"Starboard battery ready. Starboard battery, fire."

A quick series of dull thundering booms rang through the Remergence's bridge, the holographic displays arranged before Unycrios displaying the craft's right-side macro cannon battery firing it's payload, the projectiles hammering into the bow of an enemy frigate that was daring to attempt to intercept him. Flashes and bolts of lightning blasted into view from the beyond the observation windows, revealing another layer of void shielding had depleted. Unycrios' data-feed blinked, the situation monitor flashing orange as the Remergence alerted him to it having only three remaining void shields.

"Engines: All ahead full. Bombardment turrets: Initiate fire protocol 'Blinding Halo'." The techmarine announced through the comm channels as he witnessed the astarte frigate speed up, the view of Equis' moon below speeding closer before dipping out of view as the frigate entered low-orbit.

The holographics revealed a total of thirteen enemy ships in direct pursuit and another nine waiting at ambush point around the moon itself. The ships tactical cogitators fed Unycrios a series of battle information, showing him a vast degree of variables and applicable combat tactics to utilize as he keyed in digital orders to a variety of ship systems. The bombardment cannons located upon the top of the frigate began hammering out massive magnetically accelerated rounds, washing waves of fire over the pursuing ships much like a shotgun would with such dense clusters of projectiles fired at once. The lance turrets took far more cautious aim when considering firing upon the enemy craft, the bright flash of the weapons laser discharge visible only once every minute or so, but each shot did severe damage to the Federation ships, the energy beam bypassing the kinetic shielding the crafts were fitted with. The feds had slacked the aggressive pursuit they had entered battle with, after loosing almost a dozen ships the rest felt it best to take a more cautious approach when attempting to disable or destroy the astarte frigate. And in all truth, such a strategy was beginning to work, the Federation's hit and run tactics beginning to chip away at the frigates shielding and shepherding Unycrios into position's he'd rather not be in, such as on the retreat.

For a moment Unycrios was alerted to a strange anomaly flickering within the hologram's projection, fearing the ships digital equipment was starting to fail or had been compromised by enemy fire. But the anomaly was not a glitch, but instead a system access rune, alerting Unycrios that someone, somewhere was access the frigates data files and communication network. The techmarine intercepted the hack and began assessing it, and found no resistance to the digital observation, to his surprise. And to further surprise found the insertion was being made by a faction he had far from expected to be in the ship's system.

The Adeptus Mechanicus.

Someone from the machine cult was accessing Remergences data logs, downloading almost every file the ship had cataloged, and streaming the download to a hardware source located nearby. Hitchhiking the download stream, Unycrios tethered a comm channel to link himself to whatever was accessing his systems, committing a hail as soon as the link was established. A data report allowed little information as to who he was about to talk to, but the feed did identity the recipient as indeed that of the Mechanicum judging by the identification icon being a semi organic, semi robotic skull surrounded by a cog wheel, and that he was contacting some form of ship. The hail held for a few second, Unycrios diverting his attention to adjust his course to avoid running into more Federation craft waiting beyond the moon's horizon before turning back to find an audio link had been established.

"Astarte vessel designated 'Remergence' of the Hospitalers space marine chapter, this is the 'Icon of Calculation'. We are an exploratory vessel of the Adeptus Mechnicus, burdened with the glorious purpose of reclaiming awaited glories for the almighty Omnissiah. Identify yourself and your intent." The digitally distorted voice barked through the vox channel, a voice Unycrios himself had in a many ways, one he had gorwn familiar to with his time spent in the depths of Mars' forges.

"-This is Brother Techmarine Unycrios of the Hospitalers space marine chapter, I am pilotting this vessel alone besides her designated serf crew and are under attack by alien vessels. I humbly request your support, and shall offer you all prizes of steel and data once the fight is done. I offer good faith and complete data exchange by the name of the great Machine God.-" To any average ear it would have sounded as though Unycrios had spoken through a malfunctioning vocal emitter as he blurted a series of static growls, chimes and digital gurgles, speaking in the holy binary tongue of Mars.

"-Hail, brother of the red robe and mighty cog! We have your location and accept your offerings with good faith and joy of your presence. We shall soon be upon your ascendant port-stern angle and ready to bring judgment upon the enemies of the Omnissiah and Mars. Praise the Mahine God!-" The communication serf replied shortly after, the vox link blinking off to leave Unycrios in silence once again.

