Updated 1/20/2017

PLEASE SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR MOST DISCLAIMERS

DEAD SPACE IS THE PROPERTY OF VISCERAL GAMES

GEARS OF WAR IS THE PROPERTY OF EPIC GAMES

PLEASE READ & REVIEW, AND TEND TO THE TROPE & CHARACTER PAGES

-CHAPTER START-

Twilight's House/Library

Three Days Later – 9:50 AM

Twilight's House/Library

Three Days Later – 9:50 AM

The past few days had been mostly uneventful. Trixie was allowed outside the hospital so long as someone certified was with her at all times; this meant that she spent most of her time in the company of either Kaede or Mai. However, she also spent quite a bit of time visiting Golden Tiara, feeling rather comfortable in the presence of the motherly woman, who in turn had quickly become very supportive and protective of the broken girl.

Teana, meanwhile, had determined via observation how Golden Tiara had been able to tell she and her team had combat experience: Golden Tiara herself had combat experience as well – and plenty of it, from what Teana could tell. It came as quite the shock to Filthy Rich when she asked about it, describing the very subtle cues she caught – the very idea that his wife had that kind of training was news to him. Though he confessed that he didn't know much about what she did before he met her… and there were those times she went off "on business trips" and "to visit her family", and sometimes came back bearing inexplicable minor injuries… Not to mention the fact that it was during one of these trips that her mysterious "incident" that damaged her mind happened…

And then there had been that recent incident involving Fluttershy's brief but strikingly popular stint as a fashion model… one that she hated, leading to her breaking it off just yesterday.

Right now, though, the "Mane Six", Spike, Trixie, the Crusaders, Erika & Timmy, and Gamma Team were all gathered in the main room of Twilight's house. A big-screen TV had been conjured, and the Temporal Constriction Field was in place. Everyone gathered round as Marie took center stage.

"Okay" she said. "Now, what normally happens is that we show the local group of whatever world we're in archived footage of various happenings we've been through. But that's not what we're doing today, mainly because Ahsoka & Shion have both had visions stating that we don't yet have everyone we're going to. Instead, I'm going to be showing all of you recorded playthroughs of two of my favorite game series: the two extant Dead Space games and the Gears of War trilogy. This will not only introduce you to some good storytelling, but also show you locals more of what humans look like, how they fight, and whatnot. Now I warn you, this stuff's kinda graphic in terms of violence and blood, but I'm sure you can all handle it. This'll help get you a bit used to it for when you see the footage of our exploits."

"What's the story about?" Dash asked.

"First is the Dead Space duology – it's meant to be trilogy, but the third installment hasn't been released yet. Long story short, a mining starship has gone silent, and a team has been sent to investigate and repair. You'll find out the rest as we go. Is everyone ready?"

"Ready!" Pinkie Pie cried, holding a bucket of popcorn. Next to her sat Spike, holding a bucket of gemstones.

"Okay, then! Let us begin!"

-SCENE BREAK-

Ponyville Mental Health Facility – Teal Ward Rec Room

Same Day – 5:45 PM

Filthy Rich smiled as she watched her (mostly) sane wife interacting with their daughter. All this time, he'd stayed away from this place because he didn't want to see what his wife had been reduced to, and in the process he'd missed her recovery until it was almost complete. She had forgiven him, but he'd still yet to forgive himself, both for neglecting her and for failing to notice their daughter's issues. The idea that the crimson unicorn Teana had come up with, that his wife had some sort of covert combat experience, had been both shocking and – now that he looked at the bits of subtle evidence – made a fair deal of sense. It would certainly explain a few things…

One of the orderlies came into the room. "Ma'am? You have another visitor."

Filthy Rich turned to see as a male unicorn entered the room; his fur was a pale purple, slightly darker than Twilight Sparkle's, while his mane & tail were a dark purple, almost black, and his Mark was of an odd-colored little flame. Upon seeing him, Golden Tiara's eyes lit up.

"Indie! Brother!"

"Goldie!" he replied happily. "You're all better!"

The two ran up to each other and embraced.

"Not 100% better yet, brother, but close to it" GT explained.

"That's still a hell of a lot better than the last time I saw you, sis" he replied.

"Oh, meet my family! This is my husband Filthy Rich, and our daughter Diamond Tiara! Honey, Diamond, this is my fraternal twin brother Indigo Ember."

