CT PON-3
Chapter 1: Start the Morning Wrong
I awoke screaming at the top of my lungs, it's a good thing my room is sound proof. It was all thanks to that dream, the one where I die, and everyone around me dies. It's pretty scary, maybe I'll tell you about it sometime, but not right now. My panting was interrupted, rather rudely, by an intrusion to my room from my best friend. She just walks right into my room as if I hadn't locked it, but I know she has my spare key. "Are you in here Vinyl? Good you're awake… Did… Did you sleep in panties again?"
She knows I sleep in underwear, but she just loves to embarrass me. This time I was wearing some rather frilly pink lacey things, though drenched in sweat from my nightmare. I glared at her with a blush and said, "I don't rag on your kinks Rainbow Dash, so don't rag on mine." So now you know who we are. I'm Vinyl Scratch, once a famous and popular DJ, and she's Rainbow Dash, the fastest tomboy in Equestria to this day. Lord, what happened to us?
Anyways, after Rainbow Dash was done giggling and snorting at me and my… night wear, she informed me, "Enemy units are making a movement. We've been called to headquarters. Get the lead out of your flank, and if you're going to wear clothes, try something a little more casual. Like me." It's true that we ponies had no real need to wear clothes, but the underwear thing is just a kink of mine. Seeing her 'Wonderbolts' hoodie gave me an idea of what to wear, so I grabbed my black hoodie and slipped on my shades with purple lenses . "Are you done trying to look cool?"
"Not just yet," I told her before I walked downstairs on my hind legs, front hooves in my hoodie pockets. We didn't always walk on our hind hooves, it just became more convenient in these war torn times. It was easier for unicorns and pegasus like me and Rainbow to get the hang of compared to earth ponies though. I'm a bit of an inventor, which is what I was going downstairs for, an invention of mine. A pair of mechanical hoof shoes I made, which I use on and off the battlefield. It's rather revolutionary, they're still mass producing them for military use, and since it's my prototype I get to keep them. Civilians be jellin' so hard. I'll show you what they can do in just a minute. First, "Hey Rainbow Dash, how about we race to work? Same rules, no aerial short cuts or magic teleporting."
I ask her every morning, and every morning I get the same response. "You're on!" We hurried outside, my shoes clanking like something out of 'Megamare X', and were sure to lock the door behind us. Rainbow Dash doesn't live with me, but she crashes at my place enough for me to say she does. No idea why, maybe it's the… well you know… dirty things? What? I'm not going to talk about that stuff. It's personal, too personal. While I bent my knees ready to go, Rainbow Dash teased me by going all four leaning close to the ground with her flank raised high. I never got how that position works with sprinters, aside from a good look at their flanks. She probably isn't even doing it on purpose, but damn does it make me stare. Almost forgot my music player. I slipped on my headphones with magic, very convenient by the way, and set it to 'Streamline' from my favorite band. "You ready? Three… two… one… GO!"
Rainbow Dash did what she does best and shot off with her wings, but luckily she stayed close to the ground instead of breaking the rules like she tends to. Maybe she's just cocky. I intend to shove that down her throat later. I activate the gears in my boots with magic, again convenient but they're making models that can be used by other ponies now, and as the gears turned it gripped the ground and propelled me forward. They're like gravity boots with wheels, not sure how else to describe them. The faster I turn the gears the faster I move, to a limit of course, so I need to rely on sharp turns through the city if I hope to beat that cyan tomboy.
You got to be careful when avoiding all the ponies on the walkways. Rainbow plays fair and swerves between them instead of over them, and I follow close on her tail while everyone stares at me and my boots, as usual. That's when we hit a bike trail that goes alongside the lake. The sun rising behind all those skyscrapers is pretty lovely, or it would be if it was the real sun. Yeah that's right, that's not a real sun. In fact the entire sky isn't real. It's a simulation dome built around the city. The outer shell is thick to protect the city from what's out there, and the simulation dome keeps us from going insane, despite eveypony knowing what it is. Even if it is a fake… it's pretty nice to look at it glistening off the Manehattan Lake.