"All hands and stations, alerts! Friendly Mechanicum contacts inbound at eighty four degrees port-to-stern, seventy nine degrees anscendant!" Unycrios barked as his display revealed a Mechanicum cruiser inbound towards his position, the ship's ranks of bombardment cannons showering fire upon the alien pursuers from above, seeing two vessels plowed into the moon's surface in a single volley as the magnificent craft swooped down to join Remergence's advance.

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The gaps between the transmission valves and coolant pipes were surprisingly ideal in width to insert and conceal the melta charges the marines had brought with then, and allowed them to waste no time attempting to try and affix the bombs to the mechanisms in a less ideal way. It took only a handful of minutes for the marine to finish up and the door that required defending after the feds had committed to breaching the facility's outer structure was holding firm. The passage that Rainbow Dash had managed to obstruct with a wall of direct energy immersion was still impassable, meaning the aliens had to break through the facility's outer walls and funnel themselves down a single, narrow corridor that left them thoroughly at arms length. The odd bolter round kept any who dared peer around the corner ahead dry of any further curiosity, leaving the defending marine free of incoming fire.

"Sergeant, the last charge is primed and ready for detonation." A marine called out from across the generator room.

"Understood. All brethren, the charges are set, prepare for immediate evacuation. Nethileon?" Adventios called out to his brother who was jogging past him toward the defended doorway.

"Spare charge ready, should grant us an exit." The astarte replied as he passed by.

"Dathes, we have to go." Adventios said, looking down to his fellow sergeant.

"I know. Come, Miss Dash, on your feet." Dathes said in a calm tone as he helped the pegasus to stand.

"Heh, leaving already? We only just got here." Dash said weakly as she stood up, her legs slightly unsteady.

The blue furred girl had the right side of her face, her right shoulder, elbow and forearm wrapped in simple medical dressing soaked in medical gel and sacred oil. Although her scars were beginning to heal neatly, and the pain her wounds caused had been dulled, she still found herself having been done a shaking blow by the detonation of the alien weapon she had held near her own face while firing. Dathes held a large arm around Dash's back, cradling her under the ribcage to keep some of her weight off her weary feet as they steadily walked forward, the astarte having his bolt pistol drawn in his free hand.

"Sergeant, remain to the rear of our advance. Brothers, let us bid farewell to this blasphemous place and see our work complete! Forward, for the Imperium!" Chaplain Tyreth cried out as he broke into a jog, keeping close behind the two battle brothers that spearheaded the advance down the corridor they had just been defending.

The slam of armoured boots of metal floor heralded the marine's advance towards the entrenched feds, the first alien peering around the corner with weapons raised towards the astartes as they pushed forth. Yet the alien's aim was not drawn fast enough as a bolt round was fired into it's throat at near point blank range, the broken corpse hitting the cold floor with a wet slapping sound. Turning a corner the marines found another ten aliens stacked up against the wall of the corridor, all reeling back at the shock of the astarte's rapid advance. Switching their bolters to their fully-automatic setting the leading pair of Hospitalers hammered a flurry of rounds out in a series of flaring muzzles and bursting bodies. Tyreth added his own fire, blasting apart a pair of aliens before the corridor was clear of the living, painted a sickeningly dark, glossy red by the alien gore. The marines slowed not, pushing onwards until a split in the path ahead was spotted.

"Chaplain?" One of the leading marines asked in reference to the dilemma.

"Right! T-take a right!" Dash called out, her unsteady legs travelling as fast as they could while aided by Dathes' embrace.

The marine scanned the path to their right as they reached the junction, a pair of alien's ahead scurrying away to take cover around the next corner. A pair of bolt rounds were fired in quick succession by each marine at the front, most rounds missing bar one that blasted an alien's foot off half way up the calve, the trooper squealing in agony as he flopped to the floor, dragging himself foreword to hide himself from view. The marines continued the advance, coming to turn the corner the benefactors had just retreated around to find a long, straight smear of blood leading from were the alien soldier had been dismembered to were he was still currently crawling forward. Upon hearing the massive footfalls of the approaching attackers the alien rolled over onto his back, his already drawn pistol aimed at the marines who in turn aimed back at him with their bolters. The wounded benefactor managed to fire the first shot, the round striking one of the marines directly in the eye lens by the decree of chance. The battle brother was sent reeling back, letting out a roar of pain as blood shot out from the demolished lens, his brother next to him peppering the alien with a burst of fire from his weapon, the benefactor being ravaged to little more than bloody pulp in the blink of an eye.

