"Why the hell are dragons attacking Ponyville?" I asked as Twilight, Mist, Mesa, and I, all with frames on, made our way to our ships.

"I may have an idea on that," Nightmare said via radio. "There are two types of dragons: wild, which are the ones most ponies think of when the word 'dragon' is said, and noble dragons: they're the rarer of the two, and are civilized enough to where they have a government, and all the problems to come with it. This is most likely a fringe group, as their leader is allies with Celestia. As for why they're attacking, I have an idea."

"And what's that?" Loki asked as we reached the Lisets, and boarded our respective ships.

"The baby dragon there that used to be Twilight Sparkle's assistant. Of what I've seen, more accurately him reverting from his greed induced growth spurt, he's a noble dragon, and let's just say that noble dragons feel that it is an insult to their breed to be raised by ponies. So, most likely, this fringe group is after him to, quote unquote, 'rescue him'."

"They're going after Spike?" Mag asked as our ships turned horizontal, and went to leave the relay. "If they hurt him, I'm gonna kill them."

"That will be complicated," Nightmare said. "Of what I can see, they have a sky fortress on over watch to stop the guard from interfering. Before you ask, the griffons may have the largest military, but the noble dragons have the most devastating. Their Sky Fortresses are rare, and among the most powerful non-magic based weapons on the planet. The last time one was used was when Luna and Celestia were leading a competent military a thousand and five hundred years ago. Just one destroyed three entire cities before it was brought down."

"How was it brought down?" Loki asked

"A combination of the Elements power and two angry alicorns," Nightmare replied. "Of course, if we could get inside, it would have been simpler, but the outer casing has something to weaken spells sent against it."

"She isn't wrong," Luna said over the radio, Nightmare having given her a headset so she could communicate with us without needing a go between. "Even this long after the last one was destroyed, ponies still haven't found out how to replicate the material, nor a way to neutralize it."

And it weakens magic fired at it?" I asked, an Idea coming to my mind.

"Yes. Why?" Nightmare asked.

"Nothing," I said. "Just wondering." I then deactivated my radio. "Forge, are the wings ready?"

"Yes, Operator. Do you wish to use it?"

"Not yet," I replied. "But get it ready for use. Also, rush construction of my new sword."

"Affirmative, Operator," he replied as I made my way to the armory, and stepped into the area.

"Braton and Stug for my distance weapons, and my blade as melee." Said weapons appeared on me, being swapped with what I had. I looked down at my waist, and saw my new Nikana there, and nodded. "Hate to be the dragons."

I reactivated my comms, and, to my surprise, no one mentioned it. Weird. Anyway, a few minutes later, we were in atmosphere. "Alert," Forge said. "Unknown projectiles inbound. Attempting evasive maneuvers."

Before I could say anything, the Liset jerked to the right, throwing me into the wall. "Doesn't this thing have inertial dampeners!?"

"Negative, Operator. At least, none that can be active while entering atmosphere."

"That's a fucking design flaw if I've seen any," I said as I tried to get on my feet, only to be launched into the ceiling. "Alright, fuck this!" I yelled as i began to crawl my way to the deployment hatch. Easier said then done, I might add, considering I kept getting thrown into the walls, floor, and ceiling about every two seconds. "Forge, how heavy is this shit!?"

"Coverage is in a crisscross weave, with the ships at the edge of each. We're lucky to have made it this far."

"Then it looks like it is time to go smaller," I said, finally making it to the deployment hatch "Tell the other Cephalons to tell the others to go their hatches, and to follow me."

"Yes, Operator," was the response as I entered the hatch, and made my way to the slot. A minute later, Forge said, "Other Operators are in."

"Right," I said, nodding. "Tell them to hold on, and have the cylinders rotate. Make sure they know to follow my lead."

"Yes, Operator," Forge said before the cylinder turned around, revealing silver contrails coming form the front of the ship. "Radio channel open."

"Excalibur, what are you thinking!?" Loki yelled, something the other did soon after.

"Just calm down, and deploy!" I yelled, letting go, and kicking out of the cylinder. "Forge, deploy it!"

"Yes, Operator." With that, my Liset braked, and fell behind the others before a second hatch opened, with four flaps activating with it, and grabbing something. "Deploying Elytron."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEd1wy6g9XE

The Archwing flew out from under the Liset at its maximum speed, and attached to my back at the waist as it would in game, me doing a small spin simply for the style points, and I drew the default sword. I flew at the maximum allotted speed, flying between blasts of what seemed to be round objects containing dragon fire. I focused entirely on what was in front of me, avoiding what I could. "You guys behind me?"

