- Twilight Sparkle

==============

Scootaloo slowly moved in front of the capsule. As a voluntary test subject, she would undergo cryogenic freezing, as an observer. She would be woken 500 years in the future.

Beside her stood Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, both were esteemed scientists who had worked round the clock to perfect the technology that would send their friend into the unknown.

Princess Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy, as well as the entire staff of the Canterlotian Biological sect were gathered around them.

Scootaloo took a few steps forward as Princess Celestia began speaking.

Scootaloo heard raucous applause as she stepped up to the contraption, a massive tube glowing blue with magical energy. Wires ran too and from the massive vats of cryogenic gas and nutrition vats to keep her from wasting away, and gel to keep her in suspended animation.

She stepped inside, her stomach churning as the giant glass door swung shut, sealing her in. There was nothing left to do now, it was in the hooves of the rest of the scientists as she relaxed against the padded leather meant for reclining and relaxing. Instantly she heard the scurry of many hooves on the ground as they rushed off to their respective locations. She heard two voices above all as the first of the Anesthesia gas began dispersing, fogging up the contraption from the inside.

"Alright! Mission 'Cold Sleep' is a go! You three! Get to the medical bridge! Monitor all vitals and gimme a shout when her BMP starts dropping!"

Scootaloo had to smile even as she became sleepier, Applebloom was always the bossiest of the three.

"Alright! Do what the lady tells you. You three! You're with me, I want you and you to monitor the wiring, make sure there isn't an influx once the gel and cryo-juice start feeding in. You! I want you with me, we're gonna keep an eye on the tube itself, make sure there aren't any leaks." That was Sweetie Belle

Scootaloo was fighting to stay awake, constantly whipping away the condensation as she strained her neck to see the various amorphous shapes scurrying here and there.

Finally however, she heard a particular set of hooves clopping as Sweetie Belle's signature bun came into view, followed by the face.

Scootaloo flashed a grim smile, the corner of Sweetie Belle's left mouth turned upwards in a grin as she tapped on the glass.

"You're gonna be fine Scoots, trust me."

Scootaloo inhaled deeply, instantly wishing she hadn't after a massive wave nausea and drowsiness threatened to overcome her.

"Thanks Sweetie Belle, see you on the other side." Replied Scootaloo, the effects of the K.O gas were too strong as she felt her eyelids droop. What she didn't see was Sweetie Belle flash a grimace, her eyes filled with sadness.

"Alright! BPM dropping!" Scootaloo could still vaguely hear the outside world even as she succumbed. She only vaguely heard the sound of burbling water as the stasis gel bubbled up from floor vents, surrounding her.

"BPM at 18!"

The world started going dark, dark and numb.

"BPM at 10!"

She heard the vague outlines of words, probably Applebloom as whoever it was shouted out.

"Alright! Shut off K.O gas! Stasis is in! I repeat! The stasis gel is in!"

"BPM is at 7! Fire up the cryo-vats!"

And then, the world went dark, very dark, very quiet, and very still.

==================

For a few moments, nobody moved, they all held their collective breaths as the technicians poured over Vital Sign readings and the feed from the various vats keeping the mare in stasis. Finally, after staring intently at some numbers dribbling out from a nearby terminal, Applebloom sighed deeply.

"Alright folks, she's sleepin'." She let her old Ponyville accent slip as she relaxed from her rigid stance.

And in the instant she did, raucous applause nearly threatened to overwhelm her.

Celestia came up to the dusk coated mare and raised her hoof.

The whole plaza where the "sealing" was taking place. Applebloom smiled for the masses, her magnum opus complete and operational.

But behind it all, behind the glitz and the glam, behind the glare of the camera lenses as the press behind them called for attention, behind the smiling faces of Celestia and Applebloom, there was the still grimacing face of Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie turned towards Luna, one of the many faces in the smiling and celebrating faces in the crowd. Luna's expression however, mirrored Sweetie's.

Sweetie Belle completed her report on project 'Cold Sleep'. The various notes during First stage, second, third, and finally, 'execution'.

Smiling with satisfaction, she placed it alongside the various stacks of note on her office desk. Whipping her brow, she stood up and arched her back stretching the cartilage and re-alligning all the disks in her spine pushed out of line by her hunched posture.

"Heading out Sweetie Belle?" As Sweetie passed a low hanging cat-walk, Applebloom called out to her, a welder's mask attached to her face shielding the mare from the 80+ kelvin degree welder.

"Y...yeah. I was. See you tomorrow Bloom." The mare stuttered, giving a false smile. Applebloom stopped her welding and flipped up the mask, eyeing the pure white mare with a mixed look of both curiosity...andsuspicion.

"What're yeh talkin' bout? Sweetie Belle, with this project? WE can fuckin' take our lives off!" Applebloom started spinning like a hyper-active foal.

"Yeah..I guess you're right. Well, I'll be off then!" Falsely chirped Sweetie Belle swaggering to the massive double doors.

"......Sweets....'s there something you're not tellin' me?" Asked Applebloom from behind her.

Sweetie Belle sighed deeply as she reached the door, placing a despondent hoof on the glass.

"Alot actually."

And with that, she walked out. Applebloom merely shrugged and returned to her work.

Sweetie Belle walked out, and after a little while found herself walking in Canterlot Park, south of the royal castle on Hoofston Avenue.

"Did anyone follow you?" Asked Luna all of a sudden popping out from nowhere to her left.

Sweetie Belle merely kept her eyes forward as she walked on. "No. And I checked." She replied without bothering to turn her head and address the Night Princess.

"Good. Sweetie Belle...you and I both know this has gone on long enough." Sweetie smirked, Luna never really did chit-chat when they met.

"Yeah. Celestia's only funded us because we were directly related to the 6. I'd say that's a blatant form of Nepotism. Coupled with the fact that's she's been hammering at our director's to allow the state access to all our work. I think she means to use us for something or another. But I don't know what."

By the time Belle had finished, the two had arrived at their usual meeting place, a small innocuous Cafe just off the main road.

"I do." Luna said after a little while. The two were now seated in a table out on the veranda.

"She means to make bio-weapons." Sweetie had to all but fight to keep herself from spitting.

"What? How?" Celestia had been getting a bit 'power hungry' as of late, but this was well...

"And project 'Cold Sleep' was only the proverbial Ice-burg." Luna snickered a bit, a short horse one.

"How does Cold Sleep fit into this at all? I thought the whole intention of the project was to see if we could keep a subject alive long enough in stasis for them to awake 500 years to the future. How does that fit into her plans for a larger military?"

Luna took out a file from somewhere in her mane and slid it across the table.

Sweetie gave her a questioning look before picking it up with her magic and opening it.

Her eyes grew very wide as soon as she scanned the first few paragraphs.

"How did you-"

"I persuaded the Director of Intelligence to hand it over."

"Faust's sake. This is...this is..."

Luna placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"Sweetie, what I'm asking of you right now. It's hard. I know."

"Our entire project, all the blood, sweat, and tears. You're telling me...you're telling me it was all set up by her..so see if we could keep clones alive?!? To make new bodies to fight wars?!?" She hissed, being unable to shout.

"Yes. SWEETIE! Look at me!" Luna yanked the mare's face up and into her own. Staring her in the eyes."

"I'm sharing this with you because I need you to help me stop this. Sweetie, she's gonna take over everything if we let her. First she did away with Parliament, then she single-hoofedly passed laws allowing the state to take anything it needs. Then she passes laws limiting our rights. Sweetie Belle, if we don't stop her now, she'll take over everything, she'll plunge is into war if we don't stop this here and now."

Luna exhaled, Sweetie closed her eyes.

"How long? How long do you think this'll take? I mean the sabotage?"

Luna took a deep breath.

"Well..first I need to notify the public of...this madness. I need to do it covertly though. I'll probably need to plant some video or evidence of secret meetings in a News Agency, let them run the story and let it spread like wildfire. I'll need to set someone up though. Probably the Director or the Vice Director. Then I'll need to start an opposition. I don't know how we'll do it Sweetie. But once we start, it won't end peacefully." Luna had zoned out, and as she muttered, Sweetie Belle reclined into her chair, the shock still coursing through her body.

"No....this won't end peacefully...it'll end with somepony's head on a pike."

Applebloom reclined in her chair, sighing ever so softly as the weight was taken off her bones. Currently she was sitting in her office.

"CMC Bio inc. huh." She mused. Their company had come a long way from the little sprouting almost 45 years ago. Now it was a massive 'Jack of all trades' name that specialized in Pharmaceuticals, everything from Astro-physics, to oceanology, bio-chemical weaponry, and manufacturing of various weaponry, vehicles and others that shall remain unnamed.

"Ma'am? The Princess is here to see you." The phone on her desk rang with the voice of her male receptionist.

Applebloom walked over to the window, admiring the skyline view from the Skyscraper she was in.

"Send her in."

With a few minutes to spare, Applebloom reflected on the past. The resignation of Sweetie Belle not 5 years ago had nearly threatened to collapse the whole company. Applebloom still remembered the day.

"I can't keep doing this. I can't keep lying."

"Sweets? What're you talking about? Keep doing what?"

"Lying, keep doing...this I can't just sit by and let all these weapons, destined for Faust knows where pass by. Right under my nose. I can't keep watching...I can't keep watching as Celestia tears down everything Ponykind has stood for."

"Careful what ya say Sweets..."

"AND YOU BE FREE WITH WHAT YOU SAY! DON'T YOU SEE?!? SHE'S TAKEN OVER EQUESTRIA AS WE KNOW IT! WHAT DO WE DO NOW? WE MAKE WEAPONS TO HELP KILL. AND KILL EFFICIENTLY. WE MAKE GASES THAT CAN EAT AWAY YOUR ORGANS. WE MAKE MEDICINE BUT WE DON'T USE IT ON THE DYING POOR. WE MAKE INGENIOUS INNOVATIONS AND WHAT DOES SHE DO? SHE TAKES AWAY THE PATENT AND KEEPS FEEDING US MONEY WHILE HER DOGS USE IT TO KILL MORE INNOCENT GRYPHONS, HYDRAS, BASILISKS, AND ZEBRAS."