"…You never mentioned you had a unicorn brother" Filthy Rich said.

"You… never asked?"

"Our mom was an Earth Pony and our dad was a unicorn" Indigo explained.

"…Was?" Diamond Tiara asked.

The reunited siblings' expressions fell. "They were both killed in an accident when we were six" Golden replied. "A family friend took us in and raised us after that."

Diamond felt a hint of sadness at realizing she'd never get to meet her maternal grandparents.

"So this little princess is my niece, eh?" Indigo said.

-SCENE BREAK-

Canterlot Castle – Throne Room

Next Day

The massive double-doors swung open, and the group of 17 individuals – the "Mane Six", Trixie, Gamma Team, Spike, Erika, & Timmy – walked in.

"You wanted to see us, Princess?" Twilight asked, still slightly winded.

"Yes" Celestia replied. "…Are you alright, Twilight?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just pulled a Teleport spell to bring all 17 of us from Ponyville to here, with Teana and Marie's magitech AIs helping me manipulate the mana, do the calculations, and reduce the mana cost. Even with their help, it still took a lot of effort and mana to do. …Maybe I should get a Device of my own…"

"That's actually a good idea" Celestia said. "Your magical reserves are tremendous, Twilight, but your fine control over large amounts of mana is… a tad lacking. A Device could help you with that."

"Rarity has good enough control that she could probably pull it off without extra help…" Teana said offhandedly.

"Yes," Celestia replied, "but she presently lacks the energy reserves necessary to safely pull off a Group Teleport spell of such magnitude and range without overexerting herself to the point of harm."

Rarity looked rather downcast at hearing this.

"Oh, don't worry, Rarity. You're only 21; you've plenty of time to increase your reserves through training."

"What did you summon us here for, milady?" Teana asked.

"I've got bad news and good news" Celestia reported. "The bad news is, we've recently confirmed sightings of dark entities that match your descriptions of the beings called Unversed, along with what your Device's files identify as Type-G Demons. So far, they've been small and out-of-the-way, and there have yet to be any Equestrian casualties thanks to your intelligence on fighting them. But the fact remains that your enemy's forces have been sighted.

"The good news, however, is that you will now have some help in dealing with this threat. I have informed the members of Project Corona as to the nature of the force that threatens Equestria."

"Project Corona?" Shion asked. "What's that?"

"Project Corona is a covert special-ops group in service to Equestria" Twilight replied. "I… don't know any more than that, I'm afraid."

"Centuries ago," Celestia explained, "this world was gripped by strife – Nightmare and Discordian cultists, extremist factions, terrorists, rogue holdouts from wars, pirates, and other threats. Our armed forces could stand against mainstream threats, enemy armies, but no-one could be sent in to root out numerically-smaller threats, destabilize hostile operations, and other such precision operations, at least without unacceptable fatality counts and collateral damage.

"To correct this, I formed Project Corona around 250 years ago. It is a group of elite-trained ponies working together in strike teams to accomplish difficult missions to safeguard Equestria as a whole. Basically, promising individuals in any of the Equestrian Armed Forces branches – or in training to become such – are screened. A chosen few are hoof-picked by myself and the other heads of the Project. Singled out, they are given highly specialized training. If they succeed, they are offered to join Corona.

"Corona agents are given the best in technology and resources, extra-legal authority in certain matters, and a codename designation. There are never more than 24 Corona agents at any one time, each given a codename of what humans call the Greek alphabet – Alpha through Omega.

"Agents are taught to rely upon and build close ties with one another, ready to lay down their lives to defend Equestria and her interests, yet made sure not to lose what makes them who they are. They are assigned to missions based on skill-set and temperament, and cooperation and camaraderie are strongly encouraged."

"Sounds like your equivalent to the Spartans or the Freelancers" Teana remarked.

"Or the Citadel Specters…" Marie thought aloud.

"Around 30 years ago," Celestia continued, "there was a dimensional connection, which led to Project Corona gaining two new and very valuable types of asset. One was a trio of functional, orbit-capable VTOL dropships that were quickly altered to better fit pony physiology and put into service for the deployment and extraction of agents in high-priority missions, whenever possible. The other was the concept of full-body powered armor, similar in principle to what Teana was wearing in her human form that night in the Everfree Forest. I was able to magically summon the raw materials for such armor from all across this star system, and then magically craft the actual suits, which were then customized and assigned for each agent; in the event of an Agent's death or retirement, their armor is recovered, and eventually reconfigured for their eventual replacement. Each suit is stored in a subspace pocket linked to a ring or bracelet that is worn somewhere on the agent's body, being summoned or dispelled at their mental beck-&-call."

