On the best of days a Red Zone had two minor ion storms, a light sprinkle of radioactive acid rain, and a few minutes of sunshine. Today was not one of those days. While the cover of an ion storm was optimal for Shadow insertion, getting the trio of GDI sniper teams on the ground via carryall was a nightmare. Were it not for pure dumb luck, the carryall would have been stranded with the engineering team setting up alpha base.

Once Tempest’s sniper team had hit dirt the carryall pulled away and disappeared as her cloak engaged, the last bits of her hull vanishing from view just as she turned towards the eventual location of the GDI forward operations base.

“Comms check.” Tempest said as she looked around. Nightmare didn’t even begin to describe the landscape they had been dropped into. What used to be cacti formed the basis of Tiberium spires ranging from 2 to 20 meters into the air while the red sand that used to distinguish the San Palomino from other deserts of the world was little more than vitrified ground that cracked under their hooves. Ion storms were devastating out this far into a red zone, so it didn’t surprise Tempest that what little ‘ground’ wasn’t converted into Tiberium had been scorched to glass by the storms.

“Epsilon here, no contacts.” their team leader replied.

“Zeta checking in, we’re condition green.” the other sniper team chimed in.

“Bravo is up and running.” Magnum added, more for the sake of the other two teams than for Tempest.

“Alright, that’s everypony with an eagle, LT?”

“Shadows are all accounted for, EVAs are synced, and the Op is live.” Sweetie Belle stated calmly, “Move carefully. Radio silence unless it’s the hourly checks. Once we’re in position we’ll set up shop and see how much ammo we’ll be wasting on the bugs.”

“Confirmed” came a synchronized reply from the other Shadow teams, almost as if their EVAs were replying instead of their users. The replies from the GDI teams were a bit more sporadic, but the message was all the same; every pony, gryphon, every diamond dog was ready to do their part to push the Scrin off their world.
_____________

10 kilometers was not much of a march for Shadows or GDI soldiers; a hike like that across relatively flat terrain usually took an hour to pass through. The obstacles the strike force was facing made Tempest unsure on whether they’d get it done within eight. Within 30 minutes of landing, a flight of Stormriders had screamed past on what the teams could only assume was a patrol. The snipers could only assume that this meant that Nod stealth tech was as notorious with the aliens as it was with GDI, not that they could blame them. Having the advantage of knowing where Shadows were on the field was something everypony was still getting used to. The Shadows on the other hand were having to adapt to having teammates who couldn’t disappear into thin air, though their GDI counterparts weren’t completely inept at being unseen. Sweetie Belle had to admit that she was surprised as to how well they worked without the same technological advantage that she or her Shadows had.

While Shadows and Nod Commandos could simply vanish and move to safety, the armor that the sniper teams depended on for survival in the Red Zone were painted ahead of time, with the team getting 10 minutes to personalize their armor once they hit the ground. Whenever Stormriders screamed overhead, they managed to blend into the landscape in a way that made early-war Shadows look like amateurs.

“They’re learning.” Sweetie Belle caught herself musing on more than one occasion, though whether she was talking about the snipers in general or GDI as a whole was still up in the air even to herself.
_____________

The hours spent moving toward the objective passed by without incident and without anyone blowing their cover as the joint strike force made their way to the overwatch position labeled by their respective EVAs. Tempest was quick to move, giving out silent hoof-signal commands to her teams and watching them move carefully to their various vantage points. For now, she would take up position with Magnum at the primary launch point for the Shadows.

“We’re a few minutes behind schedule but nothing worth worrying about.” Sweetie Belle said, crouching next to the sniper team.

“Surprised it’s not a few hours with how many of those damn Stormriders we had to dodge on the way here.” Tempest replied quietly, “We’ll keep an eye on things from up here but I highly suggest we stick to radio silence once you get airborne.”

“Use status update lights. Flash yellow if we need to hide, red if we need to break cover and get back.” the unicorn Commando answered, nodding her agreement to Tempest’s suggestion, “If we need to activate the failsafe I’ll shut my status light off.”

“Failsafe?”

“If my team is incapacitated down there, that base still needs to be wiped out.” Sweetie Belle told her, “I’m already giving you the detonation codes just in case… well, if chips hit the fan, when it comes to the survival of our planet, mission comes first.”