When I looked back ahead of me Rainbow Dash was gone. I panicked, where could she have gone? That's when I noticed there was a highway exiting a tunnel right below us, and when I looked over the railing there she was, laid back on a modular truck carrying pallets with a casual wave. I knew exactly where that thing was heading: The military base. So she thinks it's that easy does she? Well I got a surprise of my own. I released the controls on my boots, grabbed the rail, and leapt over the side. I loved the look on her face, as if she was about to watch me get seriously injured. I reactivated the boots just in time for them to grab the side rail to the highway, the shock absorbers I added three days ago cushioning my fall. Oh my gosh, the look on her face was freaking priceless, I swear. I'd have to laugh later though. I had a race to win.
My boots made me shoot off at high speed, much faster than that truck she was on was moving, since it probably didn't want to damage whatever was in those pallets. Just so you know, a pallet is a square shaped metal capsule for transporting things, before you ask. When she saw I was moving past her I swear steam sprayed out of her nostrils, and she shot off between the cars. We both hit the exit at the same time, opposite sides of the road, focused on moving forward rather than taunting each other. Luckily it's still kind of early, so there wasn't a lot of traffic in our way coming off the highway. We both roared down the street, Dash pumping her wings and even running along the ground a few times all to gain speed, me pushing my boots past their limits! We were almost to the base, but the gates were closed. Well duh they were, it's a military base, so I used magic to flash my ID way before I got there. Rainbow Dash who had been gaining a steady lead had to slow down to show them hers, so while I flew through the gates, she had to eat my dust in an attempt to catch back up. I could hear her whining, "Cheater, that's not fair!"
I didn't care. I was going to win for once. Just when I thought the race was over though, I heard her growls as she sped up behind me. I don't know what came over me, I freaked out and kept going, past the entryway to the mecha hangar and into the halls, and to my dismay Rainbow Dash didn't slow down either. As we twisted and turned, spooking many ponies to the side of our rush, I noticed something that made me hit the brakes hard, and when Rainbow saw it she joined my desperate struggle to slow down. We managed to just enough to NOT break down the door… to our commanding officer's office. When she opened that door we went pale from the glare she gave us. Then she said in that cold angry tone, "Well if it isn't my prized pilots… and the two biggest trouble makers in my squad! Did you two race to work again? Can't you get a hover car and just carpool to work like normal ponies?"
Rainbow Dash raised her hoof up before asking, "Can we do flips, and cool tricks in it on our way to work?"
"No," the annoyed officer replied quickly.
I added in, "Then where's the fun in that?"
"Both of you in my office. NOW!"
"Yes mom," the two of us responded rolling our eyes, my wheels sucking back up into my boots before I made my way in to those 'Megamare X' sounds. Of course she's not really our mom, me and Dash are so not related, that would be incest. We just call her that out of sarcasm when she acts like one. Our commanding officer is a very plain looking grey pony who used to be a cold emotionless musician. Now she's a cold emotionless army officer. Her name is Octavia, and honestly, the whole bossing me around thing gets me hot under the collar. It's a shame she's straight, I'd settle for bi like Rainbow Dash. Any other filly foolers out there that have fallen in love a straight girl?
As we sat down in her oh so comfy chairs while she glared at us, there was a bit of an awkward silence in the air. Finally she gave a huge sigh and said, "What is with you two's obsession with 'fun'?"
I responded, "I don't know. What's your obsession with having a bumblebee up your bum?" Rainbow Dash and I laughed our heads off, but of course Octavia just continued to glare and we shut up slowly. "Can't you go easy on us just this morning miss? Creating fun is our only way of getting over everything. Is there really something wrong with stress relief?"
"There is when there's a war raging outside!" When she slammed her hoof on her desk we both cringed. "Hundreds of ponies die on a daily basis on the front lines, slowly witling us down to extinction! The Nazzadi are not helping our numbers against the Migou, which are making a movement as we speak that could lead to Manehattan being next on the chopping block!"
