Lupus, as he teleported inside the Moraimarz, looked out the window as a horrific screech filled his eardrums, nearly making them burst open and deafen him completely. His particular species, they had more heightened senses than most, so of course things like this, they would hear and it wasn’t a completely pleasant sensation.

Long ago, their particular species had evolved on a desolate desert planet, where food was scarce and life a daily struggle to survive. An increased sense of smell, to pick up carrion and better hearing to tell when predators were approaching was needed. Eyesight was increased tremendously as well, so you could see what was coming to eat you before it got there.

This very same eyesight was nearly blinded by a bright flash, and then a huge fireball that lit up the moonless skies. Lupus’s eyes narrowed as he looked out the window to the cold, unforgiving wastes beyond.

“Well, color me impressed. I knew they were good, but killing off a Deathworm? Well, might not just be the Blue one who I have to consider inducting into Dark Matter really. Lord Eriedrone might disagree, but this isn’t his system. I rule the Pegasus System, not him,” Lupus thought, emitting a small growl as he clutched a small silvery Kyutama in his fist. It was emblazoned with a winged horse. Flicking his wrist momentarily, a gauntlet appeared. Like the Rangers’ own Kyuchangers, it was tipped off with a small blaster and had a star-shaped interlock on top of it. However, the colors were very different. Unlike the red and silver the Rangers used, this particular Kyuchanger was colored a deep black and had purple detailing.

“Say the Change!” the Seize Blaster remarked, in a dark tone of voice. Mirroring the motions the Rangers used, Lupus clicked down on his Kyutama.

“Pegasus.” Lupus stated simply, placing his Kyutama into the gauntlet and giving it a little flick. He was covered in a silver and black torso armor, with the shoulder pads resembling wings and the chest piece, a horse’s head. He chuckled, he’d honestly love to see how the Rangers dealt with the mere idea of a Dark Paladin. But that was for another time, Lord Ikargen and Lord Eriedrone had sent for him.

Gesturing to an Invader, he looked at him pointedly. “Ready my personal Moraider for liftoff. We’ll leave this planet to rot. Suck it dry of it’s Planetium, and then let these ponies see just what happens when their precious planet blows in front of their very eyes,” he smirked. “I’m amazed they’ve survived this long without a sun or moon, and to be frank if it were allowed, I’d have some on our side as shock troops. But in the end, I suppose, it’d prove far too troublesome.”

However, Lupus did note to table the idea for later. He’d gotten local species, with the power the Kyutamas granted, to become Paladins to guard their planets in exchange for money and doing whatever Dark Matter requested of them. Perhaps, if he was feeling merciful, just before the planet exploded, he’d offer these creatures one last chance. If they declined… well, that was their choice really. He couldn’t force them.

The Invader nodded, before walking off. However, two figures walked up, carrying gold metal staves that could double as grenade launchers. Strongindavers, they were called. With glowing yellow eyes, and heads resembling an ace of spades, one could liken them to the infamous Flatwoods Monster of West Virginia. In fact, you’d be forgiven for mistaking them for the same creature. These creatures, they served as bodyguards for everything from Local Administrators of planets, to Karōs to even the Vice-Shoguns themselves.

“Milord,” one of the Strongindavers said, bowing his head and quickly motioned for his colleague to do the same. “We’ve found something, deep in the ice. You may want to come have a look at this.”

Lupus raised an eyebrow, but was intrigued nonetheless. “Show me.”

After riding an elevator down, Lupus found himself outside the Moraimarz in what looked to be the ruins of a once-great castle. A broken shard of a large crystal pillar lay in front of him, and Lupus carefully stepped over it.

“Huh, so these creatures actually had an empire once,” one of the Strongindavers remarked, looking up towards what used to be a mighty tower, now broken and shattered in half, in some areas partially melted as well. “Seems rather… hard to believe. Especially now, when they hide underground like sand worms on your home planet, Lord Lupus. Middle of nowhere, and we find… this.” he commented and picked up a heavily frozen book reading “Supernaturals” on the cover before tossing it behind him in disgust, as the sound of drilling echoed all around him.

“Never forget, even amongst the tiniest of creatures, even the most unassuming can pose a threat,” Lupus commented. “Take the Abborence of my planet. Never would you assume it to be so dangerous for its size, and yet in a few hours you’d find yourself losing all of your breath, and then choking on your own blood soon as it latched onto you,” he commented, in a vaguely threatening tone as he held up a little jar, containing what looked to be a small, silver serpent. Needless to say, both of the Strongindavers got the point and laughed nervously.