"Dicho!" The marine called as he turned to lift his now kneeling brother to his feet, the marine cupping his hand to the breach in his helmet, the glass of his visor utterly destroyed and ceramite surrounding it chipped and scratched, dripping with the bright red blood of a space marine.

"I'm alright! I'll be alright!" Brother Dicho called back, his voice shaken by the trauma he received.

"Hectus, let Dicho through to the rear. Sergeant, replace him." Tyreth ordered, the squads of marines reducing their advance to a crawl as they rearranged themselves for better tactical efficiency.

Again the marine set off, heading down another pair of corridors and turning equally as many corners before coming to an exit leading out of the maintenance network on into the facility's primary structure, the hallways bearing much more light and a lighter grey panelling than that of the dim interior of the maintenance environment.

"Dash?" Adventios called out as marines flooded out of he access door and into the main hallways that lead off in two directions, the sergeant sweeping his storm bolter down each direction in anticipation to an enemy advance.

"Left, we go left!" The pegasus called back as Dathes helped her through the doorway, the segments of door sliding back together behind them before the sergeant delivered a tremendous kick into the center of the formation, bending the door inwards and sealing it's mechanics to become locked together.

Adventios and four other including Tyreth led the way, bolters sweeping about their nearest sides, the light grey, geometric architecture making it admittedly difficult to spot any upcoming junctions or corners before coming right up to them. This was made painfully evident as the wall to the sergeant's left shifted in form as he ran closer, revealing a corner leading to another corridor had been coming up to him all along. Before he could stop and warn others the marine had passed the threshold, his heart skipping a beat as he spotted at least two dozen Federation benefactors lined up a ways down the hallway, stacked in perfect formation to provide two ranks of fire lined up before them. As the lead marines ran into their line of sight they all unleashed a shower of magna fire, red lances of fire snapping down the corridor and into the marine's. Adventios, being the nearest to them caught several rounds into his left side, his auto-reactive pauldron swerving upwards to protect his throat and face from the incoming barrage, yet the left side of his waist and behind his left knee became peppered by the high velocity rounds, the thinner armour proving ineffective at resisting so many shots. Three round cut through his waist, another two into the side of his left knee, bringing him skidding to the floor as his brother came to hasty stop just after he had fallen. The two fellow marines threw themselves back, one slamming into the wall around the corner behind them to take cover while the other ducked into a neat combat roll back down the hallway. Tyreth, however, came to a kneel before throwing a hand out to snatch up his fallen brother, bring both of them back down the corridor as scores of alien projectiles danced off the chaplain's rosarius energy shield in a flashing spectacle of bright, golden light before they were both safely behind cover.

"Yeah, just try that again you stupid, primitive degenerates!" A benefactor from the firing squad called out, others throwing in their own heckles in a chorus of spat insults and arrogant claims to supremacy.

"Brother?" Tyreth asked, his voice ever so slightly shaken by concern as he knelt at Adventios' side.

"I'm alright. Although...I wouldn't mind cutting this little expedition short." Adventios admitted as he turned to brace his back against the wall behind him, his legs sprawled out before him as he sat in his wounded state, a relatively small amount of blood having run out from the wounds in himself and his armour before his augmented bloodstream had stemmed the bleeding with rapidly developing scar tissue while his armour filled the breaches with a half-foam half-gelatin coagulant solution that took an oily yellow colour.

"Nethileon, we need an exit!" Tyreth called out.

"If I detonate this charge that leads to just another part of the structure we'll have a damnable time getting out!" The marine called back in a sharp tone.

"Wait, that wall it...it leads to the visitor garden, it's just behind the reception area! It's only about the size of a house in width and such though." Dash called out again, leaning into Dathes arm, the pain of her injuries beginning to return to her.

"Gertavius, what is your position?" Tyreth called over his helmet's radio.

"Circling the facility, Brother Chaplain. More hostile troop ships have arrived and are deploying ground forces and scanners are picking up a squadron of alien fighters closing in on my location, fast." The stormraven pilot replied, his transmission askew slightly with a drizzle of static.

"Do you see an open area within the facility boundaries?" The chaplain asked.

"Yes, Chaplain. It's a small natural reserve of some kind, I'm not sure if I can fit the gunship in to land, sire."

"You'll have to find a way, Brother. We are out of alternate routes to exit the facility and our only viable exit leads us into that garden. Can I rely on you to be there once you've spotted our breach detonation?"

"You can rely on me to try, Chaplain. I shall await your signal." The pilot finished before the comm link blinked off.

