Author's note: This story takes place in another world, another Equestria, yet somehow contains all the ponies we know and love from the show. Certain ponies who were siblings in FiM may not be so in their incarnations of THIS Equestria. Any questions for those of you who have not played the game, just ask!

A little background…

1,000 years ago, the War of Chaos left the world a shattered wasteland, and the awesome force known as magic was almost wiped out entirely. Few in numbers and left powerless, the unicorns faded into obscurity. But unicorn magic doesn't happen without a reason, and for some ponies, greed is reason enough…

Is history doomed to repeat itself, or can the magic of "friendship" make a difference?

Equestria, present day…

Neighshe sat within the frigid mountains near the neck of the world of Equestria. Watching the town from the high cliffs that surrounded it, it was a wonder its citizens could endure the harsh cold of the north, even with coal-powered thermal regulators supplied by its neighbor, Canterlot. Few ponies knew if such technology existed before that horrible war. If it did exist, any traces of it were destroyed in the battles. What Equestria WAS sure of, was that in this day and age, the princess of Canterlot and her scholars were regarded as the sharpest minds in Equestria and the champions of the industrial revolution.

Two male pony soldiers stood on top of those cliffs in their enormous Magitek armor, walking tanks armed with missiles, magic beams, the capability to restore a pony's wounds and nearly every other advanced technology a pony could dream of. A pony at the controls of such a weapon felt powerful, even invincible. As such, both of the soldiers spoke with an air of confidence.

"I can see Neighshe," Snips, the shorter, pudgier soldier said. The coal-generated puffs of smoke coming from the houses were tell-tale signs of the coal-powered heaters that kept the town warm in the bitter cold. "Still quite a march from here."

Snails, the lankier soldier, rubbed his chin with his hoof. A look of deep thought was veiled under his bronze helmet. "Do you think we can trust our intel? I find it hard to believe an esper's been frozen there for a thousand years."

Snips paused to ponder what the esper looked like. From the stories he'd heard, he imagined an immense monster with multiple arms and a mouthful of dagger-like teeth. "Do you think it would wake up if we thawed it out?"

"Probably. They say those beasts are nearly immortal."

Snips turned his armor around to face the partner who had been assigned to them, also piloting a suit of Magitek armor. She was a violet unicorn with a mane of purple, red and dark blue. Her expressionless face held a pair of dull, lifeless, unblinking eyes. She almost seemed like a zombie. "Why'd we bring this… unicorn? She doesn't look like she can handle herself in a fight."

"She's our new weapon. I heard she fried fifty of our best men in under three minutes." Snails' voice trembled as he spoke those words, as if just imagining it was too frightening for him. "But we shouldn't worry. With that slave crown she's wearing, she's just a mindless puppet for us to control. She won't do anything we don't order her to." Gears grinding and the metallic echo of Snails' armor's footsteps signaled to Snips it was time to begin their mission. "We'll approach from the east. Move out!"

The trio of enormous machines cut the silence of the frigid wilderness as they descended the snowy cliffs to approach their target. Snips and Snails had used Magitek armor before. Entire cities could easily fall to the weapons, and they expected Neighshe to be no different. However, the unicorn riding with them struck them with far more fear than the threat of a few lightly armed town guards. Thus, when the trio reached the front gate of Neighshe, Snails spoke his next order.

"We'll put the unicorn on point. I don't want to be number 51 if anything goes wrong. Forward!"

Warm air radiated from the town, a welcome relief from the harsh mountain cold that had numbed the soldiers' hooves. Neighshe was different from any town Snips and Snails had been to. Steam and coal-powered machines with twisting gears and winding chains kept the town warm. Large ventilators connected the attics of the buildings, each one containing a heating unit. More wheels spun on the outside of the walkway-like ventilators; these wheels pumped the heat into the connected buildings. Thanks to Canterlot's technology, of course, but Snips and Snails knew that if they could secure that esper, they'd be with the most powerful force in Equestria. Even Canterlot's Princess Celestia would bow before the Empire.

With the purple unicorn leading, the group made their way through town. Most of the townsponies had locked themselves inside at the sight of the monstrous machines invading their home. Of course, with the esper recently uncovered, Neighshe's guards were on point and ready for anything. A pair of these armored guards sprang from an alleyway, axes at the ready.

"Imperial Magitek armor? We're being invaded!" one of the guards shouted.

