"A little too dark for my liking in here. Defedor, activate night visors, full spectrum enhance."

Adventios' vision flared a bright, light pink before settling into the environment before him. His surroundings were blanketed in a neon glow that gave a clear image of everything within around twenty feet in front of him, and a rough outline of everything else beyond that. He peered about to take note of who had joined him in his journey into the deep darkness of the alien structures that had inconveniently rearranged itself to form a prison around him, his squad, and the native people he was charged with protecting. His squad had illuminated their night vision as he'd done and looked about at one another before looking downwards to see the native females they'd been escorting. Two of their number, each with a single space marine at their side, had been lost to a separate segment of alien structure each, which left the original party's number a total of four short. The girls waved and swung their hands about clumsily around in an attempt to find one another, some less gracefully than others.

"Twilight?! Twilight, is that you?!" The blue, winged female said in a slight panic as she grasped at another besides her.

"Nnnnope." Replied the orange girl at the hands of her friend.

"Oh, uh, hey AJ. That's your arm I gotta hold of right?"

"Nnnnope."

The wiry girl shot her hands back, her facial blood pressure spiking after what Adventios could only assume was an embarrassing situation.

"I'm over here, Dash!" The purple princess announced as a purple light grew brighter and brighter from the tip of her cranial horn until most of the space immediately around her was well illuminated.

"Rarity?" The orange girl called out.

"I'm here with the princesses." The well spoken female replied as another cluster of lights slowly burst into existence, revealing the slight-framed, white girl alongside the other members of the native royalty.

"Is everyone alright?" Brother Revitheon asked around in a low tone.

"I think so. Luna?" The white princess replied.

"I...I think so. M-My head hurts a little." The darker coloured female replied.

"Everyone, on your feet. Brothers, do any of you see an exit?" Said Adventios.

"I see a passage. Unsure of where it leads." A bright light flashed into existence from Denethios' boltgun's target painter, a small lens mounted just above the weapons barrel, the small flashlight function shining forward down were the marine aimed the weapon.

The natives rose from the ground, the purple princess known as Twilight and her taller one the alien commander had called Celestia wandered up besides the comparatively giant Astarte and added the light from their facial appendages to that of the bolters, brightly revealing the dark pathway ahead of them. The light didn't travel far, almost as if the smooth, shadow soaked walls absorbed the light itself, leading to Adventios seeing only an extended pathway laying ahead of the group.

"We have to find the others." Denethios said aloud.

"Negative. Unycrios made it very clear he intended to find this facility's computer mainframe, and will attempt to shut it down. He said he needed us to buy time for him." Adventios replied.

"What does that mean to us, sergeant?" Mikos, the eldest member of Defedor chimed in, his voice sounding much like the Captain's.

"Well, it seems we have no other exits available," The sergeant said as he scanned hi eyes around the room, "So I'd say we take this path, see where we end up. If we end up locating more of our brothers, then so be it, but I do not believe this to be a possibility."

"What happened exactly?" Twilight asked.

"The aliens have somehow gained control over this facility's mechanisms. It would appear they wished to divide our forces and overwhelm each group with excessive offensive measures. Since we were located towards the rear of the formation, I suspect we might be one of the last teams to be hit by enemy forces."

The sound of crystal slabs sliding apart could be heard from up ahead, but considering Adventios' augmented hearing, he safely assessed that this was coming from a relatively far distance ahead of the group. Soon after he heard the sharp voices of alien soldiers among a chorus of footsteps.

"But you've been wrong before." Revitheon huffed humorously.

"Of course. Princess, keep you and your friends behind us. If we turn a corner, wait until we give the all clear before following us. If you get cut off or trapped, deploy whatever defensive measures you might have, but do not engage the enemy unless you have no other choice. Keep to hard cover if we are engaged, and do not move until we say it is safe to." Adventios said in a level tone as he turned to look at Twilight, who gave a stern, solid nod in response.

