Ninja lead us in formation over rolling grassland for a while, and then down a wide dirt road. The blue pegasus kept zooming ahead and doubling back while looking annoyed. Apparently anything less than supersonic was too slow for her. We were stuck at the top speed of Reaper's atlas, all 49 KpH of it. The talking ponies were simultaneously easy to work with and impossibly weird. The princesses just took in stride that we turned against our summoners in five minutes. I didn’t know where we were, I didn’t know how to get back, and now a group of pastel ponies was taking me to their town. Suffice to say that I was on edge. I spent a good half an hour waiting for the other shoe to drop, then settled into a bored half consciousness.

---

By the time we had reached civilization the sun was properly up. A picturesque village with farms had come up over the horizon. The group had given up on leading us from the ground, and the blue pegasus took over since she could fly up to my cockpit and glare at me periodically. She eventually led us by a sprawling orchard toward a large barn. With no obvious place to park war machines, the Tiger headed for a field of weeds. The large mechs sank into the soft dirt, but that just meant we weren't running full speed.

"Mechs on sleep mode, leave the reactor on," I radioed to my troops as I shut my mech's computer off.

"Yeah don't want to have to cold boot this shit," Reaper commented.

"Dismount Atari. Personal defense only."

The team gave a chorus of rogers and the constant hum of whirring gyroscopes slowly stopped.

I pulled my helmet off, took off my cooling vest, and grabbed a light jacket. The hatch opened smoothly and I slid down my ladder and drew my pistol as I hit the ground. Good thing, as the blue pegasus was busy with the local resistance in the form of an overly friendly farm dog. I sighed and holstered my weapon.

"You sure that's safe sir?" Dan quipped.

"I think the locals have the situation in hand." A red draft horse strode slowly out of the barn, and the blue pegasus blocked him and said something. This left the dog unguarded. I prepared for the worst.

A flash of light interrupted the brutal tongue onslaught as the purple unicorn teleported herself to the barn as the other five moved there the old fashioned way.

"Oh good, the elements of sparklemotion are here." Dan faked relief for a good three seconds before bursting into giggles. This did interrupt the dog though, who ran up to the orange pony. She adjusted her hat and led the group over to us.

We looked pretty out of place on an old country farm. Our heavy military boots didn't care about the soft dirt. Hiro had also grabbed his tan leather unit jacket on the way out of his mech and looked almost normal, but Rolf cut his usual intimidating figure as a large, pale, bald, muscled man. He was dressed in a tank top and assault rifle, inadvertently accentuating his image. Dan just had a pistol, but had taken the time to spike up his brown mohawk and put on a new shirt. Thankfully he was wearing pants this time. I wondered when he had started stocking hair gel in his mech. Hiro just tried to make the unruly black mop on his head behave with fingers as he jogged from the Tiger.

"Welcome t' Sweet Apple Acres!" Applejack said with a nudge of her hat. “I thank ya kindly fer usin the dirt patch to put yer machines."

I nudged Hiro when he said nothing. "Uh, sure," he stammered.

"Almost lunchtime, hope you folks like apple butter an' apple pie! C'mon an' meet the family!" She motioned for us to follow with her head, and I went after her.

"Apple pie, Atari. That's an order," I grinned at Dan.

Dan rolled his eyes. "God damnit. First you surrender us to a unicorn princess, now we’re being force fed homemade apple pie. You pick the worst missions Commander." Tradition mandated that he delivered that line with a straight face. I could see the excitement on Rolf’s face though.

Amongst the residents of the farm were one farm dog Winona (bark), her brother the red draft Big Mac (eeeyup) and the disturbingly green Granny (whassat) who didn't seem to notice that we were aliens. If Big Mac cared, he said nothing. He seemed to glance at his sister and shrug. I would learn later what would cause such a nonchalant reaction to new creatures being led around his house. At the time I was tempted by the prospect of real apple pie.

We were led into a classic farm house. Rolf unshouldered his rifle and looked around. "Gun rack?"

Applejack stared in confusion at the assault rifle. "What's a gun rack?"

The four of us looked at each other with confusion.

The purple unicorn, Ambassador Twilight Sparkle, looked between us with accusatory glances. "What's a gun?" She asked more slowly. Rolf nodded to me.

She was on to us. I could swear she could tell what a gun was for. I smiled, but knew I would have to be more careful around the Ambassador in the future. "A weapon, ambassador. Is there a place we could safely store our weapons while we eat?"

"Well," Applejack said slowly, "we got a closet over here. Not much use for weapons in these parts." She walked over to a closet and opened the door. Rolf followed her, and I motioned the other two to follow. Rolf removed the magazine and cleared his rifle before putting both on the shelf. Dan, Hiro and I followed suit with our pistols. I noticed the distinctly horrified look that the white and yellow ponies were giving us, but both quickly looked away as we turned around.

"I thank you and your family very much for your hospitality, miss Applejack," I said as we walked back into the main room.

"Like I said, the Apple family won't miss hosting guests of Princess Celestia. Let's all get settled for lunch and get to know each other!" I smiled and nodded, and motioned for the team to find a place.