"No, we don't want to get blown to Tartarus!" Mesa yelled. "And if you take that as an innuendo, I'll kill you myself!"

"Then get back in, and deploy in the town," I said as I went through a cloud bank. "I'll take care of the fortress." As the last word left my mouth, I broke the cloud bank, and descended into hell.

Dozens, if not hundreds, of dragons were in the air, only a few pegasai were fighting them, none had armor, and most were in the claws of the dragons. But what got my attention was the Sky Fortress, which looked like Balor Formorian, the Grineer ship from the end of the Archwing quest, btw, crossed with a human ship from Halo. Sure, why not? Why the fuck not?

Anyway, I looked around, knowing I may as well help a few pegasai on my way to the ship. Unfortunately, there weren't many not surrounded by a cluster of dragons. But there was one. "It's your unlucky day, fuckers."(1:03) I angled my approach, and went to slice and dice some dragons.

Rainbow Dash-1st person

Well, it's official. I hate today. It started out as normal a usual, with me being my awesome self and practicing my flying, as always, and worrying Twilight was okay. I mean, yeah, she may be corrupted, but she's still my friend.

Still, my day went to crap an hour ago when these dragons- with their bucking flying castle!- attacked Ponyville, and took Spike, Flutters, Rarity, and Applejack. For Pinkie, last I saw, she was being Pinkie, and using her party cannon to keep the dragons away from Twilight's old library, where a few ponies had taken shelter.

Me? Well, if you must know, I was facing down twenty dragons with bulging biceps and armor made of steel with nothing but my-

If you keep going this way, Rainbow, I'll make sure you don't tell any part of the story again!

Yeah, yeah, Ex. Okay, so, really, I was being held by a single dragon who wasn't wearing armor, per se, but his scales were still pretty tough. "Let go of me!" I yelled, trying to elbow him, but his scales made it to where I didn't do anything.

"Oh shut up, you stupid pony," the dragon said. "You'll make a good slave for Lord Tharos."

"I'm nopony's slave, you plothole!"

"Oh, you will be," he said.

"Hey, asshole!" we both heard, causing us to look up, and me to stop fighting for a while, and that's when I saw the bastard who corrupted Twilight and Princess Luna flying, somehow, at us with a giant sword in his hand. "Let the pegasus go!"

"You want her?" the dragon yelled as he turned to where I was between the two of them. "Then you can only have half of her!"

The demon didn't slow, but it did put the blade on what I assume was the left turbine of what was letting it fly before the same hand went to its waist, and, out of nowhere, some kind of sword appeared in its hands. As it got closer, I saw that it was a katana, and he drew it from its sheath. I thought he was going to cut the both of us in two, but he turned faster than even I could, and was behind the dragon. Before either of us could turn our heads, though, I felt something warm hit the back of my neck, and the weight on my back disappear. Fortunately, though, I didn't fall, old instincts and all that automatically having my wings go out.

I turned around just as the thing was sheathing its sword, and saw that the thing letting it fly matched its coloring. The sword, scabbard included, then vanished, and it drew the large blade again. "Get to the town, and tell the ponies to stay in shelter, and to fight only if there is no other option. We'll handle the dragons."

I was about to ask what he meant when three horseshoe crab like things flew over us, and I got quick glances of two having the same color as whatever it was Twilight wore and that other one, while the other one was mainly yellow with black highlights. Which led to, "And why should we trust you?"

"Because that thing," it said, gesturing to the giant dragon ship, "is essentially immune to magic, and here to ensure that Celestia and the guard don't get here to stop them. What we use isn't magic, but tech and void power, of which there is a difference, and, as such, we can do shit to them you ponies can't." Before I could say anything else, he flew off, and towards the large fortress. Funny thing? I knew he was right, somehow. Guess it was Harmony a little there. Still, I did what he said, and, well, for the rest, that's for the others to tell.

Celestia-Canterlot-1st

"You're certain we can't get to Ponyville?" I asked Shining Armor.

"Yes, Princess," Shining Armor. "I sent a squad of Pegasai, and they were each killed before they could get within ten miles. The shielding spell we put on them barely did anything. And with what you told me about that Fortress, we can't do anything. Whatever the reason they're attacking Ponyville, we can't stop them."

I sighed. "I could have sworn Luna and I destroyed the last of them. There hadn't been many to begin with." I was about to order Shining to put the guard on alert should the noble dragons attack Canterlot, but a unicorn guard came rushing in before I could.