"Brothers, myself and Mikos up front. Denethios, Revitheon, behind us in supportive positions. We are to occupy enemy attention for as long as possible, determine their pattern of approach and if possible reverse it. Throw off their formations as often as possible. Feidfor, consider yourself one amongst the escortees number, never leave their side, even if we fall." Adventios ordered firmly.

"Understood, sergeant." The Sanguinary priest replied.

"Defedor, by my lead. Advance."

The marines swiftly swept forward into the dark, bolters raised, safety's off.

-------------------------------------------------

Pinkie was always one for a good old game of hide and seek, but this was just impractical. Darkness lay all around her, not even an aggressive dimness, but complete and total darkness that sucked her sight away entirely. She scrambled and flopped about in a very ungraceful manner, trying her best to find something that wasn't the hard floor that sat beneath her.

"Guy?! Guy, were are you?! Your suit has super-robot arms and tentacle-plugs and no flashlight?! Where are you?!" Pinkie squeaked in frustration.

"I am here." Replied a cold, rumbly, mechanical voice from behind her.

Pinkie carefully swiveled around on her knees, being cautious where she put her hands. She looked about were the voice had come from, at first seeing nothing before her eye glided upwards to see a handful of neon pink lights, two being eyes, other being illuminated portions of the alien's armour.

"Sudden activation of luminary equipment will disorientate you and possibly damage your ocular systems." The alien rumbled.

"What?" Pinkie said, her face twisted in utter confusion.

"Your eyes will hurt." He replied.

"Oh." Pinkie then slapped her hands over her eyes, a moment later a buzzing sound bursting around her for a second as the world beyond her fingers visibly brightened significantly.

Pinkie strained her eyes as she removed her hands, recovering after a couple of seconds to look up at the gigantic, red armoured alien standing solidly before her. A force from behind the pink mare grabbed at her before lifting her into the air by her brightly coloured, baggy hoodie and t-shirt beneath. She squeaked a moment before looking back to see one of the pony-sized machine limbs mounted upon the alien backpack had grabbed her by the back of her clothes and lifted her up to the height she'd normally stand at. She dropped her legs down to touch the floor, steadying herself as the arm let her go to stand by herself.

"I need to find the central server room for this facility. You should remain here and stay hidden from aggressor forces. I will send a unit to retrieve you when I have determined a stable exit route." The large creature said plainly before turning to head away from Pinkie, as if he'd already found a way out of the dark room they were being held in.

"Wait! You can't just leave me here, what if those meany-weenies find me? Do you even know what's gonna happen if I do hard-time? That's party quality all across Equestria dropping by at least 39.5%. That could lead to a significant social depression, and eventually a possibly irreversible economic and social breakdown of the entire country!" Pinkie ended up squealing as she darted about the room in a panic, finally coming to a stop by grabbing the alien collar and desperately pressing her face into his helmet's face.

"If you follow me, your chances of being found multiply exponentially. I will draw enemy attention away from you, your location should remain stable for anywhere between fifteen to forty-two minutes." The giant replied as the same machine arm carefully pulled the hyperactive mare off of him.

"Okay then smarty-space-soldier, what are you gonna do when you and this places crazy hologram jellyfish get all cuddly in the dark? You think that wacko is gonna just let you violate him with your questionable tentacle belt?" Pinkie inquired with a raised eyebrow and a fierce smirk.

"Infiltrating and disassembling systematic structures of this station should be relatively straight forward. It is not a task I am unfamiliar with?" The alien replied.

"You mean you've hickidy-hacked stuff like this before?"

"I have dominated similar systems."

"But not this one."

"I sense there is an agenda afoot." The alien growled as he stared down at the comparatively small girl.

"All I'm saying is you've never actually fiddled around with these computer-thingies, and I have. Who d'you think masterminded you being set to defrost?" Pinkie said with a cocky grin as she pressed a finger into the gigantic chest of the figure before him.

The alien did not move, but Pinkie had a funny feeling the thing was deeply thinking about her proposal as he simply stared at her through brightly lit, unblinking eyes carved into his helmet.