Tempest tried not to turn her head, but at the moment she was glad that her helmet was obscuring her face. She had her own mission to complete, and Sweetie Belle had just handed her the tool to do it. Usually she’d feel no remorse about doing her duty, especially when it came to crippling Nod whenever possible, but she had to admit that facing aliens definitely put the entire war into a new perspective.

“Duty is duty…” she thought, “I can sort out moral complications when they’re all dead.”

“Link confirmed… detonation codes copied. Access granted.” the two EVAs stated in unison.

“Don’t worry about it, ma’am.” Tempest finally said, looking back over at her Brotherhood counterpart, “I’m sure this will be a textbook operation and we’ll all be enjoying a drink back on the Everfree in a week.”

“Here’s hoping, Staff Sergeant, here’s hoping…. Alright Shadows, wing up. Time to introduce our guests to some Brotherhood hospitality.”
_____________

The one thing Sweetie Belle considered to be the greatest perk of being a Shadow operative was the fact that anyone of any species, was granted the ability to fly. Even when going straight into the jaws of death itself, she could enjoy what many winged races took for granted as she felt her glider wings carry her through the air. As the rest of her teams got into position, she activated the micro-boosters in the glider pack she had requisitioned for this operation and the rest of the Shadows did the same. Usually reserved for takeoff, the powerful, muffled fans mimicked a jet turbine, except they relied on battery power and were mostly there just to provide enough thrust to get their users in the air or to allow them to gain altitude during tricky maneuvers.

Without a word to her operatives, Sweetie Belle highlighted the various targets on their HUDs as well as staggered countdown timers for each team. Like the well-oiled machine that the Shadow Corps was, each team peeled off. Silently gliding towards their first targets in the alien base.

Unlike GDI or Nod architecture, the Scrin seemed more haphazard and organic. Arches would disappear at the apex, leaving an impossible angle for the arms that should have lead to them collapsing on each other, and spires that should have needed support wires just stood defiantly against the laws of physics. It was unsettling to say the least, given Nod explosives training was tailored to target GDI structures and there was little intelligence available on alien buildings other than what GDI managed to get while blasting them from orbit. InOps had provided potential structural weak points for the structures based on the results of live combat against active bases, but to the Sweetie Belle and her Shadows it looked like they were being told to just place explosives randomly.

Despite this, as well as the substantial garrison that was plain to see, they all moved in and silently landed in their respective operation zones.

The words “disperse, plant, RV, 90 seconds” flashed across the visors of her Shadow escort and the five invisible agents all bolted for their targets with explosives in hoof. Each packet of explosives was contained in a photo-reactive shell made of the same material as their stealth suits to keep enemy garrisons from removing them during long operations. In this scenario, it was a precaution against unknown alien technology. This was the first Shadow or commando infiltration into an alien base, and Sweetie Belle spared no expense on requisitioned gear to make sure it was a successful operation.

90 seconds came and went, and her team was already heading to their second set of targets. All across the base the other teams kept their pace with hers and planted pack after pack on what they could only hope were structural weak points and fracture lines. So far the alien troops had left them alone, seemingly unable to detect their presences. It was only as Sweetie Belle was getting to her fifth target that fate deemed to throw a wrench in the plan as she saw something that stopped her in her tracks.

Among the various alien workers and ‘soldiers’ milling about, a single figure stood out. Bipedal, armored, and sporting glowing eyes that seemed to pierce whatever they glanced at, Sweetie Belle ducked behind the nearest wall and hoped that he couldn’t see her.
_____________

Progress was slow but steady, and Overseer-29 was more than happy to have the Supervisor out of his business. War was far removed from mining security and the further he could keep that pompous insect away from his operations the better. Data streamed across his vision as he walked through the camp. Units for base construction and units for base defense scurried about, avoiding him whenever possible as he strolled about, taking stock of the state of affairs and issuing orders as needed. This inspection was far from ideal but things were running smoothly enough that he wasn’t going to execute anyone today.

“Foreman-9587, shore up the defense line on the eastern flank.” he ordered, his voice echoing slightly while transmitting immediately to his underling, “Enhance disruptor output by 30% as well, no more interruptions by indigenous energy weapons.”