"Sweetie Belle! Calm down and listen to me!"

"NO! You listen to me! What did we stand for again? What did we believe in again? We believed in the power of love and friendship. We believed in the power to help others, and not kill them. To heal others and not poison them. To help others rise, not oppress them. This is what ponies believed in. And what has she done? What has that sun monster done? She's taken it to ruin! Now we believe in 'the holy matriarch'. We believe all the lies and bullshit she feeds us and what do we do? Nothing that's what."

"Sweetie Belle for Celestia's sake!"

"No. Not for Celestia's sake. For the sake of ponykind. I'm defecting."

"WHAT?!?"

Applebloom took a deep breath. She still remembered the day Sweetie Belle had defected to the Lunar Republic. A movement that had sprung up after leaked footage of CMC Inc's....more classified meetings and projects.

A brainchild of Luna's. She had instantly defected to the Zebra Kingdom, they had offered her a small plot of land to start her kingdom.

"Not even 30 years." Muttered Applebloom to herself, coughing up a laugh sounded more like a bark." The Lunar Republic had sprung up. From the ashes of conquered nations it had brought together the fallen Gryphons, the Zebras, the Basilisks, the Wolves, and the Dragons. And in the name of all of those species, it had risen.

"She calls herself an activist. A petitioner for freedom. But she's just another Queen." Applebloom narrowed her eyes, she held nothing but contempt for Luna...and for Sweetie Belle. Especially since Sweetie Belle had been one of the first to join Luna in her mad quest.

"Ma'am. Princess Celestia's on the floor." Her receptionist alerted her before Celestia ever stepped in the room.

"Thank you Wilkes, consider today your day off." She said.

"Much obliged ma'am." Said Wilkes before logging off.

Applebloom swung around as the audio recording of a chime went off, signaling her visitor's arrival.

"Princess Celestia! I was expecting-"

"Hello Bloom."

".....Belle."

==========================

Applebloom squinted as the tall mare in front of her sighed. Her coifed mane bouncing a little before settling on her head. Streaks of grey shot through Belle's once vibrant purple and pink mane, giving the mare a more...elderly touch.

"So. Come to visit an old friend have you?" Questioned Applebloom turning back once again.

"Bloom. Don't be like that. I just came to check up on you."

Applebloom spun around, hate in her eyes, though she was careful to keep her tone even.

"Oh? Now? Now are we? Sorry, so now is the perfect time to check up on old acquaintances?" She spat. Sweetie Belle flinched slightly, grimacing.

And Applebloom was loving it.

"So..you couldn't drop by for tea during...let's say the great peace two years ago? Or here's one. WHEN YOU QUIT?" She exploded. Sweetie Belle merely sighed.

"I knew it. Bloom. You're not seeing it." Sweetie Belle's eyes held nothing but sadness and pity as she gazed upon her former friend.

"And what am I not seeing? Or better yet, what are you not seeing? Take a look Sweets! I'm living in the lap of luxury here!" She gestured for Sweetie Belle to join her at the window, which Belle did.

"Take a look at that Belle, and tell me again, what am I not seeing?" She showed her the skyline, the towering buildings and glorious hovering monorails, all designed and built by CMC Industries, a branch owned by Applebloom personally.

"When viewing through the eyes of a god. It is often hard to see the mortals." She said simply.

"Bloom, what you're not seeing is what your weapons are doing. Your not seeing what you're designing. You're not seeing the rotten bodies lying abandoned in gutters. Your not treating the sick and wounded as they moan and ache."

Apple Bloom, who had been preparing a rebuttal not stared at her friend. True she had seen first hoof the devastation that her designs wrought...but they were in controlled environments.

Not thinking about the repercussions was what let her sleep at night.

"No Bloom. What you're not seeing is the bloated and infected wounds, the para-plegics who come in. And these are just foals Bloom! Not even fully grown mares or stallions! FUCKING CHILDREN!

No Bloom, what you don't see is the sick and dying, what you don't smell is the stench of shit, puss, and piss. What you don't hear is of the constant air raids on DEFENSELESS AND BORDERLINE COUNTRIES. What you don't hear is of the enslavement! Look around you Bloom! Who do you think built this empire? It was not through the sweat of our brows! It was through the blood of others!"

She was screaming now as she gripped the mare.

".....How? How do you now all this?" She asked after a little while. A little part of herself not believing.

"Because when I joined up with Luna, she made me tour the outer-lying provinces. She made me see the dead and the dying. And I have been trying my damnedest to stop that rampaging Sun Monstrosity from causing any more."

She finished. Bloom merely stared at the picturesque scenery."

"......I knew...Sweets." She said, after a long silence.

Sweetie Belle's jaw loosened a bit.

"...I knew all along....Celestia...she made me watch it Sweets." The mare began crying. Memories locked away started surfacing.

"....Sweets...she made me watch...watch as she tested the first of the Acid Nanites on mah family." Her lower lip began quivering. Horrible memories.

"Bu-bu-but. I thought you were doing this of your own free will! What? How? Bloom speak to me. I saw the news feeds, you and Celestia are 'the closest of friends-"

"NO! NO IT WAS ALL A LIE!" Applebloom spun around facing her friends. Her eyes wild, her head aching as memories long repressed began surfacing.

"NO! SHE- AUGH! SHE!" Applebloom began bleeding heavily from her lips, from her eyes, from and from her ears. Sweetie Belle caught her as she lost balance.

"She.....she.....brain....wa-" the mare suddenly gacked, a quick and unnatural sound.

"....Bloom....Bloom speak to me c'mon." Sweetie Belle felt her entire body grow cold as she held her friend.

"Mental conditioning combined with memory reactant serums designed to instantly block and over-stimulate certain blood vessels into exploding, causing a brain aneurism. Perfect for keeping secrets is it not?"

Sweetie Belle could only turn her head, it felt like a watermelon on her cold and unfeeling body as she swiveled around to face a grinning Celestia.

"I knew at some point she'd break. That's why as soon as were done brain washing her, and while her brain was in hard reset mind you, we hooked a couple gadgets up."

She clopped silently over to where Sweetie Belle was kneeling, a pistol attached to the Princess's shoulder by some infernal chest plate thing.

Sweetie Belle started shaking her head slowly in a 'no' fashion.

"She was your ally. Why. Why now? Why this?" She started, too shocked to even process sadness.

"Oh simple, she was a liability. Besides, I can always get somepony to replace her." Celestia sighed and moved over to the table, on it sat a single glass of red wine.

"There are always other ponies."

"Why though? Why do you continue to conquer nations with such brutality? Why do you continue to kill?" She asked again, some feeling returning to her body.

"Why? Because I'm immortal! That's why! Everyday I've seen ponies come and go. And do you want to know something? I'll always outlive them. Even if I fall, I can simply rise again. And again, all I have to do is change faces, and I can be somepony new! And they'll hoof power to me on a silver plater! Because that's all anypony wants to do! Be ruled!"

She laughed maniacally.

Even though the situation was dire, grim, and depressive. Sweetie Belle cocked a smile. Celestia noticed and cocked hers.

"Oh? Something tickled your fancy?" She asked.

It was then she noticed Sweetie Belle's left eye moving, zooming in and refocusing on it's own accord. It was then, that a sudden and horrific realization dawned on her.

"Smile, you're on camera."

Celestia frowned before sending a telepathic signal to her shoulder mount to fire. A silent cough, and the bullet flew through Sweetie Belle's mechanical eye, lodging itself in her brain and splattering blood all over the window.

Celestia swindled her wine.

"Oh bugger, that was some quality glass."

It was then she noticed the sudden glare from the outside, turning her attention away from the wine, she observed that something big, round, and trailing fire was coming towards her, and fast.

==============================

Luna shook with silent fury as the transmission replayed itself over and over again. She was in the control room in New Canterlot, deep under the city which was sitting on an old Zebra city. All around her, the once vibrant command center buzzed with traffic and voices, up until a few minutes ago.

"....Ma'am?" Asked a consultant. Luna's eyes had been closed until now, but now, they flew open with such fury in them.

"Everything." She said curtly. When the consultant stuttered, she whipped around.

"Everything we have. Fire all armed nuclear warheads. Obliterate that festering hellhole from the face of the earth." Her voice shook with such fury.

"Roger, this is Moon actual. All units are advised, operation 'Falling Star' is a go. I have just received the go ahead from Big Moon, we are a go." A voice pipped up.

"Moon 2 reported launch Ma'am."

"Moon 7, 8, and 9 have reported launch."

"Copy that, notify all ground troops, authorize a declaration of war. I repeat, we are at war." The command center lit up again as all sorts of orders were passed from hoof to hoof, from mouth to mouth, from ear to ear.

"We're at war ma'am. Is there...is there anything you'd like to say?" The same consultant asked.

Luna sighed and rubbed a temple.

"Everything to be said already has been. Now, only actions speak." She said. And even more quietly, added "you're move sis." Afterwards.

==========================================

Celestia sighed and rolled her eyes with exasperation. "Nuking the city? Really Luna? Are you really that desperate? Oh well, you know what this means." She snorted again before teleporting to her own Command Base hidden under the old Royal Palace in Old Canterlot.

"Ma'am?" Asked a male consultant, the command center had fallen quiet as everypony knelt."

"I have just witness a declaration of war from the Lunar Republic via a Nuke to New Canterlot." Sighed Celestia.

"Are you sure ma'am?" Asked a voice off to her side. She whipped around with a dead pan expression as if to say 'really?'

"I have just received reports that New Canterlot has- oh my Faust." Another voice, this one female spoke.

"I take it you all know what this means? Hold nothing back. Scramble the fighters deploy the troops and all that jazz." Celestia reclined in her own seat, a throne at the center of the HUB.

"Let the fireworks, begin." She said pausing to let the words sink in.

Celetia, still alive, crossed the landscape, currently a dust storm of colossal proportions threatened to topple her as she braced her and moved on.