The four of us battle hardened mercenaries stared blankly at the six pastel talking ponies. In return, the six stared back with apprehension. I took a deep breath and began improvising. After all, the ambassador was a personal student of the princess. Ponies or not, I could handle royalty.

"Perhaps I should start," I ventured. The ambassador nodded and looked...scared? "I run a mercenary cavalry unit called Atari."

"That means 'to strike' in Neighponese," the ambassador commented with noticeable nervousness.

I nodded. "That's right, or at least it has the same translation in the language I know." How the hell did she know Japanese, on top of English? Twilight Sparkle seemed to come to a similar conclusion.

"It is odd that we would have such similar languages," she pointed out.

I nodded again. "Our worlds must share something in common."

I heard the blue pegasus nudge-kick the ambassador, who shook her head and looked embarrassed for the moment of distraction. "I'm sorry. These are my friends. Applejack, of course, this is her family farm. Of course." She coughed while Applejack nodded and smiled. "This is Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinky Pie, and Fluttershy." Dan was now coughing to disguise laughter, so I kicked him in the shin under the table. "They represent the elements of honesty, loyalty, generosity, laughter, and kindness. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I represent the element of magic."

"It is a pleasure to meet you all. If I may ask, what are the elements of harmony exactly?"

"The elements of harmony are a set of linked magical artifacts that are tied to the magic of friendship." Dan snorted, or sneezed. This earned a quick glance from the ambassador. But nothing more. "When wielded by those who embody the respective aspect of friendship they can produce a protective and detaining effect."

"What the egghead means is that they turn monsters to stone!" The blue pegasus, Rainbow Dash butted in.

"The effect is reversible," the ambassador added quickly.

The four of us looked blankly at each other.

Rolf's deep bass cut the silence. "Like a cockatrice?"

The ambassador shook her head. "The effect is similar, but the magic can take many forms of stasis. Generally it can only be reversed via the elements."

"Generally?" I asked, hoping for an explanation.

"It can also have a banishment effect, which is what we were preparing to uh...do to you." The ambassador smiled sheepishly.

"Well thank you for not."

"There are cockatrices here?" Rolf continued. To me, he sounded confused. I'm told that Rolf's confused tone sounds a lot like his murderin’ tone. The six friendly talking ponies certainly reacted accordingly to the latter.

"Y-yes. In the forest," Twilight clarified.

"Hydras?" Rolf stared at Twilight.

"That's correct."

"Minotaurs?"

"Also yes."

"Sea monsters?"

Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow at that. "You mean Steven Magnate?"

"I'd hardly call him a monster," the white unicorn, Rarity, chimed in, "his manners are perfectly civilized."

"Hey Applejack, where'd you get the sweet statues?" A young boy's voice called in excitement from the doorway.

The ambassador's eyes went wide. "Spike!"

The four of us turned to see a small purple dragon waddle into the room on his back legs. "Hey girls, what's- woah, aliens!" His eyes went wide with excitement.

Rolf raised a single eyebrow. "Dragons?"

"Common species," said the ambassador as she rose to greet the tiny dragon. Her sureness wavered as she spoke. "This is Spike, my assistant. Spike, these are guests of Princess Celestia."

I glanced at Rolf questioningly. He shrugged. I shrugged back and turned to face the two foot tall purple dragon, who had taken the opportunity to jump up on to the table.

"Christophe Black, commander of Atari."

"Spike, number one assistant to Twilight Sparkle."

Dan stood up, walking toward the door. "I'll be in my cockpit until the drugs wear off." I tried to think of something rational to say, but just ended up fist bumping the two foot tall dragon.

"I'll get lunch going," Applejack said as she moved toward the kitchen.

"Like, are you real aliens? This is so cool Twilight. The Crusaders are going to flip."

Rarity and Applejack immediately looked scared. Applejack ducked into the kitchen muttering something while Rarity cleared her throat to speak. "Commander, how difficult is it to run one of your machines if you are, say, untrained?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You need the passwords."

"So would you say that they are reasonably childproof?"

"Yes, you need months of training."

Rarity nodded and relaxed, apparently satisfied. Hiro, Rolf and I looked at each other and shared wordless confusion.

Lunch continued with halting and generally awkward conversation, though the food was vegetarian home cooked goodness. I talked about myself a bit, nerding out about my perfection of the damage versus heat versus range capabilities of the Atlas and the Stalker. Dan came back inside after getting some fresh air. Rolf managed to hit it off with Big Mac. They seemed to stare at each other, exchanging single word sentences, then smiled at each other and were content. The ponies definitely were an odd collection of personalities. Rainbow Dash was every brash aero tech pilot I'd ever met. She was training to join the royal guard’s air demo wing, called the Wonderbolts, and had already won a flying competition. Fluttershy was aptly named, though Hiro was doing a fine job of attempting to out-shy her. Rarity's high society sensibilities didn't make much sense in this sleepy country town, but she reminded me of several monarchs I'd met.