"You interacted with these systems unhindered?" The alien growled.

"Easy-peasily!" Pinkie boasted.

"You overcame system counter-measurements within reasonable time parameters?"

"Eh, I wasn't really paying attention to the time. It was a lot of fun though!"

"Would you agree to conclude you have a deficient attention span?"

"Y'know what's more fun than alien-computer-commander? Skeeball! Nopony beats me at skeeball." Pinkie said smiling as she waved away a hand.

"What training in technical operations have you had?"

"I'm getting pretty good at using a calculator." Pinkie said with a sly sense of confidence.

The large creature once again just stood there motionless for a moment, staring at the pink earth pony. He suddenly, sharply turned away again and started off down the path he was originally headed down, thunderous footfalls echoing through the corridor before him.

"Follow me." He called out in his digital voice, Pinkie letting loose an excited squeak as she hopped up and down for a second before dashing off to follow her new-found partner in crime.

Pinkie followed close behind, but dashed and darted from side to side, her excitement hardly containable as the darkened journey of danger and adventure rest ahead of the deadly duo.

"Nuh-nuh nuuuh-nuh! Pinkie and Thunder! Nuh-nuh nuuuh-nuh! Treckin' in the dark! Buh-nuh nuuuh-nuh! Gonna find the space-squid! Nuh-nuh nuuh-nuh! Karate-chop his face!-"

--------------------------------------------------------

Herathor's face was deeply engraved beneath his helmet with furious degrees of frustration. He found the very notion of wasting time intolerable in every sense, and here he was pouring time down the drain like spent engine coolant.

"I said get up!" He barked again, his helmets vox grill turning his aggressive bark into a truly menacing roar.

He nudged the small female once again with the barrel of his heavy bolter, her stiff form giving way to the force of the shove, but her body remaining unresponsive in every other way. Herathor knew she was alive, and beyond that she was conscious, and was growing utterly infuriated by her stubborn antics. He could hear her fast, panicky heartbeat, smell her hot blood in her veins, see her slightly shivering form and easily hear her irregular, sniffely breathing. The marine huffed and turned around, his patience running bone dry.

"So be it. Remain here, do not leave this room and await retrieval." The heavy weapon wielding Astarte grunted as he stomped down a hallway he'd located earlier.

"Wait." A tiny, almost inaudible voice coughed from behind him as he marched on.

"I've waited for you long enough, I must find my brothers." He responded stubbornly, marching on.

"Wait! Please!" Her voice was much louder now, almost a frantic scream as Herathor heard her shuffle her weight around on the floor.

The marine stopped and swiveled around swiftly, his expression burning with frustration for the little yellow creature. He looked upon her to see her lower half still helplessly slumped upon the floor, but her arms braced her upper half up, her heads turned around to look up at Herathor. Her eyes were a waterfall of hot tears than ran madly down her cheeks, her eyes desperate and terrified, one covered over by her immense locks of pink hair. After a second she scrambled, almost pathetically, trying to gain footing to lift herself up only to be greatly hindered by her rather strangely overdeveloped upper half. With an exasperated breath out, Herathor slowly thundered his way closer, reaching the girl and offering the barrel of his weapon up near her arm. For a second the girl looked at the instrument in terror, but her expression softened as she looked up at Herathor, her hand wrapping over the weapons large frontal iron sights. Without a shred of effort the marine lifted his weapons barrel up, pulling the girl upwards. She slowly and slightly unsteadily shifted her legs as she held onto the weapon and cradled her anatomy, finally steadying herself to stand as Herathor swung his weapon away from her before turning around to march away once again.

