It's one thing to step from the dark into the light, but another thing entirely to step into light that contains something even darker.  Even with everything I'd seen in my years, all the blood and gore, nothing could prepare me for what was whimpering in the corner trying to get away from me.  Huddled and shaking at my approach was one of the bug ponies.  It larger than the rest, but looked like it had borne the brunt of the minotaur's wrath.  Chitin was cracked and spattered with a mixture of blood and bodily fluids that made me thankful for the filters in my suit.  What disgusted me the most was that the creature presented itself to me, like it assumed I was one of its captors and wanting a round with the prisoner that couldn't get away.  Trying to escape would have been impossible with it's wings tattered and horn sheared off, even if it weren't for the shackles that went through the holes in the bug's legs.  All I could do was stare while my mind processed the sheer 'what the fuck' of the situation.

"Kill me...please just kill me.  End it you bastard!"

That sure as hell snapped me out of it though.  I had no idea those bug ponies could talk and that made this so much worse.  There really was only one thing I could do.  Carefully I stepped across the room with the rifle ready just in case.  Over a puddle here, around a lump of something indistinguishably organic there, but every movement making the bug squeal and scream louder as it cowered into the shadows.  It was a bit startling to realize that my optical camouflage was still running, so the creature only really saw a hulking shadow stepping into the room.  No wonder it seemed to panicked after the death of its torturers.  With a thought, the camo disabled and color began to flow across my armor once again.  

"You... you're... you're not one of them?  If you aren't from Minos and a child of Crete, what are you?  What do you want?!"

The high pitched buzzing voice quickly vanished into gibbering panic as I raised my hands, palms out to show they were empty.

"I'm not going to hurt you.  I'm here to help get you out of here, nothing more.  The ponies are recapturing the palace so it'll be safe soon."

It is really hard to judge a reaction when it goes from relief to rage and fear in a heartbeat.  I did end up taking a step backward when the 'thing' lept to the end of its chains screaming and trying to rend me limb from limb for a moment before collapsing to the floor and sobbing into the disgusting mess coating everything.  The only word I could understand between the wailing was something about children.  The bugpony didn't even react as I stepped closer, grimacing behind my helmet at the squelching my boots made with every step.

Even as I kneeled to inspect the chains, the prisoner didn't even move or acknowledge my presence, just continuing to sob.  Removing the pins through the thing's legs would be impossible in the field.  The shackles were driven through the limbs so long ago that the skin had begun to grow over the metal.  Short of surgery beyond my skillset, they'd be in there a long time.  The same went for the pins driven into the creature's neck from the collar, poor thing.  That left detaching the chains from the shackles, and that would certainly be more interesting.  

You know how you can occasionally get that magic sense of 'oh shit?'  As I reached for the first chain, the prisoner looked up and started to speak.  From the look on it's face, I knew it was saying not to touch the chains but I was already too far into the movement.  One thudding heartbeat later, my fingers touched the cold metal and caused a symphony of color to erupt in my vision as my feet went out from under me.

I wish I could describe the clatter a fully armored and armed person makes when getting hurled across the room.  Kind of like if you put all the pots and pans from your kitchen into a bag and swung it into something while screaming like a girl.  A manly girl, but girl none the less.  The same raspy voice was dragging me out from the visual fireworks between both my eyes and flickering displays with the mantra of 'please don't be dead' over and over.  My only response was  a groan as I stood and realized that I had a killer headache and no amount of cleaning would get the smell of this gunk off my armor.  The flickering radiation detector was concerning to say the least.

'What the hell was that?!"

Whatever response it was going to make was cut off as the whole palace shook.  Even deep underground I could hear the bellow of something huge and enraged.  Time to get the fuck out of dodge.

"Forget that.  Can you walk?  We need to get the hell out of here now!  Touching the chains is bad, I get it, so if you follow me can you make it out?"

Rummaging around in my pouches I found a 'solution' to the problem.  Not elegant, probably dangerous and stupid, but it could work.  There was a raspy 'yes' from the thing while I began dragging the shattered minotaur corpses toward the prisoner, leaving gore filled streaks behind me.  

"This isn't going to be pleasant and I apologize for it.  Really, it's going to be gross as fuck.  BUT it is the fastest way to get out of here.  By the way, what do I call you besides 'prisoner' or 'bug pony?'  Oh and please don't move at all until I'm done."

If horse...things could grimace it was doing it now as I slid hunks of minotaur between the thing and the chains.

"Chrysalis... I used to be called Chrysalis.  Queen of the Changelings before all this started, but who knows how many are left now."

Another body wedged against the...er... Chrysalis before I got started on the main event.

"Well, lets get you out of here and see about finding some more of your kind.  For right now, you might want to cover your ears since it's about to get very loud in here."

The moment there were hooves covering her ears, I slipped the final cord loop nice and tight around the corpses limbs.  I might not be able to touch the chain without getting nuked, but apparently these bastards could.  

"Fire in the hole."

Just a shift of my thumb to press the detonator and the room turned white for a heartbeat.  Even through my helmet my ears hurt, must have been much worse for the bug.  Sighing, I wiped another layer of fresh gore off my armor as small chunks of meat rained down around the room.  At least the chains were severed by the detcord as well, and there was only the rough equivalent of one body to move now, so that was easy.  I thought all was well until she looked up at me and screamed.

