Entry one - January Seventh, Four-thousand Two-hundred Thirty-Three. Two months after the first battle.
...
Is this on? Oh, okay then. "Aherm, let me present myself. My name is Copper Dust. I'm in my twenties, and I'm a miner at the Alkali Mine. Life isn't complicated or easy here -We get paid for what we work, and everything is pretty cheap around here. Hold on, let me get to the mirror..."
As the camera turns, a dusty mirror is shown. In it, a dark-gray coated stallion with a long black mane is holding a classic yellow mining helmet between his hooves, complimented by the iron pickaxe on his flank and his orange eyes shining in the reflection of the lamps behind him. "And, yeah. That's me. Hey, Emerald!" Dust turns around, moving the helmet with him. A gray-coated mare with a long green mane and eyes stands next to him with her printer cutiemark barely visible. "Can you tell me why I'm doing this again?"
Emerald rolled her eyes. "Get your ears cleared someday, will ya?"
Dust dug his hoof into his ear, and rock dust began to pour from it. "Like this?"
Emerald rolled her eyes again. "Just bring that camera with you today. Ah' need some tapes from what's going around, since the Empire is sending more troops day by day."
"I see. Why can't you just go around with a normal camera, instead of sending me?"
"If Ah' could, Ah' woulda done that a long while ago, don't ya think?" Emerald replied, walking towards a table. "Here's your lunch, if you're planning to stay longer today in the mine."
Dust placed the helmet on his head and walked towards the door, picking the plastic bag with his food inside in the way. "Thanks Sis, see you tonight, then. I'll try to get you some pretty angles with this." Said Dust, muffled by the bag on his mouth.
Emerald patted Dust's back. "Don't let anypoy know that you're wearing a camera."
"Why so?"
"The Tapes ah' need are better if nopony acts, y'know."
"I'll try." He got closer to the doorknob...
And, an old Stallion voice came from the upper floor. "G'luck out there, son! For the love of Celestia, don't step in the drill!"
Dust raised his voice, so he could be heard. "Got it! See ya tonight, dad!"
And with this, he opened the door and walked out his home, a three-story titanium pre-made hexagon, pretty much like the other fifty in the little town of Alkali. In his way out, he passed in front of the house of a well-known fellow miner of his. He knocked on her door a few times, and waited for her to show up.
The door finally opened, And an orange earth pony mare with a yellow mane and eyes combo opened the door, which hid her gold ore cutiemark.. "I see that you are ready to go, Copper."
Dust's jaw clamped down on the bag as he saw her. "Afh ushual..." He said, muffled by the bag.
"What did you just said?" She asked, closing the door behind her.
Dust placed the bag on his back, and spoke again. "Just as usual, Gook."
She got closer to him, examining him. "Hm. Have you done something bad recently?"
Dust tried to look her in the eye, but couldn't. "Why do you say so?"
"I don't know. I think that you are acting a bit today."
"Well, Um..."
"Come on, you can tell me. We're friends, right? Did you steal something from the foreman? Or is it something else?"
Dust rolled his eyes, trying to think of something believable. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."
Leaving her house, they began the ten-minute walk to the mine. It wasn't too far, but the harsh desert terrain didn't allow for civilian vehicles, and the Empire was too busy spending resources on military vehicles, something they were hardly going to give to civilians to make their lives a little easier. "Then what? You took something from the mine, am I right?" Gook said, pushing his hoof a bit.
"Well, you got me there..."
"Aha! What did you steal?"
"Some scrap from the damaged Drills. Y'know that my little sister is making something in the backyard, right?"
"Ah. That tower-like thing. What is that anyways?"
"I don't know. She doesn't tell me, but I can't say no to my sis."
Gook kicked at a rock before continuing. "That's pretty noble of you, risking your job to help your sister."
Dust's face went a bit red. "Well, it was just some spare scrap... Nopony's going to miss a few metal pieces..."
Gook smiled as she noticed her co-workers face go red. "So, what do you think about the troops going to the mine?"
