Altemore

20 years earlier...

All was quiet that night...

Not a single thing seemed out of place.

Guards patrolled the barbed wire fences.

Cameras swiveled to keep pace with the moving spotlights.

Nopony payed any attention to the lone sparrow that had strayed over the wire.

Nopony noticed it fly onto the roof of the main building.

And nopony noticed when it sliced through a solid mana-steel padlock that had sealed the only exit on the building's concrete roof.

A flash of golden light from the slim opening of the trapdoor on the top of the building was the only noticeable thing that night.

But nopony saw...

Altemore landed softly on the metal walkway, his feathers gleaming in the dim light as he snapped out his wings to slow his descent downward from the ceiling exit of the complex.

"I'm in", his thoughts echoed in his head, telepathically transmitting his "voice" through a communication device implanted in his ear, sending the message straight back to command.

"Good work 1127. Continue to checkpoint 2." The voice belonged to the director of project Harmony, otherwise known to Altemore as his creator.

Altemore nodded to himself and silently made his way down the dark corridor to another entrance in the building. His mission was simple: this company was in possession of a very dangerous weapon. His job was to infiltrate the building, find the weapon and destroy it, then blow out the building's supports to level the facility.

He stopped at the door when he heard approaching voices on the other side. The director spoke into his mind, "Remember 1127, this is a stealth mission, you are not to be spotted. Doing so will give away your position and you will be forced to retreat back to headquarters, don't disappoint me."

"Yes sir" Altemore curtly responded, pressing his ear up to the cool metal door to hear the people on the opposite side.

"Hey Jeff, I'm gonna head topside, take a smoke, wanna join me?", a male voice spoke, the telltale sound of griffon talons getting louder as he neared the door.

"I don't see why not, I'm off duty right now so I guess I'll join you." A set of hoofsteps joined the first and began heading in Altemore's direction.

Looking around at his surroundings, Altemore searched quickly for a place to hide while the guards passed. His vision glowed green for a moment as his nightvision kicked in, his gaze landed on a vent in the metal panels on the wall off to the side of the walkway.

Snapping out a single talon, he extended his claw and sliced the bolts holding the panel off of the wall before slipping behind it and holding the vent in place. The door opened to reveal two guards, a male unicorn stallion and a griffon. Altemore watched them from his place in the ventilation as they walked past, the griffon pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from a pocket in his Kevlar vest. Both guards had long tactical rifles slung over their backs and the griffon had a second small handgun and a knife on his hind legs, the unicorn was probably also equipped with attack spells. They continued to the ladder to the roof exit and climbed through, the unicorn teleporting up after the griffon.

The heavy metal door banged shut and Altemore slowly lifted the vent and checked his surroundings.

~all clear~

Slipping out of the cramped space, Altemore let out a thin stream of white-hot flame as he welded the vent back to the wall. Once again turned his attention to the door at the end of the hallway. Again he stalked his way over and pressed his ear to the cold metal surface.

He opened the door and silently walked into a long hallway, glancing back and forth as he turned to gently close his entry point. "Second door on the right...", he thought to himself as he spread his wings to glide down the hallway.

He quickly dropped to all fours and flattened himself to the wall as he neared his destination. It was another, almost identical mana-steel door, only one problem...

Welded to the doorframe was a small circular panel, it's screen glowed sky blue with the exception of a darker blue hoof print. "Command? This is 1127, we have a problem...", Altemore thought to command.

"1127 what is it?", the director's voice once again echoed in his mind.

"The door to checkpoint two has a hoof-print scanner, I need a hoof from security or a staff member to get in.", he glanced around as he waited for a response, the long hallway was straight and completely clear of any objects, leaving nowhere to hide if someone should walk into the hall.

"1127 have you come on contact with any of the security before?", the director inquired.

"Yes sir, there were two guards headed for my entrance point.", Altemore responded quickly, he was running out of time, the intel he was given reported that patrols came around every five minutes.

The director's response was short and clear.

"Kill them."

Altemore nodded as he retraced his steps and red terse the door to his entry point. Carefully he climbed the ladder and opened the square hatch in the ceiling slightly, just enough to see through.