“Now, about this thing you found, what is it?” Lupus asked, and one of the Strongindavers gestured for him to follow, leading the purple wolf-like Karō to a once-great hall. In the center of the room, -beyond which lay a partially melted mirror of some sort. that seemed to shimmer and on rare occasions show another world beyond it that glistened with tall skyscrapers seemingly made of glass.- lay a dark-colored horn, crackling with a purple energy. It looked as if it’d been ripped off the tip of something, or sliced off. It wasn’t like a unicorn’s horn, it was more curved if Lupus had to be honest. But still, his suit’s sensors were off the charts as they detected energy simply radiating off the horn.

His eyes narrowed, and he motioned for several Invaders to come forth. “Get this thing boxed up and put in a containment module, and be very careful about it. While I wouldn’t mourn any of you, the last thing I need is Lord Eriedrone complaining to me about losing me on a simple artifact retrieval.”

Then, another Strongindaver ran up, panting and seemingly out of breath. “Sir, vessels on approach. Their energy signatures, they match the ones picked up earlier just before the Deathworm’s life signs went!”

Lupus smirked. “Excellent. Let them come,” he stated simply, and everyone stared at him in shock even as the Karō let slip the small jar from his hands before teleporting out. If Lupus had a method to his madness, he wasn’t saying a thing on it. At least… not yet.

Stripped Gear, even as he saw the towering form of the Moraimarz appear through his cockpit window, suppressed a nervous swallow. The central tower of the ship -because really, what else could it have been?- seemed to be looking directly at him. It bore a distinct face, like that of a tiki’s or a moai’s and for a moment the tannish unicorn wondered if the ship was in some way alive, pulsating with purple energy as it was.

He bit back the thought, either from not wanting to ponder the possibility or just dismissing it was frankly ridiculous. There was no way that ship was alive… right? No, it couldn't have been. It was probably just one of Dark Matter’s tricks, a way to intimidate their opposition.

“Well, I have to admit even if only to myself,” Stripped thought to himself, even as he used the controls to urge his Voyager onwards. “It's quite the effective fear tactic. So, I will give them credit -If only a little, -the self-righteous pricks- for that.”

The inside of his Voyager’s cockpit, like his lab, was rather cluttered with little boxes of various tools and half-finished devices laying strewn about, in a rather haphazard fashion. No sense of rhyme or reason to it. Any normal person would have a hard time making sense out of the chaos, really, with only Stripped himself knowing where everything was. All around him, small monitors glowing a distinctly blue hue showed various forms of data, amongst other things like the topography of the area around him and compositions of various metals. In effect, it was basically Stripped Gear’s home away from home. He could even monitor the performance, and damage levels of the other Voyagers from here, making him, in essence, a very important target. There was a reason he was encouraged not to go out in the field if only as a last resort and backup were scarce.

Projected on a small emitter, was a hologram of Celestia comprised of various streams of data. Opposite this, was a projection of Stripped’s many great grandparents Bon-Bon and Lyra Heartstrings. A constant reminder, he told himself, of where he came from. His family, Lyra’s family, had come from the Marish Isles and started off rather poor even when Ponyville was first founded. They had to fight for what they had, build their lives from the ground up. Being immigrants escaping a country that was mired in civil war, they had no roots to speak of when they first settled in Equestria.

But somehow, his family managed and got themselves well-established in Ponyville over the years, bringing their native recipes from their homeland with them. Shepherd's Pie or Cottage Pie as it was alternatively known, was a particular favorite. Comprised of a mixture of mashed potatoes, minced lamb or beef, and varying vegetables it may have hit like a brick, but filled you up quite nicely. Comfort food, really. The other popular dish his family brought was called Champ, a mix of mashed potato, scallions, butter, and milk. Of course, business only increased when Bon-Bon was thrown into the mix and brought her delightful candy confections into the family. Some of these creations of hers, like Lunar Jello or Gummy Bears, still survived to this day in one form or another, something Stripped was particularly proud of.

Like all the members of his family in the early days, he had to fight for what little he had, and make his way up the rungs of the ladder to get into the position of Stardust’s top scientist. It was a valued position, as you’d expect, and wasn’t easy to get to. Several other ponies had relied on dirty tactics to make sure Stripped didn’t get into the favored position, such as sabotaging various experiments of his he intended to present to the Prince.