"Should be around here somewhere." She muttered, not caring that she was walking on 100+ kelvin heated earth and irradiated air.

"Ah!" She said as she spotted what she was looking for, a massive crag in the ground.

Leaping in, she walked for a quarter mile before coming across a massive door.

"Identify" Pipped the door, still functioning even after the Nuclear Apocolyptia.

"Identity, Celestia." She said, instantly a red dot shot out and scanned her pupil, verifying her identity.

As soon as it was done, she proceeded into the yawning cave as the door closed behind her.

And she smiled at the sight that greeted her.

A massive cavern with rows upon rows upon rows of cryogenically preserved civilians.

"Oh. I didn't die. No, far from it dear sister." She said mostly to herself as she moved over to an interface, pressing a button.

"I'm going to rebuild."

(A/N: We're bringing cyberpunk back! Just you wait)

Miles underground, a blue light flicked on, illuminating a single mare.

Contacting mainframe...

.....

....

Connection time out. Scanning soil samples.

A single robot detached from a spot on the wall. It was a simple robot, with a ball for a body and a rotor blade attached for means of transportation.

Minutes later, it flew back inside.

Re-programming mainframe.

Reprogramming complete.

The single light flicked off, and the cavern was once again plunged into darkness.

"Yo Vex! Rise and shine sweetheart!" Vex snapped to attention and gripped her P-F200 with a startled gasp, letting out a scream as the stallion opposite of her screamed.

"AHAHAHHA! Oh man that was funny!" The stark orange stallion fell to the floor laughing, his bowler hat coming off.

With an angry sigh, Vex spun the gun around and smacked the butt across his head.

"Oww! It was a joke! C'mon! Vex!" He called after the mare as she stalked off, the metal walkway clanging.

"Dammit Zapman's gonna give me a heart attack one of these days." She muttered. "Sheila! Online!"

"Captain. Good evening. How was your nap?" A hologram appeared in front of her as she walked, the narrow corridor that served as the crew's quarters opened into the much larger space of the Bridge below, connecting the Crew's Quarters with the staircase leading to the engine room was a single gangplank which Vex quickly jumped down from.

"Nap was fine. Oh and Sheila? Remind me to set up a concusory barrier around the door to my room. Tune it to Zapman's specific genetic code." She said, her voice filling with spite as she walked up to the terminal, and the pony sitting beside it.

"Noted Captain." The hologram reappeared below her as she jumped down and fell into step alongside her. "I assume Mr.Man's antics are disturbing you?"

"Hon, a nano-fly or even a cyber-tag is annoying. A bore-program is annoying. He is downright gettin' on my last nerves." She said, stopping in front of the sitting pony. Currently, the male stallion was leaning against the Cartographer, a massive sphere floating through the power of anti-matter. Various holograms of star-systems and planets, and Nebulas.

The pony sitting next to them all, was a single reddish unicorn stallion. His eyes were glazed over and his keyblade sat propped next to him. A thin line of drool ran from his lips and ended on his stomach.

Vex shook her head. "Damn piglets. Always takin' the chance to suckle the great mother. I outta throw this junkie out." She sighed.

"Sheila, notify all crew members to meet at Bridge, ASAP."

"Noted Captain." And with that, the hologram disappeared.

Vex turned around again proceeding to the Captain's chair. A single egg shaped polyester chair suspended without any visible support through Repulser Technology.

"Captain, a ISE A.I is requesting permission to connect to the mainframe. Shall I authorize?" Sheila's voice pipped through Vex's personal PUI.

"Yes. Allow them access to the main thoroughfare chat channel." As soon as she had finished speaking, a hologram of a metallic Twilight Sparkle, the basic ISE construct model appeared in front of her.

"Captain Sarsaparilla Vex, Celestia would like to know how the mission proceeds." The bot started in a simple but clear Canterlotian Accent. Supposedly the original for the basic construct models, the TWILIGHT SPARKLE had originally been of Canterlotian decent.

Vex cocked an eyebrow, while her mercenary company was quite the up-and-coming star in the paramilitary world, it was quite rare, verging on nearly impossible that they would have gotten a commission from the Imperial Sun Empress herself.

"The mission is uh...it's goin' fine. Look, can we just stick with the normal lingo? I'd just prefer if you'd call it a 'job' instead of a mission. Makes me feel like it's serious."

"Noted. Changing mission to, 'job'." A chime sounded, notifying that the A.I had indeed changed the meaning.

"I assure you however, that this 'job' is of the utmost importance. Retrieval of the package is vital to the wellbeing and continuation of the Solar Empire. Failure is not an option. "

Vex nodded, though on the inside she was rolling her eyes.

"Got it. But why would Celestia want anything from a dead planet? I mean, without the personal coordinates she provided, we'd be flying blind. Which reminds me. Why doesn't this planet show up on the Universal Map? It's like it never existed..." she nudged the zoned out stallion by her hooves who only blinked and babbled something unintelligible.

"I am not authorized to answer that question."

Vex shook her head.

"Of course you aren't." She said simply.

"This conclues my business. Good day. And may the Imperial Solar Empire rule on forever." The bot disappeared, momentarily replaced by the floating symbol of the ISE; the silhouette of an alicorn against the backdrop of a sun.

With the A.I gone, Vex vocalized her displeasure.

"Friggin Commies." Turning her attention once again to the stallion by her legs, she grunted with mixed anger and irritation. He was a young unicorn, probably just out of his teens. He had a deep black mane against a singed auburn coat. It was really nice really. Though she grimaced, it would look nicer if he took a bath once in a while. The ship they were on wasn't exactly a 'junk'. Hell, it even came equipped with it's own above standard A.I. This compared to the old ship which was falling apart at the seams seemed like a helluva difference.

"You! Taios! Wake up! Snap out ya Pig-Addict!" She kicked him once, hard in the ribs. Not hard enough to break, but hard enough to bruise.

She sighed deeply. Not even a month and he was already 'suckling'. The crew had found him fighting off waves of Cyber-Lesions on a star, they had offered their help in return for his services and he obliged.

Later on, she learned that he was a traveler, not between planets and star-systems; but between dimensions and universes as well. He was a good kid really, but he had come across hard times. Especially when he had found that the friend he had come to visit was dead and that he was trapped in her universe.

As a coping mechanism, somewhere along the way he had taken up 'suckling'. She was about to cut off his Net Connection when the rest of the crew walked in.

"Yo cap! What'cha need us for?" Asked Kriskoyav, his smock blackened with soot, a testament to his job as sole engineer aboard their ship.

"Yes Captain. Are we close?" Asked Zion, the cyborg medic. Instead of a new body, he had opted for a metal one, implanting his brain directly into a top of the line Level 2 battle mech. Basically he was a walking tank, and Vex owed him a big one after he saved her life countless times. The guy never asked for anything, even when he desperately needed something. Vex had taken it upon herself to give him whatever he wanted when he asked, even if it was a tall order.

"Yeah, we're about 300,00 klicks out from the planet." She stopped to signal one of the crew who was running by, she asked for the intercom mic, and he obliged.

"Listen up! Anyone on the Retrieval job head to Dock 6! Take off's in 10 minutes! Don't forget to hook up the ocular optics snipers! All personal on the Marking job, head to Docks 1,3, and 7! And for Faust's sake somepony in IT cut Taio's PUB link!" She shouted

Instantly the earth pony joined the ranks of the living. "Wha? What the? Is the raid mission over?" He asked joining the small group of veteran soldiers. As soon as he was with them though, he stopped and stood stock still, holding his head and hissing through his teeth.

"Ey! Might want to lay off for the suckling for a bit Taios! One of these days that thing is gonna give you a bad case of Viros!" A member of the engine's crew remarked, sending the gathered group of ponies into hysterics.

"Umm....what's a viros?" Asked Taios, he was getting nervous.

"Ah man, the look on your face! Well, a Viros is a virus sometimes tacked onto the up-linked user during one of your 'suckling sessions'. It enters your head directly through your uplink and destroys the main processor and all brain-cellss along the way with a specially designed bio-electrical signal. It's a double-edged sword." Said Kriskayov almost crying with laughter.

Taios's lower jaw hung limp with shock.

"If ya don't want one, stick to IRL, stay out of the Pig's Space." Said Vex shoving past him.

"ZAP! GET DOWN HERE YOU LAZY ASSHOLE! I NEED YOU ON SNIPER SUPPORT!" She shouted up to her room.

She heard thudding as he ran out of her room, leapt over the catwalk, and landed almost catlike on a nearby monitor.

All while holding his 2.5 Kilo DASH-TEC HVAR (High Velocity Arc Rifle)

"Frost duty?" He asked, pleadingly almost.

"Frost duty." She said resigned, he leapt with joy, and in an instant he was calling up his own PUB interface.

"Personal Uplink Bracelet online!" He shouted. "Storage; Frost suit." He said simply, and in an instant, he was clad head to hoof in a heavy metallic suit made entirely of Stainless steel. His rifle was also modified, now sporting a single rubber tube running to a small generator attached to Zapman's back. It whirred softly as the two conducting rods whirred, causing a shift in the carefully cultivated environment of the plexi-glass casing that surrounded the rods. His face was covered by a thin film of sorts, dark navy blue in color but as elastic as plastic.

"Alright Cap. See you up on the deck!" He joked moving off to his position.

By now the crew had gotten the message, all foot soldiers were heading into the transport vessels, all crew-members were monitoring their various states, mission briefings for the ones just getting filled in, some were even firing up the mini-satellites in case the ground pounders (slang for troopers) needed air support.

"Alright ma'am, all troops in transports, all satellites up and running, the Cartographer has been adjusted to monitor progress and Navigational Pylons are standing by.

Vex gave a nod.

"Mission is a go: Attention! All troopers! 'Hostile Contingency' is a go! I repeat! 'Hostile Contingency' is a go!" She shouted keeping a close eye from the bridge of the ship.

"And Faust speed to you all." She murmured under her breath.

Taios sat in his designated seat within one of the Transports heading to the planet's surface. He was sweating big time as his nerves frayed and failed him.

