Author's Notes:

Before you start reading this story, there is a bit of a warning about the first four chapters. They can be… not particularly good in terms of grammar and text quality. I’m adding this warning two years after I started writing Aftersound and over that time I have grown as an author and my knowledge of English (which is not my native language) has improved.

I can see now that, well, I need to return to where it all began and take a good look at my work. It is surely going to happen, but for now I want you to begin reading this story with a knowledge that some of the glaring flaws you are surely to encounter will appear less frequently and the quality of the text will improve considerably as the story progresses.

"Entry log number 52-47/5 from April 5, 8^th year of the 5th Era. By Twilight Sparkle, Chief Scientist of the Royal Canterlot Research Centre. Today I'm going to supervise a test of automated combat body armor, the first ever in Equestrian history. Rainbow Dash, Captain of the Special Air Forces, will serve as the test pilot. Now, I'm going to do a double check of the armor suit and the testing program."

I yawned widely after those words and completely lost my train of thought. How long did I sleep last night? Three hours? Four at most? I need some coffee.

I turned off the recording enchantment on the crystal, placing it back on the table. I rose from my chair, looking around I realized how messy my office had become in all these months while I was working on the cyber armor project. I hated it being so disorganized, but I simply didn't have even a single minute to spare. And the origins of this chaos were actually a mystery, considering the fact that the only thing I had been doing in this room was getting a few hours of sleep every now and then. I stretched my numb limbs, the sleeping cot wasn't very comfortable, probably because it was supposed to be a temporary solution but had eventually become the only place I slept everyday aside from tables and chairs in labs. Many of our research team, including myself, had to stay in this facility day in and day out for weeks in order to finish our project as soon as possible. It was actually rather extreme measure, the Royal Canterlot Research Centre was only on the opposite side of Diamond Point Mountain, across from Canterlot and only an hour of flight in a cart at most. These days though a whole hour was an invaluable amount of time we couldn't afford.

With a deep sigh I glanced at the box containing the enchanted gems, neatly arranged in rows. I have had to rely on them for the last couple of years, since Spike left for the front-line. Without my number one assistant I could have easily lost track of the many projects that the research centre was working on, if not for these crystals. Enchanted with an old yet simple recording spell, they are able store hours of voice recordings and it had become more convenient than using scrolls.

I shivered. The RCRC was built in the foothills of the mountain in a hurry and didn't have a properly working central heating system. The fact that most of the fuel resources the country had to offer were used for the war effort wasn't helping the situation either, so it was rather chilly inside on this early spring morning. I definitely need some coffee. With that thought I put on my lab coat and saddlebag, took my empty cup, a casket of gems and started to slowly walk towards the main Cybernetics lab.

The Royal Canterlot Research Centre was absolutely silent. It was rather early in the morning and after putting the finishing touches on the cyber armor last night, most of the team was probably trying to catch up on some sleep anyway. So, I lazily trudged through empty and cold halls with my coffee-stained mug in my magical grip to my ultimate destination: The Coffee Machine. Our blessed savior, the holy fountain of black and bittersweet drink, which granted us the energy we always so desperately needed to work through a constant lack of sleep. Bless Rarity for convincing the nobles to finally establish trade routes with Zebrica, resulting in a large influx of imported goods, including coffee beans, amongst other things. After we finish all the tests and are ready to mass-produce these cyber armors, I should probably visit her. When was the last time I saw her? Or the other girls? Or Spike? Or even my parents?

Well, at least today I have an opportunity to see Rainbow Dash, she volunteered as tester just as soon as she heard the initial ideas for this project. It was hard to say, was it her genuine fascination with a concept of flying cyber armor, or desperate hope for an advantage that will help to put an end to the war, maybe both?

Finally, the familiar door with a slightly discolored wooden plaque reading "Cybernetics Lab" appeared before me. I started fumbling with countless gem keycards. We used enchanted gems everywhere these days. It's not like we didn't enchant crystals before, it's actually one of the oldest arcane crafting practices with a very rich history. But since we had learned how to grow our own specialized crystals from Crystal Empire refugees a few years ago, we were able to put much more complex and intricate enchantments on those gems than we were ever capable of.

Yes, here it was. I slid my bright pink and cyan keycard into the door lock with practiced motion; with a quiet click the door opened. I flicked on the light switch and looked around, the lab looked pretty much the same as I had left it a few hours ago: a big room full of furniture cluttered with equipment, gems and spare parts of various sizes, along with assorted stationeries and blueprints. It was a horrible mess everywhere, except for one place. There, in the middle of the room on small podium, stood the final product of sleepless nights and countless days of striving without a moment's rest.