"Princess," he said, out of breath. "The seers. They have something. . .to show you."

"What?" I asked.

"This," he replied as he caught his breath and lit his horn, and a holographic image appeared, with the image focusing on the demon form the Everfree, now flying.

"It can fly?" I asked in disbelief.

"It seems that way, highness," the guard replied.

I growled, something I rarely did now. "It must be helping the dragons."

"Actually, Princess, as far as the seers know, it's trying to stop them." This made me pause.

"What led them to that?" I asked.

"The fact it saved the Element of Loyalty from a dragon, as well as that three others, two of which are those from Ponyville, including your former student, that are on the ground and fighting the dragons that have landed. As far as we can tell, they haven't actually harmed a civilian. Or a pony at all, really."

"Probably to try and turn public opinion to their side," I said.

"Princess, if i may say," Shining said, "we can't exactly do anything to them right now. The dragons would kill us before we get there, and even if we got there, they have abilities we can't match. Replicate, maybe, but not perfectly."

"Which means we can only watch," I sighed as my attention turned to the projection.

Excalibur

As I neared the fortress, which I will designate Hardscale, dragons wearing armor began to try and intercept me. Yeah, good luck there.

"Fire thumper missile," I said, and the missile fired form the left Archwing wing. "Detonate."

The missile exploded, creating a large field that multiple dragons were caught in, with smaller explosions finishing off those that survived, allowing me to blow through the dragons with ease. Once I passed that, the thing began to fire beams of dragon flame at me, which I avoided with ease, as well as more dragons. "Too easy," I said as I boosted again towards the oncoming flyers.

The first to reach me was sliced in half diagonally, while the next was in the opposite direction, followed by one slice to the left, one to the right, then an upwards slice, with a final one being down diagonally to the left, with a small spin for the style points, before i put the blade in its holder, and pulled out the Imperator gun, the default Archwing gun, which unfolded to its full length as i grabbed the second handle used to to stabilize it. I looked toward the fortress, seeing even more coming towards me, and opened fire, the large rounds meant for fighter combat tearing through the dragons coming for me. "Mag, how are things going down there?"

"Could be worse," she replied as I heard gunfire in the background. "Rainbow and the others that haven't been taken by the dragons, which would be all but her and Pinkie, by the way, are in city hall. Mesa, Loki, and I are outside, making sure the dragons don't get through. But something tells me the only way we're going to win is to take that fortress down!"

"I'm working on it," I said as I continued my progress towards the side of the thing. "How much longer can you guys hold out?"

"I don't know. With our abilities: half an hour, best."

"Then I'll work quick," I said. "Fire bloomer!"

The missile fired from the right thruster, and impacted on the side of the ship. "Detonate!" The explosion did jut what I was hoping, and that was blow a hole I could get through. "Disengage," I said, and the Archwing disengaged from the Frame, providing a small thrust, giving me enough speed to get through the hole as I brought my ground loadout into play, grabbing the Nikana hilt and scabbard as I rolled, ending in a kneeling position. I looked around the room I landed in, and saw none in the room. "Forge, you there?"

"Yes, Operator," the Cephalon replied. "What do you require?"

"I need the location of this thing's energy core so I can blow it to hell," I said.

"Of course. Scanning now." A few seconds later, he said, "Target acquired. Placing waypoint."

The orange symbol that would appear on sabotage missions showed up on the minimap on my HUD, and I made my way to it.

It led through rooms filled with dragons preparing for battle, each of which tried to stop me, all of whom were killed by either puncture from the Braton, corrosive from the Stug, or slash from the Nikana.

After I had cleared the tenth room running into the next hall as i cleaned my sword of red dragon blood, Forge said, "Operator, I'm detecting large magical buildup in the reactor room. Signatures match those of pony magic. I imagine they are somehow using pony magic to power the fortress."

"Noted," I said. "If so, I want you to use my feed and analyze what they're doing, and if there's a safe way to free them."

"Of course, Operator."

From there, I continued to follow the waypoint, coming across only scattered groups of dragons, and killing each before they could alert the rest of the ship, eventually reaching a door, which the waypoint was behind. "Looks like I'm here Forge. Anything on sensors I should know?"

"There are ten dragon inside and, judging from the magic signatures in them, they are quite powerful. One of them might be the leader of this group."

"Copy that," I said before drawing my blade, and channeling energy into it, and cutting my way into the room. I cut it in a half oval, the end being at points where the door touched the floor. Once the cut was there, I brought out the Stug, and placed some of the corrosive gel in the cut, allowing it to eat through the rest of the door, causing the cut out portion to fall down, and letting me step in as I put the Stug on my thigh, and drew my Braton.