"I take it this is your first time on a drop?" Asked one of the newer recruits who was also sweating. His name was Lancaster if Taios remembered correctly.

"Nah, 30th actually. I'm just scared of what we're gonna find is all." He replied clutching his keyblade. He was so glad Vex hadn't made him a Free-faller. They had the scariest job of all.

"...Oh....well...I'm scared shitless." Said the recruit forcing out nervous laughter.

"It's gonna be fine kid! Just guard the huts and we'll mount the offensive alright?" Joked one of the vets. Taios knew him by name, Tartsley. The massive bull of a pony who usually ran into battle with dual N-B (Nova Ballistic) Gatling guns. He was fearsome in battle, but a good friend.

"ALRIGHT boys 'n girls! Saddle your shit and get ready to drop! ETA 5 minutes!" Instant there was a flurry of activity from within the cramped hull of the Transport as the squadron of ponies readied their float gear.

"What's the Alt?" Asked Taios moving to the front of the Transport to talk to the pilot.

The pilot turned in his seat and gave him a wicked smile.

"Let's put it this way; if ya jump without an anti-grav belt or a floater suit; yer gonna end up in the ground rather than just a spot on it." The pilot chocked.

"Alright! Opening rear hatch!" The pilot said suddenly flipping a couple switches. Instantly, the massive rear end of the transport opened with a sound not unlike metal girders colliding.

And as soon as they were open, most of the war vets let out a whoop of joy and cannon-balled into the ferocious wind. Taios himself, having long overcome his fear of heights, steeled his nerves and jumped.

Zapman breathed deeply as the airlock behind him shut. Vex had ordered him on 'Frost Duty' that meant he had to sit up in deep space, on top of the ship's outer hull, freezing his ass off to cover a bunch of ground troopers from space with a rifle powerful enough to put a Hydrogen Bomb to shame.

"Zap? You read?" Asked Zetski, one of the techies in charge of Comms.

"Loud and clear bud." He said moving to his position; a canister sitting beside a belt to feed the gun, whatever it was, normally it would be hidden away in a small compartment just beneath it, but on the rare occasion someone needed to pull Frost Duty, it would dutifully be open to the sucker who pulled the shift.

"Alright then, I'm gettin into position." He said, opening a small rectangular hole on the outside of his gun. Reaching over to the canister, he pulled a similarly rectangular tube attached to the massive canister.

Firearm detected. Barret .90 Cal HVAR. Arming appropriate shells.

....Depleted Uranium Shells...online. Count: 20

Mini-hydrogen shells..online. Count: 50

HV Stainless Steel rounds...online. Count: 70.

High Velocity Arc Rounds...online. Count 0% overheat.

The ship's A.I, or rather an offshoot notified him.

"Hmm...140 rounds and a cooled Arc tank huh? This should be nice." He purred.

"Zapman here. Almost ready."

Now came the best part.

Establishing Oculary connection. Detaching lens.

He felt as if the eye itself was being methodically ripped out of it's socket as the Cornea was automatically and safely dissolved. For a moment he felt blinding pain and an overwhelming need to drop what he was doing and start scratching his eye.

Cornea removal complete, beginning extension of the Iris.

And with that, the vision in his bio-mechanical left eye blurred horribly, numbness prevented him from retracting the Iris. All the while, the mechanical Iris slowly lifted off the Sclera and floated into space. It wasn't really floating away, just moving to a pre-determined space automatically picked by tiny servos in his brain.

Iris extension complete. Beginning wire-less reconnection to Retina.

And just as the blurriness and insane itch and ungodly pain had come, it began to dull as the pain receptors in his brain were methodically shut down as wireless nerve impulses were reconnected to the now stretched out eye.

Wireless reconnection complete, beginning re-integration of Lens.

And in the span of 5 minutes, a cloud of Nano-bots came to life, acting as miniature climate-changing robots, creating moisture to replace the one depleted by space. In no time flat, they had reconstructed a metal lens he could control with just a thought.

Integration complete.

The Offshoot A.I notified him. His bio-metallic eye now resembled a composite sketch of an eye, something a school-teacher would use to point out the different parts to his students.

"Alright. Zapman here. I'm good to go."

"Roger Zaps, stand by." Said the techie, and so, Zap readied his rifle which was now pointed straight down at the moving earth below. He stood at the tip of the ship, a vet who didn't need the tether to hold onto the ship in case the recoil from the rifle sent him into deep space.

"Here we go." He muttered under his breath, waiting for the storm to come.

He stood at the threshold of the barrier, all that separated him a quick asphyxiated death in outer space. The barrier was the name the jumpers called a 'Dock'. What ships used to quickly leave and re-enter the ship. It was a thin plasma barrier that separated him, from cold, deep, space.

"Alright! Get ready Kev! We're jumpin' soon!" Said his buddy, Matt. A green unicorn. His color however, was hidden underneath his suit, a thin black cat-suit. All 'Free-fallers' war it, the only thing separating them from the searing burn of Re-entry.

There were a lot of things separating him from near death. He thought grimly donning his helmet.

Fallers, jumping in 8. The pleasent voice of the A.I reminded him. Mat smacked him on the shoulder. "C'mon man, time to roll!" The unicorn shouted, bellowing a war whoop as he jumped into deep space, jumping through the protective barrier, the only thing separating them from certain death.

Kev watched as his friend drifted for a while, a while before he activated his jet-pack and sped off towards the planets surface to assist in the set up of a base.

"Here goes nothing." He said dejectedly as he too jumped, feeling the weightlessness, soundlessness, of space. For a moment, he too sat floating in space, appreciating the cold comfort of knowing you were completely alone.

"Shame something so beautiful has too be so deadly." He thought blankly reaching a languid hoof through the non-water that was space.

And with that thought, he too activated his jetpack and it screamed to life as he rocketed towards the planet's surface.

Vex sat in her Captain's chair and overlooked the progress.

"Let the games...begin." She mused moving off to her own quarters to observe and issue commands like an RTS player.

Things have changed, oh they've changed big time.

Miles underground, where nothing should have lived.

Filled with toxic radiation; they stirred.

They awoke, chittering from their years long naps.

They had grown grotesque, macabre, horrendous and disgusting.

But they lived

And they were hungry.

Taios sighed as he finally took a break, the 'Hut' as the Vets called it, was actually a mobile base sent down from an orbiting mothership to supply, feed, and shelter the troops sent to ground. Most of the time, an impulse was fired, an electrical code packaged in a parcel of a mini EMP that commandeered any nearby floating nanites, forcing them to morph like Stem Cells and become different metals, alloys, base metals, and components. But after a preliminary scan showed all metallic components (as well as nanintes) obliterated by some unknown event, the techies in charge of the Troopers sent down a massive 3 storey base, complete with turrets, docking stations for air-craft, and a whole host of other things.

He tugged miserably at his skin-tight suit, the troopers hadn't taken them off since they'd arrived, not since the Geiger Radars exploded due to the enormous toxicity levels

For lack of anything better to do, he backed up until he was several meters from the construct, then ran full tilt, wall running, grabbing a jutting piece of machinery, and slowly, methodically climbing up the massive tower.

with a sigh of relief, he leaned back against a Radio tower, now sitting comfortably at the very top.

"YO TAIOS! What're you doing up there man! The fight's down here!" He heard a Vet over his mic, Dane, one of the Snipers assigned to cover the troopers as they methodically built up their defenses.

"On lookout duty! Throw me a rifle!" He shouted back, instantly his PUI lit up, notifying him that an item had been 'gifted' to him him. Checking he smiled, one DASH-TEC PtSI floated in his inventory space.

The PtSI or Planet to Satellite Interface was not exactly a 'Sniper' but it fell under the same class, with a massive Scope able to zoom in on a target on another continent (if the planet was flat). It was used primarily by scouts used to designate targets for overhead satellites to destroy. It was sleek black, the basic design pattern for any DASH-TEC weapon, how ironic that the actual pony the company was based off of was the universally famous Rainbow Dash, the first pony to break the sound barrier un-aided. Who was also technicolored.

The psuedo-barrel was a small and cylindrical, used by a special infrared lazer, the stock was the average model for a gun, triangular in shape, it the bottom of the triangle rested against the ponies shoulder while he/she took the shot. But the site was the biggest, with a base filter that could cut through fog, grass,mountains, and even other living beings, it was affectionately called 'the all seeing eye' by many who used it.

"Thanks Dane!" Said Taios, eagerly sending the blue-prints to the factory building he sat on. In a few seconds, another chime notified him that the PtSI was ready for transfer. And he did as the PUI instructed, 'resoluting' the gun.

"Alright then, camp time!" He chimed laying prone and bringing the scope up to his eye.

But as soon as he did, he saw something, far off into the horizon, a dust cloud began.....moving.

"Command this is Guiding light. Do you this?" He immediately uplinked the gun-site to a live feed system that showed all the crew-members what he was seeing.

"Copy Guiding light, we see it, but we don't know what it is. Keep an eye out." And with that the the radio went dead. He did as he was told, gripping the gun tighter and keeping his eyes wide open.

"Hey Matt? You seeing this?" Kev had been making his way to the planet's surface when something caught his attention. Well a couple things actually; the fact that his Rad-Det (radiation detector) was going hay-wire. And the fact that the planet was....brown. Nothing but brown, cracked earth as far as the eye could see.

"What the hell happened here?" He asked aloud.

"Dunno Kev, looks like some sort of fight or something." Said Matt now rocketing towards him, a thin blue contrail behind the unicorn as he came closer to his deep-floating friend.

"...Maybe, we should take some soil samples or something." He replied. Matt simply nodded, and with that, the two rocketed off towards the planet's surface.

Re-entry

He always loved the burn. The feeling of being a meteor as it rocketed at unimaginable velocities towards a planet's surface. He found himself smiling as he did so.

"Wooooohoooooo! This never gets old!" Shouted Matt, Kev forced himself to turn his head, a task only accomplished by spending hours upon hours facing off against G's that could tear skin from flesh, and flesh from bone.

