Not our world anymore (IC)

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight dipped her ears slightly, "Alright." she said acceptingly when Starling told her not to worry. She listened as Starling told them what his plans were for the rest of the day and nodded with a smile as said they could do whatever as long as they stayed safe, "Now, you don't worry either, Starling." Twilight said, "I won't be doing anything needlessly risky anymore." She watched Starling, Nimbus and Indigo go and gave a small, happy sigh. She looked to Winter when she said that they should get something to eat, and that Twilight was eating for two now, "That's still going to take so much getting used to." Twilight admitted, "At least I don't have to scramble to learn everything I have to about it, though. I've already read quite a bit about it. I know all about what I should eat, what I shouldn't, how often I should eat in each stage, how much exercise I should get, how to do that breathing when the time comes. Just Winter... Do me a favor and make sure that if I forget, everyone else won't just think I'm getting fat." she grimaced a little, she never really often gave too much mind to her appearance, but she was quite aware that her sides and belly would start puffing out as she and the foal progressed. She trotted alongside Winter toward the kitchen wing.

[Blue Fox]

As Starling and Indigo walked there was a few minutes silence before eventually Indigo spoke, "So.. you and Twilight" he said with raised eyebrows. Starling looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he responded, "What about it ?" he asked, wondering what his oldest friend would want to know about it. "Well you have a foal on the way and goddesses know you love each other, when are you gonna get married ?" he asked making Starling nearly trip over. He had thought about it but wasn't really sure what to do about it. "I want to, but, I'm not sure if she'll think it's a good idea or even if it's a good idea" he said honestly. Indigo gave him an odd look, "What do you mean ?! .. Star, you're having a foal, I'm sure she would love to get married" he said with a chuckle at his friends blindness. "It's not that" Starling began, "What If I can't go back with her to the past ... what if I'm just adding another reason to keep her here if it turns out I can't go back ?" he said with a sigh, "If she makes it back without me. She should still have the chance to marry another Stallion and be happy. If she's married to me and I can't go back... then.. maybe that would be me being selfish ?" he asked. Indigo looked thoughtful and nodded as he understood what his friend was thinking. "Well that sure makes some more sense... but do you really know what Twilight feels about it ?" he asked. Starling shook his head, "No.. I guess I don't" he said honesty as they pushed through the doors to the Tech Wing. The soldiers saluted as they walked by.

Winter smiled as she could only imagine the books Twilight went through in the space of an hour to know everything she needed about her foal. "Well then I guess I wont need to help you there then" she said with a chuckled before nodding, "Don't worry, If any pony thinks you're getting fat the'll have to answer to me" she said with a toothy grin. Personally she didn't think Twilight needed to worry. It was kinda easy to tell when a mare was pregnant or just fat... not that Twilight would hear it that way. Over the next months Twilight's behaviour could take a drastic change as her hormones turned. They went into the kitchen and found several cooks were on standby. One of them looked over, a large Earth Pony stallion, "And what can I get you girls ?" he asked as he motioned for the kitchen staff to prepare for an order.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight smiled to Winter as she reassured her, "Thank you, Winter." she said gratefully. When they finally reached the kitchen area, Twilight realized just how hungry she was. She remembered what Winter had said about her eating for two. She really couldn't put off eating for any reason anymore. She smiled to the cook, "Uhhh... I'll have a... Daisy and Daffodil sandwich, good sir." Twilight said. The recipe was one of her favorites and luckily one of the things she had read were a-okay for eating while pregnant. She had no intention of indulging in any sweets, however. She wouldn't have to put them off completely, but she knew that they were in no way beneficial to the foal's development. It wasn't going to be easy, Twilight had no intention on tricking herself into thinking it would be. But with the friends she had, either place she wound up living in, she would have great friends to help her along the way. She just hoped hormones wouldn't get the better of her too often. There was likely a reason why unicorn mares rarely used magic to suppress them very often. She sighed, the only unicorn mare who was a mother that she knew of was Willow Whisper, and she had no idea when or if she would get the chance to talk about something so trivial with her. She was also on the fence of whether or not if either of them would really like to talk to each other on the subject when it came down to it.

Twilight lowered herself to her rump and fidgeted her fore hooves, wondering if her family could see her right now, and what they were thinking. It made her wish slightly that she could have seen them. She wondered if Shining Armor and Cadence ended up having any foals. Her stare went off into space as she pondered such things.