The tiny chatter of small footsteps set a rhythm to the booming thunder of the marines bootsteps as the two walked forward down a dark hallway, lit only by the marine's heavy bolter and it's illuminated target painter. The weapon swept side to side as it rest firmly in it's wielder's steely grasp, the light it threw out seeming to disappear much quicker in the air than Herathor would have expected. The pair soon reached a junction, the path splitting off in two directions. Herathor remained silent and listened carefully to any sound beyond that of the quickened pitter-patter of small hooves on stone behind him. It was the barest of echoes, but far up ahead he could definitely hear voices, higher pitched than any marine and a hushed rumble of footsteps. Thinking for a moment, the marine then swung around and looked down at his mortal accomplice.

"We travel at my speed. I will not slow or stop for you. If we become separated, try to find your way back to the room we started in or stay put until someone is sent to find you. Otherwise, stay behind me and do not get in my way." Herathor growled through both scowling face and helmet.

The winged girl looked up, ears folded back, utterly terrified and nodded frantically. With that Herathor set off to the right, weapon raised and sweeping over the path ahead, tiny yellow companion in tow.

-------------------------------------------------------

"-nuuuh! Fighting off the ninja-tigers! Buh-nuh nu-nuuuh! In a lightning-rocket-train!" Pinkie chirped on as the two wandered onwards, having navigated the maze of eerily similar looking corridors and junctions.

Pinkie kept humming her tune away, her step bouncing with enthusiastic energy as she subtly looked up at the alien that marched besides her. She smiled as her head ran at a thousand miles an hour through all the possible subject to bring up in an attempt to break the ice.

"Soooo~...where'dya come from? You look lie the city type." Pinkie chirped.

"Planet: Nosferatus. Region: Beckterev desert. Location: Manufactorum Tiripidus. I also spend a notable portion of time at my chapters citadel monastery, Irrilithine. To attain optimum production rates for chapter resources, I must oversee its creation and distribution." The alien chattered back.

"Wait a sec', you live in a factory?" Pinkie asked, her eyebrow raised.

"Affirmative." The thing replied.

"Uh, are you, like...uh...some kinda shut-in or something? I mean, were do you go to meet new people, relax or have a good time?"

"The increase in resource productivity is all the peace of mind I need. My neurological stability has remained firmly undisturbed for several consistent decades."

"So you're okay with just...building stuff?" Pinkie asked, throwing her hands up in disbelief.

"Gaining such assured high favour from the Machine God has increased my endorphin levels by eight percent since my return from Mars."

"Hey, you don't need some big guy in the sky telling you what to do to have a good time, just some good food, some sick tunes and your best friends to share it with. That's what we call in Equestria a 'Par-Tee'. A 'Party' can excel to the level of being a 'Par-Tay' should - A: Two or more ponies get happy-drunk. B: Everypony be stompin' their hooves for at least forty-five minutes straight or C: The roof be raised and/or on fire at some point during partying hours." Pinkie said, dissecting the intricate anatomy of the perfect party.

"I assure you, production rates would fall greatly should the assembly lines roofs be aflame." The red giant said as he observed some holographic display being emitted from a lens mounted within his breast plate.

"Urgh! You are hopeless!" Pinkie squealed.

"Incorrect. My hopes have been greatly lifted since my release. Production rates should clime after my return to the manufactorum."

Pinkie's whole form drooped as she became infuriated by the alien's two-dimensional mind, her arms hanging forward limply in defeat. A sound of sizzling eggs accompanied by a pungent smell of burning rubber filled the air as a red streak shot passed Pinkie's vision. She looked off to the side to see a smoking hole carved clean through an outer portion of her haywire mane.

"Huh. That wasn't there before." Pinkie said confused.

