"So, Twilight," Sunset asked Metamorpha, "what's been going on back in Equestria?"

The fifteen of them, the hu-mane six, the shadowbolts, and Metamorpha and her companions, had arrived at Sugarcube corner. Well, it's human world equivalent, at any rate. Metamorpha and the others had been introduced to Sugar Coat, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, who had reminded Metamorpha of Lightning Dust, Sour Sweet, and Sunny Flare. It had been interesting to learn that, despite the school name beling similar to the Crystal Empire's, it was more like Canterlot. In retrospect for Metamorpha, it made some kind of sense, as Canterlot high was more like Ponyville. As for why Celestia and Luna in this world were there and not Crystal prep was anyone's guess.

"A lot, actually," Metamorpha replied. "Most of it's extremely complicated. And I do mean complicated."

"Well, can you tell us some of the simple stuff," Rainbow asked.

"Yeah," Indigo added. "Preferably something cool."

Metamorpha chuckled. Even if she wasn't Lightning Dust, Indigo sure acted like her. "Well, my friends back home in I did kill a god."

"You did what?" Twilight said, the jaws of the others who weren't there, or named Pinkie Pie, open. "How?"

Metamorpha shrugged. "That would be making it extremely complicated," she said. "But it did involve this," she said as she pulled the ring that held the Element of magic off her finger and showed it off.

"Uh, Twi, I don't see how a ring could help," Applejack said.

Sunset, though, squinted. "Actually, I think that's the Element of Magic," she said. "But how. It was a tiara last time I saw it."

"Well, turns out the Elements can change their shape," Metamorpha said. With that, she did a small demonstration, turning the Element into a necklace, which she put on. "See?"

"Wow," Sunset said. "That's impressive."

"And a beautiful necklace," Rarity added.

"Thanks, Rarity," Metamorpha said. "So, what's been going on here, aside from the friend ship games?"

It was here that the others all stiffened. "Well, you see. . .," Rainbow said.

"Over the last month, there's been sightings of, and even attacks by, weird, well, things," Sunset said. "I don't recognize them from my studies in Equestria."

"What do they look like?" Cortana asked.

"Well, there isn't that much they have in common to begin with," Sunny asked.

"Indeed," Rarity said. "The one thing all of those things have in common is the fact they are black and white with flames seeming to come off of them."

"Don't forget that government group, guys," Indigo said. "The one that's actually able to do something against those things. What was it called again?"

"i have no idea, darling," Rarity said quickly.

"Yeah, same here," Twilight said, which made Metamorpha and John share a glance.

"I think it was something like 'Isolated Squad', or something," Rainbow said.

"Nah, I think it was lone team," Applejack said. "Wonder why they called it that?"

"Maybe an old legend," Metamorpha said, looking slightly at Twilight, who didn't notice.

"Yeah, I think so," Pinkie said as Twilight and Rarity's eyes widened.

"Um, Twilight, can I speak with you," Rarity asked. "Both of you? In private?"

"Sure," Metamorpha said as she, Rarity, and Twilight got up. The two of them followed Rarity, who led the, for some reason, to the bathroom, where they were the only ones. "So, what's going on," Metamorpha asked, which got a slightly hostile glare from the other two.

"What do you think?" Rarity asked. "How is it you seem to know how lone team came to be?"

"Because it exists in Equestria, too," Metamorpha said. "I'm even a member of it, and so are John and Cortana. "And how is it you two know about it?" she asked with a slight grin.

"We'll tell you," Twilight said, removing her glasses, "if you tell us why you look different then me. You are supposed to be another version of me, after all."

"I think you already know," Metamorpha said. "Just before we came here, Rarity nearly said another name. That name wouldn't happen to be 'Metamorpha', would it, 'Chitinia'?"

Both the human Chitinia and the human Metamorpha, who will be designated as H Metamorpha for simplicity, sighed. "Looks like she knows too, sis," H Metamorpha said.

"That she does," Chitinia said. "So, how did you find out?"

"Basically," Metamorpha said, "an old enemy of my mother used me and my sister for leverage so he wouldn't get attacked, and let it slip to make her hesitate, though it did fail, obviously. What about you two?"

"We were out last week, and we lost track of time," H Metamorpha said. "The sun had set, and we were heading to Pinkie's, we were having a sleep over there, when two guys in robes pulled us into a black alley. It wasn't just them, but two of those things, who seemed to obey them. That said something about 'Converting us' when we heard four gunshots, and the two men in the cloaks fell to the ground and the other two things just vanished, as if they were sucked in by a black hole."

"At the entrance to the alley  were two people, a man and a woman, both with hand guns," Chitinia said. "The man asked us if we were alright, and we nodded. He asked us our name, and when we didn't answer, he showed us the badge lone team uses, and we told him our names."

"Once we did, the woman seemed to freeze, and asked us to repeat them," H Metamorpha continued. "We did, and she and the man walked out a little, and, when they came back, they asked us if we were adopted, which we answered yes."