"Nethileon, breach that wall!" Tyreth ordered, signalling the other marines o fall back to the furthest wall.

"Aye, Brother Chaplain!" The marine replied as he jogged over to the metal surface, the melta bomb he carried being locked onto the inside of the wall magnetically before being primed, timed and triggered.

"Charge set! Clear!" Nethileon cried out before hastily darting to join his brethren, mere seconds passing before a sharp blast rang through the metallic corridor alongside a fierce heat that wash over the marines armour, forcing Dash to look away in discomfort until the meat had dissipated.

Not a second had passed and already Adventios could hear the pitter-patter of alien boots scurrying towards their position. The sergeant looked up to see Tyreth offering him an armoured, open hand in which he greatfully accepted in a firm grasp, the chaplain heaving his brother to his feet with a groan from the wounded sergeant. Adventios' stimulants had long since deployed into his blood stream since being wounded, allowing him to function better without having to deal with the fierce pain of being riddled with several still burning projectiles. Yet his muscles found themselves unresponsive in certain wounded locations, meaning he could travel no faster than a hasty limp, making him fortunate that Tyreth was stood besides him, his bolt pistol trained on the corner behind them as marines piled through the breached wall ahead. Bolt rounds hammered out of Tyreth's pistol as Adventios assumed the first benefactors had dared to reveal themselves, a handful more being let loose before the two reached the exit, Adventios carefully stepped through the molten hole, soon followed by the chaplain.

Outside, the weather had taken a turn for the worse as the sun had come to set, yet still a dull hue of orange was washed over the thick cloud leading off to the horizon that was out of view thanks to the buildings wrapped around the small garden that marines had stepped into. This caused a small degree of worry for Adventios, the sergeant having been informed about the strange way the sun and moon of this world cycled by the will of the alicorn sisters of Equestria. And yet the sunset was still not finished, even though the marine's heads up display revealed the local time to be well into the early evening. However this worry lifted as he could just about tell how the light was still dimming, meaning the daily cycle was not broken, but simply delayed. And once again, a worry washed over the sergeant's mind. The clouds above were laid thick, completely engulfing the sky and battering the world beneath with a near blinding torrent of rain, so fiercely that most of it was dissipated back into the air by the fierce collision with the earth, creating a thick smog of steam and mist hanging in the air that made anyone not aided by their autosenses blind to anything further than about five feet away. Adventios looked about, the neon outlines of his fellow marines highlighted by his HUD and his motion tracker reading their signatures alongside several hostiles closing in behind at a slow, steady pace.

Looking to the sky the marine spotted a faded light swim within the clouds, it's luminescence growing in strength as whatever bore it seemed to grow closer. Soon the high-pitched whine of gunship engines could be heard and Adventios' sensors outlined and identified the stormraven they had arrived in swiftly descend down to their position, engines blasting the wind about them and scattering the downpour in wild directions. The craft's wings barely cleared the width of the reserve the marines were spread out in, each astartes relocating to the nearest gunship door as it came to a booming halt as it's landing gear struck the ground. Both front and rear ramps dropped open while both the side doors fell open to allow marines to board. Adventios quickened his limping advance, soon reaching the metal of the gunship beneath his step, but not before scarlet blasts of alien weapon fire snapped and zipped by, clattering off his armoured plate and he hull of the gunship. Turning around as he braced himself against the inside of the stormraven the sergeant lifted his storm bolter in his right hand, spitting rapid fire at what aliens his autosenses detected. One benefactor that was one step out the astarte's breach was sent flying back inside in a bloody and mangled state as bolts smashed into his chest and face. Tyreth also put down fire along with a few marines that were already aboard the gunship, his bolt pistol running dry just after taking the side off of an alien's skull, forcing the chaplain to turn and make haste for the ship. Another alien silhouette could be seen filling the breach a moment before Tyreth's mighty form blocked Adventios' view of the alien. Not a second later a thunderclap sounded directly behind the chaplain, throwing the marine forward and fiercely slamming him face-first into the descended assault ramp, stunning the chaplain to such a degree that he could only sluggishly attempt to rise again as it he were made of stone.

