Mobile Suit Gundam: The Sister's War

by Nicthetoony

Escape from Dodge (Part 1)

Dodge was not a lively city at the best of times. The colony was home to only a few thousand residents, those who on Earth had been the poor, the criminal, and the displaced. Little economic activity occurred in the colony outside of the bare necessary production needed to maintain the population.

There were a few shops in the western themed areas, a few restaurants here and there (not that I ever visited one). It was a place that held nothing of real significance, which I assumed is why it had been chosen for the Harmony Project in the first place.

It was now a ruin.

Buildings had been demolished. Rubble lined the streets alongside burn marks that were as big as cars. The mangled body of a Siphon mobile suit laid in a crushed market with its chest blown away.

The people of Dodge- lost, confused, and scared- looked up in awe and terror as our mobile suits walked down the roads that were almost too tight for our machines to pass through. Some sat and stared at our procession, perhaps too overwhelmed to do anything else. Others merely glanced up for a moment, before returning to search through the debris.

Lieutenant Dash did not speak to me much during our walk, leading the way as we passed through the ruined plaza towards our goal at the far side of town.

Behind the meager buildings of Dodge sat a vessel I’d only seen before in snippets of development documents. It loomed tall over even the city’s most impressive structures, its shining white body glimmering in the morning sun. The silhouette of the thing reminded me strangely of a sphinx, with two large blocks jutting out the bow like a quadruped laying its two front legs in rest. From its deck protruded a long tower that was topped by what appeared to be the ship's bridge, giving me the odd impression of a long neck with a head at the end of it.

“Alicorn, this is Lieutenant Rainbow Dash.” My escort finally said as we drew nearer to the battleship. “Yeah, I’ve got the unit with me. Tell Captain Bon-Bon to get her ass to the hangar bay. We’ve got another surprise she needs to hear about.” The Lieutenant paused for a moment before scoffing. “Get over it Rares! You’ve heard me say way worse than ‘ass’.”

When we reached the base of the Alicorn, the door on the ship’s right “leg” had opened up to reveal the hangar bay stored within. Military E-Trucks filtered in and out of the cavernous hall, some marked with medical crosses as they drove out into town. I turned the Gundam’s head to track them as they left, my vision momentarily falling on the distant crumbling front of the Harmony Project. Briefly, I wondered if my colleagues were still cowering in the dark of the bunkers, or if perhaps they had ventured outside and seen the aftermath of my… battle.

“Hey, Egghead!” Lieutenant Dash yelled through the comms. “Get in there!” She said, her Pegasus Custom gesturing to the hangar. “We don’t got all day.”

“I told you my name already.” I grumbled, but complied with her orders.

For as large as the hangar bay of the Alicorn was, this wing of it seemed to house very little. At the center of the long hall was the system for the MS catapult built into the floor of the hangar, on one side sat a myriad number of crates with logos from various arms manufacturers I was passingly familiar with, and on the other side were the trusses that were meant to hold the ship’s suits. There was only one standing in reserve at that moment, a bulky one with heavy armoring all around its body and two long canons attached to its backpack. An APL-04 Stalwart, my memory supplied me, though this one was painted a warm orange color, with milder yellow accents all around. On its front skirt armor, I saw another symbol like the one emblazoned on Dash’s Pegasus, but this time it was an illustration of three apples.

“Eyes down here big girl!” A high pitched voice screamed from down below, with that familiar peaking quality that came from a megaphone. Angling the Gundam’s head downwards, I spotted a heavyset woman with a mass of curly pink hair below, holding a megaphone in one hand and a pair of glowing orange marshaling wands.

The hands that grasped the wands waved at me, then when the woman seemed convinced I was paying attention, she holstered the megaphone on her belt and started waving the wands in both hands as she walked to one of the mobile suit trusses.

Following her guidance, I maneuvered the Eynhorn carefully to its holding area. In such a tight space, I was pleasantly surprised at how precisely I managed to move the Gundam. Despite my theoretical knowledge on piloting, the motions I made with the control sticks were really more educated guesses than anything.

