Trains, we stopped using those things after the countless crashes that happens to them along with the seldom purpose of cargo transportation by land when airlifting them was far more economical and time-saving. As we stopped using trains we took great notice in the hover cars we developed and resorted to flying which led to an overwhelmingly increased number of pilots but it also resorted into more crashes and flying accidents but due to the numerous safety measures implimented into the vehicles deaths were lowered. As for trains when it crashed usually leads to many dying and/or being seriously injured, so in all that led to my inevitable fear of trains.

"What's the big hold up? Come on big man just get on the train so the rest of us can!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she impatiently poked the back of my head, my body blocking the doors leading into the first class train compartment. Since my armor was naturally heavy as fuck and knowing that if I boarded the train with it on I know that it would have slowed it to a crawl or worse I fall through the floor and cause an accident so I had to remove my prototype armor and leave it behind for Luna to watch after, and knowing that look in her eyes when I left it in the throne room that she will be messing with it in my absence.

Turning my head a bit to look at the rest of them I can clearly see that Rainbow had the look of annoyance with my blockage of the door but what the others couldn't see is that I was scared shitless of boarding a train, especially after what happened the last time I was on one.

Flashback

"Sir we need to stop this train now before it reaches the civilian evacuation center and blows it all to hell!" a voice crackled over the squad intercom system marked as Private First Class Urta Jenkins.

"Tell me something I don't know Urta! We are pinned down on both sides of this fucking train and we sure as hell know that the bomb is near the front and that an Atlas is waiting for us! If you got any bright ideas fucking say it!" my voice crackled over the com, the readout read Staff Sergeant Roran Zidane.

"Can't we just bum rush it from both on top and inside the carts? That plan worked when we got onto this damn thing." Urta cracked out, firing her Widow up close at a Cerberus Shock Trooper, blowing him clearly in half as the round catches another in the right arm, shearing it off as well as the soldier falls out of a side window and disappears into the blizzard. As I gaze over the cover of a chair a grenade rolls down the corridor and detonates near by foot, knocking it back to me as the shrapnel embeds itself into the surrounding seats and into my foot, the pain of having metal fragments digging into my flesh and the sight of my blood trickling out of the holes was enough for me to pull out two incendiary grenades and lob them over my cover before laying out suppressing fire to keep the few shock troopers in cover and before they knew what was going on the two fire grenades explode, encasing the five troopers in thermite, their screams of pain was music to my ears as we advance further out of the rear section of the train.

"Well no shit it worked for us getting on! Cerberus did not even know we were coming and we got them off guard...hell we barely managed to jump onto the damn thing as it was leaving the refueling station!" I shouted as I fire my Vindicator at a nearby Centurion and as we force our way to about 1/3 of the way to the front of the train a squadron of A-61 Mantis Gunships flies overhead and from instructions of another Centurion began to rain machine gun fire down at our cart, bullets pelting the walls and chairs as they penetrate through the walls and chairs, slowly shredding the compartment apart.

As the five gunships continue firing molten death from above, Major Emile pulls out one of the few Hydra Missile Launchers we have brought with us and manages to take down three of the five gunships, leaving the other two flying straight at us and with a tap on Urta's right shoulder and making a bet at the worst of possible times, he aims is Widow at the flying pair and with a few breaths squeezes the trigger once to blow out one of the two engines on the lead Mantis Gunship, causing it to drift into the others flight path, both of them colliding at a high rate of speed and bursting into flames as payloads within each wing detonates after a well timed Overload by me, making both gunships burst into fiery pinwheels.

"Cut the chatter you two, we got less than an hour to get to that bomb, disarm it or blow it before it reaches the evac center and goes off. Private Urta, Sgt. Roran, you two go topside and pick off and stragglers trying to enter through the windows, Katherine, Diego and Andy with me." the major calls out as Kat looks at us and gives the thumbs up and a wink before rushing after the other three leaving me with Urta.

Looking at each other for a few seconds before giving a high five, both of us clearly pleased that we are paired up and ready to tear the enemy a new asshole. As we climbed onto the roof of the car we barely ducked in time to avoid getting our heads ripped off from ceiling of a cave that we just passed into, the lights from our armor and helmets give us away as a few Cerberus troopers are also on the roof, sending hot lead and rolling grenades down the middle only to fall off course and down the sides to detonate near the windows.

Flashback Interrupted

"Helloooooooooo? Any life in that noggin of yours dude? OH now he wakes up. Seriously just get on the darn train already, you have been standing there looking at the door for ten minutes!" Rainbow Dash was yelling while trying to push my heavy form past the double doors as I give her some slack to force myself into the doors.

After finding a spot in the middle of the room and taking up at least three ponies worth of space, the others move in, place their belongings in the overhead bins as I stare off out the window again. My eyes staring out the window, looking at the Canterlot train station and at the ponies going on and off the soon-to-be-departing train, the few ponies that are sitting down on the benches appear to be waiting for their train or for a certain pony they are meant to meet as my eyes shift to the ceiling to count the rivets and bolts.

