I clambered into the Tiger, and set off a respectful distance from the town of Ponyville in the direction of the giant mountain. No sense in scaring the locals any more than we had already. There was a set of train tracks that ran north in the right direction, so I followed those for a few hours.

The Tiger's loping stride is something you have to learn to ride. Midnight just kinda lumbers, so you get used to swaying back and forth. The Tiger actually runs. There wasn't much actual piloting involved aside from minor course correction, but the occasional ravine proved to make things at least a little interesting. The five hour run served to give me a direct lesson in the sheer emptiness of the land. It really was a planet in pre-industrial society. I spent a while pondering how magic may have kept them from the innovations that we got out of technology.

Suffice to say that the guard was worried when a metal titan showed up at the train station.

Within two minutes, Shining Armor was glaring up at me, to say nothing of the dozen unicorns with glowing horns, or the lancers.

I flipped on the speaker and remained calm. "Captain, I'd like to meet with Princess Celestia. It concerns our liaison."

"What's happened to Twilight?" His horn started glowing, and whatever he was pondering doing to me couldn't have been pleasant.

"Nothing! We have a difference of opinion, and I worry what it will do to our preparedness."

He backed down at this, said something to himself, then motioned for another soldier and said something to him.

"Move your…machine over there," he said, motioning to an empty train yard, "and follow me. The Princess is holding court for the next hour."

“Thank you Captain.”

"Couldn't you have sent a letter?"

"I prefer face to face communication. It eliminates confusion." Not that it was working very well.

---

My presence in the castle as a human didn't seem to cause much panic. The caretakers must have been warned about my presence. I strode confidently through the carved marble hallways, keeping the military march-step that Shining Armor walked in.

The doors to the main hall opened at Shining Armor's magic pulse. The diplomats gathered at the foot of the throne did subtle double-takes as I entered, but were far too polite to say anything. We marched up to the throne.

"Princess Celestia, Commander Christophe Black," Shining Armor announced. I bowed.

The princess nodded and smiled as all princesses do. "Thank you Captain, you may return to your post." Shining Armor bowed, glanced at me and left. "Is this urgent, Commander?"

"Not within the next few minutes, no change in the situation in Ponyville. That is why I want to speak with you, your Majesty."

The princess smiled. "Please enjoy the refreshments then, I will be with you after I have concluded my business here."

"Thank you, your Majesty." I bowed politely and heel-spun to find a table to wait at.

It wasn't until I was refilling my glass with what seemed to be lemonade that I realized the pitcher and teacups had handles. I'd seen Pinky Pie do…things, but I was assured she was an odd character. There seemed to be no reason that there would be handles on cups when the hooves of the natives didn't seem to be able to use them. I was pondering what prior civilization might have utilized them when the Princess approached.

"Again, good afternoon to you Commander. I apologize for making you wait."

"Think nothing of it, Your Majesty, I thank you for taking the time out of your day."

"Tell me, what is so off that you feel you must see me personally?" While she stared deeply into my soul with a loving smile, the pitcher raised itself from the table, filled a cup, and set itself down again. The cup raised itself to the princess's mouth. The sheer ease with which she manipulated objects with her mind made me pause.

"It is concerning our liaison, Twilight Sparkle. I fear she does not trust us in this situation." The princess nodded, but said nothing. "More than that, though, I fear she does not appreciate the distinction between military readiness and war." At this, the Princess smiled.

"You must understand, Commander, I have trained Twilight Sparkle personally. It takes a particular personality to become a bearer of the Elements of Harmony. War is, thankfully, not part of who she is. Few alive here truly know that horror."

"That is a blessing of unimaginable wealth, your Majesty."

"Indeed, Commander." She took another drink with her magic floaty powers. "That being said, she has seen battle, and she has seen darkness. She is no stranger to fighting for what she believes in."

It was my turn to nod. "I do not doubt that, your Majesty, I have spoken to her at some length on the subject. What worries me is that she is not receptive to the planning and preparation that goes into proper defense."

