"Uhh, guys?" I asked as we went further down into the ruins. "I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Why not?" Shamrock asked.

I pointed to the crudely made barrier in front of the doors, above which was a sign that did not make me feel good. "This leads to the shadow labs."

"It's probably fine," Adamantine said as he and Ark started clearing the barrier. "Whatever they were doing down there's probably safe by now."

"I hope so. Firebrand didn't exactly have good things to say about this place, aside from the pay."

"Any idea what they did?" Selene asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she couldn't speak of it. Everything she described was vague and not very informative. So, yeah, no idea what went on down there. Hopefully, there's some computers we can check out."

As we went down the hallway, the darkness seemed to intensify, and the three flames we had seemed less and less effective at penetrating it. After a while, we heard a growl and stopped. Down the hallway, piercing through the darkness, were two glowing spots of yellow. Two more pairs of yellow spots joined them.

Ark pulled Iron Debt out of her jacket and handed it to Adamantine, and he pointed it down the hall. "Who's there?!"

The dots slowly got bigger, and there was a soft clicking sound, like claws on tile. I quickly loaded the slug shells into the Ember Celica, then sent a flame forward to see what it was. The things approaching were black as ink, covered with bony plates and spikes, and were bear shaped. "Guys? I know what those are."

"What are they?" Selene asked in a shaky whisper.

"Grimm. Kill them before they kill you." I noticed Adamantine's grip tightening a bit. "And don't fire that thing in here. The echo would kill our hearing." Confident that he would heed my warning, especially after getting his finger away from the trigger, I rushed forward to meet the three Ursa head on, lighting my fists up.

The smallest one was my first target, and I slammed my fist into the side of its head. The Ursa stumbled, and I followed up with an uppercut. The shadowy bear wasn't tough enough to handle two slugs through the head, fell over, and started dissolving.

Adamantine charged in and started wrestling with one of the two living ones. While I went to the other one, Ark joined him, leaping onto its back. Before I landed a punch on the last Ursa, Shamrock flew in ahead of me, clawing at the monster and making me pause. "Get out of the way, Shamrock!"

"I won't let you fight this thing alone!" He objected as the Ursa stood and tried to get him off.

I sighed before walking up and slam firing one round at a rear leg, bringing the Ursa down. "Hey, I've got this." Before it could get back up, I swung my fist down on its head. While it was stunned, I rammed my arm into its mouth and sent a lance of flames through the Ursa, killing it.

With two down, I looked at Adamantine and Ark. Their Grimm was dazed and he threw it against the wall, the spines penetrating and holding it there. Ark took the opening and started digging into the exposed belly. It wasn't long before it was dead and dissolving.

"Is everyone okay?" Shamrock asked.

"I'm good," Adamantine said.

"I'm good," Ark said.

"I'm good," I said.

"Selene's spooked," Queen said, the horrified hippogriff wrapped around him. "We won't be helpful in a fight."

"That's alright," Shamrock said. "We've got it."

I gave him a brief sideways glare before rolling my eyes. "Yeah, we do. Let's keep moving."

As we walked, Adamantine tapped my shoulder. "What was that you said about not firing Iron Debt inside while you use your guns? Something about an echo?"

"I can fit my arm inside the barrel on that thing, with the Ember Celica on. A shot from that would-" I picked up on what he was putting down. "Well, the Ember Celica are smaller, so the report is quieter as well. It still echoes here, but it's not as bad." He still didn't seem satisfied. "Look, if we come across some Megagrimm in a huge room, then you can fire it all you want. Until then, keep it quiet."

"Hmm, alright."

As we explored, more Grimm attacked us. Thankfully, never more than two or three at a time, which I was able to handle easily enough. I found the fights to be rather cathartic, letting off some steam that had been building up throughout the whole trip.

We checked the rooms at random for things. Some of the doors were ajar and slid open with some effort. Others took more work to open up. Some were solid steel slabs locked tight, and I was able to use my fire magic like a cutting torch to get through them, though it was tiring.

I was about to pass up one such steel slab door when the name on it caught my attention: Chief Internal Security Officer Firebrand. There was no argument against going in and looking around.

When I entered, I heard a voice layered with static. "Who's. . . There?"

"Ghost!" Shamrock shouted.

"My name is Yang Xiao Long," I stated. "If you're waiting for Firebrand, she's not coming."

"I know that!" The voice nearly shouted, the static distorting it even more. "How do you know of her?"

"We found a computer higher up with her video diaries. What happened to her?"

A computer lit up with a blue glow. "Watch."

