Spiral Knights-Equis Command

As the ponies followed the Knights through the twisting, frozen corridors, Twilight's mind was buzzing. She took a few deep breaths and sighed.

"So, there are aliens in Equestria, and they just saved our lives from a mad Frost Wyrm. But...We all saw what that "Pellas" one did. His weaponry far surpasses ours! Maybe…" Twilight thought. But then, she noticed the group was nearing the cave exit. She snapped herself out of her thoughts and looked ahead. As they exited the cave, Corrus and Revan pulled out boxes hanging by strings from their necks and peered into them. Twilight reasoned it was some kind of advanced telescope. As they peered through them, Halvir opened a squad comm.

"You sure we can trust them, Corrus?"

"We saved their lives. So, they owe us, or...that's just what I think, by the way." Pellas chimed in.

"I would assume so, Pellas." Revan said.

"Fine. We go along with them, at least for now. But keep your blades sharp and your fingers on the triggers, in case of ambush." Corrus said.

"We gonna get a move on?" Shining asked.

"Yeah. The binos say it's an approximate twenty minute hike. So, we should get moving, then." Corrus said, placing them in a pocket of his bandolier. As he led the way towards the Empire, Cadance turned to Twilight.

"Not that I don't trust them, I mean, they saved our lives, but I think they're hiding something."

"I agree." Twilight replied. "Maybe when we sit down, we can get some answers."

"Alright." Cadance replied. As they began their hike, they failed to notice a mirage near the top of the cave. The mirage then formed into the form of a Gremlin Ghostmane Stalker. He ducked behind a rock and cackled.

"Warmaster, are you there?"

"I am here, scout. What is your status?"

"They made contact. Peaceful, for the most part. Should we intervene now?"

"No. Let them be, as we will strike when the time is right."

"As you wish."

The stalker snickered and turned invisible once more.

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As the group arrived at the Empire, the ponies stood in shock and awe of the Knights, who made no attempts to disguise themselves. As they walked, ponies would sometimes back away in fear, but a brave few would step forward and bow to Armor and Cadance. As they entered the palace, then the conference room, the Knights sat down at one end, their Battle Sprites hovering near them, the ponies took the other side, while the Crystal Guards bowed and left them to their own devices.

"So, care to get started?" Twilight asked.

"Well, as we said before, I'm Corrus.That's Pellas, Halvir, and Revan. As for our race, well, we're Isoran Spiral Knights. We're a group of interplanetary explorers, warriors, and pathfinders." Corrus said. "Isora being our homeworld."

"Care to tell us more about it?" Twilight asked, and the Knights sighed.

"Thing is, we don't remember our homeworld. It's been so long since we've been there. Isora  was attacked by beings known as the Morai a long time ago. They drained our planet of energy, and left it desolate and ruined after what we know as the Morai Wars. We made a ship, called the Skylark, specifically to scout the stars and find an energy source capable of restoring our world." Halvir said. 'Before you ask about the Morai, just know that we didn't have a choice in fighting them, and the few things we know or remember about them aren't exactly clear. We do know that they possessed powerful war machines, capable of levelling cities in one fell stroke."

"Okay...what next?" Twilight asked.

"We spent quite a lot of time in Cryo-freezing aboard the Skylark as we sailed through the stars on Autopilot, that is until we found it." Corrus said.

"What?" everypony in the room asked.

"Cradle. A planet unlike anything we had seen before. At its heart was a energy source powerful enough to restore our world. But before we could land, energy blasts tore the ship in two, crippling the Skylark. The Captain ordered everyone to evacuate as the ship plummeted to the ground. When it crashed, we scouted the area, and we made contact with Cradle's inhabitants, which we know as the Strangers. They offered us supplies, shelter, and information in exchange for protection and the minerals deep in the Clockworks…" Pellas said.

"Clockworks?" Rarity asked.

