent the day in Celestia’s court as a military advisor. I knew from the second week of this game that this alone wouldn't be enough to catch the attention of most ponies, so I put on mismatched socks, Celestia’s recommendation. I didn't iron my pants either. After parting my hair several awful ways, I finally settled on half one way, half the other. Uncomfortable, but this appeared to be the price of art.

Busting into the throne room had lost us a dozen points last time I tried it, so I settled on waving and smiling openly as I walked in to my introduction. Celestia glanced at a green earth pony in a flowered hat and almost choked on her tea when the poor mayor stared at me wide eyed. One point. The foreign dignitaries seemed to glance at me and wither huff or do nothing. Close, but I was aiming for not getting a reaction today. Two more points. Pristine Scroll glared at me. Four. I smiled back at him and walked up to the throne.

“Do I have to ask what the Twilight Gambit was,” I asked Celestia over lunch. She smiled at me.

“You probably don’t,” she said, dropping her princessly ways for the moment, “I bet you’ve guessed.

“I just don’t know how it worked.”

She nodded and took a sip of her tea. “Not all magic is directly influenced through the casting of a spell, Chris. The more...primal magics relate to the very nature of what a creature is.” She glanced out the window at the garden. “As I’m sure you’ve figured out, Twilight Sparkle and her friends are at their best when supported by our kingdom when it is in harmony. Changing the time of day to be twilight is simply a visual representation of that fact, but the effect is...shall we say, harmonizing.” She grinned at her own wordplay.

I rolled my eyes. “I get it.”

She nodded and smiled. “Five.” I turned to see two petitioners waiting for lunch to end, one of whom was scowling. I turned back with a satisfied grin as Celestia calmly sipped tea. “The fact that your machine is called Midnight is merely a representation of it’s darkness, though I suspect that you named it for the the terrifying darkness that the time implies.”

“Yeah.”

“Luna setting the sun and bringing the day to midnight was a representation that darkness was empowered. That your machine is named Midnight resonated. Bringing creatures from such a dark place as yours to a land of sunshine resulted in your machine acting strangely, according to Twilight Sparkle.” I nodded again. “Changing the time of day to Midnight represented the acceptance of such darkness. The same harmonizing effect due to your machine being called midnight took effect.” That certainly explained the PPC’s acting funny. I would like to say I suspected something like that, but hearing it explained in reality was mildly unsettling. I nodded. “We seldom manipulate the time of day to our whim, but it can be an effective tool.”

“We are so completely outclassed on this planet,” I commented as I felt the warmth of my teacup with both hands. “I’m glad this mission is over, once the creatures of this planet realized how little we can do with magic, we’d be worthless.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Celestia admonished. “You were instrumental in the protection of this kingdom, and with support could continue to be.” I smiled at that.

“High praise, coming from a sun goddess.”

“It should be. Three.” She gave me another of those unreadable smiles and the Princess Celestia was back for the day.

“Commander Black,” said a dark brown pony with a heavy accent, “I feel that I would be remiss if I did not inform you that in Equestrian culture, it is seen as a sign of good manners to wear matching clothes in the presence of the princesses,” he said with a very snooty and noble air. I nodded and apologized as I ‘noticed’ what I had done. Damn, three. I told her the socks were too much.

---

"The spell itself isn't inherently evil," Twilight blurted out from just behind me. Considering I was walking out to the garden and not aware she was even in the castle, and hadn’t seen her in weeks, I replied with an "ok?"

She trotted up to me. "The cross realm summoning spell-that’s what it is, by the way. The focuses were blood magic based, which is an effective source but destructive by its nature. The focus doesn't have to be blood magic!"

I blinked. "Ok."

"Focus substitution is well documented, thanks to the book Starswirl the Bearded wrote on his research on the subject. A properly channeled spell could use appropriately charged focus gemstones, so now all we have to do is find the right magic gems capable of handling magic for cross realm transportation!" She waited a moment and stared at me blankly. "Isn't that good news?" She asked, confused.

"I still don't understand magic, Twilight." She would do this to me every week or so. I would try to gently remind her that she had dedicated her life to mastery of a subject that didn't exist in my world.

She looked away, embarrassed and saddened. "Sorry."

"It's fine, I guess that means you're closer to finishing the spell?"

"Yeah, we need...magic gems that can teleport ponies."

"Like the elements of harmony?" I asked, confused.

Twilight's face contorted three different times. "Oh my gosh I didn't see that," she said quietly. "Gotta go!" She shouted as she disappeared in a purple flash.

I rubbed my face and walked out to the garden.