"Do you think he is alright? I have never seen anypony stare off into the distance like that before, maybe he has something on his mind?"

"I don't know, why don't we ask him what is currently on his thoughts?"

"Ya sure that is a good idea Twi? For all we know he could be thinkin' about somethin' from his past about trains and somethin' bad by the look of it."

"Oh how bad can his memories be with trains? They just get you to point A to B in a timely fashion."

Turning my head to the four mares talking I just stare them with a blank stare before turning my head back to the ceiling before speaking up, "You have no idea how bad that memory is." moving my left hand to my pocket on my chest I pull out a half smoked cigerate and light it, taking a slow drag from it and exhaling it out just as slow, letting the smoke linger in the air before cracking open a window to let the smoke out.

Oddly enough they slowly trot over to me and take up seats around me, sensing the impending story that I am about to tell them as they get themselves comfortable. As soon as the four are ready Pinkie Pie and Rarity come over as well, the pink demon somehow sitting in one of the overhead storage bins as Rarity makes her way to my lap, knowing full well that the last time she did so ended with my petting her till I forced myself to stop an impending beat down.

"Well now that you are all comfortable...let me tell it to you all from the beginning...you see it was in the early stages of the Reaper Wars...."

Flashback Resumed

As the shards of glass fly into the cabin, hitting both Cerberus and N7 operatives alike temporarily disorientating both sides as Urta and I secure ourselves onto the roof of the car so we don't slide off and disappear into the raging blizzard surging around us.

"Urta imma kill you if we don't die from this bullshit!" I shouted as a rocket streaks by the both of us and hits the ceiling of the tunnel causing a chunk of it to fall off and crash into the fourth car behind us, severing it from the rest.

The sounds of gunfire and screams from below indicated that our squad is taking and giving fire at the enemy within as we stare back at the troopers firing at us as we see the one with the rocket launcher load another shot into the tube and just as he raised it to fire again but takes a 50 cal to the head, blowing his head clear off his shoulders and drops the launcher over the side.

Regaining my senses I aim my rifle at the remaining troopers at the lip of the roof, and with pin-point accuracy they drop off the sides lifeless and now cold as the grave as we exit the tunnel to meet the blizzard head on.

"Dude we got to get back inside! Our suits can handle the freezing cold for so long and this blizzard is pushing past the safety measures rapidly! We are losing heat!" oh fuck me.

Nodding at her as we begin to crawl forward, keeping our heads low as to avoid any incoming fire and the occasional tunnel that this train is going through, at one point in time as we get to the other side and land safely, a Nemesis is directly above us and just about to fire but was smacked against the side of the cave wall, splattering against it.

"HA! You owe me fifty credits asshole!" I shouted as we move to the next car, Urta passing my a credit chit marked with the number 50 on it and as Andy kicked open the next door only to be blown back the concussive force of a grenade exploding where is his foot was.

"I do believe those credits are mine." Urta said back to me with a smug look on her visor as I passed the chip back to her in a defeated motion as Katherine picks Andy off the floor just as bullets start flying out the door.

Pointing my rifle at the doorway and squeezing the trigger a few times as I rush into the car as the rest of the squad files in behind me hoping to kill any hostile foot mobiles injured or still fit, and just as we get half way through the room an explosion rocks the car as we hear the sounds of metal groaning and bending from unequal pressure and weight.

"This car is caving in! Get the fuck out!" Emile shouts as we all start sprinting to the other side, my eyes watching the walls buckle and crumple from the pressure inside the cabin and outside are unbalanced and from what I learned from the academy if a pressurized cabin has lost all internal pressure than it will cave in like a heated empty aluminium can flipped over into ice cold water.

Only seconds from disaster all six of us manage to get out and all of us got a show of the car behind us crumple but not from pressurization but from a Thresher Maw that somehow landed on top of the car and slowly crushed it under its weight.

"Holy fucking jumping Jesus on a Pogo stick! Fucking kill it! Kill it with fire do anything just fucking kill it!" I shouted while unloading an incendiary grenade down its gaping maw as firing off an entire clip as well, the rest of the squad firing as well and to my surprise even a few Cerberus troopers fired at it as well. Looks like even they don't that thing killing them or stopping the train from offloading its deadly cargo.

"Keep moving forward and avoid its acidic spit! Rush past these soldiers and get rid of their Atlas and disarm that bomb! We have less than thirty minutes to get this done!" We all nod in agreement and we resume our jobs, rushing past a few of the bastards shooting at both us and the Thresher Maw who is clearly pissed off at us, most likely me as it barrels down at us and slams against the side of the car, trying to dislodge it from its couplings and send us off into the blizzard.

Firing, stabbing, slashing and running was all that we did as we bum rushed to the front of the train, the severed, obliterated and torn up bodies of Cerberus operatives litter the cars of the train as we make it closer and closer to the front but we get stopped from the Atlas mech standing on an open platform and as we see it it unleashes a rocket right at us, exploding behind us and launching Urta and Emile directly beneath it.

