Twilight woke up on the floor beside her bed. She thought she would be happy to sleep in such a soft bed again, but she grew used to sleeping outside on the ground and on rock-like cots in the barracks. It felt like her bed was trying to swallow her. After an hour of tossing and turning she decided to sleep on the more familiar surface.

After scrubbing down her armor and cleaning her pistol she grabbed a quick breakfast, a near sexual experience for the unicorn. She strapped the side arm to her shoulder and trotted off to meet her friends, family, and mentor. She found them outside Fluttershy's cottage. They were setting up a picnic brunch, waiting for their returned friend. Rainbow Dash was the first to spot Twilight coming over the bridge.

“Hey Twilight.” said the prismatic pegasus, “What kept'ya?”

“I had to scrub down my armor,” she replied, “It was a four day flight here and I wore it the whole time.”

“Four days?” asked Applejack, “How in tarnation did ya, ya know, take care of business?”

“Heh heh, that's why I needed to scrub it,” She said to the horrified expressions of the other ponies, “Don't look at me like that. It has a waste management system built into it.”

“Still, it's so...” Rarity tried to speak but was cut off by her own shivers.

“Twily?” asked Shining Armor.

“Yes, BBBFF,” she replied.

"Why did you bring a weapon and armor with you?" he asked, warily looking at the armored holster strapped to her shoulder.

Twilight looked back at the gun, “I'm just uncomfortable without my pistol at my side. It's saved my life many times. As for this...” she held up her armored hoof, “well how can I put this.” The lavender unicorn bit her lip as she tried to find the right words, “You remember how I said this is nothing,” she pointed to the scar under her eye, “Well this is what I meant.”

Twilight sat down and wrapped her leg in magic. A couple clicks and she removed the metal. Everypony gasped at the sight. Where her leg was supposed to be was a stump. After giving a moment for her audience to see, Twilight replaced the artificial limb, giving it a flex and twist.

“How did that happen?” asked Fluttershy, holding back tears.

“I'll get to that in due time, Fluttershy.” Twilight said, “I guess since I have everypony's attention, I’ll continue.

“Seth had just given me his gun, and we were heading to some unknown place to carry out some unknown task...”

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

After a half hour walk Seth signaled for them to stop in the remains of a small building. It was the same plain, square, (used to be) white brick building as most of the others, but this one a bit more intact than the rest. After a quick search around, Seth pulled out a visor like the one he wore. He adjusted it a bit, lengthening or angling different parts. Twilight assumed it was made to accommodate several different species with the amount of articulation it was capable of.

“Try this on.” he said holding it out, “Put this in your ear and this beside your mouth.”

Twilight complied, resting it on her face as close as she could to how theirs were. Immediately she saw information pop up in her sight. She saw a label over her two escorts with their names and some other things that didn't mean anything to her.

“So what now?” she asked.

“You're going to be on overwatch,” Seth said, “Just stay out here in this little cubbyhole and keep a lookout. If anything shows up, you tell us. All you have to do is press this button and talk, and we'll hear you,” he pointed to a button on the side of the visor, “Can you do that?”

“Like this?” she said pressing the button.

“That's right,” said the soldier, “That will let us see what you see. Just make sure you're looking at them. You got all that?”

“Yeah, I got it,” the unicorn replied.

With that, the two soldiers walked off and into another structure about a hundred yards away.

Twilight sat and waited, watching for anything that wasn't her or her new friends. An hour later a strange metal box floated up and landed about thirty yards away. Several creatures jumped out. They were a little shorter than the humans but just as well built. They looked avian with feathers on the unarmored parts and talons, but their faces were almost reptilian. Most wore a dull gray armor while one wore a bright white set.

“Oh-my-gosh, guys,” Twilight whispered as she pressed the button, “Are those guys the Dratali?”

“Yeah that's them,” a voice sounded in her ears, “Shit... it's quite a few too. Twilight take cover, we're coming out.”

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Twilight stopped her story, and pulled a small box out of a pouch on her harness.

“What the hay, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash said, “Why'd ya stop? It was just getting good.”

“Give me a second,” She responded, “I'm pretty sure you're NOT going to like this part anyway.”

She removed a small white stick from the box, putting it in her mouth and lighting the end.

“What is that?” asked Cadence with a curious expression.

Twilight let out a puff of smoke and chuckled, floating it out of her mouth to speak, “Just another bad habit.”

Dash cocked an eye at her, “Can I try it?”

Twilight looked down at the tobacco product and back at her friend, “Uh, I don’t think you should.”

“Oh, what, It’s good enough for you but not me?” The rainbowed pegasus insisted.

Twilight chuckled, “OK, if you want. You just put this end in your mouth and inhale.”

Rainbow took it in her wing gently as to not touch the fire, and did as Twilight instructed. Twilight gave her an “I told ya so” look as the cyan pegasus coughed and hacked all over the place. The purple unicorn caught the flying stick as it hurtled through the air and took another drag.

“What the heck Twilight?!” she wheezed, “Why would you do that! It's disgusting!”

“Like I said, a bad habit. You get used to it, and it calms the nerves. Anyway, shit was about to hit the fan...”

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The creatures set up a position outside the building Seth and Curt were in. They deployed some kind of portable barriers and a big bulky version of the weapon that Seth had.

“Twilight, get your head down,” Curt said sounding more serious than he had all day.