Snips and Snails had been ordered to eliminate anypony who put up a fight, and lightly armed guards such as these posed little threat to suits of Magitek armor. Their axes accomplished little more than filling the town with the echo of steel on steel. A hatch opened on the front of Snips' armor to reveal a hidden cannon. Before the Neighshe guard could retreat for cover, a beam of fire shot from the weapon. Heat waves followed it as it reduced the guard to ash.

The second guard fared no better than his partner, as a ray of electricity from Snail's armor made him convulse and drop lifeless to the ground.

More Neighshe guards obstructed the Imperial soldiers and their unicorn partner. Attack dogs rushed in as well, barking and snarling. Again, the guards stood no chance against the Magitek armor. The foot of Snails' armor crushed one of the dogs where it stood. Snips' shot out another beam of fire that incinerated one of the soldiers. The unicorn's horn glowed and a wave of magically conjured fire finished off the second guard. Only a plume of smoke was left of him.

The Imperial soldiers pressed on towards the coal mines behind the town, making quick work of any soldier who stood in their way. Even the town's trained mastodon vomammoths were easy prey for Magitek armor. Immense size and strength and thick, wooly fur could not protect them from the missiles and fire beams.

A bridge overhead signaled that they were nearing the mines; the ponies who worked in the mines used the bridged to connect the higher parts of the colliery. Without these bridges, the miners would need a pesgasus to reach the upper levels.

At last they reached a large hole in the wall of the mountain that lead to a mineshaft, evident by the carts full of coal and pickaxes scattered along the rock floor of the cave.

"Our intelligence said the esper was hidden in a new mineshaft," Snails said. "Maybe this one."

The back of the dark, cold shaft was blocked off by a simple barrier made with long sticks of wood tied together to make a gate. Snails' armor easily broke it down, only to find another Neighshe guard on the other side. Beside him was an enormous snail-like creature with ugly-looking spikes protruding from its shell.

"We won't hoof over the esper. Whelk, get them!"

Snips chuckled at the notion that this snail creature could pose any threat to their Magitek armor. The hatch on the front of his slid open.

"Hold it!" Snails shouted. "Think back to our briefing!"

"What about it?"

"Do you recall hearing about a monster that absorbs lightning…"

"And stores the energy it its shell!" Snails thought better of firing the electric beam having remembered that.

"Right, so whatever you do, don't attack the shell!"

"Got it!"

Snails fiddled with his controls and fired a fire beam at the sluggish body of the creature. Snips followed up with a beam of ice that left patches of rime on the floor and walls of the cave. The purple unicorn finished the assault with a Tek missile.

The attacks only made Whelk groan in protest and hawk up a slimy mucus that landed on the control panel of Snails' armor, then retreated inside its shell.

"Keep me covered, that slime's gummed up my controls!" Snails shouted, struggling to regain control of his machine.

Snips and the violet unicorn stood at the ready, waiting for Whelk's fleshy body to come back out of the shell. As soon as it did, it was greeted by another fire beam and a final missile that splattered its slimy body across the walls and floor of the cave.

"Too easy," Snips said. He took point into the formerly barricaded section of the mine. The other two followed.

Sure enough, secluded in that room of the mines was a creature encased in a ten-foot tall block of ice. It didn't look anything like Snips imagined it would. A birdlike creature the size of an eagle stood silently in its icy prison; a graceful creature with blue-green feathers and wings in a rainbow of colors. Though useless in this state, once thawed out, the soldiers knew it would be very, very powerful.

"This is the frozen esper…" Snips marveled at its grace.

The frozen creature began emitting an eerie light that reflected off the metal of the Magitek suits. More odd was the fact that the unicorn was glowing along with it. Without being ordered, she stepped closer to the esper.

"What's going on?" Snails asked. "Do you know something we don't? Where's this light coming from?"

Snails, along with his armor, became transparent for a few seconds before both vanished completely.

"Hey! Snails, where'd you go?" Snips said in a panicked tone. "What's going on? WAAAAHHHHHH!"

Snips disappeared next, leaving the purple unicorn to face the esper alone. It was as if she was somehow connected to it. Even in a frozen state, the esper's mind was clearly very much awake. A mix of fire, lightning and ice shot towards her Magitek armor. The armor's resulting explosion was the last thing the unicorn saw before she blacked out.

Next Chapter: Chapter 2 Estimated time remaining: 7 Minutes