"-but man I'm telling you. She's totally into you-" Altemore recognized the voice of the griffon from earlier. Locating their positions with a gentle pulse of telepathy magic, he tensed the muscles in his whole body, waiting for a few moments before he shot out of the door. His tail lashed out, knocking the griffon off his feet and winding him while Altemore reached with his forelegs to slice through the spine of the unicorn, paralyzingly him and sending him into shock. Then he swiftly spin around and pounced on the griffon, clamping his jaws around the feathery neck until he heard a snap. It was over in almost three seconds.

Taking a deep breath, Altemore walked over to the unicorn and sliced a thin layer off the bottom of the stallion's hoof with a claw. Then, after slipping his "key" into a pouch that was wrapped around his midsection, he dragged the bodies back into the building. They dropped onto the metal floor with hardly a sound, as Altemore's telekinesis slowed the before they impacted.

Safe inside the building, Altemore contacted command, "I retrieved my hoofprint. Disposing of any evidence before heading back to checkpoint two."

The director spoke back into the earpiece, "Good work, 1127. Proceed as planned."

Altemore once again nodded before searching through the saddlebags on the two bodies, "An ID for later might be nice...", he thought as he searched through the pockets, pleased when he managed to find the Unicorn guard's wallet, security card included. He added that to his small bag before once again cutting the vent off of the wall. He stuffed the bodies into the shaft and blasted fire at them, incinerating their remains before re-welding the vent back in place.

A few minutes later and he was once again standing in front of the hoof-print door. He brought out the slice of hoof from earlier and ignited one of his forearms as he changed it into an equine hoof. The panel beeped and a green light above the door flicked on as the heavy slab of mana-steel slid upwards.

A rush of cold air flowed out of the doorway to meet him. "Did I step into a freezer?", Altemore thought as he cautiously crept into the room. Glancing around he noticed that the room was lined with strange cylindrical pods, each one virtually identical to the next.

"Command, I have reached checkpoint two. Shall I proceed to the objective?" As Altemore finished his question his eyes located another door on the opposite wall.

"Yes 1127, you are clear to proceed."

He quickly made his way to the door. It was still made of mana-steel, and had both a hoof-scanner and a slot for an ID card. Altemore quickly bypassed both and stepped back as he waited for it to open.

To be completely honest, Altemore expected for the weapon to be... A little bigger... It was cylindrical, like the other strange pods behind him, only smaller. Thinking that the weapon must be inside the capsule, Altemore reached for the release switch, scraping away some frost that stuck to the cold metal.

"1127 CEASE YOUR ACTIONS AT ONCE!!!", the director's voice roared in his ear, causing Altemore to stumble a bit and shake his head to clear it of the ringing.

"I was ordered to destroy the objective, the real objective is inside of the capsule. I must breach the casing if I am to destroy the weapon.", Altemore responded, slightly annoyed at being partially deafened by the directors sudden outburst.

"Then destroy the capsule", the voice was crisp with impatience.

Altemore nodded and raised a foreleg. Sliding out his claws, he slammed them down onto the capsule, aiming to cut it in half.

His claws, made of a mana-steel and mythriel alloy, sparked as they impacted, but left nothing but a scratch on the otherwise flawless silver of the metal cylinder. Confused, Altemore tried again, but was rewarded with the same outcome. Taking a step back, he gathered his strength and magic, it's energy forming a very visible white glow emanating from the fur on his chest. He stood for only a second, locking his eyes on the center of the capsule before letting all of the energy out in a white stream of plasma, so hot the frost on the pods in the room behind him began to thaw. Altemore breathed heavily as he regained some of the lost energy, angrily stomping one of his feet and tearing a gash in the ground when he noticed the pod was still intact. "Nothing could have withstood that...", he thought to himself. Blinking in anger and confusion at the seemingly indestructible object in front of him.

He needed to open the capsule.

Aware of his orders, he reached up to his ear and swiftly disconnected his communication implant. His superiors and the Director probably wouldn't like to hear that he had disobeyed direct orders, there was just no other way.

And his first priority was to destroy the objective.

Once again he reached for the release switch on the now steaming metal. He turned his head and glanced behind himself for only a moment, then did a telepathy scan on his surroundings, making sure he was alone. He flipped the switch and the pod hissed as it's seals were broken, the top lifted off and flipped backwards like a chest revealing it's contents.

It...

It was...

A foal...