[Blue Fox]

Winter looked to the earth pony and smiled, "I'll have a roast beef sandwich" she said with a smile. The stallion looked horrified as he looked at the charcoal mare. Winter could barely hold her smile before she burst out laughing, "I'm sorry I couldn't resist" she said before shaking her head, "I'll have the same as she's having" she said politely. The stallion sighed and chuckled before giving the orders to his staff, "You really had me worried there. You would have been the first pony to be into meat" he said with a grimace, making it clear that it wasn't on the list of his favourite things, Winter smiled before turning to Twilight seeing that she was looking off into space, "Twilight Sparkle, this is Equestria, come in" she said mockingly as she waved a hoof in front of her face. Meanwhile Starling and Indigo had reached the Tech Wing and had began preparing designs. Of course this would be mainly Indigo's work since Starling was far to busy to spend too much time here. After this he would be due to see Luna, Madison and Spike in the hall for an update on the situation before he would make his way to the soldiers barracks. "So what are you going to do then ?" asked Indigo as he placed some blank blue print rolls on the table, "I don't know, I'll just have to think about it" he said finally with a little frown. He wasn't annoyed that Indigo was talking about private matters, it was more he was doing it while he had so many other things on his mind, he couldn't help feel like the conversation was a little distracting.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight blinked and moved her muzzle back as Winter's fore hoof waved in her face suddenly, "Oh... I uhh... Sorry, I spaced out there for a minute." She took a deep breath, "I was just thinking about what my family would think if they could see me now.... Well... What could be thinking as they see me now, as well, perhaps." She sighed and then looked to Winter, finally, "When I found out about Summer Breeze, I hadn't said it at the time, but it reminded me so much of the relationship I had with my older sibling, my older brother, Shining Armor. Back before I moved Ponyville, he was almost the only pony I had ever really considered a friend. I hadn't mentioned him because... well... I thought it'd hurt your feelings because at the time we got plucked from our time he was... Well, still alive." She looked up at the ceiling, "Just before we were brought here, I thought I had ruined his wedding by being over-protective. And I'm a little worried about how he would think about Starling... I held a bit more sway over Spike, but with Armor... I... He might think that Starling took advantage of me. And I know he didn't... I remember clearly that he asked me if I had wanted to do that with him last night... I just don't know, though." Twilight hadn't noticed that she had flitted around a few subjects over the course of her speech.

"Ah, Indigo, Starling." Airimus said, looking over from a workbench and drawing table, "I was just about to draw up schematics for a Prismatic Laser for our eventual usage." He scratched the side of his head, "Politics was never my strong point, so I decided not to get involved in that to help in the academic approach that I excel in... Now, the thing about Prismatic Lasers, is that they were developed by the Mages College after they lost the Imperial Military contract, so the Sorcerers may have blasted by them with some sort of magical weapon that makes them look like toy pop guns, but it can still melt through almost any known substance with ease, that isn't too heavily enchanted, though. They also drain mana crystals like they're going out of style, and the casing of the weapon can get so hot that it's only safe to handle with insulated gauntlets. They'll be much more effective than those Arcanite cannons you two had on your armor... No offense meant, of course... But I was also wondering if the Griffon Kingdom had particularly large deposits of Manacite, as the Empire has always seemed to think that they produced the best weapons. Better than Prismatic and Arcanite weaponry."

[Blue Fox]

Winter looked sympathetic as she understood where Twilight was coming from with this, well as much as she could do from her observation. She had seen how Spike reacted and could only assume Shining Armour would be that much worse, if he had any kind of the protective aspects that Spike clearly had. When Twilight had also mentioned how she knew Starling hadn't taken advantage she gave an odd look, "Well I would question while you're still with him if he had" she said, trying to make light of the conversation, "But he does seem like a genuine stallion and I have to admit you suit each other well" she said with a smile. Winter wondered a little on herself and how she would react to having a foal and being amongst all this danger. She wasn't entirely sure she would be handling it as well as Twilight was... but then again Twilight had Starling to pick up the slack any time she got worried. Winter left her thoughts as she came back to the conversation, "I think everything will work out fine. When he see's how you are together I'm sure he will accept Starling" she said reassuringly.