The Automated Armored Full Body Combat Suit. The pinnacle of arcane and mechanical technological progress, a creation surpassing anything before in its complexity. Dozens of ponies had worked so hard to create an armor to protect and enhance the combat abilities of its wearer like nothing before. Plates of hardened steel alloy, imbued with enchanted silver runes that were supposed to, theoretically, withstand even the most vicious of spells from Sombra’s warlocks or even a direct strike from a crystal blade. Under these plates laid an intricate network of hydraulic circuits, made to significantly enhance the raw physical strength of the pony inside that armor. And the last part, which Dash liked the most, resting between two folded steel wings, was the reaction turbine fueled by a huge enchanted gem. The armor looked intimidating and foreboding in the laboratory's dim lighting, with its long conical helmet, reminiscent of a dragon's head, and large plates of darkened steel covered in nearly invisible shimmering arcane writings.

At last I stopped admiring the armored suit, finished walking to the coffee machine and turned its power gem on with flicker of magic – it would take some time to brew, so I leaned on the nearest table and started to think.

Pegasi were already the most important part of the Equestrian Army; something that Sombra didn't have even with all his warlocks, spells and griffon mercenaries. Equestrian ponies always had an advantage in air. Now, with these armor suits, they would be able to finally put an end to this war. All we needed is for this prototype to successfully pass the trials today. It wasn't a complicated testing program, really, all that Dash had to do was to perform some aerial testing and a simple battle simulation, nothing risky or extraordinary.

With a resounding ring the coffee machine announced it had finished its work, so I poured myself a cup full of the steaming brew. Not wanting to risk spilling my drink all over the suit, I decided to just sit down and drink it before the last double check. I started thinking about the cyber armor again and how important it actually was. Most of the newspapers' reports about the War had been rather optimistic, but I knew better. Letters from Shining Armor and Spike were much more concerning. The War had already been going on for far too long, and the siege of the Crystal Empire can't last forever. According to my brother's words, if they don't end it soon, they will be forced to withdraw and then Sombra is going to strike back hard. Very hard.

With that unpleasant thought I put my half-finished cup of coffee on the table and started moving towards the cyber suit. But after only a few steps I heard a loud knocking on the door.

"Yes? Who is it? Come in, didn't you know that the door is open?" I yelled from the middle of the room.

The door opened half-way and an unfamiliar unicorn in a lab coat shoved himself halfway through. He was probably one of new lab assistants from some other department. It was impossible to keep track of all the ponies in the facility.

"Captain Rainbow Dash has arrived and is already waiting for you on the testing grounds," The lab-coated pony said in monotone while still holding the door half open.

I instantly perked up and smiled upon hearing that.

"Tell her I'll be there soon, I just need to pick up some things." I turned to the table and with one mighty swig emptied rest of the cup. Before going to the testing grounds I decided to take some blueprints and calculations to show Dash. Oh, and of course, the testing program, Rainbow hadn't had an opportunity to see it yet. I put the papers in my saddlebag and ran out of the laboratory.

The Royal Canterlot Research Centre testing grounds weren't anything outstanding, a few shooting ranges for ballistic weapons and magic spells, a few more open flat grounds for other various tests, and the section recently constructed specifically for our project: a flight strip with a viewing stand. The area around the stand was already starting to swarm with research team members preparing everything for the testing.

The weather couldn't be more perfect for aerial testing. There were enough clouds to shroud Her Sun, but not too many, so it was still bright enough to see clearly for miles. The air was still with no wind whatsoever and it obviously wasn't going to rain. I realized, suddenly, that this was the first time I had been outside in at least two months. I hadn't seen sunlight for so long, being bathed only in the dead, cold light of luminescent lamps. Looking into the distance, I saw a silver canvas of clouds being punctured by a litany of golden sunrays. Sun in the sky meant that Princess Luna was still somewhere out there, still raising both of the celestial bodies. Thinking of her, I tried to remember the last time I saw her, but failed utterly. The last time I had heard about her was from Rarity, and it was even before the work on the project had even started. That time Luna just replenished her supplies, took another detachment of The Night Guard and settled back to The Badlands to continue her crusade in search of Chrysalis. I couldn't blame her, not after what happened, after what she had done.

I looked at Her Sun for the last time and brushed my tears away, I still had a lot of work ahead of me.

Looking over the testing grounds I instantly noticed Rainbow sitting on the furthest edge of the air strip. It wasn't hard, even in a military uniform and with her mane cut short, she was still an explosion of color on that already perfect morning. I practically began galloping to her, but she didn't seem to notice me. Then I approached her more slowly and looked carefully.