"Are there any special protocols regarding the death-in-action of Agents?" Teana asked.

"If an agent is killed in action, his or her spot remains unfilled for 20 years. If they retire early due to being too badly injured to continue active duty, the limit is 10 years. Old-age retirement sets a five-year limit."

"Any further details on those suits?" Marie asked.

"They can be made air-tight for operation in a vacuum or hazardous environment. They give some boost to strength, durability, speed, and reaction time. They have subspace storage pockets for ammunition and other things, though the pockets can't hold anything that weighs more than 60 pounds and/or is more than three feet in size; furthermore, the suits can't be returned to their own subspace stored form if they have anything stored in their 'pockets'."

"Jeez…" Ahsoka said. "I thought this world was all sunshine and rainbows. What kinda stuff could happen to necessitate such measures?"

Celestia looked a bit sad. "I truly wish this world were as peaceful as it appears to be on the surface" she said. "But there are plenty of threats facing my people, both great and small. Cultists who worship Nightmare Moon or the chaos spirit Discord; pirates; infiltrators from the dystopian Hooviets; holdouts from both sides of the Griffon Wars; even a crime syndicate or two."

"Gryphon Wars?" Mai asked.

"The ponies and the gryphons have had four armed conflicts in the past 1,200 years" Twilight explained. "The First Gryphon War took place 1,250 to 1,244 years ago. It started when the chieftains of the newly-united gryphon tribes decided they wanted some of our then-young nation's territory for their own. We won. The Second Gryphon War took place 765 to 761 years ago. That one started as a regional conflict between cities and settlements along the borders between our territory and theirs, and snowballed quickly. Celestia and the gryphons' King Bronze-Wing came to a ceasefire agreement eventually.

"The Third Gryphon War took place 240 to 233 years ago. It was caused by a renegade faction of gryphons setting it up in an attempt to get rid of the current gryphon regime and take over. Things got kinda… messy."

"That was Project Corona's first major conflict" Celestia said. "They were the ones who anonymously exposed the renegades to the public eye. The war came to a screeching halt after that, and the traitors were tried and executed by the furious gryphon public."

"Then came the Fourth Gryphon War, which lasted from 46 to 44 years ago." Twilight's expression saddened. "It was also the worst conflict Equestria had ever seen, and…"

"It was caused by the gryphons' then-ruler, King Red-Claw," Celestia picked the story up, "a corrupt and power-hungry individual who saw ponies and all other quadrupedal races as biologically inferior and ordained by fate to be slaves of gryphon-kind. He was a skilled orator, and he was able to instill his twisted beliefs into many of his subjects, corrupting their patriotic fervor and whipping them up into a blood-rage. I knew another war was coming… but I was unprepared for just how bad it would be.

"Red-Claw's gryphons had little regard for civilians; wherever they went, they torched & burned, they enslaved, and they instilled terror and despair. Such was their ferocity that, were it not for the assistance from the deer of the Hooviet Empire, the zebra tribes, and a few of the dragons, Equestria could have lost most of its territory. …Eventually, though, the gryphons performed a truly unforgivable act, one that turned the tide of the war in a horrifying way. They shot down a massive airship carrying refugees, nearly all of them ponies and many of them children; the ship crashed down onto one of our more populated cities. 30,000 ponies died, including 12,000 children."

Reactions of shock ran through the listeners. "S-So… How did that change the war?" Sarah asked.

Celestia grew sad. "My subjects… did not take kindly to the Baltimare Massacre. Our ranks swelled with new enlistments, and many more ponies joined unofficially. But they were consumed by rage, fury, and hatred in response to the atrocity. Rallying behind a pegasus admiral named Blade-Wing and a Hooviet general named Zakhaev, they pushed the surprised gryphons back, out of our territory, and then pursued them deep into the heart of gryphon lands. They took no prisoners. They offered no surrender. They only killed.