I waved everyone in and we huddled around the monitor. Firebrand looked older, very tired, and was wearing her armor. "This is my last video entry at Helios Labs, and the only one from the shadow labs. I've spent over fifty years here, with the last forty in security in the shadow labs. Looking at the records, the breakouts in the shadow labs were more numerous after I was moved here, but every time, I and my teams have put down their shadowy beasts before anyone else could get so much as a scratch, something Overseer Celestia considers an improvement. In what little spare time I had, I improved my prosthetics, guns, and armor. In spite of all that, and Overseer Celestia going through the process of making me an officially recognized military veteran for my work fighting the shadow creatures, and the uncountable number of times I've saved those scientists' rear ends, I feel like I'm not getting my due respect around here. Today was the last straw. Some new guys, about two months in, thinking they were hot stuff because their parents worked down here on the shadow creatures, had the gall to corner me in the hallway, while I had my armor and guns, and berate me for being a lowly security grunt, that I was expendable, that anyone with prosthetics, the kind that I originally engineered and improved on no less, could replace me. Like any rule abiding staff member here, I let them talk and go on their way before I went to my post. No physical harm was done either way, though that doesn't mean I didn't want to." She took a short drink of something that looked strong, if the three X's on it meant anything. "I confided in Iron Bar, one of the newer internal security members that's actually good all around, about what happened. How they needed a shock to their system. How little they appreciate the security teams. Iron Bar agreed with me. It would have ended there, if not for those new scientists going out of their way to antagonize me and my security teams every chance they got yet again. They even got to Frost Blossom. Mare's stared death in the face with me countless times without flinching, but they drove her to tears. I decided that I was done, and sent a message to all the internal security members: lock everything up, make sure it's secure, and leave the scientists to their fate. They want to antagonize us? Let's see what happens when they don't have us. If there are any smart ones among them, they'll leave with us. These labs can go to Tartarus." Another swig of the stuff. "I'm leaving my armor and weapons, and going to the big weather machine. I'll take my wealth and get a part time job up there in weather production. Maybe I'll become a gamer. I can afford it. Yeah. I'll build a big, beautiful gaming setup, and have some fun for once. Well, I guess that covers that. I'm going to leave for good now. Bye bye."

"Weather machine. . ." I mulled. "Was this the biggest weather machine ever?"

"It was," the voice said.

"So that means. . . Huh. I've seen a lot of one past mare's past. You could write a story about it."

"Wait just a minute!" Queen said. "Yang, is that weather machine related to the one that the papers said you destroyed?"

"I think it's the same one. What we've learned here lines up with what I saw and snagged there." I looked up to the ceiling. "Hey, voice, is her armor and gear here?"

I didn't get an immediate answer. Instead, a panel on the adjacent wall shifted, kicking up a cloud of dust as it came out with a grinding noise before falling to the floor. Behind it was a cleaner pair of steel panels that slid apart more smoothly, revealing a set of armor, just like what was in the videos, the shotguns, and a pair of aviators. They were all clean, polished, and shone in the light from the computer and torches.

I picked up the shades first and put them on, feeling cool. After a second, I felt a drain on my magic. It was brief, and took very little, but I noticed it. "What was-" I saw words and numbers pass in front of my sight as something booted up.

A blue holographic cloud appeared in front of me after the boot sequence. "Hello. I am a Magical Empath Intelligence, here to serve you, Yang Xiao Long."

"Uh, hi. Wait, are you the voice we've heard here?"

"Yes. I am now yours. Would you like to give me a name?"

"A name. . ." I thought about it a bit. "An A.I., but it's not. It's an. . . M.E.I.?" I came to a decision. "I will call you Mei."

The cloud began to condense, and it turned into a blue cartoonish version of Mei from Overwatch. "Really?" Mei asked as she tapped her foot, voice now matching the character. "Out of all the names you could have chosen or made up, you just named me by what I am?"

"Well it's a name where I'm from, and I'm not exactly in a thinky mood."

Mei shrugged. "Fair enough, I suppose." She looked between the armor and me a few times. "If you take the power supply unit out of the chest, you can wear it."

"Really?" I looked over the armor with all the excitement of a kid in a mall full of candy stores. "HowdoIdothat?"

"Just reach behind the breastplate, find a slider, pull it up, and it'll come loose."

I carefully did what she said, and soon had a U shaped thing in my hands. "So, what was this part made for?"

"Long shifts that the power in Firebrand's prosthetics alone could not handle. As soon as you're wearing the armor, I can configure it to run off your magic. It'll be a very small drain, I promise."

"Sold!" I was about to start undressing before Mei pointed to the side, where an unlocked bathroom was. "How did I not notice that?" I collected the armor and guns, then went in to change.