I hadn’t worked that closely with the division in charge of the Eynhorn’s control scheme, but I was becoming increasingly curious what exactly Piston’s team had been developing.

Soon enough the Gundam was in place, its beam rifle hung up on the truss that bound it, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I pressed a button and saw the Eynhorn’s cockpit hatch swing open.

“Helloooooo!!!!” Waiting just outside on a motorized platform lift was the woman with pink hair, who’s cheerful smile seemed altogether out of place aboard the Celestial Forces finest battleship.

“My name’s Pinkie Pie! It's so good to meet you! This is the Eynhorn Gundam right? Oooh! I can’t wait to work on it! Is the big gash on the chest built in or was that because of a fight? Captain said there’d be a fight but then she said we were on alert and not battle stations so I guess the fight is over? Oh wow you must have won your fight then! I don’t know how good it is that you got hit so much I can see inside the armor but I guess that’s better than having the whole thing cut off! What’s your name by the way?”

We looked at each other in silence, my brain struggling to process all the words that had come spilling from her lips at an inhuman tempo. Did she even breathe during that whole thing?

“Mysterious pilot lady?” Pinkie Pie asked, her smile still present though somewhat lessened.

“I’m not a pilot.” I blurted out.

To my surprise, Pinkie, honest to Celestia, giggled at me. “That’s silly! Why would someone who’s not a pilot be inside a mobile suit?”

“I-”

“What was that Officer Pie?” A new commanding voice spoke from below, snapping Pinkie’s attention away from Twilight.

“Oh, hi Captain Bon-Bon! I’m just talking to the Gundam pilot! This one’s a real jokester, she says she’s not even a pilot! Can you believe that!?” Pinkie shot me a wink before turning back to yell at her apparent superior. “I like her already!”

“Yes, Pinkie, she sounds like an interesting one. Help get her down from there will you? I’d like to talk to her.”

“Okie dokie!” Pinkie gave the Captain a thumbs up before turning back to me. “Well, you heard the lady! Hop on!”

Stepping out of the cockpit and onto the platform, my thoughts were primarily fixated on how weak my legs felt. Shakily, I stood next to Pinkie Pie as we descended, the woman being gracious enough to hold on to my shoulder and stabilize me. The adrenaline from the fight had well and truly left by now, and its place was rapidly being filled by the instinct to run away from the judgmental stare the Captain was giving me.

She seemed about a decade older than me and Pinkie, impressively young considering her station. Her arms were crossed over her decorated uniform, and despite her relatively short stature, an aura of control exuded from her.

Just as our platform reached the bottom, a flash of multicolored hair entered my peripheral vision, and a moment later Lieutenant Rainbow Dash strode to join the Captain’s side, Saluting briefly before turning her attention to me.

“Hi Rainbow!” Pinkie Pie waved at the pilot as she wrapped her arm around my shoulder and dragged me towards the two high ranking officers.

“So, Lieutenant Dash. I’m guessing this was the ‘surprise’ Rarity referred to?” The Captain asked.

“Figured this warranted your attention.” Rainbow said.

“You figured right.” The Captain sighed. “Either high command sent me some very inaccurate files on Lieutenant Flash Sentry, or we have some more complications on our hands. Just what we needed.”

Hurriedly, I disentangled myself from Pinkie Pie’s hold and offered a hasty salute towards the Captain and the Lieutenant. “I-I’m so so sorry for causing you trouble ma’am! If you give me a chance I can explain myself!”

Captain Bon-Bon rolled her eyes. “Calm down, kid. We aren’t gonna throw you in the brig.” She narrowed her gaze. “If you can answer my questions. Starting off with a name and an explanation for why some civilian was piloting the Kingdom’s highly experimental top secret mobile suit.”

“O-Of course.” I took a deep breath, which helped little to calm me under the scrutiny of the three- Well, two military officers. Pinkie seemed more interested in the Eynhorn considering she was once again boarding the platform lift. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. Like I told Lieutenant Rainbow Dash, I’m a researcher with the Harmony Project.”