Twilight Sparkle gave us the quick version of Equestrian history. Equestria was the territory we found ourselves in, the name of the kingdom more specifically. It was ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who controlled the daily path of the sun and the moon respectively. They were creatures called ‘alicorns’ which were a rare and powerful hybrid of the three base species of pony, the earth ponies, the pegasi, and the unicorns. There were other creatures living in the world and even in the kingdom, but this was primarily a pony kingdom. The three pony tribes had united to form this kingdom long ago, and peace had broken out pretty much since then.

There were some recent problems, namely the brief return of Discord the god of chaos and the attack of a species called ‘changelings’ some months ago. That attack coincided with the wedding of a third alicorn and the captain of the guard, of all things, so Shining Armor was still uneasy with strangers in his lands. I couldn’t blame him for that. The entire group talked of their exploits around the kingdom, stopping rampaging magical monsters of one sort or another, but remained fairly tight lipped about the changeling attack.

For all of her fairly impressive combat experience, Ambassador Twilight Sparkle struck me as a nerd. Spike seemed young, but surprisingly competent. He was referred to as a baby dragon a couple times, and I started to wonder what an adult dragon looked like. Applejack was an excellent hostess, with a sincerity that wasn't found too often in the inner sphere anymore. The real enigma was Pinky Pie. She introduced herself to all of us with vigorous handshakes, and began quizzing us on our preferences for color, cake, ice cream, and music. Between questions she varied between eating entire pies and taking notes. This was a woman with plans. Pony. Whatever.

---

By the time we had finished lunch, construction crews were arriving with materials for our new barn-hangars. Applejack began barking orders for who to go where and where things needed to go. Eventually we were asked to move our machines out of the way. Apparently the empty patch was going to be the location of a temporary hangar. The four of us moved back to blocking the road.

Reaper was, of course, the first to speak up. "Hey Omega, any reason we're standing here instead of assisting as heavy construction equipment?"

"We were asked to stay out of the way. How is your hand manipulation these days?"

"Better than twenty ponies with ropes."

"Feel like showing off?"

"Do you have to ask?" I really didn't. I hit the button to turn on the external speaker.

"Ambassador Sparkle, may we talk?"

The purple unicorn stopped observing the construction project, said something to Applejack and walked over to Midnight.

"Can I help you Commander?" She shouted up, then looked at Midnight curiously. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you very well." She looked surprised, but shrugged it off. "We can assist you in construction if you would like. Our machines are very good at lifting heavy things, like barn walls."

"Let me ask Applejack."

The two ponies had a short conversation. Applejack looked at the four battle mechs with what I would call appropriate concern.

The ground clearing operation was nearly complete, at least as far as I could tell. The frames for the sides of one barn were nearly complete, and work was progressing on the roof. Applejack waved at a few ponies who were beginning to drag ropes out, the walked over to our formation. "Y'all wanna help?"

"Yes, miss Applejack."

"Can y'all lift the frames into place without breaking em?"

"Reaper, Bear, you're on wall duty."

"Roger"

"Ok"

"The two tall machines will follow your direction, Miss Applejack. That is Daniel and Rolf."

"This way please.” She nodded them forward, then shouted ahead. “Clear the area, we got some help."

Reaper and Big Bear made short work of hoisting the wall frames into place, and shorter work of lifting the rafters into position. An entire team of ponies diverted to help the construction crew with the second barn. Reaper resorted to showing off by using the Atlas's large frame like a forklift, while Big Bear was content to use the hands of the Kodiak to twist and hold the wood pieces into position.

"Man, one mech would put this civilization ahead of everyone else on this planet," Reaper mused.

"Yeah, they only have a sun god to protect them," Ninja retorted.

"So she has a big flashlight and knows when the sun rises. Lots of primitive cultures worshipped the sun."

"Doesn't...doesn't the blatant use of magic strike you as powerful?” Ninja sounded wary of Reaper’s quick dismissal.

"Dude, whatever. Smoke and mirrors." Reaper went silent as he held the next set of joists in place. Ponies swarmed over it with hammers and nails and moved quickly on to the one Big Bear was holding.

"Looks pretty real to me," growled Big Bear.

"Yeah and lasers and radar would be magic to them. It's all relative."

The barns went up in record time. There were ponies on scaffolds painting soon after. Once the Atlas and Kodiak had moved away from the work area again, I was pretty sure they had started a choreographed song and dance number. It was better than some receptions we'd had, so I wasn't complaining.

---

With actual hangars to work in, we set about looking over our machines for the first time since being ripped through the fabric of space and time. The Atari company mechanic Janice was unavailable, leaving the grubby pilots to check the vital systems that kept the nuclear fusion reactors and multi ton gyroscopes from exploding. Without access to our dropship we were unable to load ammunition as well. Reaper's atlas and Big Bear's kodiak both had about twenty to thirty shots for their cannons and missile launchers. Plenty for a battle or two, but not nearly enough for the weeks we had just been employed for. Midnight's backup rocket packs were in a similar situation, but the four particle accelerators didn't need to reload. The lasers on the Tiger were under warranty for the next three years. If we fought carefully and conserved ammo, we could hold out for the length of this engagement. Assuming, that is, we didn’t run into much our own size.