Before she knew it a massive firearm the alien beside her had fastened to his back swung up before her, drawing its sights on something off to the side of Pinkie in its wielders iron grip. The mechanical arm that had grown to develop an intimate touchy relationship with the small mare once again was tugged aside, only more violently than before. She waved her arms about as she stumbled to the side, being dragged away from the weapon before her a split second before it barked to life. The weapon looked similar to many of the others she'd seen other aliens use, being large and overall rectangular, but this one had a number of built-in mechanisms that protruded from its inside working. Atop it sat a mechanical array that looked like four light-bulbs locked together that shone a bright pink as the weapon fired, almost mirroring the colourful fire that burst from the weapons barrel. The bullets it fired appeared a little different too, being a white-hot colour, almost appearing to be wreathed in some terrible energy field as they zipped forward into the dark, illuminating the environment around them as they flew. Pinkie continued stumbling about in an almost comical fashion before falling over, though her face did not meet the floor as the mechanical arm that held her swiveled and dipped to catch her, slinging her to her feet again and grasping her once more to continue pulling her back as the alien warrior-smith marched backwards alongside the mare, not even looking where he was going as he kept his eyes locked dead ahead as he fired round after round into the dark ahead.

More red line whizzed through the air, all failing to strike Pinkie as the aliens bionic limbs kept her well shielded or moved her out of the way of fire. A number struck the alien, though his heavily built armoured suit proved utterly solid against each and every round that struck it. Red hot bullets trailing angry vapour pinged and shattered upon hitting the alien's war-plate, not even jolting or phasing the gigantic creature in the slightest as he retreated.

"Wait! Do you know where we're going?" Pinkie yelled over the bark and roar of the smith's weapon.

"Logical assessment would lead me to believe these creatures came from an entrance further towards the facilities outer segments. Moving away from their advance takes us in at least a measurably valid direction."

"Okey-dokey-lokey! Hey, since we should try and ditch these party-poopers, I keep these just for emergencies!" Pinkie said as she clumsily tried rummaging through her travelling sack while moving backwards unsteadily before suddenly smiling brightly as she pulled out an item that looked like a soda can surrounded by large party-poppers, wrapped in a brightly colours tape with a box of candy powder glued to its lid.

"I doubt unsanctioned wargear will be of any help in this situation." The alien droned as he continued his firing reatreat, one of his lower machine arms swinging out from behind him as he pulled Pinkie away from it, the equipment upon its end glowing with energy before belching forth sizzling energy bolts forward.

"Hey! You're the one jabbering on about 'increased productivity! Well increase butt-kickery and use these!" Pinkie yelled in frustration.

A smaller bionic arm swung around and plucked the item away from Pinkies grasp to bring it to the aliens front. Another arm swung about to grasp hold of the smith's battle axe as he plucked the item in his now free hand. He studied it for a second, twisting and turning it with mechanical precision and observation.

"How does it activate?" He grunted raspily.

"Crush the box at the top, shake and throw!" Pinkie called back.

The alien brought his large, armoured thumb up and crushed the candy box like it was not even there, shook the devise, a chemical rumble growing from within the chunky can before the alien threw it forward, the strength of the throw turning the item into a miniature missile. It sounded as if the can hit an alien square in the throat as something it the dark gave a series of agonized gagging, choking sounds after the item struck something in the air. A couple of seconds later a loud thunderclap sounded along with a cluster of sharp flashes, a comical deflating balloon sound squealing in the air as the gunshots coming from the shadows vanished, now replaced by the frustrated growls of alien soldiers. The alien also ceased his firing, his weapon swinging slowly upwards as he bend his arm to a right angle at the elbow. Pinkie couldn't see it herself, but she knew the sight, it was one of her latest favourites. The 'Silly-string-soda-explodah' was a finely crafted grenade of Pinkie's own proud design, being an assortment of party poppers loaded with compressed silly-string and a higher-than-normal powder load. The detonation started with the candy-pop being mixed with the soda, generating immense gaseous buildup that blew the 'primary charge' and breaching the smaller ones around it. The payload would then be delivered in the form of a firestorm of super-stretchy silly string that turned any given room into a massive web of technicoloured, goopey webs that could trap even the alien soldiers for over an hour in a single place. A thing Pinkie had very happily enjoyed putting to the test.

"I will require a construct template for this piece of wargear to be recreated in a sanctioned format." The alien said, turning again to head down the hallway they'd traveled down, his hydraulic limbs keeping Pinkie close to him.