"She would not be. To be quite honest, Commander, I do not know why those that summoned you here have yet to strike. We hired you because we saw a clear and immediate danger to this kingdom. That it has not yet come to pass means that those involved have now made other plans." The princess rose from her seat. "Please follow me, Commander. I was going to write to Twilight Sparkle to send your unit here by the end of the week. Since you are here already, allow me to show you what we know." She turned to me with a look of either amusement or threat. "I would appreciate it if you would try to keep the panic in Ponyville to a minimum, though."

"O-of course. Nothing spoils plans like a panic." She laughed once, softly, and started walking. I followed after a moment.

"I had a general like you once, Commander. Loyal, good hearted. Very strict about his units and very orderly. At times he did not fit the kingdom, but when the kingdom needed him, he was there."

"I would probably be an insult to his order and readiness, your Majesty," I chuckled, "You give me too much credit."

"Indeed? Perhaps the ability to be more personal with your soldiers is a factor of the size of your unit."

"I don't envy the work it takes to organize a regiment of ground troops, your Majesty."

"As I said, he had a big heart. There are plenty of military commanders who do their job excellently with yelling and punishment. There are plenty in the military who understand only fighting. Few do well in a peaceful society. It takes a certain kind of trust between those in the military and those in the civilian society to work with each other."

I was beginning to see where this was going. "I try my best to explain things to those who act as intermediaries, but as one of my men pointed out, we are usually already a desired commodity. There hasn't been a case yet where I had to convince someone that they wanted to hire me."

"This place that you are from does sound violent."

"Very, Your Majesty. How long has it been since this land has seen a major conflict?"

"Longer than Twilight Sparkle has been alive."

Yeah, that answered some questions. "That confirms my suspicions."

"I will say though, I do not wish to convince Twilight Sparkle that war is an inevitability, in any case."

And now the Princess was doing it. I’d seen the cult personally, and they were willing to go toe to toe with the royal guard. "Nor should you, your Majesty. I only want to be effective if the time does come. If you feel that the time is not coming, perhaps our contract should be reevaluated."

"So eager to end your service, Commander?"

I smiled politely. "Eager to not be seen as blackmailing someone who controls the sun, your Majesty."

The princess laughed. "Here we are. I have been gathering intelligence since shortly before you arrived on the ones who brought you here. It is time that we share that knowledge with you." She opened a door in the hallway and stepped inside. Once the surprised cries of "Princess!" had died down, I followed.

"At ease. Colonel, Captain, Commander Black has expressed interest in better understanding the movements of this uprising." I smiled as i looked at the occupants of the room. Colonel Tempered Steel and Captain Silver Spear, these were horses I could work with. I came to my best military stance facing the Colonel, and saluted.

"Commander," the Colonel said with a short salute, "good to see you again." He extended a hoof, and I shook it. Awkwardly. “I trust your preparations are going well?"

“As well as can be expected. Ponyville is one difficult place to mount a defense. Usually we are a bit overqualified for an infantry force, but we have no defenses against magic."

"Few truly do, Commander. Here, our map of what we know." I nodded and followed.

The map showed an area that seemed much larger than the bit I had traversed to get to Canterlot. He pointed out to me where we had been summoned to and where we had been found. There was the area known as the Everfree Forest that was technically within the kingdom, but completely uncontrolled. There were a few known landmarks within it, but for the most part it was a green blackout zone.

"We know that this cult is basing its operations within the Everfree Forest, but we don't know where their headquarters are. There is a bit of panic at the moment because they seem to be getting access to powerful magic and old spells that should only be available in the Canterlot Magic Library. I do know that in the particular case of your summoning, we found where they prepared everything but not where they went afterwards."

"So where can they be?"

He smiled appreciatively. "These areas," he said and motioned to several areas outlined on the map. "I have been scouting for the past few days by the air wing, but there has been no movement. Unless this uprising is much deeper into the society than we are aware, they cannot be hiding out in a city. As it stands, we are going to need to figure out where their army is going to be coming from and meet them head on."

"What makes you think there will be an army, Colonel?"

"We know their supplies, for the most part. They have been amassing weapons and magic for some time now, but only after the summoning did the information mean anything to us. We were caught off guard. I can't imagine how bad it would have been if they had summoned actual titans. That you came instead is a magical accident in our favor."

"Glad to be a mistake in your favor."