Starling and Indigo exchanged impressed looks as Airimus explained about the new weapon improvement, although there were few issues that would make the weapon either incompatible or too risky to run on their armour... even with the knew upgrades. Starling looked at the designs Airimus had made and began thinking of alternatives, of course he would have to ask Airimus if his idea worked since he clearly knew more about this kind of weaponry. "What if we used Rune Stones to absorb the excess ? that might cool down the weapons enough to be handled and mounted. As for the damage and crystal fuel couldn't we use Emerald Prisms ? ... I know their expensive and a pain in the flank to install but when done right they last as long as I have lived and carry twice as much buck" he said as he looked to Airimus. Indigo looked thoughtful before he mentioned about the Manacite, "I.. don't know if we have a deposit here for that... but then again asking couldn't hurt. Starling maybe you could bring this up when you hand in your brief to the Princess" he asked. Starling silently sighed before nodding, "I'll see what I can do" he said.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight sighed heavily, "I can only hope so." she said, "And thank you." she said in response to Winter's comment about Twilight and Starling suiting each other. It wasn't long before the cooks came back with their sandwiches, it wasn't like they had needed to cook them at all. They also appeared to have another sandwich dish which by its look and smell, probably contained meat, "Uhh... Who..." Twilight began before Amalthea came strolling in, "Chicken Parm?" she asked the earth pony cook, "Mhmm... Chicken..." he mumbled. Amalthea picked up the sandwich, "Excellent..." she said in a pleased tone. She looked over and noticed Twilight and Winter, "Oh, hey." she said walking over, "You know, you've both risked life, limb and sanity to rescue me from a dismal fate at some point, yet I have told you almost nothing about myself. I bet I've just been, 'That crazy girl who keeps on following us around and getting into trouble.'" Twilight snickered slightly, "I wouldn't really say that. I would say that you've been awfully generous staying with us through all of this... I mean, you've had so many opportunities to opt out, but you've stayed with us, even as we've done some pretty crazy things." Amalthea had taken a big bite of her sandwich as Twilight had been talking and had been lucky to finish it just as she was finished, "Mmm... You could say you have Airimus to thank for that... But I had always disliked the Sorcerers... Since the Empire's forte is magic, and the Sorcerers being its magical military wing, most people see the Sorcerers as the face the Empire. Everyone else, the Army, Navy, Airforce... They end up getting the most flak, the vast majority of them are draftees who don't even want to be fighting in the wars they're sent into a majority of the time."

"I guess so..." Airimus said, "I just don't want for any of you to be stuck with that being your only weapon if you end up being swamped by Imperial Army Conscripts... Which I actually hope would be surrendering or taken prisoner. The flipside to that is that that setup may be able to make you capable of taking on medium-armored vehicles... No guarantees against battle tanks, but Humvees and APC's, you'd have at least a fighting chance against."

[Blue Fox]

Starling liked that thought, although he hoped he wouldn't have to take on an APC on the field. He remembered when he watched Night Scape buck a light tank so hard he managed to send it off course as it rolled towards them. The armour certainly had the power and potential to take on such threats but allot of it still came down to training and how the pony inside used the power he or she wielded. He gave it a little more thought before he turned to the human and his pony friend, "All right well it seems you too have allot to talk about, I would stay here and help you work along with it but I have some duties to take care of, If you need me, have a guard contact me" he said before turning his back to them. He paused before he got to the doors, "I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with" he smiled before pushing through the double doors. Now he needed to make his way to the meeting hall to meet with Princess Luna. He had to admit he was feeling a little nervous after their last talk but he knew he had to remain professionally and level headed as he presented his findings to them.

Winter smiled as Amalthea approached but grimaced a little every time she took a bite from her sandwich. It was a strange feeling, almost like every bite could be imagined as her eating pony, even though that was probably preposterous. Winter listened to what she said as she explained how the imperial people really sat into their military, "Maybe we could appeal to that if we can figure away to stop this war from happening ? " she wondered before adding, "Of course that depends on what Starling found in Willow Whisper" she finished.

[GalacticWar_Xavier]