“Order confirmed, complying.” came the emotionless reply, though only he heard it. A small smile graced his features, though obscured by his facemask so that no one saw it. That smile soured though, as his eyes caught movement and he snapped his head to focus on it. Nothing was present where he looked but he wasn’t entirely convinced. He didn’t get where he was by being lazy.

Deliberate steps took him forward and, unbeknownst to him, the equine he saw was already close to panicking.
_____________

Several thousand light-years away, a single unit of the Scrin hive started moving. Limbs stretched, its eye blinked open, and its bulbous, somewhat cracked, body started to shuffle slightly as it shook out of its hibernation. A single tone had woken this alien from its slumber and within moments; it jolted from its little alcove and sprinted towards the wormhole at the end of the hallway. All across the walls identical aliens were sleeping, awaiting the day that they would be called to service, within the safety of the vault where they were all stored.

The four-legged, single-eyed alien soldier stepped through the wormhole, instantly appearing across the galaxy on a planet designated for ichor harvesting and indigenous species subjugation.

“Orders?” the Prodigy asked in its usual chittering language.

“Possible enemy stealth presence in the base.” the Overseer casually remarked, “Identify and kill them all.”

“Acknowledged and complying.” the Prodigy replied, blinking out of existence and reappearing a few hundred meters above the base. As it began its free-fall, it cycled various spectrums of vision, working through several dozen in a few seconds before one managed to notice the aforementioned enemy units. With another blink it disappeared and reappeared, this time back on solid ground and between two portal generators. Here the enemy infiltrators, properly identified as Nod Shadows, were hiding.

At first the Prodigy acted as though it couldn’t see the dragon fledgling, two changelings, and earth pony that were holding position. No need to give away that their stealth technology was ineffective. Instead it reached out with its mind, touching the thoughts of the entire team and following the threads of consciousness back to their source. Unlike the way the media of this world and many others portrayed mind control, there was no violent convulsion or a fight to keep control, and victims didn’t realize they were under control until they were killing their fellow soldiers.

Phantoms projected into the minds of the Shadows manifested violently and the alien commando took perverse pleasure in the bloodbath that followed. With the larger brain came independence, and while no two Prodigies or their lesser cousins the Masterminds were the same, they did all share one common trait; a thirst for violence.

The dragon slashed the pony across the throat, ripping at her comrade’s windpipe and tearing into it while screaming about having to cut the alien out of him. At the same time, the pony she was eviscerating was firing wildly into her chest. If not for the Prodigy having control of their minds, they both would have collapsed from their grievous wounds. For now, it was content to watch them bath in each others blood.

The changelings were a different story, and the Prodigy took perverse pride in what it managed to do with them. Movements were mirrored perfectly as both Shadows took out their combat knives and began carving into their counterparts. Piece by piece, the alien made the two changelings cut into each other, leaving piles of green viscera, muscle, and organs splayed around them. It wasn’t until their bodies couldn’t even stand on their own and the Prodigy had locked the equipment showing their vital signs to “green” that the psychic alien abandoned its artwork, leaving four ruined corpses splayed about in puddles of blood and shredded armor as it moved on to its next set of targets.

“How many?” its latest master asked.

“Four teams within the perimeter, one has been eliminated, transmitting coordinates of outside threat gleaned from infiltrator minds.”

“Good, hunt down the two teams farthest from me, the final one is mine.”
_____________

“Please tell me you see him.” Sweetie Belle whispered. She had already told Tempest to stow the complaints and, rightfully so, this new alien sighting was more than reason enough to break radio silence.

“I have eyes on him.” Tempest replied quietly, her sights resting squarely on the Overseer’s armored chest, “Or it, I guess… it’s moving towards your previous position.”

“Acknowledged… keep us posted and get the failsafe ready, this looks like we’re one wrong move away from everything going south.”

“Noted.” Tempest replied again, her tone neutral as she readied the detonation codes. She had watched patiently, watching as the small strobes that showed where the Shadows were continuing to scurry around like mice avoiding a room full of cats. Only one team had finished their objective and were holding position at their rally point. None of her teams could get eyes on the four-member team, but radio silence was still holding and their status lights had not changed. This new bipedal creature on the other hand was making Tempest nervous. His movements were too coincidental to be pure chance, and if the path he was taking was any indication, he could see the invisible Nod troops in his base.

“Shouldn’t we say something…?” Magnum asked.