I relayed to them an abridged version of my eventful morning. The first explosions, the damage to the research facility, Lieutenant Sentry’s disappearance, and my… acquisition of the Eynhorn Gundam.

“So… you stole it!?” Lieutenant Dash said, and instinctively I shrank away from her.

“No! No! I mean- Yes, I launched without authorization but I wasn’t intending on running off with it! We-We were being bombarded and the Siphons were being slaughtered! If I hadn’t acted we would’ve all died!”

Lieutenant Dash seemed unconvinced by the arguments to my innocence. Captain Bon-Bon for her part seemed more curious about another thing entirely.

“So you launched in the Eynhorn to engage the enemy in combat. What happened next?”

“I… defeated one of them.” My voice turned quiet, that awful noise and stillness ringing in my mind. “J-Just one. Lieutenant Dash took care of the other one.”

“Well, I can vouch for that. I saw what was left of the Cyclops she engaged with.” The Lieutenant said, begrudgingly. “Though I didn’t take out the other Cyclops, I only made him retreat. I figured confirming the status of the Eynhorn would take precedence.”

“We haven’t detected the Cyclops’ presence either way. We’ll assume for now that it fled the colony for its mothership.” Captain Bon-Bon said, resting her hand on her chin in ponderance, muttering to herself. “No other holes in the colony’s structure and no reports from the local ports. Maybe they found an old maintenance hall to get in and out?”

She was occupied in silent contemplation for a moment before fixing me with an incredulous look. “And there’s the matter of you. Your first and only sortie in a mobile suit and you manage to take out an enemy with nothing but theoretical knowledge on piloting? Seems very unlikely.”

“That’s…” I hesitated. Should I tell her about the strange sense that guided me throughout the chaos? The unknown mechanisms with which the Eynhorn bent to my will? I didn’t want to lie, but I didn’t want to tell her the truth either because I knew it sounded insane! “...I guess that just goes to show how effective the Eynhorn is then! It managed to get good performance out of someone like me!”

“Uh huh. Sure.” Captain Bon-Bon said. “Well, it’s not like I can’t disprove anything you’re saying, and you don’t look like a Coalition spy to me.”

“Oh! Does that mean I can- uh, leave? I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be on the civilian transports out of here by now.”

“Sorry, Miss Sparkle.” The Captain crossed her arms. “We haven’t authorized those transports to get close to Dodge considering there’s still a Coalition battleship somewhere out there. Until we can confirm the situation is clear, nothing leaves or gets in. Plus the supplies we’re meant to get from the Harmony Project have yet to be delivered to us, and I still need an answer for where in Tartarus Lieutenant Sentry went off to. Until I can confirm the safety of either of those, I’d be more comfortable having you onboard the ship than out of my sight.”

“If worse comes to worse we can just wait for the supplies and ditch Sentry.” Lieutenant Rainbow Dash said. “Minty hasn’t been in a real piloting situation yet but she’s gone a few rounds in the simulators, and apparently you don’t even need that to make this Gundam thing work.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. The longer we have to sit around here, the more of a problem the Coalition can make themselves.” The Captain put a hand on my shoulder, fixing me with a glare that gave nothing away. “You stay here, I’ll send for someone to keep an eye on you. Am I understood?”

I gulped. “Yes ma’am…”

And soon, they were gone, running back to what I presumed was the bridge while I was left to find a place to sit. I really didn’t feel like standing for however long I was supposed to wait.

Luckily for me, one of the crewmen noticed my predicament and was kind enough to grab a foldout chair for my convenience. I set it up beside the Eynhorn and sat, awkwardly and uncomfortably as my eyes wandered the room looking for something- anything.

It wasn’t all that different from the hangar bay of the Harmony Project, though with more generalized equipment for maintaining the wider variety of machines they had to service compared to the two models of Mobile Suit that the Project housed. It was also fairly quiet, outside of the few crewmen who were busy doing basic diagnostics on the Lieutenant’s Pegasus Custom.

