“So let me see if I have this straight…”

Luna, the elements and guard captains stood sheepishly in front of the pacing princess of the sun.

“Two days ago, Maze attacks you six in Ponyville a day after I leave. You defeated her and encased both her and her changeling accomplice in stone” Celestia stopped pacing and asked disturbingly calm.

“Y-Yes Princess” Twilight answered after a very audible gulp.

“They were then brought back here with two additional prisoners, after letting our former alpha fenrir escape.”

“Yes Princess” the six answered together.

“After which you realized it all might be too convenient and rushed back to the gardens to find her statue missing just before annoying music began playing throughout the city” the princess asked turning to Luna.

“Yes Sister” Luna replied, having trouble meeting her sibling’s eyes.

“Then she and all of her accomplices escaped in the confusion brought on by countless changelings disguised as them and guards” Celestia continues “Changelings we still have little clue of how they infiltrated the city.”

“They were also disguised as us!” Pinkie added brightly.

“Thank you Miss Pie” Celestia delivered, still with the eerie calm “Then after nearly an hour she reappears, alone and after a massive explosion in the city’s sewers. She reclaims her blade which apparently held a backup of her old abilities, and proceeds to battle you; severely damaging the castle in the progress.”

“…Yes Sister” Luna answered meekly, a small trickle of stones falling from the ceiling to emphasize the sun mare’s assessment.

“During which her accomplices were fighting off the guards and casting an already prepared portal spell with the city’s own power grid. Then drove the one named Trixie’s van into said portal with Maze, stealing away your victory and allowing Maze to not only escape us yet again, but in a grad display for all to see...” Celestia concluded “Does that about sum it up?”

“…Yes Princess” the group responded grimly.

Her calm finally ebbed as she released a heavy, exasperated sigh and shook her head, pinching the bridge of her muzzle. She stopped herself, inhaled deeply through her nose with a hand to her chest before slowly exhaling as she pushed the hand out. Reopening her eyes, she continued

“Well there is little to be accomplished in dwelling on the past and we must regain control of the situation; we repair the castle, find out what Maze was doing down in the sewers and redouble our efforts to end any threat she poses” Celestia proclaimed, easing some of the worry of the gathered ponies “There is no telling what deviancy she is committing with her restored powers even as we speak”

“Nice cutie mark”

Bonbon snapped up straight, hands slamming down on the back of her skirt as she glared back at Maze. The cyborg just returned a lecherous grin until a fist bopped her lightly in the back of the head.

“Stop ogling my girl” Lyra scolded calmly before she hit another command, a sharp pop filling the van as a static haze covered Maze’s form before dissipating.

“That was different,” Maze exclaimed “What are you doing back there?”

“Well other than a lot of detailed technical stuff you would just zone out to anyway; I’m basically just cleaning the restoration up” Lyra answered “This is a real mess though; I’m surprised you got anything back at all.”

Lyra continued shifting through the jumbled layout on her tablet, sending instructions through the cables connecting it to the ports at the base of the cyborg’s neck. The van gave a slight jostle as Trixie hit a bump in the road, further accentuating the closeness of everyone cramped inside.

Maze was once again grateful for Trixie's magical skill; even if it was just by a little, they wouldn’t have all fit if the van was the same size on the inside as it was on the outside.

“I was facing down twenty guards, six elements and a very pissed off alicorn; there wasn’t really time for a clean install and full defrag Ly” Maze delivered smartly “Plus it was sitting for a good twelve hundred years; there was bound to be some degradation. How much did I lose?”

“Well without knowing exactly what was here to begin with I can’t say precisely, but I’d wager at least forty percent, maybe even closer to fifty.”

“Yeah that’s what it feels like, and it wasn’t even a full back up as it was…” Maze sighed before brightening “Still! Better than nothing, right!?”

“We won’t have to worry about you wiping out any mountainsides or valleys anytime soon though, will we?” Crystal teased, but not without a hint of genuine concern hidden beneath.

“The backup was from before I got any of the princesses’ powers; if there's anything left then it’s at best just a spark that survived the temple, one I don’t plan on feeding” Maze answered “But no, I wouldn’t worry about it. I mostly focused on of the important stuff, general improvements and some old favorites. Well, that and my media; I’m really glad to have all that back!”