He never got an answer, and Tempest never heard his voice again.
_____________

Once more, the Prodigy had its eye on a team of Shadows. This time they weren’t nearly as condensed as its previous prey, though all that meant to it was that the canvas was bigger. Trotting along much like the equines of this world, the Scrin commando surged forward, again pretending that it didn’t see the Nod Shadows in its presence. Unlike the previous piece of artwork it had created, this time the Prodigy was feeling more... experimental, especially since the team it was facing was much more diverse than the previous set of corpses.

Another dragon, a gryphon, a diamond dog, and another earth pony, and the opportunity to work with all these species at once was something the Prodigy would not pass up. Once more, threads of thought gave way to the minds of those the alien wished to command and, with the gentlest of manipulation armatures, it put the four infiltrators into a single-file line in front of it with the dragon taking the lead. No command was needed, no order was necessary as the Prodigy’s thoughts were made reality, and the young dragon knelt in front of the alien with his back to it.

Tendrils extended from the small base between the Prodigy’s forelegs and bulbous, Tiberium-enriched head and peeled open the Shadow’s armor. Shortly after, it peeled back its scales, muscle, and even piece of its skull with surprising ease and care. Ever so gently, the alien brought forth a squirming larval worm and started fusing it to the dragon’s head, only letting go of them both when the larva began testing out the limbs of its new host. While small for now, it would only take a few days for the young Prodigy to fully subsume the host in which its parent had so lovingly planted it. The native felt everything throughout.

Slowly the dragon stood, tears still drying on its face and blood still seeping from the recent insertion. He moved aside, making way for the next victim to be introduced to what it was like to be part of the Scrin. Shadow after Shadow was put through the grim process, letting out silent screams of pain as manipulator arms dug into them like they were marble blocks being chiseled out by a master sculptor, and Shadow after Shadow emerged from it reborn as part of the Hive. Each host body was entirely self-aware, yet they could not fight the greater intelligence that had been implanted into them. They were prisoners within their own bodies, merely along for the ride as these juvenile aliens tested out what their new homes were capable of.

Unfortunately, at least for the Scrin infant, the gryphon did not survive the implantation. The Shadows, now fully aware of their situation, could at least feel some relief knowing that their teammate did not have to live out the rest of her days as a slave to the aliens, but sorrow panged in the Prodigy for a moment. It was the briefest moment of sadness for the dead larva, but that moment passed faster than a lightning bolt in an ion storm, and the gryphon’s uniform was removed and its transmitter rigged just like those of the previous team. The two corpses now bound to each other were quickly disposed of by the Disintegrator-class plasma weapon imbedded in the alien commando’s eye, and their ashes soon flowed away with the wind.

“Second team disposed of, sending new initiates to handle isolated member of team three.” the Prodigy announced as it watched dozens of Stormriders take off from the nearby gravity well emplacements. It would have smiled if it had anything resembling what the equines equated to a mouth.

“Come children.” it said, getting excited chittering sounds from the mouths of their hosts, “There is one more set of these infiltrators to play with.”
_____________

A series of explosions ripped through the cliffside, sending Tiberium shards flying through the air. Sweetie Belle wasn’t easily distracted when in the middle of an operation, yet this sudden attack caught her attention better than any det-pack could. Before she could even ask for a status update, screams started filtering in over her team comm channel and one of her Shadows flat-lined.

“Moth? Moth!?” Sweetie Belle cried into her comm only to be answered by static and another Shadow going dark. Team Qatar’s newest addition after Whirlwind had been killed in Canterlot.

“They’re both gone, ma’am!” Brutus answered, “Teams Cygnus just jumped them and tore them apart like goddamn Buzzers!”

“Gather at the final RV and get ready to lea-shit!” she started before a beam of plasma interrupted her. She barely dodged the blast but the shockwave from it hitting the ground near her sent her flying into a nearby wall.

“You shouldn’t be here.” the alien told her, his voice booming as though it was amplified through her helmet speakers, “But I suppose I could use the entertainment.”