After a couple of hours of crawling into uncomfortable access hatches and asking the finicky computer questions, we were all pretty certain that our machines were working. All that was left was the weapons test firing.

By this point in the afternoon most of the six ponies had returned to their lives. Rainbow Dash kept buzzing overhead, but Applejack assured me that this was part of her job. Closer inspection revealed that she was moving and destroying clouds.

"What is her job, exactly?"

"The weather team manages the rain and snow, makes sure we get our scheduled rainfall and enough sun, keeps big storms from the Everfree Forest from wreckin the town," the farmer replied easily.

I watched Rainbow Dash work for a moment until I processed what had been said. "They make the weather."

"Yup."

I had so many questions about this world. I let the complicated ones slide and settled for asking her the simple ones. The 'weather team' was preparing for a rain storm the next day, I learned, and were rarely off schedule since Rainbow Dash had become the day shift captain. This was a daily occurrence.

Fluttershy had returned to her home and, I gathered, veterinary clinic. Rarity was a fashion designer and seamstress, running a successful and nationally recognized shop out of this farming town. Pinky Pie was a caterer and event coordinator. Applejack ran the family farm and orchard. The least impressive résumé of the bunch was the ambassador, a small town librarian. However she obviously carried enough sway with the princess-slash-sun goddess for field promotions to ambassador, so something else was obviously going on there. The a-type personality introvert was not giving off any clues as to why, though.

"Miss Applejack," I asked as I walked out of barn-hangar B, "may I ask why the Ambassador is so respected by the Princess?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Y'all know she's the element of magic, right?"

"I think that was mentioned, but I'm not exactly certain what that means."

"She's probably the most powerful unicorn in Equestria. The princess was her teacher for something like ten years." I flashed back to the greeting we had seen.

"As in her only student?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Just the last four years or so." Just the only student of a god for four years. That explained their relationship and the field promotion, but not her personality.

"So she studied under the sun goddess for...what, ten years, and now she runs a library?"

"Technically I think she's still a graduate student."

"What's she studying?"

"New theoretical magic."

"Like how theoretical?"

“She’s supposed t’ be studyin the magic of friendship.” She shrugged. "I think she used a time travel spell once."

"You think."

"Pretty sure."

Time travel. Teleportation. The purple unicorn currently hiding from my lance mates in the entry of Barn-Hangar A could control the fabric of space and time. Applejack had just indirectly claimed her to be more powerful than the unicorn that had summoned us here in the first place. I struggled to express my mixture of terror and bewilderment. "She seems so..."

"Quiet?" Applejack ventured. I nodded. "She's a bookworm, that's for sure. Don't let her fool ya though, she's stood toe to toe with hydras, spirits, dragons and goddesses. That little filly won't back down once she sets her mind to something."

"Does the princess ask her to be a diplomat often?"

"It's happened a time or two, yeah."

The savior of the land was trying to act casual and not let Dan or Rolf know that she was spying on them while they worked. Poorly.

"I suppose I'll have to see her in action." The purple dragon child walked up to her, they had a quick whispered conversation, and he waltzed into the hangar with a "Hey, cool!" The ambassador panicked and flattened herself to the outside wall. Applejack winced.

"She don't always handle panic well."

I chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind."

My radio buzzed in my ear. "Omega, permission to let the dragon see the cockpit?" Rolf asked.

"Granted."

"Huh?" Applejack looked at me funny for the answer to an unasked question.

"Oh Spike wanted to see one of our machines." Applejack looked horrified. "Oh there's no danger, he can't start it.

Applejack nodded warily. "If y'all say so."

"One of those costs an entire life's salary. I'm sure. I don't take chances like that."

She seemed a bit more at ease at that. "How'd y'all afford four of em?"

"We took part in a campaign to protect a capital city from a war. We succeeded."

She nodded. "Don't much like the soldier's life."

"It's not for everyone, but it suits us."

"Fair enough." She nodded and looked at the two barns with satisfaction. "So, can I do anything for y'all?"

"Actually, the next step to testing our machines is to test our weapons out. We will need a clear area for weapons testing. Calibration really."

---

"Calibration," Twilight repeated. Applejack had returned with the ambassador, which was warranted, and Rainbow Dash, which made my internal diplomat cringe.

"That's what it's called." I pretended to be engrossed in my pocket computer rather than try to stare down the blue pegasus.

"Sounds like an excuse to start a war." The grating voice of the weather pony was a voice I was beginning to develop a pavlovian twitch for.

"With all due respect, miss Dash, the war is already started," I replied with polite incredulity.

"There isn’t a war yet!" I tried and failed to hide my amazement for her ignorance.

"Calm down Rainbow Dash,” the Ambassador broke in, “Princess Celestia has given them the authority to act as an on call branch of the Royal Forces. If they say they need to do this, it is our responsibility to make sure that they do it properly." The last part was said with a belittling glance in our direction. "Can you explain to me, Commander Black, what this calibration involves?"

