Armored core: Equis

Telos's perspective

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"HUZZAH! Chrysalis has gone too long without experiencing true fear. Fear imposed by being unable to change anything about what is happening. I readily approve of this , Telos. Show those changelings what 'Getting Rekt' ,as the foals say, is all about." Luna exclaimed, all worries of betrayal by me assuaged by this suggestion.

"YEAH, go show those dadgum changelings what for!" Applejack agreed.

"THROW THEM A PARTY! A PARTY OF PAIN!!" Pinkie pie proclaimed.

"Do please show mercy when possible if that's not too much to ask" Fluttershy squeaked out.

"Just because she defeated celestia once doesn't mean she stands a chance with you here!" Dash boasted. Celestia squirmed slightly at that, especially when I raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"Darling. I may not like fighting, but that doesn't mean I don't fully support and agree with your suggestion. KICK SOME CHANGELING FLANK FOR ME!" Rarity roared in approval.

"Give her one for the wedding she nearly ruined for my brother, Telos," Twilight added, before an unfamiliar familiar voice spoke up.

"And just who is giving her that? Am I safe to assume it would be this 'Telos' you are talking to Twily?"A new unicorn said, striding into the room with yet another horned, winged pony close behind, gazing at me with eyes filled with sadness and understanding.

"Yes you would be, Am I safe in assuming you are her brother?" I quipped, glad that these two siblings were so close.

Turning towards me, the unicorn's eyes widened, taking in my unfamiliar shape. As he started checking me out, the winged, horned pony behind him snapped," SHINY, WHY IN EQUESTRIA ARE YOU CHECKING OUT THAT FEMALE WITH ME RIGHT BEHIND YOU?!?!"

As she said this, most of the room burst out laughing, only myself, her, and 'Shiny' not laughing.

"Quick suggestion 'Shiny'. Don't open your mouth. You'll just insert your hoof." I said, narrowing my eyes and resting my hand on the butt of my handgun.

COMPLETELY ignoring my suggestion, he turned to her and replied," Come on, Cadance, with such an exotic body and coat, can you really blame me?"

Snapping the handgun out of it's holster and firing a shot, I managed to shear a good bit of his hair off. At this, the laughter in the room was renewed, with only 'Shiny' refraining from laughing, instead opting to glare at me, before asking," Was that ABSOLUTELY necessary? You could have damaged my horn, or worse, killed me outright."

"Oh do be quiet Shining Armor. Telos is an experienced markswoman, and I'm certain she would never kill you. Not without you giving her a good reason anyway." Luna said, still chortling.

"I said not to open your mouth, as you'd just put your hoof in it, and you did anyway.I might not be a pony , but I am not just a piece of meat for you to ogle. Considering I am the current protector of this city and country, It would be wise to do as I say, considering I KNOW I have more combat experience,but I digress. Yes, I am the one known as Telos. You must be Shining Armor, former captain of the royal guard."  Turning my gaze to the pink winged and horned pony, I continued,"And you must be Princess Cadance, who's wedding a few months ago was quite rudely interrupted by one Queen Chrysalis?"

"And you know this HOW?" Cadance responded, a bit surprised.

Jerking my thumb towards Celestia, I said" Sunbutt over there told me." This elicited a giggle from the whole room, save Celestia, who glared daggers at me. Ignoring her, I started to walk toward the courtyard, before Shining Armor stopped me. "Wait, there is a lar-"

"Hush Shiny, I know. That is how I fight." I interrupted,brushing past him, not wanting to delay much further. As I walked past the guards, I decided walking wasn't fast enough, and set off at a sprint through the winding hallways, finding myself at the courtyard in under a minute. Popping the hatch and extending the ladder, I quickly climbed in and brought my AC off standby. Turning towards the badlands, I flew off using normal thrust for the first few miles, then, deciding it would take too long to get there that way, activated my OB and roared off.

An hour or two later, I reached the hive, and of course, there were changelings around it. Grinning viciously, I started in on the poor fools. Upon seeing me, several started charging hard magic bursts, firing them in rapid succession, doing nothing more than bouncing off my AC. Activating the external speakers, I laughed at their efforts, before holstering the karasawa and proceeding to lock on to nine of the things. Nine missiles streaked from the launcher on my AC's back, turning nine changelings into little more than bug bits. I then proceeded to crush more of them with my AC's bare hands, several sickening crunches could be heard as I picked several up and crushed their heads. Green blood and black fragments of exoskeleton covering my AC's hands, I drew the Claymore with the AC's right hand, unholstered the plasma rifle with the left, and  activated the grenade cannon. Seeing a huge cloud of Changelings swarming out of the hive, I grinned sadistically and fired a salvo of three shots in rapid succession, turning most of them into bug paste. Flying up, I activated the laser blade as well, and dashed through the remainders, twirling and slashing, leaving both smoking, cauterized wounds and bloody, messy ones. Activating the OB and roaring out of the group, flicking the blood off the claymore, sheathing it, and drawing the Karasawa, I turned and blasted the rest, leaving steaming piles of gore when the plasma bolts connected, and bug bits when the lasers hit. Turning back to the hive, I popped 3 rockets on the main door, blowing it open and leaving the changelings inside with burst eardrums. Laughing sadistically, gotta love psychological warfare, I turned and activated the OB, heading back to Canterlot, and the castle.