---

The last morning started with a knock on my castle suite door. I threw on a shirt and stumbled to the door. A palace guard stood at attention outside. "Her royal highness, Princess Luna." He stepped back out of sight of the doorway and revealed a tired looking princess.

"Good morning Princess, please come in."

"Thank you Commander."

She stepped in, the door closed and we both relaxed and sighed. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"I thought that I would stop by in the flesh. Dream goodbyes never seem real enough." She was still her enigmatic guarded self, but I could tell there was genuine sadness in her eyes.

"Ah, I take it then that the spell is done."

"Indeed." She looked out the window and blinked with tired eyes. "We - I - wanted to thank you personally for your help."

"I am happy to have helped, Princess Luna."

She shook her head with noticeable exhaustion. Twilight had been looking particularly baggy eyed lately, I assumed the two of them had been in constant all night research sessions. "The events of your arrival were not on your terms, yet you have helped this kingdom anyway. Moreover, I want to thank you for helping me to keep...perspective," she said carefully.

Realization dawned on me and I flashed back to the last moments of the battle. "With Atlas." She nodded but stayed quiet. "Keeping a level head about that shit is hard. We try to watch each other. You're welcome."

"You see me as an equal?" She asked with no small amount of amusement.

After having gotten used to being myself to her in my dreams, I didn’t even think of the faux pas I was committing. "I think we're all equal out there. We get pissed off, and that gets you killed. You have to watch out for your lance mates."

It was Luna’s turn to grin. “Then, as one of your lance mates, I would be remiss if I did not caution you against your own anger.”

I grimaced at that. “So you did notice.”

“An executioner’s blow is a hard thing to miss.” She looked at me, studying my expression. “We have something in common, Commander Black,” she said with a brief glance into my eyes and my soul before gazing back out the window at the morning sun and the garden below. “Such anger can consume you.” I didn’t have a good response for that. “I would feel terrible to be saved by a friend, only to have them traverse the same path of darkness that I had.”

“Well, since I can’t use magic, that shouldn’t be a problem,” I joked.

Luna grinned briefly. “It is not magic to which I refer, Commander. The emotion itself is strong enough.” She sighed quietly. “As your lance mate, I implore you to find a way to deal with your emotions, and not shove them aside.”

“How do you manage?” I’m still not sure how serious I was when I asked this question. It felt right, almost placating. The truth behind my words unnerved me.

“I am surrounded by friends and family who truly care. You have much the same in your lance.”

“I suppose I do. I will keep that in mind, Princess.” I tried filing it away along with the other wayward thoughts of how this mission had gone, temporarily more concerned with dealing with Princess Luna.

Luna smiled a tired, real smile. Not the plastered on royal smile. "It has been a pleasure, Commander Black. Good luck to you and your unit in the future."

"It has been a pleasure working with you, Princess Luna. Thank you." I bowed.

She nodded and yawned. "We shall be asleep when you are sent off. Please do not see this as a slight."

"Of course not. Good day, Princess Luna."

She slipped out the door and was gone. The guard stood awkwardly in the hallway at attention.

"Commander. Your unit's presence is requested at ten o'clock in front of the palace."

"Understood. Thank you, dismissed." He saluted and marched off. "Ticket home is ten am, Atari," I radioed.

Dan got on one second later. "Thank fuck."

---

Twilight looked excited as I walked down the castle steps. That was new for me. "We found the intermediary target point! That was why the spell made no sense!"

"Okay?" She reached up to hug me. Surprised, I hugged her back.

"The spell that summoned you reached out to the realm of nothing. I don't know why, but that's where you were. I think we found your boat too, at least I guess that's what that thing is..."

It took me a moment. "Oh, our dropship.” It took me a moment longer than I’d like to admit to come to the next conclusion. “Oh shit, I hope the captain is alive.”

She brushed off both my profanity and concern in her excitement. "Oh yeah, he's fine. But that's how you got here!"

"You're sure?"

"Pretty sure, it must have been a two phase shift-"

"No I mean that the captain and crew are still alive."

"Yes." She looked almost annoyed. "Why?"

"Because they've been trapped in the middle of nowhere with no food for two months."

"Oh. Oh since you left...no, they all seemed pretty alive when I talked to them."

"You...talked-" The number of problems she had just brushed off would take me years to explain.

"Well I had to test the spell to make sure it would work, I'd be a pretty lousy element of magic if I didn't send you to the right place." She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Ok. Any idea how to get our ship out of the...what, realm of nothing?" I could almost follow her descriptions of spellcraft now.