"Yes. Cradle serves as the surface, the Clockworks everything below. You see, Cradle is an artificial world. The Clockworks is a giant machine of Twenty eight stratums descending nearly twenty eight kilometers beneath the surface. At the final stratum is The Core, the heart of Cradle. Contained in the Core is an energy source powerful enough to repair the Skylark and restore our world. The Clockworks isn't fixed, by the way. It's always changing. The Stratums in the clockworks are made of at least thirty different environments, mixed and matched like a Jigsaw puzzle. It's said by the Knights that the Clockworks never stays the same way twice." Halvir said.

'Wow. Who made it?" Shining asked.

"We don't know. We think it could've been the Gremlins or one of the ancient kingdoms, or it could've been made by who-knows-what, but we're still studying it. Knight squads are sent out daily to the three Tier stratums to perform research and set up camps."

"Tiers?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah. The Clockworks isn't a peaceful place. It's inhabited by monsters of all kinds. We class the monsters in Families and Tiers. The category determines what kind, the Tier determines how strong it is. Knights are given access to the Clockworks based on their Equipment, which is matched by said gear's star rating. In order to access the deepest Clockworks levels, you would need Four or Five star gear. Tier three variety monsters are exceptionally nasty and tough to fight. For Tier 2, Three star to Four Star. Tier two monsters are usually weaker than Tier Three, but are still reserved for more experienced Knights. For Tier one, One to Two star gear is needed at least. Tier One monsters are slow and stupid, and relatively perfect for novice Knights to train with."

"What about the Families?" Applejack asked.

"I'm getting to that.The families are Slime, Beast, Fiend, Undead, Gremlin, and Construct. Each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses to the Weapons we Knights use. Slime and Gremlins are weak to Shadow, Fiend and Beast are weak to Piercing, and Constructs and Undead are weak to Elemental." Corrus said.

"Okay...how do the Tiers affect the monsters?" Cadance asked.

"The rule of thumb is that the deeper you go, the more dangerous it gets. The appearance, aggressiveness, and intelligence of the monsters you fight changes the deeper you go. For instance, a Wolver, a Beast family monster, may not pose much of a threat on Tier One. Tier two, they get faster and hit harder, but if a Knight fights smart, it's not really anything to worry about. Tier Three Wolvers are tough to handle, since they are pretty fast and can take out Knights on their own. And if you're talking about the varieties, that's more explaining."

"Varieties?" Pinkie asked. "You mean there are different breeds?"

"More like different kinds." Corrus said. "Monsters can rarely spawn with genetic mutations that change them down to the molecular level, changing their attack patterns, appearance, and damage types. These monsters can also inflict one of the Status conditions known to the Medics as Burn, Stun, Shock, Poison, Curse, or Freeze. For example, Ash Tails, a variety of the Wolver, can inflict Burn with their bite attacks. Other variants of the other monsters exist as well."

"Interesting." Twilight said. "And how long have you been on Cradle?"

"Years." Corrus replied. "And before you ask, we won't leave until we can restore the Skylark, and we can't do that until the Core is safe."

"What's wrong with the Core?" Pinkie asked. "Did it catch a cold?"

"The Swarm. That's what's wrong. It's a parasitic entity that latched onto the core to feed off the power it radiates. But it was sealed inside long ago. When the Alpha Squad, the first knights to enter the Clockworks entered the Core, some got out and wreaked havoc. Recently, the Gremlins opened the Core again, and released the Swarm's full power. When my squad and another Knight, Lieutenant Vaelyn, entered the Core to find the Alpha Squad, we learned three things. One? The Core is the resting place of a being of immense power known as the Sleeper, and the Gremlins, until recently, served as its guardians. Two? We were brought and trapped on Cradle to serve as its new guardians. Three? If we were to open the Core even one more time...It would end everything. And I mean EVERYTHING. And to make matters worse, half of the Alpha Squad is missing or confirmed dead." Corrus said.

Twilight's quill snapped, and everypony gasped. As the room settled down, Twilight sighed.

"What's the Swarm like?"