Without even thinking I begin to open fire at the hulking mech hoping to draw its fire from my commanding officer and best perverted joke buddy, my bullets pinging off its shields as it raises a leg and slams it down on top of where Emile used to be as he retreats back to us, his rifle lost to the edge of the train as he had to pull out his standard issue pistol and just as the Atlas was about to stomp on Urta the Thresher Maw came back and tackled directly into the mech, taking it away from the rest of us and opening up a clear path to the bomb.

"Roran! Katherine! Disarm that bomb! We will hold off the incoming Cerberus reinforcements! Just do it before we get to the evac center!" Andy shouted while firing his Crusader shotgun at an incoming Kodiak Shuttle as three more arrive and offloads its cargo of Guardians and Engineers.

Boom Tat-tat-tat Bang Tat-tat-tat Tat-tat-tat Shick-shick Tat-tat-tat Kraboom Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat

Turning our heads back to see our squad firing at the enemy behind their cover, Emile blindly firing his pistol at them as the enemy starts to make their way to the open platform, the Guardians trying to form a wall of metal to allow the Engineers time to set up their auto-turrets, a few of them taking their time as one of them quickly rushes to a low crate but gets his turret on his back blown off sending him up in flames as he rolls on the floor before dying.

Rushing to the bomb and nearly shitting a brick in the process cause the damn thing was a fucking mountain cracker, it had enough explosive force and kinetic energy that it can easily disintegrate a mountain much less a mountain range of them that are closely in a circle. Rushing over to the panels on it and detaching it from the bomb we both started and rushed ourselves to deactivate any active countermeasures or secondary power sources so when we do disarm it the damn thing doesn't restart itself and keeps ticking.

Throwing a panel to the side as it rattles against the floor and slowly rumbles its way over to the ledge and slides off into the powdery snow beneath us as I watched Andy take a bullet to the shoulder, dropping his Tempest SMG before picking it up with his right hand and resumed firing but missing and shooting in a wild fashion.

"Okay...power lines...power lines...ah ha here you are you little bastard...." "Roses are Red...Violets are Blue....This is Bullshit...and so are you..." "Cut the power cut the power cut the power....and it is cut!" "I am going to drink myself to the oval office when we are done with this..."

Rrrrrooooooaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr!

"Oh shit its back! And it came back for more!" shouted Emile as we watched the Thresher Maw return but with parts of the Atlas mech clearly in its open jaws.

I only give myself a glance at the incoming giant worm before it brings its open jaws down onto a Cerberus Kodiak and devours it in front of us all, and with another loud roar it keeps coming after the train.

Looking at the bomb, the exposed wiring's and core than to the Thresher Maw who is getting closer by the second I made a brash, risky and highly suicidal idea.

"That is the stupidest fucking idea I have ever heard. How hard should I toss your ass?"

"As hard as you can Katherine, and for gods sake arc me when you throw."

Getting a firm grip on the bomb and using a spare magnet to secure it to my back I give Katherine a thumbs up as she uses her entire concentration to life both me and the bomb and throws it over the train cars as both the Cerberus forces and my squad look up and watch me and the bomb go over their heads and directly towards the Thresher Maw which reopens its gaping maw and consumes us both.

Flashback Interrupted

"Horseapples!" Rainbow Dash plainly says while trying to not give any hint of emotion on a blank face. The rest of her friends seemed to be offended by that word she just used, pony swear 1/ human swear lost count.

"You know what? Fuck it, I am done explaining things to you ponies, if you don't believe my words than believe the damn video logs!" tapping my left arm and bringing up my mission log archives I tap again to my third mission on Noveria and skipped ahead to the part where I was tossed by Katherine. The ponies around me are looking at the screen I brought up, a small series of numbers appear in the upper left hand corner displaying my name and that it is on 'HelmCam'.

"Playing Mission Log #301-15:49:79 PM"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh shit!" crackled over the com system, my body slamming against a spongy surface as the bomb flies right past my down its gullet, its blinking lights quickly fading to the wiggling flesh of its throat.

"Crap I forgot to set the timer!" my voice yelling over the coms again as I forced myself to jump and slide after the bomb, dodging bits of flesh from previous victims and chunks of debris it has eaten while chasing us down.

"Well arm the damn thing and get the hell out of there or was that throw a suicide run?"

Sliding down its gullet seemed easy at first but as I entered its stomach and splashed down into its juices a series of warning klaxons went off in my helmet, the displays of Grade-5 Acid dissolving my shields and barriers if I stay in prolonged exposure to the stuff forcing me to swim fast to get to the bomb. Looking around for it I find it to be floating on the surface, parts of the metal casing already pocket-marked with holes and scorch marks as I dragged it to the surface of a slab of rocks and ice, using Lift to get to the uneven rough ground before tapping into it three minutes to boom time.

After getting the timer ready a junk of the train slides into its stomach, bits and pieces of Cerberus litter parts of the interior that I can see but slowly begin to corrode and dissolve from the stomach acid, taking that as my que to get the fuck out of their I turn my head back to the bomb and melt the base of it to the rocks to ensure it does not leave that spot and after a few shakes I arm the bomb and turned around and began to swim to the entrance of the beast's stomach.