Needless to say, when he reverse-engineered the Draco Kyutama on a whim or a pure flight of fancy, he won the title and gained something he was still very much proud of to this day. Respect. Finally, he had something to lord over the lower classes with and say, “Yes, I did this, not you!”

A bit snobbish of him, he admitted, but he felt he was entitled to being the way he was after all the fighting he’d done to get there. It was a long way to the top, he admitted. Still, at times, he had to admit, it was like a mountain in some ways. Once you got there, it got quite lonely and at times, when he knew nobody could overhear him, he desired some form of companionship. Maybe not someone who could understand all of his scientific gobbledygook as it was often called but just someone who he could talk to at times. Maybe it was his own fault he mused, for lording his position over others, making them know he was superior not only in status but in intellect as well.

A small concussive explosion knocked the pony out of his internal musings, and he snapped himself to attention.

“What was that?” he asked, before he looked downwards. Near the massive ship was various crab-walker mounted cannons, firing blast after blast of energy towards the Kyurangers.

“You’d think they wouldn’t bother with small snub fighters like ours…” Stripped pondered, but the Celesti-AI was swift to correct him.

“Yes, you would think, and normally you’d be correct. You wouldn’t be worth the attention, however…” she trailed off, placing a hand to her chin in thought.

“What is it?” Stripped stated quickly, impatiently having no time for nonsense.

“That ship, it’s burrowing deep into Equus’ surface. There’s a large energy transfer going up into the belly of the beast, as it were and seemingly stored there,” the Celesti-AI continued, seemingly unfazed by Stripped’s rudeness. “At the same time, I’ve rerouted the Voyager’s sensors to scan the planet’s interior. The magma core, it’s destabilizing. I have reason to believe these two events are connected.”

Stripped’s sea-green eyes widened in shock as he realized what Celestia was getting at, and opened the comms.

“Everyone, focus fire on that ship! If we don’t destroy it fast, this planet’s going to explode!”

“Well, you heard him,” Flashfire’s voice crackled over the comms. “Get to it! Alright, Dark Matter… Time to test your luck! Allons-y, team!” he shouted, as a battle cry. “Fågel, Coldcast, take out those cannons! Everyone else, focus fire on that ship,” he ordered.

Soon, Fågel rammed one of the twin cannons with her tank-like Voyager, while Coldcast’s own grabbed one of the walker legs in its jaws and tossed it into a cliff making it go up in a fireball.

“Jabari!” Stripped shouted over the comms. “You’re with me. While Spada and Flashfire shoot up that thing’s armor, we’re going to do a cut and run, you understand?”

“Got it.” the zorse smirked, knowing exactly what the unicorn was thinking. Stripped watched as the wings of the Eagle Voyager glowed pink, while his own Voyager’s fins glowed yellow before both ships shot forwards and sliced the ship down the middle in a blur of motion.

“Take that!” Jabari shouted in glee, before his smile faded. “Uh guys, not wanting to ruin the party here, but I’m running models here, and I really think we’ve got a major problem on our hooves here. And I do mean major.”

“What do you mean?” Coldcast asked, not really wanting to know.

“Well, thinking about it, that planetary energy has to be gathered up for something, right? So, ran a few scans on the ship’s core, and it’s gathering it and devoting all power to weapons systems, probably for one huge blast. Needless to say, I don’t think we want to be within firing range.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Stripped mused. “Everyone, prime your weapons systems. Time to fight fire with fire.”

Placing his Kyutama into a small slot, and twisting it he watched as the others mirrored his movements. Stripped then pressed down on his Kyutama, and his Voyager shot out a beam of energy from its beak. The others were soon to follow.

“All-Star Crash! Super Galaxy Variant!” Stripped shouted, as the Moraimarz fired a huge, cutting beam of purple energy. The beams battled for dominance, before the next thing anyone knew was the massive ship going up in a huge fireball. Stripped allowed himself a smirk. “Checkmate.”

High above Equus’s atmosphere, Lupus allowed himself a smirk as he sat in his flagship’s bridge. The massive Moraimarz was of the dreadnaught class of ships, and was designed to wage full-scale war on a planet. It’s hangers held legions of fighter craft, ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice along with several smaller Moraimarz as well.