To his left, Matt was doing cannon-balls, nothing below him to stop his fall. He began spinning faster and faster until his individual features were blurred as his condensed body picked up speed with the sheer absence of gravity. Soon enough though, he pulled out in glamour, pulling off back-flips and pirouettes. And even some Axis spins. Kev smiled and just reclined into a sitting position as he plummeted, 'Free-falling' was just like Sky-diving...only deadlier since the pony free-falling was falling from space. Well not falling, falling would mean they had no control over their directions and that gravity was pulling them downwards.

No, they were jumping. Added to the fact that it was from space, some of the Free-Faller suits malfunctioned, after all, the suit itself wasn't made so much as to withstand hurricane force speeds, rather, it was made to protect it's occupant from deep-space hypo-thermia or asphyxiation. Therefore, jumping always had a risk.

But Kev smiled.

"All part of the job." He thought wryly. Soon enough however, they found themselves using their jet-packs and artificial wings to slow their descent, turning the fall into a fly.

"Alright! Kev! Set down there!" Matt pointed at a spot in the distance. Kev grew a confused scowl before switching on his overlay. Seeing that it was a patch of water.

Once the two coasted near the designated location, they set down, turning off jet-pack and artificial wings.

"Alright, let's see here." Said Kev taking in the sites of the water. It was a small murky pond. And by small, a roadside ditch after a rainstorm would be bigger than it.

Matt snickered as he saw Kev slipping into 'Captain Biologist'.

"Alright, waters murky as fuck obviously. I'm reading high levels of radiation, obvious as well." He seemed to stop and grow a puzzled look.

"I'm also reading high levels of Acetone, methane...and Carbon Dioxide?" He paused for a minute. Matt did too.

"Alright Captain, what's going on?" He asked, though he found himself ignored by the earth pony as he paced mumbling to himself, occasionally walking over and scanning some nearby rocks.

"Hello! YO! Doc!" He screamed waving his hooves comically.

Kev looked up sharply, he had piercing emerald green eyes that really got to you.

"Methane, Carbon Dioxide, Acetone..." he trailed off.

"ENGLISH!" Shouted Matt.

"Something is living on this planet. Probably mutated, do you know what this means? Something happened here." He returned to muttering.

Matt shook his head in disapproval and made a move to walk off.

But something blocked him.

"Wow!" He said falling on his rump, a wall seeming to come from out of nowhere. Massaging his head, he looked up.

"What the he-" he cut himself off as he looked up.

*Static*

*Gunfire*

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!

Zetski had been monitoring both the Free-fall Team and Zapman's vital's feed when he first heard the distress call which came in the form of a ping, a notification. He sent a single thought switch to second channel and in an instant, he was looking through one of the two troopers.

The Faller was staring at his teammate....or what used to be him.

Something had grabbed him and lifted him up, all the while it was screaming...inequinely, something that shook Zetski to the bone. It was like listening to the wailing death-throes of a cat while simultaneously listening to some mutated insect.

The beast itself was massive, twice the size of the trooper, Kev. It was a diseased grey, with blisters and Ulcers running along it's flanks. Zetski could barely make out the Equine features underneath the horrible mass of Faust knows what. It had holes in it's hooves and as he continued staring, Kev shattered his spell

"CHANGELING!" He shouted, the video feed suddenly swung forward as Kev rushed forward. He heard an anguished battle cry as the Free-Faller plunged in his Plasma Lance, a standard issue sword made of nearly a million degrees of heat. The creature screamed in pain, a scream that was not of this world before collapsing, it's head loped off.

But as soon as it fell, several others exploded from the ground.

"THIS IS FREE-FALL UNIT 1! HOSTILE CONTINGENCY! I REPEAT! HOSTILE CONTINGENCY!" He shouted, all the while, a small (standard issue) automated plasma gatling seemed to appear from out of nowhere, sliding into position on his shoulder. It shot at any of the unfaustly beasts closing in from all directions, it's very shape a whir as white hot super-heated bolts of plasma seemed to shoot out like one large beam. Kev himself was hopping around, slicing into an enemy here, wheeling around and stabbing another of the beasts as they tried to corner him and his downed friend.

Matt however, was in horrible condition, a large puncture wound was bleeding profusely as he lay there.

Acting as quick as lighting, Zetski sent a quick thought-message to Zapman with the Faller's coordinates.

BACKUP, NOW. and with that, he sent a thought-message linked to the video feed through the main chat-thouroughfare.

HOSTILE CONTINGENCY

(play now)

Zapman had been on the verge of nodding off when he got the message.

BACKUP, NOW

And as soon as he thought-clicked the message, his extended sniper/eye zoomed in on a writhing mass of....things.

But as he zoomed in further, he could see a trooper. Bleeding heavily, suit damaged and torn beyond recognition, but a trooper non-the-less.

"Alright, lock and load ARC!" He shouted, instantly a bar appeared at the top left of his HUB in his suit. Innocuous by itself, but what it was monitoring was quite substantial: the overheat gauge for the ARC cannon.

He began shooting, the recoil was astonishing, or rather it would have been if he hadn't been in space, and if he hadn't been used to it. On anyone else, even in space it would tear both their front hooves off while burning off their hoof-prints due to the heat.

One ARC discharge was a heated lighting rod of about 7 million volts, more than double the amount of an average bolt of lightning.

There was a reason he was called Zapman.

Without another word, he fired off 3 quick fire shots, with his ultra zoomed scope, he saw that he had vaporized at least 20 of the abominations. Another couple shots, back in a stratospheric environment, the gun would have sounded like a nuke going off. But in space, it sounded like a missile exploding. A hyper-nova missle.

He gritted his teeth and fired another 3 round volley.

30%

Warned the Off-shoot A.I. He paid it no mind as he carefully scoped out his next target. "Switch to Stainless Steel!" He shouted, instantly a ding notified him that the deed had been done.

This time, he saw that the ARC shots had given the trooper some breathing room. The still moving one hauled the injured one, both of them limping. He smiled as they cleared out a bit more. Then, he heard urgent dinging, swinging his rifle around again, he spotted a-

Oh dear Faust, there were....Billions of them. He zoomed out, thinking that he had over-estimated, he thought the writhing mass was only of thousands. But as he zoomed out further and further, and the masses ceased to grow smaller and smaller, he gasped and grimaced in water.

"Boys we're in deep shit here!" He shouted, picking off another couple thousand with another ARC shot, this time he waited because his overheat gauge was getting higher and higher.

"Shit, shit shit shit shit!" He kept repeating.

He was grimacing.

Until he saw the projectiles.

They were blue dots, just mere dots from this range, that was until he saw them starting to get closer and closer. They looked like comets, only...they were heading up.

"SHIT! THEY'VE GOT AA!" He shouted, turning his attention from 'cease-and-assist' to 'defense'. Using the depleted uranium shells, he sniped off the closest of the blue AA fireballs, but they just kept coming.

"Faust help us all." He muttered as he kept shooting, and praying.

Vex sat grimacing, she focused intently on two scale models surrounding her. One was of the ship and the space surrounding it, courtesy of scout-sattelitles. The other of the base. She brought up another one, and to her utter-shock, she saw that there was a whole spot of land. Visible from space, moving and coming closer to her base.

"Alright listen up! I want the Juggernauts out, and I want it yesterday! All personnel on Recon and Resources retreat and prepare for remolding. I want Recon on those two SOB's right at the front line, get em out of the line of fire! And someone radio up Command! Tell em to send the whole Faust damned fleet! And send down 3 more bases! Close clusters everypony we've only got 3 minutes before they're on us! AND FOR THE LOVE OF FAUST SOMEONE START ISSUING ZAPMAN'S AA DEFENSE REQUESTS!" She shouted, the crew was doing a pretty good job of evading the blue hell balls heading their ways. And as the crew and troopers kicked into high-gear. She began issuing build commands for the ground, much like an RTS player would their in-game troops.

First of all, she issued a literal shit ton of Automated Turrets, mortar launchers, Rail Guns, and Concusory nukes. She didn't want to kill off her ground troopers, but she wanted to take at least some of the heat off of them.

As soon as the buildings descended from the ship, evading the now Bulllet-hell seeming mass of energy balls, she issued another build command, a clone factory. Common technology used by the rich to live out their long lives. The trooper's DNA would be stored on back up files on a server in the mothership, a copy would be sent out into a new body, and theoretically speaking, they'd come back to life.

She scowled and focused intently on the grid and layouts in front of her, things were going to get messy.

Crayleene, a greyish unicorn drove her Flutter-corp HST (High Speed Transport) through the seemingly hellish layer of balls upon balls of energy. One mission and one mission only: get to the downed Faller troops, and get the fuck out.

The light-weight vehicle was rarely used and rarely issued, achieving speeds of about mach 30 at fastest, and the controls were massively sticky because of this. The little Transport had a chance of stalling at every sharp turn, at every roll or twist.

Which is why Vex had issued the HST to Crayleene.

And Crayleene had made it her own. Naming it Thunderbird.

But now as the thunderbird screeched through the Ozone layers, she couldn't help but grit her teeth. Her bird was only mere centimeters away from becoming just another flaming wreck. There was no end in site to where these things were coming from, and the sheer madness of flying through these insta-killers was a suicide note in it of itself.

But she was grinning, grinning like a maniac, because of the thrill. The terror of knowing that one wrong move, one loosened flap could lead to a quick and grisly death. The sheer relief of seeing a hole in the ranks of the AA rounds. She pulled into an Aeon rolls to avoid a few getting too close yet too far to pilot normally.

"HELP! FAUST DAMMIT! THEY'RE CLOSING IN ON US! HELP!" She felt rather than heard the raw pleas in the voices of the troopers as she began closing in.