As I get to the stomach's entrance I begin to stab, hack and slash slowly forcing my way out and even a few times stabbing and pulling myself through the clenching esophagus muscles with each sinking stab and pull yanks me a few feet closer to freedom as the timer ticks down, the squeezing muscles bearing down on me as drops of residue stomach acid burns into my shields and barriers until I am at its closed maw. The faint sounds of rocks and stones giving way to its move and a few seconds of it opening to reveal the train far off in the distance as it catches up to it, the timer on my helmet reads 00:01:21:69 before boom time.

Peering out of its jaw again I can see Katherine signalling me to jump and as I do its jaws close just in time for me to be free as it dives back under the ground to try and attack again. As I leaped at the train I can feel a shift in gravity and force, my body being yanked towards the open flatbed of the train but as I looked up I see the last tunnel before reaching the Noverian Civilian Territory Outer Limits but as I get close enough to the flatbed I feel something slam against the back of my legs and the sudden alarms of my suit rupturing.

Slamming hard against the flatbed of the train and rolling four feet towards of where the bomb used to be as I try to get my bearings and stand up but I only managed to fall face first onto the floor, turning my head to my legs to see why I ate shit but as I look at my legs I can clearly see that I was missing half of them. My feet were gone up to below my knee caps, the synthetic fibers that formed the false muscles are ripped, torn and jagged, the wiring's that formed the nerves and blood vessels were wiggling and writhing as they tried to find their connecting wires only to find frigid air and snow. Only 15 seconds left on the timer.

"Holy shit! Major Emile get over here quick! The crazy bastard is back and he is alive! Oh damn he is missing his shins haha looks like someone is a mid-" Urta gets cut off as a gust of air gets sucked from the general area as it gets directed behind us and in an instant it gets blown back toward us at a higher rate of speed rattling the train cars behind and in front of us as a large mushroom cloud slowly forms up. A large shock wave blasts through all of us as we feel the force of it knock all of us off our feet but for me it just knocks me down onto my ass again.

In an instant all that I heard from my helmet was the sound of strange sonic vibrations coursing through my head, my eyes swirling around my head like crazy unable to concentrate on anything as I forced my helmet to look in the general direction of the blast as I can barely see the mountain behind us disintegrated into large flying junks of debris and mountain rocks hurtling in all directions as a chunk slams into a rear car on the short train wrenching it off the connectors before the secondary shock wave flies directly at us, un-linking the train from its couplings and flinging it off course sending all six of us off the flatbed and into snow.

Video Fed Disrupted, Video Fed Re-Established 03:59:58:01

*cough cough* *cough cough cough* "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck........oh fuuuuuck me....." my voice crappy and weak, the visor on my helmet completely covered in snow and ice, unable to see anything from the sheet of ice.

Slowly pulling myself up I can see chunks of metal scattered around, burning pieces of train are littered about, pieces of body armor and frozen corpses are all around me, crawling to the nearest fire to try to heat myself up, the rupture in my suit causing havoc with my suit's internal heat emissions. Looking around I noticed that everything was doubled and that every few seconds my visor fills with static until it finally hit me that my helmet is cracked and damaged, shaking my vision clear again before crawling around and tapping on my com system an S.O.S. to be picked up for med-evac and search and rescue.

"Calling on all friendly and open channels, this is Staff Sergeant Roran Zidane of the Earth Systems Alliance and N7 H.R.H.R. Operations, any and all friendly forces that hear this I have pinged my location and am awaiting pick up, I am crippled with stunted mobility. I say again I request Med-Evac and search and rescue for missing squad mates." sending that message into a loop as I crawl to another fire, searching for anything useful to find my Vindicator stuck in a frozen grip of a dead Cerberus Centurion as I yank it free and check its thermal clip to sadly find it empty.

"This is gonna be a long wait...."

Five hours of waiting and feeling my limbs slowly lock up and stiffen was a very boring death to be frozen alive but the whine of a pulse engine breaks me from my addled thoughts to see Katherine and Urta jump out of the Kodiak with guns bared and pointing around until I click my com system one last time before falling over from the winds.

"About...damn...time.....fuckers..."

End of Video Fed

"And that is why I hate the fucking snow...." crossing my arms after turning off my omni-tool, the ponies were shocked to see the video and before they even say anything I hit myself hard enough upside the head with the rifle butt of my Typhoon to knock myself out.

2 Hours Later

'So.....Katherine what do you think of this so called Crystal Kingdom? Sounds like bullshit to me cause the only crystal kingdom I believe in was the piles of red sand that littered my room in Omega.'

'I think it is a bit silly but still that seems a bit to much you druggie.'

'Bite me Kat, I got discharged from the Alliance and got the hell away from Cerberus, I earned those mountains of red sand and by god it was fucking good! Fuck normal white teeth I liked my scary as hell glowing red teeth that tells people that I do red sand and I am crazy enough to any suicidal job for another dose, and besides...getting recruited back into the Alliance made me lose my addiction...even though red sand is sooooooo good......snorting salt was a stupid idea.'