She was sitting a bit crookedly, trying not to put any weight on her bandaged hind leg. Her face was dirty with soot and she had some fresh scars and burn marks on it. She looked incredibly tired, her slightly red eyes were adorned with deep dark blue circles, those too familiar symptoms caused by constant lack of sleep. A distant, yet burning with determination look, was aimed to the north, somewhere over the mountains. Suddenly, she turned her head:

"Hi, Twilight," She said in a raspy yet unexpectedly jovial voice.

"Hi, Rainbow," I answered with a smile.

Upon seeing my expression, she answered with a smile of her own and leaned in to give me a hug, which I warmly returned.

"Pinkie says hi," Dash whispered in my ear.

"How's she doing? How are you all doing?" I asked, breaking the hug and sitting beside Rainbow.

"I thought you’d have read the reports."

"Of course I have read them, and I get my share of information from Shining and Spike’s letters. But you are on the front-line. It's different."

"Yeah. It's totally different." With that Rainbow looked over her shoulder to the north again. "We can't wage this war forever, Twi. If we don't win this year, Sombra will start pushing back and we won't have the strength left to stop him."

“That’s exactly what Shining was saying," I said. "But I wanted to know how the ponies themselves doing. And Pinkie? Or Spike?"

"Tired," she simply began, "some of them haven't been home for years." I shuddered at those words. I had been complaining about being confined to my lab for only a few months. I couldn't imagine how it was to be stuck on a battlefield for years.

"Pinkie, Spike and I are all from different divisions, we seldom meet each other. At least Pinkie has her sisters. But I know that they are still alive," said Dash, her face hardening. "Not everyone has such luck."

We sat silently for a while after that grim conclusion. In the distance I saw mechanics bringing out the prototype and more and more ponies in lab coats coming out of the building.

"Well, we should get started." I rose to my hooves and started walking towards the stand on the air strip. "Follow me. My team will probably finish the preparations soon."

"I wasn't expecting the final model to be so big and bulky," muttered Rainbow Dash, already in the exoskeleton of the armored suit, her body invisible under the thick net of intertwining tubes and wires converging on the joints of her metal clad limbs and finely cut gemstones. Mechanics started to attach metal plates to their designated mountings on the suit base, securing them with stout bolts. "The models I helped you to test before weren't so large."

"Yes, but the hydraulics and crystals are fragile and we decided to make it more protected," I explained. "Also, we decided to make it impermeable after reports about some of Sombra's spells."

"Yeah, I remember that nasty stuff." Rainbow visibly shuddered. "So, you had mentioned something about that mouth com-thingy in your testing program, but I didn't understand anything. It has too many egghead words."

"Moondancer and I created a special spell, it's called a 'communication enchantment'," I answered with a glare, and then continued with enthusiasm. "It's basically a simple arcane voice imprinting enchantment, Vox Vestigium, combined with a sound recording enchantment, Sonus Minuat, of a very short duration and made to continuously jump with a modification of localized Salio Arcanis between a pair of linked crystals via natural magical leylines and..."

"Uhhh," interrupted Rainbow. "In case you forgot, I'm not an unicorn, Twi."

"Ugh! Fine!" I exploded. "You just need to start talking and we will hear you at the stand."

“Alright." Dash continued as if nothing happened while mechanics finished assembling the body parts of the armor together before moving to her head, preparing the oblong conical helmet to be put on. "What do I need this mask for?"

"It's an oxygen mask. You will need it to breath in the suit. It's tightly sealed, remember?"

"Ah, right," Answered Rainbow with a nod, just as the mask was put over her muzzle.

"I'm going to the stand to check out the recording machinery and the communication crystal."

Dash silently nodded. With that and I hastily walked to the stand.

There I saw a pony I didn’t expect to see today – our very own Leading Scientist of Cybernetics Division.

"Hi, Moondancer, I thought you were going to sleep through everything," I called while approaching the stand. I wasn't trying to accuse her of being a sleepyhead, but I knew that last night was the third in a row for her without even a wink of sleep.

"Pfff, are you kidding?" she scoffed at me. "I didn't spend the last few months working my horn off only to miss the main event."

"Cheerful as always," I retort with a smile. "Well, I'm going to test out our communication crystals. Do you want to join?"

"Com-gems? Nah, they work just fine. The guys from my team tested them yesterday. I better go and check in with the photographers, though. They need to know that your friend is going to be faster than anything they've seen before." With that, she departed to a group of ponies with cameras further away, behind the stand.

"Com-gems? Huh, that's actually not nearly as much of a mouthful," I muttered under my breath, while putting communica... "Com-gem" on the stand’s pedestal. With a flicker of my magic I activated it and looked at Rainbow Dash. She was standing still in her armor, waiting for the crystals inside to power up. With another flicker of magic, I cast a voice amplifying spell on myself.