And soon, she saw them; Kev and Matt. Matt was severely wounded, a large red puncture wound hidden by the black suit poured blood and she knew that if he didn't get medical attention soon, he would die. Kev on the other hand, was a dead stallion talking. His suit had torn, exposing his skin to the high-level radiation. Already one of his eyes was gone, milky white and dripping out of the socket. The flesh on his exposed hooves and chest was flayed and tearing, oozing off. It pained her to see him like this, but she knew that as soon as his adrenaline let off, he would be in a world of unimaginable, horrendous pain.

"HOLD ON YOU TWO!" She shouted into the thoroughfare Comms, now on fire with orders being given, and orders taken. As as the occasional cry of help as a scout team got pinned by whatever the hell these things were.

As soon as she was above them however, she pulled the plug on the main engine, and instead diverted power to the many smaller engines used to hover and the main mini-rail gun.

"GET DOWN!" She ordered, immediately Kev let go of Matt and ducked, using his hooves to protect his head. She let out a war whoop and pressed the fire button, lighting up the closest monsters like it was barbecue night on one of those Cannibal planets.

As soon as the lines of changelings had been diminished, she lowered the rear hatch and allowed the two to crawl onto the shuttle, all the while screaming profanities and encouragement dually.

"Glad you two asshats could make it!" She shouted, Matt moaned while Kev tried for a laugh. It didn't work, his lungs and heart must have been ulcered up the ass.

"Look....not.....gonna.....make....it..." He managed to whisper. She sighed and set the ship to auto-pilot.

Once out of the cockpit, she felt the pits of her stomach drop, and tears at the corner of her eyes.

Kev was sitting, clutching his chest as he rasped for air, his breaths coming quick and unevenly. She guessed the bulges under his suit must have been broken ribs.

"Damn it Kev..I-" He held up a hoof, hissing in pain.

"Don't...talk...not...fault." He gulped for air, his pupils dilating and shrinking quickly.

"Connect....now.." He said. She knew the extra strain of linking with her would kill off his servos but as she tried to interject, he roared.

"NOW!" And so, their eyes met, and they began uplinking.

Red flags. Red flags everywhere. Cay could see that her guesses on the ribs was correct, the top most 4 had been broken as well as 2 in the middle. There were foreign growths on his heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and stomach. Blood vessels had been popped, the nerves in his eye had been severed and there were several red flags on that.

But even through his dooming injuries, he passed her a file.

Her tears blurred her own Interface as the download bar popped up.

As soon as it finished, he sighed and leaned back, a massive OFFLINE appearing over his body as the red flags disappeared.

With tears running down her face, she opened the file, and read.

And as soon as she finished, she raced back to her to her seat. He had been carrying vital information. And after reading it, two things had changed:

1. She felt a dawning sensation as she realized that this was going to be a fight, not for her life, but for the lives of everyone.

2. Things had become personal.

"I'll show them hostile contingency." She hissed, her voice dripping with anger.

(play this)

The nameless valley of Delta Centurion stood as a colossal undisturbed behemoth, with snow capped mountains scraping the very sky flanking it's side, it was a beauty to behold, and a wonder to take part in. For this reason, many ponies, Gryphons, Dragons, and various other species trekked the long miles over star, planet, and galaxy to behold it's vast beauty.

But as beautiful as it was, evolution had not been kind to it's creatures. And it's creatures were not kind to the travelers.

"FUCKING RUN!" She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, and growing up under a planet whose gravity was twice Centurions....well it was fast.

A thunderous roar shook the forest floor as she ran, the beast was close. She could feel it.

"C'mon Motorhead! WE GOTTA GO!" Above the forest canopy, her friend Savoline was flying, monitoring her ground bound friend as they ran for dear life. Below, Motorhead thundered along the forest floor path, pumping her legs harder, willing to go faster.

Behind her, with earth-shaking force, thundered the monster.

"C'mon Motors! Your ass is grass if ya don't get a move on!" Even through their desperate flight, she couldn't help but stare up at the rushing canopy of leaves, dense as they bloated out the sun.

"NO SHIT!" She replied, putting on an extra burst of speed.

Only for the forest path to end in a massive cliff.

While anyone else would surely stop at the cliff in fear of his/her life and whirl around to face the oncoming death, Motorhead just shrugged, and jumped with a whooping "oh balls to this!"

Savoline, a Light Cyan Pegasi, dove down and caught her friend as she jumped.

"Nice of you ta join me." She said mockingly.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Screamed Motorhead.

Remember when I said it was flanked by snow capped mountains?

A god-like roaring erupted from above the duo as they both grew dead-panned expressions.

"Shit." Said Motorhead.

"Your parents really should have called you Motor Mouth." Said Savo.

Vex's hooves where a whirlwind all on their own. Commanding units to move here and there, ordering different Constructs, checking warp status on reinforcements, switching between the Main Chat, to the Medic's Chat where the different Doctors, nurses, and A.I in charge of the sick and wounded shot orders for Penicillin, Novocain, and a whole host of different extracts, the medical slang and banter was almost too hard to follow as she switched channels. Next, she interacted with the various Build-bots, Engineer overseers, and A.I in charge of the ship.

As she kept accepting more and more build proposals, she couldn't help but check up on the medical bay once more.

--------

Zion prepped himself for surgery by going through a specially designed and built Hyperbaric steam chamber that destroyed all bacteria that might infect the patient via hyper-heated steam.

Once complete, he stepped through into the sealed operation room where he alone held dominion.

Some men used guns, some men used Interfaces, some even used a pen and paper to command nations.

He used a scalpel.

"Nanites." He commanded, instantly, a nearby vent hissed as it opened, releasing a cloud of metallic glinting objects which seemed to float around in the air for a moment before settling, and becoming invisible.

Well, invisible to the naked eyes.

"Open incision .23 MM from puncture wound." He commanded, in front of him was one of the first victims; Matt.

Zion eyed him curiously.

"Recording: Patient has massive puncture in the dead center of his chest. Estimated broken Solar Plexus, massive bleeding around lower chest area, estimated broken ribs, primarily top 5. Detecting hairline fractures along lower ribs and spine as well as several broken disks." He recorded before setting to work.

"Nanites, fill in hairliine fractures, morph mode: Stem Cell, become; cartilage." He said, peeling off the skin suit the fallen trooper still wore.

What he saw made him step back in surprise.

Vines.

Vines were growing out of the crevice of his chest.

"Subject has abnormal growth." He tacked onto his log as he moved around in a circle.

All of a sudden, Matt's vital's went haywire, his heart thumping at 100 BPM, nearly exploding.

"Subject is palpitating like mad. Unknown anoly in blood detected." He muttered switching from base filter on his HUD to show the Cardiovascular system, the normal blood and plasma was shaded in as yellow.

He watched in horror however, as some sort of green...thing invaded the stream, the root of it being the vines now snaking their way all over his body.

"Med Doc! Need 30 CCs of the Calrinium." Calrinium was the extract used in most medicine to create strong HRM (Heart rate monitoring) drugs. It worked instantly and it put the patient into a 'cold sleep' of sorts where their heart beat so slowly they would show up dead on most machines.

As soon as he called for it, a syringe filled with the naturally green liquid appeared in his hoof. Most medicinal suppliers still couldn't find a way to extract the Chlorophyll from the actual extract.

But right as he was about to plunge the syringe into Matt who had been groaning in pain lucidly, shot straight up on the operating table. His eyes milky white as the balls rotated around in his head. His chest cavity, which was still open, spurted an enormous amount of blood. Zion stood stock still, syringe still in hoof as his Filter depicted the heart exploding in his chest.

But still, he sat, staring.

Zion would have grimaced if he had any facial expressions.

"1:18 P.M Milky way time Subject has passed. Body has now been hijacked." He said, recording every detail.

Matt's eyes slowly clouded over, the balls themselves probably punctured and bleeding. Vines rippled under his cheek skin giving him a....diseased look.

Helloooo.

The voice hissed, a spike of fear activated the bio-mechanical adrenaline fuel made him jump back in fear. He had heard a voice, not equine, not even...living. But it was a voice all the same.

But it was in his head

"Who the hell are you?" He asked. The creature infesting Matt jerked his face muscles into a contorted grin. Zion would have flinches because he heard the telltale signs of muscles ripping as a foreign entity tried them.

We are the many

It replied, still in his mind.

"Zion? What the fuck is that? What the hell is happening in there? Vex's voice shook him from his stunned silence. She must have been monitoring him.

"Matt's been offed, something took over his body. Must have been when he got injured." He replied, careful to keep a neutral tone.

We did not.....kill him. We merely...use his body. The boy was....close. We simply....sped the process

It sounded vaguely female.

"LISTEN YOU FUCK. I don't know what the HELL you are, but would you mind explaining what the hell you're doing in my trooper's body?" Vex screamed into the intercom.

"Not now boss." Said Zion whispering urgently.

The thing continued to smile.

We simply wish to...talk.

It said, still smiling like a maniac.

"Alright then, talk. Then who may I ask is calling me through the grave?" She asked.

We are....Queen Chrysalis.

It said.

"Alright, so what do you want to talk about?"

Leave

"Excuse me?"

Leave us in peace, it is you who has come to our home. We ask you to leave and never return.

"And what if I say no?"

What you see now is only a fraction, a mere sliver of our power. If you...chose not to agree, the earth will split and we will come for you..and your flesh.

"No can do buckaroo, got a mission to do."

And..what might that be?

"Retrieval mission,from the details, it seems like a sleeping scientist. Faust knows what the hell she was doing. Goes by the name of Scootaloo."

We cannot allow this, she is our....most precious possession. She is OURS.

"Well, buddy, listen good. 'Member how you said the earth would split open with your 'power'?"

Yes....

"Well I will send hellfire from the very sky itself."

It chuckled. Zion tensed.

Is that a threat young one?

In her command center, Vex couldn't help but smile.

"No, it's a promise." She said.

In the corner of her eye, a message appeared. With a single thought, she opened it and smiled.

S.S Godhammer approaching.

"Scratch that, I will open unto you, the apocalypse." She smiled wider.

Very well young one. Have it your way.

And with that, the thing lunged at Zion without a single warning. Vex clucked her tongue. "Bad move." She said simply.