Okay, I've heard the following speech every morning for the past week or two, so I'm going to ignore her for a moment to explain a couple things. Don't groan, it's fun to learn sometimes, and better than listening to that mare rant about how much further the stick us up her flank this morning. First of all, the Migou are like giant pony sized mosquitoes covered in greenish yellow fungus, with thick arms and tentacles coming out of their face. I know gross right? They came from Pluto, can you believe that? How the hell did they fit their entire civilization in that which is no longer considered a planet? Fact is, we're at war with them right now, and thanks to the Rapine Storm as well as the Esoteric Order of Dagon, we're losing. BADLY! And as for the Nazzadi, well there's an interesting story.
The Migou didn't want to reveal themselves too us, so they actually created an entire race with the sole purpose of going to war with us. Now these ponies are wild, they were made to look scary. Imagine jet black ponies covered in white glowing tattoos with long incisors so they look like vampire fangs. Their pegasus have bat wings, their unicorns have curved horns, and their earth ponies have spikes coming out of the back of their heels. It's hard to tell them apart without cutie marks, but luckily they have different mane colors and tattoo patterns. Honestly I don't see how they were supposed to be scary; they look kind of sexy to me. After warring with them for a few years, they turned on their creators and joined our cause, becoming members of the pony race… kind of. The Migou were pissed and since their cover was blown, came at us with everything they had.
"Vinyl!" Hearing my name made me snap to attention. "Are you listening to me?"
I wasn't nervous, like I said it's always the same thing. "Yes, you said how important it is to resist the Migou, you still don't trust the Nazzadi, cults are not helping at all, and there are things we still don't know about out there so we must always be prepared. Same as always."
My smirk faded when I noticed she was smirking right back. "And what else did I say?"
Wait a minute, else? There was more this time? Oh god she figured me out, I have no idea what else she said… or why Rainbow Dash is having a snicker fit over there. I began to panic and sweat before Dash leaned in and whispered, "She said she thinks you have an exceptionally large flank and it belongs on the dance floor."
My jaw dropped and Octavia's eyebrow rose. Did she just make a joke about my flank and get away with it? As if the smile wasn't shocking enough, she giggled too! "Now that I have 'both' of your attention, allow me to remind you that it's our job to protect this city. 'Apple-muffin' may be one of many squads, but that doesn't make ours any less important. Our mission specs have requested you two over to the West gate where the Migou seem to be forming up. Engage if necessary, and back-up will be on standby. Are there any questions?"
"Yeah, why are we called 'Apple-muffin' squad? Why not 'Rainbow-dubstep', or something cool like that?" Rainbow Dash seemed to like my suggestion.
"Get in your Engels and get to work you two." Octavia is such a party pooper.
I was still silently shocked about Octavia on our way to the hangar, where our Engels were under repair. Hmm? Oh right Engels. I suppose they're technically mecha, but that feels a little insulting to them. You see they have synthetic parts and minds of their own and only pilots capable of being attuned to them can get the chip in their head to pilot one. They're a lot more capable than mecha in a fight, but there's one drawback. One Engel attunes itself to one pilot, and vice versa. Sure you can get your chip replaced and change to a new one, but the surgery keeps you and the Engel out of commission for a few weeks. I hate downtime, and besides, me and my Malach model 'Toby' get along great. Rainbow Dash seems to become a whole other pony when she pilots her Auphan 'Slither' though. Sure, Toby likes hardcore action, but Slither has a sadistic streak using his speed in hard to see places. And then there's those mandibles, gives me shivers thinking about it.
The rest of the squad is already in the hangar, relaxing and chatting since they're only on standby. Let me introduce everypony now so I don't have to later. I assume you know them all for the most part. First there's second in command Applejack, physically stronger than Octavia, but not as swift clever or smart. She's taken to the soldier thing pretty well. Her big brother Macintosh is the heavy weapons specialists. Mini-guns, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, if it's big he's used it. Even fillies fight nowadays with the right training, it's sad but that's how these times are, which is why their little sister Apple Bloom is the squads scout. Every day they worry a sniper is gonna get her. Her best friend Scootaloo is even on the team, and she is the youngest mecha pilot in the world. It's really something, though nopony knows what happened to their friend Sweetie Belle, or her older sister Rarity.