Queen Chrysalis's Perspective

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Standing in the doorway of my once proud hive, I gazed upon the destruction wrought by that accursed machine. The sun-baked earth was covered in green blood, piles of gore, and bisected drones, some still bleeding, some smoking and never having bled in the first place. "I never thought I'd be looking at something like this. I fear no pony, but that thing, it scares me."

Princess Celestia's perspective

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After teaching Twilight and Rarity the spell to grant heat-based vision fairly quickly, I suggested we return to the castle courtyard to await Telos's return. Only Shining Armor wanted to stay, but his proposal to wait in the throne room was promptly vetoed by the rest of us.

Four hours later, we were starting to worry for her. "Oh, I hope she's okay." Fluttershy fretted.

"Relax Fluttershy, she's fine." Rainbow Dash said, though she was a bit worried too, if her fidgeting was any indication.

"T'would seem our fair Telos is here," Luna quipped, pointing out the bright glare of the OB system about a mile out. Two seconds later, it was close enough that it was almost right above us. Cutting the OB, it dropped into the middle of the courtyard with a thunderous crash. Spinning the plasma rifle like so many gunslingers, it holstered the plasma rifle, put away the karasawa, and knelt.

"Well, that should make Chrysalis think twice about attacking again." Telos said, once again jumping down. Turning towards her AC, she frowned slightly. Turning back, she remarked,"Damn, probably shouldn't have crushed that many changelings with the bare hands. Hey Celestia, you got anything I could clean all that damn changeling blood off of the hands of my AC with? Short term, it's no biggie, but long term it could get in the joints and start rusting them. "

Laughing, I charged my horn and cast a scouring spell on the AC's hands, removing all of the blood, and a fair few shards of changeling exoskeleton.

"T'would seem thine warrior instincts got the best of you Telos. How many did you crush with the AC's hands?" Luna quipped, grinning ear to ear.

"I er... lost count after the first fifty. No more than two hundred though. Figured it'd be faster to use the sword and laser blade." Telos responded, scratching the back of her head."Oh , and heads up, Chrysalis probably thinks I'm a sadistic madwoman now. I laughed rather sadistically as I left. Psychological warfare is a beautiful thing. She probably will aim to destroy me, rather than sway me to her side, considering she's probably terrified of me now. I made sure she watched as I slaughtered hundreds, possibly thousands of them. Hey Twilight, can you show everyone the changeling hive and the area surrounding it? Would certainly put my words into perspective."

Eye twitching, Twilight opened a viewing portal, giving us a birds eye view of the changeling hive's location. Eyes went wide all around when they noticed the color of the ground, save Luna, who smiled, glad that we had a warrior capable of this on OUR side. Normally it would be a sun-baked, desolate brown. Now it was a sea of green, with shards of black everywhere. Turning towards Telos, we all looked at her in a new light, seeing for the first time, a battle hardened warrior with no qualms about mass killing. Yet, under our gazes, she squirmed, uncomfortable.

"Why art thou fidgeting and squirming so? You did as you SAID you would." Luna said, confused.

"Because you're the only one looking at me and not acting as if you're looking at a monster, Luna," Telos replied.

"Is this what a show of force is like in your world Telos?!" I asked, horrified.

"No, usually they are much worse. I toned it back, seeing as this is a normally peaceful world. In mine, there would have been nothing left but a crater, the Corporations don't mess around when it comes to sending a message. I told you, I'm not a monster. STOP STARING AT ME LIKE I AM ONE!" she said, finally walking over to a bench and collapsing on it, emotionally wrung out.

What she probably WASN'T expecting, was us all walking over to her and burying her in another group hug.

Fluttershy, surprisingly enough, voiced our sentiments."We're sorry Telos, we've just never seen that much death caused by one being."

As she finished, Telos groaned," I believe I asked you to warn me before you bury me in a group hug like that. That said, I'm glad at least you don't think I'm a monster."

When we started to pull off, she objected, saying, " Hey, I never said you had to pull away. It's been too long since I've had any affection at all. Being a Raven means Civvys are often afraid of you." At this she put her arms around us as best as she could, enjoying the embrace, unlike last time.