I came out a good few minutes later, armored up, armed up, and ready for anything. Thankfully, I didn’t have to take the Ember Celica off, the armor somehow accommodating them perfectly. "So, how do I look?"

Shamrock's jaw dropped. "Amazing. . ."

Adamantine gave me a thumbs up.

Ark nodded in approval at Pinkie speeds.

"You look great and intimidating," Selene said. "If we weren't on the same side, I'd be scared."

"Why is so much of your chest exposed?" Queen asked.

"Well, it was made for a pony who could switch between two and four legs, and it was made open like this for her neck. Some extra armor would be nice, but it isn't an option. Let's get this computer and head back up."

Ark folded up the computer, keyboard, and monitor, then we left, with me at the front. Well, we would have left if not for the various Grimm sighted in both directions. "Guys, this is going to get loud." I loaded buckshot shells into the guns, explosive shells on my arms, and flechettes on my legs. "Get in the bathroom, for your hearing. I'll be fine."

"If you say so. . ." Adamantine said as they crowded into the room.

"Mei, do you have a count on the Grimm?"

"The shadow creatures?" Mei asked. "A lot. If you hold the guns out and fire both ways, I can help compensate for the recoil."

"I like it." I stepped out, held a gun down each way of the hall, and held down the triggers. As the gunfire filled the hall, Mei held up a sign saying that the guns were firing at a rate of five rounds per second each, answering a question I had. Occasionally, I would feel one arm get adjusted a bit, which Mei assured was recoil and aim compensation.

After a bit, she held up another sign telling me to stop, so I did. "There are no more Grimm here," she assured.

I went back in and knocked on the door. "Coast's clear, everyone. We should head back up before we get attacked again."

The crew spilled out, and did not need any extra persuasion to agree to the idea. On the walk back, I had a question. "Mei, how were the Grimm made?"

"It started with the creation of liquid shadows, an accidental result of an attempt to make liquid rainbow fuel more efficiently. When its more solid nature was noted, someone decided to try their luck at making things out of it. Inanimate objects were unsuccessful, as they unraveled and disintegrated too easily. It could be made into small animal shapes, and lasted a bit longer like that. Then they started seeing what would happen if biological bits and pieces were put in, and from there, the shadow creature production really kicked off. Development was shaky, but it was eventually determined that the shadow creatures were attracted to negative emotions. Over in the Artemis labs, a related project was started: enchanting gems to radiate positive or negative emotions. The positive ones would be embedded in friendly forces, rendering them uninteresting to the shadow creatures. . . I'll just call them Grimm. The negative gems would be dropped far behind enemy lines or thrown into their forces, then the Grimm would be released. Attracted to the negative gems, they rushed into enemy lines, disrupting their formations, sowing chaos, and scaring them, causing the Grimm to attack them directly."

"That's. . . What, bioterror? Beastial warfare?"

"SAW. Shadow Assault Warfare. They were so effective, they ended a war. Then another war was started up to get rid of them. In response, the Helios Labs increased the production rate and variety of Grimm. All seemed well, especially when paired with the prosthetics developed here by Firebrand. Things went down fast after she left. A barely legally acquired dragon corpse was brought in and it was covered in the shadow substance. It came back to life a few days later and started attacking. There were calls for internal security, which was absent at the time. Everyone ran for the exit. Some of them were eaten by Grimm, and the weapons that were used so effectively on the battlefield were unleashed in the lab. It prompted a mass evacuation, and the labs were abandoned. After that, the war was lost, and the Grimm were probably thought to be gone."

"But they're not. What happened to the dragon?"

"Wellll. . ." A roar filled the hallways. "It's still alive. BACK UP!" The sudden change of tone prompted us to stop and backpedal. A few seconds later, a giant claw came down through the hallway. "KEEP GOING!" We ran all the way back to the office and ducked inside it.

"That hallway was a bridge?" Shamrock asked.

"One of many like it. The cave system down there is huge, and closed bridges like that were necessary. There are more bridges available, but the dragon would probably just destroy those too."

"So we have to fight it," I said. "Well, I've got guns. I'll go fight it."

"You don't have to fight alone!" Shamrock declared. "I will fight it with you!"

"No, you'll just get in my way. Stay back." I went back out into the hallway and saw a giant dragon eye staring through the opening. Since it was there, I pointed both guns at it and opened fire. Almost immediately, the dragon recoiled and roared in pain. When it disappeared, I walked up to the ledge and looked around. Mei was able to highlight the dragon for me, and I opened fire again. It didn't do anything, even when the pellets hit. "Distance. Why didn't I go with slugs from the start?" I withdrew from the ledge, took out the buckshot bands, switched to the slugs, and went back.

