Ascension

It was nothing I hadn't seen before. We all remember where we were when it happened. We remember this news broadcast, yet, it still brought terror and hatred and pain into our hearts.

"This just in from the front lines, we have broken through their last line of defense! We are winning!" The newscaster had said.

I still remember my mother jumping up and down  squealing with delight. In between jumps she managed to say, "The war your Dad died for is finally coming to an end! Maybe now Xavier can come home!"

All the while I had watched the newscaster's face become distorted with a look of dispair and bewilderment as she said, "Wait... hold on..." after a long pause she managed to say, "W-we have j-just received reports that... they are dropping b-bombs of some k-kind... no wait they are pods. These pods appear to be filled with... more soldiers... or... OH GOD!!! These pods are filled with cyborgs, meta-ponies that have mechanical horns that use synthetic magic!! We are doomed!!" The newscaster ran off camera screaming, there was a crash and a thud as the picture faded to snow. It was only after my mother had shut off the T.V. that we heard the low hum of engines overhead.

My mother had grabbed me and ran for the door, which opened to a normally great view that was now obstructed by the ruins of a once grand city. Giant walls of fire in every direction were licking at the clouds of smog overhead. That combined with the blood red sunset to paint the sky a kind of purple-orange. It was only after finding the source of the incessant hum that I had realized why my mother was screaming. The bomber that had been above us had unleashed a volley of six pods that were each coming right towards us. That is when my mother's instincts kicked in and she covered me with not only her body but with what little magic she had learned from some books we had salvaged. The next few moments semed to be  in slow motion, the pods closing in on their targets, the magic slowly spreading over me, the constant roar of the inferno in the background...

I was shaken out of my flashback at the sound of my name, only to realize that I was just being introduced to the new members of the E.C.H.O. Project. A lean pony with a tan mane and tail, grey skin and bright green eyes whose name was "The Sergeant" was doing the introductions.

While he did this, I looked at the familiar surroundings. We had set up our little resistance task force in the sewers underneath what had once been Manehattan. The place was filled with ponies that believed in a better existence, all in all, about 250 ponies had joined us. There were tattered tents and stalls to sleep, boxes and crates were everywhere, filled with the belongings of the ponies that they belonged to. Trash fires were set up though out the colony of freedom fighters, filling the place with warmth as well as the stench of burning trash. I had practically lived down here when I was a filly. My older brother had taught me about history, math, science, and just about everything else, as well as survival skills. We all knew how to take care of ourselves, but we still had a hard time down here.

I returned my attention to the ponies in front of me.

He is probably telling this audience of four volunteers how "great" my project is, I thought, little do they know that their lives are about to change drastically, and probably for the worse, but it will make everypony else's lives a whole lot easier.

I examined my fellow experimentees. Yes I was going to be a volunteer as well. Everypony in N.E.R.F., the New Equestrian Resistance Force, had tried to talk me out of it, but how could I put these ponies through something I wasn't willing to do myself? 'I simply couldn't' is the answer I gave them.

Crap, I thought to myself, we are going to require code names aren't we? The Sergeant must have told me that earlier but I was probably too engrossed in my studies to take any notice...  yeah, that sounds like me alright.

One of the volunteers was a stallion earth pony with dark red skin and matching eyes. His mane was a buzz cut, his tail was trimmed to be almost perfect, both mane and tail were the same light orange color. I noticed that he also had battle scars all around his body. The most prominent one went across the chest down until it reached his right foreleg.

This one has some history and experience in intense battles. His new name shall be Strength.

The next volunteer caught me, admittedly, totally off guard with his appearance. His left eye was that of the cyborgs that caused the last resistance to be quelled. The same metal plate, the same glowing red eye, it was all the same except for the fact that it was... well... crude, and obviously homemade. With this in mind it was amazing to see such craftsmanship.

I will have to ask him who made it for him, maybe the creator can be a new member to the resistance.

The other thing that also brought stares from the other volunteers was his horn. I knew what it was, but I couldn't believe my eyes.

That is a Mark IV Stryker Class Assault Horn!!! This could only be one pony. Raging Ember, the child of the engineer and inventor, Hephaestus. I'm going to have to fail him out of the training. I can't put my uncle's son through this torture! However, by the looks of it I would say that he has probably been through a lot, possibly even worse than this damn experiment. His name will be Courage. Hmmm... I wonder if he still remembers me...

As I gathered myself from the initial shock of seeing Ember volunteer, I looked at my last two volunteers and my brain just about shut down. They were twins, identical twins! Fraternal twins were extremely rare, but identical twins were all but extinct. Identical twins had an easier mastery over magics, so Scarlet Night had decided to kill all of them and spread a virus that prevented anymore from being born. That however wasn't the reason why I was so bewildered. It was their colors, they were flipped on each other. The first one had blue eyes, mane and tail with pink skin. The second one had pink eyes, mane and tail and blue skin.

Woah...

Was the only thing I could think. Besides their appearance their overly giddy attitude was a surprise, they seemed like they wanted to be here, like they wanted to fight.

Hmmm... the pink maned one will be named Truth and the blue maned one will be named Justice.

In all of my concentration I failed to notice the other ponies looking at me.

Oh, I guess The Sergeant has finished his introductions.

"Thank you Sergeant," I said as The Sergeant left, "I will need a psycho-analysis from each of you later, but for now I can settle for your names."

The volunteers looked at each other, then back at me. "Good day to ya sir, my name is Trusty Hooves, but the folks in my old unit called me Otis." said the soldier with a slight nod.

"You already know my name, don't you cousin?" said Ember. This earned a smile and a nod from me.

I noticed out of the corner of my eye a glare from the soldier in Ember's direction that quickly changed back into his normal unreadable self.

Hmmm... that could be a problem. I thought.

"Well I guess that leaves us doesn't it?" said the pink skinned one, "Well my name is Amaranth Pie, and this is my sister Cerulean Pie." she continued.

"Let me answer your questions for you," said Cerulean, "yes we are sisters, yes we are identical twins, no our genes aren't spliced and yes these colors are natural."

"Well then," said Ember, "I guess that settles that, now why don't you tell us what this E.C.H.O. Project is."

Oh...I thought The Sergeant had already told them. Well good I guess I could probably make it easier to understand than he could.

"Well, E.C.H.O. stands for Experimental Cyborg Horse Outfit." I explained, "We are going to be put into a stasis cell for one month while they operate on us and give us our nervous system enhancing microchips. Then we will be under for another month while they give us our Nano-tech Regeneration Suits. Don't worry about the monthly census, as far as our families know you were all killed in a terrible accident."

"Oh well woop-dee-doo," retorted Cerulean, " now there is no way we can back out of this is there?"

"Hey lady! You had plenty of chances to back out earlier so why don't you just shut up and let my cousin speak!" replied Ember.

As they continued arguing about respect, I began to think, Wow, these volunteers know very little about teamwork. Well, all of them except for Otis.

"Quiet down the both of you!" he said, silencing them both.

"Thank you Otis," I said, "now when we come out of stasis we will be recovering for three months, then we will begin training. After training is our first mission, which you will learn more about later. During training you will be given code names that you will respond to from then on. Are there any questions...no? Good, then lets get started."