Derpy Hooves is our best pilot, if it's a vehicle she can drive it better than anypony I know. Ironic given her wall eyes, but if it's a hover car, helicopter, or even a mecha she can fly it better than even me or Dash. Too bad she doesn't have the mental finesse to be an Engel pilot though. Her daughter Dinky is the squad's medic, staying at the sidelines to aid when a pony gets insured. Safe and helpful, which is what a fillies job should be, if they're going to be in the military. Her older and adopted daughter Sparkler is demolitions. Always obsessed with fireworks, and now obsessed with explosives. Then there's Carrot Top, long range specialist. Every squad needs a sniper right?
We also have a few mechanics, all four of which were working on our Engels at the moment. While she was typing through her diagnostics we decided to spook Twilight Sparkle with our best impersonations of banshee screeches. I think she got a few feet closer to the hangar ceiling this time. After she floated back down glaring at us I asked, "What's the status on those modifications I asked you to make?"
The answer she gave me? "Good morning Twilight Sparkle, how are you? Oh I'm fine, been up all night modifying your Engel for your personal enjoyment. Oh thank you Twilight, you're the best. What would we do without you Twilight? Oh stop your too much."
"I think I know a pony that needs some coffee." Twilight groaned like I was joking, but I wasn't. She seriously could use some coffee. "Rainbow Dash, get her some coffee."
"Get your own damn coffee! I'm not a maid." Well that image isn't going to leave my head for a while. Why do you say things like that Rainbow Dash?
"I don't need coffee, I just… ugh." Twilight turned back to us with a smile and said, "I just want you to show a little more respect and appreciation. This wasn't easy." The two of us immediately hugged and nuzzled her mercilessly. We even threw in some baby talk before she managed to teleport out of our grasp and run screaming. She should know when I show appreciation it's with hugs, among other things. I find it so cute how the first thing she does is hide behind the biggest thing in the room other than our mecha: Big Mac.
It's funny to mess with our resident Arcanotechnician. Big word right? They specialize in D-Tech, which I only know so much about. As it's taught in school, dimensional energy was discovered and harnessed through special machines as a perpetual energy source, which led to things like flying cars, mecha, and ponies going mentally insane. I didn't say it was safe, the first D-Tech engine took a team of over twenty ponies working on it, as well as a few psychiatrists, to build without anyone going insane from this strange energy source. When we used it in mecha we were able to colonize underwater, on the moon, on other planets! Then we got to Neptune and the scouting party vanished. One by one our colonies were destroyed, even the moon ones, until the Nazzadi invaded and the Arcanotech war began. But that's all in the past, and Twilight is the best there is. I think that's the last egghead thing I need to explain for a while, or will at least.
Rainbow Dash and I each have an assigned mechanic other than Twilight who work on our specific Engels, since our mecha are alive and more powerful than regular mecha and need more attention. The funny thing is, they're twin pegasi. Mine is Cloud Chaser, reminds me a bit of Rainbow Dash but she likes regular parties over raves. Rainbow unfortunately has the ditzy twin, Flitter, a smooth haired valley girl who knows more about clothes than she does what she's doing with this Engel. How she became a mechanic is beyond me, but Slither seems to like her for some odd reason. To further prove my point, when we approached Cloud Chaser floated down, while Flitter fell and bungee jumped before us while hanging in Slither's wires. "Which wire do I cut? The red one, the blue one, the green one, the yellow one, the other blue one that kind of looks purplish… Oh wait that is purple."
And now Rainbow Dash explodes like a volcano in three… two… "You're not supposed to cut any wires! You're supposed to untangle then and re-align them inside! What are they doing out here, and why are you tangled up in them? I swear if there's one thing wrong with my Auphan-!"
She'll chew out Flitter until she sobs, and then she'll hug and comfort her before helping her put things back together. It's really cute. I swear Rainbow will make a better mom than she thinks one day. I asked my own mechanic, "So how are the modifications to the feet? Just as Twilight said?"