“Pfft- yeah really important stuff there; most secure part of the files and you fill it with double backups of movies and music” Lyra teases “Stellar priorities there Maze”

“You weren’t complaining during movie night thank you very much!” Maze retorted. She had shared a few of her more favored films with the group as they were recovering that past couple days.

“We could make a killing if we sell all that; I really doubt those copyright warnings apply over alternate universes and even with them staring humans, those stories would sell” Crystal offered “Especially that space wars thing… although making everyone start on episode four with no explanation of the first three would be a hard sell. You sure there weren’t more before it?”

“Very. The director was kind of limited when we had the opportunity to make them and choose what he thought was the better story” Maze answered, a vague sadness behind her eyes.

‘They must never know…’

“But you did say you there was more after that one right!? More sci-fi? Oh, there are just so many ideas I never considered!” Lyra spouted with glee in her eyes, Maze turning to eye her suspiciously “…What?”

“You’re gonna try to build a lightsaber aren’t you?”

“WHO WOULDN’T WANT ONE OF THOSE!?” Lyra yelled, eliciting a laugh from the group.

“As entertaining as this all is, perhaps we should get back to the matter at hand” Wolf interjected “You had mentioned you may know what PEACE WALKER is.”

“Well, if it’s what I think it might be, then it’s like a Metal Gear but with a different design” Maze started.

“Metal Gear?” Trixie asked from the driver’s seat, obvious confusion in her tone.

“Yeah, you know like a RAY or REX” Maze answered.

“REX?” Lyra asked behind her “I think I saw references to that in the files but it was one of the one’s you didn’t give me.”

“Oh that’s right… The only Metal Gears you guys have ever built are RAYs. Well, other than that REX and ZEKE that the sisters completely obliterated back when… and I think they weren’t built here and just showed up like I did …” Maze trailed off, before considering how to explain

“Well basically a Metal Gear is the designation given to various models of bipedal tanks; they’re typically huge and able to completely outclass most other, lesser machines. They also usually have the distinction of being nuclear capable; firing warheads without need for missiles or a launchpad. This allows them to attack targets from anywhere in the world, on any kind of terrain.” Maze described.

“Now Peace Walker technically isn’t a Metal Gear, as it lacks the means to launch a nuke by itself, but it is still a nuclear armed AI weapon that can shift between bipedal and quadrupedal movement. It’s also armed to the teeth and smart to boot. It would be better to take it out before it’s done” Maze finished “Assuming they haven’t finished it already...”

“But RAY doesn’t have this nuclear ability either whatever it is; why call that a Metal Gear then?” Bonbon inquired.

“Because even though it can’t fire nukes, it was still conceived under the premise of nuclear strategy and as part of another ‘true’ Metal Gear’s arsenal. It was a Metal Gear designed to fight other Metal Gears.” Maze clarified.

“Okay, that’s interesting and all, but what is Nuclear?” Johnny asked curiously, to which Lyra piped in.

“Nuclear reactions are methods of energy production; methods that rarely occur on any significant scale on Equis naturally, and that we haven’t bothered to develop scientifically. Modern theories suggest it’s a very unclean and dangerous process that would create extremely harmful wastes and radiation. There are several more effective, not to mention far safer and cleaner, magical methods of producing energy” Lyra explained “As it stands the only thing that really comes close is Celestia’s sun magic, and she doesn’t really share the details on that.”

“It can also be used to create some of the most terrible weapons Humanity has ever conceived; bombs that can erase entire cities and poison the air for generations… It’s not something we’re really proud of… well the science part yeah, were all about that… but some of the applications, not so much…” Maze trailed of as they stared at her.

“You… You’ve actually created weapons that destructive?” Trixie asked slightly frightened, mirroring the expression of everyone else in the van. Even Wolf and Rex seemed a little uneasy despite their lack of expressions.

“Well you have to remember that we don’t have magic on Earth, not any kind we’re aware of at least. Plus the weapons hadn’t been used for over half a century since I was last on Earth” Maze tried to defend her species “And we certainly never built Metal Gears, not on the Earth I'm from at least. They’re from another world entirely.”