'Of course that was a stupid idea! If that was a drug meant just for ponies what would make you think it would work for you?'

'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.'

'Yea yea yea, I know that all to well with you, but still you could have told me you were going to go the bar and get trashed! You should that I wanted to possess some hapless sucker so we can spend some drinking time together and besides I bet I could still drink you under the table.'

'You wanna bet?'

'First bar we find in this new place?'

'Your on.'

3 Hours Later

Snoring loudly in my helmet, the sounds carrying over to the rest of the train car, the train slowing down as it reaches its station to offload its passengers of eight.

Still asleep I feel something poking my shoulder a few times but I brush it off and lean in the opposite direction until I feel something prodding my other shoulder a few more times which earned my hand trying to shoo them away, the barely audio able groans only cause me to groan as well as I shift into a much more comfortable position which leads to something heavy dropping on my head snapping me from my sleep.

"Billy no!" I shouted as I jump through an open window and rolled onto the snow with my fists out in a Irish boxing style but upon the sight of the falling snow and soft blowing wind I remember where I am currently at, "Well would you look at that....were here...." groaning a bit at the endless fields of snow in all directions I look at, spotting a few randomly placed boulders.

Lowering my arms and taking another look around before going to the train to grab my one bag and footlocker from my bin but upon going back to my section I found it to be empty and from looking out the window my friends on the other side with my gear, Pinkie Pie was waving at me and just as she waved the train started to depart back to Equestria and in that moment I jumped out of another window but this time it was not open and I was than covered in shards of glass and snow.

The sounds of hooves trotting in snow filled my ears as I got up and dusted myself off, trying to act like nothing happened.

"Was that really necessary?" Rarity asks while I look over at her, her face had the look of not amused.

"Girl you should know me by now that everything I do is absolutely necessary, even if it looks like it isn't necessary but sadly it is. Remember that next time something comes up and I had to do something displeasing to keep you safe from harm." going over to Pinkie Pie who was hopping up and down in place as I grabbed my bag of spare uniforms, medical supplies, my copy of Fornax that I 'found' in the barracks and four bottles of hard cider from the Shady Trough and hanging it over my left arm as I grabbed my footlocker filled with my extra ammunition, grenades, armor parts, my pistol and shotguns, an extra out-of-date omni-tool and the all important rationed food and shifted it over my right shoulder.

Watching the girls grab their belongings and placing their saddlebags on their backs and Spike hopping onto Twilight's back and as they trotted off in a seemingly random direction I follow behind them, keeping my Typhoon out and ready for anything to pop up and ambush us. Thankfully before departing Equestria I managed to ask Celestia to enchant my armor to look like those of her royal guards and at first she thought it was because I was showing favoritism towards her and partially that was true but the other reason was since I was heading to the frozen north which snow is white and her guards armor is also white I would easily blend in.

Smart thinking for me but even better was that I can scare the shit out of the ponies if I ran around them and popped out of no where.

As we trudged through the snow in this godforsaken tundra up ahead I can clearly see the girls talking but what surprised me was that Spike was trailing behind and was wearing a a snow suit of sorts with the hood up making him look like an Eskimo of my time, and by god did it look awesome with the thick goggles went with it.

"I swear Spike if this is about trying to find a way to impress your marefriend than imma just tell Twilight who it is cause my advice is for those that are interested in the 'High Stakes High Rewards' style and by the way you are trying to sway her into your scaly arms it's not gonna cut it." I said, pulling out an Arrogant Bastard Cigar and lighting it but just as quickly as it lights it freezes and with a deep sigh I put it back into its silver tube home.

"But I was just going to ask you what exactly are you here for? I mean Princess Celestia told Twilight that she had some sort of test to complete up here and we can easily handle any kind of danger that would show itself." he said while waddling in the snow as it gets taller slowly and just as I thought this trip couldn't get anymore boring or uninteresting a figure slowly materializes off in the distance and spotting the being I hook my footlocker to my shoulder as I raise my Typhoon to arm as I aim down the scope and zero in on the target and moving at a fast brisk pace in front of the ponies.

"Star!" I shouted as I stop in front of the six ponies plus baby dragon, kneeling down and switching the safety switch off, the figure off in the distance stops in its tracks, the snow now falling at a faster rate of speed and is now slanted, obscuring my vision to only 50 meters.

"Star! Star or I will fire upon you!" I shout again, squeezing the specialized pistol mold grip and keeping my trigger finger on the switch of death, my eye never leaving the scope as I keep it zero in on the obscured figure in the tundra.

Just as it resumed its approach I almost squeezed the trigger until I saw through the obscuring blizzard that it was a pony and upon slightly closer approach it was Shining Armor but in winter-like apparel that consisted of a jet black scarf and some strange ass black goggles.

"I said Star jackass....you already forgot the response code didn't you? Read my field guide when you get back home..." I grumbled half way through the yelling, lowering my rifle and clipping it to my waist as he got closer.