Strangely enough, it seemed that no one except for Pinkie Pie had taken to checking on the Eynhorn Gundam. The warrant officer herself was perched on top of the machine's chest where the axe had sunk into it and was surveying the damage. I couldn’t see her very well from where I sat, but as she surveyed the woman kept making strangely excited noises to herself. Various “oohs” and “aahs” and things of that nature. I could swear for a second that I even heard her sniff(?) the damage.

“What on Earth is she doing…?”

“Best not to ask questions about Officer Pie, Missy.” A woman said from behind me.

I turned around to see a taller woman with blonde hair and a handsome freckled face approach me. What immediately drew my eye was the large cowboy hat she wore that was certainly not uniform standard. The second thing that drew my eye was how well built the woman seemed underneath her Celestial Forces officer uniform, clearly someone who had spent much of their lives doing hard physical labor. The twang in her voice led me to believe she must’ve grown up rural.

“Uh, hi.” I said dumbly, looking her up and down.

She tipped her hat at me. “Howdy, Miss. You’re Twilight Sparkle, ain’t ya? I’m Applejack- or uh, I guess it’s ‘Petty Officer Applejack’ nowadays. The Cap’n asked me to keep you company till we get your situation sorted out.”

“Oh. Oh yes she mentioned you were coming.” I brushed a strand of hair out of my face, subtly attempting to avoid eye contact with the woman. She seemed nice. Much nicer than I expected a junior officer to be and certainly nicer than Lieutenant Rainbow Dash had been. “Sorry to take up your time Officer, I’ll be out of your hair soon enough.”

“Now don’t you worry yourself any, I don’t mind meeting new folk. Not a whole lot else to do but waiting after all.” She went to lean against the foot of the Eynhorn. “So, where you from?”

“Canterlot.” I answered simply.

“Oooh, big city girl, eh? Should’ve figured what with you working on something like this.” Applejack tapped her knuckle against the Gundam’s foot armor. “Well, I’m from somewhere a little less fancy. Ponyville. Born and raised.”

“Ponyville?” The name sounded familiar to me, like I had come across it before. “Oh, wait, isn’t that where the old capital used to be?”

“If we’re talkin’ bout the same Ponyville. Though I figure most people wouldn’t know it just looking at the place. It’s mostly farming communities that live there nowadays. My family owns an apple orchard there, granny tells me the first seeds were planted even before Celestia was in charge.” She didn’t frown per se, but something bitter shadowed her neutral gaze. “The rest of my family’s still back there.”

“...I told my family I was supposed to go home today.” I said, quieter than I had expected. “My little brother. I haven’t seen him in person in forever, I was- I was really looking forward to it.”

Now Applejack frowned, and for a moment I was worried I had said the wrong thing as she approached me. Instead, she put a comforting hand on my shoulder, comforting instead of dominating like the Captain had been. “Now don’t start talking like that. I’m sure you’ll see em’ real soon, just count on us to make sure everything’s safe.”

“I- Thank you officer.” I hid away from her gaze, which seemed at the moment too earnest for me to handle.

“Ain’t nothing.”

She pulled her hand away, and a small part of me missed the comforting touch. Applejack stayed beside me, leaning her hip against the chair and looking up at the Gundam.

“Y’know, Lieutenant Dash told me you actually got in that thing and fought a Cyclops with it. That true?”

“Yes. I know it seems improbable, but it’s what happened.”

She whistled at that, seemingly impressed. “Mighty brave of you. You don’t seem like the fighting type.”

“I’m not. Today was my first time piloting a Mobile Suit.”

“Well that’s even more impressive. First time I piloted one of these things was after a month of sim training and I still felt like I was moving slower than molasses!”

“You’re a pilot?”

“Sure am.” She gestured at the Stalwart on the far end of the hangar bay. “That there’s my ride, haven’t taken it for a spin in a real brawl though. First week I was assigned to the Alicorn, Pinkie was darn excited to paint the thing. She reckons it’s good for morale.”