Looking up Adventios could clearly see a cloudy smoke trail lead to a benefactor wielding a form of rocket launcher, who now quickly dropped the weapon from it's shoulder and was beginning to reload it. The sergeant dropped too his knees with a groan of pain, his hand slapping down on Tyreth's pauldron to grasp the edge of the ceramite armour slab and begin to hoist him upright. Arcane lightning flitted and crackled around Tyreth's form, his rosarius having taken the brunt of the rocket's blow, but the energy shield provided by the sacred relic having been utterly depleted by the blast and needing time to replenish. A sharp snap rang through the air and Adventios found his front spattered with blood, and to his horror, not his own. Looking upwards to the source of the sound the sergeant looked up to the roof of one of the alien facility's segments, a figure knelt atop it. The creature was cloaked, bearing a cluster of four glowing red eyes that appeared mechanical in nature and held a long ranged rifle of angular design. A moment passed as the astarte locked 'eyes' with the alien marksman, no more than a heartbeat passing before looking down to find a gaping bullet wound blasted deep into Tyreth's lower back, the shot having blasted clean through the lowest portion of his power pack and through his thinly armoured waist. The wound was smoking, and a sickening scent of burning flesh filled the sergeant's senses as he looked down upon his now limp and seemingly lifeless brother. His other arm was thrown forth in a clumsy manner as he desperately braced to drag the chaplain into the gunship's deck, another marine speeding to his side to help. Another snapping blast rang out and Adventios' vision flared white for but a split second as a spray of white hot metal filled his vision. With a synchronised, singular tug, both marine threw the motionless Tyreth into the gunship alongside them, Dathes signalling the pilot to take off.

Looking to his right, Adventios could see how the flash of white had been caused by the second sniper round blasting through most of his right pauldron, the metal having a neat groove cut deep into it's plate, the thickness only just sending the projectile outwards to tear through and out the side of he armour, blasting away a portion of the large slab of metal. His vision fell to find a bright red ocean of Tyreth's blood slowly washing closer to his knees, the gore spreading all across the stormraven's deck as the craft turned and tumbled to evade enemy fire.

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When I get out of here, I'm going to craft my throne from alien skulls!

If we get out of here

Nightmare Moon's eyes were in such an intense expression that one would think she could melt steel beam's with her hate-filled gaze. Her neck was locked within an almost overcompensatingly large alien containment device that resembled a collar the size of a fridge, while her arms were also locked within similar creations that were both linked to her throat collar and the floor of the containment tank she was being carted around the alien research facility in. Her muzzle was shut tight within another alien contraption that made any form of speech utterly impossibly and acted as a junction for a series of cables to run up to her nose, along the top of her snout and into another lock wrapped around her horn, the cylindrical metal contraption sending some sort of suppressive energies into the alicorn's cranial appendage to block her magic and nullifying it's use. Another over-sized harness was locked around the princess' waist, anchoring her to the floor of the tank and forcing her into a kneeling position, making her overall posture very uncomfortable, both physically and mentally. Each section of her entrapping harness was linked together by some form of extremely durable rubber tubing that seemed to be meshed with a dense alloy spring running the tubes length. Additionally each segment also had inbuilt kinetic tethers, the glowing nodes connected to similar nodes on the cage's floor, the two bound by a pale orange light. Considering all this mechanism offered, Nightmare had to admit she was in a bit of a pickle, but knew that her vengeance would be best applied when coldest.

The alicorn did not need her magic to know that Celestia was being held within an identical containment cell following behind her own, the two being scooted down the long hallways through the alien facility on the anti-gravity slabs that floated the containment tanks off the floor by a few inches. Celestia also most likely had her own squad of fully equipped Immortals following beside her cage as they advanced, the only difference between her and her sister most likely being that Nightmare wasn't wallowing in her own self-pity, instead opting for ceaselessly envisioning the bloody and drawn-out demise to her captors at her own claws. Again she tested the integrity of her retraints, her muscles bulging as she gave her arms a series of sudden, thumping tugs and her back a fierce convulsion, her locked-down-and-together wings not budging an inch within their slab-like harness.

"I said shut it, fucking tyrant!" The nearest Immortal spat through his sealed helmet as he rammed the butt of his repeater into the thick, transparent polymer shell that made up most of the cage's exterior.

Nightmare slowly turned her gaze to the side and upwards to the armoured alien, her gaze bearing a clear intent to cause the creature endless suffering.

When I am princess, I'll rack you first Nightmare thought within the raging blaze that was her current state of mind.

Do you think they have Celestia too? They took her alive as well, didn't they? Communed Luna through their mental coexistence.