“Whatever! Whether humans are insane or just out of context doesn’t matter! If those two chuckle fucks Pants and Rich have figured it out or something like it, then things just got a whole lot worse” Crystal steered the focus back on point as the others righted themselves.

“But were could they have possibly gotten data on Peace Walker? I didn’t even put it on your pad” Maze wondered.

“I think I may have found something on that actually; a reference to an artifact from the synthetic wars that pops up again and again” Lyra turned the tablet around to face them; an odd, very damaged and incredibly old component displayed on the screen “It seems it was destroyed in one of the restoration attempts but a small bit of data was recovered from it beforehand. They’ve been working off of that ever since… what kind of data exactly I can’t say, but if it’s from that time in history it could be anything.”

“Even my old data drive” Maze scowled down at her left hand; all the pain and death even just the smallest part of her had spread didn’t seem to have been enough if that’s what the artifact was.

The van grew quiet, each considering the implications what they were heading off to face. It was one thing to face danger; it was another to go against something that could obliterate a city.

“Even if it’s not as strong as a RAY, it could just detonate the nuke anyway couldn’t it? Assuming we even get past whatever other defenses they have, how are we supposed to fight something like that?” Johnny asked.

“Like we fight everything else” Maze answered simply, grabbing a bicep as she flexed “We hit it really hard!”

The others just stared at her dumbfounded. They could very well be facing down a nuke or maybe even something worse and Maze just wanted them to punch the damn thing. Lyra was the first to crack.

“Well if that’s all we have to do!” she laughed, soon joined by the rest as they all broke down. Rex looked to Wolf who merely returned the Fenrir equivalent of a shrug as he shook his head.

“Come on guys, since when have we ever been afraid of doing something stupid? We just invaded Canterlot right under Luna’s nose!” Maze added “I think we can handle a walking tank; I mean it’s not even a real Metal Gear.”

“Yeah, even if we fail, I’m sure the princesses can still stop it” Johnny added “Other than us all dying, what could possibly go wrong?”

The van fell silent, all faces shifting to awkward unease.

“All in favor of pretending that was never said?” Trixie asked, everyone responding simultaneously-

“AYE!”

“Princesses!” a guard burst into the throne room, nearly tripping over a chunk of rubble as he rushed to the leaders “We just received word of Lulamoon’s van! It’s headed north through the desert west of Appaloosa!”

“You are certain?!” Luna asked.

“Absolutely you highness” the guard confirmed.

“Ready the airships! Call the elements and gather as many troops as you can!” Celestia ordered the surrounding guards “I want to be on our way yesterday! Do you understand me?!”

“YES YOUR HIGHNESS!” the guards answered in unison.

“We will not lose her this time sister.”

“Sir! We have reports that Maze and her accomplices have just crossed the facilities outer most borders!” the griffon mercenary reported “We will commence our attack immediately!”

“NO!” Filthy Rich snapped “Tell your troops to oversee the evacuation! Only provide enough resistance to slow her down!”

“But sir!” The griffon argued before being cut off again.

“I DON’T PAY YOU TO BACK TALK ME BIRD! NOW DO AS I SAY!”

The griffon scowled through the screen but debated no further before the connection dropped.

“You lot!” the well-dressed pony pointed to a scrambling group of technicians and scientists “Begin the activation sequence!”

“Wait-WHAT?!” Fancy Pants finally rose from his relaxed lounging “Those aren’t our orders!”

“Screw our orders! I’m tired of that letting others fail to complete a simple task! Tired of letting our work going to waste and I am damned tired of that fucking cyborg!” Rich ranted, turning to stride down the hanger's lengthy catwalks and yelling at another tech as she ran past “And you! Get back to B-Wing and activate the H-Series! The ones with the new Nano self-repair… things!”

“But sir, the only combat testing they’ve had was from that ape-dog beast and his goons before they disappeared! And most were already transferred earlier today! Yes, they’ve have shown notable improvement in controlled environments but-” the tech rambled off before Rich cut her off.

“Well then we’ll just test them now! Get whatever’s left ready to support us!” Rich spat, the tech scrambling away once he let her go.