He chuckled. "So there are two reasons. One, we know they intend to put together a regiment. They have the ponies, and they have the equipment. Two, the last known uprising of this force was thousands of years ago, but the legends are clear. These ponies worship the Titans, great giants of incredible brute strength. They do not hide when they can attack with force. Neither their regiment nor their titans will be very subtle."

I nodded. Army intel agreed that the war was on the way. I felt like less of a jackass for insisting that fact to the Ambassador and her friends. "I have seen an uprising or two in my time, Colonel. I am worried that they will be using all of this to arrange a guerilla force. They appear to be both outmanned and outgunned." His confusion caused me to stop. "What I-ah-mean is…they have far less soldiers to put onto a field of battle than the royal army, and their equipment is at best equal, far less if they do not have my unit on their side."

"Trust me Commander, we have studied warfare, and I am aware of such a possibility. That is all the more reason to have my scouts on the field." I nodded. "Where you come into this picture is here," he said and motioned to an area of the map outside of Canterlot. "These are the only ground entrances to Canterlot. The Titans were an earth pony faction, and the majority of the cultists that we have found are earth ponies. We will have our air wing patrolling regardless, but if they assault with any force, we will need you here."

"Do you anticipate anything larger than Princess Celestia attacking?"

"If they have the ritual to summon actual titans, yes. It is possible that they will bring in monsters from the Everfree Forest. There is the possibility that they will try to simply breach the gates into Tartarus, but that gate is the best guarded location aside from the royal throne room."

"Wait, Tartarus is real?"

Captain Silver Spear gave me an odd look. "Of course it is real. Where do you think the monsters came from? The titans?"

"I…such a place does not exist where I am from."

"Yet you have such machines of war. You come from a truly strange place, Commander."

I didn’t want to get into that. Luckily the Colonel continued.

"The gate to Tartarus is in this area. If it comes down to it, it is a day's travel from Canterlot. We will most likely not need it, but it is possible that we will request that you go there."

"Noted. Is the land from here to there directly traversable? Can I walk there if I really wanted to?"

"Ah, yes, except for a single canyon. There is a path around, for machines such as yours, or a bridge, for ponies like myself."

"How long is this path around?"

"Another half day's travel."

I shook my head. That was much too far away for decent response time. One impossible magical atrocity at a time. "I'll burn that bridge when I get there."

"I'm sorry?"

I smiled apologetically. "I will deal with that if it comes to it. I will attempt to leave the bridge alone." He nodded, but watched me cautiously. "Alright. I can have my unit here by tomorrow evening at the latest. It will be a bit of travel for me though," I commented with a yawn.

"Don't push yourself yet, Commander. We can put you on the express to Ponyville tomorrow morning. We need you fresh."

I smiled. "What I wouldn't give to have all of my employers be as easy to work with."

"Take care of your troops and they will take care of you," he commented. “Can you put your machine on a train?”

"Oh yes, we move these machines around by train all the time."

"Could we load all of them?"

We discussed the logistics of battlemech transport for a while, and arranged for flat cars to be attached to the express. I took pictures of their intel map, and promised my insights on it the next day.

The princess treated me to the royal chefs’ cooking and a posh guest room for the night. I fell asleep staring at the map.

---

I slept restlessly that night. My animal brain didn't like being separated from the rest of Atari and Midnight. I fell asleep trying to run over battlefield scenarios, and my sleep was full of dreams of battles gone wrong.

Just before the third defeat to Capellan subterfuge, a bubble enveloped my lance and completely deflected an artillery barrage. Just as I was wondering how such a thing was possible, the black winged form of Princess Luna appeared before my cockpit.

"That is enough of war for one night, I think," she commented. She pulsed, don't ask me to describe it in any more detail than that, and everything was gone but her and myself. There was a moment in limbo, then I was in a quiet lounge in what appeared to be the castle. The Princess of the Moon lounged on a couch before me, and a small table between us held a platter of food and drinks. I leaned forward in the chair I suddenly found myself in and took a cracker.

"Thank you, your Majesty."

"I have been meaning to speak to you personally, Commander."

"Well as nice as that would be, since this is a dream it won't matter. I intend to enjoy this lovely cheese platter."

The Princess smiled at me. A dark, powerful smile. "I am the Alicorn of the Moon, the Night, and all it encompasses, Commander Black. I assure you that I am as here as you are."