"Well, there's one difference between both worlds," Metamorpha said. "We didn't know that. But still, what happened next?"

"Well, they kept asking us questions, I guess to make we were who we were, as there have been quite a few duplicates that have been arrested in the last month. When they were done, the last thing they asked for was a blood test. We did find it weird," H Metamorpha said, "but did it anyway, and, when they were done, as it seemed they had a portable blood tester, and said they had done a test between the two of us and the woman, and they said that they matched."

"We didn't believe it, but the evidence was there," Chitinia said. "The two of them escorted us to Pinkie's neighborhood, during which the woman, our mom, obviously, and the man, who is actually a friend of hers, and is actually the team's leader."

"Lone Shadow," Metamorpha said. "I know, I was with him when we killed that god. Actually, he and my universe's Luna are together."

"Really?" Chitinia said. "Actually, I can see that."

Before either Metamorpha could reply to that, they heard Rainbow say, "Guys, we need to get out of here! Now!"

The three looked at each other, and left the room. "Why," Chitinia asked.

"Those things are here!" Rainbow said in a panic just as the doors burst open.

"So, what does my new armor do," Lone asked a technician. Lone was in the armory of the main complex in the Nexus that deployed it's soldiers. It was a crowded room, with workshop benches and tables on the side with various tools on the walls. Lone's armor was, in shape, the exact same as his old one.

"It's not really that different from your old armor, sir," the tech replied. "The changes do allow you to operate longer in a vacuum should you be too preoccupied to use your magic. It also has a slot you can use to plug in your Element to give the armor a power boost. But the most important change, according to Harmony, is what we did with the helmet," he said, handing the helmet to Lone, who then put it on.

"What's it do?"

Allows easy communication with me.

"Oh, hey, Josh. I'm guessing Harmony wants you to give us intel on what's going on?"

Bingo. Oh, and you might want to hurry up, the others are waiting on you. Don't worry, their armor has he same feature, but they think I'm in the Nexus.

"On it," Lone said, and he made his way to where the others were.

This room, in contrast to the armory, was mostly bare, the only features being a single console connected to a large, round portal that was colored brown and was embedded in the wall.

"Hey guys," he said, walking in, seeing that the others had armor that, in form, was the same as their old ones, and saw Scout with her signature rifle. "How much longer until we go in?"

"A few minutes," Scout replied.

"Hey, Lone," Luna said as she walked to Lone and embraced him. "What took you so long?"

"Armor," he said, tapping his helmet a few times. "Mine just took longer to check."

"Ah," Luna said. She looked to Scout. "So, where exactly are we going?"

"A version of Earth that's been under siege by four different races. Recently, though, a fifth one, which is a mix of the other four races but with their souls ripped away, has begun attacking," Scout said. "The six I showed you earlier are the ones who have done the most, with half of them wanting to make peace with three of the original races, especially with the new threat. We'll be going to the Tower, their home. I'm a fable there, and their leaders will want to speak with us."

"How can you be sure?" Nightengale asked.

"Our third ally, who resides in the tower, and helped the leaders during the first stage of the war against Oryx, who is the leader of the fifth army and one of the original four. Though she will probably creep you out a little to begin with."

"Right," Applejack said just as the portal opened.

"You're clear!" a tech shouted from behind the wall, which was actually had the main controls for the portal.

"Right," Scout said. "Let's go." With that, the seven of them stepped through the portal, which closed behind them.

Dreadnaught

Josh, Rhino, and Patrick made their way to where the rest of their Fire team and the apparent renegade Cabal were preparing for the coming onslaught.

"What do we got?" Josh asked Rhino.

"We got, collectively, sixty heavy synths, hundred and twenty special synths, and twice that primary. The Cabal have slug rifles and projection rifles. Far as we can tell, fifty former, ten latter. They also have two heavy slug throwers."

"So two of the big guys?" Patrick asked.

"Bingo," Rhino said. "Cybis and Tha'ron are working on a battle line."

"Varren and Mage?" Josh asked. Varren was the last Titan of the group, and was the last Awoken in the group, while Mage was the Warlock and Exo that rounded out the group.

"Over watch positions," Rhino said. "They'll be providing covering fire."

"Right," Josh said as Luna (Ghost), appeared.

"Guys, I got a transmission from the Vanguard. They want to see us now."

"Tell them to meet us here," Josh said. "We won't be able to leave until we repel the Hive."

"Figured that," she said. "Surprisingly, they said yes, and, apparently, Eris is coming with them."

"Then let's make sure they have a landing zone," Josh said as they emerged into a space that contained the rogue Cabal and the rest of Specter. Josh smiled under his helmet, and brought out his Vanity. "Time to kick some ass, Specter. Get into positions." Next Chapter: Reinforcments Estimated time remaining: 22 Minutes