Cloud Chaser nodded and said, "We had a hard time replicating your boots on a massive scale, especially with the difference in foot shape for your Engel. In the end though we managed to attach it and get the wiring set up good to go just before you got here. You ready to go?"
While I can't speak for Rainbow Dash, who was currently cuddling a sobbing Flitter upside down, I nodded and made my way to the locker room, slapping a high five to Spike as I passed him. Spike isn't so much a technician as much as he is a 'Go over here and get/ do this' kind of guy. He's still a baby dragon though and I think he belongs here about as much as all those fillies. When I got to the locker room Scootaloo was there putting on her pilots suit. As I joined her, taking off my hoodie and boots and slipping mine on, she said, "Hey Vinyl, great day to fly isn't it? Where's Rainbow Dash?"
"Your idol is helping finish up the repairs on her Engel. Why, you need something?"
I helped her zip up and hand her helmet to her, because she looked like she was having trouble. "Nah, I was just curious. Why don't you guys stay in the barracks here at the base?"
"Because then we couldn't flirt without Octavia shoving a bow down our throats." That made Scootaloo laugh. She's a pretty open minded kid, I'll give her that. After I was suited up I put back on my boots and tossed my hoodie in my locker, making my way out as Rainbow made her way in. I heard the two of them make conversation, so while I waited for Dash I decided to do the same with Applejack. "Hey there Applejack, you all seem pretty relaxed. Taking a break from everything?"
"Howdy there miss Scratch. We all thought we'd just get some cards in before we suited up. Just because we got to be prepared for the worst doesn't mean we can't relax sugar cube."
"I hear that, it's a shame Octavia doesn't feel the same as you."
"She's been through a lot with the loss of her mom, not to mention the Aeon war going on outside these walls. Things have been rough on all of us, especially the ones who've lost something." When I saw the look on her face after she said that I knew just who she was thinking about, and gave her a big hug. Big Mac and Apple Bloom rushed over to do the same. Applejack sniffled and said, "Consarnit all of you, can't a mare be miserable without the whole lot of you hugging her?" Despite what she said we had her smiling through those tears. "All right, that's enough y'all. I don't want you peepers on my cards, now get!"
Her siblings chuckled and sat back down while I made my way over to my Engel, now with Rainbow Dash. She flew to her cockpit, I used magic to float to mine, and the two of us locked in and activated the controls. Luckily these cockpits were made for ponies, so I didn't have to waste magic on using this thing. I left me mp3 player in my hoodie, but luckily I hooked Toby up with a radio and all my favorite songs. I'd flip through them while we flew out of the hangar. Slither could fly six times faster than Toby, so Dash had to take it slow so I could keep up. When that got boring for her she decided to fly circles around me annoyingly.
I don't think anypony saw what happened next coming. We were near the center of town, a lot of construction going on there, when I finally got annoyed with Rainbow Dash. I grabbed a steel girder from the construction zones and chucked it at her, "Knock it off!"
Slither could take the hit, he's a freakin Engel, that girder is like rock to him. But Rainbow Dash has to show off her black belt and kick it skyward straight up with a, "Judo kick!" At least we wouldn't have to worry about it hitting something, right?
We both heard a loud thump and looked up to watch the bent girder fall between as something invisible seemed to spark and flicker above. We landed on the ground and scanned the sky, I was so focused I left me radio on 'The Mare in the Fire', which oddly seemed to play along with what we saw next. The sky above us flickered as millions of camouflage panels deactivated, revealing a Migou mother-ship sticking through the roof to the dome! When the hell did those fungal insects pull that off?! And without any of our scanners picking it up!
Once it was completely visible Migou swarmed from the sides as well as several of their insectoid mecha. I stared at this mesmerized until Rainbow's voice roared over the intercom, "Vinyl, get the buck out of there!" When I snapped out of it I noticed Slither was flying away at high speed covering his tracks with his fog projector. I put the pedal to the medal on those new boots, and reversed out of their as the swarm came after me firing off their guns. I fired into them with my rocket pod, forcing them to disperse a little more. I weaved between the constructions and fired off a few rounds with my plasma cannon before I had to turn around to jump over the wall to the construction zone.
