What, am I in a video game depicting a dark and violent future now? - Tempest Knight

I yawned lazily as I sat up on my bed, smoke drifted calmly up to my ceiling from my nose, I sneezed sending even more smoke up, but also clearing my nostrils. I looked around and smiled when I saw my power armor, it’s sleek black paint scheme with white its wonderfully crafted silver guns. I got out of bed and shook myself to wake up as I unfurled my wings and gave a couple flaps. Luckily my left wing had healed overnight after I had injected myself with a healing potion, though it was a little stiff. Taking my armor off the stand I took each segment, starting with the torso, and placed them on. I equipped my leg armor after words before slipping my wing covers with the armored leading edges on, and lastly I connected the dragon tail.

Turning on my pip-buck as I set my helmet on the visor slid down to cover my eyes allowing my custom heads up display fill my vision as it communed with the hoof held computer. Instead of the normal green HUD of the EFS, I was greeted with my dark red rimmed radar and horizontal compass. On the top right I had my ammo readout, and upon my bottom right it showed a small model of my armor in grey, dictating that it was undamaged. I saw a flash on the bottom left of my HUD and noticed that it read "Objectives- Recover Rainbow Dash from Hoofington" before I lifted my right fore leg. The leg moved easily, even though my armor weighed in at three quarters of a ton, I tried my tail as well and found the robotics to move very smoothly.

I took a final look around my chamber, the many portraits of my fellow warriors and friends by my side in battle against numerous foes. I sighed thinking about how many times I have lost everypony I have ever known, then smiled when my gaze fell upon a picture of myself, Rainbow Dash, and Princess Luna. before the war, as we watched a Wonderbolts demonstration. Come to think of it Luna and Pinkie Pie were the only ones that knew of mine and Dash's relationship, the latter due to planting a bug in my chamber that I had returned by one of my ghost guards.

I sighed before leaving my home once more, but found myself smiling as I saw my objective again at the bottom of my HUD, if I do return here it will be with my beloved Rainbow Dash, and we will no longer be pestered by a war that kept us apart. I stepped outside of the hidden entrance before I was plowed into by a Steel Ranger.

"Huh, oh shit!" the buck from withing the armor said, he sounded no older than eighteen.

"Steady, I'm not going to hurt you." I said before a threat popped up on my scanner.

The buck quickly got behind me and backed into the solid rock wall behind me as I metal pony with two red orbs where its eyes should be emerged from the dead trees in front of me.

"Target aquired, new target detected, hostile?" It said in a cold metallic voice of a stallion as it pointed a ray gun of sort that was glowing red at me.

I looked back to the ranger who was scared witless before slowly walking up to the machine pony. I stopped about halfway between the two before it tried to walk around me. I ensured that I was to remain between it and the boy who was now sobbing and muttering incoherent things.

"Why are you attacking this buck?" I asked all the while getting closer to it.

"Contact was hostile, program dictates that all hostiles must be neutralized for the safety of..." It never finished as a barrage of missiles slammed into it, causing minor damage to the machine, but also sending it flying into the woods.

I jumped back using my wings to push me away from the blast itself as I watched the machine run deeper into the woods and disappear. I then looked to the origin of the attack and witness two more Steel Rangers come out of the woods, all of whom were in terrible shape. The first ranger that had hid himself behind me was still having his mental breakdown as one of his comrades walked over to try and calm him down. I was then approached by the paladin of the group who greeted me by pointing a large grenade launcher at me as her other squad mate kept his sniper zeroed on my head.

"Greetings." I said as my muzzle guard retracted and my visor lifted up, I bore a smile on my lips as I saw that none of them were hurt to badly.

"Who are you?" the paladin asked as her backup pulled his bolt back.

"I'll tell you as soon as you drop your hostilities, considering the fact that I have yet to take any towards you." I replied as my smile faded, I could tell this was going to be an annoying day.

The paladin looked to their sniper before she nodded and he put the muzzle of his rifle up, I took the time to look over at the other two. Now without their helmets I could see their features, the buck who had hidden behind me was pink with a black mane and dark brown eyes, his cohort was a mare who had a black coat, white mane, and blue eyes.

"So who are you?" the paladin asked me again.

"My name is Tempest, and I mean thou no harm." I asked not really interested in who she was.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she too looked over at the two rangers.

"I could ask you the same thing." I said frowning at how many questions she was asking.