“Awww, you don’t like my deco Applejack?”

I blinked and somehow Pinkie Pie seemed to just appear besides Applejack, despite me being fairly certain she was still up checking out the Eynhorn. Applejack for her part seemed far less startled than I was, fixing the engineer a tired smile.

“Now I never said that. It is a little much though.”

“But it’s fun!” Pinkie said with a smile.

“Um, excuse me.” I said to catch Pinkie’s attention. “How is the damage on the Eynhorn, Officer?”

“Oh it’s fine! The axe- I’m guessing it was an axe those things are mean! Anyway, the axe didn’t sever any of the important bits, all that needs patching up is the armor but I can’t do it without the stuff the Harmony Project’s supposed to give us. Equestrian Alloy is wayyyyy more resistant than normal Solar Titanium so I need some real special toys to patch it up.” To my surprise, the smile slowly seemed to slip off the officer’s face. “Honestly, the damages aren’t what I’m really worried about, it’s-”

She was cut off by the sounds of engines blaring. From the hangar bay's entrance, I could see the convoy of e-trucks from earlier returning to the nest, the ones in the lead carrying with them stacks and stacks of crates filled with what I could only assume was the spare parts and “toys” Officer Pie had mentioned. The trucks in the back, however, carried some far more fragile load.

“Alright get the research team to the mess hall while the captain figures out what to do with them!”

The survivors of the Harmony Project huddled together in a dazed mass of human misery. The Alicorn’s soldiers had to practically drag them out of their spots in the truck bed, the fatigue and the fear not yet having left their bodies. It felt… odd seeing all of them march to the soldier’s orders, listless and anxious.

I saw Lemon Hearts walking in the procession, leaning on another woman for comfort. She did not seem to notice me.

Director Pace however, did. The man seemed more frazzled and out of his comfort zone than I thought was possible for someone who always seemed so unshakable. Our eyes met each other for a moment, a strange sadness passing over him, before he shook his head. His eyes instead wandered to the Gundam.

“Miss Sparkle.” He said as he approached me, his voice wavering.

“Director Pace.” I answered back, uncertain.

“That was a very foolish thing you did.” The Director seemed to hold no anger as he said it, only a distant fear and… pity?

I stood up, frowning at him and hardening my gaze. “It’s what I had to do.”

“I know, child.” He sighed, then took a deep breath. “And I’m very sorry.”

“I-I don’t understand sir. What on Earth are you sorry for? I- Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

“Yes. Though to be fair to myself it’s something very few people in the Harmony Project were told about, under orders of Princess Celestia herself. I suspect she always had an inkling you would need to be let in on that knowledge one of these days. She always told me she saw something special in you, though I never would have guessed this is what she meant.”

“What are you- what are you talking about!?” My voice turned suddenly loud, catching the Director and myself off guard, but that surprise quickly hardened into a stress fueled anger. “What secrets have you been keeping from us!? The Eynhorn- It did something to me. I know it did! When I got into it, it hurt me. Worse than any kind of pain I had felt before. And afterwards- it was like some new part of my brain was suddenly waking up. What is in that thing!?”

“Twilight! Calm down!”

A rough hand pulled me away from the Director, and I turned to see Applejack behind me, fixing me with a stern glare. I felt myself deflate slightly, but the anger still coursed inside me and I ripped myself away from her grasp.

The four of us stood there in awkward silence, the Director refusing to meet my gaze, Pinkie Pie frantically looking between us with worry, and Applejack staring me down with a look that reminded me of my mother when I misbehaved as a child.

“Director Pace.” The voice of Captain Bon-Bon cut through the silence. I looked to see her and Lieutenant Rainbow Dash approaching us, accompanied by an officer of lower rank who had mint green eyes and a head of pastel pink hair.

“Captain Bon-Bon.” Director Pace greeted with more of his usual composure. “I trust you’ll find we’ve delivered on all the equipment necessary to maintain the Eynhorn.”