“Now hold on Rich old boy!” the well dressed unicorn called as he jogged to meet the pony, walking backward ahead of him trying to talk him down “Surely this is a little extreme! We still have the last facility and we do still need the-”

“Fuck what that pompous, royal blowhard wants! It’s only a matter of time before we figure it out on our own anyway!” Rich argued as he opened the cockpits hatch before turning back to Fancy Pants; a calmer but far more malicious grin broke across his lips “Besides, Fancy Pants, it’s not like anyone can stop us in this!”

“But the main weapon isn’t even finished! We don’t even begin to know HOW to finish it!” Pants continued

“We don’t need that waste of resources! This thing can already wipe out a city!” Rich laughed maniacally as he crawled into one of the pilot seats. Fancy Pants merely sighed and crossed his arms watching his ambitious partner flicking switches and calibrating everything like the techs showed them.

“Well in for a bit, in for a pound as they say” Fancy muttered throwing hands up in a surrendering shrug before joining his partner, the warning sirens signaling everypony to leave the platform.

Trixie flinched as another round shattered across the windshield, thankfully halted against the reinforced glass like the others before.

“And why can’t I use my spells?!” She screamed out the window at the cyborg standing on the hood, a sparking current on her feet to hold her in place despite the vans hectic pace.

“This is just the appetizer Trix!” Maze shouted back, deflecting the as much as she could with her dual blades “We’ll need to save our strength for the final boss!”

“This isn’t some game Maze!” Bonbon shouted as she fired another burst from the window at the defending forces.

“Not that I’m complaining or anything,” Johnny called from the van's mounted gun panel “But I figured we’d hit a bit more resistance, even if we hadn’t lost the element of surprise.”

Maze pondered the same thing as Wolf and Rex ran alongside the van, dodging fire and returning it with rail slugs of their own. They should be hitting a lot more resistance than a few entrenched guns and a smattering of IGs.

The cyborg leapt from the hood and charged the entrenched ponies and griffons, bursts of electricity flashing with her every step. The soldiers fell in quick order under the combined assaults of the cyborg and two fenrirs, few having more than token augmentations.

Maze looked around at the unconscious soldiers and empty landscape as Lyra leapt from the van and moved to the small building’s door, trying to find an access point.

“So underground then?” Crystal asked rhetorically, her metal tendrils scanning the surroundings as well.

“It would make sense, even this far into the desert any larger a facility would be too overt” Wolf added.

“There’s an evacuation alert here” Bonbon announced, examining a small pad she found on the guards “How many of these places do they have that they can just abandon them at the first sign of trouble?”

“I don’t like this, it’s too-”

Maze’s thought faltered when the music suddenly blared and the ground began to quake.

“YOU WERE GONNA SAY EASY WEREN’T YOU!?” Crystal yelled as Lyra and Bonbon stumbled back to the van with Trixie.

“I WASN’T! I SWEAR!”

She was.

Giant cracks formed across the expanse as the quaking grew worse, sand pouring down as the soil beneath began to rise. A massive form began to appear as the slabs of earth and mounds of sand fell away from the truly massive construct.

“Maze, I know you said this peace walker thing was big and all but-” Lyra crackled over the teams codec.

“That’s not Peace Walker” Maze returned, a dull and slightly frightened disbelief in her voice. She wouldn’t have believed they’d jump straight to this technological level but here it was, and even bigger than it already was in the game.

“It’s EXCELSUS!”

The ground rumbled again as the massive spider like Metal Gear, easily dwarfing constructs even as large as RAY, began to turn its attention to the group. It then actually threw its head back with a high pitched roar as two giant heat blades extended from its forearms.

“SCATTER!” Maze screamed as one of the blades careened down, separating two halves of the group as is cut into the earth. Then as if matters weren't bad enough, IGs and Cybernetic soldiers began to climb out of the hole in the Metal Gear’s wake.

Maze cursed as a huge lance of plasma flashed across the expanse behind her, the very sands burning as she felt the heat sear her back. She heard a muffled explosion in the distance but had to shift focus as mastiff charged her from the front.

“Maze Jump!” Wolf called through the codec with as much urgency as his synthetic voice allowed.

Maze ignored the gorilla like IG and vaulted into the air as another wave of heat rushed at her from behind. Both the gear’s blades swept along the ground, only just barely missing her below and obliterating the mastiff as they struck.