In front of Lupus, several holographic screens, each a deep violet tint similar in hue to the lights in the hallways, -which were a darker shade of purple themselves- rested in direct eye's view. One depicted his flagship itself, which was needless to say, titanic. Each individual piece linked together, with all of the belts turning like clockwork. All three of the smaller gears were armed with spear-like platforms, with different rooms on the inside. All of them looked very similar, though, so it was impossible to tell which one housed what. And surrounding this structure, was one single massive gear turning in unison alongside the smaller ones.

The other screen depicted a massive creature, burrowing deep beneath the planet’s icy surface, seemingly growing in size with each passing minute.

“Perfect…” Lupus mused. Sure, they’d stopped his first Moraimarz from draining the planet dry, which he entirely expected. That wasn’t the real goal, no. His main plan was to tire these Rangers out, before sending his legions in for the kill. He knew they were perfectly capable warriors as soon as the Scorpius Drone’s assault vehicle had been trashed.

“Milord, you’ve got an incoming hail from Don Armage.” a Strongindaver said, bowing as soon as he entered the bridge.

“Onscreen.” Lupus stated, quick and to the point. And so the orders were followed, with a new holographic screen replacing all the others. On it, was what could only be described as a massive bow, with a singular arrow loaded up and ready to fire. A golden frame with a blue loading mechanism and arrow filled it. Spikes adorned the edges, a sign that could have easily identified it as a hostile ship, if anything. A singular string of light-blue energy coiled from the bow through the arrow itself, almost like a power core being controlled and stabilised. The Ark, the flagship of the Dark Matter fleet and the main place of residence for Don Armage.

“Commander…” a voice growled out, and Lupus felt an involuntary chill run up his very spine as a cloaked figure appeared in front of Lupus, replacing the Ark. “I hear you’ve been having… difficulties in acquiring this new planet we’ve discovered. Was the assault craft I gave you not sufficient in subjugating the population?” Armage asked.

“We have them on the edge of a string.” Lupus said, unable to keep his voice from stuttering. “I plan to-”

“I care not for your plans!” Armage barked. “Your last failure in subjugating a planet, they rebelled and destroyed themselves, and not a single drop of Planetarium was gained in the process! And look at you. The deed split your spirit to the bone, as shown with your progress on this backwater world, without even a sun to light it’s days!” he roared, and clenched his fist. “I’m sending Sir Ikargen to assist.”

“S-Sir Ikargen?” Lupus whispered in fear. “But he’s a rabid dog! He can’t be controlled!”

“Nevertheless, you will await his arrival,” Armage argued. “You may wonder, why I keep such a “rabid dog” as you refer to him on my payroll? Permit me the chance to explain. A cur's weakness, properly manipulated, can be a sharp tool in anyone’s hands. Especially my hands. Yessss, even Sir Ikargen has his… fallacies. Weak as you both are, I believe you, together, can fix this disaster you yourself created, Lupus.” Armage stated leaving almost no room for argument. Almost.

“V-Very well, but…” Lupus stammered out.

“But what?” Don Armage asked, narrowing his violet eyes.

“Your… condition,” Lupus replied delicately. “I may have found a solution.”

“A solution you say?” Armage asked, leaning in closer in such a way that he practically towered and overshadowed the much smaller Dark Matter member. Lupus, trembling held up a small orb of energy, in which was contained the curved horn he’d found on the planet’s surface.

“Tests have been run, and there’s an unknown factor of energy emitting from this horn. It might just be enough for you to finally take physical form and go into battle personally.”

“While I have no desire to go into battle myself, not when I can control the galaxy’s inner workings with the mere palm of my hand, I admit, a new body after the destruction of my last one is very desirable. Congratulations, Lupus, you may have just migated your failure somewhat.” Armage replied, before vanishing. Lupus slumped back in his chair, and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Ikargen… Just the last thing I needed…” Lupus thought to himself. “As if things weren’t bad enough. Knowing him, he probably won’t be coming alone. He’ll probably have that whore of his, Madoka along as well! I swear, if she calls me a jelly brain even once, I’m shooting her and damn the consequences…”

Back deep beneath the icy manifolds of the overworld, Stripped Gear set back to work on what he did best, experimentation and creation. His lab, suffice to say, was a mess. Scientists and researchers were in a frenzy, passing beakers and vials of liquid around the room to other assistants. Apparatus had all been set up and nearly all of them were being used. Bunsen burners were lit and heating up some of the chemicals, while centrifuges spun and distillers lit themselves. Because of the way everyone was moving, the chance of spills and breakages happening were very high, and it was a miracle that there had been none of that yet. Of course, that could have just been him tempting fate, as many of the ponies nearly crashed into one another as they worked with their materials and devices.