“I believe you.” She breathed in, steeling herself. “Officer Swoop told me you found him?”

“Oh yes. On our way here, trapped underneath a destroyed building. He’s in the last truck with the rest of the dead.”

The dead.

“Who? Who are you two talking about!?” I demanded to know and the two of them gave a look at me before Captain Bon-Bon walked off towards that last truck, motioning for me to follow. All of us who were gathered did so, walking just behind the Captain as we approached the truck bed, where a handful of body bags were being loaded off. Heading the macabre task was a young man in a similar outfit to Pinkie’s, indicating similar rank.

“Officer Rainbow Swoop.” Captain Bon-Bon addressed him.

“Captain!” He saluted dutifully.

“You know what I’m going to ask. Which one is his?”

Officer Swoop nodded, and walked towards one of the bodies already on the floor. He reached down to where the zipper covered his face and pulled it down.

Captain Bon-Bon looked impassive at the sight, but the rest of us did not share her ambivalence to the corpse. Lieutenant Dash winced at the crushed state of his head, Pinkie Pie almost immediately averted her eyes and held herself against Applejack, who only whispered a muted “Sweet Celestia.”

I felt my stomach drop and the breath punched out of my lungs as I looked down at the cadaver of Lieutenant Flash Sentry, his head caved in.

“We found him in what was a hotel, next to a woman we couldn’t identify.” Officer Swoop explained. “We left her body for the Dodge authorities to sort out.”

“Understood.” Captain Bon-Bon said. “Continue on with your work.”

The officer once again saluted her before continuing to direct his men in hauling the bodies away.

“Poor guy.” Lieutenant Dash said, sounding genuinely pitying towards the body that just last night was fumblingly trying to charm me on a date. “This is- This is bad, but it’s not the end of the world. Sentry would’ve been a better pick for pilot but I’m sure Minty’s up for the job.”

The officer who had been following us- Minty, now I knew- saluted. Though it was a less enthusiastic salute. “Yes Lieutenant Dash, ma’am!”

“Um Dashie?” Pinkie Pie gingerly raised her hand. “I don’t know if that’s really possible.”

The Captain gave her an incredulous look. “And why is that Officer Pie?”

“Um, okay. So I was looking at the Eynhorn’s system files to get some data on the suit so that I could get to know it better- it’s fancy new tech, so I gotta know everything I can about it! But uh- when I did, it told me that uh- And Twilight this might come as a shock to you but uh-”

“Spit it out Pinkie!” Lieutenant Dash yelled. “You never usually have trouble talking!”

“It told me the Gundam’s controls are biolocked to Twilight’s signature and I don’t know if I can change it!” Pinkie screamed, and I felt like I could vomit.

“...What?” I whispered. Pinkie looked at me apologetically and nodded, and suddenly I felt all of their eyes on me. Lieutenant Dash’s flabbergasted look, Applejack’s surprise, the Captain’s dead eyed stare, and the distant mournful look of the Director.

“I’m sorry, Miss Sparkle. I’m afraid the Eynhorn has chosen.”

I stared at him, desperate.

“You- You can change it right…? I can’t- I mean, I can’t-!”

“I can’t. No one can.”

My heartbeat hastened, my stomach churned, and my vision was suddenly blurry as my body grew unstable. I breathed in and out and in and out like the air itself had suddenly become like slime in my throat.

“Hey, Egghead! Look at me!” Distantly, I could hear the Lieutenant’s voice and feel her shaking my body, but it was both muted and entirely too much.

“Celestia’s sake, Dash! She’s having an episode!”

I felt nauseous, visions of Spike and my parents flitting through my mind. The eyes of the Gundam staring down at me. The hum of the Harmony Engine in my ears. The scream of my enemy as the beam saber incinerated her body. The smell of ozone and ash filling my nostrils as the Eynhorn’s tendrils stabbed into my mind again and again and agai-

My legs gave out as I vomited on the floor. I could feel someone supporting my weight on their body as consciousness quickly abandoned me.

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[Mystic Sunrise]

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