I sighed. At least I could attempt to appeal to her scientific curiosity. "Given that the mass of a planet or other orbital body can vary from one to another, the density of air and force of gravity can change. The onboard computer can compensate for these changes, but only if it has a chance to read what they are, test the forces, and make changes based on tests." I prayed that was sciency enough.

"So in order to be able to fight a war, you need to test fire your weapons."

"That is correct."

"Do you need to shoot anypony?" Rainbow Dash did not seem to ever quit.

"Easy, Sugarcube." Applejack moved to her side.

"No, we do not need to shoot anyone. Shooting at a spot on the ground is all that is necessary. It would be helpful if you could make sure that nothing comes near that spot. An empty field with nothing to damage will be ideal."

"Near that spot?" Twilight picked up on the ambiguity of my statement. I was pretty sure I'd gotten her at least partially curious.

"The computer makes assumptions based on what it can tell without firing. It will be wrong. It will miss."

"How much?"

"I don't know, a few meters? Don't…glare at me like that. Please." I interrupted my explanation. This contract was beginning to get difficult. Twilight was giving her best disapproving glare, but it was bordering on becoming an angry glare. "Probably about five body lengths, better give it twenty to be sure."

"How far away?"

“About as far from here to the big house,” I said pointing to the Apple Family house.

Applejack put herself between Twilight Sparkle and I. “Th’ empty field there will be fine, Commander.”

I nodded. "Thank you, Applejack. Hiro, could you walk the Tiger out to 250 meters and give us a nav point?"

"Roger Commander."

"Come on back after you've got it. Target will be nav alpha, fire from nav beta."

“Just try not to start any fires, if y’all can please,” Applejack piped up.

That was a good point. “Certainly. Hiro, try to find a place without much brush.” Hiro nodded. Rainbow Dash zoomed off toward where Applejack had pointed with physics defying acceleration. I shook my head. "Mount up, Atari."

Rolf, Hiro and Dan climbed up into their respective machines. I stayed on the ground for a moment to have another staring contest with the Princess's prized purple protege. She seemed to be looking for something in my head. "May I ask what happened in the invasion?"

"No, you may not." I nodded. I guessed whatever was bothering her about this whole thing had something to do with the Changeling Invasion from two months before. Twilight had now refused to speak of it twice. I didn't want to go behind her back on the subject, but I was beginning to think that knowing what happened was more important than trying to make nice with her. Their perfect kingdom seemed to have its share of enemies.

A rainbow blur interrupted us. "Twilight, I found a spot. Big empty patch, just rocks and grass."

"Will that suffice, Commander?" All emotion was gone from her voice. I'd heard this tone from several dozen diplomatic liaisons in my time, but I was surprised that this formerly inquisitive, friendly…horse had slipped into it. I, in turn, slipped back into 'mercenary contact' mode.

"That will be fine."

"Rainbow Dash, lead them to the target area." Rainbow saluted and zoomed off.

"Ninja, follow Rainbow Dash and mark nav Alpha."

"Roger Commander." Hiro’s voice buzzed in my ear, and his engine hummed to life. Twilight winced as the footfalls of the 65 ton machine bounded across the landscape after the rainbow blur.

The Tiger walked up to the spot, set up a radar navigation marker, and radioed back to the team. The lumbering form of the Atlas hummed to life, took a few steps back, and marked a second point.

"Target navs are up, Commander," Reaper buzzed in my ear.

"Ninja, come back to nav beta. Twilight Sparkle, please have the elements of harmony move away."

Twilight nodded, glowed for a brief moment, and disappeared. I saw her reappear in the distance next to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, then she was back. Rainbow Dash was dragging Fluttershy away again.

"We are ready, Commander," Twilight said without looking at me.

"Thank you Ambassador."

Tough crowd. She was going to take some time to warm up. The Tiger slowed to a stop behind the Atlas a moment later, where Reaper stood on the target point.

"We're ready Commander."

"Roger, commence targeting calibration in sequence."

"Firing."

There was a pause, then a sapphire light flashed out from the Atlas's arm. The air screamed in response to being superheated. The other arm flashed out the same. Twilight winced at the sound. Applejack's eyes grew wide. The dry grass at the target spontaneously combusted from the heat. Each arm flashed out again, then once more. I could tell that the computer was zeroing in on the spot.

"Commander, the computer is whining about the other weapons."

"Give it the small lasers. Forget the autocannon, and the Streaks can track."

"Roger."

Ruby lances flashed out from the Atlas's arms, torso, and single glowing red eye. An expensive modification, jamming a small laser into the head, but it certainly had the intimidation factor imagined by the original designer. None could reach the target, but I could tell by the way they spread that the computer was happy.

"All good here Commander. Sharing target data with the lance."

"Good. Next unit. Rolf, you're up."

Wordlessly, the Atlas, hummed to life and walked around to the back of the line. The hulking form of the Kodiak took a few steps forward, adjusted his position and began testing.

"Commander, what is happening now?" Mercenary Liaison Sparkle was requesting more information, the longer we talked the less personable she was becoming.