“Oi!” Stripped shouted, as one pony nearly smacked into another, carrying the arm of the ill-fated Scorpius Drone in his hands. “Last thing we want is those chemicals -Does nopony read or even understand the words highly flammable anymore?- blowing something up just because they get rattled a bit?” he barked, before letting a hand trail down his face.

“I swear, the ponies I work with…” he thought in disgust, before grabbing the arm out of the assistant's hands and placing it on his table, his hooves clanking against a piece of metal grating below, that just so happened to barely traverse a small river of pure molten magma.

Stripped, at times, honestly wished he’d been given a better or at least safer workspace. This was one of those times he mused, as he wiped sweat off his brow before pulling a monocle out of his lab coat’s pockets and began studying the arm’s inner workings, some of the outer armor plating having been removed for better access a few hours before. It was true enough, the lab he’d been given was hardly compliant with OSHA safety regulations.

With all of the recent chaos in the outside world, the ceiling above had entirely caved in and submitted to the grip of the icy world, and now stalactites hung tenderly above the devices, and looked sharp enough to rend any experiment to pieces with a single drop. There was also a cold atmosphere around, as the heaters had been worn thin from constant overuse. In fact, if not for the bunsen burners, the room would have been almost utterly devoid of heat, and many of the ponies were shivering even now despite their thermal suits as they hustled to get their work done on time. They were just glad the floor hadn’t frozen over, or dampened by any spillages, or everything would have gone belly up for all of them.

“How goes the roof repair work?” Stripped asked another pony, even as he continued looking at the Scorpius Drone’s arm.

“Plates are being moved in to cover the hole, and the Galaxy Garrison headquarters is willing to lend us some shielding, but it might be a while before we get that,” Jabari said with a sigh, looking over what looked to be a thruster pack with wings. They seemed to be made of some otherworldly material, and perhaps they were, but knowing Stripped he’d probably found something from a failed invention of his and repurposed the materials. The pony was a master of magitech after all. Beautiful streaks of amber, tied and woven together with metal made up the celestial-like wings. If Jabari remembered correctly, these were meant to be an upgrade for his suit, to give him flight capabilities and if everything worked out, applied to the rest of the non-flight capable Rangers as well.

“Wonderful…” Stripped muttered to himself, with no small amount of sarcasm in his voice. Then an eyebrow raised in interest as he looked at the arm in front of him a little closer.

“Hey, Jabari, bring your Kyuchanger over here will you?” he asked, with Jabari shrugging before taking the gauntlet off his wrist and handing it over to the unicorn.

“Now, if my hunch is correct…” Stripped muttered, before he fitted the Kyuchanger to the arm laying in front of him.

“So, what’s that prove?” Jabari asked. “All of the Kyuchangers were made for a universal fit, so that anyone could wear them.”

“Yes, but remember, we found a Kyutama in the wreckage of the scorpion mech.” Stripped reminded, and he and Jabari shared a glance.

“You don’t think…” Jabari trailed off before his expression turned nervous. “Now that I think of it, one of the assistants said they found this amongst the robot’s parts.” he continued, bringing out what looked to be a Kyuchanger but in purple and black instead. He quickly replaced his own with this dark version on the robot’s arm. Understandably, he was suitably unnerved by this sight. What was about to happen next wouldn’t soothe him in the slightest.

“Yeah, just as I thought,” Stripped muttered. “Now, I only need one more thing to prove my theory…” he mused, before bringing out the Scorpius Kyutama and pressing down on it.

Almost as if in reaction, the dark Kyuchanger proclaimed: “Say the Change!”

Jabari then carefully watched as Stripped placed the Kyutama into the little slot on the gauntlet and flicked it. Almost in an instant, the arm was covered in orange armor, not unlike the Ranger’s own suits.

“That confirms it, doesn’t it?” Stripped sighed. “For better or for worse, that robot sent to attack us is or was a Kyuranger.”

Taking the time to digest that frankly disturbing information, a long silence permeated the air.