'Humanity 2, Equestrian 0.'

After watching Twilight and Shining hug briefly, followed by me making a gag sound in annoyance I move past them and looked around, keeping my eyes peeled for any ice beasts or worse case scenario, Thresher Maw.

"We better get moving, there are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark." the look on Shining's face was fear and most likely scared shitless.

From behind me and the two we faintly hear Fluttershy speak up in her usual hushed tone.

"What kind of things?" in my mind I can think of so many things, husks, my father, Geth, Saren, Hitler, Collecters, Stalin, a very drunk krogan, a very pissed off krogan, vorcha, me after last round of drinks at Chora's Den, and the list goes on.

"Let's just say that the Empire isn't the only thing that has returned." he turned his head, his eyes slightly closed with repressed anger towards the mysterious being that came back. I take that mysterious hostile as a challenge to my right to badassery trophy.

As soon as we left the train station, following after Shining Armor while I take his rear flank, keeping my Typhoon un-clipped and in a readied position to immediately open fire on anything that gets in our way, my helmet sealed shut tightly and I turned the noise down only to the point of where I can still hear what they are saying but in a much quieter tone.

"Something keeps trying to get in! We think it is the unicorn king who originally cursed the place." he said as his eyes slowly moved left to right and back again, trying to find the so called unicorn king, I just keep my finger on the trigger while slightly jumping in my armor feeling something cold crawl against my skin.

"But Princess Celestia said that I was sent here to find a way to protect the Empire? If King Sombra can't get in than it must mean it already is protected?" I heard Twilight speak as I roll my eyes, one rule of being hostile enemy trying to breach a shield barrier or outer defenses, keep attacking until they buckle and cave in or lower their guard.

Just as we get past a large mound of rock and snow a wolves howl echoes throughout the snowy plains as Fluttershy starts to flip out and if I was near her I would have backhanded her head and told her to calm the fuck down but knowing that anger her friends and also that whatever it was is close, it would have been a waste of time.

"We have to get the Crystal Empire, now!" Shining shouts while turning around and just as I do the same a large pillar of inky black smoke rises from the ground and a pair of green red centered eyes billowing purple flames at the very top, I nearly shit a brick thinking I have seen everything this world had to offer.

"Holy fucking shit! I was wrong for once!" I screamed over my com system as I brought up my Typhoon and opened fire, unleashing burst fire of fifteen rounds per burst five times as I started to move back as the ponies started to gallop as if their asses was on fire cause in this case it might as well be.

That thing looked at the ponies for a few seconds before locking its gaze with mine and in that moment I heard a strange voice drive a spike into my brain, trying to wrench control.

"Human.....welcome....home.....give unto....my will." its voice was dark and cold, trying to force its will upon my own and smother it to death.

"Oh fuck no!" I shouted, shaking my head and kept on firing before turning around and ran full tilt and caught up to the rest of the gang, turning my heavy rifle around near my shoulders and started to blind fire behind me, trying to keep it away.

"Do not resist....give yourself over....and be spared." it kept speaking, its will exerting more power as it lashed out against my own, but mine is already being protected by a friendly passenger and I am not breaking without a fight.

"Stay the fuck out of my head!" I kept firing till my gun was empty forcing me to eject the thermal clip and snatch it in mid-air, storing it in a side pocket to be recharged later.

"We are almost there!" Shining shouts as he slides to a halt and turns around, I follow suit as I slam a new thermal clip into its home and pulled back the charging handle and aimed down the scope at the pillar of smoke. As I was half way empty of my clip I used my left hand to unstrap my footlocker and travelers bag and threw them through the dome, hoping that it is safe enough to leave there and that Twilight is smart enough to take it to where ever the hell I am staying.

"Struggle if you wish....your mind will be mine."

"Shut the fuck up and die already god damn it!" I continued to fire until I was out of ammo again, the black smoke with eyes keeps staring at me but when Shining blasts a bolt of magic at it, it seemed to dodge and pay attention to him and as it came crashing down it disappeared but resurfaced behind me, and in that moment I grabbed Shining by the tail, said that I was sorry and hurled his fat flank into the dome as it rises up to slam down again. Dropping a primed grenade I got only one step away before it exploded, throwing me far as I felt something cold grab me by the neck in a vice grip and threw me far, my body slamming into ice and rocks until it gave way as I fell down to the depths of the tundra.

"You shall be the first...to witness my arrival." its voice growing weaker as I drift off into the unknown darkness of the void.

Ice Caverns, Under the Crystal Empire, Afternoon

'Pain we seriously need to stop meeting like this, I am getting tired of waking up with a massive head ache and hangover.'

"So our lord has found another human aiding the ponies....just like the ones he found a thousand years ago....."

"Be quiet fool! He can hear us!"

"He can't you blockhead! He is still out cold!"

"Ha ha, funny punny, but still he can hear us. Just cause he is out like a candle does not mean he can not still hear our words!"

"You worry to much...and besides we have to get back to the ice fields to replenish our bodies...his keeps emitting heat like a roaring furnace."