As much as Nightmare was far from being as concerned as Luna was for her sister, she'd be lying if she had said she didn't care at all, especially considering the final words Celestia had said to her before the Federation once again decided to wedge their oar into situations it didn't belong in. She quite clearly remembered what had transpired soon after; The waves of troops armed exclusively with arc-rifles set to stun, being blasted by dozens of electric bolts over and over as she'd attempted her best to ward off her attackers, succeeding in disemboweling a single benefactor before an Immortal had tackled her from behind and locked the magic suppression device to her horn. She remembered the avalanche of punches and kicks she had suffered immediately afterwards, each one allowing her to mentally etch the number of alien's she would hang from gallows as soon as the throne was hers. Nightmare partially knew all these promises of revenge were half-baked concoctions of her own imagination, yet such things were the only sustenance that was provided to her state of mind to give her hope of any kind of future, otherwise she feared she'd succumb to the hopelessness of the situation she was in much like Celestia had done.

Of course they did, she's probably right behind us. They wouldn't give up the chance to snare a second 'specimen' after all

Nightmare was carted to the end of the seemingly never-ending corridor, it's walls a dull, metallic grey that seemed to absorb what little light the constricted overhead lamps offered, giving the interior of the research facility a cold, shady appearance. At the end of the hallways she was then turned to the left as her and her captors entered a large cargo holding area of some sorts, her cage brought to face a collection of what she assumed were alien scientists, all wearing bright white and light grey jumpsuits, complete with sealed medical masks and glossy gloves. Each one looked up for a second, turning from their computer tablets to peer at the approaching soldiers and the captive alicorns to simply return to their typing and tapping immediately after. Out of all of them present one stood apart from the rest, pacing at a frantic rate off towards a pile of crates. Nightmare's ears twitched slightly as she could have sworn she heard the apparently anxious scientist mumble something to himself, however her concentration on the anomaly was broken as her cart came to a sudden stop. Movement blurred into the field of her peripheral vision, just about reaching her line of sight to reveal another transparent cage identical to her roll up next to her, only this one having a far whiter, and far more wounded, alicorn princess locked within it's internal harness.

Sister!

Oh for crater's sake, no need to shout so loud! It's not like I can mishear you. And yes, I see her too Nightmare mentally growled in reply to Luna's sudden outburst.

"Doctor Unal'Gov! Your 'patients' are here. Mind taking this scum off our hands?" The forward immortal huffed in amusement to his own insult.

"No...No no no, no NO! No. They are...our bridge, commander, to the future."

Simply hearing this sentence come from the alien scientist sent a shiver down Nightmare Moon's spine, making her muscles tense slightly for the first time in an eon they had tensed through fear. The scientist, this Unal'Gov, was a truly terrible sight. Not in the same way Nightmare might be considered as by some, not in any directly imposing or threatening way, but instead in a way that might also be considered when looking upon a pony burdened with a deathly illness. His face was evidently drained of life, as if he hadn't slept in weeks, as if something was feeding off of his very soul. His eye sockets and naturally gaunt cheeks were a terrible, almost rotten dark colour that made Nightmare fear his face would simply slide clean off his skull if a strong breeze washed over him. His eyes had an unnerving buggy quality to them and darted about feverishly, snapping to look at Celestia and then again to look at Nightmare with an almost unnatural quickness, shivering all the while as if overcharged with energy. His long, clammy fingers also seemed similarly afflicted by whatever condition he had contracted, his pale digits flicking and curling in truly disturbing ways as if the appendages had developed restless, animalistic minds of their own.

"T-t-take...them...take them to theater nineteen. Secure them in their respective harnesses. And...and!...They are not to have...another...scratch...on them. Do you, do you understand, commander? Do you?" The sickly looking alien said through a series of writhing emotions and distressed facial expressions.

"Uh, sure, doc. C'mon." The immortal replied uneasily before beckoning his team onward.

As the princesses were wheeled off again, Nightmare before Celestia once more, the alien scientists followed close behind carrying whatever equipment and tools they felt necessary to bring with them to handle whatever these creatures had planned for the two alicorns. Nightmare couldn't help but grow more and more uneasy spying what the aliens carried, ranging from cutting tools, probes and syringe guns, yet something far more troubling caught Nightmare's attention, her ears swiveling in response.

"Open the gate and they'll leave me alone. Open the gate and they'll leave me alone. Open the gate and they'll leave me alone. Open the gate and they'll leave me alone." Unal'Gov murmured to himself, unheard seemingly by all save for Nightmare Moon herself.

Nightmare closed her eyes and let out a shakey sigh, the alien's chattering still tumbling into her ears.

Okay, I'm ready to go back to the moon now