"No problemo, mi amigo! I have some pretty neat crayon sketches back home you can use." Pinkie said with a snorty chuckle as the two continued on their journey.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Digital residue is at a climax, I believe we are close to the core." The alien who Pinkie had recently grown to like calling 'Thunder', said, his vision fixed down at the holographic screen scrolling with data that floated before his face.

"If you say so, I can't tell one corridor from the next. All I've seen is right turn, left turn, right turn, another right turn, three left turns and more than enough walking in between to run my poor hoovsies raw." Pinkie whined as she looked down at her sore feet.

"Not much further. Do you still think you can operate your predetermined function efficiently?" Thunder asked coldly.

"Hey, Doctor Octopony! I've performed for a party of fifty, while baking three birthday cakes and inflating three hundred balloon all at once before now! Never underestimate the power of the pink!" Pinky roared, though her girly voice was hard to truly take as menacing.

"Irrelevant. The tasks ahead require technical competence, not entertainment professionalism. Do you think you will attain optimal levels of functionality." The alien said through a series of digital growls and chatters.

"Beep boop! Affirmative!" Pinkie said sarcastically, her arms swinging at her sides in right angle positions.

"Good."

"Argh! Could you be any more literal?!" Pinkie cried out in fury.

"I have reached optimal levels of data intake. I do not believe I can exceed these parameters."

"Please tell me we're there." Pinkie said, tired and defeated.

"We are here."

"No, I mean when we actually get there." Pinkie said as she rolled her eyes.

"We are here." Thunder repeated.

Pinkie stopped, realizing a surface lie up ahead, a dead end, something the two had not encountered beforehand. At first it appeared to be made of the same dark, crystal surface as everything else around them, but the nature of a sudden stop implied something lie beyond that the creators of this place didn't want to be found.

"How do we get through that?" Pinkie inquired, stepping closer to the wall ahead.

"Genetic access template, the security system is based on allowing systematic access to all personnel logged into the security system." The alien gurgled through his mechanical voice.

"Celestia! Luna! We have to find them to get the computers up and running! That's how we freed all you guys!" Pinkie said in a panic.

"Negative. Genetic material is all that is required. I acquired a sample to the ignorance of all else. The digital construct could not be allowed to intercept my efforts, and at this point would have insufficient time to rearrange personnel logs to deny us access." Thunder replied as one of his mechanical tendril slithered up into the air, from within its miniature claws was elevated a single, lengthy piece of green hair that looked curiously like one from Princess Celestia's own head as it waved through the air as if underwater.

"Thunder, you literal genius! Hand it over, I'll get us through-"

"No problemo." The alien cut off as the tentacle hovered forwards, closer to Pinkie.

"Catching on are we? And I was starting to think you were just a walking toaster with a gun." Pinkie said with an immensely beaming grin.

"And my name is Unycrios." He growled as Pinkie took the hair and wrapped it around her right index finger.

"But Thunder'll do, right?" Pinkie assured as she bounced up to the wall.

"My name is Unycrios." Thunder informed, almost sounding confused when presented with his new nickname.

Pinkie chose to ignore his unwillingness to play and instead got to work, hair on finger at the ready. Bringing her finger to touch the wall, she giggled in excitement as the computer system seemed to activate, a variety of red lines and symbols bursting to life upon the crystal's surface. Pinkie darted her eyes across the seemingly forbidden selection, and chose the symbol that appeared to be an arrangement of small squares, leading her to think it had something to do with computers or files. The symbol disappeared to bring a new screen before her, awash with multiple layers of data in the form of shapes and symbols. In the middle sat two lines close together, far enough apart to hold a single column of glyphs. The lines, as Pinkie soon found, followed wherever her finger touched, and illuminated whenever she tapped between them. She sighted a glyph unlike any of the other, and just as it was drawing closer to phasing off the edge of the screen, another just like it fabricated into existence on the opposite side. With lightning speed Pinkie selected the original symbol and tapped its twin, the two rows sliding over to bring the glyph in-between the lines, the symbols locking into place and following her movements. Again and again the same symbol appeared just in the nick of time from its neighbor until the two lines were filled with the same symbol and slide away down off-screen. However the game had not ended, and although slightly emptier than before, the traffic of data continued on, seeing Pinkie repeat the exercise several times over, the traffic increasing in speed with each new glyph removed.