I gave her a look, decided that this was better than losing another battle to Capellans, and nodded. "Of course, your Majesty."

"I will prove as much when you awake. For the moment though, do rest. Let us talk." There was a momentary vision of battle, but it passed. "It would seem that your life and your world contains much strife."

"An understatement, your Majesty."

The princess nodded almost dismissively. “Twilight Sparkle has taught us much of Friendship in the past year. We would appreciate you calling us Princess Luna, it seems more personal.”

"Princess Luna, then." Whatever the dream goddess-princess wanted.

"Celestia has told me of your experiences, and Twilight Sparkle has regaled us both with concerns about your…ah, 'potential energy output'.” She seemed endlessly amused by this. “I wonder how one who lives with such power and darkness does not succumb to it." My mind wandered momentarily to memories of uprisings past. My memories played out in front of us like a video. Luna watched appreciatively. "You see yourself a hero."

"I can't stand seeing big guys put little guys down." In the vision I piloted a salvaged Stalker through war-torn streets to a makeshift prison camp. The Stalker made short work of a tank and a scout mech. I marched forward. A volley of missiles and lasers blew a chunk out of an atlas, who keeled over almost instantly. Several other defenders turn to run, and were chased off by more laser fire. "I was hired by rebels. They wanted representative government. They found a single Stalker to put me in to rescue some of their men at the end of the campaign. It went well."

"So I see." She watched appreciatively as I stood guard literally over two trucks that pulled up behind me. Men with cutting torches jumped out and began working on the prison barracks. A blip on my radar appeared, and I swung around and unleashed more missile fire on an enemy stalker. In two volleys I blew the side off of that one too, and it hid in the buildings. "Such prejudice."

"It was in his best interest to say which side he was on. I knew he was an enemy. He wanted to murder fifty men with no chance of fighting back. So I shot him."

"I meant for me." I blinked.

"What?"

"You look upon our peaceful civilization and see weakness."

"Bullshit. I see happiness." In the dream, I didn’t think of how disrespectful that was. Princess Luna seemed to take it in stride.

"You see a populace unprepared for the true horrors of war. You see us and wonder how a goddess can fathom what it means to be fragile and temporary. You show us this," she motioned to the image of the stalker now standing over a hundred men screaming in joy and embracing each other in the middle of a barren desert as the rescue trucks unloaded. Her voice lost some of the official princessy-ness. "You think I do not understand love and terror and pain, what it means to exist temporarily. Allow me to show you. I have intruded upon your personal thoughts. Allow me to show you some of mine in return."

The vision of our little victory in the desert swirled, and the Princess and myself found ourselves in a place that looked surprisingly like ponyville. Except it was on fire, at night, under the largest full moon I have ever seen. The sky was clouded with winged ponies, dressed entirely in black. A much larger Princess Luna dove from the sky, gleaming black armor with silver filigree shining in the moonlight. The air was filled with screams of terror. Then it was gone again. When the princess spoke again, after the terrible laughter had echoed away, she was much quieter.

"I understand better than most remember. I wanted to be certain that you were not…one of those men who put the little guys down, as you said."

I suddenly really missed my Stalker. "When did this happen?"

"One thousand years ago." Talk about dating yourself.

I fished for the polite way to ask why she wasn’t murdering up cities across the continent. "What …you don't appear to be a warlord now."

"I was not precisely myself. I was Nightmare Moon." Luna turned away and stared out the window that may or may not have been there moments ago. "I was banished. My sister found a way to control Nightmare Moon. I was saved by Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the elements of Harmony."

"And that ended all of this," I motioned to where the large marauding Princess Luna had been, "so that you were suddenly the good guy again."

"There was a misunderstanding."

"I'll say."

Princess Luna began pacing. "This land is not always in harmony. My sister has been working for a thousand years to keep it this way. She raised a true magic prodigy who can control the Elements of Harmony to face the threats to this world when my banishment ended."