"Yeah, that's part of the spell," she said, slightly annoyed. I shrugged. "Once we were able to trace the spell back to your ship the whole spell became obvious. I don't know what you were doing when the spell went off, but it turned your ship into a beacon, and we can reverse that to get you back home!"

"Great!"

"It's just a little disappointing that one of the hardest magical challenges I've had to solve will be taking friends away." Her smile faded a little and she looked away.

I glanced over at Rolf and Dan sharing lewd humor with the palace guard. "For the sake of Equestria, it's probably for the best." She laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah...ok." We smiled at each other in the closest approximation of friendly comfort we had since I had arrived. But I knew there was a schedule to keep.

"So do we get our machines and put them in a circle, or..."

Twilight scratched the back of her head and looked away. "Actually first there's a-"

"PARTY!" Pinky Pie screamed as a cannon went off and sprayed streamers over a now - erected gazebo in front of the palace steps.

I mentally facepalmed. I really should have seen that one coming.

"You don't think we'd send war heroes away without a bit of recognition, do you dear?" Rarity chided. Palace staff were bringing tables and food out.

"No, I guess I didn't."

"Alright, palace catered lunch!" Rainbow Dash cheered. She and Dan fistbumped in celebration.

The guys didn't complain at the award ceremony or the lunch that followed. Several soldiers who had distinguished themselves were given medals of honor, then we were as well. It was all pretty standard, but a very nice gesture. The pallets of gold bricks that came out afterwards made me sigh in relief more than I'm willing to admit. The court scribe handed me a sealed scroll. I assumed it was an invoice or a contract and put it into my pack.

"Ok…” Dan said from beside me slowly and quietly, “I know I said that wasn't enough money, but holy shit that's a lot of gold."

"Well. Now I know what that looks like," Hiro said in quiet awe.

"Close your mouth dear, you're drooling," Rarity said quietly to Dan. He did not.

Celestia stood on the steps. "As a reward for performance above and beyond the call of duty, Dan Wilks is awarded all of the gold bars he can carry at once!" Dan's eyes flew open. I caught the hint of a mischievous grin on her face, then it was gone. Another pallet of bricks sat on the steps in front of her.

He jogged over. The first two bricks were lifted easily enough. He tried stacking them in one arm to reach for a third, and did so awkwardly. He struggled for the fourth as the pile started to slip.

"Ok these things are heavy and awkward and that might not have been a good demand in retrospect goddammit Chris don't stand there fuckin help!" In my defense I was too busy laughing. Celestia gave her best offended royalty gasp, and Dan apologized as the gold bars dropped. He went back and tipped six of them into his arms after some effort, and waddled down the steps with strain on his face to laughter and cheers from the crowd.

There was more laughter when he got to the ladder of the Atlas and was met with an obvious problem. He gave the crowd a shit eating grin and dropped the bars, then started climbing.

When the Atlas started up thirty seconds later and walked over to the pallet the laughter stopped, but then everyone cheered when he picked up the rest of the pallet. The speaker on the atlas clicked on. "Ok, let's go."

Princess Celestia laughed and shook her head. "Please come back down, we have a gift for you all," she called up to Dan. The Atlas walked back to the formation and carefully set the pallet down.

Once we were all in person on the steps Twilight and Celestia addressed the crowd.

"My little ponies, it is with mixed feelings that we send these heroes home today. While they were not asked to come, they were instrumental in the defense of Canterlot and all of Equestria. As a token of the thanks of the kingdom, we have provided you a gift. Twilight?"

Twilight's horn lit up, and a small ornate box floated up as she spoke. "We, that is Princess Luna and I, learned something from the research we did on the spell that was used to summon Atlas and yourselves." Four simple jeweled pendant necklaces floated out of the box. "We were able to learn how to cast the spell that enchanted Atlas' necklace. This necklace should protect you in case something goes very wrong. The spell is released when it breaks, so it will only work once. However, it will teleport you to safety." The necklaces were floated simultaneously over our heads.

I stared in awe at the opal embedded in the gold pendant. "Where?"

"Here, of course. Well not 'here' here, since Canterlot is protected against long distance translocation magic, but to the gate of Canterlot. You know...in case riding out of your mech through glass on a rocket before it explodes doesn't work."

I looked at her and smiled, too speechless to say much of anything else.

"Thank you," Hiro said in awe.

"You sure this will work?" Dan asked.

"You ever gonna need it?" Rainbow Dash asked, challenging.

"No."

"Then it doesn't matter."

"Please thank Princess Luna for us," I said. Hiro and Rolf nodded. "You realize you'll be stuck with us if a mission goes badly."