"I need each machine to-"

"Twilight? There's a fire." Applejack interrupted. I sighed. Stupid planets with their foliage.

"Can't you teleport some water on it?" I came up with that off the top of my head. Twilight was about to yell at me, and realized that wasn't impossible. She closed her eyes for a moment. Between the sapphire flashes from the Kodiak's chest, a burst of water appeared over the target, and doused the flames.

"Commander?" Rolf's bass rumbled my ear.

"Keep testing, Atari," I called back.

"Roger."

The ruby lances flashed out from the Kodiak's arms, twice, and Rolf walked off of the spot. The Tiger walked onto the target and fired its medium lasers.

"Why do they make so much dern noise?"

"The same reason that lightning is loud. There is a lot of energy, and it heats the air. It just does it differently so it sounds different."

Twilight nodded, again without making eye contact with me. "You've managed to harness the heat of lightning, I assume without the electrical discharge."

"That's correct."

"What transfers the heat?"

"Light. Like if you focus the sun with a lens."

"You'd never get a beam with that kind of cohesion with a lens."

"No, It's…slightly different. I can't explain it. But it's light."

"Mmmm-hm." I couldn't tell if that was disbelief or dismissive.

I sighed, my hesitance hidden by the searing of the Tiger's small laser arrays. "Twilight Sparkle, I will be going last. I suggest that you find a safe place for the Elements of Harmony to wait. My weapons will be much more…explosive.”

"I understand, Commander." She disappeared, and I sighed as the Tiger walked away.

"What's got y'all so scared of Twilight?" My stress returned immediately as I mentally cursed myself out for forgetting Applejack.

"I…worry that I have not yet gained Twilight Sparkle's trust."

"She's a tough nut ta crack, Commander Black, but you will. Yer just…a bit intimidating, that's all."

"You mean our machines are intimidating."

"Yep."

"I worry about how she's going to react to my machine," I said with a grimace as I turned to walk to Midnight.

"What's scarier than harnessin' the power of the sun?" I chuckled.

"Just take cover." Applejack's eyes got wider, and she nodded.

Twilight reappeared after I had gotten to the top of Midnight and was opening the entry hatch. She looked around, found me, and teleported up behind me.

"The target area is clear, Commander."

"T-thank you, Twilight Sparkle. Please take cover."

"How much cover?"

"I don't want anyone hit by flying rocks."

Twilight looked at me with that glare again. "How fast will these rocks be traveling?"

"Very?" Twilight looked contemplative, then nodded and disappeared. I could hear her yelling a warning to the other two. I sighed as I climbed in and shut the hatch.

The computer was quick enough to integrate the target data from the other three, and two bursts from each medium laser was enough to get them back to nominal accuracy. I flipped on the external speakers.

"Changing weapons, fire in the hole." I turned off the external speaker.

The first PPC went wide. Not very wide, but wide enough that I was glad the pegasus wasn’t monitoring the area anymore. Rocks shot in every direction. A meter wide crater was left in the landscape. Something about this planet's magnetic field was funky. I fired again, and the second shot went off to the side again. The third shot was high. The fourth shot was right on target. I held off to let the heat go down.

I fired again, and the shot went off to the other side. The computer started scrolling error messages across my screen, and another screen just kept flashing "Calculating…" I would have rubbed my face if my head wasn't covered. I banged my head against the headrest instead.

"What the hell is up with the PPC's?" Reaper's voice on the comms.

"Not sure, I don’t know how a particle cannon is getting knocked off course."

"Weird, the air is perfect. Like, uniform density perfect. The lasers had to uncorrect."

"This planet, man," I agreed.

The computer screen stopped 'calculating' and prompted for another test fire. This shot was wide again. More calculating. The suspense was killing me, and I kept glancing out of my tiny window at where Twilight Sparkle huddled with the available Elements of Harmony with a magic purple bubble over the top of them. I was prompted for a shot again, and this time it was at least near the target. Two more shots were similar. At least the computer was making headway. I fired in constant succession, and each shot was closer than the last. I finally stopped when the computer warned me about the heat level. I was down to within a decimeter, and that seemed to be as good as I was going to get on this planet. I wasn’t going to be able to snipe anything at half a click though. The natives were getting restless anyway, and the target "point" had become a crater that was large enough I wasn't able to shoot AT the target point anymore. Time to call it a day.

"Back to your hangars, Atari. Reaper you have lead."

"Roger commander."

I flipped on the external speaker. "The test is over, Twilight Sparkle. We will be parking our mechs now."

"Understood Commander. We will meet you back in the house."

Twilight disappeared in a purple flash, the other two trotted away, and I wheeled around to join the formation of ‘mechs.

---

Supper was a respectfully quiet affair. Applebloom, Applejack's young sister, had come home from school. This resulted in a bouncing grade schooler attempting to ask about the giant footprints, the aliens, their war machines, and the titans all at once. This was all quickly silenced, which just put off being cornered by the curious child until after dinner. I quietly explained that I was a soldier employed by the princess, and that I would show her my war machine if Applejack said it was ok.

