"...Luna... my kind didn't create yours.  Until today, I had never seen a talking horse, er, pony before.  I don't know where that comes from, but it wasn't us.  I will try to do what I can for your sister however."

Twilight looked stunned, while Luna hung her head in shock, the mics n my helmet barely picking up her whispers.

"I...I...thought you were going to save us..."

With a thump, the bag of supplies slid off my back and onto the ground as I began to rummage around in it.  At least Twilight seemed interested in what I was doing, while the other lay there silently.  A little bit of wiggling, and I got a small pile of supplies out of the bag, mostly a thin but heavily armored case and a few other bits and bobs.

"Twilight, I'm going to need your help with this.  Is it safe to assume that the "energy" down there with Celstia is what is keeping her alive?"

She only nodded as I started opening canisters and connecting components to each other.  Thankfully, this seemed to pull Twilight out of her shell and at least get Luna to look up at what I was doing.  

"Luna, you said she was your sister.  I'm going to need your help if I'll have any chance to help her.  Since my medicine has nothing to work off of, I am going to need to inject you with some of it.  We need to see how your bodies work so we can build from there."

Twilight tried to interject, but I really wasn't paying attention as data scrolled past my eyes.  Tenderly, I pulled the neoprene cover away from the body of an injection unit, the cold stainless steel glimmering in the harsh light, and making Luna go wide eyed as I stepped toward her.

"Before we can fix things, we need to know what to base the fixes on.  Celestia is the same species as you, let alone your sister, so it should be close enough.  This is an injection of the same things that are in my blood, and all they will do is map out your body so we can compare it to hers."

Honestly, I expected some kind of protest or even complaint.  Instead, Luna sullenly tiled her head to the side and bared her neck.  With an outreached hand and a tiny amount of pressure, a spring loaded release in he unit unlocked and shot a tiny needle into Luna's neck.  Not even a gasp or whimper, just grit teeth as the stainless vial emptied it's contents into her bloodstream.

Five minutes.  Five minutes of awkward silence as the nanites worked their way around Luna's body.  At first, it wasn't so bad, but when I shot a dart loaded with the same machines into Celestia, it got a little weird.  Some of the machines were reporting damage to her body, while others couldn't decide, changing between signs of good health incredible trauma.  At least the majority of the mapping was complete.

***Control is reporting enemy movement toward the cavern entrance.

***Estimated 275 hostiles incoming.  ETA 5 minutes.

***Nanite mapping should be complete within the next 2.  Please commence sequence when able.

***Launching reserve drones.  Control will begin contact when hostiles are in range.

That certainly put a damper on everything.

"Twilight, Luna, there are nearly 300 minotaurs in the city above heading toward the cavern entrance.  We need to defend this position.  I'm going to give Celestia the first injections to help heal her, then head to the front lines to help."

Before they could say anything, I grabbed the harness of electrodes I had been connecting, along with a much larger set of injectors and slid into the pit.  The moment my feet touched the smooth crystal, it felt like my body had been dipped in glacial water, screaming cold quickly turning to agony, to numbness in a matter of seconds.  Up close, Celestia was incredibly regal.  It was a true shame her pristine white coat was matted with blood and bone like it was.  Regardless, there was work to do, so I set about connecting electrodes around the wound, while wondering what was going on with my displays.

*

After a moment, the series of wires and tubes silently clicked into the large canister I carried down with me.  Another moment to slide the injectors into he housings built into the harness.

**

Around the time I linked the medical computer in the canister to Luna's nanites, a dull roar began to filter down to where I was.  I just marked it up to friendly troop movement as the timer in my helmet showed 3 minutes left until contact.

***

***WHAT...ARE...YOU...DOING?

As I continued to work, I kept an eye on the display, hoping Seven would clarify somehow.  Right around the 2 minute marker, everything was hooked up and the nanites were being injected into the unconscious Alicorn.  With every step out the hole, my body screamed in protest.  With every step, the dull roar turned higher and higher pitched.  The slowly throbbing icons on my helmet beat faster and faster until I reached the edge and reality slammed into me full force with the sounds of automatic weapons fire.

***YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO USE A DRONE TO ATTACH THE UNIT!

***THOSE LEVELS OF RADIATION ARE NEAR LETHAL

***HOSTILE CONTACT.  DRONES ON AUTOMATIC

Warning after warning scrolled down my displays as my mind tried to wrap itself around what was going on.  Dosimeters on my armor went from little more than background to flashing black in a heartbeat.  The chronograph was showing contact -7:51 minutes when it had shown over two minutes before.  Either way, there was chaos outside of the now empty tent and it was obvious I was needed out there. The rest could be figured out later. With a groan, I bent down and collected my rifle from leaning against a stack of books and stepped from the darkness into the light.

Ten minutes of hell later...

The drones were nearly out of ammunition, the grenade launchers had fallen silent minutes before.  What was once a constant buzzing of gatling guns outside the cavern had dwindled to little more that deadly belches of lead, and yet the damn minotaurs kept coming.  In the blood spattered chaos, creatures from both sides fought and died.  A black pony impaled a rampaging minotaur with a spear to the neck.  Elsewhere, one of the barbarians was using a pegasus as a mace against its' compatriots, every impact making a sickly wet noise.  In the rear, I marked targets for the drones and fired at whatever targets of opportunity presented, but wanting to save ammunition for when the lines fell.

I am fairly certain that nobody expected the tent behind us to burst into flame, nor the howl of madness that followed it.  As one, Twilight, Luna, and myself turned toward the noise and the thing within.  A flash of white fur was all I saw before being thrown from my feet and slammed into the cavern wall.  Alarms squealed in my helmet but no matter of fighting seemed to break whatever was holding me.  In the end, I guess it didn't really matter.  Where once had been a multihued mane stemming from alibaster fur, there was only gouts of waving flame that licked over Celestia's body.  Her one good eye was open wide and burning with the same intensity as her mane as she laughed at the chaos.

Chaos that stopped as the first Minotaur burst in a shower of flames and gore.  Wherever his blood and body parts went, they burned any minotaur it touched, setting off a chain reaction.  They tried to run, they tried to get away, but in the end, nothing could save them.  Elemental flame burst from the rocks below and the crystals above, slamming together with a howl of a mare possessed as a greasy scent began to fill the air.  For a moment, the yells and screams of hundreds burning outstripped the laughter of a mad god, but only for a moment.  With a ripple and a sick belching noise, the flames faded into oblivion, leaving nothing  but glowing and crazed crystal behind.  A soft thud echoed across the silent chasm as a sizzling yet neatly severed minotaur arm fell to the ground ahead of the army.  Somehow the ponies in combat had been spared the flames.

My confusion disappeared as I was wrenched away from the wall and thrown into the air above the assembled ponies, and a voice invaded my mind.

"YOU!  YOU WILL BURN FOR THIS!"

I couldn't hear myself screaming over the sounds of every alarm in my armor squealing as it began to burn away.  The agony disappeared as everything faded to black.