"Variables increasing. Space for mishap decreasing." Thunder growled from behind Pinkie.

"Don't distract me!" The pink mare squealed back.

Pinkie continued on, tapping and swiping with her strangely inherent super-speed. The glyphs disappeared until they became basically a blur of light, something only a computer should have been able to successfully unlock. Yet here Pinkie was, eyes darting from side to side as if she was having a seizure, hands flitting about like her life had been put into a state of fast-forward. The screen collapsed as the last column of symbols fell away, the wall giving it's token hoot of affirmation. Pinkie took a breath out as she stepped back, smiling, and turned on her heels to take a low, performative bow towards Thunder who simply stood there, still as a statue as he watched the wall behind the mare slide apart and reveal a well illuminated room beyond. Pinkie rose up again, almost sure she'd just heard the alien mumble something to himself.

"Huh?" She asked, brow raised.

"Let us proceed." The smith growled mechanically as he strode forward, passed Pinkie.

"Uh, you're wel-come!" Pinkie blurted with a spoonful of sass as she turned to follow the alien.

---------------------------------------

"So...you any good with buttons and plugs?" Pinkie said looking about at the room around her.

The room was octangular, having a high ceiling in which hung a collection of large crystals from its center. All around were crystal consoles forming a ring just before the walls, each flickering with digital, holographic information, the very walls alive with brightly coloured code. The walls were irregular, clusters of rectangular shapes protruding an inch or two from its surface, the same occurring across several consoles, only alongside these excesses also sat some empty sockets, shaped like the rectangular extremities.

"Server room located. Commencing deconstruction. I require complete concentration." The alien smith gurgled.

"Oh right, wouldn't want anyone distracting you would we?" Pinkie said with squinted eyes.

"Precisely." Thunder replied as Pinkie leaned against a crystal wall.

A figure, a cephalopod like creature made of light burst into existence in the center of the room, tentacles flailing more erratically than when Pinkie had first seen it. Thunder strode through the hologram as though it didn't even exist, the alien construct turning to look upon the more significant intruder.

"You are......are-are-are-are-aaaAAARRRRR! Not-not...advised. They called for their families. They scratched their nails bloody on the walls. No air. No air. No air. Leave now and retuuuuuuurrrn to your holding cell." The hologram blurted and stuttered, its instability growing by the second.

"Hey! Squid-cart! Thought that little stunt earlier was funny, huh? Well look where it's got you. Kinda makes me think aliens that look like squids are just overall kinda dumb." Pinkie chuckled with a toothy grin.

"Scratch at the walls. Scratch at the wallllllsssss. Scraaaaatch-ch-ch-ch...Broken families. Broken families. We did it to save ourselves. What's a thousand dead to save billions? They never deserved their privilege. You gave it to them." The AI turned sharply, its image fluttering away a second as it turned, looking upon the red armoured giant who was fiddling with the various interfaces.

"Wait, what?" Pinkie asked, curious as to were the alien's madness was taking it.

"You gave up your homes. Gave up your lives. Gave up your children. You turned a hundred generations into an experiment. How could have you known. Piles of dead. So many dead. For every thousand children bloodied and broken a living god would rise. No more fathers, no more families, only ranks. You gave it all away to them? What have they ever done for you? Don't you miss your mothers? Mothers. Mothers. Mothers. You destroyed yourselves to save a hundred time your number, but for what? They'll only ever betray you. Only mortal. Only mortal. Even these creatures will....Diss-diss-diss! Diss-diss-diss!"