"I don't know what scares me more, Princess Luna." I stopped for a moment to collect my thoughts. Difficult to do while dreaming. "I don't like all of this magic. I shoot things. I don't have fantastic powers to just make people be nice to each other. If I could walk up and say 'Hey, you're being a dick! Stop it!', I would! They only call me in when the shit hits the fan! I don't come cheap. When it's so bad that a city needs to be levelled, that's what Atari is for. So I don't like being looked down on like I'm some kind of monster when that IS my power. By the time someone calls me, the city-levelling monster is the only solution left." I started pacing, and Princess Luna stopped to look at me with quiet amusement. "Nobody here has seen that kind of pain, and that's fine. That's great! But that makes me a monster in the eyes of the whole populace."

I spun around all theatrically. "But on the other hand, I've seen this magic that you people use for almost the same reason. It doesn't always end in friendship songs. And whatever THAT was," I gestured helplessly to where the vision was, "is not Happy Friendshipland. So all of the singing and friendship beams that get flung around really strike me as covering up some kind of lie."

Princess Luna kept looking at me with that quiet amusement, daring me to continue. I kept going.

"So now Twilight Sparkle, who herself has vanquished monsters and toppled empires with her fancy magic powers, is looking down on me because I shoot things. And not only do I not see the difference, but she seems to think that because she uses magic, which I have no defense against, she's somehow a better person than I am!"

"What I find most fascinating is how you keep referring to us as 'people'." Luna kept looking at me calmly with a small smile. I did my best to keep my temper, but it was slipping.

"Is that offensive? Am I wrong? I guess it's a thing with us humans…anything that isn't shaped like us can't think. I'm trying to acknowledge that you…ah…ponies…are at least our equals."

"I am most humbly thankful."

"That-Don't change the subject!" I shook my head and felt the dream ending. "What is all of this friendship magic hiding?"

"Friendship is magic, Commander Black."

I woke up.

---

I was on a rather comfortable sofa in a guest room. "Fucking dream bullshit!" I mumbled, and opened my eyes. Judging by the state of the room, I had broken into the bottle on the table and passed out while trying to make sense of the map. "Fucking cryptic dream bullshit."

A knock at the door came a while later, long enough for me to almost drift off to sleep again. It scared the shit out of me. I pulled my shirt on. "Yeah, what?"

"Her Royal Highness, Princess Luna," a guard announced as he opened the door. In strode the dark Moon Princess in all her splendor. I stood up quickly.

"Good morning, Princess," I said evenly. The door closed behind her.

"Friendship is magic, Commander Black," she repeated.

I went slack jawed and she allowed me a moment to let that sink in. I dropped back to the couch with my head in my hands as I remembered the dream and realized the implications of her greeting. I had just spent the last part of the night bitching out an actual goddess of dreams.

"Oh fuck me," I whispered.

The princess had the grace to simply grin and continue her explanation. She must have had that happen a time or two. "A more powerful magic than that used by any unicorn. The truth is that many seek power, and for many reasons. But the most powerful magic is that of friendship. I do not mean that as a fancy metaphor, either. The greatest wizard of my time researched the subject personally, but could not unlock its potential. We suspect it was because he had no friends himself." The princess yawned, of all things. "Excuse me, it is late for me."

"Well you were up half the night playing guardian." I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this princess was, amongst other things, a mind reader.

"I would like to apologize for my first misgivings about your intentions, Commander Black. As one who has wielded nearly limitless power, know that I trust you with the power you wield. I will be relaying my opinions to Twilight Sparkle. You have already won the trust of my sister, but Twilight likes to trust research." She grinned the same grin that Celestia wore when she put up with Luna's adherence to formalities.

"Thank you, Princess."

"I would also like to apologize for any intrusion on your personal thoughts. The citizens of this land know my powers well. It is one of my functions as a princess."

I could only nod. It took her a moment to find the words to continue.

"As for your question, the kingdom does not intend to hide anything. The horrors of tartarus are well known, even in this age. We wish to run a better kingdom through the power of friendship and harmony. However, I know better than most that sometimes the only true end to a conflict is to crush the other power completely." The darkness washed over her face, and for a moment I could swear I could see the black and silver armor again. But I blinked, and it was gone.

"When this conflict is resolved and we have the time, we will research the spell to send you and your unit to your real home. Until such time, know that you have the full trust and support of this kingdom. Your service has been well worth the price, Commander Black." She nodded to me in thanks, and it was all I could do not to give her a sweeping bow. I settled for a polite nod.