"That I can agree with."

The feeling of being dragged ends as I can feel my body being tossed into a cold cell, my body refusing to move on my command as my limbs feel like they are made of solid lead and that all my nerves are frayed and disconnected, even my eyes refuse to open to my will.

"You okay in that noggin of yours Roran? Come on man this is getting very old real fast, wake the fuck up!"

I felt something slap my face and at that instant I can feel my body responding to my thoughts as my fingers and toes flexed within their hardened compartments, my eyes opening back to the word as my first sight was that of a large ice ceiling and as I sat up I saw that the entire room was made of ice.

"Thank god you are awake, listen buddy we need to get the fuck out of here cause from what I saw from your unconscious fat ass was that great big asshole of a unicorn king speaking about using you as some sort of breeder to raise an army of soldiers to bend to his will, and from what I know of in pony land is that we are most likely unable to even do that, let alone knock any pony up, so worst case is that it works and your will is more broken than Shepard getting spaced."

'Don't make fun of the Commander like that, and we all know what happens when we get spaced, our eyes explode and we expand till we burst unless we are in our suits. Worst case is that he kills me, second worse is that I get chained to the wall and used till I die, best case is that I get the fuck out of...wherever the fucking hell this is.'

"Oh look the meatbag is awake, hold still in your cell till King Sombra comes to speak with you...human."

Giving him the finger as I stand up, looking around to find that I was staring right the frozen tundra, the blizzard still going and very far off into the distance, the glowing blue dome.

"Do not think of escaping from your temporary new home....the last humans that resisted my will were weak but you...you are strong...strong enough to resist longer than others....a trait that is perfect for my general of my armies.....even in defeat you do not give in to a stronger enemy, a trait that fits the role of my general....obey me and whatever you desire is yours....rebel against me and your life is forfeit."

"Thanks but no thanks, I like being free and following someone that was easily defeated by both Celestia and Luna only means that once they are here your ass is grass. You have nothing to offer me let alone the power to hold me here." going over to the window and extending my omni-blade to cut the ice bars out and making a hole large enough for me to fit through I create myself a grip at the top of the window to jump out but his words spoke again.

"Oh my poor mislead human friend, I have everything you can ever want and more, power, wealth, immortality..."

"Yea, I already am strong enough to probably go toe-to-hoof against Celestia so no thanks, wealth? What the fuck am I going to spend it on? I am a soldier I don't have time for crap like that. Immortality? Dude I already got something like that but that cost is a motherfucker."

"...and, the loving embrace of an old friend of yours." his voice slowly saying the last part as I was half way out the window but stopped as I turned my head and jumped back in, my eyes burning now with barely bound wrath.

"You have my utmost attention.....for now."

Crystal Palace

Twilight's pov

"I am sorry Twilly but we can't outside of the shield while King Sombra is out there trying to get in, your friend just has to fend for himself and we both know that he can handle anything, probably even Sombra himself."

"I don't know about him being able to handle Sombra by himself, he probably is just trying to lure him away or is running back home, he doesn't seem so tough to me."

"Rainbow Dash he punched Discord in the head at a conference meeting with the delegates from the other nations. He actually made physical contact which left him with a chipped snaggletooth and temporary blindness."

"Okay maybe he can handle it but five bits says he comes back crying like a baby."

"An' I bet ya five bits that he come back like a champ."

"Your on Applejack."

"Girls...I think he can take care of himself, but for now we need to help the crystal ponies feel like themselves again before Sombra's rule."

Ice Caverns

Roran's pov

"So that is all I must do than....slow my friends down long enough for you to regain your form and break through the barrier and reclaim the crystal throne from Princess Cadence. This is high treason we are talking about King Sombra and I am not planning to be spending my life as a corpsicle or worse banished to the sun by Celestia. Your plan must be foolproof before I even consider joining you, and I must see and feel that my friend is alive and is not just an illusion that you conjured up to trick me." I said while standing in the middle of a large cavernous throne room made of ice and black crystals, a spectral pony is sitting on said throne but the only thing that looks visible and solid are his eyes.

"I see that you are no fool to deals.....the last humans that were here before you....were indeed fools, you are clearly a cut above the rest....but for now I will be true to my word. Ice Elementals, bring out our guest and do be gentle, I rather not lose a potential ally for your mistakes." Sombra said while the two ice ponies that brought me to the chamber bowed down before combining themselves to the floor and disappearing into it.

"If you trick me, I will burn this place down and leave and report it back to Cadence of where you have been hiding, she may be a pacifist but I sure as hell am not. You may be a ghost but that does not mean that your servants are not resistant to pain or death and I will not stop till either you are back to wherever the hell you came from or that my job is done and of no longer of any use." crossing my arms as I tap open my omni-tool to activate a tracking system but quickly changed it to squad chat to see if Spike was smart enough to grab one of my spares and put it on, sadly he wasn't.