Applebloom was cruelly forced to wash dishes and do her homework before Applejack would look over my direction. Rolf silently helped with the dishes, but none of us were going to be accused of helping a kid cheat on homework. Finally the wide eyed pleas of "can I please go see the titans now?" wasn't met with any other questioning from Applejack or Granny. Applejack sighed warily.

"All right, but you gotta do exactly what mister Black says, you got it?" Applebloom nodded in a blur and probably would have promised her own kidney if it meant Applejack said yes. Applejack sighed and looked over at me on the couch, where I sat halfheartedly looking over the atmosphere analysis. "Sorry t' be a bother, but would y'all mind showin' my sister around?"

I stood up and smiled, quite ready to stop beating my head against computer readouts. "Not at all. I already promised to, after all." I looked down at Applebloom. "C'mon, wanna go for a spin?" I waved for her to follow as I made for the door. After having the reward teased in front of her for so long, she looked like she would explode from the prospect. She settled for squeaking in excitement and running to follow me. We got outside before Applejack could finish yelling about running in the house.

Applebloom's mind was far from the farmhouse anyway. "This is gonna be so cool! I never got ma cutie mark because I was destined to be a titan pilot an’ save Equestria! The girls are gonna be so jealous! Cutie Mark Crusader Titan Pilots!" She finished with a cheer. I ignored how much that sounded like a cheesy movie plot.

"Whats a cutie mark?" I asked instead as I led the way to Barn-Hangar B.

"Aintcha seen the marks on the ponies around here Mister Black?" I nodded. "Those are cutie marks! Its their special talent, and it's what they're destined to be great at!" Her enthusiasm faded noticeably as she continued. "Only you don't get one until you start doin' it. Me an’ my friends ain't found ours yet." My mind flashed to the symbols painted on the ambassador and her friends, and began running through the possible meanings. Rainbow Dash's rainbow lightning bolt was self explanatory, as was the apple farmer’s apple mark. I wasn't sure what the six pointed star on Twilight Sparkle was about, or how it related to being the most powerful unicorn in the kingdom.

I nodded to Applebloom, supremely well trained in the art of looking like I was listening. In the middle of her usual rapid fire verbal assault was useful intel though. "That's interesting. We don't get cutie marks." Dan was gonna have a field day with that term.
Applebloom looked horrified. "How do y'all know what you're destined to do?"

"We don't," I replied as I opened the door. That statement left Applebloom so confounded that the verbal assault stopped. The sun was setting but enough evening light came through the door to see by. The stalker and the catapult stood silently and ominously in the dimly lit barn, drooped down without the power on. I launched into an explanation before she could recover her verbal momentum.

"This is a Stalker assault battlemech,” I said as I walked over to Midnight. “To get into the cockpit, where you sit, you need to climb up this ladder-" and she was off "and the door needs me to punch in the pass code before it will open," I finished to empty air. When I looked up, Applebloom looked down at me sheepishly. “And if you press any buttons that I don’t say are ok, you could kill everyone in the farm house.”

That made her pause. “Really?” she asked, wide eyed.

“This is a war machine, Applebloom. Can I trust you?” Not that I was dumb enough to arm the weapons, but the Stalker could still walk through a wood frame building without any trouble.

Applebloom climbed down the ladder. “Maybe this wasn't such a great idea.”

I shook my head. “It's all perfectly safe if you do what I tell you. C'mon, follow me,” I said encouragingly as I started up the ladder.

Once I got us both inside, Applebloom perked up a bit. There’s enough room in a stalker to be behind the seat, but I brought her up on to my lap once I was settled in. She was lighter than I expected. The computer speaking about scared her back out of the cockpit, but she laughed once I explained what was going on. I showed her how all of the different screens showed different information, and the massive control panel that tweaked them. Her youthful enthusiasm did lead her to pressing a bunch of buttons on the control panel, but she did listen when I told her to stop. I drove Midnight around the outskirts of the orchard as the sun set, letting her steer once we were away from anything breakable. She wasn’t bad at it really, but any time I mentioned the weapon systems she sat back and looked at all of the screens, getting real quiet.

We turned back for Barn-Hangar B once the sun had gone down. “Mister Black?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you been in lotsa wars?”

“Yeah, I’d say so.” I glanced at my clan invasion medal and my honorary unit patch.

“Is it...I dunno...something you’d wanna be good at? Something you’d want your special talent to be?”

I grimaced. I didn't want her to think she should run off and enlist. “I am good at my job, but this is a violent life. You spend your time protecting people who need it and killing the guys who want them dead.” A gross oversimplification, but Applebloom seemed to be taken back by just that much. I didn't mention the preemptive strikes or the search and destroy missions.

Applebloom looked back at her side, sighed softly and looked forward again. “Looks like I’m not meant to be a titan pilot either.”

“Probably for the best.” Not like I was gonna leave one behind when we left. She would be the only mechwarrior on a planet with no mechs.

“Yeah. This is pretty awesome and all, but it's scary.”

“Well, that's kinda the point.” I shrugged when she looked up at me. “We’re supposed to be scary. If we walk in and we’re scary enough, sometimes there’s no fight.” She nodded and went back to watching the secondary monitors scroll with helpful information.