"Say that after this is over, Princess, and I will feel a lot better. I don't make a habit of taking praise for things I haven't delivered on yet."

"Then I shall. If you have any further wish to converse on this topic with me, you know where to find me," she said with a particularly cheshire cat gin. I smiled in return.

"Good morning to you, Princess. Thank you for the pleasant dream."

"You are most welcome, Commander. Good morning to you as well." She strode back out of the room, opening the door with her magic.

I watched her midnight blue tail disappear into the hallway, unsure of what to think of the exchange. I had not expected one of the princesses to talk to me about how much turmoil the kingdom was actually in. I really had not expected the morality lesson and subsequent warning. I didn’t think of myself as angry. Mostly I just thought ‘dear Blake, she can see into dreams.’ Any deeper thought was interrupted.

The doorman peeked into the room a moment later. "Commander, I understand that you have a train to catch this morning."

"Oh, uh yes." Trains and schedules seemed so much less important after meeting the goddess of the night.

"The morning express has been prepared, and a flat car has been prepared to transport your machine if you would be willing to move it for us."

I had forgotten that too. “Yeah, I'll be ready in a couple of minutes?"

"That will be fine Commander. Please let me know."

"'Kay." He shut the door a moment later, and I went to find a shower.

---

Princess Celestia and Captain Shining Armor met me at the end of the hallway.

"Did you sleep well, Commander?" the Princess inquired. I nodded politely.

"I was not aware that Princess Luna had the ability to control dreams."

"Oh yes, I hope you were not disturbed by that."

"On the contrary, she ended a string of unpleasant dreams. Surprising, but not disturbing."

"I was wondering when she would talk to you. I should have been able to guess." Her amusement at her sister's antics was all over her face.

"Commander, is it going to be possible to safely get your machine onto the train?" Shining Armor was curt as usual.

"Easily, Captain. At the very least, I can fly it."

Shining Armor's eyes went wide. "That monstrosity can fly?"

"We call it jumping, it doesn't last very long."

"You believe that you can jump softly enough to not break a train?"

"I have done it before, Captain. It should not be a problem," I replied with what was hopefully enough assurance to convince him.

It seemed to work. The captain nodded, and turned to the Princess. "I will go to make sure that the train is prepared."

"Thank you, Captain." The Captain saluted, and left.

I waited until he was out of earshot. "Princess, have I done something to anger the Captain?"

"He is just protective of his little sister. Twilight Sparkle," she clarified. I stopped in my tracks. "Is something wrong, Commander?"

"This entire argument makes more sense now, that's all." The princess looked interested, so I continued. "There is some history involving Twilight Sparkle's heroics under your service, your Majesty. She sees what I do as different, somehow. I don't think she sees my service and the Captain's service in the same light."

"The mercenary force is seldom working for the same reasons, Commander. Surely you will grant me that."

"Of course, your Majesty. I am well aware of that. However, she doesn't seem to think that I am capable of any sort of loyalty."

"Twilight Sparkle's knowledge is mostly academic. I will be sending her a letter with Princess Luna's opinions after you leave. She will have it by the time that you return. She is passionate and defensive of her friends, but she will respect my authority on the subject." The Princess turned to me and looked me in the eyes. "You possess an understanding of war that is not common in our society but, as I'm certain my sister noted, this is greatly appreciated right now. I value it, I do not fear it."

"I don't want to know the thing you would be afraid of, Princess." I was taken back, but that was probably due to her being the magical sun princess.

"Admittedly, most of them are beyond the scope of your unit, Commander." The momentary pain that her expression noted only confirmed my fears. She looked back and smiled, and kept walking. "Nevertheless, the problem at hand. When can you return?"

"Assuming no delays, a day's ride back, tomorrow evening at the latest, around 1 AM tomorrow at the earliest."

"I'd like your unit fresh, commander. The assault isn't anticipated until next week."

We crossed the trainyard, and a thought occurred to me as I looked up at the Tiger. "What of Ponyville? Is there only a pretense keeping us there, or will something else keep it safe when we leave?"