“Very impressive human!” a voice rang out from unseen speakers, Filthy Rich chuckling smugly from within the mechanical behemoth “But just how long can you and your little friends hold out?”

A small explosion detonated harmlessly against the gear’s head, drawing its attention to the van weaving about its legs.

“Well it would seem we can test the maneuverability too, eh Pantsy?!” Rich shouted, a heavy sigh following before the mech started after the van. Bonbon veered wildly as she avoided stomping legs and thrusting blades as Lyra and Trixie struggled to keep rockets and spells on target.

“GAH!” Fancy Pants’ yelped as a Black Fenrir filled his view screen, its tail swinging a chainsaw at the gear’s “eyes”

“Don’t mess yourself Fancy” Rich scolded as he flicked a switch.

Wolf only just managed to scratch the hardened optical port when the current struck him; his metal body convulsing before being launched off into the air by a burst of electricity. He landed hard against the dirt, a shadow suddenly covering him as EXCELSUS’s fore leg hovered over him.

A streak of lightning shot across Wolf just before the massive foot connected, the shockwave pushing him back with his savior.

“Johnny! Rex! CATCH!” Maze called as she threw the disabled canine to the silver Fenrir and the Stallion riding on its back.

Maze dashed back before the foot could rise again, running up the leg towards the joint.

‘Well this worked in the game’ Maze hoped as she flipped over the joint guard, her own blade mode activating as she wailed on the armor with both swords.

The swirling energy subsided, showing her barely a scratch in the metal. She prepared one final cross slash, energy collecting along her arms and blades before releasing enough force to pushed her back into the air and leave cuts even far below in the ground… but still not the leg.

‘Not good!’

“PFFT- HA!” Rich scoffed “You really think we didn’t consider HF Blades?! You can’t cut this armor girly!”

The leg shot up with alarming speed, catching the cyborg in the air and knocking her up like a hacky sack. She landed on the gear’s back, unable to separate herself before the defensive current hit her like Wolf before.

She fell towards the ground when a deafening whir filled her senses, the mech spinning faster than anything that big had a right to move and slamming the flat its blade right into her.

Maze crashed into the ground, curled up with the exterior of her exosuit glowing red hot in the pit of the crater. She rolled groggily to see EXCELSUS’s twin plasma cannons bearing down on her, fiery orange power collecting and allowing her to see her doom.

“And to think you’ve eluded us all this time! And that these fools followed you into the jaws of death believing you all actually stood a chance. Some leader you are; honestly, what can you even do?” Rich taunted, clearly cracking mentally from the power he now wielded “I wonder if it’s still genocide if there was only one of you to begin with.”

Maze stared confused as the gear fired; plasma beams glassed the sands above her before dragging off in an erratic arc, a large and quite showy explosion forcing the gigantic machine to stumble.

“TAKE THAT FUCK HEADS!” Maze heard Lyra yell victoriously. She painfully rose to see her and Trixie poking though the vans roof. The pair held a launcher between them covered in a potent vortex of energies matching the two unicorns respective magics.

Lyra loaded another RPG as Bonbon kept driving, the magic flaring and growing excited as they fired again. The mech stumbled back further as the flames scorched across its armor, leaving warped but unfortunately still very intact metal behind.

Maze couldn’t enjoy the spectacle further however, as several Soldiers and IGs converged on the crater. The first mastiff lost all its limbs before a raptor found itself without a head. Dwarf Gekko tried to slink through and leap at the cyborg, attempting to ensnare her before a metal tentacle crushed it mid-air.

“They can’t keep it busy for long with that!” Crystal announced as she joined Maze’s defense. Even as she said it they heard Filthy Rich curse across the desert and swipe the heat blades at the van “The hell are we supposed to do here Maze?!”

Maze didn’t have an answer for her, even if she weren’t distracted by the swarm of attackers. She parried a fury of strikes from a pair of the soldiers, their flat masks and bulky bodies showing they were augmented to a far greater degree; she realized they might even be the first proper cyborgs besides herself she’s seen since her release.