The dragon wasn't where it was before I changed the ammo. I looked around the cavern until I heard a deep growl next to me. Looking to the destroyed bridge, I saw the dragon's head there, and it was mad. It roared at me, blowing my hair back with ease and sending me back a bit as well. Once I regained my footing, I fired into the dragon's mouth.

When it retreated again, Mei spoke up. "Since the dragon needs to be killed for you to pass, I suggest going down there and fighting it yourself. Take full advantage of the TDR technology built into your guns and swords."

"TDR?"

"Total Duplicate Reconstruction. When you want it to, the originals will explode while new copies are magically remade through the armor. It will even work with your ammo bands."

"Huh. Sounds nifty."

"I'll go down there with you!" Shamrock eagerly volunteered.

"You can watch from up here without me." I jumped down and Mei provided a countdown to landing. A few seconds from impact, jets along the side of my waist fired up, slowing me down and easing the landing. "Well, that's nice. Mei, how well would this place stand up to explosions?"

"The walls are all very thick and sturdy," Mei answered. "The stalactites, however, could fall from strong enough shockwaves."

"Hmm. . ." I took the slugs out of one gun and replaced them with the rainnuke shells before holstering the weapon on my back. "I guess it's time to open fire." As soon as Mei highlighted the target, I opened fire, wishing I had some armor penetrating rounds as it approached. The slugs didn't seem to be doing much, and I wanted to end it quickly.

The dragon lowered its head to try and eat me, but an extra serving of lead salad dashed that idea. I ran around while it was recovering, holstered the slug filled gun, and used some explosion punch boosted jumps to get up onto the dragon. The side of the foreleg, thankfully, was soft enough for me to dig into with the swords, and I started climbing. It quickly became clear that extracting and reinserting wasn't practical, so I made use of the TDR. When I pulled myself up, I had a new sword appear while the old one exploded. That got the dragon's attention, but I finished my climb and was on its bone plated back soon enough with the swords back on my hips.

Standing on the back of the dragon really drove home just how big the thing was. A small house could sit comfortably between the shoulders with enough room on the sides for some nice flower gardens. The blackness visible between the bony armor plates was bubbling, and Grimm started slowly coming out. "Okay, that's new! We are dropping subtlety right now!" I grabbed the gun with rainnuke shells and ran towards the neck, blades first. With all the strength I could muster, I rammed the gun in, with most of the barrels' length inside the black flesh. "Die, monster!" I held down the trigger and sent rainnukes into its neck, dealing heavy damage.

Mei alerted me to the smaller incoming Grimm, so I switched guns and targets, sending lead through the swarm, shredding through their numbers with ease. "Full auto. This would have been useful in so many fights. I love it!"

As I mowed through the swarm, the dragon started moving, though I didn't know what it was doing. A massive report that sounded like a cannon rang out, followed by the sound of something hitting rock and the dragon's body tilting sideways.

I drew one of the swords and jammed it into the dragon so I wouldn't fall off, unlike the Grimm that had been approaching me. With my position secured, I shot at the base of the higher wing, shredding it off and dropping it onto the swarm below. I looked back and realized that the rainnuke loaded one was beyond my reach, so I TDRed it. I did not expect it to explode in a rainnuke, and I fell from the surprise, into the remnants of the swarm. After drawing one sword and TDRing the other, I ran into the swarm, slashing through with an unpracticed grace that would make ice skating judges bury their heads in shame. Any that got too close from the side got a round of flechettes in their foot for their effort before getting cut down as well,

"Is it done?" I asked after the last of the swarm had been cut down.

"Well, the dragon is dissolving, and there are no other Grimm around, so yes, they're all dead."

I let out a grateful sigh. "Thank goodness." After collecting and unloading both guns, I realized how far up I had to go. "Hey! The dragon's dead! Does anyone have a rope long enough to reach down here?"

"I gotcha!" Ark said before my wish was granted and some rope came down. As I started climbing it, I felt it move up as well.

After nearly a minute of climbing, I was back on the ledge with everyone. "You fire that gun of yours?" I asked Adamantine as I caught my breath.

"I did," Adamantine said. "And I almost had my second shot loaded and ready as well."

"It's got some power to it. Mei, what's our way out?"

"This way." Mei filled my sight with arrows, pointing down another hallway, and soon, we were on our way out, though we did stop to grab a few more things on the way. With the Grimm gone, we were all much more relaxed, and everything seemed a bit brighter too.

Author's Notes:

I commissioned the armored Yang picture back in 2018, so it's been designed and planned for some time now, though the specific events are a more recent development. I also asked the artist (PeaceGuy on Deviantart) not to publish the picture, so you won't see it in his gallery, which is full of more incredible art, including an armored Ruby Rose that I commissioned.