"That's the idea, partner," Applejack said with a grin.

"If there are no other objections then," Celestia said while pausing to look around, then nodded, "please return to your machines. Thank you Commander Black, Atari Lance."

"You are welcome, your majesty. Mount up Atari."

We all climbed back into our mechs. My computer blared warnings about broken parts and missing weapons. I saw Rainbow Dash fly up to the cockpit of the atlas and kick the window. Dan gave some kind of gesture in return, I assumed obscene. The army stood at attention, the officers saluted. The six elements of harmony gathered, started the swirl of magic, and all ten of us disappeared.

---

Vlorp

---

My vision didn't seem to recover until Twilight lit the room up with magic. The six ponies looked around in awe at the battlemech bay of our leopard dropship. I moved to set the radio to the dropship command channel. "Omega to Alex, Omega to Alex, come in." The hangar bay lights came on as my radio broadcast out. I heard the collective gasps of awe from the elements.

"Omega to Alex, you there?"

"Blake's blood Omega, what the hell is going on?"

"We're going back to the inner sphere."

"Right, like the purple unicorn I hallucinated earlier told me about."

"Yeah I know, just get the crew ready for jump."

"Blake, you think he'd never seen a talking pony before," Reaper joked.

"Ok Omega, you're the boss. Hope you got paid ‘cause we're two months behind." I glanced at the two pallets of gold bars in front of us.

"Oh, we got paid."

"Roger." The klaxon and spinning warning lights started up, and the six ponies froze in fear.

"Don't worry Twilight, it's ok,” I called through the speaker. “The captain is just warning the crew to sit down so you can cast your spell."

"Sounds more like we're about to explode," Dash argued with wings spread.

"It wants to be sure it has your attention."

Dash muttered something and stomped a hoof. When the siren stopped Pinky Pie lifted Fluttershy back to her feet and Twilight closed her eyes.

One much less violent Vlorp later, our weight shifted.

There were a good ten seconds of silence, followed by the roar of maneuvering thrusters. Our weight shifted back to up being up.

"Omega! We're in Outreach orbit!" The captain was bordering on hysterical. I wondered how many months of vacation I was going to have to give the crew. I could hear the cheering of the cockpit crew in the background.

"Glad to hear it Captain. Take us home, we've got a lot of work to do."

"Roger Omega."

I keyed the speaker again “It worked Twilight!” I didn't see the ponies when I looked down.

"The fuck did they go?" Reaper asked at about the same time.

"Dunno. Secure mechs for landing. Alex, get me a loading crew here on the double, we have cargo."

"Roger Omega."

I parked Midnight and shut her off, patting the worn command couch as I left the cockpit. As I climbed down, it was obvious that the ponies were gone. Our gold was still on the floor, I still had an ornate trident sticking out of Midnight's arm and an angry griffon glare painted on my crumpled nose. The Kodiak was still holding a sword. My three lance mates stood next to me quietly, staring at some twenty million in gold. Dan fumbled awkwardly at his new necklace before tucking it into his collar.

"They were good folks," Rolf said quietly, "gonna miss 'em." He sighed, then looked at me as stoic as ever. "Orders?"

"Prep for landing. I'll try to soothe over the DC ambassador but that shouldn't be too hard, the jumpship lost a passenger. I'll have a contract from someone in a few months. Bonuses should be in your accounts in a couple days once we get this stuff verified."

"Understood." He turned and strode out of the hangar.

"Fuckin magic ponies," Dan cursed as he walked off. Most of his usual gusto seemed drained.

"He's taking it hard," Hiro commented with some genuine concern once Dan was out of earshot.

I pulled my pocket computer out. "You have no idea." I pulled up the picture of him and Rainbow Dash passed out on each other. Hiro cackled loud enough to echo in the hangar.

We talked about the country we'd worked for and the friends we had made for a few minutes as we looked over the pallets of gold bars. I stayed silent about the emptiness I felt due to their sudden departure, but Hiro seemed to feel it too. The absence of a goodbye was the thing we both refused to acknowledge. The conversation stopped awkwardly, and he gripped the new necklace he wore with primal fear.

"You doing all right?" I asked.

"Yeah. I get to go back." He smiled at me with a faraway look in his eyes as the loading crew walked in and about tripped over their jaws. Then Hiro grinned at me. "Good luck Commander!"

"Thanks." Always Commander when there’s work to be done.

"Commander," the loadmaster called as his team started securing the pallets, "Is this important?" He held another scroll up.

I nodded. "I'll take that. Bonuses for everyone by the way." I smiled and headed to my room to the sound of cheering. I had scrolls to read.