“So…” Jabari whispered, his voice trembling. “Dark Kyurangers? Is… Is that even a thing? I mean, how can that even be a thing? I mean, the Draco Kyutama and all of the technology we derived from it was created for good, wasn’t it?” he whispered and Stripped nodded. Jabari then had a horrific thought. “How long do you think the Draco Kyutama spent wandering the galaxies before it crash-landed here, on Equus?”

“Hundreds, maybe thousands of years?” Stripped guessed as a reply. “In that time and in those days, space travel would take a long time. Anyone could have picked it up and studied it.”

“Exactly, anyone,” Jabari replied with a nod. “Anyone, and that includes Dark Matter or whatever became the group. They easily could have created their own Kyutamas and tech based around them, and from the looks of things I’d say they did,” he stated.

“I need to talk to Stardust. He needs to know about this.” Stripped stated firmly, standing up before his gaze turned to behind him. Resting on a table behind him was the Scorpion Robot’s head, gazing at them soullessly.

“Hey, did you bring that in?” Jabari asked. “I know I sure as Hell didn’t…”

“Might have been one of the lab techs, I don’t know. So much hustle and bustle it’s nigh impossible to keep track of anything sometimes. Still…” Stripped trailed off, eyeing it warily. He tapped the optic, to see if he could garner any reaction but nothing happened.

“Listen, I’m just going to go look at my star maps, maybe annoy Coldcast a little. Anything but standing near that… thing. It’s beginning to freak me out, really.” Jabari muttered, before turning to leave the room.

“Agreed.” Stripped said, before following suite. What neither of them noticed was as soon as they left the room, the optic blinked.

Stripped’s hooves broke into a sprint as they ran down the corridors, alleyways and through the streets of the undercity, as it were. Ponies, amongst various other species, peered out of their windows and stepped out onto balconies to get a good gander at the frantic scientist.

Going for his belt, he pulled out the Boötes Kyutama, colored bright green in the central crystal and inserted it into his Kyuchanger. Almost in an instant, he felt a burst of speed as he rounded a corner, his lab coat billowing behind him like a cape of some sorts. He kicked up dust, and various pieces of trash as he ran through the city center and out of another alleyway.

Stopping only momentarily to catch his breath, he resumed his run and brushed past various citizens who let out yelps and on some occasions, cursed at him as he neared the city center.

Stripped made a mental note to apologize, but right now he had more important matters at hand, really.

Eventually, he did reach the Prince’s personal quarters, or tried to anyways as something else caught his attention. Two red armored guards, helmets covering their faces carrying long bladed staves were wandering the corridors of the Prince’s personal residence. They seemed to pay him no mind, which was understandable considering this wasn’t the first time Stripped or anyone else for that matter had visited this place. What was strange was their presence in the first place, and how unnerved they seemed.

Maybe it was because of all the recent chaos, Stripped figured, but he’d never seen this particular brand of guard before. Then again, he’d never seen Stardust with any form of guards. He’d heard the rumors of course, that Stardust’s guards lurked in the shadows and you’d never see them coming but he’d always dismissed them. Bit too secret police-like for his tastes, if you asked him.

But here they were, clear as day. Or at least, maybe the inspiration for the rumors. The armor itself, was a combination of robes covering the body, and a thickly armored helmet that covered the face completely, leaving no features visible. You couldn’t even tell what race these guards were, or even if they were organic in nature. For all Stripped knew, they could have been robotic. Questions ran through his mind, even as he, out of pure instinct and caution hid behind a corner and waited till the guards left.

Sticking to the shadows, the unicorn cast a spell over himself that made him almost but not completely invisible. He found himself drawn, for whatever reason, to a rather unremarkable door. However, that’s only at first glance, the door for whatever reason felt unnaturally cold to the touch. The fact was, below the door were small clouds of mist. Gritting his teeth and looking to make sure nobody was around, Stripped carefully cut open a small hole in the door and found himself in a chamber of pods. Stasis pods, each carefully controlled so that whatever was inside them stayed a frosty sleep.

No, not whatever, Stripped mentally corrected himself. Whoever. Going to a computer console, he checked the status of the pods' occupants. Only one had someone inside it.

“Suppose you’ve slept long enough, man…” Stripped remarked, pressing a button on the pod’s side, and it opened with a hissing sound. What was inside, shocked Stripped to the core. A dark green insectoid body, with two red pincers sticking out of the forehead like a stag beetle. The unicorn’s eyes widened. He didn’t need to be a genius to know who this was.

“Pharynx…” he breathed out, as the Changeling’s eyes slowly fluttered open.