“What the hell is this shit!?” Maze heard the changeling exclaim behind her. Maze shot her a quick glance to see her splattered with a glowing blue goo from the raptor torn in half in her tendrils above.

‘Wait, that looks like-’

Maze didn’t get to finish the thought as the van rocketed past their fight trailing smoke. EXCELSUS cried out again enraged, the gear’s head swinging widely as the cannons charged.

“CRYSS DOWN!” Maze cried as she tackled the shape shifter, the beams sweeping across them and the gathered forces. The whole were either sent flying or simply vaporized.

“DAMNIT RICH! STOP KILLING OUR OWN TROOPS!” Pants shouted at his partner before another enhanced RPG rocked the mech, only encouraging the rich pony’s rampage further.

Maze pushed off the ground, blood flowing freely from her nose and mouth. Crystal lay unconscious but alive beneath her, though for how long that would last for any of them Maze began to doubt.

‘Really wishing we had let Lulu follow us now…’

She stood shakily to find more troops and IGs bearing down on them as another explosion echoed out; the van spun through the air aflame as the beams arced up into it, carrying it along as it tumbled over the glassed sands.

“YOU FUCKERS BLEW UP MY HOME!”

The scream distracted even the enemy troops as a hurricane of power erupted from the enraged magician. An entire crate’s worth of RPGs swept up into the flowing magic, glowing brightly as Trixie’s fury poured into them.

With a final scream Trixie unleashed her wrath against the seemingly invincible machine, even its massive form lost in the fire and light.
Trixie soon collapsed to her knees, panting with exertion as Lyra and Bonbon hobbled over holding each other up.

Hearts and faces sank as they heard laughter pierce the cloud of smoke and dust, laughter turning to a full cackle as EXCELSUS stepped back into view.

Maze looked around desperately for something, Anything to draw the gear’s attention; if only for long enough to let the others escape. She saw Johnny and Rex struggling with IG opponents of their own, Wolf uneasily rising to his paws behind them, Crystal beginning to stir behind her as troops closed in, and the only other sight a mangled trooper with something glowing sticking out of its back. There was nothing she could-

‘Wait’ Maze turned back to the corpse ‘…well find me in the alps’

“Not bad little mage!” Rich called out, EXCELSUS dented and scorched but no more impaired as it repositioned “But I’m afraid your tricks end here!”

EXCELSUS reared up, raising the blade high as it extended. Lyra and Bonbon snapped their eyes shut as they clutched one another tight; Trixie just glared defiantly at the burning doom crashing down at them.

But then the music changed

A deafening clang issued forth as the blade stopped dead, a very pissed off human holding the strike between crossed blades beneath.

“What the-?” the speakers delivered in confusion.

With a single strike Maze threw off the heated blades, the huge machine stumbling back several paces as it tried to compensate for the sudden imbalance.

“THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!” a pair of voices cried out as they lashed out again, the cyborg knocking the blow away in a massive shower of electric sparks. Followed by another defected blow, and another.

The pair put the mech in full reverse from the impossibly strong cyborg in pursuit, not understanding where she gained such immediate, overwhelming power from.

“KILL HER!” They shouted, every IG and soldier turning from their targets to swarm the cyborg as EXCELSUS nearly tripped back into the hole from whence it emerged.

Maze spun and rolled through her opponents, every one falling to pieces as she passed. The pilots looked on in awe as she emerged from the swarm, clutching a mass of what looked like large metal worms glowing neon blue.

The spines shattered with a single flex before she charged the massive construct again, an electric storm crackling along the ground in her wake.

“YOU THINK YOU CAN DO THIS TO ME!? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! DIIIIEEEEE!” Rich screamed as he overcharged the gears cannons and unleashed chaotic torrent of death straight at the empowered human.

“Haven’t seen that in a while…” Lyra muttered as the human met the beams straight on with her blades, scattering the hellfire before them as it was absorbed. The collecting forces saturated the swords their wielder, surrounding her in a shroud of electric flames.

The panicked pilots gave one final desperate swing of the heat blades. Fancy Pants broke down into tears when he saw the cyborg actually catch one with nary any effort while Filthy Rich screamed though red faced fury at the monitor at the impossible cyborg.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?” he demanded as Maze pulled with the violent energies coursing through her; stands of synthetic muscles bulging and snapping across her suit under the strain.