"ARE YOU OKAY!?"

It's an odd thing to look down and realize there is a hank of chain jutting out of your armor, just dangling there and teasing you.  I hadn't felt anything, but checked myself over just in case.  No damage reported beyond the armor taking the hit and no meds dispensed flashed across the screens so that was some good news.  I still didn't want to touch the chain just in case though.

"Yeah, it's just stuck in my armor.  Lets get out of here though."

Heading through the tunnels was slow going.  Camo was a no go and I had to have lights on so Chrysalis could easily follow.  We didn't come across any more minotaurs or anything else really, but the Queen wasn't really much of a talker either.  Not that I could blame her any.  Any hopes of good news were dashed the moment my armor linked up to the network again.  All of the support drones were showing offline with severe damage states and low or no ammunition with safety overrides in place.  Unsnapping a light from a pouch, I knelt to hand it to the bug pony.

"Trouble ahead, follow me but be careful."

I didn't even wait for an answer before switching systems on my armor and plunging the hallway into darkness and stony echos as I sprinted up the tunnel.  The sounds that were filtering down couldn't be called encouraging in any way or form, screams of pain and rage filled the air with every step.  Gravel crunched underfoot as I bolted up the path and burst into the light to see another form of hell.

Pony soldiers were huddled behind whatever scraps of cover they could find from a firing line of minotaurs at the entrance of the throne room.  Both Luna and Celestia were being cared for by their soldiers for what looked like gunshot wounds.  Sliding into cover near the royals, I startled a few guards by accident before disengaging the camouflage.  Leave it to Big Mac to be the calm one through it all, looking my way.

"Took your time didn't ya.  We were about to finish the damn cows off since we were bored of waiting."

The monster of a pony didn't even flinch when a musket ball ricocheted off his paldron in a shower of sparks.  I had one idea at least, still working on it as I slid the last of my medical supplies across the floor towards the royals.  Hopefully they'd be able to explain how to use the stuff.

"I'll make you guys some cover.  Try to collect your wounded while I try to get a drone back here."

A quick nod was all I got from him, but it worked.  Sighing internally, I fished out my last couple grenades.  There were more in storage, but having none in a firefight is bad.  The first throw landed perfectly when the can started spewing grey smoke everywhere at the feet of the minotaurs.  The second had just left my hand when it felt like I'd gotten kicked in the head.  Everything went black and white for a moment while I kneeled.  Every display was going haywire, the armored glass an inch from my eye was cracked and crazed with blinking red lights next to the panel showing a broken seal.  Screams and the soft crackling of fire at least told me that the second grenade landed well too.  

No real time to bitch about it,  I grabbed the armored visor and slid it down over my eyes and pressed till it clicked.  Digital stuff can fail, but it is still a sight better than irradiation or getting shot in the eye a second time.  Thankfully, the ponies were already hard at work dragging their wounded into cover and lobbing the occasional shot back toward the half blinded and flaming bastards across the room.  I never even heard Chrysalis slip into cover next to me, but I sure as hell heard the impact of a hammer into the marble next to me.  Looking up I only saw black plate and a very pissed off Big Mac.

"What's she doing here?!"

"Prisoner in the tunnels.  Torture.  Deal with her later when we aren't getting shot at?"

Thumping the hammer next to the Queen one last time to get his point across, the monster pony calmly walked through the oncoming fire like a stroll through the rain.  God Damn.

"HE'S HERE!  HE'S HERE!  ANCIENTS SAVE US!"

Everyone looked up at the Queen screaming before the throne room doors were bodily ripped off their hinges by a hulking minotaur in glimmering plate armor and carrying a massive broadsword.  What threw me off the most was the flaming halo above the creature's horns and how the armor appeared to be part of the creature.  Even the still smoldering minotaurs kneeled in front of it, regardless of magic or firepower being thrown their way.  It only took a moment to realize why, as the air rippled around the creature and stopped everything dead.

"Forerunner!  I know that you are here, cowering amongst the detritus of this forsaken city.  It is our holy duty to cleanse the ponies and their alicorn abominations from this world.  A holy duty given to us by the writ of your kind to the children of Minos, firstborn of Crete.  Step forth from the shadows and help us banish the wicked from our sight.  Step forth and be known to Ebon Blade, Paladin and Governor of Equestria!"

I'll admit that I thought about it for a moment before looking up to see the scattered human armor and occasional skulls among the minotaurs.  Ebon Blade had a voice that could command armies to obey, but my answer would still have to be no.  Behind my small cover, I made sure my answer was ready.  A quick swap to one of the two 'special' mags I'd been given.  It's amazing how much you can tell from a bullet by a little paint, but the white, black, and green rings said it all.

###Celestia

###Luna

I don't know if this is going to work, so if you guys have any magic left it would be nice.  Pretty sure this guy is going to kick our asses unless you two can do something awesome.

Looking up, the two wearily nodded at me for a moment before their eyes brightened.  Each of them had a pony pressing an ampule into the soft spot on their inner...thigh.  The bright yellow screamed 'stimulant' even from a distance.  With that I stood and raised my response...