Bringing up a visual, she saw Zion rear up and bring his hooves down on the thing, smashing it's head in. After it died, he turned around to face the camera.

"Permission for autopsy?" He asked, Vex rolled her eyes.

"Granted." She replied.

Her good mood dried up however as she turned her attention to the task at hoof, if she ordered the Godhammer to fire at the planet, it would vaporize it, her troops, and the mission objective. She couldn't have that. No troops meant no back up, no objective meant no pay.

So, she did the only thing she could; she brought up a chat line with Crayleene, Kriskayov, Zapman, and Taios.

Taios was still prone on the roof, lazing up targets for the satellites above. Zapman was still in deep space, surrounding him however, were numerous Railgun and Gamma Ray launchers, all deflecting the blue AA balls of energy targeting the ship.

Crayleene had been running Evac and Med lifts, since Vex was too occupied by building up defenses, she had forgotten to install a ground Med- Bay. Therefore, any and all Transports were busily rushing out fallen troops and treating their injuries. Crayleene used her little ship to pick up those most severely wounded yet too far into the "Red zone" to be safely retrieved.

Kriskayov was in the belly of the Mothership, issuing orders for repairs as the ship smashed into blue balls while avoiding blue Balls.

"YO BOSS!" They all said almost at the same time.

She smiled.

"Who's up for a bit of retrival?" She asked.

"SWEET! Finally some ground time!" Said Crayleene rolling her shoulders.

"Oh well." Sighed Kriskayov hopping off the chat while he moved off to get a suit.

"WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!" Shouted Zapman jumping off the ship and plummeting to the planet's surface like a maniac.

"FAUST FUCKING DAMMIT! DO YOU SEE THIS SHITSTORM? I HAVE AN EASIER TIME GETTING GROCERIES FROM NEW MANE CITY PLANET! WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE EVEN RETRIEVING?!?" Shouted Taios moving his visor so that Vex had a clear shot at the hordes of changelings still trying to get to the first, and most high-tec base on the planet. All within a cluster of 5 bases.

"Oh, we're gonna go retrieve a 1.4 ton cryo-genicly frozen scientist." She said, not even bothering suppress her maniacal grin.

He sighed. "Well it isn't the hardest mission you've sent me on." He said.

"I still remember Torques." He shuddered.

"So many faust damn furries." He said, his tone grave.

"Go get em' tiger." She said, cutting the connection.

On the ground, he sighed deeply, smiling as he saw the telltale contrails of Crayleene's Thunderbolt.

....As well as the blazing trail of the Zapman as he cannon-balled into a massive group of Changelings, probably killing, maiming, and scattering thousands.

"OH COME THE FUCK ON! IS THAT GUY INDESTRUCTIBLE?!?" Shouted Taios in outrage.

"HALOOOOO!" Shouted Zapman on his thoroughfare COMs.

"I'm here too." Said Krisk jumping off a transport and landing on Taios's roof.

"Glad to see ya man." Said Taios bro-hoofing him.

"You boys ready?" Asked Crayleene, the scream of her Thunderbird drowning out the sounds of battle and gunfire as she leviatted in front of them.

"Born and willing." Replied Krisk, handling a DASH-TEC HHBR (Hyper-heated Ballistic Rifle).

"Let's do this!" Said Taios ordering a GAP-Industry (Great and Powerful) PALM (Plasma Atriols Large Machine Gun). Crayleene smiled as she opened the hatch and they jumped in.

"Off we go!" She said, instantly the two troopers were flung against the backwall as she rocketed forward.

"This is why I never hop onto your transports. EVER." Queasily complained Taios moving to a window seat.

He gazed out of the porthole and gazed upon a most plain site:

Zapman was barreling through the massive GAGILLION amounts of Changelings throwing them left and right as his electrically charged armor kept him safe, and his insane muscles kept him moving like a 500 pound rape train.

"DON'T WORRY! I'LL JUST FOLLOW YOU!" He shouted.

"....Shouldn't we help him?" Kriskayov asked skeptically as he gazed out the same porthole, leaning over Taios's shoulder.

".....Nah. He's good." Replied both Crayleene and Taios.

"Move it Motors!" Savoline called, activating her overdrive module stationed right behind her Hypothalamus. It was a surgically implanted little red ball which upon command, forced shut down of all pain neurotransmitters and activated a massive release of Adrenaline. It was a device banned in all sporting competitions for "unethical violations of mind and body". Motorhead grunted as the cyan mare shot ahead of her at blinding speed.

"Oh go on ahead! Leave your one and only friend behind!" She shouted.

"OH BUCK YOU!" Savoline shouted back, barely heard over the roaring of the Avalance as it swallowed all in it's path like a massive land tidal wave.

Motors smiled. She still had a couple tricks up her sleeve.

"Commanding Public User Interface! Binary code!" She shouted.

"C'mon Motors! If ya hack now, they'll figure out where we are!" Shouted Savoline. from somewhere in front of her.

"I DON'T HAVE FUCKING TIME!" Her words were drowned out by the encroaching white wall. Now barely behind the draft horse.

"Fine! Keep it on the down-low though woulda?" Savoline's voice echoed through her comms as she sent the message.

Motorhead smiled.

"0110000101100011011101000110100101110110011000010111010001100101001000000110100001101001011001110110100000100000011100110110010101100011011101010111001001101001011101000111100100100000011000110110110001100101011000010111001001100001011011100110001101100101!" She shouted. Instantly her user interface flooded with various algorithms. So many packets and parcels of information were passed from the main satellites orbiting Delta Centurion that her interface threatened to crash.

After a few more seconds, her screen went all clear and she summoned up the main website for SCOOT-CORP. A sub-comapny living in the shadows of FLUTTER-CORP. It specialized in outdoor high-land survival equipment and vehicles. Which was perfect for her particular situation.

With a smile, she drew up the build proposal and sent it to a rendering satellite, there were plenty amongst the horde situated above the atmosphere in case any pilgrims got into hairy situations.

Her comms sparked to life once again as the worried face of Savoline peered at her friend.

"Motors! Where are you? I lost site! And the avalanche is messing with the Ping Locators! Please don't tell me you're still down there." Motor could almost see the tears forming.

"Don't worry kid, remember, I'm better at this than you are." She replied, one window focused on the real-time rendering of her escape vehicle, and one window opened to reassure her friend.

"Okay, hold on, I'm coming down for you!" Savoline's expression shifted to grim as her eyes hardened.

Just as she announced her intentions, Motor's interface notified her that the rendering had been fully uploaded to the satellite and it was ready to begin the build proposal.

"ACCEPTED!" She shouted leaping over a fallen log. As soon as the words left her mouth, it began.

It was as if time had slowed to a crawl. First the barebones blue-print began forming below her, a roughly rectangular shape with waving and softened edges. Then the metal began being pasted onto the skeleton. The atoms from the very air around her were drawn to the outline, and soon enough, it began forming. Rivets, wiring, compact pulse engine. Plasma reactor and oxygen intake values.

Build, complete. Please enjoy your new state of the art BMX Air Cutter.

And just like that, the airboard was completed. The air-cutter was rightly named, with a triangular nose that cut through the air-resistance like butter and duel Pulse and Plasma engines, it was a force to be reckoned with, and only offered to adrenaline junkies, and pros.

"Motors, please don't tell me you-"

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAW!" Motorhead screamed in pure ecstasy picking up speed as she now tore through the forest floor. The board was a maroon red with as many as 3 plasma afterburners shaped in a dotted triangle at the back of the board. The middle, or the mid-ground of the board was comprised of an ingenious Iridium and Lithium. To create it, a pony literally had to splice the very atoms of each metal and re-arrange them, and rebind them to the other metal.

On a whim, she angled the nose of the board upwards and shot up and above the canopy, surprisingly coming up right next to her friend.

"GAH! Dammit Motor you scared the crap outta me!" Motorhead had to laugh her pegasus friend fought regain composure.

"Well, there's plenty of time for that later, let's get outta here now alright?" And with that, the two of them shot off to higher ground, below them the beatific yet catastrophic force of nature bearing down on trees and any unfortunate wildlife still in the area.

--------

CAT has connected.

<CANARY>: Look who decided to show up.

<CAT>: Oh screw you Robby

DOG has connected

<DOG>: Hey all!

<CAT>: Sup Dog.

<CANARY>: Caltrops! How're you doing? :3

<DOG>: Here n' there

<PM:CAT>: Hey Sound Step, how're you doing?

<PING:DOG>: oh here and there Cal.

<CANARY>: alright, now that you two have finished making out, what's say we hop back onto the main buggies chat?>

<CAT>: How the-?

<DOG>: 0_0

<CANARY>: what? I'm your premiere infiltrator! Can't believe you two are still surprised XD

<CAT>: Dude, Rob, that's a bad habit.

<CANARY>: Hey! Can't trust anyone remember?

<DOG>: Rob, we're on a scramble proxy hidden in a sub-program in the the main interplanetary programming so deep that they'd have a better chance finding dark-matter than they would our chat.

<CANARY>: That still don't mean I'm not gonna watch my back. So, are we heading onto the main chat? We're pretty late as it is, the big boss is gonna get ticked if we stay any longer.

<CAT>: Nah dude, we still gotta wait for Rail and Gamma.

JACKAL has connected

<CANARY>: Speak of the devil, hey Gamma! Just in time man!

<JACKAL>: Mornin' all. What's the plan for today?

<DOG>: Dunno, but I heard through the grapevine that we're gonna be doing something huge. Something to help the demonstrators and rebels on Solaris.

<JACKAL>: Bout damn time, those guys are getting pounded. I heard the facilitator was Luna. Is she making a grab for power again?

<CAT>: Seriously, it's getting really bad on South End and the oriental Continents. It's full anarchy down there.

<DOG>: Yeah, I've seen some of the smuggled news feeds. It's grainy and horrible as all hell. But Faust's sake...

<CAT>: You have no idea sister, I saw them executing a little filly in the streets the other day. Apparently she was stealing food, but there's too little of it. I've even taken up minor larceny...

<CANARY>: Fuckin' a man.