"Well, I have no idea why they are there... But it must mean we're important, right?"
"I guess, though I've heard rumors that the Republic is planning to assault the mine at some point."
Dust looked back at her, a bit surprised. "An assault here? In the middle of nowhere?"
She closed her eyes, and the looked at Dust. "Well, not here. The rumors say that they're going to assault the depot, something about getting more equipmen, or something like that."
"Huh, why not just buy it from Nanite Systems? They're practically making everything now, and cheaply at that."
"Well, the Republic is mostly funded by major Corporations, so the N.S. may not like them too much."
Dust looked at the reddish sky, thinking a bit. "They sell anything to anypony, so..."
"I just hope that this ends quickly..."
Dust nodded as they continued their trek in silence, observing the deserts of Indar as they went. Orange rocks mixed with the reddish sky of the early morning to make the horizon look like an endless loop of sand and stone.
Once they had arrived at the Alkali Mine, they were greeted by another miner, a blue pegasus with a cyan mane and matching eyes. His head was covered with a helmet like theirs and a picture of a drill was on flank.
"Hey there! You're late! Hurry up, the drill's already coming down!" He shouted, waving his hoof high in the air.
"Got it! Come on Gook, let's go!"
They both accelerated their steps, and reached the inner excavation ring.
It was a huge set of rings on a hill, with a large tower in the middle. It had an immense elevator hanging under the tower, aimed towards a hole in the ground. There were pre-made buildings surrounding it, such as the foreman quarters, the cafeteria, and the barracks for the incoming Empire soldiers, that could be seen by the dozens, along with a few Lightnings tanks coming and going. They even had a Sunderer transport parked by the barracks.
Once they all reached the tower, they climbed the steps to reach the elevator. Meeting another group of miners, everypony but the foreman and the drill marked pegasus stepped inside as the doors opened. The foreman walked to the end of the hall and pressed a button, and the elevator was launched underground, into the mine.
Within a minute, the elevator had reached the bottom, putting them near a small railway.
Stepping out of the elevator, the lights turned on and the miners followed the rails through the mine's maze. The air around them began to smell of a gunpowder, steam, and... Orange, the strange combination that makes up the smell of recently mined Auraxium.
After ten minutes of following the rails attached to the walls, they arrived at a larger sector of the mine, with a gigantic drill waiting for them. The sides of it were launching steam at regular intervals, as that kept the rock it was going to break soft and easy to drill through.
The voice of the foreman could be heard from the set of speakers around the drill. "Allright everypony, get to your positions, we are going to get this crystal opened today!"
An alarm sounded, and everypony ran towards their positions. Some were under the drill, guiding the chunks of rocks towards the conveyor belt, that would get the rocks to the nanite-based smelter.
Some, like Dust, where in charge of keeping the drill stable, since the rock was hard enough to deviate it from its course. Others, such as Gook, hauled nanite charges around for the smelter. Her job was dangerous, as the containers would combust if they were damaged, since the nanites inside were programmed to dissemble any molecules they touched that weren't lining the interior of the smelter.
Once they all were in position, the drill started to... Drill. Large chunks of rocks instantly started to crumble for the wall in front of the drill, as it penetrated slowly, but safe.
...Then.
A large explosion was heard. Not from anywhere in the mine, but on the exterior. Something in the surface was happening. The Miners stopped working, and some of them ran towards the exit of the mine, back to the elevator.
Dust popped his head out of the controls of the Drill, and spotted Gook parking her transport close to the mine. "What's going on, Gook?"
She looked up, and in a distracted tone shouted, "The assault has started!"
...Run! For the love of Celestia, RUN!!
"Wait! Hold on a bit, Gook!" Shouted Dust, running the fastest his hooves left him. His helmet was bouncing on his head, as some bullets flew over his head, from the two sides of the T-intersection of the mine.
They were running from a scuadron of Empire soldiers, as they tought they were revolutionaries, and they were also being shot by the Republic troops present in the tunnels too, because they also thought they were on the side of the Empire.
