The engines of the craft hummed beneath, its enchanted gravity projectors whirring with magical energy. Above, there was light, and figures moving in the dim haze. Epicenter stared upward, watching them. Distantly, she could hear them speaking urgently, and could feel them inserting needles into her veins, trying to mediate the shock that was consuming what remained of her life force.

There was nothing they could do to help her, though. The pain from the infection in her chest was now a distant memory compared to the pain in her heart. The things she had seen- -no pony was meant to see them.

It had left no survivors. Not one pony had survived. By the time Epicenter had managed to get back, to pilot the unfamiliar rover over the rough terrain, she could barely walk- -but she had, from the moment she had awoken, sensed that something was wrong.

Then she saw the streets. Every building had been cut open, split by unknowable magic and energy beams. Epicenter was vagually aware that some pieces had been taken, especially from the reactor- -but she hardly cared.

Lining the streets were the ponies that had ventured from underground, believing that it was safe. They seemed to have tried to run- -only to have their bodies torn apart, their blood and organs splattered on the buildings.

She should have run. That was the correct thing to do- -to turn and run, to go so far that she could never come back- -but she had not been able to. Instead, she had ventured into the underground chambers, hoping that the bunkers meant to withstand atomic blast might have protected at least some ponies within.

They had not. The doors had been pulled open from within, the ponies inside converted into a relatively homogenous blood soup, their skulls and shattered bones still visible, some with eyes that stared blankly back at them.

Upon returning to the surface, Epicenter had done nothing but vomit. She had even been too shocked to weep- -and a sudden sign of motion filled her with a joy greater than anything she could have imagined. It had only been a badly damaged half of an equidroid, pulling itself across the street on its one remaining leg, but Epicenter had reacted to it as though it were a living pony, rushing to its side.

The AI of the village may have been a machine, but she was also a pony- -and she had survived. From her words, it seemed that her internal core had suffered massive damage, but she had managed to summon a medical evacuation vessel and the frontier defense force.

It was at that time that Epicenter looked up- -and for some reason, her eyes were drawn to the edge of the village, where it was watching. The strange bipedal creature, its armor now larger and more aggressive, watching. The AI had been blinded and could not see it, but Epicenter could- -but worse, she could almost hear it. At the distance, it would have been impossible, even if it were screaming- -but she heard something. Words in a language that she could not possibly comprehend.

Then, slowly, it turned and walked off- -and Epicenter realized the pattern through her former village. All the destruction followed a straight line. It had not passed through each bunker, slaying ponies while she lay in a pool of her own blood- -it had simply walked, destruction following in its wake. It had stopped for noting- -nothing except her.

At that point, she collapsed. Her body refused to move, and her mind to operate. She was awake and conscious, but there was nothing within her. She saw as the defense force dropped in- -heavily armored ponies and unicorns, as well as heavy equidroids and several griffon contractors. While they searched the village for survivors, the medical evacuation airship arrived. Soldiers and mercenaries approved its landing, and it descended. The Pegasi doctors rushed out and attended to Epicenter, taking her into it, beginning the operation.

“Ow, road apples,” cried one of the doctors, momentarily bringing Epicenter back to reality.

“Doctor?”

“It cut me!”

“Get a bandage on that,” ordered an authoritative voice as a tall ahuizotl came into view. “Do not contaminate my patient.”

“There is a foreign body in her chest.”

“Get me a scanning device,” ordered the lead doctor.

“But sir, we need to remove it- -”

“And if it is in her aorta? Do you wish her to bleed to death?”

“N- -no,” said the younger doctor, handing over the scanning device. The ahuizotl manipulated it expertly in his hands- -and Epicenter suddenly cried out, throwing back one of the ponies near her.

“What is happening?”

“She was catatonic- -I don’t- -”

“The hands!” cried Epicenter, her mind flashing. Where there was a tall red-coated ahuizotl, she suddenly saw a taller armored figure reaching toward her, its eyes glowing over a face that had never once been exposed to air- -five long fingers, reaching toward her.

“Holder her down!” ordered the figure.

“I can’t!” cried a nurse. “She pulled out her IV!”

Epicenter felt several pricks in the side of her neck, but only resisted harder. “The hands! Don’t let it touch me! Get away!”

“It’s not working!” cried a distant voice.

“Give me that,” said another. The part of Epicenter’s mind that was still sane saw the ahuizotl take a weapon from a confused guard and extend a pair of sparking probes from the end. As the other ponies held Epicenter down, he jammed it into her neck.

She felt herself suddenly seize as her body tightened, flailing uncontrollably. Something inside her chest began to heat and burn, and things crackled and popped within her. The world flashed with beautiful colors- -and then faded to so much red, and finally black.