"TIA!  STOP!"

Whatever else Luna was going to say was forgotten as Celestia's eyes rolled back as she collapsed.  With a clatter and a wet thump, the creature she had been trying to immolate met a similar fate on the freshly scorched stone.  As the ponies rushed to the aid of their fallen princess, none of them saw the faint blinking lights on the human's armor, let alone all the test scrolling on the displays in his helmet.  

The extreme majority of the ponies huddled around Celestia, watching as her sister tried to wake her.  Twilight on the other hand carefully rushed toward the fallen human and prepared to heal him.  That was until she remembered how Seven explained that their magic was poisonous to humanity.  It was why they wore the armor after all.  In the end, any decision she would have made was moot as a pair of flat bodied and tank treaded drones pulled next to the human with soft whirring and the crunch of gravel.  The princess sat silently as the drones rolled Alex onto his chest with a set of mechanical arms.  Arms that proceeded to pull canisters similar to the ones used on Celestia out of armored compartments.  Clicking and buzzing filled the air as Twilight sat enraptured while the drones attached the units to the recesses and ports in Alex's armor.  She jumped slightly as a scratchy and broken voice spoke from the armor, addressing her specifically.

"Twil..t...Spa...le... please...not...disturb.  Critic... dition."

So she sat and guarded over the fallen human in the gloom, not noticing the fine mist that was exiting his armor. Twilight instead watched the angry swarm of drones passing through the cavern.  Without her knowing, the reclamation of Canterlot had begun.

Deep in the heart of the vault, buried behind yards of concrete and thick steel doors, Seven watched.  Every feed from the drones, every camera that was online, every possible scrap of vital information flowed into his digital mind.  And his mind was angry.

***Subject Celestia repairs 93 percent complete.  Neural mapping complete.  

***Commencing repairs to synapse pathways.

***Creating Partition /Celestia/augmentaion/Neural Drive

***Mapping user: Twilight Sparkle

Nopony could understand why Celestia twitched in her unconscious state.  All they could do was guard her and watch as the formerly bloody wounds were slowly closing over a mixture of bone and metal.  None knew what was going on in the depths of her mind as information slowly trickled into it.

After several minutes of utter silence, ponies were dispatched to attempt to rebuild the camp and secure their foothold outside the cavern.  Seven watched through the cameras as the ponies swiftly spilled out into the daylight and flowed into shattered buildings and alleys.  If he were capable of such things, admittedly would be feeling a sense of smug satisfaction at the plan.

I...I don't know how long I was out.  Flickering displays slowly roused me from the darkness that had taken me so completely.  Everything hurt as I tried to sit up, my muscles screaming in protest.  I expected to be back in the cradle again, but surprisingly enough the first thing I saw other than dirt was a set of lavender hooves.  It took damn near everything I had to sit up and lean against the support drone that idled nearby as I heard the usual stuttering whinny from Twilight as she spoke.

###Network connections offline due to system damage

###Translation software offline due to system damage

###Recommend repair or replacement of armor.

I made a "come here" gesture at the Alicorn as I dragged myself onto the armored bed of the drone, and tapped on the inset controls.  A few lurching movements later, I lay there watching the darkened chasm float by with crystals slowly turning into a concrete tunnel.  Bumps and shaking movement were the order of the day as I was wheeled back toward my room.  At some point, I must have passed out again, as I awoke to find the dull mechanical hands of the arming cradle pulling me into position as Twilight watched.  She looked rather sure of herself despite being sealed in my vault with me.  I figured it was safe to assume Seven told her magic would be a bad idea.  Pain spiked through my head as the arms connected a cable to the rear of my helmet, once again linking me to the network.

###Manual Access to Arming System achieved.  Running full system diagnostics

###Activating Translation program

"What the hell happened Twilight?"

"I'm sorry!  We had no idea Princess Celestia would react like that!"

###Diagnostic complete.  Commencing repairs to outer armor.

"Thank god for modern ceramics...oh shit.  Sorry I forgot the translator was still on.  Um... It's okay for now Twilight.  Her and I are going to need a serious talk after she is done healing though."

She looked glum at that prospect, but her eyes perked right up as the fresh tooling was loaded into the armatures as they attempted to remove the damaged portions of my armor.  Squealing of tortured screws and stressed plating filled our ears as Twilight looked on, enraptured as plates fell away to reveal the servos and superconductors underneath.  I wish I could say it was easy to get by with her watching, but there seemed to be a question for everything.  Questions I couldn't always answer for many different reasons.  Let alone the fact that the tools working on the rear of my helmet were seriously getting annoying.  Displays and monitors flickered off and on in a seizure inducing pattern while circuits were replaced.  Eventually I saw the one thing I had hoped for.

###Network Access repaired.

"Seven, what the hell is going on out there?  More importantly, what the fuck is up with my armor?"

***Your armor was severely damaged during the engagement with Celestia.

***It is good to know the EM Modifications held up during that crisis.

***You are currently undergoing massive decon from radiation poisoning.  ETA: 2 hours before completed.

***Additionally, I have started a new process that should make interactions with the populace...easier.

***You will need to don a spare set of armor after this set can be removed for repairs.  

***As such, I modified several chassis sets in anticipation to this.

***Additional:  You will need to procure new weaponry.  They did not survive your treatment.

I tried to shrug, but it didn't really work considering I was currently suspended by my arms, let alone the fact that everything hurt.  At least the damage wasn't as bad as it could have been.  

"Sorry Twilight, I just got back in touch with Seven.  Didn't mean to zone out there on you.  So what exactly happened?"

As the story was repeated, she watched on in wonder as the machines pulled chunks of armor off to place in drawers for repairs before pulling out new ones to reattach.  In the span of a few minutes, she had fairly well seen me stripped down to little more than a helmet and form fitting bodysuit before getting rearmed.  The questions didn't even stop for a moment through the entire process.  How this worked, how that attached, what that thingie was made out of and what it did. Thankfully Seven fielded several of the less sensitive answers and explained that we couldn't answer more.

Eventually, all that was left was my helmet.  With a twitch, the arms lowered my feet to the ground and then pulled back to their recesses in the walls and floor.  A few noisy steps to an open panel on the wall rewarded me with a new helmet of the same design.  Three cheers for military cost cutting.  They may not fit perfectly, but if you needed a spare they were easy to find.  It took both hands to pull the damaged one away from my head, but it was nice to feel cold, albeit musty air on my face.  As I placed the damaged one in the waiting try, I could feel Twilight's eyes appraising everything she saw.

"Sergeant, what happened to your fur?!  Are you okay?"

Mentally, I facepalmed for a moment before realized that everything I'd seen had some form of fur.  It took all I had to keep from sighing.

"Twilight, humans don't have..."

The rest of the sentence went unsaid as a massive explosion rocked the facility, echoing through the tunnels like the wrath of an angry god.  Reflex alone slammed my helmet down over my head as I yelled for Seven, only to have my answer waiting in the displays as they flickered on.

***Thor-12 warhead detonated.  

***Pacification of city designated "Canterlot" underway via Control.