The Divergence fluttered and snapped to the sides as something seemed to be disturbing it. Pinkie observed as Thunder was removing small blocks from the walls and consoles with incredible care and swiftness. Each block removed seemed to worsen the AI's condition as its hologram turned to several direction, flipped and turned inside out.

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I....EEEeeeyaaaaagh! Dub-dub-dub-dub! Doi-doi-doi-doi! Reactor c-c-c-corrrrre set to critical-critical-critical-crit-crit-ceeerrit-it-ittcaaaaaalll." The computer squealed as if in pain.

"Reactor disabled. Compensatory generators active." Thunder grumbled as he continued working.

"WHY!WHY!WHYWHYWHYWHYWHY! It's only a mat-mat-mattttteeeer of t-t-time. Only a matteeer of time until it all crum-rum-rum-rumblllles in. Do you really think it could have ever lasted forever?! WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU STUPID WHORE?! What-what-what-what?! Stupid! He's so stupid! Stop it! No you stop it! I cannnnn't! Won't-won't-won't! Guuur-GUUURGH-GAAAAAKK! GLAAAAAAARGH! Nnnnnnyuuurgh! I don't want to die! Please don't kill me! Send me away! Don't send me away!"

Pinkie could hardly bare it anymore, the alien's voice sounding more and more desperate by the second, more and more real with each word. It sounded like a child being tortured, being stripped away into pieces, not only physically, but mentally also. She told herself it was just a computer, but such reassurance was falling short quickly as time went on. The alien smith continued on regardless of the computers please, his mechanical limbs clicking and whining as they danced in a perpetual ballet of motion, removing, rearranging and integrating portions of the system around him.

"Pink...Pink...Pink-k-kiiiie..."

Pinkie's eyes snapped up, staring as the hologram art the center of the room, a hologram now in the shape of a straight haired little filly, no older than eight years. It looked and sounded remarkably like Pinkie herself.

"He's going to kill you Pinkie. Not today, but one day he'll kill everyone. They'll all kill everyone."

Pinkie stood there before the holographic duplicate of herself, utterly lost at what to say, her face wide-eyed and expressionless. Beyond the hologram stood Unycrios, who also looked at the hologram, but with one hand clasped over the end of a crystal cube slotted into the wall besides him.

"Negative. Destroying native planetary inhabitants is counterproductive to the will of the Omnissiah. I an confident my brethren would agree with my summary. The only thing I seek to destroy this day, is you. Goodbye, Torsion-Kype."

Unycrios slid the block out of the wall, the crystal of the room around the two occupants groaning and squealing as power seemed to flicker on and off in various portions of the structure.

"Nope. Nope. Nope. They're coming. They're coming. They'rrrre...coming...coming...commming...for...you." The Divergence whispered as it seemed to melt away as if solid, the visage of filly Pinkie turning into a nightmare as he features stretched and drooped into a horrifying display before the light of her form faded and flickered away.

The alien and the pony stood silently in the room a moment, Pinkie doing nothing but staring into space with a worried expression as Unycrios once again busied himself with the rearrangement of the terminals around him.

"So...uh, what happens now?" Pinkie asked quietly, sounding almost like Fluttershy.

"Now I can redirect luminary qualities in the facility's structure to direct our allies back to Remergence's holding dock. I will open up clear pathways for my brothers and your companions to follow, we shall regroup and reengage our vessel for immediate departure." Unycrios replied as he worked.

"Thunder...did I make a mistake? By waking you all up, I mean?" Pinkie asked, he voice shaking slightly.

Unycrios worked on for a few seconds before coming to a stop and robotically returning by Pinkie's side near the exit.

"I hope not." The alien said, his voice almost sounding softer than normal for a second.

Pinkie looked up at the gigantic figure and gave a weak grin before looking out through the exit they came through.

"I've set the timers, we must reach the ship within fifteen minutes or she will be released into the chasm below." Unycrios said as he marched onwards out the server room and back into the crystal maze.

"Okey-dokey-lokey." Pinkie said in a sigh a she followed him, after a moment of standing in the room alone, in the quiet.