Suddently, a GUASS-Accelerated rocket swooped right under his hooves, and detonated behind him, launching him towards Gook. They both got knocked out by the head-to-head impact...
Entry two - January, seven, Four-thousand Two-hundred Thirty and tree. Two months after the first battle.
...
Tssk... Hey, you still alive?
"Hnn... What the... Hey! Get your hooves off me!" Shouted Dust, as he pushed the hooves of a Stallion, that was wearing the armour of the New Lunar Republic. "Where is Gook!?"
"Calm down a bit! Gesh... She's allright, she woke up half an hour before you." Replied the Stallion, cleaning some dust from his visor. "You should be proud of being alive, a rocket exploded right behind you."
Dust checked his hind legs. Indeed, it hurted like if they were hitted from behind with a baseball bat. His head also hurted, even throught he was wearing a helmet, wich was still recording. "So, that's what happened to me... Wait, where are we?"
"In a Galaxy, heading to the Hvar Tech Plant." Replied the Stallion, going back to a seat inside the airship. "...You know what's a Galaxy, right?"
Dust took a better position in his seat, and observed the rather small room. It only had seats for eight ponies there, and only him and the Stallion were there. "Aside from a gigantic clusterbuck of stars? No idea."
Dust could see the deadpan expression of the Republic soldier, even through he was wearing a full-face visor. "It's an air transport designed to carry a full squadron. You should be proud, they're not cheap."
Dust looked around. "Well, it's pretty empty right now."
"You know why it's empty?"
Dust shook his head.
The Stallion got into a better position, and placed his hooves together. "They all died in the revolt of today." He simply replied, taking out a cigarette from one of the pockets in his vest, placing it on his mouth.
"W... Wait, what? How many got killed there?" Said Dust, a bit stunned.
"Hmph..." The Stallion lighted the cigar, took a breathe of smoke, and replied. "About a hundred or so, just in our side. I think we killed about the same in Empire troops."
Dust's jaw instantly felt to the ground. "S... So many?"
"I'm sure that more than one got killed more than once."
"Wait... What?"
"War is not the same since the Machinist made that Rebirth Chamber."
"What do you mean with that?"
"Oh, don't you know?" The Stallion poured more smoke from his lungs. "When your hearth stops in the battlefield, you wake up in the closest 'Rebirth Chamber', created by somepony's organization named 'The Machinsts', that then was copied by Nanite Systems..." Another pour of smoke. "...That catches your contiousness, and pours it in a new body, made by Nanites."
This explanation took its time processing in Dust's mind. "S... So, when you die... You just wake up in a chamber somewhere else?"
The Stallion nodded, halfways done his cigar.
"Who the hay made them? Who are the Machinists?"
He looked around, and dropped his cigar in the ground, stepping on it. "If I say the truth, I have no idea. I only know that they are some group of mad scientist, believing in missing techonogy from somepony that was here before the first ships arrived."
"...Aliens?"
"As I said before, I don't know. I only know that it's a bad idea to fight them."
"Wait. Fight them? What do you mean?"
"They are like a thirth faction. They fight against the Solar Empire, and against us too. They are even more aggressive than us in the battlefield, with their wicked plasma-thingy weapons."
"So, this is not only a thing of two?"
"Nope. They hold the whole south-west zone, from the Scarred Mesa Skydocks, to the Bay Point, taking the Allatum Biolab."
Dust mentally reviewed the map he learned during his time at school. "...So, if we are heading to the Hvar techplant... Aren't we getting closer to them?"
"Almost in their frontier, indeed. But don't worry, they only attack if we attack them, or if we step in their labs. Heck, I even waved at one of them, and he didn't shot me."
"I see... And, do they have any relationship with the Empire?"
"Well, there was this time where we were fighting close to the Biolab... They shot at everypony they saw not having their... Biosignals, I think they call them. So... I doubt they have a good relationship."
Dust nodded, and looked through a small window at his right. He observed how they were, indeed in the air. There was another Galaxy flying close to them, in a close formation. They were getting close to the land, heading towards a large metal platform.