The others looked on in awe as the gargantuan mass of armor and death fell forward, yanked off its feet

And then begin to lift,

And then begin to spin.

“Yeah I’m not sure I’m ever gonna get used to this…” Lyra muttered as the figure she now knew as Maisie the human was hammer throwing a Metal Gear well over a thousand times her weight just like RAY all those months ago.

Maze shifted the angle up before abruptly jerking down, the Metal Gear soaring straight up into the sky as its heat blade snapped off like a twig.

The pair of well-dressed ponies could only see the sky on their screens until a blinding flash appeared above them, fading to show the human floating above them holding the gear’s enormous blade.

“HOW CAN YOU BE DOING THIS!?”

“YOU ASKED WHAT I CAN DO!?” She called back, bracing against a rune flashing against her feet

“I CAN KICK YOUR ASS!”

‘Luffy style bitches’

With massive explosion the blade was nothing more than an orange blur as it shot down, passing straight through the Metal Gear and devastating the ground as it struck.

The now gathered group watched as EXCELSUS hung in the air, all but one brow slightly furrowed.

“…Why’s it just kind of floating ther-”

“Just wait for it…” Lyra interrupted her marefriend, all the other members of the group still staring on confused.

Until the gear split in half.

The two halves exploded and scarp rained from the sky; the music fading as a large black ball chief among the debris crashed to the ground.

The hatch flew off and two incredibly haggard ponies scrambled out to make a break for it. They made very little ground before a silver Fenrir cut off their path. They turned only to see a sandy haired guard pony leveling a rifle at them.

They sprinted in the opposite direction until a towering, flaming blur landed hard in front of them. Rich fell to his knees in terrified surrender as Fancy Pants simply fainted at the sight of the golden clad alicorn glaring down upon them.

“It would seem we’re just a moment too late…” Luna muttered as she joined her sister in front of the pair “We always do miss the real fun…”

Airships landed in quick succession as guard ponies poured out to secure the area and wreckage.

Celestia scanned the region, about to call out to the fugitives when a panel of the fallen heat blade exploded skyward. The gathered forces braced and readied their weapons as a figure slowly climbed out.

Maze righted herself atop the blade’s frame, what little of her exosuit that hadn’t been burned or sheered away now falling free; leaving her standing there in all her glory for everyone to see.

She took one slightly dazed look around at the gathered ponies, stopping as she spotted the princesses and the mane six behind them.

Then with enough ego that made even Trixie roll her eyes, and as naked as the day she was born; the Cyborg gave a slight and incredibly shaky bow with the biggest shit-eating grin they’d ever seen, and before immediately passing out after, proudly proclaimed with arms spread wide:

“TA-DA!”

-*THUD*-

“SO AWESOME!”

Author's Notes:

WOOOO! FULL CIRCLE BABY! I know it might come off a little lazy to mirror the first chapter but it just felt so right to close the arc how it began! And yeah, it might be a little Dues Ex to have the bad guys suddenly have cyborg spines again but honestly the only reasons I haven’t had them since the first chapter it was A) They don’t really try to kill a lot so they wouldn’t really find many and B) I uh… Kind of forgot about them and by the time I remembered it would have been weird if they just started appearing again without explanation.

Anyway… SEVEN HUNDRED VIEWS! 712 by the time I’m writing this to be more exact! Forget Maze, YOU READERS are the ones who are ‘SO AWESOME’ . Yeah, I’m still aiming for at least a hundred likes by the time this story is over and we move on to the sequel but this is still just fantastic. Thank you all so much! I honestly don’t know if I would have kept this going if no one cared this much.

But enough gushing and self-criticism. I’m going to start looking for some kind of outbound crossover that I want to happen after the next chapter; so the next releases might be a bit unpredictable; but hopefully I’ll find a good fit with a willing author quickly if I’m lucky. I’ve got a few in mind but we’ll have to see how they respond. I’ll try to keep you all updated, and if you all have any suggestions feel free to share- I may not go with them but please don’t be offended if that’s the case (I’m just kind of picky lol).

But until then readers, as always; Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope to see you for the next (It's gonna be a good'n)! Have a good one!