The lavender unicorn pulled Seth's weapon and held it in her magical grasp. She wasn't sure why she did it, but assumed it was because that's what she was told to do. She held it in front of her, shaking. She couldn't remember ever being so scared.

A loud explosion came from the other side of the building, blowing a hole in the wall. The aliens immediately dove for cover and readied their weapons. The one in white started barking in a guttural language - he was definitely the leader. Several of the Dratali ran around to the far end of the building. Twilight watched the newly made hole for the two soldiers, but saw nothing. All of the creatures but four were looking in the hole when the first shot was fired... from the front door. The pellet bored through the skull of the being with the mounted gun. The other three were dispatched quickly after, before they could react.

Twilight froze in horror. Never before had she seen so much blood. She would have been sick if she could think at all.

Seth ran out, firing at the Dratali as he did. Curt followed shortly behind and grabbed the large weapon still mounted to the barrier. He pointed it at the previous owners and opened fire. It tore through the enemies armor like it was tissue paper. It didn't take long for the numbers of the enemy to dwindle significantly. They only numbered about five now, and they were getting desperate. Curt had abandoned the mounted gun and was using his rifle again. A shot to the neck removed the head of one of the creatures, leaving only four left.

Twilight had the desperate urge to run, but she found herself rooted in place by the same paralyzing fear that screamed at her to flee. It would've been a great curiosity, had she been able to form a coherent thought. She was brought out of her daze by a shuffling noise behind her. Turning around, she found one of the aliens trying to sneak around her new-found friends. The two locked eyes. The creature looked at her in confusion. The lavender pony let out an ear piercing scream and drew the pistol, repeatedly pulling the trigger...over and over again. She continued screaming and firing blindly until the weapon's 50 round magazine was depleted, then she just screamed.

“Twilight?” called a voice, “Twilight! You're OK.”

She was brought back to her reality by a pair of arms wrapping around her. Her screaming weakened until she took in the scene, and finally stopped. Curt was holding her, trying his best to comfort her, while Seth was keeping watch for other enemies. Twilight looked at the mangled corpse of the alien in front of her and the perforated, bloodstained wall behind it. Then it dawned on her, she had killed it. She had ended the life of another living thing! The thought alone was enough to cause her stomach to expel what little was therein, violently over Curt's shoulder. Despite her being sick, the soldier still held her.

“I-I-I-I-I-I,” Twilight stammered.

“Shh,” Curt stroked her mane, “It's alright. It's over now. You did what you had to Twilight. He would have killed you if you didn't. It's terrible I know, but you didn't have a choice.”

After several more comforting words, Twilight was able to calm down. She looked at her two escorts to see sympathetic looks in their eyes. They knew how she felt, they've been there themselves.

“Come on Twilight, “said Seth, with sorrow in his eyes, “Let's get outta here. We have orders to bring you with us.”

“Orders? From who?” Twilight asked, “It's only been us.”

“I radioed the ship and told them about you just before we got here.” Seth said.

“OK.” Twilight said, curiously watching him put a small white stick in his mouth and light the end“What are you doing?”

“I'm smoking a cig, why?” he replied.

“What's a ‘Cig’?” she asked.

“It helps calm the nerves.” replied the marine.

“Can I try?” Twilight asked, “I could use something to calm my nerves.”

He held out the object and allowed Twilight to take hold. She floated it to her and copied what she saw Curt do. Immediately, she started coughing.

“That's disgusting!” Twilight said, “There is no way I’m doing that again.”

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

“Really?” Rainbow Dash gave her friend a deadpanned glare as she took another drag.

“What? Like I’ve never been wrong before.”

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

“Greetings to the being called Twilight Sparkle,” came a voice from the earpiece on her visor, “My name is Admiral Gibson, I would like to officially greet you in the name of the United Earth Alliance, and extend an invitation to my vessel. I'm sure there is much we can learn from each other. Perhaps we may even reach a mutually beneficial agreement for the betterment of our races.”

“Oh, hello Admiral Gibson, I'm Twilight Sparkle,” replied the unicorn still shaky from the conflict, “Thank you for the hospitality and invitation. I'm honored and excited to be the first pony to encounter an extra-Equestrian race.”

Just as she finished speaking a noise picked up and wind seemed to fall straight down. Twilight looked up to see what looked like a whale. It had a massive body with small wings and a tail. The thing landed next to the vehicles the Dratali used, and opened from the back.

“Come on that's our ride.” Curt said.

“Captain Dupree, Major Vasiliev.” said a voice on the headset, “It's good to see you're both safe. We have a containment craft for you. When we arrive, you and the contact will be taken straight to the med-bay for screening and decon.”

“Thank you Corporal,” Seth said as the three boarded the vessel.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Twilight incinerated what was left of the cigarette, as all her friends looked at her with varying degrees of horror on their faces. None of them could believe what they heard. It was the reaction the long lost unicorn expected. She remained quiet, waiting, hoping that they would be understanding.

Celestia was the first to find her voice, “You killed it then.” She said as more a statement than a question. “I don't know what to say, Twilight.” The princess picked up her student in a firm hug, a reaction Twilight did NOT expect. “I'm so sorry you had to do something like that.”

“Yeah, well it wasn't the last time.” said the scarred pony, “Not by a long shot, but at least my story gets kinda nice for a while.”

The others settled back down, eager to hear more.