Sweetie Belle didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reply and opened up with her suit’s integrated laser pistols. To her horror he shrugged off the beams as they scattered harmlessly off his armor, and things only got worse as she found out that Brutus had disobeyed her orders. In a manner of seconds, in a moment that seemed to last years, the diamond dog she had been fighting with since the Siege of the Crystal Kingdom deactivated his cloak and tried to tackle Overseer-29. The burly Shadow only managed to get his paws around the alien’s outstretched arm after the alien’s razor-sharp claw tore into his torso. Red blood painted the Overseer’s armor plating as he tossed the Shadow aside like a broken toy.

“Continue bombarding the snipers, no survivors.” he casually added as Stormriders continued to scream by overhead. Sweetie wanted to call to Tempest or to any of the other Shadows, but the fighting escalated and she was too busy dodging plasma and swings of this monster’s razor-tipped appendages. She barely had time to get a general warning to the other Shadows and an order to finish placing det packs before the alien managed to swat her into another wall, cracking it.

“Your planet is property of the Scrin, equine…” the Overseer stated, “Your planet will be seeded, the ichor will be harvested, and the aberrant will be contained.”
_____________

Smoke covered the area and threatened to clog Tempest’s helmet filters. Plasma continued to stream in and, much to her dismay, Magnum and three other snipers were showing as KIA on her roster. Alien fighter-craft continued to strafe where her snipers had been, and the only surviving member of her strike team was pinging his status as wounded.

“Pull back to the safe zone at your own pace…. Dress your wounds, get back alive… I’ll handle things from here.” she ordered.

“Copy that… good luck sarge.” the pegasus replied between violent coughing fits.

“Yeah… luck…” the magenta unicorn whispered to herself. Without another word, but with a silent prayer for forgiveness, Tempest sent the detonation codes out on all team channels and turned away from the base.
_____________

“Codes recognized, Sierra Beta Alpha Five Zero Niner. Detonation confirmed Lieutenant Belle.” Sweetie Belle’s EVA chimed in her ear. The white unicorn couldn’t reply, or even give a counter-command. The shock of her codes being activated, as well as the fact that the Overseer had her by the neck, kept her from speaking. Tendrils meant to interface with the alien’s command network were attached to her armor, gathering as much data as he could before the first explosion rocked the base and broke the connection. Despite their size, Shadow det-packs were insanely powerful, with enough force to disable or destroy a Mammoth tank outright; more than enough to cause a shockwave capable of disrupting the impromptu data mining connection and sending both the Overseer and Sweetie Belle to the ground.

Explosion after explosion, chained from the outer edges of the base towards the center, continued to go off and kept both combatants on the ground. But while the Overseer was thinking of escape routes and combat contingencies, Sweetie Belle’s mind was in another place entirely. Her Shadows had already been killed by the detonations or by Scrin forces, and she had already started coughing up blood and couldn’t feel her hind legs. Despite the pain, the pressure waves, and the fires getting ever closer, her thoughts lingered on two ponies.

“Apple Bloom…. Scootaloo… I’m sorry…” she thought, memories of her youth flashing before her eyes as yet another detonation rocked her broken body. Tedious yet rewarding work on the Apple Farm, hair disasters at Rarity’s boutique, Sweetie Belle and her friends walking away from a misguided zip-lining attempt completely covered in sap and pine needles. If she hadn’t been coughing up blood, she would have been laughing at all of these wonderful memories of an innocent time, a time before the war… before Tiberium.

Light from the combined detonations was blinding her now, but despite the overwhelming pressure and bloody heaving, she managed to keep a small, sad smile on her face and let out her final, defiant words.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders….. forever.”
_____________

“New data burst coming in from the strike force, ma’am…. InOps and field EVAs are transmitting.” a changeling reported to Mantis. He was surrounded by monitors, red lights, and a handful of other changelings with cybernetic implants embedded in their skulls.

“Give me a picture, I want to know why that grid went dark so quickly.” she ordered with a scowl.

“Coming up momentarily.” he replied as data streamed across his screen, “... all Shadow Teams KIA… all but two of the GDI snipers KIA as well… target neutralized, detonation authorized by... by Commando Lieutenant Belle, also KIA. Alpha base construction is 75% complete, survivors should rendezvous by the time construction is completed.”

“Send the report up to Hyperion and Major Blizzard… and update the rosters.” Mantis told the operations officer, her expression moving from irritated to somber as the news truly hit her, “Prepare a proper letter for General Rarity as well… she needs to be informed that… that her sister has become a martyr. In the name of Kane.”