Twilight nodded, "If that's true, Amalthea, then we should definitely try appealing it like how you said, Winter." she said, "If there are ones on a side which don't want to fight, then the others are wrong to be fighting, but if there are ones who don't want to fight on both sides... Then there's definitely something wrong with the reasoning behind a war..." Amalthea nodded, "I'm pretty sure that no one who'll actually be fighting in this war will want to be fighting... But it's not going to be them who we'll need to convince to stand down. But what Winter said was right, we'll need to wait until we have more information. I'm pretty sure our goal is still to scare the Empire into giving up the fight." Twilight nodded. As Amalthea took another bite of her sandwich, Twilight gritted her teeth, "Speaking of people... well, in this case, ponies, not wanting something... How do you eat that?" Amalthea blinked at her, "By opening my mouth and biting it?..." she said. Twilight shook her head, "No, I mean... How can you eat... you know... meat." Amalthea gave Twilight a confused and glassy stare for a few moments until the fact dawned on her, "Oh! Sorry, I thought you still mean... No... Well, humans are omnivores... You know, like bears. We can eat both plants and... well... meat of animals. But before you ask me why we sometimes choose meat, it's not as simple as that. Different foods contain different nutrients. Ponies and humans have different internal wiring, and meat fufills some requirements that humans simply... have. It's not really our choice, we just end up not being in optimal shape if we eat only plant foods. Don't even ask about the debate between those who want humans to only eat plants and those who want to be able to continue on eating meat... It gets so heated that if they had armor, guns, and vehicles of their own, THEY'D be at war."

Princess Luna was alone in the meeting hall except for Armature. The Night Princess was staring down at the stallion intensely, "If I make the spell anymore intense than how I have it, your mind would not be able to handle it..." Luna said, "It's like a monster inside my head..." Armature said, his eyes slightly teary, "Clawing at the insides of my skull, demanding that I do things that I know are awful, sick, and wrong!... I just want it gone!" Princess Luna shook her head, "It only persists when the spell is about to wear off, you said. If anything, this is more beneficial than it is harmful... I need that part of you alive, because that is the part which contains that knowledge that New Equestria needs." Armature put his fore hooves to the sides of his head, "What if it manages to break free!? I could end up hurting Starling, or Indigo, or even Twilight Sparkle and her and Starling's foal... Do you have any idea what that feels like, to me!?" Princess Luna shook her head, "I do not... But until the Empire is no longer a threat or you become too old to serve, I must keep that part of you alive, Armature..."

[Blue Fox]

Winter giggled, "That sounds bad" she said before adding, "But I guess that does make some sense, about human needs and such" she said, looking thoughtful for a second before explaining her and Twilights disposition towards meat eaters. "Me and Twi have never met meat eaters before coming here since every pony in Equestria is a herbivore. I mean we have bears and Ursa's but they don't really count since their not... well... normal everyday people" she said, unsure weather what she was saying was making enough sense, but it seemed Amalthea had understood it. She took a bite of her sandwich, enjoying the taste as it had been a little while since she had eaten anything. They were silent for a few minutes as they continued to eat their food before Amalthea broke the silence with a question for Twilight. "So Twilight, now that the guys aren't around we can all have a little bit of girl talk2 she said with a wide smile before proceeding straight to her first question, "I know it's really early stages but have you thought about names yet ?" she asked, wondering what unique name this new pony might have. It was always something that impressed Amalthea about ponies it was their use of names. Unlike humans who used simple names, ponies seemed to take words that weren't usual names and make them names.

Starling entered the hall shortly after the conversation between the Princess and Armature had ended. Which was probably for the best since any kind of information such as that would have the young unicorn stallion immediately at arms. He trotted forward, keeping his air of level headedness as he approached, stopping a reasonable distance in front of her. He bowed his head respectively and waited for her to allow him to rise before he did so. His explanation to Luna was a long one as he detailed the positions of units, their points of interest and the super weapon designs that fell just short of mega spells. There was allot more that he spent detailing as he mentioned names and faces that were brought up from the memory he took from Willow Whisper. The Princess seemed to listen intently as did Armature as they gave their questions and began making small comments about how to head on the counter offensive to these new developments. When Starling was finished he remained silent as the Princess looked deep in thought. "Very well" she said finally, "I shall consider these and begin proposing these findings to the commanding generals at once" she said before looking to Starling, "Is there anything else ?" she asked to which Starling nodded, "I wanted to inquire about shortening Willow Whispers sentence. I know this seems steep but she may have really helped us to save lives and I feel this shouldn't go unrewarded. I think this should also be conditional upon a physiological analysis to see that she gets some help with returning to normal life" he said confidently. Princess Luna thought on this for a moment before nodding, "I will consider it" she said before dismissing Starling. He turned and began to trot away before he stopped. He turned back to face the Princess one more time, "Your Majesty, If I may... I have something I wish to ask you" he said, shifting on his hooves a little. The Princess looked at him with curiosity and with a look that didn't help his nerves at all, "Oh ?" she said, prompting the stallion to continue. He took a deep breath before he just came out with it, "I wanted to ask your permission, for Twilight's hoof in marriage" he said as he stood up straight, his jaw setting as he looked up to the night goddess.