Once I maneuvered Midnight back into my new hangar and shut everything off, Applebloom seemed eager to be back on solid ground. We climbed back down in silence.

“Mister Black, why are you here?” She looked at me with an unexpectedly insightful glare. I considered how much information to give out.

“Princess Celestia wants us to guard Ponyville for a while.”

“‘Cause somethin’ scary is comin, right?” When I didn't answer that right away she continued. “‘Cause you wouldn't be here unless there was somethin’ else scary.” She didn't want to leave the hangar.

I sighed. “Yeah. I can't talk about it, because it's military business.”

She nodded. “Sometimes my sister tells me that too,” she said quietly. From the look in her eyes she knew what came next. Some kind of fight, national threat, a god of chaos.

I smiled. "Yeah, but we aren't supposed to be here.”

“How so?”

I looked around conspiratorially. “We were supposed to be the bad guys. Instead we’re helping.”

“Ohhhh.” She perked up a bit. “Usually my sister an Twilight Sparkle an all their friends gotta do it alone.”

I nodded. “Not this time.”

I wasn't really prepared for her to hug my leg. “Thanks Mister Black.”

“You're welcome, Bloom.”

She smiled at me and we walked out of the barn. My head was already going back to planning. “Mister Black? If y'all don't get cutie marks, howdya know you were gonna be a titan pilot?”

I have never met a kid who was so obsessed with her own destiny. “My uncle sent me to school for it.” She would keep prying the rest of the ugly story out of me, wouldn't she?

“Did you know you wanted to go?”

“I didn't really have a choice, but I ended up liking it.”

“So you just...did something you liked?”

“Pretty much. We don't get our destiny painted on our sides. We just have to run with what works.”

“Oh.” She shook her head in what I guessed to be incredulity, and I thought that was the end of that question. “Yer uncle, not yer parents?” Ah crap she was going to dig into that. I focused on the sound of our footfalls on the grass rather than the memories.

“My parents died when I was young, Bloom. My uncle raised me.”

Applebloom nodded sadly. She didn't correct me on her name, so I assumed the nickname was ok. She also seemed to take the news in stride. Then I realized I hadn't seen her parents, but I had seen her grandmother.

“You know what that's like,” I said quietly as we reached the farmhouse door. She nodded and stopped, looking up at me with big sad eyes.

“Did you like your uncle?”

“Not really. Are your sister and grandmother nice?”

She nodded quickly. “I'm glad Granny Smith didn't send me away to some school. I’d hate that.”

“I got lucky, I actually liked it. Plus I got away from my uncle.”

“Maybe it is yer special talent.” She glanced warily back at Barn-Hangar B. “Ah think I’m glad it’s not mine though.”

“Don’t worry about it too much. Just enjoy…” don’t say being a kid. “Life.”

“Alright. Thanks for the ride, Mister Black!”

“You’re welcome, Bloom.”

Applejack tried and failed to hide her relief at Applebloom walking safely back into the farmhouse. “How was it?”

Applebloom shrugged. “It was pretty neat, but it’s not my special talent. That’s ok.”

“Did you listen to Mister Black?” I took it from her tone that the answer to that question was usually ‘no’.

“She was a perfect recruit,” I cut in before Applebloom’s lying skills were put to the test. I walked back to the couch and tried to put my childhood out of my head with more mission planning. Applebloom smiled in victory as she went upstairs, while Applejack tried to figure out what had just caused the universe to turn upside down.

---

We were offered space in the house to sleep, but we all looked at each other and shook our heads. Barn-hangar B was quiet with just Hiro and myself. The farm dog took it upon herself to inspect both hangars, but apparently found everything up to code. We pulled sleeping bags out in the loft but the sheer quiet of the pre-industrial society and lack of other units kept me awake.

"Chris?"

Apparently it was keeping Hiro up too. "Sup?"

"Do you believe all of this?"

"Do you mean are we dreaming and all died in a terrible hyperdrive accident?" I laughed, feeling sarcastic.

"Yeah." Hiro was serious. I shrugged.

"It's possible. I like it though. I'll go along for the ride for now. Either the princess sends us back and we're on our way to the Carver system, or the movie ends."

"That's not quite as comforting as I was hoping for," Hiro said with a quiet laugh.

"I mean, I'm not a theoretical physicist, I don't know about alternate universes. Maybe we're in one. For the moment though, we're not in over our head, we're getting paid, I'll make sure we make a profit here. I'm good."

"They do seem to be on the level. The cultists freaked me out." Hiro was silent for a moment. "Do you trust the princess?"

"I think she's got something up her sleeve, but I think she's ok. She strikes me as actually intelligent. I don’t think she’s showing all her cards, but no intelligent ruler does.”

"Guess we'll see in the morning. Got anything planned for our demonstration?"

"Yeah, I'm working on it. Still have to figure out how we're gonna show weapon power."

"Well good luck Commander, night!" It's always 'commander' when the work has to be done. We both chuckled and tried to sleep.