I looked around the room I was in, and saw near five hundred ponies-my own eyes and Forge doing the estimates- locked up in cages, with wires hooked up to the cages and wrapped around the ponies, with different colors of what I assume to be magic flowing through them, and to the main reactor, which took up the entire center of the room, about four stories, and was shaped like a cylinder. "The fuck?" I whispered.

Before any reply could be made, a new voice, one that was surprisingly rich and flowing, spoke. "Wonderful sight, isn't it?" the voice said from above and behind me, causing me to raise and point my rifle in that direction, allowing me to see a dragon with blood red scales, a black underbelly. Around him were eight other dragons, each wearing armor with spears in claw. Wait, there should be a tenth. So where is it? Unless it's Spike. Damn it. "The ponies as they should be: power sources for the true masters of this planet-"

"Stop right there," I interrupted. "Let me guess: you're doing this because you think dragons, whether noble or wild, should be the rightful masters of this planet, and that ponies should be saves, or something that isn't actually with rights higher than a dog. In other words, the typical racist villain cliche, am I right?" He growled.

"Only a pony would think that!"

"I'll take that as a yes, and I'm not a pony," I replied. "If so, I would have given a shit about killing your soldiers before getting here. Now, I can see where you put the ponies, but where did you put the dragon you took?"

"You mean the hatchling? He's in the growth and habilitation center so that he can join my cause."

"So, am I going to need to kill your leader after this to stop it?" I asked.

"You mean the weakling of a queen? No, myself and the others here do not follow her."

"Then that means I can kill you without incurring another nation hunting my ass," I said before firing at the dragons, killing one of them as the others scattered, the leader flying in front of where a pony, Rarity, by the way, was restrained.

"I wouldn't fire, if I were you," he said. "If one pony hooked up to the reactor would die, it'd cause a chain reaction, killing them all. Of course, they almost never last for more than a week, if the old records are any indication."

"Forge, anything you can connect to?" I asked under my breath, not expecting anything good.

"Surprisingly, yes," he replied. "It's primitive, but advanced enough. Why?"

"Find a way to disconnect the ponies from the grid, but try to land this thing away from the town first."

"I will see what I can do, Operator."

"So," the dragon leader said, "if you surrender, I'll make your death quick."

"You want me dead?" I asked. "You'll need to catch me," I said as I made a break for the door, firing at the one dragon not in front of a pony. "Forge, can you direct me to where they're keeping the dragon?" I asked loud enough to where they heard me. They walked right into it.

"After him! Don't let him reach the hatchling!"

Morons. Still, it's buying Forge time, and gets them away from the captives. Anyway, I ran through the ship, killing any dragons in front of me to keep those behind me interested.

"Turn left, Operator," Forge said as I hit a T hall. "It is a straight shot from there to where Spike is being held."

"Got it," I said as I turned down the hall, and slid under a dragon claw that tried to slice me in half, using the momentum for a jump to get a little more distance. As I neared the door, I brought my Stug, and fired the corrosive gel at the door, the small orbs exploding after a few seconds and weakening the door just enough to where a single Slash Dash was enough to get me through the door, showing a small chamber, with a familiar purple and green dragon in the middle, with multiple magic streams flowing into him.

"Don't even try to free him," the dragon leader said behind me, causing me to turn, Stug in hand, and see a horde of dragons behind him. "The first thing we did was to ensure he saw ponies, and any of their allies as nothing more than tools. Even if you could break him free of what's keeping him there, he'd join us in killing you. And as I know of his infatuation with the Element of Generosity, I'll probably let him have her to do with as he wishes."

A good thing he does not know of me, then, Harmony said. There is one way for us to free Spike from this now, and him not fight for the dragons. But I don't have a guarantee of him not fighting you.

Me no give shit, I replied. Long as he doesn't help these fuckers, I'm okay with it.

If you say so, Harmony said as I felt something grow in my left hand. I looked, and saw another reactor.

Same place as the others?

Yes, between the shoulder blades.

"What the tartarus is that?" the dragon leader asked in a growl.

"This?" I asked before doing a back roll, landing behind Spike. "This is a motherfucking potato. Be afraid of what it can do."(1) With that, I slapped the reactor on Spike's back, causing a flash, and, for some reason, sending me flying towards the nearby wall. "Ow," I groaned as I slid to the floor. "Thank Harmony for the protective systems in frames."

Your welcome.

"It's a saying, Harmony."

I know.