"And then… they reached the capital of the gryphons' land. And they devastated it. Many gryphon civilians had fled to the capital in advance of the enraged pony forces, and now they had nowhere to run. My subjects… butchered every gryphon they could find. Buildings were burned down, often with gryphons locked inside them. Soldiers, civilians, chicks… no-one was spared. They stormed Red-Claw's castle, slaughtered everyone in their way, and literally tore him limb from limb. Then they started making their way out of the capital, and their goal was made horrifyingly clear:

"To ensure that this could never happen again, they meant to render the gryphons extinct.

"Enough was enough. To stop genocide from occurring, I stepped in personally to stop my maddened subjects. When I ordered them all to stand down, some did not; instead, they attacked those who did, as well as me. They also redoubled their efforts against the broken and terrified gryphons. I… had no other choice. To protect the gryphons from annihilation, I… h-had to kill a number of my own lost-to-insane-rage subjects.

"After the dust had settled, cleanup began. The gryphons were under my jurisdiction for six years, until a new ruler – King Black-Down, who still rules them today – was found and instated. The pony population took 15 years to recover from the war; the gryphons' population… still hasn't recovered. …That war was one of the darkest periods in pony history, especially since rather than a force from without, such as the Windigos, Discord, or Nightmare Moon, this time my ponies were threatened by the darkness of their own hearts. It is… one of the greatest shames of our people."

The girls were silent as they processed all this. For an entire people to lose themselves to rage…

"Um…" Teana started, aiming to change to a less depressing subject. "Ma'am? Regarding Project Corona… We recently met a woman who, I could tell, has some form of combat experience, and when asked she was rather vague about it, and her husband had no idea. Did Corona have an agent whose real name was Golden Tiara?"

Celestia's eyes widened. "You met Agent Gamma?" she asked. "How is she? I've been meaning to visit her, but…"

Kaede smiled. "She's almost completely recovered from… whatever happened to her. She should be fit for release in less than half a year."

Celestia sighed. "Oh, thank goodness. That mare is one of the nicest ponies I know… as well as one of Corona's best, most skilled and accomplished agents. Quite the impressive record on that one… How's her little daughter doing?"

"Um, t-that's kind of a long story" Erika said.

"Well, I don't really have anything else to do at the moment. Hit me."

-SCENE-BREAK-

Ponyville

Next Day

Marie watched as a two-female couple – a mint-green unicorn and an earth pony with multicolored mane – walked by. "Hey, Twilight?" she asked. "What's the sexuality percentage-ratio-thing among ponies?"

"Huh?" Twilight perked up. "Well, for stallions, about 78% are straight, 13% are gay, and the remaining 9% are bisexual. For mares, about 85% are bisexual to varying degrees, 10% are completely straight with no interest in mares, and 5% are fully lesbian with no interest in stallions. …Why?"

"It seems to be… really well tolerated here."

Twilight looked confused. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well… In Teana's culture, on Midchilda, it's perfectly accepted, just like here; same for Ahsoka's culture. But… not all of Earth's cultures accept homosexuality. On one end of the scale, you have people who, as Cadence put it, "love and tolerate". On the other end… you have religious fundamentalists and folks like that who see it as inherently sinful and abominable. Homosexuals have been bullied to suicide or even murdered because of what they are… When I was little, my big-brother figure Mick was one of them. A few countries even have homosexuality as a capital offense punishable by execution."

Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy (the others were elsewhere) were utterly horrified, such as to be unable to form a coherent sentence. Among the ponies of Equestria, sexuality was seen as just another something that defined someone, like eye color, height, and subspecies. To know that some humans actually insulted, attacked, and even murdered their own people just because of what gender they felt attracted to was…

"Sickening…" Rarity muttered. "Simply…"

"Yeah…" Marie said sadly. "When my surrogate big bro, who was one of the kindest, smartest, most understanding people you could ever meet, offed himself because of what people said and did to him, I… well, I'll admit that I pretty much lost faith in humanity as a species. It took meeting Teana, seeing that the Midchildans and the UNSC and all our other friends we've met across the stars accepted it as no big deal, for me to regain that faith."

She felt Fluttershy's comforting hoof on her shoulder, and nodded in thanks.

"So…" she perked up. "Shall we go see the Crusaders' performance in the talent show?"

-CHAPTER END-

Next Time: a flashback chapter showing some of Agent Gamma's exploits with Project Corona