Sombra simply stares at me for a while before slowly shifting off from his throne and made his way next to me, his blood red horn glowing a strange purple flame hue as my omni-tool shuts down and my suit starts to lose power."The last humans I have met....they wore the similar armor just like yours....but was all white with black lines bearing a strange golden emblem. They were already weak minded let alone weak willed....controlling them has been...enjoyable to say the least."

Locking my eyes with his I moved down into a crouching position, readying myself for anything and in that moment he smirks and stands before me, looking me over as I slowly pull out my bayonet that I have learned to keep on hand at all times, especially during dinner time at my house, a table with chunks of manticore meat that Kara 'acquired' when she is out of the house.

"Just because my suit may be dying along with my omni-tools doesn't mean I am defenseless let alone not a hazard to ones health and longevity." I said while trying to overcome the slowly quieting of my voice as the helmet's com system slowly dies down from power loss, my bayonet reverse handed.

Sombra simply chuckles to himself as he releases his hold on my power systems and in moments everything turns back on and resumes normal procedures in the event of power lose, reboot and resume normal protocols.

"I had the time to study the armor of those twenty fools that served me, their armor was in every way inferior to yours....for what I have done should have instantly turned you off but instead it was slowly dying.......only to prove that you do not entirely rely on your suit to keep you alive. A true warrior of the field." his voice trying to drill back into my head as I kept resisting his advances, my own body trying to not cave in.

"My lord we have our guest waiting just outside." one of the ice ponies says while holding the large double doors open as another slowly walks in, a figure using him...her...it as support, my eyes were not leaving Sombra's, not wanting to get stabbed in the back as soon as I turn my head to see an illusion but as I let my curiosity get the better of me I turn to see who or what it is.

My eyes could not look away, no matter how hard I try to.

"Keelah se'lai....Roran....is is that really you?"

"Hilo'Jaa vas Idenna....never thought I would see your face again, I thought only I survived that laser to the face but it seems that death or fate has intervened to bring us here....but is it really you are just an illusion created by Sombra?"

"Remember that time aboard the Citadel and you told me that you stole the-" Hilo'Jaa managed to get out before I raised my hand to stop her, knowing enough.

"Okay okay...I believe you, you were the only one I told about the time I stole the turian ambassador's car for a drive and brought it back all dinged up...but still how the hell did you get from Lower London to the middle of bumfuck nowhere?" I said while waving both my hands and bayonet to the entire room, stopping my left hand at Sombra.

"When I was imprisoned in the ice of the dark void, I spread myself out....to find willing and unwilling servants to free me, in my search I found her....and I almost got to you...Celestia's damned pones got to you before I did..."

"So you brought her here.....you have my thanks....but I still don't trust you to keep your word."

Sombra just looks at me before going back to his throne as I rush off to give my old friend a hug, a very tight hug that resulted in her giving one just as lung crushing until we broke it off.

"King Sombra, as long as she is safe and sound....I will do as you say...but the minute you break our deal." I moved my bayonet to my threat and made a mock slitting motion to show him what will happen to him if he fails to uphold his end.

"The same said to you my general....the same said to you."

Crystal Library

"We got to find that book the can help us bring the joy and spirit back to these crystal ponies....but where....where!" Twilight shouted while levitating stack after stack of books down from the colossal shelves down to the ground, removing each one to try and find the correct one.

"I tell ya Twi, this is harder than it looks...so many books and so little time, we just might not be able to do it." Applejack said while flipping through pages of another book, throwing it to the side as Spike catches it and places it on a cart before moving off to the piles far off.

"Did you try actually checking the history section of the library?" I shouted, my hands on the back of my head as I watched the ponies scrambling back and forth until they heard my voice and all stopped to gaze upon me.

I think Twilight was the first one to run up to me before asking me where I was, what happened and why am I all scratched up and partially frozen.

"Well...Sombra hits pretty hard...damn bastard gives one hell of a punch." I said while moving to the history section, quickly moving to the middle of it, climbing the wooden boards to until I stopped at a certain large locked book and jumped down to present it to the others.

"This is it! But how did you find it?" Twilight asks confused as that I found it with ease and did not even had to bother going through piles of worthless books just to find it and before I even speak I just tap her upside the head with it, telling her it was under 'C' in history and Pinkie Pie heard that and started to laugh, immediately knowing that I did exactly what she always did when she was at the library and Twilight couldn't find a book.

Giving her a look before placing it down to the ground so they could read it they began to flip through the pages, saying aloud what they need to do before I inadvertently made them break out into song, and at that moment I sealed my helmet shut and turned off all external com systems so I could not hear what they were saying.

Just as the music died down they left the book behind in my care before rushing off back to Cadence to tell her the news and how to save the kingdom but it left me alone with the book of their salvation.

"This is for you Hilo'Jaa....this is all for you....." I quietly said before opening the book one last time and flipped it to the back and found the last page, detailing that crystal heart must be placed back at the center of the city and that it was lost when Sombra himself hid it from all the crystal ponies so they could never find it.

With only one regret I grabbed the page and tore it from the book before burning it and walked out the door to follow after them.

"This is for you....Keelah se'lai....."