The cities alarms roared as they swarmed in, hundreds of military units scrambling to the location as the Migou began their attack on innocent civilians. I couldn't take them head on, so I looked for Rainbow Dash and Slither. When I found them, they were on top of a roof to a tall apartment building. It took me a moment to get up there, and when I did I saw why she had stopped there to stare. The dome was crumbling from the West end we were assigned to, before we could even get there. As the dome went dark and crumbled down around us like rain, only heavier and deadlier if you weren't in a mecha, we dust colored horizon and gray skies that surrounded our home.
Migou mecha swarmed from the East as their forces focused on spreading from the center outward. I don't know how they did it, but they did. Manehattan was lost, all hope looked gone. It all happened so fast… I don't know what to do. As panic and chaos spreads through the city that is being destroyed right in front of me, I just don't know what to do.
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It was a humble morning for me waking up right next to my little sister Sweetie Belle. She's such a sweet girl and I'm always relieved to see her right there with me. After all, I ran away to protect her. When I crawled out of bed my mane looked simply dreadful, but that's nothing a quick wash can't cure now is it? I made my way down the halls to the bathroom, truly fine craftsmanship I must say. Everything is so smooth and bright like a royal palace, it's just divine.
When I got to the bathroom I prayed I'd be alone, and got rather pouty when I saw another pony was here. Luckily it turned out to be my dear friend Fluttershy, rather than some strange stallion who might stare at my flank while I bathe. Sorority showers are a sign of desperate times in my book. When I joined Fluttershy she squeaked in shock, sighing with relief when she saw it was me. "I'm sorry Rarity, you frightened me. I didn't think anypony else woke up this early to bathe."
"Beautiful mares like us think alike Fluttershy. We wake up early and clean ourselves for the day ahead, even if we get dirty all over again. Just because we're Tagers does not mean we have to look as dreadful as out alternate forms." I suppose you want to know what a Tager is. Think of it like an alien were-wolf. We infuse the spirit of an otherworldly being into our body, and transform into it at will. We are warriors who protect the world behind the scenes. It's a secret group called the Eldritch Society, which I joined to protect Sweetie Belle. To my dismay, Sweetie Belle became a Tager as well, but at least she's one meant for stealth, not battle. I lucked out on that, you don't choose your symbiote, it chooses you.
After we bathed and conversed for a bit, mostly Fluttershy telling me more things about the society, I awoke Sweetie Belle and had her join us for breakfast. Fluttershy helped me cook, and as always Sweetie Belle wanted to help, bless the filly. "Of course you can help Sweetie Belle. Why don't you fetch me some eggs so we can make French toast?" Sweetie cheered and the refrigerator door flung open. The eggs floated over, and when they did I noticed there wasn't an aura of magic around them. When I looked to Sweetie, neither was her horn! "What do you think you're doing young lady? Stop that at once! You know how I feel about those powers!"
The poor thing cringed and teared up… I can be so cruel, even to my little sister. You see, Sweetie Belle is a para-psychic, an individual with powers similar to telekinesis in some ways. This started up in ponies of all types after dimensional energy became a household commodity. The government said she could become a Zoner, unstable and dangerous, and tried to take her away! So I took her, and I ran, and to my knowledge they covered up our disappearance and have searched for her since. Luckily Fluttershy had been watching from the shadows, and invited us to this group, but we have to pull our own weight.
Anytime Sweetie uses her powers I abhor it, but then she feels as if the whole reason we left our world behind is her fault. That's not true, it's dangerous out there. Not to say it's not dangerous in this organization, in its own way. I caught her before she could run and apologized as many times as I could as I ignored the broken eggs on the floor. Fluttershy wrapped her wings around us to add to the comfort, and after we both reassured her that there was nothing wrong with her and nothing was her fault, we got back to making breakfast.
That's when Fluttershy gave us the bad news. "It seems the order wishes for me to bring you before them. They believe you two have been here long enough and should receive a mission. I'm sooo sorry Rarity."
"No, no," I reassured her. "I knew this day would come. We are Tagers, and it is time for us to do our duty. We will see the council after breakfast is done. Right Sweetie Belle?"