"Turn the enchantments on and leave the flight strip. I repeat, everypony, leave the flight strip after the last enchantment is activated. We are starting."

But first things first, I need to record everything, so I pulled the box of recording gems from my saddlebag, took out one of the crystals and turned on the enchantment.

"Entry log number 12-31/6 from April 5, 8th year of the 5th Era. By Twilight Sparkle, Chief Scientist of the Royal Canterlot Research Centre. We are going to start the testing of The Automated Armored Full Body Combat Suit, with Captain of the Special Air Forces Rainbow Dash."

All of sudden the sounds of breathing permeated my ears, meaning Rainbow’s com-gem fired up. I placed my recording gem on the stand.

"Rainbow, can you hear me?" I said in the direction of my com-gem.

"Yeah, a little bit too loud and there is a strange crackle." Came out a bit too loud answer. I covered the com-gem with one hoof, turned off the amplifier, took one step from the stand and shouted in Moondancer's direction.

"Moonie, Dash says that the gem is a bit too loud and it has some intrusive noises."

"It is supposed to be loud, we discovered yesterday that the enchantment loses its power over a distance. We will fix it next time. And the sound was clear. I dunno what's wrong with it now – maybe some overlapping," she yelled back at me, then she added in a cranky voice, "And don't call me that in a public!"

I returned back to the stand. I checked for anything that was out of place that could cause interference, but everything looked fine.

"Dash, Moondancer says that it will become less loud after you take off, and the crackle can be overlapping magic fields." I thought for a moment. "I don't think this is going to affect the cyber suit, though. Its enchantments are protected by arcanium runes."

"So if everything is fine can I take off then?" asked Rainbow eagerly. "I'm tired of sitting in one place already!"

"Yes, on the count of ten."

I turned the amplifier on again and made the same announcement as earlier, despite Dash already being the only one on the flight strip.

"Everypony must immediately leave the flight strip, we are starting the test on the count of ten! I repeat, everypony leave the flight strip!"

This is it. I took a deep breath and started to count.

"Ten."

"Nine."

"Eight."

"Seven."

"Six."

"Five."

"Four."

"Thr..."

Suddenly Rainbow rocketed up into the sky in a cloud of smoke and with a resounding roar from the turbine.

"Sorry boss," chuckled Dash. "Couldn't hold on any longer."

"Ugh." I slapped my hoof against my forehead in frustration. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah all's fine, your voice is not so loud anymore, but, uh, the crackling is a bit louder now." Came her response. It started to bother me, actually. Where could this crackling be coming from? But it didn't seem to be a serious problem, maybe something was off with the com-gems. After all it was the first working prototype, and we hadn't been able to focus on it very much.

I raised my head and searched the skies for the flying silhouette. Rainbow had gained a lot of altitude already, so she was just under the clouds, doing the aerial maneuvers we'd included in the testing program at her insistence; she said that they're some basic moves her squad had been using all the time. Or maybe she just chose them to show off, like old times.

Keeping my friend's dashing figure in my sight, I began to think about the time before the war, and how that last three and half years had felt like an eternity, as if everything before the war with Sombra happened in another life. After the war, I will probably retire, I thought. Moondancer is going to do even better than me, I continued to muse. She’s already been showing incredible talent working with biomechanics, her prototypes and concepts being astounding, and showing endless potential.

But would I be able to return to my old life? The Government was still in disarray, especially with Luna being absent for months. Maybe Cadence will become the ruling princess after we free her from Sombra’s captivity... It was a grim reminder of how much was at stake in that accursed war. This trial had to be successful: failure wasn't an option.

"Hey, Twi," Rainbows concerned voice interrupted my thoughts. "The crackling has gotten louder, I think it's coming from the turbine."

"What!? Are you sure?" I asked and started to squint at the dark silhouette in the sky, but she was way too far to see the details.

"Yes, it's sure becoming louder, and it's not from the com-gem. It's coming from somewhere behind my helmet."

While she was talking I pulled out a pair of binoculars from one of the shelves inside the stand and aimed them at her. To my horror I saw that the huge power gem embedded in the turbine was sparkling and smoking.

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" I started to panic. "Dash listen to me!" I looked up in the sky and saw her already rapidly losing altitude and plummeting towards the flight strip. At this point I didn't need binoculars to see that something was off. "Dash, something is wrong, you need to land right now! Can you hear me? You need to..."

But before I could finish my sentence, I saw the turbine of the smoking armor explode in a brilliant wave of magic and a shower of sparks.

And then.

Nothing.