"Welcome to the Hvar Techplant, kid. Come on, we are taking you to a safer place."
Dust frowned, looking at him. "I was safe back in the mine, you know..."
He got up from his seat, and walked towards the door at the end of the little hallway. "Well, you flew five feets from an explosion, and landed in the head of one of your co-workers, so I doubt that you would last long in the mine. I think that it would be a good idea to sign you in the Rebirth network, just in case."
"I'm not going to sign to fight for your side, just to leave it clear."
"Ah, I think you will. Does the name of Emerald ring any bells?"
Dust's eyebrows raised quite high. "No... Please, tell me that you don't have my sister as a hostage..."
He smiled. "Nope. Even better, she works for us."
"WHAT?!"
"Whoa! Take it easy, mate!"
"How can I take anything easy! My freakin' sister works for a damn revolution! She is placing her life in trouble!"
Dust's face met the Stallion's hoof, and not in the nice way. "Calm down, dangit! She will explain everything!"
A loud Bump was heard next. They finally landed. The door opened, and the sunlight filled the rather dark hallway. This made Dust blink more than once, and the Stallion stepped out of the Galaxy. "Come on, I don't have all day!"
Dust, rubbing his cheek, stepped out of the Galaxy, and his hooves met a metallic ground. He observed his surroundings. They were in the rooftop of a large, U-shaped building in the mountainside, carved directly in it. There were a few other Galaxies landing around the rooftop too.
Once they all arrived, a few other Lunar Republic soldiers started to come from an elevator at the end of the U-shaped roof, walking towards the Galaxies with their weapons in their backs. One of them came close to the Stallion that slapped Dust. He was an unicorn, judging by the purple horn that was right between the visor and the helmet. And it was a he because he was taller than Dust, even through he was already some steps away from him.
"Private, I'm glad that at least you survived." He said, shaking the other Stallion's hoof.
"Thanks, Sarge. I did my best, but It wasn't enough..."
"And, who is this miner?" He said, looking over Dust, that shrugged when he heard his profession.
"He's the brother of Commander Emerald, sir."
"I see. What's your name, Civilian?"
Dust shrugged again. "Copper Dust, sir... I guess."
"Hm. What brings you here?"
"It would be Who got me here. I basically got ponynapped, and here I am."
"Good sence of humour, I like him. I guess that he's signing in, right?"
"Wait, wait, wait, waaaait. I never said that I'm going to fight for you!"
"Well, you have no choice. If you go back to Alkali, you'll be shot in sight for coming with us."
Dust thinked for a while. He was right in that. The Solar Empire does not like ponies that hop in other faction's vehicles. There is no way back, overall since his sister was already working for them. "Fine. But I'm leaving once we are done here."
"Oh, don't worry. This war is going to end soon, thanks to your sister, wich is right over there." He pointed towards one of the Galaxies that just landed. Indeed, Dust's sister jumps out of it. But, she was... Different. She was wearing an unusual purple beret with lines of blue, with the Republic's flag: the star over the horizontal half moon.
"EMERALD!" Dust shouted, and his voice raised over the constant sound of the engines of the Galaxies, and even over the voices of the soldiers speaking to eachother.
Emerald shrugged, and looked at him. "H... Hi there!"
Dust rushed over to her, and they met nose-to-nose. "What the hay were you thinking when you joined them?!"
"Ah' was thinking in the good of Auraxis!"
"In the good of Auraxis? Hay no, if you were, you would be in a diplomatics meeting, not here!"
Emerald pushed Dust away. "Ah' tried that! The Empire does not listen to anypony that is not in ther'e ranks!"
Before Dust could get back to the discussion, he felt something pointy get in the back of his neck, and pierce the nerve. However, he was still contous. He looked behind, and he saw a Mare, wearing some kind of white armour with a red cross printed in the sides and the helmet. She was carrying some kind of syringe in her hoof as she walked away.
"What the hay was that?" He said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Welcome to the Rebirth network, brother."