"We thought entering the Core would be a dream come true. It turned into a blood-soaked nightmare, to put it lightly." Corrus said. "The Swarm is evil, pure evil. It looks like black goo with square purple eyes, and it infects anything it touches. Worse, it can only be destroyed when it takes the form of a monster. Several sections of the Clockworks have already been infected, and such, quarantined. Thing is, the Core opening, all of this, was the work of the Gremlins."

"What do the Gremlins have to do with this?" Shining asked.

"A Gremlin known as Herex opened the Core. He hasn't been seen since the Core opened, and we've presumed him dead. The Gremlins hate us, for some unknown reason. They routinely attack our squads and capture them, and they sabotage what gear they have to prevent escape. When we do rescue them, we get them rearmed as best we can, but often, they require gear from other Knights to return to field duties. The Knights that donate get compensation, though."

"How do you make your gear?"

"We use Alchemy Machines to craft them." Halvir said. "The machines were made during the Morai wars to mass-produce gear capable of withstanding the Morai War machines, so we don't know exactly how they work. But we do know how to make them work. You plug in a recipe for a specific piece of gear, the required materials, some currency, and most of the time, the gear that you currently have, and you get a shiny new weapon or armor. For example, in order to make a Leviathan Blade, you'd need a Calibur, then you'd have to make a Tempered Calibur, then Ascended, then you could make the Leviathan Blade. You'd need all the recipes for each one, though, plus the Heat needed to upgrade them."

"Heat?" Cadance asked.

"When monsters die in the Clockworks, apart from dropping materials used in Alchemy, they also drop a natural form of energy called Heat. It builds up in weapons and armor, and if you don't dissipate the Heat build-up, they won't get stronger. Fire Crystals are used in the Gear Forge to do that. Also, they drop the currency the Strangers use, which we adopted. We call them Crowns." Corrus said.

"Amazing." Pinkie said.

"That's nothing. Each Knight is given an emergency revival kit that when used, can bring the Knight back to life if they lose consciousness in the field. Thing is, if they fall a second time, they can use a recall kit to warp them back to haven, but they lose any heat energy gathered." Corrus said. "If you need to keep fighting, we use a Spark Of Life to resuscitate ourselves. It's a stone that when combined with latent energy, it supercharges the respiratory, circulatory, and nervous systems, enough to bring a Knight back to life, negating the need for the Recall Kit. Problem is, they're exceptionally tough to make, or find, for that matter." Corrus said.

Everypony in the room gasped.

"That's...amazing." Shining said.

"To be honest, they're rare enough that we don't really use them."

"How did you even get here in the first place?" Fluttershy asked.

The Knights explained the operation, the Gremlin portal, and Warmaster Drusen. By the end, the ponies were deeply worried.

"So, this warmaster built a portal to Equestria? And you think he made it here?" Cadance asked.

"Yes. The Gremlins, for the most part, are exceptional inventors. They're the only ones that I know that could make one. We destroyed several of their war machines, but they're always developing new ones. Their constructs would give your forces a run for their crowns" Corrus said.

"Then we have to prepare." Cadence said. Then a guard rushed into the room.

"Your highness, Thorax says he needs to see you immediately."

"Let him in."

A few minutes later, Thorax the changeling walked in, with a nervous expression. After the Knights introduced themselves, he sighed.

"Cadence, I intercepted a message from the Hive. They are under attack from strange, bipedal beings and strange machines. They request aid immediately."

"Gremlins. My guess is, they're establishing a base of operations. We need to fend them off." Corrus said.

"We will." Shining said. "Ready all guards! We move in now!"

"Yessir!" Two guards replied, and they rushed out.

"Allow us to assist your forces, Cadance. We have plenty of experience either the Gremlins. We can take out the commander, while your forces mop up the stragglers." Corrus said.

"Go ahead." Shining replied.

"Theta team, let's move!" Corrus replied. As the group rushed out, the sun disappeared behind a cloud.