"Right!" Sweetie was bouncing with excitement. I wish I could say the same for myself. We finished the delightful meal and made out way to chamber of our branches leaders. It was a large black room and their chairs rose high above in a circle around the center of the room, which had a crudely made design on it that looked like it was drawn with glow in the dark chalk if you ask me.
The three of us bowed respectively. "Fluttershy the Whisper, Rarity the Vampire, and Sweetie Belle the Shadow, we have called you three here with a mission in mind. You'll be joining a pair of Phantoms on their mission as their scanner, heavy arsenal, and their stealth. It appears the Chrysalis Corporation has sent Dahohanoids to Manehattan, which appears to be on the verge of attack from the Migou. We want you to investigate what they're up to and put a stop to it."
"Understood," the three of us chimed as we backed out of the room. Allow me to explain a few things from that mission we just got. The Ashcroft foundation is the leading industry in D-Tech, and the Chrysalis Corporation aims to rival them. After they discovered the 'Ta'ge Fragments' they thought they'd found the answer. But when they used them it possessed innocent ponies with symbiotes from another dimension, and they lost all sense of who they were and became blood thirsty creatures called Dahohanoids. They disguised themselves as ponies, and fed on people from the shadows, until the organization was taken over by the cult known as 'The Children of Chaos', who used them to promote their acts of madness behind the scenes. A small group of ponies stole the Ta'ge Fragments and escaped, forming the Eldritch Society where they discovered a new breed of symbiote they could merge with. These symbiotes didn't steal the pony's mind and body, and instead formed a bond with them, and they were named after the documents that made them: Tagers.
We met up with the Phantoms we'd be going on the mission with. Both were Nazzadi earth pony siblings, one a mare and one a stallion. The mare was Tazy, her mane was short messy and white, and her tattoos were like thin curved flames. The stallion was Dova, his mane was spiked back and black, and his tattoos were like a multitude of winged rings with a strange figure at the center of them. Truly a marvelous sight the Nazzadi, perhaps I'll get tattoos like theirs one day.
To prepare ourselves we decided to take our Tager forms now and be ready for the worst. Our symbiotes cover our entire bodies, like armor. The twins grew more upright, their hooves clawed, and spider like mandibles growing before their mouths. Their bodies became red and white and solid like rock, their eyes multiplying to five as a large central one took the center of their face. Fluttershy grew a set of arms under her front legs with opposable hands, while her front hooves grew clawed like the twins', and her hind legs became more like that of a kangaroos. Her armor coating was more slick and black, her eye count becoming seven, and her wings sprouting out into a set of four dragonfly-like wings.
Sweetie remained white as before, but had a more solid appearance and a few black stripes here or there. Spikes grew from all four of her legs and her shoulders that almost resembled fur at some parts, and a few more surrounded her face. Each of our heads were as slick and armor coated as the rest of our bodies of course, like a helmet, I mean we don't want other ponies to know our true identities right? And last but not least was me. A pair of enormous bat like wings sprouted from my back, both bigger than my entire body with bases thicker than my legs. My front hooves became clawed hands like some demonic monkey, and my hind hooves had a pair of talons. My eyes became four in a v-shape from my mouth with huge fangs protruding from it. My body was slick and armored like Fluttershy, my colors a beautiful meld of red, green, and blue shades.
We took the passageway to Manehattan, hoping to catch the Dahohanoids on their way there. I had to fold my wings to fit down the passage. As we emerged from the junkyard with a good view of the cities dome, we were shocked to see it was gone. We knew the Migou were attacking, but not on this magnitude! No wonder the Chrysalis Corporation chose now to move.
But this brought up another startling realization: What happened to our friends stationed in that city?! We may have left our lives behind, but that doesn't mean we don't care! Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, and even the Phantom twins all looked to me as well as each other with a worried tone evident in our hearts, rather than on our expressionless masks. We all rushed forth with a mission, not only to find the Dahohanoids, but to help in any way we could, with or without being discovered. Right now, there was nothing in the Tager code that covered a crisis like this.
End Ch. 1