<JACKAL>: Fucking reds.

<PM:CAT>: Sound, how bad is it really?

<PING:DOG>: It's abysmal Cal, I've had to move to several different safe houses. They're purging Unicorns, saying that they're outdated and they need to be 'removed' to make way for a more 'glorious race'.

<PM:CAT>: Faust's mercy...

<CANARY>: FAUST DAMNED ASSHOLES!

<JACKAL>: Man that sucks some balls. So, what're we waiting for?

<CANARY>: We're waiting on Rail remember?

<EAGLE has connected.

<EAGLE>: Don't worry, I know about the situation. And I got the orders from Luna herself. Boys, we got a mission.

<CAT>: What're you saying Rail?

<EAGLE>: Lady n' gents, we're gonna crash FLUTTER-CORP.

"Alright saddle your butts boys! We're almost there!" Cayleene's voice snapped both Taios and Kris out their hushed whisperings. The flight had been uneventful, and using a couple of geo-thermal echo-locators, they quickly spotted the high's main center of activity. So, all in all, they only had to cross 9 continents to get at it, along the way picking up Zap who'd finally exhausted after the 8th due to several 'Mega Swarm'. It was strange really, a boatload of Changelings would suddenly fuse together as if the only thing holding them back from doing so was string and wishes.

"Dah." Kris's normally joyous face was grim, his light brown/gray coat seemed darker in the low-light of the skirmisher craft. His blood maroon eyes were hidden by a SHINING A. Heavy Vulcan helmet, the top of the helmet had a curve angled to fit the head yet cover the eyes like the upper half of an assassin's hood. His body held similar armor, with form-fitting Vulcan tech Heavy resistance and hazmat tech built into the almost dark Iridium Alloy, he was a walking tank, capable of surviving incredibly irradiated environments. It was plated looking armor, square and overlapped in areas to cover more areas, underneath the primary armor lay meshed 'bio-mail' made of a special Zalcom alloy only found in specially irradiated asteroids and meteors. It was an artificial plastic that could withstand brutal biological attacks including Acids capable of wearing away even the most hardy of Boron Nitride.

His Higher StallionGrad accent had begun to crack through his neutral speech patterns. Taios had taken this as a sign that the much older stallion in front of him was under heavy stress.

"But we cannot...how you say...move such a heavy object! Especially vis...vhat we 'ave on our hooves. Dis transport. How much do you think she is capable of holding?"

"A Faust damned Elephant!" Shouted Crayleene over the intercom.

"Mne pohui." He muttered under his breath. Taios snickered, from his rough grasp on the language, he guessed Kris had just told Crayleene 'I don't give a fuck'

Across from them, Zapman held a look of utter concentration. Taios rolled his eyes, Zapman was never the smartest seed in the field. He was probably searching it up.

"Hey! That ain't very nice o' ya!" Taios sighed deeply as he turned on some Neightoven.

"Now that ain't a vey nice thing ta say to a lady ya here me?"

*Sigh* "Here we go with the Dolbo yeb." [Dumb Fuck]

"HEY! ENOUGH WITH THE OTHER WORDS! WE HERE SPEAK ENGLISH! ENGLISH!"

"Well you can take your english and..how you say..shove it up your ass.

"Oh that is it! I will shove my hoof so far up your ass you'll be coughing up my keratin!"

"Morgaly vikalyu, padla!" [I'll poke your eyes out, fucker].

"OH SCREW YOU YOU COMMIE MOTHERFUCKER! Hey! I bet you were with your mother when she was the town whore!"

Something snapped inside Kris.

"Idi na xuy tebe Shluha vokzal'naja!"

Taios looked up from his little musical world, a bewildered smile on his face. Zapman's jaw hung open. Suddenly Kriskayov burst into laughter.

"Ostyn!" He said jovially. Zapman smiled and shook his head.

"YO! You two done with your pissing contest back there? Because we're two minutes out! Gear up and get ready! I'm reading a shitstorm of Buggy (nickname for changeling) activity and I know for damn sure none of it's friendly." Crayleene called over the intercom. Taios's face suddenly turned to stone as he clutched the drum magazine of his Large Machine gun. Krisk did the same with the bullpup ammo clip on his Ballistic Assault Rifle.

Taios shifted to the back of the ship to the now opening hatch. Passing Zapman, he noticed the now massive sniper was gone, replaced by dual chainguns, one attached at each shoulder.

"Ready boys?" Crayleene called one last time.

"HELLZ YEAH!" Zapman began revving his chainguns, the sound akin to the whine of a chopper right before the deafening noise of the Rotor Blades made it near impossible to hear the engine.

"Dah." Replied Krisk attaching the Rifle to his left shoulder.

Taios simply nodded cocking the hammer on his machine gun.

Below them lay trillions upon trillions of changelings, the ground was barely visible in spots where the writhing mass of thousands of moving bodies didn't cover.

"Well." Taios took a deep breath as he advanced towards the opened hatch.

"We are so fucked."

In the dingy backalley slums of New Canterlot, in a run-down tenement in one of the city's Ghettos, a single unicorn sat in a small bedroom. Plugged into the internet like those around him. But unlike them, he had a mission. Instead of aimless browsing, he and a group of friends were going to crash one of the galaxy's largest manufacturer of transports and medicine, as well as provider of galaxy wide internet. The ones who owned the Mother Pig drug and sedative sub-system that gave junkies (piglets) a lethargic high. Like Heroin, but legal. And because of this, they made an enormously lucrative product, being paid by junkies to access this system, and being paid by the SE (Solar Empire) to run propaganda ads. Keeping a tight leash on the populace.

Now you'd think ponies would figure this out, that they would see this "all natural synthetic drug" as the ruse it is. But no, it was too popular, with new junkies joining the ranks, the population of Canterlot became more and more...domesticated. Lethargic, unaware of what was happening.

Hearing anguished screams and gunshots, the unicorn peeks through his tightly shut and boarded window. Between the cracks, he makes out a squad of earth pony Peacekeepers gun down some unicorn fugitives.

Yes, the population of Canterlot wasn't even aware of the mass genocide occurring in the streets.

Turning back to his interface, he sent a message via thought to the chat.

<CAT>: Alright, ready to go everyone? Remember, Jackal, Dog, and Eagle are gonna hit the firewall and send in a breakdown virus. Meanwhile, Canary, and I will be re-writing the code for the Mother Pig system to show live streaming of the genocide as well as Inhibitory programs to stop the Piglets from receiving any MILK. Operation should take an hour tops. If it doesn't. You all know the back-up right?

<DOG>: Yup. Schrödinger's virus.

<JACKAL>: Talk about a master virus dude.

<EAGLE>: Enough talk. I've sent the first wave of breakdown Virus. Game's on ponies.

As he read this, 'Sound' sighed deeply. This was the turning point in the revolution. He could almost feel history in the making as he too waited for the message signaling that the firewalls were distracted.

Motorhead and Savloline had changed to hoof travel. The Ping locaters beeping off the charts, the old world bunker was close, they could feel it in their bones. As well as an overwhelming sense of dread.

Incoming call

The notification popped up on their shared interface. Both exchanged a nod before receiving.

"Greetings girls. How goes the mission?" Asked the distorted voice.

"It's going great Princess L- I mean Miss Night!" Exclaimed Motorhead. "We're zeroing in on the bunker right now. You said we're looking for a cryogenic capsule right?" She asked. The shaded character on the interface chuckled, showing no bodily movement whatsoever.

"Yes. Her name is Scootaloo, and it's of crucial importance that you find her, and quickly." Replied the character in the interface.

"And why's that? Asked Savoline."

"Because she will become the face of opposition. She is a symbol of the old world. A survivor. If the nation finds out about her still being alive, then that will boost morale. More morale means a better chance of successfully over-throwing Celestia and instituting a democracy in her place." Said the voice. Motorhead nodded.

"I wish you the best of luck on this day of history ladies." And with that, the figure terminated the call. Leaving the two mares in silence.

"Well, guess we better hurry up and find her." Said Savoline, her expression unreadable.

"Yeah. C'mon. Time's a wastin'." Replied Motorhead, zooming off into the hill looming in front of them where the majority of the Ping was coming from.

Opening the rear door, Zapman, Taios, and Krisk jumped out. Both Taios and Krisk deployed parachutes while Zapman free-fell, a solid shockwave following his landing. As soon as he did, two standard model Plasma Rifles appeared on his two shoulders as he holstered his sniper and began opening fire, clearing a little patch of terrain for his fellow mercs.

"Good work Zap. Now c'mon, let's go!" Shouted Taios, using his shoulder mounted Large Machine gun to keep all encroaching changelings away as the three mercs battled their way to a little cave a couple of meters south of their Drop Zone.

With gunfire blazing in his ear and his teeth gritted, Taios could barely feel anything over the surge of adrenaline bolstered by a few shots of Ecstasy that his nano-armor distributed. After a quick rush the three hid behind the rock, out of the changeling horde's view.

"Alright Cray! Which way to the the vault?" Asked Zapman.

In response, Crayleene carpet bombed the still rushing horde, opening up a clear path to a cave unnaturally carved into the mountainside.

"Thanks! C'mon, the sooner we get out of here, the better." Kris shouted, sprinting off to the cave entrance as Crayleene's gunship opened fire on the horde, distracting them. Taios followed suit, in turn being followed by the lumbering mass that was Zapman.

Once inside the cave entrance, Kris kept running until he hit the metallic door. Grinning he called out to his comrades who joined him soon enough.

"Okay, now how do we open this thing?" Asked Taios, Zapman gave him a look that said 'are you really asking this?' Before turning to the door and pressing a hoof against it, and pushing. The rusted hinges instantly gave way as Zapman put all his power behind the vault door, pushing until it fell inwards.

"Alright! Good, now we just need to-" Taios cut himself off as he ran into the darkness of the cavemouth.

Glinting in the darkness, and beeping, were several hundred motion sensor bombs.

"Shit. It was a trap" was the last thing that ran through his mind as the bombs went off.