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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.

Next Chapter: Chapter 4: Calm before the storm Estimated time remaining: 12 Minutes