"Well then, I'll tell you what. You tell us which way the Ponytron went, and we'll let you go." she said sticking out her hoof.

"Over yonder." I replied pointing a wing towards the woods behind me.

"You are a pegasus?" the sniper cried before pointing his rifle at me.

I raised a brow at him as my two auto cannons loaded themselves with AP ammunition. I looked to the paladin and nodded towards her sniper before looking to my guns which now had a little red light stating that they were armed.

"Stand down, he's loaded." she said as I reactivated my visor and muzzle guard to bring up my spray pattern which covered a two pony wide circle from where he was standing.

"Fine." he replied after staring at me with his rifle for two minuets.

"I'll take my leave now." I said walking away as I heard the paladin storm off towards the ponytron with her sniper close behind.

I stopped by the bushes and got low, past my cover the two knights shared a short but passionate kiss before trudging back towards their presumed camp. I followed behind them careful not to disturb too much of the terrain and not be detected. It wasn't long before they exited the wooded area and came into a clearing with many tents and other Steel Rangers who quickly began to question them.

"What happened?"

"Where is Paladin Heavy Hoof?"

"What is the status of the Stable Tech Ponytron Sentry?"

"It got away, the paladin is in pursuit, I was sent back so that I could stabilize his mental state." the knight responded between multiple other rangers asking the same questions as they approached.

"Quiet!" A ranger in a long blue robe shouted before coming to the two I followed here. "See to it that knight buckshot is calmed down. As for you Boom Boom, you will be sent in as reinforcements with another squad to capture more of the ponytrons in the stable."

I had heard enough, these rangers were attacking a stable with possible innocents inside. I needed to find the ponytron from earlier, but how? I knew which way it ran, though why I couldn't fathom, though it may just be trying to lead them away from the stable. I quietly sank away before anypony saw me and took to the skies at treetop level as I scanned for the two rangers and the ponytron.

After about thirty minuets I found them in a firefight that they were evidently winning. They had managed to run the ponytron into an old building and now it was stuck with now way out that didn't involve certain destruction. I dived down through a hole in the roof, hopeful that they didn't see me, and looked around for the ponytron. It had crouched behind a fireplace and was trying to repair itself, it stopped when it saw me looking at it, my EFS showed it was still none hostile.

"What is the status of the Stable?" I asked hoping to receive an answer.

"Classified information for use of proper authorities only." it replied.

"General Tempest Knight, Equestrian First Army." I replied as my visor and muzzle guards slid back.

"Authorization complete, stable population unharmed aside from initial conflict with hostile forces, five ponytron stable guards still remain operational, four." it replied to me before returning to its attempt to repair itself.

"Here let me help!" I said as I crawled over to it just before it was shot in the head. "Crap, hang on."

I removed the panel that protected its main processor and fished the bullet out using the magic of my gem. I then used my fire breath through my muzzle guard so that it could concentrate the flames so that I could weld the damaged frame back together. Luckily it wasn't too bad, all the shot did was sever a wire and chip the personality component. After putting the cover back on I shuffled over to its activation panel and booted it up.

"Stay here, I'll be back." the ponytron said in a strange accent as it stood up quickly as if it had just been built.

I then head screaming coming from therangers as the ponytron grabbed the paladin and used her as a shield to block the incoming bullets of the sniper.

"Oh no, what have I done?" the sniper yelled as he backpedaled away before hitting his rump on a tree.

The ponytron merely walked up to him and had claws eject from its left hoof just before ramming it into the rangers chest. Turning its head back to gaze upon me, as I walked out of the hole in the wall created by it, it retracted it claws and nodded.

"They have been terminated." it said once more in the strange accent.

"Well then, where did that come from?" I asked it.

"When you repaired me, my personality component was damaged. It would seem reasonable that multiple variables have altered my functionality." It replied.

"So now that you have a true persona, do you have a name?" I asked it.

It stood there for a moment contemplating ideas for a name before it raised a hoof, "I am Arnold Ponegator." It said.

"Well then, lets go save a stable." I replied, grinning behind my helmet.

"Lets." Arnold replied.

Author's Notes:

Dun Dun Dun, Arnold Ponegator everypony. I just had this crazy idea since I do kind of need to give Tempest a few side quests, also drop a comment below to tell me what you think of his power armor, even if he hasn't gotten to use it in battle yet.