Nestled comfortably in folds of light blue cloth, slept a tiny, yellow pegasus filly. Altemore's wide eyes just stared and his mouth hung open. One thought echoed in his mind: Had command and the Director sent him to kill a child? Altemore shook his head, "No!", he thought, "The director would never do that. Out sources must have just been uninformed." He turned blinked a few times before turning back to the small pony.

"Don't disappoint me", the director's words echoed in his mind.

He turned to face the tiny foal, he raised a trembling paw and extended his claws. The foal was asleep, if he ended it quickly it wouldn't feel a thing, a painless death. Then he stopped. He couldn't take his eyes off of it's peaceful, sleeping face. His arm faltered for a moment before Altemore let out a soft growl and huffed, he glared at the limb as he readied it again. He turned back to the filly to...

The tiny pony shifted in its sleep, tilting it's little head upwards and yawning towards the ceiling. It opened it's eyes and saw Altemore, poised to strike, razor sharp talons raised high above.

It giggled.

It cried out in laughter and reached for the outstretched paw, blind to the danger it was in. Ignorant of the genetically altered weapon that had been sent to kill her.

Meanwhile, Altemore's breathing had quickened and his heart pounded in his ears. He stared into the innocent eyes of the child, his strength weakening with every second he spent gazing into their blue-green depths. His claws slowly retreated back into his paw and his arm began to fall back to the floor.

He couldn't do it.

Altemore was a deadly weapon, bred in a lab by ponies whom he trusted with his life. He had carried out countless missions over the many years that he had existed. He had killed thousands of ponies, griffons, and minotaurs. Yet here he was, unable to kill a single foal.

He had, for the first time in his life, failed a mission.

He hung his head, sighing deeply in defeat before looking up once again to find the infant still there, still smiling at Altemore with a toothless grin. Curious, Altemore lifted a paw, careful not to let his claws out, and rested it on the rim of the capsule. The foal almost howled with joy, wriggling around until it was in position to latch onto her new fuzzy friend. Altemore almost jumped when her minuscule jaw clamped down on his paw, he watched her look up at him as she tried her best to eat him without teeth. Altemore smiled, a strange warmth began emanating from his chest.

Then he remembered, the Director and Project Harmony still existed. How long had he had his earpiece muted?

Boom!

A sound like thunder suddenly shook the room.

BoomBoom!

The truth dawned on Altemore and he looked up with wide scared eyes.

It was protocol to destroy any evidence of agents that got lost in the field.

BoomBoomBoom!! Crack!!!

They were bombing the building.

Dust began to pour from the ceiling and alarms blared. Altemore turned and snapped out his wings to fly for the door, he flinched as a large chunk of concrete fell from the ceiling, only just missing him.

Altemore's ears swiveled as he heard a tiny noise above the calamity of bombs.

"Crying?", Altemore's eyes widened in realization, "The Foal!"

Altemore skidded to a stop and whirled around to see the small yellow pegasus wailing in the capsule. There was no hesitation as he snapped out his wings and threw himself in the child's direction. Stopping in front of the pod, Altemore quickly reached in with a foreleg and scooped up the tiny creature up into his grasp, tucking her trembling form firmly to his chest. Spinning around he the thrust backwards with his wings and sent himself flying through the doorway, only just avoiding a large block of stone that had been tumbling down from the ceiling. Twisting midair, he landed sideways on the wall opposite of the room he was in and darted forward again, flying as fast as he could in order to get out of the building. The door to his rooftop entrance opened for him and he rushed through it, briefly looking down at the infant tucked up against his chest. The still sobbing child stared back up at him with tear-filled eyes. Altemore then leaped upwards thrusting hard with his wings as raised a paw, claws extended.

The metal trapdoor shot off of the roof as Altemore pumped his wings hard to get as far away as possible.

After what seemed like years of flying, Altemore touched down in a lush forest. He settled down under a large oak and eased himself onto the long grass. He looked down at his passenger to find her dozing comfortable on his furry chest.

He smiled down at her, watching her tiny form rise and fall with her breaths. Altemore yawned and noticed that he too, was nearing exhaustion. Casting one last glance down at the filly, The large genetic weapon extended a wing and rolled over, gently setting the foal down on the soft feathers before tucking his head down next he her sleeping form, his other wing gently coming to a rest above them, shielding them from the outside world as Altemore allowed himself to drift off into sleeps warm embrace.

"Sleep well, little one"