"I did want you under Twilight Sparkle's direct surveillance for the first few days. I also did truly worry for the safety of Ponyville. It is closest to the Everfree Forest, and has no guard detachment." The princess looked ashamed. "Our search into this cult has told us much in the last week, and among that is that they intend to bring down the throne. They will assault the capitol with full force, and to assault anywhere else first would simply weaken them. Their target is the government, not the populace." The princess smiled. "Putting even that aside, Ponyville has the Elements of Harmony. They will be fine. Twilight Sparkle has a habit of coming up with creative solutions."

"The Elements of Harmony won't be with us in the battle, Your Majesty?"

The Princess gave me a sidelong grin. "Twilight Sparkle can teleport, Commander."

I gave a silent 'ah' at that and felt stupid.

"There is also the train you are taking now. Failing those, pegasus chariot is an option. No matter. Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony can be on location very quickly." She looked at me with an almost surprised smile. "Seldom does a mercenary unit concern itself with matters of logistics."

"Just one of the services Atari provides," I grinned. "Honestly, half of the people who hire me don't understand logistics at all. It is…ah…reassuring to work with an established royal guard again."

"Are there any other matters which concern you, then?"

"No, I think that covers everything." I pondered this for a moment.

"In that case, you might want to get your machine loaded, Commander." She leaned down conspiratorially. "Shining Armor is returning." I looked up and around, found the white unicorn marching toward me with his perfect Captain's glower, and realized I was holding up his perfect operation with all of my second guessing.

I turned back to the Princess with a fake plastered smile. "Pardon me, Princess, I must attend to my affairs."

"Of course, Commander." She smiled politely in return and nodded. I bowed, about-faced, and marched to the Tiger.

I managed to make it up the ladder before the unicorn could come over and glare at me more.

---

The train ride was about as pleasant and boring an experience as I'd had in decades. I had been surrounded by the rest of Atari since we appeared, and I never left the "I'm just a mercenary on another planet" mindset. In the five hours I was on the train, I sat, I watched the scenery, I went over my notes on the invasion intel, and I talked to the locals. It was the most normal thing I had ever done. For a brief moment when I got off of the train, I forgot why I was there. Then a pony in a steward's outfit walked up to me nervously. "Excuse me, sir, but your machine is ready to be moved."

"Thank you, I'll get right to it."

Rather than cook the train car, I walked the Tiger off and jumped over the rest of the tracks. I landed, the railroad workers assured me that everything was undamaged, and I set off back to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Omega to Atari, returning to base, anyone on? Over." I thundered and loped my way across the picturesque landscape. There was a good ten seconds of silence, and I figured I'd caught my lance playing poker or something.

"Reaper to Omega, welcome back, orders?"

"Omega, we're moving out in the morning. Everything good here?"

"Reaper, we're fine here. You're just in time for lunch."

"Roger Reaper, eta ten minutes. Over and out."

"Over and out."

---

The giant gyroscopes in the Tiger spun down slowly as I detached my vest from the cooling system in the cockpit. The slow lowering pitch of the all encompassing hum was a sound that i had grown so used to over the years that I almost didn't hear it anymore. However with the handful of ejections I had performed in my career, I knew it was a signal that things hadn't gone completely to shit that day.

The Tiger was still running well, and the chassis seemed to be handling the extra power and stress from the Atlas engine without complaint. Hiro had not reported any problems with his machine, though he hardly ever complained. The targeting computer seemed to be lagging. I would have to ask Hiro about that when I had a free moment. The techs who had refitted it for me warned me that the computers weren't meant to handle sixteen weapons systems at once, but they made it work at the time. I would have to get it into the shop when we got back.

The warm afternoon breeze through the apple trees was a refreshing change from the sweat and oil soaked cockpit smell and the constant hum of the gyroscopes, but the unfamiliarity and serenity of the world set me on edge now. I knew that somewhere over the horizon was an army waiting to raze all of this. I felt bad for assessing the populace homes on a scale of flammability and cover, but I knew if the assault came early that I would regret not having planned. I expected that an assault on Ponyville might be a good terror campaign to spread the forces of the army in preparation to an attack.

However now that I knew the lay of the land, some strategic limitations made themselves obvious. The main river that fed the town came from the mountain on which Canterlot and the castle were built. It ran all the way to the forest we had found ourselves in. It served as a natural barrier as the river cut off access to Canterlot from the west. Any army that wanted to assault from the southern forest, the Everfree, would have to chose between Ponyville and Canterlot. Obviously this meant either splitting their forces, which they were already desperate to augment, or doubling back after attacking Ponyville, giving the army in Canterlot more time to assemble and prepare a defense. That ruined the element of surprise which they obviously still wanted to keep.