Before I could reply to that, I heard shouting from the doorway, and looked there, seeing a frame that looked like it was wearing a kind of robe, one that was hard to describe. Hello, Chroma. Appropriate, I guess. A dragon frame for a dragon Operator. Anyway, the red was now purple, the black was a light yellow with some green sprinkled in, a swell as a hint of light yellow, with red lights coming off of it.(2) Anyway, I didn't see any ranged weapons, but I did see the Venka claws-think Wolverine claws for those who don't play Warframe- and a few dragons slashed apart, and another one being torn just as I looked. "Note to self, don't piss off a guy with Venka," I muttered, thinking it was just to myself, but, as it seems, it was loud enough for the newest Tenno to hear me and turn around.

"You," he growled. "You'll pay for what you did to Twilight!" Fuck me.

Before I could do anything, Spike rammed into me and grabbed my throat, holding me to the wall. "Let Twilight go! Now!"

Aaaand dragon rage. You know, if she wasn't a female frame, I feel Valkyr'd be perfect for him. Not as much as Chroma, but still.

Before I could do anything, Forge used external speakers on the Frame. "Yeah, um, before you try to kill my Operator-keyword being 'try', I may add-I thought I should let you know that the ponies the dragons took captive, including the one you have feelings for, are free, and this ship is safely on the ground away from your home, with Tennos Mag, Loki, and Mesa enroute. Also, I recommend you remove your hand from Excalibur's neck unless you want an Exalted blade and Nikana through your chest. The Nikana is new, but he took out what was in essence a small army with the Exalted Blade."

"In essence, this goes one of two ways," I said. "You let me go, you go get Rarity-your helmet can retract, as can the entire suit with a thought so she doesn't freak out- and we both live, or I shish kebab you, I walk out of here with a heavy conscience, Twilight quite possible goes on a rage spree destroying who knows what, probably trying to include me, and maybe, if she loses all sense of reason, destroy Equestria, resulting in her having to die. An extreme case, I know, but still a possibility."

"Also, Liset sensors indicate teleportation along the lines of alicorn power level. Most likely Celestia. We had best leave, Operator, before she actually gets here," Forge said.

"Noted," I said. "So, what's it gonna be, Spike?"

A few minutes later

I ran out a hole in the dragon ship, with the others having been there due to Forge placing a waypoint. "How's Spike?" was Mag's question. An expected one.

"He's okay," I replied. "So's everyone else, by the way, but we need to leave."

"Yeah, Celestia's here, we know," Loki said. "We saw her earlier. Lucky she didn't vaporize us. Ships should be here soon." As soon as he said that, the Lisets arrived. "Of course they arrive as I say that."

"Then let's move, Tenno," I said. "I think we earned some R and R."

"I'd say so," Loki muttered, and, with that, the Lisets activated a gravity field to pick us up and put us in the cylinders. As I turned around in it, I got the briefest glimpse of Spike, with the Chroma helmet retracted, and the other bearers, as well as Celestia, glaring at us. Shit just got interesting, didn't it?

Indeed it did, Excalibur, Harmony replied. I won't be able to hide my magical signature from Celestia if she scans Spike with her magic, which I'm sure she'll do, and I'll have to provide the other bearers frames if she asks me.

Why not just reveal we're working for you? Loki asked. Damned mental links, can never have a private conversation when others are involved.

A sigh, and then, Because doing so would cause the ponies, peace loving morons they are, to panic and possibly rebel against Celestia for letting you walk free with nothing trying to arrest or capture you, which would allow quite a few things to happen. None of which I want to test right now. Multiverse is close to hell right now, anyway.

Noted, I replied. You know, I wonder what happened to that dragon leader. Didn't see his remains before I left.

Probably licking his wounds, Mesa replied. Next time we see 'em, I say he dies.

I could not help but agree there, and, from the link, the others, Mag included, had no arguments. Anyway, as I stated before, shit is getting interesting.

Author's Notes:

Is it just me, or do anime songs kick american action song ass with enough energy left to kick it to space Seriously, it's like the Japanese language as it is was made for action songs!
1:My terrible attempt at comedy. Fuck you, dry sense of humor.
2:Which, given Chroma's passive, results in flame damage. It was either that, or go with Spike's flame color, and it be toxin. Made more sense to me to do this.
Also, as a bit of comedy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsO6IJyG8fw&nohtml5=False

I hear ya, Stalker, I hear ya. Fanboys and girls are annoying to that degree, whether or not your the target. Beliebers, anyone?
And next chapter will be a crossover with my other story, A Valus Rising.