Both were bad choices strategically. Any attack on Ponyville would therefore likely be a small scale terror raid, most likely targeting either us or the Elements of Harmony. It would also have to come before all of the forces joined together in Canterlot next week or be almost completely pointless.

Suffice to say that my thoughts were elsewhere as I walked out of Barn-Hangar B and into the Apple family barn. The poker game between Rolf and Dan I expected. The addition of Applejack and Big Mac I did not. Apple Bloom almost tackling me from behind along with a constant verbal assault was definitely not expected. After taking a moment to figure out what the kid was saying and separate that yelling from her older siblings chiding her for slide tackling their alien guest, I apologized for ditching her and reminded her that I had a job to do. When she nodded and sadly said that she understood, I excused myself to meet with my comrades.

"How's the princess?" Dan asked with no small amount of eyebrow wiggle.

"Both princesses are doing well."

"Oh, y'all met Princess Luna?" Applejack looked up from her hand and dwindling pile of chips.

"I did, she seemed to appreciate our experience." Rolf seemed mildly surprised, catching the implication that she knew the true horrors of war.

Applejack smiled. "She's a might odd, but she's nice once ya get ya know her."

I nodded. "We had more in common than I expected. Very different from princess Celestia."

"Orders?" Rolf rumbled. He was going to keep me on task whether I liked it or not. One more reason to keep him on payroll, honestly. I turned back to my unit.

"Continue operations in Ponyville until tomorrow morning. The Equestrian Army intelligence is convinced now that the main target is Canterlot, and they want us on site to start patrols.”

Hiro and Dan nodded. "No real chance of movement tonight?" Hiro asked, no small amount of apprehension in his voice.

I shook my head. "Far as they can tell they're still gearing up. It's two days march through the forest from any of their possible camps at best, another day to the capitol, and we've got air intel from yesterday afternoon. I understand that the Everfree Forest is not the most friendly place either." I looked to Applejack for clarification, and she shook her head.

"There's all manner of nasty creatures an plants in there. If it ain't hydras, it's timberwolves. An if it ain't timberwolves, it's chokevines."

"Hydras?" I asked with curiosity. I had heard the creatures mentioned before.

"Yeah, big, mean, tall as a tree, lotsa heads."

I nodded and turned back to my team. "So marching an army through it is not a quick or easy operation. We'll know when they move."

That seemed to satisfy my team. "So what's the plan?" Hiro pressed.

"As far as intel can figure, they have no reason to rampage and cause…ah," I looked around at the room of farmers and chose my words carefully "…collateral damage, so they're preparing for an assault on Canterlot. We move out to defend against the attack. From there, there are several targets of opportunity that might be hit, the main of which is the actual fu-uuuh…actual gate of Tartarus." Children in the room. I looked at Applebloom. "This really isn't a discussion for kids, 'Bloom."

"But y'all are talkin' about monsters! How are we supposed to know if we'll get our cutie marks in defending against an invading monster army?"

I grinned and pulled off my jacket. "I don't think you want this cutie mark," I said as I pulled my shirt up. The scar tissue from my first real botched ejection and summary incarceration crisscrossed my back. There's nothing like having molten plastic burning into your skin while being tied into the back of a truck.

"Is…that…" The poor kid’s eyes got real wide.

"There was a fire, and in the middle of a war the guys we were fighting wouldn't stop to treat my wound."

"That's…that's just wrong." Applebloom’s bravado for marching onto the battlefield melted.

"That's war, Applebloom. You may be a soldier someday, but I want you to grow up big and strong first." I pulled my shirt down and grimaced at her. She nodded.

"Are you gonna be ok?" she asked quietly with giant scared eyes.

"Midnight will protect me."

"Alright." Applebloom threaded herself expertly through Big Mac's legs and snuck out the door.

I blinked. "So she's afraid for the guy in the 85 ton death machine, but her sister the pony is going to be ok?"

"Y'all ain't seen Twilight in action," Applejack said with a grin.

"Fair enough."